ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 205

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This testimony, from the orator Demosthenes, describes preparations for, and a brief description of, a Bacchanal; there is a second quotation, from the lexicon of the grammarian Harpocration, which comments on a word used in the quotation from Demosthenes.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 205

Δημοσθένης· ὑπὲρ Κτησιφῶντος περὶ τοῦ Στεφάνου XVIII § 259 on Aiskhínîs (Αἰσχίνης):

ἀνὴρ δὲ γενόμενος τῆι μητρὶ τελούσηι τὰς βίβλους ἀνεγίγνωσκες καὶ τἄλλα συνεσκευωροῦ, τὴν μὲν νύκτα νεβρίζων (v. Phot. s. νεβρίζειν Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I 653) καὶ κρατηρίζων, καὶ καθαίρων τοὺς τελουμένους κἀπομάττων τῶι πηλῶι καὶ τοῖς πιτύροις, καὶ ἀνιστὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ καθαρμοῦ κελεύων λέγειν ‘ἔφυγον κακόν, εὗρον ἄμεινον’, ἐπὶ τῶι μηδένα πώποτε τηλικοῦτ᾽ ὀλολύξαι σεμνυνόμενος (καὶ ἔγωγε νομίζω· μὴ γὰρ οἴεσθ᾽ αὐτὸν, φθέγγεσθαι μὲν οὕτω μέγα, ὀλολύζειν δ᾽ οὐχ ὑπέρλαμπρον), (260) ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις τοὺς καλοὺς θιάσους ἄγων διὰ τῶν ὁδῶν, τοὺς ἐστεφανωμένους τῶι μαράθωι καὶ τῆι λεύκηι, τοὺς ὄφεις τοὺς παρείας θλίβων καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς κεφαλῆς αἰωρῶν, καὶ βοῶν εὐοῖ σαβοῖ, καὶ ἐπορχούμενος ὕης ἄττης ἄττης ὕης, ἔξαρχος καὶ προηγεμὼν καὶ κιττοφόρος καὶ λικνοφόρος καὶ τοιαῦθ᾽ ὑπὸ τῶν γραιδίων προσαγορευόμενος, μισθὸν λαμβάνων τούτων ἔνθρυπτα καὶ στρεπτοὺς καὶ νεήλατα, ἐφ᾽ οἷς τίς οὐκ ἂν ὡς ἀληθῶς αὑτὸν εὐδαιμονίσειε καὶ τὴν αὑτοῦ τύχην;

“On arriving at manhood you assisted your mother in her initiations, reading the service-book while she performed the ritual, and helping generally with the paraphernalia. At night it was your duty to mix the libations, to clothe the catechumens in fawn-skins, to wash their bodies, to scour them with the loam and the bran, and, when their lustration was duly performed, to set them on their legs, and give out the hymn:

Here I leave my sins behind,

Here the better way I find;

and it was your pride that no one ever emitted that holy ululation so powerfully as yourself. I can well believe it! When you hear the stentorian tones of the orator, can you doubt that the ejaculations of the acolyte were simply magnificent? In day-time you marshalled your gallant throng of bacchanals through the public streets, their heads garlanded with fennel and white poplar; and, as you went, you squeezed the fat-cheeked snakes, or brandished them above your head, now shouting your ‘Euoi Saboi!’ now footing it to the measure of ‘Hyes Attes! Attes Hyes!’—saluted by all the old women with such proud titles as Master of the Ceremonies, Fugleman, Ivy-bearer, Fan-carrier; and at last receiving your recompense of tipsy-cakes, and cracknels, and currant-buns. With such rewards who would not rejoice greatly, and account himself the favorite of fortune?”

(trans. C. A. Vince and J. H. Vince, 1926)

V. see also §129.

Harpocration on this matter s. Περὶ τῶν Λέξεων τῶν Δέκα Ῥητόρων τοῦ Ἁρποκρατίωνος· ἀπομάττων:

Δημοσθένης ἐν τῶι ὑπὲρ Κτησιφῶντος. ἀπομάττων· οἱ μὲν ἁπλοϊκώτερον ἀκούουσιν ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀποψῶν καὶ λυμαινόμενος, ἄλλοι δὲ περιεργότερον, οἷον περιπλάττων τὸν πηλὸν καὶ τὰ πίτυρα τοῖς τελουμένοις, ὡς λέγομεν ἀπομάττεσθαι τὸν ἀνδριάντα πηλῶι· ἤλειφον γὰρ τῶι πηλῶι καὶ τῶι πιτύρωι τοὺς μυουμένους, ἐκμιμούμενοι τὰ μυθολογούμενα παρ᾿ ἐνίοις, ὡς ἄρα οἱ Τιτᾶνες τὸν Διόνυσον ἐλυμήναντο γύψωι καταπλασάμενοι ἐπὶ τῶι μὴ γνώριμοι γενέσθαι. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν τὸ ἔθος ἐκλιπεῖν, πηλῶι δὲ ὕστερον καταπλάττεσθαι νομίμου χάριν.

Translator’s note: this is a lexicon entry for the word ἀπομάττων:

“Dîmosthénîs (Δημοσθένης) in his defense of Ktîsiphóhn (Κτησιφῶντος, Ctesiphon). ἀπομάττων (wiping clean): Some people understand this word to simply mean ‘wiping off’ and ‘cleansing oneself from dirt,’ but others, more accurately, understand the word as ‘plastering clay and bran on initiates;’ therefore we say, ‘to model a statue with clay.’ In fact, they were anointing the initiates with clay and bran, imitating exactly what was told to them in myths by some, as it seems that the Titans injured Diónysos (Διόνυσος), plastering themselves with gypsum, so as not to be recognized. In fact, this custom has been abandoned, but later they smeared themselves with clay in partiality to tradition.”

(trans. by the author)

Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I 646 ss. 695; Dieterich Rhein. Mus. XLVIII 1893, 279 = Kl. Schr. 121, which drives the Clouds of Aristophanes 250 back to these Orphic rites (v. fr. 1). Erwin Rohde in Psyche II⁶ 110 n. 1 denies that the Orphic rites were indicated by Demosthenes.

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

We know the various qualities and characteristics of the Gods based on metaphorical stories: Mythology.

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

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

How do we know there are Gods? Experiencing Gods.