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

SUMMARY: These fragments talk of reincarnation. In the citation from Olympiodorus, the author states that “everywhere Plato imitates Orpheus.”

224. (222. 223) σχόλιον Πρόκλου επὶ Πολιτείας Πλάτωνος II 338, 10 Kr.:

ταῦτα καὶ τῆς Ὀρφικῆς ἡμᾶς ἐκδιδασκούσης θεολογίας. ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ Ὀρφεὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα σαφῶς παραδίδωσιν, ὅταν μετὰ τὴν τῶν Τιτάνων μυθικὴν δίκην καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἐκείνων γένεσιν τῶν θνητῶν τούτων ζώιων λέγηι πρώτον μέν, ὅτι τοὺς βίους ἀμείβουσιν αἱ ψυχαὶ κατὰ δή τινας περιόδους καὶ εἰσδύονται ἄλλαι εἰς ἄλλα σώματα πολλάκις ἀνθρώπων·

a οἱ δ’ αὐτοὶ πατέρες τε καὶ υἱέες ἐν μεγάροισιν

εὔκοσμοί τ’ ἄλοχοι καὶ μητέρες ἠδὲ θύγατρες

γίνοντ’ ἀλλήλων μεταμειβομένηισι γενέθλαις.

ἐν γὰρ τούτοις τὴν ἀπ’ ἀνθρωπίνων σωμάτων εἰς ἀνθρώπινα μετοίκισιν αὐτῶν παραδίδωσιν......|339, 1 Kr. ἔπειθ’ ὅτι καὶ εἰς τὰ ἄλλα ζῶια μετάβασίς ἐστι τῶν ψυχῶν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων, καὶ τοῦτο διαρρήδην Ὀρφεὺς ἀναδιδάσκει, ὁπηνίκα ἂν διορίζηται·

b οὕνεκ’ ἀμειβομένη ψυχὴ κατὰ κύκλα χρόνοιο

ἀνθρώπων ζώιοισι μετέρχεται ἄλλοθεν ἄλλοις·

ἄλλοτε μέν θ’ ἵππος, τότε γίνεται - - - - - - -

ἄλλοτε δὲ πρόβατον, τότε δ’ ὄρνεον αἰνὸν ἰδέσθαι,

ἄλλοτε δ’ αὖ κύνεον τε δέμας φωνή τε βαρεῖα,

καὶ ψυχρῶν ὀφίων ἕρπει γένος ἐν χθονὶ δίηι.

“These things are also from the Orphic theology, explaining thoroughly. Or did not Orphéfs (Ὀρφεὺς) clearly hand down ideas such as this? ...since after the mythical judgement of the Titans, and from the birth of those mortal beings, he says first, that the souls exchange their lives, now following cycles, and they often enter into bodies of humans, now in one, then another:

a ‘The same are the fathers and sons in the palaces

as the orderly wives and mothers and daughters;

they come about changing into each other through the generations.’

“For in these verses, he imparts (the teaching of reincarnation) from human bodies to the occupants of them into humans... thereafter (he explains) that there is also migration of souls of humans into the other living beings, and this Orphéfs (Ὀρφεὺς) explicitly teaches, when he declares:

b ‘Because the soul changing through the circles of time,

from humans into the living creatures, from one place to another:

sometimes a horse, but then it becomes …

at another time a cow, at times a dreadful bird to see!

...at another time in the shape of a dog with its strong bark,

and the cold race of snakes crawling upon the sacred earth.’ ”

(trans. by the author)

σχόλιον Ὀλυμπιοδώρου επὶ Φαίδωνος Πλάτωνος 70 c p. 58, 8 Norv.:

καὶ ὅτι τὸ ζῶν καὶ τὸ τεθνεὸς ἐξ ἀλλήλων, κατασκευάζει ἡ λέξις ἐκ τῆς μαρτυρίας τῶν παλαιῶν ποιητῶν, ἀπὸ Ὀρφέως, φημί, λέγοντος·

a οἱ δ’ αὐτοὶ πατέρες τε καὶ υἱέες ἐν μεγάροισιν

ἠδ’ ἄλοχοι σεμναὶ κεδναί τε θύγατερες.

πανταχοῦ γὰρ ὁ Πλάτων παρωιδεῖ τὰ Ὀρφεως. οὕτω γοῦν καὶ ἀνωτέρω ἔλεγεν· ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις περὶ αὐτῶν λεγόμενος, καὶ πάλιν fr. 235.

“And that the living and the dead arise from one another, the discourse establishes by the testimony of the ancient poets, from Orphéfs (Ὀρφεὺς), I assert, saying:

a ‘The same are the fathers and sons in the palaces

also the stately wives and cherished daughters.’

“For everywhere Plátôn (Πλάτων) imitates Orphéfs. In this way, certainly, even above he said, ‘Indeed, in fact, that which is said about it in secret,’ and the contrary.” Fragment 235.

(trans. by the author)

Preller Rhein. Mus. IV 1845, 390 = Ausgew. Aufs. aus der class. Altertumsw. 362; Herwerden Herm. V 1871, 143; Kern Arch. Gesch. Philos. I 1888, 499; Zeller Zeitschr. wiss. Theol. XLII 1899, 235 = Kl. Schr. II 155.

For stanza a verse 1 ἐν μεγάροισιν “in the palaces” compare τμῆμα 137 στίχος 4 τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους (Diels I³ 276, 1):

σφάξας ἐν μεγάροισι κακὴν ἀλεγύνατο δαῖτα (pater filium immutatum)

“slaughtered him in the palaces and prepared himself an evil banquet.”

Translator’s note: This is a plea against the eating of animals; the son has been transformed into an animal through reincarnation; the father slaughters him and then prepares a banquet, not realizing that he will be eating his own son.

For stanza b verse 1. 2 compare τμῆμα 115 στίχος 6 τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους (Diels I³ 267, 6):

(ἔστιν ἀνάγκης χρῆμα, θεῶν ψήφισμα παλαιόν,

ἀίδιον, πλατέεσσι κατεσφρηγισμένον ὅρκοις·

εὖτὲ τις ἀμπλακίῃσι φόνῳ φίλα γυῖα μιήνῃ,

νείκεΐ θ' ὅς κε ἐπίορκον ἁμαρτήσας ἐπομόσσηι,

δαίμονες οἵ τε μακραίωνος λελόγχασι βίοιο·)

τρίς μιν μυρίας ὧρας ἀπὸ μακάρων ἀλάλησθαι,

φυομένους παντοῖα διὰ χρόνου εἴδεα θνητῶν

ἀργαλέας βιότοιο μεταλλάσσοντα κελεύθους.

(“There is an oracle of Necessity, an ancient injunction of the Gods,

eternal, sealed by broad oaths;

that whenever one has stained his own hands by murder,

and who swore an oath but failing it, perjured over a quarrel,

the daimonæs who have obtained by lot a long life)

must wander thrice ten-thousand seasons away from the happy ones (μακάρων),

springing up through this time as all sorts of mortal creatures,

taking in exchange the painful roads of life.”

(trans. by the author)

And τμῆμα 115 στίχος 12 τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους:

ἄλλος δ’ ἐξ ἄλλου δέχεται

“and one after another receives him”

For stanza b verse 3 ss. τμῆμα 117 τοῦ Ἐμπεδοκλέους (Diels I³ 268, 9):

ἤδη γάρ ποτ' ἐγὼ γενόμην κοῦρός τε κόρη τε

θάμνος τ' οἰωνός τε καὶ ἔξαλος ἔλλοπος ἰχθύς.

“Once on a time a youth was I, and I was a maiden

A bush, a bird, and a fish with scales that gleam in the ocean.”

(trans. Jane Ellen Harrison, 1903)

The Orphic poetry appears to imitate Γυναικῶν Κατάλογος Ἡσιόδου fragment 14 verse 3-6* p. 137 Rz.³ (1913) [This appears in Evelyn-White as Catalogues of Women and Eoiae 10]:

ἄλλοτε μὲν γὰρ ἐν ὀρνίθεσσι φάνεσκεν

αἰετός, ἄλλοτε δ' αὖτε πελέσκετο, θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι,

μύρμηξ, ἄλλοτε δ' αὖτε μελισσέων ἀγλαὰ φῦλα,

ἄλλοτε δ' αἰνὸς ὄφις καὶ ἀμείλιχος.

(Of Περικλύμενος) “At one time he would appear among birds, an eagle; and again at another he would be an ant, a marvel to see; and then a shining swarm of bees; and again at another time a dread relentless snake.”

(trans. Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914)

*So comments Kern, but to this translator, it seems the other way around.

Rzach Wien. Stud. XVI 1894, 229.

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.

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