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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 29, lines 17–20 · A sleek old age
29.17
The Orphic Hymns 29.17 · A sleek old age
The prayer: crops, peace and health, and a long life that ends gently in her realm.
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κλῦθι1
klŷthi
Hear
μάκαιρα2
mákaira
blessed
θεά3
theá
goddess
, δʼ4
d’
and
ἀνάπεμπʼ5
anápemp’
send up
καρποὺς6
karpoùs
fruits
ἀπὸ7
apò
from
γαίης8
gaíēs
the earth
, θάλλουσα9
thállousa
flourishing
εἰρήνῃ10
eirḗnēi
with peace
καὶ11
kaì
and
ἠπιόχειρʼ12
ēpiócheir’
gentle-handedwith soothing hand
ὑγιείῃ13
hygieíēi
health
καὶ14
kaì
and
εὐόλβῳ15
euólbōi
a prosperous
βίῳ16
bíōi
life
, κατάγοντι17
katágonti
leading down
λιπαρὸν18
liparòn
a sleekshining, rich
γῆρας19
gêras
old age
πρὸς20
pròs
to
σὸν21
sòn
your
χῶρον22
chôron
realmplace
, ἄνασσα23
ánassa
queen
, καὶ24
kaì
and
to
εὐδύνατον25
eudýnaton
mighty
Πλούτωνα26
Ploútōna
Plouton
. Hear, blessed goddess, and send up fruits from the earth, flourishing with peace and gentle-handed health and a prosperous life, leading down a sleek old age to your realm, queen, and to mighty Plouton.
Hear, blessed goddess, and send up fruits from the earth, flourishing with peace and gentle-handed health and a prosperous life, leading down a sleek old age to your realm, queen, and to mighty Plouton.
Interpretation
Hear, blessed goddess, and send up fruits from the earth, flourishing with peace, with health of gentle hands, and with a prosperous life that brings a sleek old age down at last to your realm, queen, and to mighty Plouton.
The prayer asks for a good life and, at its end, an easy death. "A sleek old age," liparon gēras, is Homer's phrase: in the Odyssey the prophet Teiresias tells Odysseus that death will come to him gently, when he is worn out by a sleek old age. Here the worshipper asks for a life prosperous enough to end that way, and to be led down to Persephone and Plouton only when the time has come.
30.1
The Orphic Hymns 30.1 · First-born, thrice-born
The hymn to Dionysus, sung over storax, opens with a list of his titles: first-born, of double nature, born three times.
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Of Dionysus. Incense: storax. I call Dionysus, loud-roaring, reveler, first-born, of double nature, thrice-born, Bacchic lord,