From the book
The Orphic Collection, Volume I: The Hymns
Attributed to Orpheus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe printed τελεοῦται at LXXXVII.8 belongs to the -όω completion verb, with τελεόω recorded as a variant under τελειόω.
- In the Orphic HymnsDeath is told that in it alone what has been judged comes to fulfilment.
- TranslationThe English brought to fulfilment captures the resultative force.
- A place to readThe decided thing is brought to completion in Death alone.
- English renderings
- bring to completion
Meaning
The printed τελεοῦται at LXXXVII.8 belongs to the -όω completion verb, with τελεόω recorded as a variant under τελειόω. Its -οῦται matters: it is not simply the contracted τελεῖται expected from ordinary τελέω. Lexical access can gather recognized variants without rewriting the source form.
Use in the book
Death is told that in it alone what has been judged comes to fulfilment. The subject is τὸ κριθέν, the thing decided or judged, and the middle/passive form describes its completion. The sentence follows the ending of youth's bloom and precedes an account of Death's resistance to prayers. Completion here belongs to mortality's unavoidable outcome, not automatically to ritual initiation.
The wording invites comparison with Nature, who alone accomplishes what has been determined at X.24, but that passage prints τελέουσα from τελέω. The shared τὸ κριθέν phrase creates a real thematic relation while the verb forms remain distinct. Neither passage says that Death and Nature are therefore interchangeable names, nor does this single completion verb settle who performs the judging.
Places to read
- Hymn LXXXVII · Line 8The decided thing is brought to completion in Death alone.
Translation
The English brought to fulfilment captures the resultative force. Its phrase of all can sound as though it attaches directly to Death; the Greek πάντων should be read within the complete sentence rather than used to impose an additional metaphysical hierarchy. The lookup decision rests on the printed morphology and the documented lexical variant, not on the English wording alone.
Attested forms
τελεοῦται
Occurrence inventory
1 in total. LXXXVII.8