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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 64, lines 8–11 · At the tiller of living things
64.8
The Orphic Hymns 64.8 · At the tiller of living things
Law alone steers all living things, keeping company with upright judgments, harmless to the law-abiding and heavy on the lawless.
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γὰρ1
gàr
For
αὐτὸς2
autòs
he
μοῦνος3
moûnos
alone
κρατύνει4
kratýnei
holds
οἴηκα5
oíēka
the tiller
ζῴων6
zṓiōn
of living things
, συνεών7
syneṓn
keeping company with
ὀρθοτάταις8
orthotátais
the most upright
γνώμαις9
gnṓmais
judgments
, αἰεί10
aieí
always
ἀδιάστροφος11
adiástrophos
unbendingincapable of turning
, ὠγύγιος12
ōgýgios
primeval
, πολύπειρος13
polýpeiros
of long experience
, συνοικῶν14
synoikôn
living
ἀβλάπτως15
abláptōs
without harm
πᾶσι16
pâsi
with all
τοῖς17
toîs
the
νομίμοις18
nomímois
law-abiding
, δὲ19
dè
but
φέρων20
phérōn
bringing
βαρεῖαν21
bareîan
heavy
κακότητα22
kakótēta
misery
ἀνόμοις23
anómois
to the lawless
. For he alone holds the tiller of living things, keeping company with the most upright judgments, always unbending, primeval, of long experience, living without harm with all the law-abiding, but bringing heavy misery to the lawless.
For he alone holds the tiller of living things, keeping company with the most upright judgments, always unbending, primeval, of long experience, living without harm with all the law-abiding, but bringing heavy misery to the lawless.
Interpretation
For he alone holds the tiller of living things, keeping company with the most upright judgments, always unbending, primeval, of long experience, living without harm among all who keep the law, but bringing heavy misery to the lawless.
The first line nearly repeats one in the hymn to Eros (58): there Eros held the tiller of all things, and here Law holds the tiller of everything that lives. It is an old Greek way of speaking about rule. In Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes the king of the city calls himself the one "at the stern, working the tiller." Law is also ōgygios, "primeval," a word taken from Ogyges, a king of the earliest times, which Hesiod uses for the ancient water of the Styx. The last line plays on his name: he lives in peace with the nomimoi, those who keep the nomos, and brings misery to the anomoi, those without it.
64.12
The Orphic Hymns 64.12 · Send remembrance of you
The prayer: with a kindly heart, send remembrance of yourself.
· · ·
But, blessed one, all-honored, bringer of happiness, longed for by all, with a kindly heart send remembrance of you, noblest one.