ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 3

OTTO KERN

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

MAGUS ET MEDICUS (Magician and Physician; Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I 235)

SUMMARY: This testimony quotes from the Alcestis of Euripides which refers to a spell (φάρμακος) on Thracian tablets (σανίσιν) written by Orpheus.

ORPHIC CRITICAL TESTIMONY 82.

Ἄλκηστις Εὐριπίδου 962 (438 BCE):

Χορός·

ἐγὼ καὶ διὰ μούσας

καὶ μετάρσιος ἦιξα καὶ

πλείστων ἁψάμενος λόγων

κρεῖσσον οὐδὲν Ἀνάγκας 965

ηὗρον, οὐδέ τι φάρμακον

Θρήισσαις ἐν σανίσιν, τὰς

Ὀρφεία κατέγραψεν

γῆρυς, οὐδ᾽ ὅσα Φοῖβος Ἀ-

σκληπιάδαις ἔδωκε (Musgrave] παρέδωκε codd.) 970

φάρμακα πολυπόνοις

ἀντιτεμὼν βροτοῖσιν.

CHORUS:

“Myself have traced the Muses’ path, have soared amid the stars, have laid my hold on many a theme, and yet have found naught stronger than necessity, no spell inscribed on Thracian tablets written there by Orpheus, the sweet singer, no! nor aught among the simples culled by Phœbus for the toiling race of men, and given to Asclepius' sons.”

(trans. Edward Philip Coleridge, 1891)

Herman Diels Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker II³ 165 n. 7.

V. Wilamowitz Homerische Untersuchungen 224 n. 22, that connects Ἑλένη Εὐριπίδου 513 (412 BCE):

λόγος γάρ ἐστιν οὐκ ἐμός, σοφῶν δ᾽ ἔπος,

δεινῆς ἀνάγκης οὐδὲν ἰσχύειν πλέον.

“The saying is not mine, but it is a wise word: nothing is stronger than dreadful necessity.”

(trans. Edward Philip Coleridge, 1910)

For vs. 967 v. also compare Heraclides Ponticus as quoted in the scholiast of Euripides’ Alcestis 968 (II 239 Schw.):

ὁ δὲ φυσικὸς Ἡρακλείδης (O. Voss De Heraclidis Pontici vita et scriptis diss. Rostoch. 1896, 91 fr. 100) εἶναι ὄντως φησὶ σανίδας τινὰς Ὀρφέως, γράφων οὕτως ‘τὸ δὲ τοῦ Διονύσου κατεσκεύασται [ἐπὶ del. Wilam.] τῆς Θράικης ἐπὶ τοῦ καλουμένου Αἵμου, ὅπου δή τινας ἐν σανίσιν ἀναγραφὰς εἶναί φασιν <Ὀρφέως add. Wilam.>’.

“And the natural philospher Irakeidîs (Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικός) says that there actually are tablets of Orphéfs (Ὀρφεύς), writing in this way: ‘The temple of Diónysos was built on a mountain of Thrace called Aimos (Αἷμος), where they say there are writings of Orphéfs on tablets.’ ”

(trans. by the author)

v. p. II s. Χρησμοί “Oracles”. Franz Susemihl Ind. XVI; Otto Kern Orpheus 33.

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.