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The Orphic Hymns
the Orphic tradition · Hymn 72, lines 6–8 · To some wealth, to others poverty
72.6
The Orphic Hymns 72.6 · To some wealth, to others poverty
Why Tyche matters: she makes one person rich and another poor, as her mood decides.
· · ·
γὰρ1
gàr
For
ἐν2
en
in
σοὶ3
soì
you
βίοτος4
bíotos
the life
θνητῶν5
thnētôn
of mortals
ἐστιν6
estin
is
παμποίκιλός7
pampoíkilós
many-coloredall-variegated
; γὰρ8
gàr
for
οἷς9
hoîs
to some
μὲν10
mèn
—
τεύχεις11
teúcheis
you make
a
πολύολβον12
polýolbon
rich
πλῆθος13
plêthos
abundance
κτεάνων14
kteánōn
of possessions
, δὲ15
dè
and
οἷς16
hoîs
to others
κακὴν17
kakḕn
cruel
πενίην18
peníēn
poverty
, ὁρμαίνουσα19
hormaínousa
brooding onturning over
χόλον20
chólon
angergall
θυμῷ21
thymôi
in your heart
. For in you the life of mortals is many-colored; for to some you make a rich abundance of possessions, and to others cruel poverty, brooding on anger in your heart.
For in you the life of mortals is many-colored; for to some you make a rich abundance of possessions, and to others cruel poverty, brooding on anger in your heart.
Interpretation
For in you the life of mortals is many-colored: to some you give a rich abundance of possessions, to others cruel poverty, as you brood on anger in your heart.
Pampoikilos, "many-colored," is a weaver's word: Homer uses it for the richly patterned robes kept in Hecuba's storeroom. A human life under Fortune is that kind of cloth, worked in bright and dark threads. The poverty comes with anger. Tyche gives it while "brooding on cholos in her heart," the bitter anger of a resentful god; the word also means gall, the bile.
72.9
The Orphic Hymns 72.9 · Come kindly to my life
The prayer: may Fortune come in her kind mood, full of blessings.
· · ·
But, goddess, I pray you to come kindly to my life, full of blessings, with rich possessions.