The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

106 THE MYSTICAL HYMNS
TO THE NYMPHSs6.
THE FUMIGATION FROM AROMATICS.
NYMPHS, who from Ocean fam'd derive your birth,
Who dwell in liquid caverns of the earth ;
Nurses of Bacchus, secret-coursing pow'rs,
Fructiferous Goddesses, who nourish flow'rs :
Earthly, rejoicing, who in meadows dwell,
And caves and dens, whose depths extend to hell.
Holy, oblique, who swiftly soar thro' air,
Fountains, and dews, and winding streams your care,
Seen and unseen, who joy with wand'rings wide,
And gentle course thro' flow'ry vales to glide ;
as "Nymphs (says Hermeas, in Schol. in Phzedrum.) are
Goddesses who preside over regeneration, and are ministrant
to Bscchus, the offspring of Semele. Hence they
dwell near water, i. e. they ascend into generation [or the
sublunary realms]. But this Bacchus [of whom they are
the offspring] supplies the regeneration of the whole sensible
world." NupGal 6~ eiu~v eeopoi 9eai 77s ~ahiyyev~cr~as,
v~ovpyo~ rov CK Zep~Xqs Aiovvuou' 810 Kai raps TY V ~ ~ T L ,
EL^, TOUTEUTL ry y~ueuei ~n~Pe@pcauiv* ovros 6e o Aiovvuos
T ~ TU~LY~EVEISLC~S
S
vaapxei .rravros rov alaeyrov. He adds,
" that some of them excite the irrational nature, others
nature herself, and others preside over bodies."