ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 102

OTTO KERN

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For links to many more fragments: The Orphic Fragments of Otto Kern.

MYSTERIORUM ELEUSINIORUM CONDITOR (Founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries)

SUMMARY: This testimony consists of several quotations which seem to connect Orpheus to the Eleusinian Mysteries.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 102.

σχόλιον Πρόκλου επὶ Πολιτείας Πλάτωνος II 312, 16 William Kroll:

δηλοῖ δὲ τὰ ἐν Ἀπολογίαι (Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους Πλάτωνος 41 a*) ῥηθέντα παρὰ τοῦ Σωκράτους, ὡς ἄρα πολλοῦ ἂν τιμήσαι, τὸ ἐν Ἅιδου συγγενέσθαι τοῖς Ὀρφεῦσιν, τοῖς Μουσαίοις, τοῖς Αἴασιν· ἤκουεν γάρ που καὶ τῶν ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι μυστηρίων ἐξυμνούντων τὸν τὰς ἁγιωτάτας ἐκφήναντα τελετάς.

“And this is made plain by what was said of Sôkrátîs (Σωκράτης) in the Apoloyía (Ἀπολογία), namely, that he very much would have wished to honor, and to have spoken in Aidîs (Ἅιδης) with Orpheuses, Musaeuses, and Ajaxes; for he had also heard that surely it was they who revealed the most sacred initiations of the celebrated Mysteries of Ælefsís (Ἐλευσίς).”

(trans. by the author)

*The reference Plato is as follows:

ἢ αὖ Ὀρφεῖ συγγενέσθαι καὶ Μουσαίωι καὶ Ἡσιόδωι καὶ Ὁμήρωι ἐπὶ πόσωι ἄν τις δέξαιτ᾽ ἂν ὑμῶν; ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ πολλάκις ἐθέλω τεθνάναι εἰ ταῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ἀληθῆ. ἐπεὶ ἔμοιγε καὶ αὐτῶι θαυμαστὴ ἂν εἴη ἡ διατριβὴ αὐτόθι, ὁπότε ἐντύχοιμι Παλαμήδει καὶ Αἴαντι τῶι Τελαμῶνος καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τῶν παλαιῶν διὰ κρίσιν ἄδικον τέθνηκεν.

“What would not a man give if he might converse with Orpheus and Musæus and Hesiod and Homer? Nay, if this be true, let me die again and again. I myself, too, shall have a wonderful interest in there meeting and conversing with Palamedes, and Ajax the son of Telamon, and any other ancient hero who has suffered death through an unjust judgment.”

(trans. Benjamin Jowett, 1892)

V. ψευδής-Δημοσθένης· 25.11 (πρός Ἀριστογείτονι) nr. 103 (Translator: Demosthenes, addressing a court in Athens, would seem to be referring to the Eleusinian Mysteries.):

ὁ τὰς ἁγιωτάτας ἡμῖν τελετὰς καταδείξας Ὀρφεὺς.

“Orphefs (Ὀρφεὺς), the founder of our most sacred Mysteries.”

(trans. by the author)

Compare to Περὶ τῆς κατὰ Πλάτωνα θεολογίας Πρόκλου VI 11^† p. 371, 11:

ἅπασα γὰρ ἡ παρ’ Ἕλλησι θεολογία τῆς Ὀρφικῆς ἐστὶ μυσταγωγίς ἔκγονος, πρώτου μὲν Πυθαγόρου παρὰ Ἀγλαοφήμου τὰ περὶ θεῶν ὄργια διδαχθέντος.

“For all the Grecian theology is the progeny of the mystic tradition of Orpheus; Pythagoras first of all learning from Aglaophemus (ed. Orpheus) the orgies of the Gods.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1816)

(^†Translator: Kern does not give us the Greek, only the citation. I do not know what edition of Platonic Theology he was working from, as he does not list it in Orphicorum fragmenta. I have the Saffrey/Westerink edition, from 1968 with two volumes bound in one book; if you look up section 6 of this edition, there does not seem to be anything related particularly to our subject. The above quotation appears on pp. 25-26 and is in section I 5 (meaning volume 1, section 5), but I found a much older edition of Próklos from 1618 C. E. which places this quotation in section 6 near the beginning. All to say that I am quite unsure if this is the quotation Kern was referring to, but it does make mention of the “orgies of the Gods,” by which is meant the secret rites, i. e. the Mysteries.)

Which the men of our age have spoken nonsense, already refuted by Lobeck I 239 (translator: disputing whether the connection between Orpheus and the Eleusinian Mysteries was actually significant or not); v. also Kern Orpheus 30. On Εὔμολπος see nr. 161.

The story of the birth of the Gods: Orphic Theogony.

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Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.

Introduction to the Thæí (the Gods): The Nature of the Gods.

How do we know there are Gods? Experiencing Gods.

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We know the various qualities and characteristics of the Gods based on metaphorical stories: Mythology.

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