The Hymns of Callimachus, Translated from the Greek into English Verse, With Explanatory Notes To which are added, Select Epigrams, and the Coma Berenices of the same Author, Six Hymns of Orpheus, and The Encomium of Ptolemy by Theocritus. By William Dodd |
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| Six HYMNS of Orpheus To JUPITER, JUNO, APOLLO, DIANA, PALLAS, CERES. |
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| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
 | The Hymns of Callimachus, Translated from the Greek into English Verse, With Explanatory Notes |  |
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Six HYMNS of Orpheus To JUPITER, JUNO, APOLLO, DIANA, PALLAS, CERES.
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I. The 14th HYMN of Orpheus.
To Jupiter.
Jove, ever honour'd, everlasting king,
Accept this witness of thy servant's love,
Due sacrifice and praise. Great pow'r, thro' thee
All things, that are, exist: earth, mountains, sea,
And all within the mighty sphere of heav'n.
Saturnian Jove, dread monarch of the sky,
In thunders loud and terrible descending:
All things producing, as of all the end
So the beginning, author of encrease,
Omnipotent, pow'r creative, purifier,
Whose arm rolls thunder, and the forky blaze
Of lightning darts! whose glorious word can shake
Earth's deep foundation! Oh accept my prayer,
Multiform deity, and give us health,
Fair peace, and riches with pure virtue crown'd.
Accept this witness of thy servant's love,
Due sacrifice and praise. Great pow'r, thro' thee
All things, that are, exist: earth, mountains, sea,
And all within the mighty sphere of heav'n.
Saturnian Jove, dread monarch of the sky,
In thunders loud and terrible descending:
All things producing, as of all the end
So the beginning, author of encrease,
Omnipotent, pow'r creative, purifier,
Whose arm rolls thunder, and the forky blaze
Of lightning darts! whose glorious word can shake
Earth's deep foundation! Oh accept my prayer,
Multiform deity, and give us health,
Fair peace, and riches with pure virtue crown'd.
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II. The 15th HYMN.
To Juno.
Plac'd in the azure bosom of the sky,
Airy-form Juno, of Jove's heav'nly bed
Happy partaker, thou with gentle gales
Life-giving, quicken'st all terrestrial things.
Of clouds, of rain and winds the nourisher;
All things producing, for the breath of life
Without thee nothing knows: since thou, with all
Thyself in wond'rous sort communicating,
Art mix'd with all. Thou, sov'reign, too obtain'st
An universal empire, borne along
In airy torrents with resounding murmurs.
Goddess, whose names are num'rous, all-ador'd,
Propitious come with lovely smiling face.
Airy-form Juno, of Jove's heav'nly bed
Happy partaker, thou with gentle gales
Life-giving, quicken'st all terrestrial things.
Of clouds, of rain and winds the nourisher;
All things producing, for the breath of life
Without thee nothing knows: since thou, with all
Thyself in wond'rous sort communicating,
Art mix'd with all. Thou, sov'reign, too obtain'st
An universal empire, borne along
In airy torrents with resounding murmurs.
Goddess, whose names are num'rous, all-ador'd,
Propitious come with lovely smiling face.
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III. The 33d HYMN.
To Apollo.
Blest Pæan come, Lycorian Phoebus, foe
Of daring Tityus, honour'd Memphian God,
Giver of health, of riches: golden-lyr'd;
From thee the seed, the field its rich encrease
Receives prolific, Grunian, Smynthian, bane
Of deadly Python, hallow'd Delphian prophet,
Rural, light-bearer, lovely noble youth:
Head of the Muses, leader of the choir,
Far-darting God, with bow and quiver arm'd,
Bacchian and twofold, whose dread pow'r extends
Afar, diffused wide; whose course oblique
Is shap'd; pure; Delian king, whose lucid eye
Light-giving all things views: whose locks are gold,
Who oracles and words of omen good
Revealest. Hear me with benignant mind
Entreating for the people: for thou view'st
This boundless æther all, this plenteous earth,
And ev'n beneath thro' the dark womb of things,
In night's still, gloomy regions, and beyond
Th'impenetrable darkness set with stars.
The fix'd foundations thou hast lay'd beneath,
And the whole world's extremities are thine.
Thyself for ever flourishing, to thee
Of things the rise and the decay belong,
The end and the beginning. With thy harp
Of various modulation thou the whole
Of nature harmonisest: the lowest string
Now sweetly touching, now in Dorian measure
Ascending to the highest: nature's tribes,
No less than nature, to thy harmony
Owe the variety and pleasing change
Of seasons; mix'd by thee in equal parts,
Summer and winter; on the highest string
This modulated, that the lowest claims,
While to a Dorian measure the sweet prime
Of lovely spring advances: mortals hence
Have call'd thee royal Pan, two-horned God,
The vivifying gales, thro' syrinx fam'd
Emitting: wherefore thou the marking seal
Of the whole world possessest. Hear blest pow'r,
And with propitious voice thy mystics save.
Of daring Tityus, honour'd Memphian God,
Giver of health, of riches: golden-lyr'd;
From thee the seed, the field its rich encrease
Receives prolific, Grunian, Smynthian, bane
Of deadly Python, hallow'd Delphian prophet,
Rural, light-bearer, lovely noble youth:
Head of the Muses, leader of the choir,
Far-darting God, with bow and quiver arm'd,
Bacchian and twofold, whose dread pow'r extends
Afar, diffused wide; whose course oblique
Is shap'd; pure; Delian king, whose lucid eye
Light-giving all things views: whose locks are gold,
Who oracles and words of omen good
Revealest. Hear me with benignant mind
Entreating for the people: for thou view'st
This boundless æther all, this plenteous earth,
And ev'n beneath thro' the dark womb of things,
In night's still, gloomy regions, and beyond
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The fix'd foundations thou hast lay'd beneath,
And the whole world's extremities are thine.
Thyself for ever flourishing, to thee
Of things the rise and the decay belong,
The end and the beginning. With thy harp
Of various modulation thou the whole
Of nature harmonisest: the lowest string
Now sweetly touching, now in Dorian measure
Ascending to the highest: nature's tribes,
No less than nature, to thy harmony
Owe the variety and pleasing change
Of seasons; mix'd by thee in equal parts,
Summer and winter; on the highest string
This modulated, that the lowest claims,
While to a Dorian measure the sweet prime
Of lovely spring advances: mortals hence
Have call'd thee royal Pan, two-horned God,
The vivifying gales, thro' syrinx fam'd
Emitting: wherefore thou the marking seal
Of the whole world possessest. Hear blest pow'r,
And with propitious voice thy mystics save.
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IV. The 35th HYMN.
To Diana.
Hear me, oh queen, Jove's daughter, various-nam'd,
Bacchian and Titan, noble huntress queen,
Shining on all, torch-bearer, bright Dictynna,
O'er births presiding, and thy ready aid
To all imparting in the pangs of birth,
Tho' unexperienc'd of those pangs thyself;
Dissolver of the zone, soother of care,
Fierce huntress in the course unweary'd still,
Delighting in the bow and sylvan sports,
Trav'ling by night, auspicious and renown'd,
Of manly form, erect and tow'ring, swift
T'assist, pure expiating pow'r, great nurse
Of mortals, earthly and celestial, blest
And rich, the woody hills possessing, bane
Of beasts, pursuer of the nimble stag.
Dread universal queen, who flourish fair
In youth perpetual, woods and dogs delight
Thy soul, Cydonian, multiform. Oh come
Benignant to thy mystics, saving pow'r,
Auspicious, send from earth the beauteous fruits,
Give us fair peace, and health with lovely locks,
And to the mountains drive disease and pain.
Bacchian and Titan, noble huntress queen,
Shining on all, torch-bearer, bright Dictynna,
O'er births presiding, and thy ready aid
To all imparting in the pangs of birth,
Tho' unexperienc'd of those pangs thyself;
Dissolver of the zone, soother of care,
Fierce huntress in the course unweary'd still,
Delighting in the bow and sylvan sports,
Trav'ling by night, auspicious and renown'd,
Of manly form, erect and tow'ring, swift
T'assist, pure expiating pow'r, great nurse
Of mortals, earthly and celestial, blest
And rich, the woody hills possessing, bane
Of beasts, pursuer of the nimble stag.
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In youth perpetual, woods and dogs delight
Thy soul, Cydonian, multiform. Oh come
Benignant to thy mystics, saving pow'r,
Auspicious, send from earth the beauteous fruits,
Give us fair peace, and health with lovely locks,
And to the mountains drive disease and pain.
V. The 31st HYMN.
To Pallas.
Only-begotten, noble race of Jove,
Pallas, blest Goddess, warlike martial maid,
Thou word ineffable, of mighty name,
Inhabiting the stars, o'er craggy rocks
And shady mountains passing; thou in groves
Thy soul delightest: with wild fury fixing
The minds of mortals, joying in bright armour.
Gymnastic maid, with fierce and furious soul:
Virgin, dire Gorgon's bane, mother of arts,
Impetuous, violent: wisdom to the good,
And to the evil, madness: parent of war,
And counsel: thou art male and female too:
Multiform dragoness, fam'd enthusiastic,
O'er the Phlegræan giants with destruction
Thy coursers driving: sprung from head of Jove.
Purger of evils, all-victorious queen;
Hear me, with supplicating vows approaching
Both nights and days, and ev'n in my last hours:
Give us rich peace, saturity and health,
With prosp'rous seasons, O thou blue-ey'd maid,
Of arts inventress, much implored queen.
Pallas, blest Goddess, warlike martial maid,
Thou word ineffable, of mighty name,
Inhabiting the stars, o'er craggy rocks
And shady mountains passing; thou in groves
Thy soul delightest: with wild fury fixing
The minds of mortals, joying in bright armour.
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Virgin, dire Gorgon's bane, mother of arts,
Impetuous, violent: wisdom to the good,
And to the evil, madness: parent of war,
And counsel: thou art male and female too:
Multiform dragoness, fam'd enthusiastic,
O'er the Phlegræan giants with destruction
Thy coursers driving: sprung from head of Jove.
Purger of evils, all-victorious queen;
Hear me, with supplicating vows approaching
Both nights and days, and ev'n in my last hours:
Give us rich peace, saturity and health,
With prosp'rous seasons, O thou blue-ey'd maid,
Of arts inventress, much implored queen.
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VI. The 39th HYMN.
To Ceres.
Dio, fam'd Goddess, universal mother,
Giver of wealth, thou holy nursing Ceres,
Giver of riches, nourisher of corn,
Giver of all things, in the works of peace
Joying: of seed, of harvest, threshing, fruits
Goddess, inhabiting Eleusis' seats
Holy, retir'd: delightful, lovely queen,
Supporter of all mortals; who first join'd
The ploughing oxen to the yoke, and blest
Man with the plenteous means of happy life;
In verdure still encreasing, high in honour,
Assessor of great Bacchus: bearer of light
Pure, bright: rejoicing in the reaper's sickles,
Celestial and terrestrial, kind to all,
Fertile, thy daughter loving, holy nurse;
Thy pair of dragons yoking to thy car
Around thy throne in circling course thou'rt driven,
Singing the sacred orgies: only-begotten,
Yet thou'rt of many mother, much rever'd.
Thine are the various forms of sacred flow'rs,
And fruits all beauteous in their native green.
Bright Goddess come, with summer's rich encrease
Swelling and pregnant: bring with thee smiling peace,
Fair concord, riches, and imperial health.
Giver of wealth, thou holy nursing Ceres,
Giver of riches, nourisher of corn,
Giver of all things, in the works of peace
Joying: of seed, of harvest, threshing, fruits
Goddess, inhabiting Eleusis' seats
Holy, retir'd: delightful, lovely queen,
Supporter of all mortals; who first join'd
The ploughing oxen to the yoke, and blest
Man with the plenteous means of happy life;
In verdure still encreasing, high in honour,
Assessor of great Bacchus: bearer of light
Pure, bright: rejoicing in the reaper's sickles,
Celestial and terrestrial, kind to all,
Fertile, thy daughter loving, holy nurse;
Thy pair of dragons yoking to thy car
Around thy throne in circling course thou'rt driven,
Singing the sacred orgies: only-begotten,
Yet thou'rt of many mother, much rever'd.
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And fruits all beauteous in their native green.
Bright Goddess come, with summer's rich encrease
Swelling and pregnant: bring with thee smiling peace,
Fair concord, riches, and imperial health.
| The Hymns of Callimachus, Translated from the Greek into English Verse, With Explanatory Notes | |