ORPHIC FRAGMENT 124
OTTO KERN
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For links to many more fragments: The Orphic Fragments of Otto Kern.
SUMMARY: This fragment gives the opinions of Numenius , Pythagoras, Plato, Hesiod, Orpheus, and Pherecydes regarding the source of the birth of souls.
124. Pseudo-Galen. (= Porphyr.) Ad Gaurum quomodo animetur fetus Chapter 3 ed. Kalbfleisch (Abh. Akad. Berlin 1895) 34, 26:
κἀνταῦθα πολὺς ὁ Νουμήνιος καὶ οἱ τὰς Πυθαγόρου ὑπο- |35 νοίας ἐξηγούμενοι, καὶ τὸν παρὰ μὲν τῶι Πλάτωνι (Πολιτεία Πλάτωνος 10.621 a) ποταμὸν Ἀμέλητα, παρὰ δὲ τῶι Ἡσιόδωι (Θεογονία Ἡσιόδου 361) καὶ τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς τὴν Στύγα, παρὰ δὲ τῶι Φερεκύδηι (Diels II3 204 fr. 7) τὴν ἐκροὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ σπέρματος ἐκδεχόμενοι.
“Here often Noumínios (Νουμήνιος) and those who interpret the allegories (ὑπονοίας) of Pythagóras, taking for seed (σπέρματος) what in Plátôn [1] (is) the river Amǽlîta (Ἀμέλητα), but in Isíodos (Ἡσίοδος) [2] and Orphéfs (Ὀρφεύς) (is) the river Styx (Στύξ); but to Phærækýdîs (Φερεκύδης) [3] is the stream.”
(trans. by the author)
NOTES:
[1] Πολιτεία Πλάτωνος 10.621 a:
ἀνάγκης ἰέναι θρόνον, καὶ δι᾽ ἐκείνου διεξελθόντα, ἐπειδὴ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι διῆλθον, πορεύεσθαι ἅπαντας εἰς τὸ τῆς Λήθης πεδίον διὰ καύματός τε καὶ πνίγους δεινοῦ: καὶ γὰρ εἶναι αὐτὸ κενὸν δένδρων τε καὶ ὅσα γῆ φύει. σκηνᾶσθαι οὖν σφᾶς ἤδη ἑσπέρας γιγνομένης παρὰ τὸν Ἀμέλητα ποταμόν, οὗ τὸ ὕδωρ ἀγγεῖον οὐδὲν στέγειν. μέτρον μὲν οὖν τι τοῦ ὕδατος πᾶσιν ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι πιεῖν, τοὺς δὲ φρονήσει μὴ σῳζομένους πλέον πίνειν τοῦ μέτρου: τὸν δὲ ἀεὶ πιόντα πάντων ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι.
(The souls have chosen their new lives and report to the Mírai (Μοῖραι), and then)
“they passed beneath the throne of Necessity; and when they had all passed, they marched on in a scorching heat to the plain of Forgetfulness (Λήθη), which was a barren waste destitute of trees and verdure; and then towards evening they encamped by the river of Unmindfulness (Ἀμέλητα), whose water no vessel can hold; of this they were all obliged to drink a certain quantity, and those who were not saved by wisdom drank more than was necessary; and each one as he drank forgot all things.”
(trans. Benjamin Jowett, 1892)
[2] Θεογονία Ἡσιόδου 361:
[Of the daughters of Tîthýs (Τηθύς) and Ôkæanós (Ὠκεανός):]
καὶ Στύξ, ἣ δή σφεων προφερεστάτη ἐστὶν ἁπασέων.
“Styx who is the chiefest of them all.”
(trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914)
[3] Diels II3 204 fr. 7.
This logo is the principal symbol of this website. It is called the CESS logo, i.e. the Children of the Earth and the Starry Sky. The Pætilía (Petelia, Πετηλία) and other golden tablets having this phrase are the inspiration for the symbol. The image represents this idea: Earth (divisible substance) and the Sky (continuous substance) are the two kozmogonic substances. The twelve stars represent the Natural Laws, the dominions of the Olympian Gods. In front of these symbols is the seven-stringed kithára (cithara, κιθάρα), the the lyre of Apóllôn (Apollo, Ἀπόλλων). It (here) represents the bond between Gods and mortals and is representative that we are the children of Orphéfs (Orpheus, Ὀρφεύς).
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Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.
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