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Persephone in the Orphic
Literature Persephone, blessed daughter of great Zeus, sole offspring
of Demeter, come and accept this gracious sacrifice.
Much honored spouse of Plouton (1), discreet and life-giving,
you command the gates of Haides in the bowels of the earth,
Lovely-tressed Praxidike (2), pure bloom of Deo,
mother of the Furies (3), queen of the nether world,
whom Zeus sired in clandestine union.
Mother of loud-roaring and many-shaped Eubouleus (4),
radiant and luminous playmate of the Seasons (5),
august, almighty, maiden rich in fruits,
brilliant and horned, you alone are beloved of mortals.
In spring you rejoice in the meadow breezes
and you show your holy figure in shoots and green fruits.
You were made a kidnapper’s bride in the fall,
and you alone are life and death to toiling mortals,
O Persephone, for you always nourish all and kill them, too.
Hearken, O blessed goddess, and send forth the earth’s fruits.
You who blossoms in peace, in soft-handed health,
and in a life of plenty that ferries old age in comfort
to your realm, O queen, and to that of mighty Plouton (6).
Translation by Apostolos Athanassakis
Translation by Apostolos Athanassakis
Translation by Apostolos Athanassakis
incense - aromatic herbs
I call upon Melinoe, saffron-cloaked nymph of the earth,
to whom august Persephone gave birth by the mouth of the Kokytos,
upon the sacred bed of Kronian Zeus.
He lied to Plouton and through treachery mated with Persephone,
whose skin when she was pregnant he mangled in anger.
She drives mortals to madness with her airy phantoms,
as she appears in weird shapes and forms,
now plain to the eye, now shadowy, now shining in the darkness--
and all this in hostile encounters in the gloom of night.
But goddess and queen of those below, I beseech you
to banish the soul's frenzy to the ends of the earth
and show a kindly
and holy face to the initiates.
Translation by Apostolos Athanassakis
| Pure I come from the pure, Queen of those below the earth; and Eukles and Eubouleus and the other gods and daimons; For I boast that I am of your blessed race. I have paid the penalty on account of deeds not just; Either Fate mastered me or the Thunderer, striking with his lightening. Now I come, a supplicant, to holy Phersephoneia, that she, gracious, may send me to the seats of the blessed. |
e!rxomai e)k kaqarw~n kaqara&, xqoni&wn
basi&leia, Eu)klh~v kai_ Eu)bouleu&v kai_ qeoi_ dai&monev a!lloi kai _e)gw~n ge&nov o!lbion eu!xomai ei}nai. poina_n d' a)ntape&teis' e!rgwn e3nek' ou!ti dikai&wn: ei!te me Moi~ra e)dama&sato ei!te 'Asteroph~ta keraunw~n. nu~n d' i(ke&tiv h#kw par' a(gnh_n Fersefo&neian w#v me pro&frwn pe&myhi e#drav e)v eu)age&wn |
Now you have died and now you have come into being, o thrice happy one, on
this same day.
Tell Persephone that Bakkhios himself has set you free.
Bull, you jumped into milk.
Quickly, you jumped into milk.
Ram, you fell into milk.
You have wine as your fortunate honor.
And an end awaits you under the earth such as the rest of the blessed have.
Passwords. For man-and-child-thyrsos. For man-and-child-thyrsos.
Brimo. Brimo. Enter the holy meadow. For the initiate has paid the price.
But so soon as the spirit has left the light of the sun,
Go to the right as far as one should go, being right wary in all things.
Hail, you who have suffered the suffering. This you have never suffered
before.
You have become god from man.
A kid you have fallen into milk.
Hail, hail to you journeying the right hand road
By holy meadows and groves of Persephone.