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

SUMMARY: Phanes gave Nyx oracular ability which carries the truth.

103. (88) σχόλιον Ἑρμείου επὶ Φαίδρου Πλάτωνος 247c p. 147, 20 Couvr.:

ὁ γὰρ τοι Ὀρφεὺς περὶ τῆς Νυκτὸς λέγων

‘θεῶν γὰρ ἔχει, φησὶ . . .’

καὶ

μαντοσύνην δ’ οἱ δῶκεν ἔχειν ἀψευδέα πάντηι.

καὶ αὕτη λέγεται μαντεύειν τοῖς θεοῖς.

“For Orphéfs (Ὀρφεὺς) said concerning Night,

‘For,’ he says, ‘of the Gods, she sustains them...’

and,

‘And he (Φάνης) offered her (Νύξ) the art of prophecy to bear truth in every way.’

“And this declares that she makes prophesies to the Gods.”

(trans. by the author)

The same text quotes (again) the same verse σχόλιον Ἑρμείου επὶ Φαίδρου Πλάτωνος p. 150, 9 Couvr.:

ὁ δὲ Πλάτων ὅπερ μὲν εὗρε καταφατικῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεολόγου ῥηθέν, τούτο αὐτὸς ἀποφατικῶς προηνέγκατο – ὃ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος Νύκτα εἶπε, τοῦτο οὗτος άχρώματον –, ὃ δὲ ἐκεῖνος ἀποφατικῶς ἀψευδέα (secl. Couvr.) εἰπών· μαντοσύνην . . . πάντων, τοῦτο οὕτως καταφατικῶς εἶπε

‘περὶ ἣν τὸ τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐπιστήμης γένος, οὐσία ὄντως οὖσα’

“But what Plátôn (Πλάτων) found, is affirmatively said by the theologian (Ὀρφεὺς); yet this has been presented as negative (by Plátôn) – for he said that the latter was Night, which (he said) is without color – and said purely in the negative. (But the theologian speaks of) oracular ability . . . of all; this, in this way, he said in the affirmative:

‘In respect to her generation of true knowledge, (it is) actually the substance of being.’

(trans. by the author)

and at σχόλιον Ἑρμείου επὶ Φαίδρου Πλάτωνος p. 151, 5:

οὐ τὴν κατὰ συμφωνίαν ἀλήθειαν λέγει, ἀλλ' ἥτις σύνδρομον ἔχει τῶι ἀληθεῖ τὸ εἶναι αὐτῆς καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν, καὶ τοῦτο ἔστιν αὐτῆς τὸ εἶναι ἡ ἀλήθεια, ἢ ὅπερ καὶ ὁ θεολόγος εἶπε·

μαντοσύνην δέ οἱ δῶκεν <ἔχειν> ἀψευδέα πάντων.

“Nor does he speak of truths in conformity to agreement, but that coincident with truth, it has being and essence, and this being is truth of itself; the very thing which the theologian also said,

‘And he (Φάνης) offered her (Νύξ) the art of prophecy to bear truth in every way.’ ”

(trans. by the author)

Herm. 506 n. 6; Lobeck I 502; Ninck Bedeutung des Wassers Philolog. Suppl. XIV 1921, 64 n. 3.

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.

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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.

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