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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 25, lines 10–11 · A good end after our labors
25.10
The Orphic Hymns 25.10 · A good end after our labors
The prayer to Proteus: come to the initiates, and send a good end to a blessed life.
· · ·
ἀλλά1
allá
But
πάτερ2
páter
father
, μόλε3
móle
come
μυστιπόλοις4
mystipólois
to the celebrants of the mysteries
with
ὁσίῃσι5
hosíēisi
holy
προνοίαις6
pronoíais
forethought
, πέμπων7
pémpōn
sending
a
ἐσθλὸν8
esthlòn
good
τέλος9
télos
end
εὐόλβου10
euólbou
of a blessed
βιότου11
biótou
life
ἐπʼ12
ep’
after
ἔργοις13
érgois
our labors
. But, father, come to the celebrants of the mysteries with holy forethought, sending a good end of a blessed life after our labors.
But, father, come to the celebrants of the mysteries with holy forethought, sending a good end of a blessed life after our labors.
Interpretation
But come, father, to the celebrants of the mysteries with holy forethought, sending a good end to a blessed life, after our labors.
The closing words are a formula that comes back again and again in this book: "a good end" (telos esthlon) for the worshippers, in this hymn as in those to Hermes, to Asclepius and others. Telos means an end, and also a completion, and from the same root comes teletē, the rite of initiation. The old god of change is asked to come with "holy forethought," pronoia, the word later Greek thinkers used for providence.
26.1
The Orphic Hymns 26.1 · Mother of gods and of men
The hymn to Earth. Every kind of seed is burned for her, except beans. She is called the mother of gods and of mortals, the giver of all things and their destroyer.
· · ·
Of Earth. Incense: every seed except beans and aromatics. Earth, goddess, mother of the blessed and of mortal men, all-nourishing, giver of all, bringer of fulfillment, destroyer of all, who make things grow, fruit-bearing, teeming with lovely seasons,