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 HymnsLXXXVI. To Oneiros · Lines 10–18

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Ancient Greek Page · Branch 140 of 147

LXXXVI. To Oneiros · Lines 10–18

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Ancient Greek

p. 274

LXXXVI. ΟΝΕΙΡΟΥ

θυμίαμα ἀρώματα

τῶν δὲ κακῶν ἀνάπαυσιν, ὅπως θεὸς αὐτὸς ἐνίσπῃ

εὐχωλαῖς θυσίαις τε χόλον λύσωσιν ἀνάκτων.

εὐσεβέσιν γὰρ ἀεὶ τὸ τέλος γλυκερώτερόν ἐστι,

τοῖς δὲ κακοῖς οὔ κεν φαίνοι μέλλουσαν ἀνάγκην

ὄψις ὀνειρήεσσα, κακῶν ἐξάγγελος ἔργων,

ὄφρα κεν εὕρωνται λύσιν ἄλγεος ἐρχομένοιο.

ἀλλά, μάκαρ, λίτομαί σε θεῶν μηνύματα φράζειν,

ὡς ἂν ἀεὶ γνώμαις ὀρθαῖς κατὰ πάντα πελάζῃς

μηδέν’ ἐπ’ ἀλλοκότοισι κακῶν σημεῖα προφαίνων.

The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns: LXXXVI. To Oneiros

p. 275

LXXXVI. To Oneiros

fumigation from aromatics

and a rest from evils, that the god himself may tell of it,

that by prayers and by sacrifices they may loose the anger of the lords.

For to the pious the end is always the sweeter,

but to the wicked it would not show the necessity that is coming,

the vision of dreams, the announcer of evil deeds,

so that they might find release from the pain that is on its way.

But, blessed one, I beseech you to declare the tokens of the gods,

that you may always draw near with straight purposes in all things,

showing forth to no man, in monstrous shapes, the signs of evils.

13–15.Read as printed, the wicked get no warning dream, so that they might find release — which is the opposite of what the purpose clause should say. Hermann's οὔ κεν φαίνοι (potential optative) for the manuscripts' οὐδὲν φαίνει softens the statement to “would not show”, and his ὄφρα κεν for ὄφρα ἄν keeps the clause potential too. The difficulty is in the sense, not the grammar, and no editor has removed it. This edition prints Abel's text and does not translate the trouble away.

10.ἀνάπαυσιν is Abel's, for the manuscripts' ἀνάπαυλαν. The word he substitutes is the one the collection uses elsewhere — LXXXI.2, LXXXV.5, III.6 — which is a reason for the change, and the third time in this block that an editor's reading restores a formula the collection already has — after καμάτου at LXXXI.2 and Porson's ἠπιόχειρ’ ὑγίειαν at LXXXIV.8.

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.