From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordἄγω expresses bringing or leading, with the object deciding what kind of arrival is involved.
- In the Orphic HymnsMany hymns use the verb to make divine assistance arrive.
- TranslationThe English “brought” at XLVI.7 correctly represents ἀχθείς, the passive participle of ἄγω.
- A place to readPeace, health and increase as things to be brought.
- English renderings
- lead; bring; convey
Meaning
ἄγω expresses bringing or leading, with the object deciding what kind of arrival is involved. Its forms here include present descriptions and aorist forms: ἤγαγες recounts a completed leading, while ἀχθείς describes someone who has been brought. These should be retrieved together without making every occurrence a procession.
Use in the book
Many hymns use the verb to make divine assistance arrive. Nature is to bring peace, health and increase (X.30), Zeus peace, health and prosperity (XVII.10), and the sea-helper a favourable wind for initiates’ ships (LXXIV.10). Eos brings the human-illuminating day, and the Muses bring reputation and desirable emulation. The familiar movement verb gives abstract benefits a direction toward their recipients.
Other uses remain bodily or narrative. Adonis brings his seasonally fruitful body toward Olympus (LVI.11). Pluto has conveyed Persephone beneath the Attic cave with a four-horse team (XVIII.14). Dionysos, brought to Persephone, is reared dear to the immortals (XLVI.7). These scenes should not be dissolved into the more general pattern of bringing blessings.
Places to read
- Hymn X · Line 30Peace, health and increase as things to be brought.
- Hymn LXXIV · Line 10A favourable wind brought to initiates at sea.
- Hymn XVIII · Line 14Pluto’s completed conveyance of Persephone.
- Hymn XLVI · Line 7The passive participle describing Dionysos.
Translation
The English “brought” at XLVI.7 correctly represents ἀχθείς, the passive participle of ἄγω. Its appearance can mislead readers toward a pain or burden word, but the construction concerns Dionysos’s arrival. Likewise the vocative ἀγέ, “leader,” in the appended Ares hymn belongs to the separate noun ἀγός, not to an imperative occurrence of this verb.
Attested forms
ἄγειν; ἄγεις; ἄγουσα; ἄγουσαι; ἄγων; ἀχθεὶς; ἤγαγες
Occurrence inventory
11 in total. VI.8; X.30; XVII.10; XVIII.14; XXXIII.9; XXXVI.14; XLVI.7; LVI.11; LXXIV.10; LXXVI.12; LXXVIII.1