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 HymnsLXIV. Hymn to Nomos · Lines 8–13

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 110 of 147

LXIV. Hymn to Nomos · Lines 8–13

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Ancient Greek

p. 214

LXIV. ΥΜΝΟΣ ΝΟΜΟΥ

αὐτὸς γὰρ μοῦνος ζῴων οἴηκα κρατύνει

γνώμαις ὀρθοτάταις συνεών, ἀδιάστροφος αἰεί,

ὠγύγιος, πολύπειρος, ἀβλάπτως πᾶσι συνοικῶν

τοῖς νομίμοις, ἀνόμοις δὲ φέρων κακότητα βαρεῖαν.

ἀλλά, μάκαρ, πάντιμε, φερόλβιε, πᾶσι ποθεινέ,

εὐμενὲς ἦτορ ἔχων μνήμην σέο πέμπε, φέριστε.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: LXIV. Hymn to Nomos

p. 215

LXIV. Hymn to Nomos

(no fumigation named)

for he alone holds the tiller of living things,

companion of the straightest purposes, unwarped for ever,

primordial, of long experience, dwelling harmlessly among all

the lawful — but bringing heavy misery to the lawless.

But, blessed one, all-honoured, bringer of blessing, longed for by all,

with kindly heart send remembrance of you, most excellent.

Heading.ΥΜΝΟΣ ΝΟΜΟΥ, and no fumigation. The heading is irregular in form and the hymn has no rubric, and those two features have gone together in every case so far except Hymn L, which broke the converse half of the pairing. This is the ninth hymn in the collection without a θυμίαμα — I, XVIII, XXIX, XXXI, XLV, L, LV, LXI and LXIV — and the count stands only as far as LXIX has been read. The god's name is transliterated in the heading and at line 2, as Dike and Dikaiosyne are, while νόμοισιν at line 4 and ἀνόμοις at line 11 are the common noun and are translated.

8.αὐτὸς γὰρ μοῦνος ζῴων οἴηκα κρατύνει — for he alone holds the tiller of living things. The same metaphor and nearly the same words are given to Eros at LVIII.8, μοῦνος γὰρ τούτων πάντων οἴηκα κρατύνεις, six hymns back. Neither line carries an apparatus entry, so the repetition is the collection's. Two gods are each said to steer alone; the hymns do not notice each other, and the edition does not reconcile them.

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.