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The Golden Verses of Pythagoras · 86 of 122 · tr. Florence M. Firth

Section 13 (part 53)

Ὡς δ᾽ ὁπότ᾽ ἐν σμήνεσσι κατηρεφέεσσι μέλισσαι κηφῆνας βόσκωσι, κακῶν ξυνήονας ἔργων· 595 αἳ μέν τε πρόπαν ἦμαρ ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα ἠμάτιαι σπεύδουσι τιθεῖσί τε κηρία λευκά, οἳ δ᾽ ἔντοσθε μένοντες ἐπηρεφέας κατὰ σίμβλους ἀλλότριον κάματον σφετέρην ἐς γαστέρ᾽ ἀμῶνται· ὣς δ᾽ αὔτως ἄνδρεσσι κακὸν θνητοῖσι γυναῖκας 600 Ζεὺς ὑψιβρεμέτης θῆκεν, ξυνήονας ἔργων ἀργαλέων· ἕτερον δὲ πόρεν κακὸν ἀντ᾽ ἀγαθοῖο· ὅς κε γάμον φεύγων καὶ μέρμερα ἔργα γυναικῶν μὴ γῆμαι ἐθέλῃ, ὀλοὸν δ᾽ ἐπὶ γῆρας ἵκοιτο χήτεϊ γηροκόμοιο· ὅ γ᾽ οὐ βιότου ἐπιδευὴς 605 ζώει, ἀποφθιμένου δὲ διὰ κτῆσιν δατέονται χηρωσταί· ᾧ δ᾽ αὖτε γάμου μετὰ μοῖρα γένηται, κεδνὴν δ᾽ ἔσχεν ἄκοιτιν ἀρηρυῖαν
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Themes
Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

[auto] The passage depicts gods engaging in distinctly human behaviors such as swallowing children, feeling grief, praying, and plotting familial succession.

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Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

Women are described as a 'great plague' and source of sorrow for mortals, aligning with the mystical view of material form or the feminine principle as hindering spiritual well-being.

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Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

The passage explicitly contrasts evil with good ('κακὸν ἀντ᾽ ἀγαθοῖο') as fundamental elements introduced into the world by divine craft.

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Demiurgecosmology

A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.

Divine beings are depicted fashioning a creation ('τεῦξε') that traps humanity, reflecting the demiurgic act of world-making distinct from pure transcendence.

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Evil As Privationtheology

Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.

The text frames evil as a substitution for good ('instead of good'), suggesting a lack or distortion rather than independent being.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

[auto] The divine beings (Zeus, Cronus, Rhea, Gaia, Uranus) are portrayed as active, dynamic agents with will and emotion rather than abstract principles.

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Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

The text references the 'counsel of great Zeus' (Διὸς ... βουλάς) as a guiding reason or plan behind the events.

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Related passages · 7 parallels
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 85 (part 1)
Section 10 10. But if Matter is devoid of quality how can it be evil? It is described as being devoid of quality in the sense only that it does not essentially possess any of the qualities which it admits and which enter into it as into a…”
Shared concept: Evil As Privation — Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 426
Section 10 10. We have shown the inevitability of certain convictions as to the scheme of things: There exists a Principle which transcends Being; this is The One, whose nature we have sought to establish in so far as such matters lend them…”
Shared concept: Logos — The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 7 (part 4)
28.) "In Paradise the substance of the divine world penetrated the substance belonging to time, comparable to the power of the sun penetrating a fruit growing on a tree, and endowing it with such qualities as render it lovely to the sight a…”
Shared concept: Logos — The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world. (derived)
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVI (part 8)
188 So writes Schopenhauer in his Counsels and Maxims , and indeed it is very effectively expressed, but we have no foundation whatsoever for regarding man as the summit of that which nature has created. This is only THE HIGHEST THAT WE KN…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Dualism — Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 29 (part 6)
And this is metempsychosis ( See " Mineral Monad " in " Five Years of Theosophy ," p. 276). This fifth stage of evolution, called exoterically "Creation," may be viewed in both the Primary and Secondary periods, one as the Spiritual and C…”
Shared concept: Demiurge — A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1k
and all things are moved by a longing for the Beautiful and Good, to accomplish every outward work and form every act of will. And true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the Creator of all things Himself yearneth after all thing…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
theosophy|The Secret Doctrine|Page 9 (part 2)
They are, so to speak, the eternal prototypes of the Buddhas who appear on this earth, each of whom has his particular divine prototype. So, for instance, Amitabha is the Dhyani-Buddha of Gautama Sakyamuni, manifesting through him whenever…”
Shared concept: Demiurge — A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God. (derived)