TRANSLATION OF THE GREEK TEXT
9
Who, yearning ever to secure the good,
Mark not nor hear the law of God, by wise
25Obedience unto which they might attain
A nobler life, with Reason harmonized.
But now, unbid, they pass on divers paths
Each his own way, yet knowing not the truth,—
Some in unlovely striving for renown,
Some bent on lawless gains, on pleasure some,
30Working their own undoings self-deceived.
O Thou most bounteous God that sittest throned
In clouds, the Lord of lightning, save mankind
From grievous ignorance! Oh, scatter it
Far from their souls, and grant them to achieve
True knowledge, on whose might Thou dost rely
To govern all the world in righteousness;
35That so, being honoured, we may Thee requite
With honour, chanting without pause Thy deeds,
As all men should: since greater guerdon ne'er
Befalls or man or god than evermore
Duly to praise the Universal Law.
Mark not nor hear the law of God, by wise
25Obedience unto which they might attain
A nobler life, with Reason harmonized.
But now, unbid, they pass on divers paths
Each his own way, yet knowing not the truth,—
Some in unlovely striving for renown,
Some bent on lawless gains, on pleasure some,
30Working their own undoings self-deceived.
O Thou most bounteous God that sittest throned
In clouds, the Lord of lightning, save mankind
From grievous ignorance! Oh, scatter it
Far from their souls, and grant them to achieve
True knowledge, on whose might Thou dost rely
To govern all the world in righteousness;
35That so, being honoured, we may Thee requite
With honour, chanting without pause Thy deeds,
As all men should: since greater guerdon ne'er
Befalls or man or god than evermore
Duly to praise the Universal Law.
ARGUMENT OF THE HYMN.[1]
(1) Cleanthes feels himself akin to the divine, and therefore worthy to hold communion with it; (2) he expresses his admiration for, and submission to, the divine order of the world; (3) he recognizes that the moral evil in the world is the result not of fate but of man’s freewill; (4) he prays God to free human souls from ignorance; and (5) closes with an apostrophe in praise of God's law.
- ↑ [Note.—The editor is indebted to various writers for valuable suggestions embodied in his introduction and notes; but a general acknowledgement must here suffice.—February, 1921.]
