7 this manner, τὰ Ὀρφικὰ καλούμενα ἔπη, the L.i. c.vii. $7. verses that are called Orphical.-Besides which Cicero tells us, that some imputed all the Orphic poems to Cercops, a Pythagorean; and it is well known, that many have attributed the same to another of that school, Onomacritus, who lived in the times of the Pisistratida: wherefore we read more than once in Sextus Empiricus of Ονομάκριτος ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοίς, Onomacritus in the Orphics. Suidas also reports, that some of the Orphic poems were anciently ascribed to Theognetus, others to Timocles, others to Zopyrus, &c. From all which Grotius seems to Proleg. in have made up this conclusion: That the Flor. Stob. Pythagorics entitled their own books to Orpheus and Linus, just in the same manner as ancient Christians entitled theirs, some to the Sibyls, and others to Hermes Trismegist.-Implying therein, that both the Orphic poems and doctrine owed their very being and first original only to the Pythagoreans. But on the other side Clemens Alexandrinus, affirmeth, that Heraclitus the philosopher borrowed many things from the Orphic poems. And it is certain, that Plato does not only very much commend the Orphic hymns for their suavity and deliciousness, but also produce some verses out of them, without making any scruple concerning their author. Cicero himself, notwithstanding what he cites out of Ari- De N. De. L. stotle to the contrary, seems to acknow- p. 201. Lamb. ledge Orpheus for the most ancient poet, he writing * De Natur. Deor. lib. i. cap. xxxviii. p. 2940. tom. ix. oper. b Stromat. lib. vi. cap. ii. p. 752, e Vide Plat. de Legib. 1. viii. p. 623, et Cratylum, p. 265. Io, p. 144. et in Convivio, p. 318. thus of Cleanthes: "In secundo libro de natura deorum, vult Orphei, Musai, Hesiodi, Homerique fabellas accommodare ad ea, quæ ipse de diis immortalibus scripserat, ut etiam veterrimi poetæ, qui hæc ne suspicati quidem sint, Stoici fuisse videantur." Cleanthes, in his second book of the nature of the gods, endeavours to accommodate the fables of Orpheus, Musæus, Hesiod, and Homer, to those very things, which himself had written concerning them; so that the most ancient poets, who never dreamed of any such matter, are made by him to have been Stoics.-Diodorus Siculus affirmeth Orpheus to have been the author of a most excellent poem: and Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Athenagoras, and others, take it for granted, that Homer børrowed many passages of his poems from the Orphic verses, and particularly that very beginning of his Iliad De V. Pyth. c. xxxiv. [p. 195, 196.] b Μήνιν άειδε, θεά Lastly, Jamblichus testifieth, that by most writers Orpheus was represented as the ancientest of all the poets; adding, moreover, what dialect he wrote in, αἱ πλείους τῶν ἱστοριῶν ἀποφαίνουσι, κεχρῆσθαι τῇ Δωρική διαλέκτῳ καὶ τὸν Ορφέα, πρεσβύτερον ὄντα τῶν ποιητῶν· Most of the historiographers declare, that Orpheus, who was the ancientest of all the poets, wrote in the Doric dialect. Which, if it be true, then those Orphic fragments, that now we have, (preserved in the writings of such as did not Dorize) must a Lib. iv. cap. xxv. p. 221. b Cohortat. ad Græcos, p. 17. oper. c Stromat. lib. vi. cap. ii. p. 738, 751. d Legat. pro Christianis, cap. xv. p. 64, 65. have been transformed by them out of their native idiom. Now as concerning Herodotus, who supposing Homer and Hesiod to have been the ancientest of all the Greek poets, seemed therefore to conclude the Orphic poems to have been pseudepigraphous; himself intimates, that this was but a singular opinion, and as it were paradox, of his own, the contrary thereunto being then generally received. However Aristotle probably might therefore be the more inclinable to follow Herodotus in this, because he had no great kindness for the Pythagoric or Orphic philosophy. But it is altogether irrational and absurd to think, that the Pythagorics would entitle their books to Orpheus, as designing to gain credit and authority to them thereby, had there been no such doctrine before, either contained in some ancient monument of Orpheus, or at least transmitted down by oral tradition from him. Wherefore the Pythagorics themselves constantly maintain, that before Pythagoras's time, there was not only an Orphic cabala extant, but also Orphic poems. The former was declared in that ancient book called 'Tepos λoyos, or The holy Oration-if we may believe Proclus upon the Timæus: Πυθαγόρειος ὧν ὁ Τιμαῖος, ἕπεται ταῖς Πυθαγορείων ἀρχαῖς· αὗται δὲ εἰσὶν αἱ Ὀρφικαὶ παραδόσεις· Α γὰρ Ορφευς δι' ἀποῤῥήτων λόγων μυστικῶς παραδέδωκε, ταῦτα Πυθαγόρας ἐξέμαθεν ὀργιασθεὶς ἐν Λε βήθροις τοῖς Θρακίοις, ̓Αγλαοφήμῳ τελεστικὰ μεταδιδόντος Ταῦτα γάρ φησιν ὁ Πυθαγόρας ἐν τῷ Ἱερῷ λόγῳ. mæus being a Pythagorean, follows the Pythagoric principles, and these are the Orphic traditions; for what things Orpheus delivered mystically, (or in arcane allegories,) these Py P. 291. Ti thagoras learned when he was initiated by Aglaophemus in the Orphic mysteries, Pythagoras himself affirming as much in his book, called The holy Oration.-Where Proclus, without any doubt or scruple, entitles the book inscribed 'Iepos Aoyos, or The holy Oration, to Pythagoras himself. Indeed, several of the ancients have resolved Pythagoras to have written nothing at all; as Fla. Josephus, Plutarch, Lucian, and Porphyrius; and Epigenes in Clemens Alex. affirms, that the 'Iepo's Xóyos, or holy Oration, was written by Cercops, a Pythagorean. Nevertheless, Diogenes Laertius thinks them not to be in good earnest, who deny Pythagoras to have written any thing; and he tells us, that Heraclides acknowledged this 'Iɛpos Aoyos, or holy Oration, for a genuine and indubitate fœtus of Pythagoras. Jamblichus is also of the same opinión, as the most received; though confessing some to have attributed that book to Telanges, Pythagoras's son. But whoever was the writer of this Hieros Logos, whether Pythagoras himself, or Telauges, or Cercops, it must needs be granted to be of great antiquity, according to the testimony whereof, Pythagoras derived much of his theology from the Orphic traditions. Moreover, Ion Chius in his Trigrammi [p. 397. edit. testified, as Clemens Alexandrinus inPotteri.] formeth us, that Pythagoras himself referred some poems to Orpheus as their author; which is also the general sense of Platonists as well as Pythagoreans. Wherefore upon all accounts it seems most probable, that either Orpheus himself wrote some philosophic or theologic poems, though certain other poems might be also fathered on him, because written in the Strom. I. i. p. 333. a same strain of mystical and allegorical theology, and as it were in the same spirit, with which this Thracian prophet was inspired; or, at least, that the Orphic doctrine was first conveyed down by oral cabala or tradition from him, and afterwards, for its better preservation, expressed in verses, that were imputed to Orpheus, after the same manner as the Golden Verses written by Lysis were to Pythagoras. And Philoponus intimates this latter to have been Aristotle's opinion concerning the Orphic verses; he glossing thus upon those words of Aristotle before cited: KaλovμÉVOIS εἶπε, ὅτι μὴ δοκεῖ Ορφέως τὰ ἔπη, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ περὶ φιλοσοφίας λέγει. Αὐτοῦ γὰρ εἰσὶ, τὰ δόγματα, ταῦτα δή φασιν Ὀνομάκριτον ἐν ἔπεσι καταθεῖναι. Aristotle calls them the reputed Orphic verses, because they seem not to have been written by Orpheus himself, as the same Aristotle affirmeth in his book of philosophy. The doctrine and opinions of them indeed were his, but Onomacritus is said to have put them into verse. However, there can be no doubt at all made, but that the Orphic verses, by whomsoever written, were some of them of great antiquity (they being much older than either Aristotle, Plato, or Herodotus) as they were also had in great esteem amongst the Pagans; and therefore we may very well make a judgment of the theology of the ancient Pagans from them. b Now that Orpheus, the Orphic doctrine, and poems, were Polytheistical, is a thing acknowledged by all. Justin Martyr affirms, that Orpheus asserted three hundred and sixty gods; he also bestows upon him this honourable title (if it a Comment. in Aristot. lib. iii. de Anima, fol. 2. edit. Græcæ, Venet. 1553. fol., Apolog. ii. pro Christianis, p. 104. |