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 HymnsLXVIII. To Hygieia · Lines 1–7

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LXVIII. To Hygieia · Lines 1–7

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Ancient Greek

p. 224

LXVIII. ΥΓΕΙΑΣ

θυμίαμα μάνναν

Ἱμερόεσσ’, ἐρατή, πολυθάλμιε, παμβασίλεια,

κλῦθι, μάκαιρ’ Ὑγίεια, φερόλβιε, μῆτερ ἁπάντων·

ἐκ σέο γὰρ νοῦσοι μὲν ἀποφθινύθουσι βροτοῖσι,

πᾶς δὲ δόμος θάλλει πολυγηθὴς εἵνεκα σεῖο,

καὶ τέχναι βρίθουσι· ποθεῖ δέ σε κόσμος, ἄνασσα,

μοῦνος δὲ στυγέει σ’ Ἀίδης ψυχοφθόρος αἰεί,

ἀιθαλής, εὐκταιοτάτη, θνητῶν ἀνάπαυμα·

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: LXVIII. To Hygieia

p. 225

LXVIII. To Hygieia

fumigation from manna

Desirable, lovely, of many blossomings, queen of all,

hear, blessed Hygieia, bringer of blessing, mother of all;

for from you diseases waste away for mortals,

and every house flourishes full of gladness because of you,

and the crafts are laden; the world longs for you, queen;

Hades alone, destroyer of souls, hates you always,

ever-blooming, most prayed for, resting-place of mortals;

6.μοῦνος δὲ στυγέει σ’ Ἀίδης — Hades alone hates you. The line is the hymn's proof: everything in the world wants Health, and the single exception identifies what she is against. The god the souls of LVII are led down to, when the appointed time comes, is the one enemy this goddess has — though neither hymn marks the connection.

7.Abel prints ἀιθαλής where his apparatus gives the codices ἀειθαλής (ἀειθαλλής), ever-blooming, which is the sense the English follows. The short form is not his invention: it is a syncope of the same word, and the codices themselves have ἀιθαλής at XIII.1, where Abel changes only the vocative ending. What the short form cannot be is a privative — ἀ- on θαλής would give ἀθαλής, with the iota unaccounted for. The edition renders the same string “Blazing one” at XIII.1, of Protogonos, where the αἴθω stem suits the addressee and nothing in the apparatus decides between them; the divergence is flagged here and left for the whole-volume reading.

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.