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

SUMMARY: In this fragment, Orpheus says that Adrasteia received brazen drumsticks and a goat-skin drum.

152. (111) Περὶ τῆς κατὰ Πλάτωνα θεολογίας Πρόκλου IV 16 p. 206, 4:

τῶι δὲ τῦς Ἀδραστείας θεσμῶι πάντα ὑπήκοα, καὶ πᾶσαι διανομαὶ θεῶν, καὶ μέτρα πάντα καὶ φρουραὶ διὰ τοῦτον ὑφεστήκασι. παῥ Ὀρφεῖ δὲ καὶ φρουρεῖν λέγεται τὸν τῶν ὅλων δημιουργόν, καὶ

χάλκεα ῥόπτρα λαβοῦσα

καὶ τύπανον αἴγηκες

οὕτως ἠχεῖν, ὥστε πάντας ἐπιστρέφειν εἰς αὐτὴν τοὺς θεούς. ὃ καὶ Σωκράτης ἀπομιμούμενος, τὸν ἦχον λέγω τὸν μυθικὸν τὸν ἐπὶ πάντα διατείνοντα κηρύγματι, παραπλησίως τὸν θεσμὸν τῦς Ἀδραστείας ἐπὶ πάσας πραάγει τὰς ψυχάς. θεσμὸς δὲ Ἀδραστείας ὅδε· ἥτις ἂν ψυχὴ κατίδοι τι τῶν ἀληθῶν μέχρι [τε] τῆς ἑτέρας περιόδου, εἶναι ἀπήμονα μόνον, οὐχὶ τὸν Ὀρφικὸν ἦχον ἀποτυπωσάμενος διὰ τοῦδε τοῦ κηρύγματος καὶ οἷον ὕμνον τινὰ τοῦτον τῦς Ἀδραστείας ἀναφθεγξάμενος. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ θεσμὸν αὐτὸν ἀλλ' οὐ νόμον προσείρηκεν, ὥσπερ τὸν Κρόνιον καὶ τὸν Δίϊον.

(“This guardian power therefore, the sacred law of Adrastia indicates, which nothing is able to escape. For with respect to the laws of Fate, not only the Gods are superior to them, but also partial souls, when they live according to intellect, and give themselves up to the light of providence. And the Saturnian (Kronian) Gods are essentially exempt from the Jovian (of Zeus) laws, and the connective and perfective Gods from the Saturnian laws;)

“but all things are obedient to the sacred law of Adrastia, and all the distributions of the Gods, and all measures and guardianships subsist (remain in effect) on account of this. By Orpheus also, she is said to guard the demiurgus of the universe,

“ ‘and receiving brazen drumsticks, and a drum made from the skin of a goat’

“to produce so loud a sound as to convert all the Gods to herself. And Socrates imitating this fabulous sound which extends a certain proclamation to all things, in a similar manner produces the sacred law of Adrastia to all souls. For he says, ‘This is the sacred law of Adrastia, that whatever soul has perceived any thing of truth, shall be free from harm till another period,’ all but expressing the Orphic sound through this proclamation, and uttering this as a certain hymn of Adrastia. For in the first place indeed, he calls it θεσμός, a sacred law, and not νόμος, a law, as he does the Saturnian and Jovian laws.”

(trans. Thomas Taylor, 1816)

Lobeck I 515; Kern Archaeol. Jahrb. III 1888, 235; Gruppe Suppl. 746.

Vide fragment 105 b.

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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