THE ORPHIC HYMNS are a collection of 87 short religious poems composed in either the late Hellenistic (C3rd or C2nd B.C.) or early Roman (C1st to C2nd A.D.) era. They are based on the beliefs of Orphism, a mystery cult or religious philosophy which claimed descent from the teachings of the mythical hero Orpheus.
The Hymns of Orpheus. Translated by Taylor, Thomas (1792).
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999. (Current edition).
The 1792 translation by Taylor with his notes is still available in print. However a much more accurate, modern translation by A. Athanassakis has since been released. See the booklist (left below) for details of these two volumes and other related works on Orphism.
Formatting notes:
1. I have compacted each of Taylor’s verse couplets into a single line to shorten the page and make the information easier to print.
2. Taylor has translated most of the Greek names to their Latin equivalents. For the sake of clarity I have reinserted the Greek names from the source text in square brackets.
ORPHIC HYMNS CONTENTS
0. To Musaeus
1. To Prothyraea
2. To Nyx (Night)
3. To Uranus (the Sky)
4. To Aether
5. To Protogonus
6. To Astron (the Stars)
7. To Helius (the Sun)
8. To Selene (the Moon)
9. To Phusis (Nature)
10. To Pan
11. To Heracles
12. To Cronus
13. To Rhea
14. To Zeus
15. To Hera
16. To Poseidon
17. To Pluto
18. To Zeus of Thunder
19. To Zeus of Lightning
20. To Nephelae (Clouds)
21. To Thalassa (Sea)
22. To Nereus
23. To the Nereids
24. To Proteus
25. To Gaea (Earth)
26. To Mother of the Gods
27. To Hermes
28. To Persephone
29. To Dionysus
30. To the Curetes
31. To Athena
32. To Nike (Victory)
33. To Apollo
34. To Leto
35. To Artemis
36. To the Titans
37. To the Curetes
38. To Corybas
39. To Demeter of Eleusis
40. To Mother Antaea
41. To Misa
42. To the Horae (Seasons)
43. To Semele
44. To Dionysus Bassareus
45. To Dionysus Licnitus
46. To Dionysus Pericionius
47. To Zabazius
48. To Ippa
49. To Lysius Lenaeus
50. To the Nymphs
51. To Trietericus
52. To Amphietus Bacchus
53. To Silenus, Satyr, Bacchae
54. To Aphrodite
55. To Adonis
56. To Hermes Chthonius
57. To Eros (Love)
58. To the Moirae (Fates)
59. To the Charites (Graces)
60. To Nemesis
61. To Dice (Justice)
62. To Dicaeosyne (Equity)
63. To Nomus (Law)
64. To Ares|
65. To Hephaestus
66. To Asclepius
67. To Hygea (Health)
68. To the Erinyes (Furies)
69. To the Eumenides
70. To Melinoe
71. To Tyche (Fortune)
72. To the Daemon
73. To Leucothea
74. To Palaemon
75. To the Muses
76. To Mnemosyne (Memory)
77. To Eos (Dawn)
78. To Themis (Custom)
79. To Boreas (North Wind)
80. To Zephyrus (West Wind)
81. To Notus (South Wind)
82. To Oceanus
83. To Hestia (Hearth)
84. To Hypnus (Sleep)
85. To the Oneiri (Dreams)
86. To Thanatus (Death)
THE ORPHIC HYMNS 1 – 86, TRANSLATED BY THOMAS TAYLOR (1792)
Attend Musæus to my sacred song, and learn what rites to sacrifice belong.
Jove [Zeus] I invoke, the Earth [Gaia], and Solar Light [Helios],
the Moon’s [Mene] pure splendor, and the Stars of night;
Thee Neptune [Poseidon], ruler of the sea profound, dark-hair’d, whose waves begirt the solid ground;
Ceres [Demeter] abundant, and of lovely mien,
and Proserpine [Phersephone] infernal Pluto’s [Haides] queen
The huntress Dian [Artemis], and bright Phœbus rays, far-darting God, the theme of Delphic praise;
And Bacchus [Dionysos], honour’d by the heav’nly choir,
and raging Mars [Ares], and Vulcan [Hephaistos] god of fire;
The mighty pow’r who rose from foam to light, and Pluto potent in the realms of night;
With Hebe young, and Hercules the strong, and you to whom the cares of births [Eileithyia] belong:
Justice [Dikaisune] and Piety [Eusebia] august I call, and much-fam’d nymphs, and Pan the god of all.
To Juno [Hera] sacred, and to Mem’ry [Mnemosyne] fair, and the chaste Muses I address my pray’r;
The various year, the Graces [Kharites], and the Hours [Horai],
fair-hair’d Latona [Leto], and Dione’s pow’rs;
Armed Curetes, household Gods [Korybantes, Kouretes, Kabeiroi] I call,
with those [Soteroi] who spring from Jove [Zeus] the king of all:
Th’ Idæan Gods, the angel of the skies, and righteous Themis, with sagacious eyes;
With ancient Night [Nyx], and Day-light [Hemara] I implore,
and Faith [Pistis], and Justice [Dike] dealing right adore;
Saturn [Kronos] and Rhea, and great Thetis too, hid in a veil of bright celestial blue:
I call great Ocean [Okeanos], and the beauteous train of nymphs, who dwell in chambers of the main;
Atlas the strong, and ever in its prime, vig’rous Eternity [Aion], and endless Time [Khronos];
The Stygian pool [Styx], and placid Gods [Meilikhoi] beside,
and various Genii [Daimones], that o’er men preside;
Illustrious Providence [Pronoia], the noble train of dæmon forms, who fill th’ ætherial plain;
Or live in air, in water, earth, or fire, or deep beneath the solid ground retire.
Bacchus [Dionysos] and Semele the friends of all, and white Leucothea of the sea I call;
Palæmon bounteous, and Adrastria great, and sweet-tongu’d Victory [Nike], with success elate;
Great Esculapius [Asklepios], skill’d to cure disease,
and dread Minerva [Athene], whom fierce battles please;
Thunders [Brontoi] and Winds [Anemoi] in mighty columns pent,
with dreadful roaring struggling hard for vent;
Attis, the mother of the pow’rs on high, and fair Adonis, never doom’d to die,
End and beginning he is all to all, these with propitious aid I gently call;
And to my holy sacrifice invite, the pow’r who reigns in deepest hell and night;
I call Einodian Hecate, lovely dame, of earthly, wat’ry, and celestial frame,
Sepulchral, in a saffron veil array’d, leas’d with dark ghosts that wander thro’ the shade;
Persian, unconquerable huntress hail! The world’s key-bearer never doom’d to fail
On the rough rock to wander thee delights, leader and nurse be present to our rites
Propitious grant our just desires success, accept our homage, and the incense bless.
[1] I. TO THE GODDESS PROTHYRÆA
The Fumigation from Storax.
O venerable goddess, hear my pray’r, for labour pains are thy peculiar care;
In thee, when stretch’d upon the bed of grief, the sex as in a mirror view relief.
Guard of the race, endued with gentle mind, to helpless youth, benevolent and kind;
Benignant nourisher; great Nature’s key belongs to no divinity but thee.
Thou dwell’st with all immanifest to sight, and solemn festivals are thy delight.
Thine is the talk to loose the virgin’s zone, and thou in ev’ry work art seen and known.
With births you sympathize, tho’ pleas’d to see the numerous offspring of fertility;
When rack’d with nature’s pangs and sore distress’d, the sex invoke thee, as the soul’s sure rest;
For thou alone can’st give relief to pain, which art attempts to ease, but tries in vain;
Assisting goddess [Eileithyia], venerable pow’r, who bring’st relief in labour’s dreadful hour;
Hear, blessed Dian [Artemis], and accept my pray’r, and make the infant race thy constant care.
The Fumigation with Torches.
Night [Nyx], parent goddess, source of sweet repose, from whom at first both Gods and men arose,
Hear, blessed Venus [Kypris], deck’d with starry light, in sleep’s deep silence dwelling Ebon night!
Dreams and soft case attend thy dusky train, pleas’d with the length’ned gloom and feaftful strain.
Dissolving anxious care, the friend of Mirth, with darkling coursers riding round the earth.
Goddess of phantoms and of shadowy play, whose drowsy pow’r divides the nat’ral day:
By Fate’s decree you constant send the light to deepest hell, remote from mortal sight
For dire Necessity which nought withstands, invests the world with adamantine bands.
Be present, Goddess, to thy suppliant’s pray’r, desir’d by all, whom all alike revere,
Blessed, benevolent, with friendly aid dispell the fears of Twilight’s dreadful shade.
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Great Heav’n [Ouranos], whose mighty frame no respite knows, father of all, from whom the world arose:
Hear, bounteous parent, source and end of all, forever whirling round this earthly ball;
Abode of Gods, whose guardian pow’r surrounds th’ eternal World with ever during bounds;
Whose ample bosom and encircling folds the dire necessity of nature holds.
Ætherial, earthly, whose all-various frame azure and full of forms, no power can tame.
All-seeing Heav’n, progenitor of Time [Kronos], forever blessed, deity sublime,
Propitious on a novel mystic shine, and crown his wishes with a life divine.
The Fumigation from Saffron.
O Ever untam’d Fire [Aither], who reign’st on high in Jove’s [Zeus’] dominions ruler of the sky;
The glorious sun with dazzling lustre bright, and moon and stars from thee derive their light;
All taming pow’r, ætherial shining fire, whose vivid blasts the heat of life inspire:
The world’s best element, light-bearing pow’r, with starry radiance shining, splendid flow’r,
O hear my suppliant pray’r, and may thy frame be ever innocent, serene, and tame.
[5] V. TO PROTOGONUS, OR THE FIRST-BORN
The Fumigation from Myrrh.
O Mighty first-begotten [Protogonos], hear my pray’r, two-fold, egg-born, and wand’ring thro’ the air,
Bull-roarer, glorying in thy golden wings, from whom the race of Gods and mortals springs.
Ericapæus [Erikapaios], celebrated pow’r, ineffable, occult, all shining flow’r.
From eyes obscure thou wip’st the gloom of night, all-spreading splendour, pure and holy light
Hence Phanes call’d, the glory of the sky, on waving pinions thro’ the world you fly.
Priapus, dark-ey’d splendour, thee I sing, genial, all-prudent, ever-blessed king,
With joyful aspect on our rights divine and holy sacrifice propitious shine.
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
With holy voice I call the stars [Astron] on high, pure sacred lights and genii of the sky.
Celestial stars, the progeny of Night [Nyx], in whirling circles beaming far your light,
Refulgent rays around the heav’ns ye throw, eternal fires, the source of all below.
With flames significant of Fate ye shine, and aptly rule for men a path divine.
In seven bright zones ye run with wand’ring flames, and heaven and earth compose your lucid frames:
With course unwearied, pure and fiery bright forever shining thro’ the veil of Night.
Hail twinkling, joyful, ever wakeful fires! Propitious shine on all my just desires;
These sacred rites regard with conscious rays, and end our works devoted to your praise.
The Fumigation from Frankinsence and Manna.
Hear golden Titan, whose eternal eye with broad survey, illumines all the sky.
Self-born, unwearied in diffusing light, and to all eyes the mirrour of delight:
Lord of the seasons, with thy fiery car and leaping coursers, beaming light from far:
With thy right hand the source of morning light, and with thy left the father of the night.
Agile and vig’rous, venerable Sun, fiery and bright around the heav’ns you run.
Foe to the wicked, but the good man’s guide, o’er all his steps propitious you preside:
With various founding, golden lyre, ’tis mine to fill the world with harmony divine.
Father of ages, guide of prosp’rous deeds, the world’s commander, borne by lucid steeds,
Immortal Jove [Zeus], all-searching, bearing light, source of existence, pure and fiery bright
Bearer of fruit, almighty lord of years, agil and warm, whom ev’ry pow’r reveres.
Great eye of Nature and the starry skies, doom’d with immortal flames to set and rise
Dispensing justice, lover of the stream, the world’s great despot, and o’er all supreme.
Faithful defender, and the eye of right, of steeds the ruler, and of life the light:
With founding whip four fiery steeds you guide, when in the car of day you glorious ride.
Propitious on these mystic labours shine, and bless thy suppliants with a life divine.
[8] VIII. TO THE MOON [SELENE]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Hear, Goddess queen, diffusing silver light, bull-horn’d and wand’ring thro’ the gloom of Night.
With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide Night’s torch extending, thro’ the heav’ns you ride:
Female and Male with borrow’d rays you shine, and now full-orb’d, now tending to decline.
Mother of ages, fruit-producing Moon [Mene], whose amber orb makes Night’s reflected noon:
Lover of horses, splendid, queen of Night, all-seeing pow’r bedeck’d with starry light.
Lover of vigilance, the foe of strife, in peace rejoicing, and a prudent life:
Fair lamp of Night, its ornament and friend, who giv’st to Nature’s works their destin’d end.
Queen of the stars, all-wife Diana hail! Deck’d with a graceful robe and shining veil;
Come, blessed Goddess, prudent, starry, bright, come moony-lamp with chaste and splendid light,
Shine on these sacred rites with prosp’rous rays, and pleas’d accept thy suppliant’s mystic praise.
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Nature [Phusis], all parent, ancient, and divine, O Much-mechanic mother, art is thine;
Heav’nly, abundant, venerable queen, in ev’ry part of thy dominions seen.
Untam’d, all-taming, ever splendid light, all ruling, honor’d, and supremly bright.
Immortal, first-born [Protogeneia], ever still the same, nocturnal, starry, shining, glorious dame.
Thy feet’s still traces in a circling course, by thee are turn’d, with unremitting force.
Pure ornament of all the pow’rs divine, finite and infinite alike you shine;
To all things common and in all things known, yet incommunicable and alone.
Without a father of thy wond’rous frame, thyself the father whence thy essence came.
All-flourishing, connecting, mingling soul, leader and ruler of this mighty whole.
Life-bearer, all-sustaining, various nam’d, and for commanding grace and beauty fam’d.
Justice, supreme in might, whose general sway the waters of the restless deep obey.
Ætherial, earthly, for the pious glad, sweet to the good, but bitter to the bad.
All-wife, all bounteous, provident, divine, a rich increase of nutriment is thine;
Father of all, great nurse, and mother kind, abundant, blessed, all-spermatic mind:
Mature, impetuous, from whose fertile seeds and plastic hand, this changing scene proceeds.
All-parent pow’r, to mortal eyes unseen, eternal, moving, all-sagacious queen.
By thee the world, whose parts in rapid flow, like swift descending streams, no respite know,
On an eternal hinge, with steady course is whirl’d, with matchless, unremitting force.
Thron’d on a circling car, thy mighty hand holds and directs, the reins of wide command.
Various thy essence, honor’d, and the best, of judgement too, the general end and test.
Intrepid, fatal, all-subduing dame, life-everlasting, Parca, breathing flame.
Immortal, Providence, the world is thine, and thou art all things, architect divine.
O blessed Goddess, hear thy suppliant’s pray’r, and make my future life, thy constant care;
Give plenteous seasons, and sufficient wealth, and crown my days with lasting, peace and health.
The Fumigation from Various Odors.
I Call strong Pan, the substance of the whole, etherial, marine, earthly, general soul,
Immortal fire; for all the world is thine, and all are parts of thee, O pow’r divine.
Come, blessed Pan, whom rural haunts delight, come, leaping, agile, wand’ring, starry light;
The Hours and Seasons [Horai], wait thy high command, and round thy throne in graceful order stand.
Goat-footed, horned, Bacchanalian Pan, fanatic pow’r, from whom the world began,
Whose various parts by thee inspir’d, combine in endless dance and melody divine.
In thee a refuge from our fears we find, those fears peculiar to the human kind.
Thee shepherds, streams of water, goats rejoice, thou lov’st the chace, and Echo’s secret voice:
The sportive nymphs, thy ev’ry step attend, and all thy works fulfill their destin’d end.
O all-producing pow’r, much-fam’d, divine, the world’s great ruler, rich increase is thine.
All-fertile Pæan, heav’nly splendor pure, in fruits rejoicing, and in caves obscure.
True serpent-horned Jove [Zeus], whose dreadful rage when rous’d, ’tis hard for mortals to asswage.
By thee the earth wide-bosom’d deep and long, stands on a basis permanent and strong.
Th’ unwearied waters of the rolling sea, profoundly spreading, yield to thy decree.
Old Ocean [Okeanos] too reveres thy high command, whose liquid arms begirt the solid land.
The spacious air, whose nutrimental fire, and vivid blasts, the heat of life inspire
The lighter frame of fire, whose sparkling eye shines on the summit of the azure sky,
Submit alike to thee, whole general sway all parts of matter, various form’d obey.
All nature’s change thro’ thy protecting care, and all mankind thy lib’ral bounties share:
For these where’er dispers’d thro’ boundless space, still find thy providence support their race.
Come, Bacchanalian, blessed power draw near, fanatic Pan, thy humble suppliant hear,
Propitious to these holy rites attend, and grant my life may meet a prosp’rous end;
Drive panic Fury too, wherever found, from human kind, to earth’s remotest bound.
[11] XI. TO HERCULES [HERAKLES]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Hear, pow’rful, Hercules [Herakles] untam’d and strong, to whom vast hands, and mighty works belong,
Almighty Titan, prudent and benign, of various forms, eternal and divine,
Father of Time [khronos], the theme of gen’ral praise, ineffable, ador’d in various ways.
Magnanimous, in divination skill’d and in the athletic labours of the field.
‘Tis thine strong archer, all things to devour, supreme, all-helping, all-producing pow’r;
To thee mankind as their deliv’rer pray, whose arm can chase the savage tribes away:
Uweary’d, earth’s best blossom, offspring fair, to whom calm peace, and peaceful works are dear.
Self-born, with primogenial fires you shine, and various names and strength of heart are thine.
Thy mighty head supports the morning light, and bears untam’d, the silent gloomy night;
From east to west endu’d with strength divine, twelve glorious labours to absolve is thine;
Supremely skill’d, thou reign’st in heav’n’s abodes, thyself a God amid’st th’ immortal Gods.
With arms unshaken, infinite, divine, come, blessed pow’r, and to our rites incline;
The mitigations of disease convey, and drive disasterous maladies away.
Come, shake the branch with thy almighty arm, dismiss thy darts and noxious fate disarm.
The Fumigation from Storax.
Etherial father, mighty Titan, hear, great fire of Gods and men, whom all revere:
Endu’d with various council, pure and strong, to whom perfection and decrease belong.
Consum’d by thee all forms that hourly die, by thee restor’d, their former place supply;
The world immense in everlasting chains, strong and ineffable thy pow’r contains
Father of vast eternity, divine, O mighty Saturn [Kronos], various speech is thine:
Blossom of earth and of the starry skies, husband of Rhea, and Prometheus wife.
Obstetric Nature, venerable root, from which the various forms of being shoot;
No parts peculiar can thy pow’r enclose, diffus’d thro’ all, from which the world arose,
O, best of beings, of a subtle mind, propitious hear to holy pray’rs inclin’d;
The sacred rites benevolent attend, and grant a blameless life, a blessed end.
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Daughter of great Protogonus, divine, illustrious Rhea, to my pray’r incline,
Who driv’st thy holy car with speed along, drawn by fierce lions, terrible and strong.
Mother of Jove [Zeus], whose mighty arm can wield th’ avenging bolt, and shake the dreadful shield.
Drum-beating, frantic, of a splendid mien, brass-sounding, honor’d, Saturn’s [Kronos’] blessed queen.
Thou joy’st in mountains and tumultuous fight, and mankind’s horrid howlings, thee delight.
War’s parent, mighty, of majestic frame, deceitful saviour, liberating dame.
Mother of Gods and men, from whom the earth [Gaia] and lofty heav’ns [Ouranos] derive their glorious birth;
Th’ ætherial gales, the deeply spreading sea goddess ærial form’d, proceed from thee.
Come, pleas’d with wand’rings, blessed and divine, with peace attended on our labours shine;
Bring rich abundance, and wherever found drive dire disease, to earth’s remotest bound.
The Fumigation from Storax.
O Jove much-honor’d, Jove [Zeus] supremely great, to thee our holy rites we consecrate,
Our pray’rs and expiations, king divine, for all things round thy head exalted shine.
The earth is thine, and mountains swelling high, the sea profound, and all within the sky.
Saturnian [Kronion] king, descending from above, magnanimous, commanding, sceptred Jove [Zeus];
All-parent, principle and end of all, whose pow’r almighty, shakes this earthly ball;
Ev’n Nature trembles at thy mighty nod, loud-sounding, arm’d with light’ning, thund’ring God.
Source of abundance, purifying king, O various-form’d from whom all natures spring;
Propitious hear my pray’r, give blameless health, with peace divine, and necessary wealth.
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
O Royal Juno [Hera] of majestic mien, aerial-form’d, divine, Jove’s [Zeus’] blessed queen,
Thron’d in the bosom of cærulean air, the race of mortals is thy constant care.
The cooling gales thy pow’r alone inspires, which nourish life, which ev’ry life desires.
Mother of clouds and winds, from thee alone producing all things, mortal life is known:
All natures share thy temp’rament divine, and universal sway alone is thine.
With founding blasts of wind, the swelling sea and rolling rivers roar, when shook by thee.
Come, blessed Goddess, fam’d almighty queen, with aspect kind, rejoicing and serene.
[16] XVI. TO NEPTUNE [POSEIDON]
The Fumigation from Myrrh
Hear, Neptune [Poseidon], ruler of the sea profound, whose liquid grasp begirts the solid ground;
Who, at the bottom of the stormy main, dark and deep-bosom’d, hold’st thy wat’ry reign;
Thy awful hand the brazen trident bears, and ocean’s utmost bound, thy will reveres:
Thee I invoke, whose steeds the foam divide, from whose dark locks the briny waters glide;
Whose voice loud founding thro’ the roaring deep, drives all its billows, in a raging heap;
When fiercely riding thro’ the boiling sea, thy hoarse command the trembling waves obey.
Earth shaking, dark-hair’d God, the liquid plains (the third division) Fate to thee ordains,
‘Tis thine, cærulian dæmon, to survey well pleas’d the monsters of the ocean play,
Confirm earth’s basis, and with prosp’rous gales waft ships along, and swell the spacious sails;
Add gentle Peace, and fair-hair’d Health beside, and pour abundance in a blameless tide.
Pluto [Plouton], magnanimous, whose realms profound are fix’d beneath the firm and solid ground,
In the Tartarian plains remote from fight, and wrapt forever in the depths of night;
Terrestrial Jove [Zeus Khthonios], thy sacred ear incline, and, pleas’d, accept thy mystic’s hymn divine.
Earth’s keys to thee, illustrious king belong, its secret gates unlocking, deep and strong.
‘Tis thine, abundant annual fruits to bear, for needy mortals are thy constant care.
To thee, great king, Avernus is assign’d, the seat of Gods, and basis of mankind.
Thy throne is fix’d in Hade’s dismal plains, distant, unknown to rest, where darkness reigns;
Where, destitute of breath, pale spectres dwell, in endless, dire, inexorable hell;
And in dread Acheron, whose depths obscure, earth’s stable roots eternally secure.
O mighty dæmon, whose decision dread, the future fate determines of the dead,
With captive Proserpine [Kore], thro’ grassy plains, drawn in a four-yok’d car with loosen’d reins,
Rapt o’er the deep, impell’d by love, you flew ’till Eleusina’s city rose to view;
There, in a wond’rous cave obscure and deep, the sacred maid secure from search you keep,
The cave of Atthis, whose wide gates display an entrance to the kingdoms void of day.
Of unapparent works, thou art alone the dispensator, visible and known.
O pow’r all-ruling, holy, honor’d light, thee sacred poets and their hymns delight:
Propitious to thy mystic’s works incline, rejoicing come, for holy rites are thine.
[18] XVIII. TO THUNDRING JOVE [ZEUS KERAUNOS]
The Fumigation from Storax.
O Father Jove [Zeus], who shak’st with fiery light the world deep-sounding from thy lofty height:
From thee, proceeds th’ ætherial lightning’s blaze, flashing around intolerable rays.
Thy sacred thunders shake the blest abodes, the shining regions of th’ immortal Gods:
Thy pow’r divine, the flaming lightning shrouds, with dark investiture, in fluid clouds.
‘Tis thine to brandish thunders strong and dire, to scatter storms, and dreadful darts of fire;
With roaring flames involving all around, and bolts of thunder of tremendous sound.
Thy rapid dart can raise the hair upright, and shake the heart of man with wild afright.
Sudden, unconquer’d, holy, thund’ring God, ‘with noise unbounded, flying all abroad;
With all-devouring force, entire and strong, horrid, untam’d, thou roll’st the flames along.
Rapid, ætherial bolt, descending fire, the earth all-parent, trembles at thy ire;
The sea all-shining; and each beast that hears the sound terrific, with dread horror fears:
When Nature’s face is bright with flashing fire, and in the heavens resound thy thunders dire.
Thy thunders white, the azure garments tear, and burst the veil of all surrounding air.
O Jove [Zeus], all-blessed, may thy wrath severe, hurl’d in the bosom of the deep appear,
And on the tops of mountains be reveal’d, for thy strong arm is not from us conceal’d.
Propitious to these sacred rites incline, and crown my wishes with a life divine:
Add royal health, and gentle peace beside, with equal reason, for my constant guide.
[19] XIX. To JOVE, as the AUTHOR of LIGHTNING [ZEUS ASTRAPAIOS]
The Fumigation from Frankincense and Manna.
I Call the mighty, holy, splendid light, aerial, dreadful-sounding, fiery-bright;
Flaming, aerial-light, with angry voice, lightning thro’ lucid clouds with horrid noise.
Untam’d, to whom resentments dire belong, pure, holy pow’r, all-parent, great and strong:
Come, and benevolent these rites attend, and grant my days a peaceful, blessed end.
[20] XX. TO THE CLOUDS [NEPHELAI]
The Fumigation from Myrrh.
Ærial clouds, thro’ heav’n’s resplendent plains who wander, parents of prolific rains;
Who nourish fruits, whose water’y frames are hurl’d, by winds impetuous, round the mighty world;
All-thund’ring, lion-roaring, flashing fire, in Air’s wide bosom, bearing thunders dire
Impell’d by ev’ry stormy, sounding gale, with rapid course, along the skies ye fail.
With blowing winds your wat’ry frames I call, on mother Earth with fruitful show’rs to fall.
[21] XXI. TO THE SEA [THALASSA], OR TETHYS
The Fumigation from Frankincense and Manna.
Tethys I call, with eyes cærulean bright, hid in a veil obscure from human sight;
Great Ocean’s empress, wand’ring thro’ the deep, and pleas’d with gentle gales, the earth to sweep;
Whose blessed waves in swift succession go, and lash the rocky shore with endless flow:
Delighting in the Sea serene to play, in ships exulting and the wat’ry way.
Mother of Venus [Kypris], and of clouds obscure, great nurse of beasts, and source of fountains pure.
O venerable Goddess, hear my pray’r, and make benevolent my life thy care;
Send, blessed queen, to ships a prosp’rous breeze, and waft them safely o’er the stormy seas.
The Fumigation from Myrrh.
O Thou, who doff the roots of Ocean [pontos] keep in seats cærulean, dæmon of the deep,
With fifty nymphs (attending in thy train, fair virgin artists) glorying thro’ the main:
The dark foundation of the rolling sea and Earth’s wide bounds, belong much-fam’d to thee;
Great dæmon, source of all, whose pow’r can make the Earth’s [Deo’s] unmeasur’d, holy basis shake,
When blust’ring winds in secret caverns pent, by thee excited, struggle hard for vent:
Come, blessed Nereus, listen to my pray’r, and cease to shake the earth with wrath severe;
Send on our sacred rites abundant health, with peace divine and necessary wealth.
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Daughters of Nereus, resident in caves merg’d deep in Ocean, sporting thro’ the waves;
Fanatic fifty nymphs [Nymphai Einalioi], who thro’ the main delight to follow in the Triton’s train,
Rejoicing close behind their cars to keep; whose forms half wild, are nourish’d by the deep,
With other nymphs of different degree leaping and wand’ring thro’ the liquid sea:
Bright, wat’ry dolphins, sonorous and gay, well pleas’d to sport with bachanalian play;
Nymphs beauteous-ey’d, whom sacrifice delights, send rich abundance on our mystic rites;
For you at first disclos’d the rites divine, of holy Bacchus [Bakkhos] and of Proserpine [Phersephoneia],
Of fair Calliope from whom I spring, and of Apollo bright, the Muse’s king.
The Fumigation from Storax.
Proteus I call, whom Fate decrees, to keep the keys which lock the chambers of the deep;
First-born, by whose illustrious pow’r alone all Nature’s principles are clearly shewn:
Matter to change with various forms is thine, matter unform’d, capacious, and divine.
All-honor’d, prudent, whose sagacious mind knows all that was, and is, of ev’ry kind,
With all that shall be in succeeding time; so vast thy wisdom, wond’rous, and sublime:
For all things Nature first to thee consign’d, and in thy essence omniform confin’d.
Come, blessed father, to our rites attend, and grant our happy lives a prosp’rous end.
The Fumigation from every kind of Seed, except Beans and Aromatics.
O Goddess, Earth, of Gods and men the source, endu’d with fertile, all destroying force;
All-parent, bounding, whose prolific pow’rs, produce a store of beauteous fruits and flow’rs,
All-various maid, th’ eternal world’s strong base immortal, blessed, crown’d with ev’ry grace;
From whose wide womb, as from an endless root, fruits, many-form’d, mature and grateful shoot.
Deep bosom’d, blessed, pleas’d with grassy plains, sweet to the smell, and with prolific rains.
All flow’ry dæmon, centre of the world, around thy orb, the beauteous stars are hurl’d
With rapid whirl, eternal and divine, whose frames with matchless skill and wisdom shine.
Come, blessed Goddess, listen to my pray’r, and make increase of fruits thy constant care;
With fertile Seasons [Horai] in thy train, draw near, and with propitious mind thy suppliant hear.
[26] XXVI. TO THE MOTHER OF THE GODS [METER THEON]
The Fumigation from a Variety of Odoriferous Substances.
Mother of Gods [Meter Theon], great nurse of all, draw near, divinely honor’d, and regard my pray’r:
Thron’d on a car, by lions drawn along, by bull-destroying lions, swift and strong,
Thou sway’st the sceptre of the pole divine, and the world’s middle seat, much-fam’d, is thine.
Hence earth is thine, and needy mortals share their constant food, from thy protecting care:
From thee at first both Gods and men arose; from thee, the sea and ev’ry river flows.
Vesta [Hestia], and source of good, thy name we find to mortal men rejoicing to be kind;
For ev’ry good to give, thy soul delights; come, mighty pow’r, propitious to our rites,
All-taming, blessed, Phrygian saviour, come, Saturn’s [Kronos’] great queen, rejoicing in the drum.
Celestial, ancient, life-supporting maid, fanatic Goddess, give thy suppliant aid;
With joyful aspect on our incense shine, and, pleas’d, accept the sacrifice divine.
[27] XXVII. TO MERCURY [HERMES]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Hermes, draw near, and to my pray’r incline, angel of Jove [Zeus], and Maia’s son divine;
Studious of contests, ruler of mankind, with heart almighty, and a prudent mind.
Celestial messenger, of various skill, whose pow’rful arts could watchful Argus kill:
With winged feet, ’tis thine thro’ air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse:
Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine, in arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine:
With pow’r endu’d all language to explain, of care the loos’ner, and the source of gain.
Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod, Corucian, blessed, profitable God;
Of various speech, whose aid in works we find, and in necessities to mortals kind:
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere, be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear;
Assist my works, conclude my life with peace, give graceful speech, and me memory’s increase.
[28] XXVIII. TO PROSERPINE [PHERSEPHONE]
A Hymn.
Daughter of Jove [Zeus], almighty and divine, come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline:
Only-begotten, Pluto’s [Plouton’s] honor’d wife, O venerable Goddess, source of life:
‘Tis thine in earth’s profundities to dwell, fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell:
Jove’s [Zeus’] holy offspring, of a beauteous mien, fatal [Praxidike], with lovely locks, infernal queen:
Source of the furies [Eumenides], whose blest frame proceeds from Jove’s [Zeus’] ineffable and secret seeds:
Mother of Bacchus [Eubouleos], Sonorous, divine, and many-form’d, the parent of the vine:
The dancing Hours [Horai] attend thee, essence bright, all-ruling virgin, bearing heav’nly light:
Illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind, alone desir’d by those of mortal kind.
O, vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight, sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight:
Whose holy form in budding fruits we view, Earth’s vig’rous offspring of a various hue:
Espous’d in Autumn: life and death alone to wretched mortals from thy power is known:
For thine the task according to thy will, life to produce, and all that lives to kill.
Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace;
Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life with blest abundance, free from noisy strife;
Last in extreme old age the prey of Death, dismiss we willing to the realms beneath,
To thy fair palace, and the blissful plains where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto [Plouton] reigns.
[29] XXIX. TO BACCHUS [DIONYSOS]
The Fumigation from Storax.
Bacchus [Dionysos] I call, loud-sounding and divine, fanatic God, a two-fold shape is thine:
Thy various names and attributes I sing, O, first-born, thrice begotten, Bacchic king:
Rural, ineffable, two-form’d, obscure, two-horn’d, with ivy crown’d, euion, pure.
Bull-fac’d, and martial, bearer of the vine, endu’d with counsel prudent [Eubouleos] and divine:
Triennial, whom the leaves of vines adorn, of Jove [Zeus] and Proserpine [Persephoneia], occultly born.
Immortal dæmon, hear my suppliant voice, give me in blameless plenty to rejoice;
And listen gracious to my mystic pray’r, surrounded with thy choir of nurses fair.
[30] XXX. TO THE CURETES [KOURETES]
A Hymn.
Leaping Curetes, who with dancing feet and circling measures, armed footsteps beat:
Whose bosom’s mad, fanatic transports fire, who move in rythm to the founding lyre:
Who traces deaf when lightly leaping tread, arm bearers, strong defenders, rulers dread:
Propitious omens, guards of Proserpine [Persephone] preserving rites, mysterious and divine
Come, and benevolent my words attend, (in herds rejoicing), and my life defend.
A Hymn.
Only-Begotten, noble race of Jove, blessed and fierce, who joy’st in caves to rove:
O, warlike Pallas, whose illustrious kind, ineffable and effable we find:
Magnanimous and fam’d, the rocky height, and groves, and shady mountains thee delight:
In arms rejoicing, who with Furies dire and wild, the souls of mortals dost inspire.
Gymnastic virgin of terrific mind, dire Gorgons bane, unmarried, blessed, kind:
Mother of arts, imperious; understood, rage to the wicked., wisdom to the good:
Female and male, the arts of war are thine, fanatic, much-form’d dragoness [Drakaina], divine:
O’er the Phlegrean giants rous’d to ire, thy coursers driving, with destruction dire.
Sprung from the head of Jove [Tritogeneia], of splendid mien, purger of evils, all-victorious queen.
Hear me, O Goddess, when to thee I pray, with supplicating voice both night and day,
And in my latest hour, peace and health, propitious times, and necessary wealth,
And, ever present, be thy vot’ries aid, O, much implor’d, art’s parent, blue eyed maid.
The Fumigation from Manna.
O Powerful Victory [Nike], by men desir’d, with adverse breasts to dreadful fury fir’d,
Thee I invoke, whose might alone can quell contending rage, and molestation fell:
‘Tis thine in battle to confer the crown, the victor’s prize, the mark of sweet renown;
For thou rul’st all things, Victory [Nike] divine! And glorious strife, and joyful shouts are thine.
Come, mighty Goddess, and thy suppliant bless, with sparkling eye, elated with success;
May deeds illustrious thy protection claim, and find, led on by thee immortal Fame.
[33] XXXIII. TO APOLLO [APOLLON]
The Fumigation from Manna.
Blest Pæan, come, propitious to my pray’r, illustrious pow’r, whom Memphian tribes revere,
Slayer of Tityus, and the God of health, Lycorian Phœbus, fruitful source of wealth .
Spermatic, golden-lyr’d, the field from thee receives it’s constant, rich fertility.
Titanic, Grunian, Smynthian, thee I sing, Python-destroying, hallow’d, Delphian king:
Rural, light-bearer, and the Muse’s head, noble and lovely, arm’d with arrows dread:
Far-darting, Bacchian, two-fold, and divine, pow’r far diffused, and course oblique is thine.
O, Delian king, whose light-producing eye views all within, and all beneath the sky:
Whose locks are gold, whose oracles are sure, who, omens good reveal’st, and precepts pure:
Hear me entreating for the human kind, hear, and be present with benignant mind;
For thou survey’st this boundless æther all, and ev’ry part of this terrestrial ball
Abundant, blessed; and thy piercing sight, extends beneath the gloomy, silent night;
Beyond the darkness, starry-ey’d, profound, the stable roots, deep fix’d by thee are found.
The world’s wide bounds, all-flourishing are thine, thyself all the source and end divine:
‘Tis thine all Nature’s music to inspire, with various-sounding, harmonising lyre;
Now the last string thou tun’ft to sweet accord, divinely warbling now the highest chord;
Th’ immortal golden lyre, now touch’d by thee, responsive yields a Dorian melody.
All Nature’s tribes to thee their diff’rence owe, and changing seasons from thy music flow
Hence, mix’d by thee in equal parts, advance Summer and Winter in alternate dance;
This claims the highest, that the lowest string, the Dorian measure tunes the lovely spring .
Hence by mankind, Pan-royal, two-horn’d nam’d, emitting whistling winds thro’ Syrinx fam’d;
Since to thy care, the figur’d seal’s consign’d, which stamps the world with forms of ev’ry kind.
Hear me, blest pow’r, and in these rites rejoice, and save thy mystics with a suppliant voice.
The Fumigation from Myrrh.
Dark veil’d Latona [Leto], much invoked queen, twin-bearing Goddess, of a noble mien;
Cæantis [Koiantis] great, a mighty mind is thine, offspring prolific, blest of Jove [Zeus] divine:
Phœbus proceeds from thee, the God of light, and Dian [Artemis] fair, whom winged darts delight;
She in Ortygia’s honor’d regions born, in Delos he, which mountains high adorn.
Hear me, O Goddess, with propitious mind, and end these holy rites, with aspect kind.
The Fumigation from Manna.
Hear me, Jove’s [Zeus’] daughter, celebrated queen, Bacchian [Bromia] and Titan, of a noble mien:
In darts rejoicing and on all to shine, torch-bearing Goddess, Dictynna divine;
O’er births presiding, and thyself a maid, to labour-pangs imparting ready aid:
Dissolver of the zone and wrinkl’d care, fierce huntress, glorying in the Sylvan war:
Swift in the course, in dreadful arrows skill’d, wandering by night, rejoicing in the field:
Of manly form, erect, of bounteous mind, illustrious dæmon, nurse of human kind:
Immortal, earthly, bane of monsters fell, ’tis thine; blest maid, on woody hills to dwell:
Foe of the stag, whom woods and dogs delight, in endless youth who flourish fair and bright.
O, universal queen, august, divine, a various form, Cydonian pow’r, is thine:
Dread guardian Goddess, with benignant mind auspicious, come to mystic rites inclin’d
Give earth a store of beauteous fruits to bear, send gentle Peace, and Health with lovely hair,
And to the mountains drive Disease and Care.
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
O Mighty Titans, who from heav’n [Ouranos] and earth [Gaia] derive your noble and illustrious birth,
Our fathers fires, in Tartarus profound who dwell, deep merg’d beneath the solid ground:
Fountains and principles, from whom began th’ afflicted, miserable, race of man:
Who not alone in earth’s retreats abide, but in the ocean and the air reside;
Since ev’ry species from your nature flows, which all prolific, nothing barren knows:
Avert your rage, if from th’ infernal seats one of your tribe should visit our retreats.
[37] XXXVII. TO THE CURETES [KOURETES]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Brass-beating Salians, ministers of Mars [Ares], who guard his arms the instruments of wars
Whose blessed frames, heav’n, earth, and sea compose, and from whose breath all animals arose:
Who dwell in Samothracia’s sacred ground, defending mortals thro’ the sea profound.
Deathless Curetes [Kouretes], by your pow’r alone, initial rites to men at first were shewn:
Who shake old Ocean thund’ring to the sky, and stubborn oaks with branches waving high.
‘Tis your’s in glittering arms the earth to beat, with lightly-leaping, rapid, sounding feet;
Then every beast the noise terrific flies, and the loud tumult wanders thro’ the skies:
The dust your feet excites with matchless force, flies to the clouds amidst their whirling course;
And ev’ry flower of variegated hue, grows in the dancing motion form’d by you.
Immortal dæmons, to your pow’rs consign’d the talk to nourish, and destroy mankind.
When rushing furious with loud tumult dire, o’erwhelm’d, they perish in your dreadful ire;
And live replenish’d with the balmy air, the food of life, committed to your care.
When shook by you, the seas, with wild uproar, wide-spreading, and profoundly whirling, roar:
The concave heav’ns, with Echo’s voice resound, when leaves with ruffling noise bestrew the ground.
Curetes, Corybantes, ruling kings, whose praise the land of Samothracia sings:
From Jove [Zeus] descended; whose immortal breath sustains the soul, and wafts her back from death;
Aerial-form’d, much-fam’d, in heav’n ye shine two-fold, in heav’n all-lucid and divine:
Blowing, serene, from whom abundance springs, nurses of seasons, fruit-producing kings.
[38] XXXVIII. O CORYBAS [KORYBAS]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
The mighty ruler of this earthly ball, for ever flowing, to these rites I call;
Martial and blest, unseen by mortal sight, preventing fears, and pleas’d with gloomy night:
Hence, fancy’s terrors are by thee allay’d, all-various king, who lov’st the desart shade:
Each of thy brothers killing, blood is thine, two-fold Curete [Kourete], many-form’d, divine.
By thee transmuted Ceres’ [Deo’s] body pure, became a dragon’s savage and obscure:
Avert thy anger, hear me when I pray, and by fix’d fate, drive fancy’s fears away.
[39] XXXIX. TO CERES [DEMETER ELEUSINIA]
The Fumigation from Storax.
O Universal mother, Ceres [Deo] fam’d august, the source of wealth, and various nam’d:
Great nurse, all-bounteous, blessed and divine, who joy’st in peace, to nourish corn is thine:
Goddess of seed, of fruits abundant, fair, harvest and threshing, are thy constant care;
Who dwell’st in Eleusina’s seats retir’d, lovely, delightful queen, by all desir’d.
Nurse of all mortals, whose benignant mind, first ploughing oxen to the yoke confin’d;
And gave to men, what nature’s wants require, with plenteous means of bliss which all desire.
In verdure flourishing in honor bright, assessor of great Bacchus [Bromios], bearing light:
Rejoicing in the reapers sickles, kind, whose nature lucid, earthly, pure, we find.
Prolific, venerable, Nurse divine, thy daughter loving, holy Proserpine [Koure]:
A car with dragons yok’d, ’tis thine to guide, and orgies singing round thy throne to ride:
Only-begotten, much-producing queen, all flowers are thine and fruits of lovely green.
Bright Goddess, come, with Summer’s rich increase swelling and pregnant, leading smiling Peace;
Come, with fair Concord and imperial Health, and join with these a needful store of wealth.
[40] XL. TO THE CERALIAN MOTHER [METER ANTAIA]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Ceralian [Antaia] queen, of celebrated name, from whom both men, and Gods immortal came;
Who widely wand’ring once, oppress’d with grief, in Eleusina’s valley found’st relief,
Discovering Proserpine [Persephone] thy daughter pure in dread Avernus [Aides], dismal and obscure;
A sacred youth while thro’ the world you stray Bacchus [Dysaulos], attending leader of the way;
The holy marriage of terrestrial Jove [Zeus Khthonios] relating, while oppress’d with grief you rove;
Come, much invok’d, and to these rites inclin’d, thy mystic suppliant bless, with fav’ring mind.
[41] XLI. TO MISES [MISA]
The Fumigation from Storax.
Call Thesmophorus, spermatic God [Dionysos], of various names, who bears the leafy rod:
Mises [Misa], ineffable, pure, sacred queen, two-fold Iacchus, male and female seen:
Illustr’ous, whether to rejoice is thine in incense offer’d, in the fane divine;
Or if in Phrygia most thy soul delights, performing with thy mother sacred rites;
Or if the land of Cyprus is thy care, well pleas’d to dwell with Cytherea [Kythereia] fair;
Or if exulting in the fertile plains with thy dark mother Isis, where she reigns,
With nurses pure attended, near the flood of sacred Egypt, thy divine abode:
Wherever resident, blest pow’r attend, and with benignant mind these labours end.
[42] XLII TO THE SEASONS [HORAI]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Daughters of Jove [Zeus] and Themis, seasons bright,
Justice [Dike], and blessed Peace [Eirene], and lawful Right [Eunomia],
Vernal and grassy, vivid, holy pow’rs, whose balmy breath exhales in lovely flow’rs
All-colour’d seasons, rich increase your care, circling, for ever flourishing and fair:
Invested with a veil of shining dew, a flow’ry veil delightful to the view:
Attending Proserpine [Persephone], when back from night,
the Fates [Moirai] and Graces [Kharites] Lead her up to light;
When in a band-harmonious they advance, and joyful round her, form the solemn dance:
With Ceres [Meter] triumphing, and Jove [Zeus] divine; propitious come, and on our incense shine;
Give earth a blameless store of fruits to bear, and make a novel mystic’s life your care.
[43] XLIII. TO SEMELE
The Fumigation from Storax.
Cadmean Goddess, universal queen, thee, Semele I call, of beauteous mien;
Deep-bosom’d, lovely flowing locks are thine, mother of Bacchus [Dionysos], joyful and divine,
The mighty offspring, whom love’s thunder bright, forc’d immature, and fright’ned into light:
Born from the deathless counsels, secret, high, of Jove Saturnian [Zeus Kronion], regent of the sky
Whom Proserpine [Persephone] permits to view the light, and visit mortals from the realms of night:
Constant attending on the sacred rites, and feast triennial, which thy soul delights;
When thy son’s wond’rous birth mankind relate, and secrets deep, and holy celebrate.
Now I invoke thee, great Cadmean queen, to bless these rites with countenance serene.
[44] XLIV. TO DIONYSIUS BASSAREUS TRIENNALIS
A Hymn
Come, blessed Dionysius [Dionysos], various nam’d, bull-fac’d,
begot from Thunder, Bacchus [Bakkhos] fam’d.
Bassarian God, of universal might, whom swords, and blood, and sacred rage delight:
In heav’n rejoicing, mad, loud-sounding God, furious inspirer, bearer of the rod:
By Gods rever’d, who dwell’st with human kind, propitious come, with much-rejoicing mind.
[45] XLV. TO LIKNITUS BACCHUS [LIKNITOS DIONYSOS]
The Fumigation from Manna.
Liknitan Bacchus [Liknitos Dionysos], bearer of the vine, thee I invoke to bless these rites divine:
Florid and gay, of nymphs the blossom bright, and of fair Venus [Aphrodite], Goddess of delight,
‘Tis thine mad footsteps with mad nymphs to beat, dancing thro’ groves with lightly leaping feet:
From Jove’s [Zeus’] high counsels nurst by Proserpine [Persephoneia],
and born the dread of all the pow’rs divine:
Come, blessed pow’r, regard thy suppliant’s voice, propitious come, and in these rites rejoice.
[46] XLVI. TO BACCHUS PERICIONIUS [DIONYSOS PERIKIONIOS]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Bacchus Pericionius [Dionysos Perikionios], hear my pray’r,
who mad’st the house of Cadmus once thy care,
With matchless force, his pillars twining round, (when burning thunders shook the solid ground,
In flaming, founding torrents borne along), propt by thy grasp indissolubly strong.
Come mighty Bacchus to these rites inclin’d, and bless thy suppliants with rejoicing mind.
[47] XLVII. TO SABASIUS [ZABAZIOS]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Hear me, illustrious father, dæmon fam’d.
Great Saturn’s [Kronos’] offspring, and Sabasius [Zabazios] nam’d;
Inserting Bacchus, bearer of the vine, and founding God, within thy thigh divine,
That when mature, the Dionysian God might burst the bands of his conceal’d abode,
And come to sacred Tmolus, his delight, where Ippa dwells, all beautiful and bright.
Come blessed Phrygian God, the king of all, and aid thy mystics, when on thee they call.
[48] XLVIII. TO IPPA
The Fumigation from Storax.
Great nurse of Bacchus [Bakkhos], to my pray’r incline, for holy Sabus’ secret rites are thine,
The mystic rites of Bacchus’ nightly choirs, compos’d of sacred, loud-resounding fires:
Hear me, terrestrial mother, mighty queen, whether on Phyrgia’s holy mountain seen,
Or if to dwell in Tmolus thee delights, with holy aspect come, and bless these rites.
[49] XLIX. TO LYSIUS LENÆUS [LYSIOS LENAIOS]
A Hymn.
Hear me, Jove’s [Zeus’] son, blest Bacchus, God of wine, born of two mothers, honor’d and divine;
Lysian, Euion Bacchus, various-nam’d, of Gods the offspring secret, holy, fam’d:
Fertile and nourishing whose liberal care earth’s fruits increases, flourishing and fair;
Sounding, magnanimous, Lenæan pow’r, O various form’d, medic’nal, holy flow’r:
Mortals in thee, repose from labour find, delightful charm, desir’d by all mankind:
Fair-hair’d Euion, Bromian, joyful God, Lysian, invested with the leafy rod.
To these our rites, benignant pow’r incline, when fav’ring men, or when on Gods you shine;
Be present to thy mystic’s suppliant pray’r, rejoicing come, and fruits abundant bear.
[50] L. TO THE NYMPHS [NYMPHAI]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Nymphs, who from Ocean’s [Okeanos’] stream derive your birth, who dwell in liquid caverns of the earth
Nurses of Bacchus [Bakkhos] secret-coursing pow’r, who fruits sustain, and nourish ev’ry flow’r:
Earthly, rejoicing, who in meadows dwell, and caves and dens, whose depths extend to hell:
Holy, oblique, who swiftly soar thro’ air, fountains and dews, and mazy streams your care:
Seen and unseen, who joy with wand’rings wide and gentle course, thro’ flow’ry vales to glide;
With Pan exulting on the mountains height, loud-founding, mad, whom rocks and woods delight:
Nymphs od’rous, rob’d in white, whose streams exhale the breeze refreshing, and the balmy gale;
With goats and pastures pleas’d, and beasts of prey, nurses of fruits, unconscious of decay:
In cold rejoicing, and to cattle kind, sportive thro’ ocean wand’ring unconfin’d:
Nysian, fanatic Nymphs, whom oaks delight, lovers of Spring, Pæonian virgins bright.
With Bacchus, and with Ceres [Deo], hear my pray’r. And to mankind abundant favour bear;
Propitious listen to your suppliants voice, come, and benignant in these rites rejoice;
Give plenteous Seasons, and sufficient wealth, and pour; in lasting streams, continued Health.
[51] LI. TO TRIETERICUS [TRIETERIKOS]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Bacchus fanatic, much-nam’d, blest, divine, bull-fac’d Lenæan, bearer of the vine;
From fire descended, raging, Nysian king, from whom initial ceremonies spring:
Liknitan Bacchus, pure and fiery bright, prudent [Eubouleos], crown-bearer, wandering in the night;
Pupil of Proserpine, mysterious pow’r, triple, ineffable, Jove’s [Zeus’] secret flow’r:
Ericapæus, first-begotten nam’d, of Gods the father, and the offspring fam’d:
Bearing a sceptre, leader of the choir, whose dancing feet, fanatic Furies fire,
When the triennial band thou dost inspire.
Loud-sounding, Tages, of a fiery light, born of two mothers, Amphietus bright:
Wand’ring on mountains, cloth’d with skins of deer, Apollo, golden-ray’d, whom all revere.
God of the grape with leaves of ivy crown’d, Bassarian, lovely, virgin-like, renown’d
Come blessed pow’r, regard thy mystics voice, propitious come, and in these rites rejoice.
[52] LII. To AMPHIETUS BACCHUS [AMPHIETOS BAKKHOS]
The Fumigation from every Aromatic except Frankincense.
Terrestrial Dionysius [Dionysos Khthonios], hear my pray’r, awak’ned rise with nymphs of lovely hair:
Great Amphietus Bacchus, annual God, who laid asleep in Proserpine’s [Persephone’s] abode,
Did’st lull to drowsy and oblivious rest, the rites triennial, and the sacred feast;
Which rous’d again by thee, in graceful ring, thy nurses round thee mystic anthems sing;
When briskly dancing with rejoicing pow’rs, thou mov’st in concert with the circling hours.
Come, blessed, fruitful, horned, and divine, and on these rites with joyful aspect shine;
Accept the general incense and the pray’r, and make prolific holy fruits thy care.
[53] LIII. TO SILENUS, SATYRUS, and the PRIESTESSES of BACCHUS
The Fumigation from Manna.
Great nurse of Bacchus [Bakkhos], to my pray’r incline, Silenus, honor’d by the pow’rs divine
And by mankind at the triennial feast illustrious dæmon, reverenc’d as the best:
Holy, august, the source of lawful rites, rejoicing pow’r, whom vigilance delights
With Sylvans dancing ever young and fair,
head of the Bacchic Nymphs [Naiades and Bakkhai], who ivy bear.
With all thy Satyrs on our incense shine, Dæmons wild form’d, and bless the rites divine;
Come, rouse to sacred Joy thy pupil kin, and Brumal Nymphs with rites Lenæan bring;
Our orgies shining thro’ the night inspire, and bless triumphant pow’r the sacred choir.
[54] LIV. TO VENUS [APHRODITE]
A Hymn.
Heav’nly [Ourania], illustrious, laughter-loving queen, sea-born, night-loving, of an awful mien;
Crafty, from whom necessity [Ananke] first came, producing, nightly, all-connecting dame:
‘Tis thine the world with harmony to join, for all things spring from thee, O pow’r divine.
The triple Fates [Moirai] are rul’d by thy decree, and all productions yield alike to thee:
Whate’er the heav’ns, encircling all contain, earth fruit-producing, and the stormy main,
Thy sway confesses, and obeys thy nod, awful attendant of the brumal God [Bakkhos]:
Goddess of marriage, charming to the sight, mother of Loves [Eortes], whom banquetings delight;
Source of persuasion [Peitho], secret, fav’ring queen, illustrious born, apparent and unseen:
Spousal, lupercal, and to men inclin’d, prolific, most-desir’d, life-giving., kind:
Great sceptre-bearer of the Gods, ’tis thine, mortals in necessary bands to join;
And ev’ry tribe of savage monsters dire in magic chains to bind, thro’ mad desire.
Come, Cyprus-born, and to my pray’r incline, whether exalted in the heav’ns you shine,
Or pleas’d in Syria’s temple to preside, or o’er th’ Egyptian plains thy car to guide,
Fashion’d of gold; and near its sacred flood, fertile and fam’d to fix thy blest abode;
Or if rejoicing in the azure shores, near where the sea with foaming billows roars,
The circling choirs of mortals, thy delight, or beauteous nymphs, with eyes cerulean bright,
Pleas’d by the dusty banks renown’d of old, to drive thy rapid, two-yok’d car of gold;
Or if in Cyprus with thy mother fair, where married females praise thee ev’ry year,
And beauteous virgins in the chorus join, Adonis pure to sing and thee divine;
Come, all-attractive to my pray’r inclin’d, for thee, I call, with holy, reverent mind.
[55] LV. TO ADONIS
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Much-nam’d, and best of dæmons, hear my pray’r, the desart-loving, deck’d with tender hair;
Joy to diffuse, by all desir’d is thine, much form’d, Eubulus [Eubouleos]; aliment divine
Female and Male, all charming to the sight, Adonis ever flourishing and bright;
At stated periods doom’d to set and rise, with splendid lamp, the glory of the skies.
Two-horn’d and lovely, reverenc’d with tears, of beauteous form, adorn’d with copious hairs.
Rejoicing in the chace, all-graceful pow’r, sweet plant of Venus [Aphrodite], Love’s [Eors’] delightful flow’r:
Descended from the secret bed divine, of lovely-hair’d, infernal Proserpine [Persephone].
‘Tis thine to fink in Tartarus profound, and shine again thro’ heav’ns illustrious round,
With beauteous temp’ral orb restor’d to sight; come, with earth’s fruits, and in these flames delight.
[56] LVI. TO THE TERRESTRIAL HERMES [HERMES KHTHONIOS]
The Fumigation from Storax.
Hermes I call, whom Fate decrees to dwell in the dire path which leads to deepest hell
O Bacchic [Bakkheios] Hermes, progeny divine of Dionysius [Dionysos], parent of the vine,
And of celestial Venus [Aphrodite] Paphian queen, dark eye-lash’d Goddess of a lovely mien:
Who constant wand’rest thro’ the sacred feats
where hell’s dread empress, Proserpine [Persephone], retreats;
To wretched souls the leader of thc way when Fate decrees, to regions void of day:
Thine is the wand which causes sleep to fly, or lulls to slumb’rous rest the weary eye;
For Proserpine [Persephone’s] thro’ Tart’rus dark and wide gave thee forever flowing souls to guide.
Come, blessed pow’r the sacrifice attend, and grant our mystic works a happy end.
[57] LVII. TO CUPID, OR LOVE [EROS]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
I Call great Cupid [Eros], source of sweet delight, holy and pure, and lovely to the sight;
Darting, and wing’d, impetuous fierce desire, with Gods and mortals playing, wand’ring fire:
Cautious, and two-fold, keeper of the keys of heav’n and earth, the air, and spreading seas;
Of all that Ceres’ [Deo’s] fertile realms contains, by which th’ all-parent Goddess life sustains,
Or dismal Tartarus is doom’d to keep, widely extended, or the sounding, deep;
For thee, all Nature’s various realms obey, who rul’st alone, with universal sway.
Come, blessed pow’r, regard these mystic fires, and far avert, unlawful mad desires.
[58] LVIII. TO THE FATES [MOIRAI]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Daughters of darkling Night [Nyx], much-nam’d, draw near infinite Fates [Moirai], and listen to my pray’r;
Who in the heav’nly lake (where waters white burst from a fountain hid in depths of night,
And thro’ a dark and stony cavern glide, a cave profound, invisible) abide;
From whence, wide coursing round the boundless earth, your pow’r extends to those of mortal birth
To men with hope elated, trifling, gay, a race presumptuous, born but to decay;
Whose life ’tis your’s in darkness to conceal to sense impervious, in a purple veil,
When thro’ the fatal plain they joyful ride in one great car, Opinion for their guide;
‘Till each completes his heav’n-appointed round at Justice, Hope, and Care’s concluding bound,
The terms absolv’d, prescrib’d by ancient law of pow’r immense, and just without a flaw;
For Fate [Moira] alone with vision unconfin’d, surveys the conduct of the mortal kind.
Fate is Jove’s [Zeus’] perfect and eternal eye, for Jove [Zeus] and Fate [Moira] our ev’ry deed descry.
Come, gentle pow’rs, well born, benignant, fam’d, Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho nam’d:
Unchang’d, aerial, wand’ring in the night, restless, invisible to mortal fight;
Fates [Moirai] all-producing all-destroying hear, regard the incense and the holy pray’r;
Propitious listen to these rites inclin’d, and far avert distress with placid mind.
[59] LIX. TO THE GRACES [KHARITES]
The Fumigation from Storax.
Hear me, illustrious Graces [Kharites], mighty nam’d, from Jove descended and Eunomia fam’d;
Thalia, and Aglaia fair and bright, and blest Euphrosyne whom joys delight:
Mothers of mirth, all lovely to the view, pleasure abundant pure belongs to you:
Various, forever flourishing and fair, desir’d by mortals, much invok’d in pray’r:
Circling, dark-ey’d, delightful to mankind, come, and your mystics bless with bounteous mind.
[60] LX. TO NEMESIS
A Hymn.
Thee, Nemesis I call, almighty queen, by whom the deeds of mortal life are seen:
Eternal, much rever’d, of boundless sight, alone rejoicing in the just and right:
Changing the counsels of the human breast for ever various, rolling without rest.
To every mortal is thy influence known, and men beneath thy righteous bondage groan;
For ev’ry thought within the mind conceal’d is to thy fight perspicuously reveal’d.
The soul unwilling reason to obey by lawless passion rul’d, thy eyes survey.
All to see, hear, and rule, O pow’r divine whose nature Equity contains, is thine.
Come, blessed, holy Goddess, hear my pray’r, and make thy mystic’s life, thy constant care:
Give aid benignant in the needful hour, and strength abundant to the reas’ning pow’r;
And far avert the dire, unfriendly race of counsels impious, arrogant, and base.
[61] LXI. TO JUSTICE [DIKE]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
The piercing eye of Justice [Dike] bright, I sing, plac’d by the throne of heav’n’s almighty king [Zeus],
Perceiving thence, with vision unconfin’d, the life and conduct of the human kind
To thee, revenge and punishment belong, chastising ev’ry deed, unjust and wrong;
Whose pow’r alone, dissimilars can join, and from th’ equality of truth combine:
For all the ill, persuasion can inspire, when urging bad designs, with counsel dire,
‘Tis thine alone to punish; with the race of lawless passions, and incentives base;
For thou art ever to the good inclin’d, and hostile to the men of evil mind.
Come, all-propitious, and thy suppliant hear, when Fate’s predestin’d, final hour draws near.
[62] LXII. TO EQUITY [DIKAIOSUNE]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
O Blessed Equity [Dikaiosune], mankind’s delight, th’ eternal friend of conduct just and right:
Abundant, venerable, honor’d maid, to judgments pure, dispensing constant aid,
A stable conscience, and an upright mind; for men unjust, by thee are undermin’d,
Whose souls perverse thy bondage ne’er desire, but more untam’d decline thy scourges dire:
Harmonious, friendly power, averse to strife, in peace rejoicing, and a stable life;
Lovely, loquacious, of a gentle mind, hating excess, to equal deeds inclin’d:
Wisdom, and virtue of whate’er degree, receive their proper bound alone in thee.
Hear, Goddess Equity [Dikaiosune], the deeds destroy of evil men, which human life annoy;
That all may yield to thee of mortal birth, whether supported by the fruits of earth,
Or in her kindly fertile bosom found, or in the depths of Marine Jove [Zeus] profound.
[63] LXIII. TO LAW [NOMOS]
A Hymn.
The holy king of Gods and men I call, celestial Law [Nomos], the righteous seal of all;
The seal which stamps whate’er the earth contains, Nature’s firm basis, and the liquid plains:
Stable, and starry, of harmonious frame, preserving laws eternally the same:
Thy all-composing pow’r in heaven appears, connects its frame, and props the starry spheres;
And shakes weak Envy with tremendous sound, toss’d by thy arm in giddy whirls around.
‘Tis thine, the life of mortals to defend, and crown existence with a blessed end;
For thy command and alone, of all that lives order and rule to ev’ry dwelling gives:
Ever observant of the upright mind, and of just actions the companion kind;
Foe to the lawless, with avenging ire, their steps involving in destruction dire.
Come, bless, abundant pow’r, whom all revere, by all desir’d, with favr’ing mind draw near;
Give me thro’ life, on thee to fix my fight, and ne’er forsake the equal paths of right.
[64] LXIV. TO MARS [ARES]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Magnanimous, unconquer’d, boistrous Mars, in darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars
Fierce and untam’d, whose mighty pow’r can make the strongest walls from their foundations shake:
Mortal destroying king, defil’d with gore, pleas’d with war’s dreadful and tumultuous roar:
Thee, human blood, and swords, and spears delight, and the dire ruin of mad savage fight.
Stay, furious contests, and avenging strife, whose works with woe, embitter human life;
To lovely Venus [Kypris], and to Bacchus [Lyaios] yield, to Ceres [Deo] give the weapons of the field;
Encourage peace, to gentle works inclin’d, and give abundance, with benignant mind.
[65] LXV. TO VULCAN [HEPHAISTOS]
The Fumigation from Frankincense and Manna.
Strong, mighty Vulcan [Hephaistos], bearing splendid light, unweary’d fire, with flaming torrents bright:
Strong-handed, deathless, and of art divine, pure element, a portion of the world is thine:
All-taming artist, all-diffusive pow’r, ’tis thine supreme, all substance to devour:
Æther, Sun, Moon, and Stars, light pure and clear, for these thy lucid parts to men appear.
To thee, all dwellings, cities, tribes belong, diffus’d thro’ mortal bodies bright and strong.
Hear, blessed power, to holy rites incline, and all propitious on the incense shine:
Suppress the rage of fires unweary’d frame, and still preserve our nature’s vital flame.
[66] LXVI. TO ESCULAPIUS [ASKLEPIOS]
The Fumigation from Manna.
Great Esculapius [Asklepios], skill’d to heal mankind, all-ruling Pæan, and physician kind;
Whose arts medic’nal, can alone assuage diseases dire, and stop their dreadful rage:
Strong lenient God, regard my suppliant pray’r, bring gentle Health, adorn’d with lovely hair;
Convey the means of mitigating pain, and raging, deadly pestilence restrain.
O pow’r all-flourishing, abundant, bright, Apollo’s honor’d offspring, God of light;
Husband of blameless Health [Hygeia], the constant foe of dread Disease the minister of woe:
Come, blessed saviour, and my health defend, and to my life afford a prosp’rous end.
[67] LXVII. TO HEALTH [HYGEIA]
The Fumigation from Manna.
O Much-desir’d, prolific, gen’ral queen, hear me, life-bearing, Health [Hygeia], of beauteous mien,
Mother of all; by thee diseases dire, of bliss destructive, from our life retire;
And ev’ry house is flourishing and fair, if with rejoicing aspect thou art there:
Each dædal art, thy vig’rous force inspires, and all the world thy helping hand desires;
Pluto life’s bane alone resists thy will, and ever hates thy all-preserving skill.
O fertile queen, from thee forever flows to mortal life from agony repose;
And men without thy all-sustaining ease, find nothing useful, nothing form’d to please;
Without thy aid, not Plutus’ [Aides’] self can thrive, nor man to much afflicted age arrive;
For thou alone of countenance serene, dost govern all things, universal queen.
Assist thy mystics with propitious mind, and far avert disease of ev’ry kind.
[68] LXVIII. TO THE FURIES [ERINYES]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Vociferous Bacchanalian Furies [Erinyes], hear! Ye, I invoke, dread pow’rs, whom all revere;
Nightly, profound, in secret who retire, Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megara dire:
Deep in a cavern merg’d, involv’d in night, near where Styx flows impervious to the sight;
Ever attendant on mysterious rites, furious and fierce, whom Fate’s dread law delights;
Revenge and sorrows dire to you belong, hid in a savage veil, severe and strong,
Terrific virgins, who forever dwell endu’d with various forms, in deepest hell;
Aerial, and unseen by human kind, and swiftly coursing, rapid as the mind.
In vain the Sun with wing’d refulgence bright, in vain the Moon, far darting milder light,
Wisdom and Virtue may attempt in vain; and pleasing, Art, our transport to obtain
Unless with these you readily conspire, and far avert your all-destructive ire.
The boundless tribes of mortals you descry, and justly rule with Right’s [Dike’s] impartial eye.
Come, snaky-hair’d, Fates [Moirai] many-form’d, divine, suppress your rage, and to our rites incline.
[69] LXIX. TO THE FURIES [EUMENIDES]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Hear me, illustrious Furies [Eumenides], mighty nam’d, terrific pow’rs, for prudent counsel fam’d;
Holy and pure, from Jove terrestrial [Zeus Khthonios] born
and Proserpine [Phersephone], whom lovely locks adorn:
Whose piercing sight, with vision unconfin’d, surveys the deeds of all the impious kind:
On Fate attendant, punishing the race (with wrath severe) of deeds unjust and base.
Dark-colour’d queens, whose glittering eyes, are bright with dreadful, radiant, life-destroying, light:
Eternal rulers, terrible and strong, to whom revenge, and tortures dire belong;
Fatal and horrid to the human sight, with snaky tresses wand’ring in the night;
Either approach, and in these rites rejoice, for ye, I call, with holy, suppliant voice.
[70] LXX.TO MELINOE
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Call Melinoe, saffron-veil’d, terrene, who from infernal Pluto’s sacred queen [Phersephone],
Mixt with Saturnian Jupiter [Kronion Zeus], arose, near where Cocytus’ mournful river flows;
When under Pluto’s [Plouton’s] semblance,
Jove [Zeus] divine deceiv’d with guileful arts dark Proserpine [Phersephone].
Hence, partly black thy limbs and partly white, from Pluto [Plouton] dark, from Jove [Zeus] etherial, bright
Thy colour’d members, men by night inspire when seen in specter’d forms with terrors dire;
Now darkly visible, involv’d in night, perspicuous now they meet the fearful fight.
Terrestrial queen expel wherever found the soul’s mad fears to earth’s remotest bound;
With holy aspect on our incense shrine, and bless thy mystics, and the rites divine.
[71] LXXI. TO FORTUNE [TYKHE]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Approach strong Fortune [Tykhe], with propitious mind and rich abundance, to my pray’r inclin’d
Placid, and gentle Trivia, mighty nam’d, imperial Dian [Artemis], born of Pluto [Eubouleos] fam’d;
Mankind’s unconquer’d, endless praise is thine, sepulch’ral, widely-wand’ring pow’r divine!
In thee, our various mortal life is found, and some from thee hi copious wealth abound;
While others mourn thy hand averse to bless, in all the bitterness of deep distress.
Be present, Goddess, to thy vot’ry kind, and give abundance with benignant mind.
[72] LXXII. TO THE DÆMON, OR GENIUS
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Thee, mighty-ruling, Dæmon dread, I call, mild Jove [Zeus], life-giving, and the source of all:
Great Jove [Zeus], much-wand’ring, terrible and strong, to whom revenge and tortures dire belong.
Mankind from thee, in plenteous wealth abound, when in their dwellings joyful thou art found;
Or pass thro’ life afflicted and distress’d, the needful means of bliss by thee supprest.
‘Tis thine alone endu’d with boundless might, to keep the keys of sorrow and delight.
O holy, blessed father, hear my pray’r, disperse the seeds of life-consuming care;
With fav’ring mind the sacred rites attend, and grant my days a glorious, blessed end.
[73] LXXIII. TO LEUCOTHEA
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
I Call Leucothea, of great Cadmus born, and Bacchus’ [Dionysos’] nurse, whom ivy leaves adorn.
Hear, pow’rful Goddess, in the mighty deep wide and profound, thy Ration doom’d to keep:
In waves rejoicing, guardian of mankind; for ships from thee alone deliv’rance find
Amidst the fury of th’ unstable main, when art no more avail, and strength is vain;
When rushing billows with tempestuous ire o’erwhelm the mariner in ruin dire,
Thou hear’st, with pity touch’d, his suppliant pray’r, resolv’d his life to succour and to spare.
Be ever present, Goddess! in distress, waft ships along with prosperous success:
Thy mystics thro’ the stormy sea defend, and safe conduct them to their destin’d end.
[74] LXXIV. TO PALÆMON
The Fumigation from Manna.
O Nurs’d with Dionysius [Dionysos], doom’d to keep thy dwelling in the widely-spreading deep:
With joyful aspect to my pray’r incline, propitious come, and bless the rites divine:
Thro’ earth and sea thy ministers attend, and from old Ocean’s stormy waves defend:
For ships their safety ever owe to thee, who wand’rest with them thro’ the raging sea.
Come, guardian pow’r, whom mortal tribes desire, and far avert the deep’s destructive ire.
[75] LXXV. TO THE MUSES
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Daughters of Jove [Zeus and Mnemosyne], dire-sounding and divine,
renown’d Pierian, sweetly speaking Nine;
To those whose breasts your sacred furies fire much-form’d, the objects of supreme desire:
Sources of blameless virtue to mankind, who form to excellence the youthful mind;
Who nurse the soul, and give her to descry the paths of right with Reason’s steady eye.
Commanding queens who lead to sacred light the intellect refin’d from Error’s night;
And to mankind each holy rite disclose, for mystic knowledge from your nature flows.
Clio, and Erato, who charms the sight, with thee Euterpe minist’ring delight:
Thalia flourishing, Polymina fam’d, Melpomene from skill in music nam’d:
Terpischore, Urania heav’nly bright, with thee who gav’st me to behold the light.
Come, venerable, various, pow’rs divine, with fav’ring aspect on your mystics shine;
Bring glorious, ardent, lovely, fam’d desire, and warm my bosom with your sacred fire.
[76] LXXVI. To MNEMOSYNE, or the GODDESS of MEMORY
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
The consort I invoke of Jove [Zeus] divine, source of the holy, sweetly-speaking Nine;
Free from th’ oblivion of the fallen mind, by whom the soul with intellect is join’d:
Reason’s increase, and thought to thee belong, all-powerful, pleasant, vigilant, and strong:
‘Tis thine, to waken from lethargic rest all thoughts deposited within the breast;
And nought neglecting, vigorous to excite the mental eye from dark oblivion’s night.
Come, blessed power, thy mystic’s mem’ry wake to holy rites, and Lethe’s fetters break.
[77] LXXVII. TO AURORA [EOS]
The Fumigation from Manna.
Hear me, O Goddess! whose emerging ray leads on the broad refulgence of the day;
Blushing Aurora [Eos], whose celestial light beams on the world with red’ning splendours bright:
Angel of Titan, whom with constant round, thy orient beams recall from night profound:
Labour of ev’ry kind to lead is thine, of mortal life the minister divine.
Mankind in thee eternally delight, and none presumes to shun thy beauteous sight.
Soon as thy splendours break the bands of rest, and eyes unclose with pleasing sleep oppress’d;
Men, reptiles, birds, and beasts, with gen’ral voice, and all the nations of the deep, rejoice;
For all the culture of our life is thine. Come, blessed pow’r! and to these rites incline:
Thy holy light increase, and unconfin’d diffuse its radiance on thy mystic’s mind.
[78] LXXVIII. TO THEMIS
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Illustrious Themis, of celestial birth, thee I invoke, young blossom of the earth;
Beauteous-eyed virgin; first from thee alone, prophetic oracles to men were known,
Giv’n from the deep recesses of the fane in sacred Pytho, where renown’d you reign;
From thee, Apollo’s oracles arose, and from thy pow’r his inspiration flows.
Honour’d by all, of form divinely bright, majestic virgin, wand’ring in the night:
Mankind from thee first learnt initial rites, and Bacchus’ nightly choirs thy soul delights;
For holy honours to disclose is thine, with all the culture of the pow’rs divine.
Be present, Goddess, to my pray’r inclin’d, and bless the mystic rites with fav’ring mind.
[79] LXXIX. TO THE NORTH WIND [BOREAS]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Boreas, whose wint’ry blasts, terrific, tear the bosom of the deep surrounding air;
Cold icy pow’r, approach, and fav’ring blow, and Thrace a while desert expos’d to snow:
The misty station of the air dissolve, with pregnant clouds, whose frames in show’rs resolve:
Serenely temper all within the sky, and wipe from moisture, Æther’s beauteous eye.
[80] LXXX. TO THE WEST WIND [ZEPHYROS]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Sea-born, aerial, blowing from the west, sweet gales [Aurai], who give to weary’d labour rest:
Vernal and grassy, and of gentle found, to ships delightful, thro’ the sea profound;
For these, impell’d by you with gentle force, pursue with prosp’rous Fate their destin’d course.
With blameless gales regard my suppliant pray’r, Zephyrs unseen, light-wing’d, and form’d from air.
[81] LXXXI. TO THE SOUTH WIND [NOTOS]
The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Wide coursing gales, whose lightly leaping feet with rapid wings the air’s wet bosom beat,
Approach benevolent, swift-whirling pow’rs, with humid clouds the principles of flow’rs:
For flow’ry clouds are portion’d to your care, to send on earth from all surrounding air.
Bear, blessed pow’rs, these holy rites attend, and fruitful rains on earth all-parent send.
[82] LXXXII. TO OCEAN [OKEANOS]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Ocean I call, whose nature ever flows, from whom at first both Gods and men arose;
Sire incorruptible, whose waves surround, and earth’s concluding mighty circle bound:
Hence every river, hence the spreading sea, and earth’s pure bubbling fountains spring from thee:
Hear, mighty fire, for boundless bliss is thine, whose waters purify the pow’rs divine:
Earth’s friendly limit, fountain of the pole, whose waves wide spreading and circumfluent roll.
Approach benevolent, with placid mind, and be for ever to thy mystics kind.
[83] LXXXIII. TO VESTA [HESTIA]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Daughter of Saturn [Kronos], venerable dame, the seat containing of unweary’d flame;
In sacred rites these ministers are thine, Mystics much-blessed, holy and divine
In thee, the Gods have fix’d place, strong, stable, basis of the mortal race:
Eternal, much-form’d ever-florid queen, laughing and blessed, and of lovely mien;
Accept these rites, accord each just desire, and gentle health, and needful good inspire.
[84] LXXXIV. TO SLEEP [HYPNOS]
The Fumigation from a Poppy.
Sleep [Hypnos], king of Gods, and men of mortal birth, sov’reign of all sustain’d by mother Earth;
For thy dominion is supreme alone, o’er all extended, and by all things known.
‘Tis thine all bodies with benignant mind in other bands than those of brass to bind:
Tamer of cares, to weary toil repose, from whom sweet solace in affliction flows.
Thy pleasing, gentle chains preserve the soul, and e’en the dreadful cares of death controul;
For Death [Thanatos] and Lethe with oblivious stream, mankind thy genuine brothers justly deem.
With fav’ring aspect to my pray’r incline, and save thy mystics in their works divine.
[85] LXXXV. TO THE DIVINITY OF DREAMS [ONEIROI]
The Fumigation from Aromatics.
Thee I invoke, blest pow’r of dreams [Oneiroi] divine, angel of future fates, swift wings are thine:
Great source of oracles to human kind, when stealing soft, and whisp’ring to the mind,
Thro’ sleep’s sweet silence and the gloom of night, thy pow’r awakes th’ intellectual fight;
To silent souls the will of heav’n relates, and silently reveals their future fates.
For ever friendly to the upright mind sacred and pure, to holy rites inclin’d;
For these with pleasing hope thy dreams inspire, bliss to anticipate, which all desire.
Thy visions manifest of fate disclose, what methods best may mitigate our woes;
Reveal what rites the Gods immortal please, and what the means their anger to appease:
For ever tranquil is the good man’s end, whose life, thy dreams admonish and defend.
But from the wicked turn’d averse to bless, thy form unseen, the angel of distress;
No means to cheek approaching ill they find, pensive with fears, and to the future blind.
Come, blessed pow’r, the signatures reveal which heav’n’s decrees mysteriously conceal,
Signs only present to the worthy mind, nor omens ill disclose of monst’rous kind.
[86] LXXXVI. TO DEATH [THANATOS]
The Fumigation from Manna.
Hear me, O Death [Thanatos], whose empire unconfin’d, extends to mortal tribes of ev’ry kind.
On thee, the portion of our time depends, whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends.
Thy sleep perpetual bursts the vivid folds, by which the soul, attracting body holds:
Common to all of ev’ry sex and age, for nought escapes thy all-destructive rage;
Not youth itself thy clemency can gain, vig’rous and strong, by thee untimely slain.
In thee, the end of nature’s works is known, in thee, all judgment is absolv’d alone:
No suppliant arts thy dreadful rage controul, no vows revoke the purpose of thy soul;
O blessed pow’r regard my ardent pray’r, and human life to age abundant spare.
THE END