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The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

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lii INTRODUCTION.<br />

<strong>Orpheus</strong> was Camarinaeus, a most excellent<br />

versifier ; and the same, according to Gyral-<br />

dus, whose descent into Hades is so univer-<br />

sally known.<br />

I shall only add to this historical detail<br />

respecting <strong>Orpheus</strong>, what Hermias excel-<br />

lently remarks in his Scholia on the Phae-<br />

drus <strong>of</strong> Plato. " You may see, says he, how<br />

<strong>Orpheus</strong> appears to have applied himself to<br />

all these [i. e. to the four kinds <strong>of</strong> mania 36],<br />

as being in want <strong>of</strong>, and adhering to, each<br />

other. For we learn that he was most telestic,<br />

and most prophetic, and was excited by Apollo ;<br />

and besides this, that he was most poetic, on<br />

which account he is said t80 have been the<br />

soil <strong>of</strong> Calliope. He was likewise most<br />

amatory, as he himself acknowledges to Mu-<br />

SEUS, extending to him divine benefits, and<br />

rendering hiin perfect. Hence he appears to<br />

have been possessed by all the manias, and<br />

this by a necessary consequence. For there<br />

is an abundant union, conspiration, and alli-<br />

ance with each other <strong>of</strong> the Gods who pre-<br />

side over these manias, viz. <strong>of</strong> the Muses,<br />

Bacchus, Apollo, and Love."<br />

36 i. e. <strong>The</strong> telestic, or pertaining to the mysteries, the<br />

prophetic, the poetic, and the amatory.

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