ORPHIC FRAGMENT 284

OTTO KERN

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

SUMMARY: This fragment is a quotation of Orpheus from Tzetzes’ Chiliades along with several similar quotations from ancient literature.

284. (18) Ἰωαννοῦ τοῦ Τζέτζου βιβλίον ἱστορικῆς τῆς στιχῶν πολιτικῶν (Chiliades) II 42 vs. 609 Johann Gottlieb Kiessling Ioannis Tzetzae Historiarum Variarum Chiliades p. 64 (Exeges. in Iliad. 26, 24 Herm.):

τῆς ἱστορίας μέμνηται ταύτης Ὀρφεὺς που λέγων·

οὐδ’ ἦν Ἰφίκλοιο θοώτερος αὐδάζοιο,

ὅς τε καὶ ἀνθερίκεσσιν ἐπέτρεχεν, οὐδέ τι καρπὸν

σίνετ᾽ ἀήσυρα γυῖα φέρων ἐπὶ λήιον αὖον.

“Of this narrative, Orphéfs (Ὀρφεὺς) remembered somewhere saying:

‘It was no more agile, you would say, than Íphiklos (Ἴφικλος),

running through the stalks of asphodel, and it did no fruit

any harm, bearing its agile limbs on the dry field.”

(trans. by the author)

Herm. 512 n. 33; Christian Lobeck Aglaophamus I 422; Josef Heeg Die Angeblichen Orphischen Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι 56.

Iphiclus is already known from Κατάλογος Ἡσιόδου fr. 117 Rz.³ ed. 1913:

ἄκρον ἐπ’ ἀνθερίκων καρπὸν θέεν οὐδὲ κατέκλα,

ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ πυραμίνους ἀθέρας φοίτασκε πόδεσσι

καὶ οὐ (κοὐ O. Roßbach) σινέσκετο καρπόν.

“On the stalks of asphodels the highest fruit was moving and not snapping off,

but he was roaming about on the ears of wheat with his feet

and was not harming the fruit.”

(trans. by the author)

...which is imitated in the Ἰλιὰς Ὁμήρου 20.227

ἄκρον ἐπ’ ἀνθερίκων καρπὸν θέον οὐδὲ κατέκλων.

“and these, as they sped over the fertile plain, would go bounding on over the ripe ears of wheat and not break them.”

(trans. Samuel Butler, 1898)

It is reminiscent of verses 139 and 160 of the Ὀρφέως Ἀργοναυτικὰ.

Περί Καταρχών τοῦ Μαξίμου τοῦ Ἐφεσίου 422-424 transcribed Orpheus (Arthur Ludwich Maximi et Ammonis p. 33).

It seems to be that Διονυσιακὰ Νόννου borrows from Hesiod at 28.284 (on Ωκύθοος):

εἰς δρόμον Ἰφίκλωι πανομοίιος, ὅστις ἐπείγων

ταρσὰ ποδῶν ἀβάτοιο κατέγραφεν ἄκρα γαλήνης,

καὶ σταχύων ἐφύπερθε μετάρσιον εἶχε πορείην,

ἀνθερίκων στράτον ἄκρον ἀκαμπέα ποσσὶν ὁδεύων.

“Just like the footrace of Íphiklos (Ἴφικλος), who, hastening on,

was marking the highest point of the untrodden calm with the soles of his feet,

and bearing the journey in the air atop of the ears of wheat,

traveling over the topmost host of flowering stems of asphodel with his feet.”

(trans. by the author)

Verse 1 of Hesiod also looks to Ὑπὲρ τῶν Εἰκόνων Λουκιανοὺ (Pro imaginibus) 20 p. 500:

καὶ τολμήσειεν ἂν εἰπεῖν, ἵππον ἐπαινέσαι θέλων, φύσει κοῦφον ὧν ἴσμεν ζῴων καὶ δρομικόν, ὅτι

Ἄκρον ἐπ᾽ ἀνθερίκων καρπὸν θέεν οὐδὲ κατέκλα.

“The horse is really distinguished among the animals we know for light-footed speed; well, in praising a horse, he will hazard:

‘The corn-stalks brake not ‘neath his airy tread.’ ”

(trans. H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, 1905)

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.