The Golden Verses of Pythagoras · 87 of 122 · tr. Florence M. Firth
Section 13 (part 54)
πραπίδεσσι, τῷ δέ τ᾽ ἀπ᾽ αἰῶνος κακὸν ἐσθλῷ ἀντιφερίζει ἐμμενές· ὃς δέ κε τέτμῃ ἀταρτηροῖο γενέθλης, 610 ζώει ἐνὶ στήθεσσιν ἔχων ἀλίαστον ἀνίην θυμῷ καὶ κραδίῃ, καὶ ἀνήκεστον κακόν ἐστιν.
Ὥς οὐκ ἔστι Διὸς κλέψαι νόον οὐδὲ παρελθεῖν.
Οὐδὲ γὰρ Ἰαπετιονίδης ἀκάκητα Προμηθεὺς τοῖό γ᾽ ὑπεξήλυξε βαρὺν χόλον, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἀνάγκης 615 καὶ πολύιδριν ἐόντα μέγας κατὰ δεσμὸς ἐρύκει.
Βριάρεῳ δ᾽ ὡς πρῶτα πατὴρ ὠδύσσατο θυμῷ Κόττῳ τ᾽ ἠδὲ Γύῃ, δῆσεν κρατερῷ ἐνὶ δεσμῷ ἠνορέην ὑπέροπλον ἀγώμενος ἠδὲ καὶ εἶδος καὶ μέγεθος· κατένασσε δ᾽ ὑπὸ χθονὸς εὐρυοδείης.
Themes
◆Correspondencecosmology
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The text employs a natural simile ('Just as bees... so likewise men') to map the structure of nature onto human social relations.
All passages →◆Divine Providencetheology
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The passage explicitly attributes the existence and nature of women to Zeus's active ordering of human affairs ('Zeus the thunderer placed...').
All passages →