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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 4, lines 4–6 · House of the blessed gods
4.4
The Orphic Hymns 4.4 · House of the blessed gods
Heaven is where the gods live. He travels in an endless whirl, wraps around everything to guard it, and holds the necessity of nature in his breast.
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οἶκε1
oîke
house
μακάρων2
makárōn
of the blessed
θεῶν3
theôn
gods
, ὁδεύων4
hodeúōn
travelling
δίνῃσιν5
dínēisin
in the eddies
ῥόμβου6
rhómbou
of the whirla bull-roarer's spin
, φύλαξ7
phýlax
guardian
πάντων8
pántōn
of all
αἰθέριος9
aithérios
in the upper air
τε10
te
and
χθόνιός11
chthóniós
on the earth
, περιβληθείς12
periblētheís
wrapped aroundthrown round
them
,ἔχων13
échōn
holding
ἐν14
en
in
your
στέρνοισιν15
stérnoisin
breast
ἄπλητον16
áplēton
the immense
ἀνάγκην17
anánkēn
necessity
φύσεως18
phýseōs
of nature
, house of the blessed gods, travelling in the eddies of the whirl, guardian of all in the upper air and on the earth, wrapped around them, holding in your breast the immense necessity of nature,
house of the blessed gods, travelling in the eddies of the whirl, guardian of all in the upper air and on the earth, wrapped around them, holding in your breast the immense necessity of nature,
Interpretation
house of the blessed gods, travelling in the eddies of the whirl, guardian of all things in the upper air and on the earth, wrapped around them, holding in your breast the immense necessity of nature,
The "whirl" is a rhombos, the bull-roarer: a small piece of wood whirled round on a cord, which roared as it spun and was swung in the rites of the mysteries. The hymn pictures the turning sky as one vast rhombos, and the hymn to the Sun (8) uses the same image. Heaven also holds anankē, Necessity, in his breast. Hymn 3 has already said that "dread Necessity rules all things," and here she is lodged inside the sky, whose turning never changes.
4.7
The Orphic Hymns 4.7 · Bring a holy life to the new initiate
The last titles of Heaven, among them "father of Kronos." Then the request: hear, and bring a holy life to someone who has just been initiated.
· · ·
dark-blue, untamed, star-spangled, of changing form, all-seeing, father of Kronos, blessed one, supreme power, hear, bringing a holy life to the new initiate.