ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 77
OTTO KERN
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For links to many more fragments: The Orphic Fragments of Otto Kern.
AMOR PUERORUM (Lover of Young Men)
SUMMARY: This testimony has many quotations, beginning with the main quotation by the poet Phanokles, which say that after Eurydice died, Orpheus lost interest in women and turned his affections to young men, which infuriated the Thracian women, who then killed him.
ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 77.
Ἔρωτες ἢ Καλοί Φανοκλέους as found in Ἐκλογαὶ φυσικαὶ καὶ ἠθικαί Ἰωάννου Στοβαῖο IV 20, 47 (IV 461, 3 Hense) Anthol. lyr. ed. Theodor Bergk p. 165 fr. 1:
Ἢ ὡς Οἰάγροιο πάις Θρηίκιος Ὀρφεὺς
ἐκ θυμοῦ Κάλαϊν στέρξε Βορηϊάδην,
πολλάκι δὲ σκιεροῖσιν ἐν ἄλσεσιν ἕζετ’ ἀείδων
ὃν πόθον, οὐδ’ ἦν οἱ θυμὸς ἐν ἡσυχίηι,
ἀλλ’ αἰεί μιν ἄγρυπνοι ὑπὸ ψυχῆι μελεδῶναι 5
ἔτρυχον, θαλερὸν δερκομένου Κάλαϊν.
τὸν μὲν Βιστονίδες κακομήχανοι ἀμφιχυθεῖσαι ἔκτανον,
εὐήκη φάσγανα θηξάμεναι,
οὕνεκα πρῶτος ἔδειξεν ἐνὶ Θρήικεσσιν ἔρωτας
ἄρρενας, οὐδὲ πόθους ἤινεσε θηλυτέρων. 10
τοῦ δ’ ἀπὸ μὲν κεφαλὴν χαλκῶι τάμον, αὐτίκα δ’ αὐτὴν
εἰς ἅλα Θρηϊκίην ῥῖψαν ὁμοῦ χέλυϊ
ἥλωι καρτύνασαι, ἵν’ ἐμφορέοιντο θαλάσσηι
ἄμφω ἅμα, γλαυκοῖς τεγγόμεναι ῥοθίοις.
τὰς δ’ ἱερῆι Λέσβωι πολιὴ θάλασσα· 15
ἠχὴ δ’ ὡς λιγυρῆς πόντον ἐπέσχε λύρης,
νήσους τ’ αἰγιαλούς θ’ ἁλιμυρέας, ἔνθα λίγειαν
ἀνέρες Ὀρφείην ἐκτέρισαν κεφαλήν.
ἐν δὲ χέλυν τύμβωι λιγυρὴν θέσαν, ἣ καὶ ἀναύδους
πέτρας καὶ Φόρκου στυγνὸν ἔπειθεν ὕδωρ. 20
ἐκ κείνου μολπαί τε καὶ ἱμερτὴ κιθαριστὺς
νῆσον ἔχει, πασέων δ’ ἐστὶν ἀοιδοτάτη.
Θρῆικες δ’ ὡς ἐδάησαν ἀρήϊοι ἔργα γυναικῶν
ἄγρια, καὶ πάντας δεινὸν ἐσῆλθεν ἄχος,
ἃς ἀλόχους ἔστιζον, ἵν’ ἐν χροῒ σήματ’ ἔχουσαι 25
κυάνεα στυγεροῦ μὴ λελάθοιντο φόνου·
ποινὰς δ’ Ὀρφῆϊ κταμένωι στίζουσι γυναῖκες
εἰς ἔτι νῦν κείνης εἵνεκεν ἀμπλακίης.
“Or how Thracian Orphéfs (Ὀρφεὺς), the son of Íagros (Οἴαγρος),
deeply loved Kálaïs (Κάλαϊς), the son of Vorǽas (Βορέας).
and was often sitting in shady groves singing out
his desire, for his heart was not at rest;
indeed, he always passed sleepless nights under the force of his life, for thoughts 5
were consuming him, from gazing at exuberant Kálaïs.
A mischievous plot embracing them, the Vistonian women (Βιστονίδες) slew him,
having sharpened their well-pointed swords,
because he was the first to reveal the amours between males among the Thracians,
and he did not approve of love for women. 10
And they cut off his head with bronze, and at once
cast it into the Thracian sea with his lyre,
strengthening their bond with a nail, so that they were both carried together to the sea,
immersed in the gleaming waves.
And the gray sea brought them to shore on sacred Lǽzvos (Λέσβος). 15
Thus the sweet sound of the lyre spread over the sea,
the islands, and the salt-soaked shores, where
men buried the singing head of Orphéfs.
And in the tomb they placed the lyre,
which even persuaded dumb rocks and the hateful water of Phórkos (Φόρκος = Φόρκυς). 20
Since then, both songs and lovely kithára-playing
sustain the island, and it is the most tuneful of all places.
And as the warlike Thracian men learned of the savage deeds of the women,
and fearful distress entered all,
they were tattooing their wives, that by having dark signs on their skin 25
they would not forget their hateful murder;
and for their slaying of Orphéfs, the women still tattoo themselves
even now for the sake of penalties paid for their sins.”
(trans. by the author)
Publii Ovidii Nasonis Metamorphoses X 83 (nr. 76) says the same as Phanocles:
ille etiam Thracum populis fuit auctor amorem
in teneros transferre mares citraque iuventam
aetatis breve ver et primos carpere flores.
“He was also the first of the Thracian people to turn his love to young men, of that life, that brief springtime within youth, and the first flowers to pick.”
(trans. by the author)
Ludwig Preller Rheinisches Museum für Philologie IV 1845, 402 (Orphischen Fragmenten. Phädons Lebensschicksale und Schriften. Phanokles und die Mythologie der Knabenliebe) = Ausgew. Aufs. 373; R. Heinze Ber. Sächs. Ges. Wiss. LXXI 1919, 90.
Pseudo-Hyginus De Astronomica II 7:
nonnulli aiunt, quod Orpheus primus puerilem amorem induxerit, mulieribus visum contumeliam fecisse; hac re ab his interfectum (DGN] fecisse illis ab hac re interfectum vulgo).
“Some affirm that Orpheus may have been the first to introduce the love of boys, and this, having been observed by the women, was taken as an affront; and for this he was killed by them.”
(trans. by the author)
Iunii Philargyrii Commentariolus in Bucolica et Georgica Virgilii IV 520 (II 346 Lion):
Orpheus autem quoniam post obitum Eurydices omnes feminas fastidiit, translato in pueros amore, discerptus est.
“But since Orpheus, after the death of Eurydice, disliked all women, and (his affections) had been transferred to the love of young men, he was torn into pieces.”
(trans. by the author)
Regarding v. 25 see v. Ἠθικὰ Πλουτάρχου· Περὶ τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου βραδέως τιμωρουμένων 44.12 p. 557 d:
οὐδὲ γὰρ Θρᾶικας ἐπαινοῦμεν ὅτι στίζουσιν ἄχρι νῦν, τιμωροῦντες Ὀρφεῖ τὰς αὑτῶν γυναῖκας.
“For we do not applaud the Thracians who tattoo their wives even now, to avenge Orphéfs (Ὀρφεὺς)”
(trans. by the author)
On the contrary, Apion says that Apollo is the lover (ἐραστής) of Orpheus, as quoted in Ὁμιλίᾳ Κλήμεντος Ῥώμης (pseudo-Clement) V 15:
καὶ ἵνα μὴ εἰς ἄπειρον ἐξήγησιν τὸν χρόνον δαπανῶ, πάντων μετὰ Διὸς θεῶν ἀφθόνους εὑρήσεις κοινωνίας, οἱ ἀνόητοι δὲ μοιχείας λέγουσι τῶν θεῶν μηδὲ τῶν ἀρρένων τὰς μίξεις φυλασσομένων ὡς αἰσχράς, ἀλλὰ ἐπιτηδευόντων καὶ τοῦτο ὡς εὐπρεπές. αὐτίκα γοῦν αὐτὸς ὁ Ζεὺς Γανυμήδους ἐρᾶι, – Ποσειδῶν Πέλοπος – Ἀπόλλων Κινύρου, Ζακύνθου, Ὑακίνθου, Φόρβαντος, Ὕλα, Ἀδμήτου, Κυπαρίσσου, Ἀμύκλα, Τρωίλου, Βράγχου, Τυμναίου, Πάρου, Ποτνιέως, Ὀρφέως.
“And not to spend the time in an endless exposition, you will find numerous unions with Jupiter of all the gods. But senseless men call these doings of the gods adulteries; even of those gods who did not refrain from the abuse of males as disgraceful, but who practised even this as seemly. For instance, Jupiter himself was in love with Ganymede: Poseidon with Pelops; Apollo with Cinyras, Zacyinthus, Hyacinthus, Phorbas, Hylas, Admetus, Cyparissus, Amyclas, Troilus, Branchus the Tymnæan, Parus the Potnian, Orpheus.”
(trans. Thomas Smith, 1886)
Compare to Wilamowitz Commentariolum Grammaticum II 1879, 14, who, with good reason, is of the opinion that this idea had originated from a passage from Pindar on Orpheus (nr. 58).
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.
