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The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

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8 THE MYSTICAL HYMNS<br />

Leader, nymph, nurse, on mountains wand'ring, hear<br />

<strong>The</strong> suppliants who with holy rites thy power<br />

revere,<br />

And to the herdsman7 with a fav'ring mind draw<br />

near 8.<br />

TO THE GODDESS PROTHYRLSEAg.<br />

THE FUMIGATION FROM STORAX.<br />

0 VENERABLE Goddess, hear my pray'r,<br />

For labour pains are thy peculiar care.<br />

In thee, when stretch'd upon the bed <strong>of</strong> grief,<br />

<strong>The</strong> sex, as in a mirror, view relief.<br />

As <strong>Orpheus</strong> by his sacred doctrines tamed men <strong>of</strong> a rustic<br />

and savage disposition ; which, as we have before observed,<br />

appears to be the true meaning <strong>of</strong> the fable <strong>of</strong> his drawing<br />

to him trees afid wild beasts by the melody <strong>of</strong> his lyre ;<br />

hence, alluding to this circumstance, he calls himself here,<br />

and in the hymn to the Curetes, the herdsman, indicating<br />

the benefit which he conferred on the vulgar part or herd<br />

<strong>of</strong> mankind,<br />

In all the editions <strong>of</strong> these hymns, prior to that <strong>of</strong><br />

Hermann, this hymn forms a part <strong>of</strong> the exordium to Mu-<br />

saus ; but iB is certainly better to separate it from that<br />

exordium, though I did not perceive the propriety <strong>of</strong> doing<br />

so in the former edition <strong>of</strong> this translation.<br />

This is an epithet <strong>of</strong> Diana, alluding to her presiding<br />

over gates, and being as it were the gate-keeper <strong>of</strong> life. In<br />

a hymn which was first discovered by me among the Har-

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