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For links to many more fragments: The Orphic Fragments of Otto Kern.

SUMMARY: In this fragment, Nyx tells Zeus that when Cronus is drunk with honey in the oaken wood, that he should then bind him.

154. (114) Περὶ του εν Ὀδυσσεία τῶν νυμφῶν ἄντρου Πορφυρίου 16 p. 67, 21 Nauck:

παρὰ δὲ τῶι Ὀρφεῖ ὁ Κρόνος μέλιτι ὑπὸ Διὸς ἐνεδρεύεται· πλησθεὶς γὰρ μέλιτος μεθύει καὶ σκοτοῦται ὡς ἀπὸ οἴνου καὶ ὑπνοῖ ὡς παρὰ Πλάτωνι (Συμπόσιον Πλάτωνος 203 b) ὁ Πόρος τοῦ νέκταρος πλησθείς· οὔπω γὰρ | ^{67 Nauck} οἶνος ἦν. φησὶ γὰρ παῥ Ὀρφεῖ ἡ Νὺξ τῶι Διὶ ὑποτιθεμένη τὸν διὰ μέλιτος δόλον

εὖτ' ἂν δή μιν ἴδηαι ὑπὸ δρυσὶν ὑψικόμοισιν

ἔργοισιν μεθύοντα μελισσάων ἐριβόμβων,

αὔτικά μιν δῆσον

αὐτόν. ὃ καὶ πάσχει ὁ Κρόνος καὶ δεθεὶς ἐκτέμνεται ὡς ὁ Οὐρανός, τοῦ θεολόγου δί ἡδονῆς δεσμεῖσθαι καὶ κατάγεσθαι τὰ θεῖα εἰς γένεσιν αἰνισσομένου ἀποσπερματίζειν τε δυνάμεις εἰς ἡδονὴν ἐκλυθέντα. ὅθεν ἐπιθυμίαι μὲν συνουσίας τὸν Οὐρανὸν κατιόντα εἰς Γῆν ἐκτέμνει Κρόνος· ταὐτὸ δὲ τῆι ἐκ συνουσίας ἡδονῆι παρίσταται αὐτοῖς ἡ τοῦ μέλιτος, ὑφ' οὗ δολωθεὶς ὁ Κρόνος ἐκτέμνεται. πρῶτος γὰρ τῶν ἀντιφερομένων τῶι Οὐρανῶι ὁ Κρόνος ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ τούτου σφαῖρα. κατίασι δὲ δυνάμεις ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν πλανωμένων. ἀλλὰ τὰς μὲν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δέχεται Κρόνος, τὰς δ' ἀπὸ τοῦ Κρόνου Ζεύς.

“In Orpheus, likewise, Saturn (Κρόνος) is ensnared by Jupiter (Ζεύς) through honey. For Saturn, being filled with honey, is intoxicated, his senses are darkened, as if from the effects of wine, and he sleeps; just as Porus (Πόρος), in the banquet of Plato (Συμπόσιον Πλάτωνος 203 b), is filled with nectar; for wine was not (says he) yet known. The Goddess Night (Νύξ), too, in Orpheus, advises Jupiter to make use of honey as an artifice. For she says to him:

‘When stretch'd beneath the lofty oaks you view,

with honey by the bees produc'd

Sunk in ebriety (intoxication), fast bind the God.’

“This therefore, takes place, and Saturn being bound is emasculated in the same manner as Heaven (Οὐρανός); the theologist obscurely signifying by this that divine natures become through pleasure bound, and drawn down into the realms of generation; and also that, when dissolved in pleasure they emit certain seminal powers. Hence Saturn emasculates Heaven, when descending to earth through a desire of generation. But the sweetness of honey signifies, with theologists, the same thing as the pleasure arising from generation, by which Saturn, being ensnared, was castrated. For Saturn, and his sphere, are the first of the orbs that move contrary to the course of Cœlum or the heavens. Certain powers, however, descend both from Heaven (or the inerratic sphere) and the planets. But Saturn receives the powers of Heaven, and Jupiter the powers of Saturn.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1823)

σχόλιον Πρόκλου επὶ Τιμαίου Πλάτωνος 35 b (II 208, 30 Diehl):

παραδειγματικὰ δὲ αἱ τομαὶ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ οἱ δεσμοί· καὶ γὰρ τέμνει πρώ | ^{209 Diehl} τως ἐκεῖνον καὶ δεσμοῖ τοῖς ἀρρήκτοις δεσμοῖς, ταῦτα καὶ τῶν θεολόγων αἰνισσομένων, ὁπόταν λέγωσι τάς τε Κρονίας ἐκτομὰς καὶ τοὺς δεσμούς, οἷς ἑαυτὸν λέγεται περιβάλλειν ὁ τοῦ παντὸς ποιητής, ὧν καὶ ὁ ἐν Κρατύλωι (404 a) διαμνημονεύει Σωκράτης.

“And the paradigmatic causes are the sections and bonds of the father. For he first cuts, and binds with ineffable bonds. These things also, are obscurely indicated by theologists when they speak of the Saturnian sections and bonds with which the maker of the universe is said to surround himself, and which are mentioned by Socrates in the Cratylus (404 a).”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1820)

Herm. XLIX; Lobeck I 516; Dieterich Abraxas 76; M. Mayer apud Rosch. II 1470; Pohlenz N. Jahrb. XXXVII 1916, 591 n. 2.

Saturn, the inventor of honey and fruits, at Cyrene in Macrobius Saturnalia I 7.25:

huic deo insertiones surculorum pomorumque educationes et omnium cuiuscemodi fertilium tribuunt disciplinas. Cyrenenses etiam, cum rem divinam ei faciunt, ficis recentibus coronantur placentasque mutuo missitant, mellis et fructuum repertorem Saturnum aestimantes.

“To the God (Saturn/ Κρόνος) in this place they assign the methods of grafting shoots, rearing fruit trees and every kind of produce. The Cyrenians even now, when they make divine sacrifice to him, wear garlands of fresh figs and send each other cakes, as they value Saturn as the inventor (or discoverer, repertorem) of honey and fruit.”

(trans. by the author)

The binding of Krónos is employed metaphorically in ὕμνος Ὀρφέως 13.2-5 Κρόνου:

ποικιλόβουλ', ἀμίαντε, μεγασθενές, ἄλκιμε Τιτάν,

ὃς δαπανᾷς μὲν ἅπαντα καὶ αὔξεις ἔμπαλιν αὐτός,

δεσμοὺς ἀρῥήκτους ὃς ἔχεις κατ' ἀπείρονα κόσμον

αἰῶνος, Κρόνε παγγενέτωρ.

“Oh clever, pure, mighty, brave Titán,

you consume all things and restore them yourself,

you possess unbreakable bonds over the unlimited world,

Oh Krónos father of all time.”

(trans. by the author)

magicamque vim eis inesse iubet pap. mag. Paris. vs. 232 (Dieterich 1. 1. 77):

ποίησον, ὃ λέγω, Ταρταροῦχε παρθένε,

ἔδησα δεσμοῖς τοῖς Κρόνου τὸν σὸν πόλον.

“Bring about what I say, oh Maiden of Tártaros!

I bound your axis (πόλον) to the chains of Krónos!”

(trans. by the author)

The story of the birth of the Gods: Orphic Theogony.

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Dictionary of terms related to ancient Greek mythology: Glossary of Hellenic Mythology.

Introduction to the Thæí (the Gods): The Nature of the Gods.

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