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The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

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140 THE MYSTICAL HYMNS<br />

Mankind's unconquer'd endless praise is thine,<br />

Sepulch'ral, widely wand'ring pow'r divine !<br />

In thee our various mortal life is found,<br />

And some from thee in copious wealth abound;<br />

While others mourn thy hand averse to bless,<br />

In all the bitterness <strong>of</strong> deep distress.<br />

Be present, Goddess, to thy vot'ries kind,<br />

And give abundance with benignant mind.<br />

<strong>of</strong> cities and houses, and <strong>of</strong> each individual ; because being<br />

very remote from divine union, we are in danger <strong>of</strong> being<br />

deprived <strong>of</strong> its participation, and require, in order to obtain<br />

it, the assistance <strong>of</strong> the Goddess Fortune, and <strong>of</strong> those<br />

natures superior to the human, who possess the characteris-<br />

tics <strong>of</strong> this Divinity. Indeed, every fortune is good ; for every<br />

attainment 9-espects something good, nor does any thing evil<br />

subsist 3-om divinity. But <strong>of</strong> things that are good, some are<br />

precedaneous, and others are <strong>of</strong> a punishing or revenging cha-<br />

racteristic, which we a9.e aecuston~ed to call evils. Hence we<br />

speak <strong>of</strong> two Fortunes, one <strong>of</strong> which we denominate GOOD, and<br />

which is the cause <strong>of</strong> our obtaining precedaneous good ; but<br />

the other EVIL, which prepares us to ~eceive punishment or<br />

~evenge."<br />

Prom this beautiful passage, it is easy to see why For-<br />

tune, in this hymn, is called Diana; for each <strong>of</strong> these<br />

divinities governs the sublunary world. See the original<br />

<strong>of</strong> the above admirable extract from Simplicius in the notes<br />

to my Pansanias.

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