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The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus - Platonic Philosophy

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OF ORPHEUS. 9<br />

Guard <strong>of</strong> the race, endued vith gentle mind,<br />

To helpless youth benevolent and kind ;<br />

Benignant nourisher ; great Nature's key<br />

Belongs to no divinity but thee.<br />

Thou dwell'st with all irnmanifest to sight,<br />

And solemn festivals are thy delight.<br />

Thine is the task to loose the virgin's zone,<br />

And thou in ev'ry work art seen and known.<br />

With births you sympathise, tho' pleas'd to see<br />

<strong>The</strong> numerous <strong>of</strong>fspring <strong>of</strong> fertility.<br />

When rack'd with labour pangs, and sore distress'd,<br />

<strong>The</strong> sex invoke thee, as the soul's sure rest;<br />

For thou alone canst give relief to pain,<br />

Which art attempts to ease, but tries in vain.<br />

Assisting Goddess, venerable pow'r,<br />

Who bring'st relief in labour's dreadful hour ;<br />

Hear, blessed Dian, and accept my pray'r,<br />

And make the infant race thy constant care.<br />

leian MSS. in the Britieh Museum, and which, from the<br />

manner <strong>of</strong> it, was, I have no doubt, written by Proclus,<br />

Hecate is called Prothyrcea. For the second line <strong>of</strong> this<br />

hymn, which is entitled Tpvos Korvos, or a Conzmon Hymn, is<br />

See the whole <strong>of</strong> this hymn in the original, and also a<br />

translation <strong>of</strong> it at the end <strong>of</strong> my Collectafiea.

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