ON PURIFICATIONS. 352. O friends, ye who inhabit the great city of sacred Akragas up to the acropolis, whose care is good deeds, who harbour strangers deserving of respect, who know not how to do baseness, hail! I go about among you an immortal god, no longer a mortal, honoured by all, as is fitting, crowned with fillets and luxuriant garlands. With these on my head, so soon as I come to flourishing cities I am reverenced by men and by women; and they follow after me in countless numbers, inquiring of me what is the way to gain, some in want of oracles, others of help in diseases, long time in truth pierced with grievous pains, they seek to hear from me keen-edged account of all sorts of things. 364. But why do I lay weight on these things, as though I were doing some great thing, if I be superior to mortal, perishing men? 1 3 ὦ φίλοι, οἶδα μὲν οὖν ὅτ' ἀληθείη παρὰ μύθοις, 407 οὓς ἐγὼ ἐξερέω· μάλα δ' ἀργαλέη γε τέτυκται ἀνδράσι καὶ δύσζηλος ἐπὶ φρένα πίστιος ὅρμη. ἔστιν ἀνάγκης χρῆμα, θεῶν ψήφισμα παλαιόν, 370 ἀίδιον, πλατέεσσι κατεσφρηγισμένον ὅρκοις. εὐτέ τις ἀμπλακίῃσι φόνῳ φίλα γυία μιήνῃ αἵματος ἢ ἐπίορκον ἁμαρτήσας ἐπομόσσῃ δαίμων, οἵτε μακραίωνος λελάχασι βιοῖο, τρίς μιν μυρίας ὥρας ἀπὸ μακάρων ἀλάλησθαι, 375 φυόμενον παντοῖα διὰ χρόνου εἴδεα θνητῶν, ἀργαλέας βιότοιο μεταλλάσσοντα κελεύθους. αἰθέριον μὲν γάρ σφε μένος πόντονδε διώκει, πόντος δ' ἐς χθονὸς οὗδας ἀπέπτυσε, γαῖα δ ̓ ἐς αὐγὰς ἠελίου ακάμαντος, ὁ δ ̓ αἰθέρος ἔμβαλε δίναις. 4 6 16 380 ἄλλος δ' ἐξ ἄλλου δέχεται, στυγέουσι δὲ πάντες. τῶν καὶ ἐγὼ νῦν εἰμὶ, φυγὰς θέοθεν καὶ ἀλήτης, 7 νείκει μαινομένῳ πίσυνος. 366-368. Clem. Αl. Strom. 648. 366. ΑΗ ὅτ ̓ ἀληθείη, Cd. Paris. ἐκ τ' ἀληθείη. 367. Diels οὓς ἐρέω· μάλα δ' ἀργαλέη πάντεσσι τέτυκται. 369-370, 369-382. 369, 371, 373-374, 381 Plut. de exil. 607 c. 372-383. Hippol. Ref. haer. 249-251 (scattered through the text). 369-370. Simpl. Phys. 272 v; Stob. Ecl. ii. 7; 384. 374-375. Origen c. Cels. viii. 53 p. 780. 377-380. Plut. de Is. et Os. 361 c (Euseb. Praep. Ev. v. 5; 187). 377-379. Plut. de vit. alien. 830 F. 381-382. Asclep. in Brand. Schol. Arist. 629 a; Hierokl. carm. aur. 254; Plotin. Enn. iv. 81; 468 c. 369. Plut. ἔστι τῆς (τι), Hippol. ἔστι τί : Simpl. σφράγισμα. 371. Panz. Schneid. φρενῶν. 372. MS. ὃς καὶ ἐπιορκον ἁμαρ τήσας ἐπομώσει, corr. Schneid. Schneid. αἵμασιν, Stein αἵματος. Knatz rejects 372 as a gloss from Hesiod Theog. 793. 373. Plut. δαίμονες οἵτε μακραίωνες λελόγχασι βίοιο, Hippol. δαιμόνιοί τε (remainder as in text), Heeren δαίμων., Orig. Hipp. μὲν ἀπὸ. Cf. ἀπαὶ ν. 348. 375. Orig. γιγνομένην παντοίαν διὰ χρόνον ἰδέαν, Hippol. φυομένους παντοῖα διὰ χρόνον εἴδεα. 377. Hippol, μέν γε. 378. Plut. de vit. alien. δὲ χθονός . . ἀνέπτυσε. Plut. de Is. ἐσαύθις. 378. Hipp. φαέθοντος. 381. MSS. ὡς, τὴν, τὼς, corr. Scal. ; Hippol. confirms correction. Hippol. omits νῦν. Asclep. δεῦρ'. 382. Asclep. αἰθομένῳ. 366. Friends, I know indeed when truth lies in the discourses that I utter; but truly the entrance of assur ance into the mind of man is difficult and hindered by jealousy. 369. There is an utterance of Necessity, an ancient decree of the gods, eternal, sealed fast with broad oaths whenever any one defiles his body sinfully with bloody gore or perjures himself in regard to wrong-doing, one of those spirits who are heir to long life, thrice ten thousand seasons shall he wander apart from the blessed, being born meantime in all sorts of mortal forms, changing one bitter path of life for another. For mighty Air pursues him Seaward, and Sea spews him forth on the threshold of Earth, and Earth casts him into the rays of the unwearying Sun, and Sun into the eddies of Air; one receives him from the other, and all hate him. One of these now am I too, a fugitive from the gods and a wanderer, at the mercy of raging Strife. ἤδη γάρ ποτ' ἐγὼ γενόμην κοθρός τε κόρη τε θάμνος τ' οἰωνός τε καὶ εἶν ἅλι ἔλλοπος ἰχθύς. 385 κλαυσά τε καὶ κώκυσα, ἰδὼν ἀσυνήθεα χῶρον, ἔνθα Φόνος τε Κότος τε καὶ ἄλλων ἔθνεα Κηρῶν αὐχμηραί τε νόσοι καὶ σήψιες ἔργα τε ρευστά. ̓Ατῆς ἀν λειμῶνα κατὰ σκότος ἠλάσκουσιν. αἰῶνος ἀμερθείς. 380 13 21 23 390 ἐξ οἵης τιμῆς τε καὶ ὅσσου μήκεος ὄλβου 11 θνητοῖς. ἠλύθομεν τόδ' ὑπ ̓ ἄντρον ὑπόστεγον. 31 ἔνθ ̓ ἦσαν Χθονίη τε καὶ Ηλιόπη ταναῶπις, 24 383-384. Clem. Αl. Strom. 750 ; Diog. Laer. viii. 77; Athen. viii. 365; Philostr. vit. Apoll. i. 1; 2, and often. 383. Hippol. Philos. 3 ἤτοι μὲν γὰρ, Cedren. Chron. i. 157 ἤτοι μὲν πρῶτα. Often κούρη τε κόρος τε. 384. Cedren. καὶ θὴρ κ.θ. ἐξ ἁλὸς ἔμπνους ἰχθὺς καὶ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ βοῦς, Diog. Laer. ἔμπυρος, Athen. ἔμπορος, Clem. ἔλλοπος. Others ἄμφορος, νήχυτος, φαίδιμος. 385-388. 385. Clem. Al. Strom. 516. 385b-386. Hierocl. carm. aur. 254. 386, 388. Synesius de prov. i. 89 D. 386-387. Prokl. on Kratyl. 103; 386. Philo vol. ii. 638 Mang. 388. Synes. epist. 147 ; Julian. Imp. orat. &c. 385. Clem. ἀσυνήθεα, Hierocl. ἀτέρπεα. 386. Synes. φθόνος, Philo φόνοι τε λίμοι τε. 388. Syn. Iul. ἐν λειμῶνι, Hier. ἀνὰ λειμῶνα, corr. Bentl. 389. Hierocl., as just cited; λειμῶνα ὃν ἀπολιπὼν ἔρχεται σῶμα ὀλβίου αἰῶνος ἀμερθείς. εἰς γήινον 390-391. Clem. Αl. Strom. 516. 390. Plut. de exil. 607 E; Stob. Flor. ii. 80 Gais. 390. Clem. καὶ οἵου. 391. Clem. λιπών. 392. Porphyr. de ant. nymph. c. viii. 393-399. (United by Bergk.) 394. Plut. de Is. Os. 370 E. 399. Cornut. de nat. deor. chap. xvii. 393-396. Plut. de tranquil. an. 474 Β. 396. Tztz. Chiliad. xii. 575. 397 394. Plut. Is. Οs. μέροπι. 395. MS. Δειναίη, corr. Bentl. 396. Tzt. 383. For before this I was born once a boy, and a maiden, and a plant, and a bird, and a darting fish in the sea. 385. And I wept and shrieked on beholding the unwonted land where are Murder and Wrath, and other species of Fates, and wasting diseases, and putrefaction and fluxes. 388. In darkness they roam over the meadow of Ate. 389. Deprived of life. 390. From what honour and how great a degree of blessedness have I fallen here on the earth to consort with mortal beings! 392. We enter beneath this over-roofed cave. 393. Where were Chthonie and far-seeing Heliope (i.e. Earth and Sun ?), bloody Contention and Harmony of sedate face, Beauty and Ugliness, Speed and Loitering, lovely Truth and dark-eyed Obscurity, Birth and Death, and Sleep and Waking, Motion and Stability, manycrowned Greatness and Lowness, and Silence and Voice. |