The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns

Name: The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Author: Attributed to Orpheus

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The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The HymnsXXVIII. To Hermes · Lines 1–6

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XXVIII. To Hermes · Lines 1–6

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Ancient Greek

p. 104

XXVIII. ΕΡΜΟΥ

θυμίαμα λίβανον

Κλῦθί μευ, Ἑρμεία, Διὸς ἄγγελε, Μαιάδος υἱέ,

παγκρατὲς ἦτορ ἔχων, ἐναγώνιε, κοίρανε θνητῶν,

εὔφρον, ποικιλόβουλε, διάκτορος Ἀργειφόντα,

πτηνοπέδιλε, φίλανδρε, λόγου θνητοῖσι προφῆτα,

γυμνάσιν ὃς χαίρεις δολίαις τ’ ἀπάταις, στροφιοῦχε,

ἑρμηνεῦ πάντων, κερδέμπορε, λυσιμέριμνε,

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: XXVIII. To Hermes

p. 105

XXVIII. To Hermes

fumigation from frankincense

Hear me, Hermes, messenger of Zeus, son of Maia,

holding an all-conquering heart, god of contests, lord of mortals,

kindly, of intricate counsel, the guide, Argeiphontes,

winged-sandalled, friend of men, prophet of the word to mortals,

you who rejoice in exercises and in crafty deceits, wearer of the twisted band,

interpreter of all things, dealer in gain, looser of cares,

6.ἑρμηνεῦ πάντων, “interpreter of all things”. The name is being played on: Ἑρμῆς and ἑρμηνεύς. The collection has done this with Pan and πᾶν at XI.1–3 and with Proteus and πρῶτος at XXV.1–9; here the etymology is not argued, only sounded.

4, 6, 10, 12.λόγου προφήτα, ἑρμηνεῦ, γλώσσης ὅπλον, λόγου χάρισιν — four of the twelve lines are about speech. The close does not replace the standing petition: βιότου τέλος ἐσθλόν at 11 is the same request as XI.22, XIII.10, XX.6 and XXV.11. What is new is what line 12 adds to it, λόγου χάρισιν καὶ μνημοσύνῃσιν. It is not the first such request in the collection, though it is the most sustained: Hymn XIX has already asked Zeus for φρεσὶν αἴσιμα πάντα (20) and for a life flourishing εὐθύμοισιν … λογισμοῖς (23), nine hymns earlier.

5.στροφιοῦχε, holder of the στρόφιον. The word is a band, never a staff: a woman’s breast-band, or, in cult, the priest’s headband (the Andania and Eleusis inscriptions; Plutarch, Aratus 53). The herald’s wand is the κηρύκειον, a different object, and reading it in here would be a guess dressed as a gloss. Abel prints Wiel’s στροφιοῦχε against the manuscripts’ τροφιοῦχε, so the attribute rests on an emendation either way.

About This Reading Edition

The eighty-eight Orphic Hymns and the Prayer to Musaeus, in Ancient Greek and English, with the supplied critical apparatus, explanatory notes, introduction, glossary and editorial matter.

Historical Text and Translation

Orphic Hymns, attributed to Orpheus. Greek text after Eugenius Abel, Orphica (Leipzig and Prague, 1885), pages 57–102.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The ancient Greek source and the 1885 Abel edition are public-domain material. The supplied new English translation and editorial matter are published with the site owner’s authorization. Both supplied original files remain unchanged.