¹ Anthologia Latina, I, 2, no. 490, p. 46 f., ed. A. Riese. The poem was first edited by M. Haupt in 1838, then by L. Quicherat in 1842, afterwards by E. Baehrens (Poet. Lat. Min. III 267 f.), and by Riese. Riese lists five MSS, and gives the readings of the two oldest: Regensis 215, saec. IX (= R) and Parisinus 2772, saec. X–XI (= P). See Baehrens, op. cit. 263 f., M. Schanz, Geschichte der römischen Literatur IV, i², § 791, p. 45 f., F. Lenz in PWK, s.v. Tiberianus, 772.

² The heading of R runs: versus Platonis de deo (with no mention of the translator). P reads: versus Platonis a quodam Tiberiano de greco in latinum translati (likewise codex Vindobonensis 143, saec. XIII, from which Haupt edited the text). Riese combines the two headings and prints: Tiberiani versus Platonis de Graeco in Latinum translati.

³ The poem is given here after Riese's text, but with a shortened apparatus criticus. Purely orthographical variants, slips, and a few far-fetched alterations proposed by G. Hermann and E. Baehrens are omitted. The justification of the present text follows in the course of the investigation.

Omnipotens, annosa poli quem suscipit aetas,

Quem sub millenis semper virtutibus unum

Nec numero quisquam poterit pensare nec aevo,

Nunc esto affatus, si quo te nomine dignum est,

Quo, sacer, ignoto gaudes, quod maxima tellus 5

Intremit et sistunt rapidos vaga sidera cursus.

Tu solus, tu multus item, tu primus et idem

Postremus mediusque simul mundique superstes.

Nam sine fine tui labentia tempora finis,

Altus ab aeterno spectans fera turbine certo 10

Rerum fata rapi vitasque involvier aevo

Atque iterum reduces supera in convexa referri.

Scilicet ut mundo redeat, quod partibus (h)austum

Perdiderit, refluumque iterum per corpora fiat.

Tu (siquidem fas est in temet tendere sensum 15

Et speciem temptare sacram, qua sidera cingis

Immensus longamque simul complecteris aethram

Fulmineis forsan rapida sub imagine membris)

Flammifluum quoddam iubar es, quo cuncta coruscans

Ipse vides nostrumque premis solemque diemque. 20

Tu genus omne deum, tu rerum causa vigorque,

Tu natura omnis, deus innumerabilis unus,

Tu sexu plenus toto, tibi nascitur olim

Hic deus, hic mundus, domus hie hominumque deumque,

Lucens, augusto stellatus flore iuventae. 25

Quem (precor, aspires), qua sit ratione creatus,

Quo genitus factusve modo, da nosse volenti.

Da, pater, augustas ut possim noscere causas,

Mundanas olim moles quo foedere rerum

Sustuleris animamque levi quo maximus olim 30

Texueris numero, quo congrege dissimilique,

Quidque id sit vegetum, quod per cita corpora vivit.

1 suspicit R, rec. Riese 5 quod maxima PR, def. Norden, Agnostos Theos 78, n. 1, 176, n. 1, quo corr. Quicherat 9 finis RP, frustra temptat Riese 10 spectans RP, spectas corr. Riese 13 (h)austum] corr. Quicherat///austrum R, abstrum P, aethra coni. G. Hermann, aevum coni. Riese 14 corpora P, tempora R, rec. Riese 18 fulmencis P, fulmineus R, em. Riese 19 coruscas P, coruscant R, em. Riese 21 dei R 24 domus hie PR, haec coni. Riese 25 iuventus PR, iubente Par. 17160, s. XII, iuventae em. Quicherat, prob. Riese 30 maximus R, maximi P 32 est PR, sit em. Baehrens.

⁴ See below, n. 16. If, however, we derive partibus from pars, the passage may be translated: “so that what has been consumed and lost in the separate parts may return to the universe etc.” (F.R.W.)

⁵ Klingner, F., De Boethii consolatione philosophiae (Philol. Unters. XXVII, 1921) 51Google Scholar, n. 5 distinguishes three parts in Tiberianus' hymn: v. 1–6 ἐπίκλησις, v. 7–25 ἀρεταλογία, v. 26–32 εὐχαί. On such hymns see E. Norden, Agnostos Theos 155, n. 1.

⁶ V. 28 noscere causas is taken from Virg. Georg. II 490 rerum cognoscere causas. Klingner, op. cit. 51 f. (refuting R. Peiper, Boetii philos. cons. ed. Lipsiae 1871, praef. p. lvii) correctly explains the similarity of this line of Tiberianus' poem with Mart. Capella II 193, v. 30 f. da, pater, aetherios mentem conscendere coetus, astrigerumque … noscere caelum, and with Boeth. Phil. cons. III, 9, v. 22, da, pater, augustam menti conscendere sedem, by the common use of hymnic formulae. It may be observed that Tiberianus prays for answers to specific questions, whereas both Martianus Capella and Boethius pray for a mental ascent to the vision of the deity.

⁷ Plat. Tim. 35 A f. Compare the Latin paraphrase of this passage in Macrob. in somn. Scip. 1 6, 2 : Timaeus Platonis fabricatorem mundanae animae deum partes eius ex pari et impart (Tiber, v. 31, congrege dissimilique) id est duplari et triplari numero intertexuisse (Tiber, v. 31, texueris) memoravit. Cf. ibid. I 6, 46; II 2, 1; 14; 19f. Macrobius' source was Porphyry; see Mras, , Macrobius' kommentar zu Ciceros Somnium Scipionis, Sitzungsber. Berlin, 1933, 244 fGoogle Scholar. For texueris see also Plut. De anim. procreat. 25, 1025 B and epit. 6, 1032 F: τὸ πᾶυ συνύϕηνεν ἓν τῆς ψυχῆς εἶδος. (Cf. also Plat. Tim. 41 D, where in the creation of man, the Creator provides the immortal part and the created gods work the mortal part into the texture (προσυϕαίνοντες). F.R.W.)

⁸ Plat. Tim. 31 C calls the proportion which connects the four elements δεσμὸν συναγωγόν. Tiber, translates this notion by foedus, perhaps with reference to Lucretius' foedus naturae (I 586 and often) or Manil. I 252 and III 55: aeterno religatus foedere mundus. For mundanas moles see Macrob. in somn. Scip. I 6, 24: deus mundanae molis artifex … insolubili inter se vinculo elementa devinxit, sicut in Timaeo Platonis adsertum est; Manil. II 62 (reproducing the analogous Stoic doctrine): ingentem aequali moderantem foedere molem; Boeth. Cons, phil. III 9, v. 10f.: Tu numeris elementa ligas … ne … mersas deducant pondera terras (cf. Tiber, v. 30: sustuleris, which could, however, come from tollo, “raise,” instead of suffero).

⁹ Plat. Tim. 38 E, 39 E f. For cita corpora see Plat. Crat. 397 D, who explains θεοί as τὰ θέοντα, “the running,” with reference to the planets (often called σώματα by Plato).

¹⁰ Tim. 27 C.

¹¹ Tu genus omne deum (v. 21) and deus innumerabilis unus (v. 22) indicate that to the author of the hymn the Omnipotent is identical with the “gods and goddesses” of the prayer of Timaeus. See also n. 43 below.

¹² As will be shown later, the author drew not only from the original teaching of Plato, but also from that of later representatives of the school.

¹³ Altus ab aeterno spectans, v. 10; cf. Boeth. Cons. phil. V 2, p. 124, 26f. Peiper: ille ab aeterno cuncta prospiciens providentiae cernit intuitus. See n. 28 below.

¹⁴ Supera convexa is taken from Virg. Aen. VI 241; see E. Norden, Virgilius Aeneis Buch VI², p. 202.

¹⁵ The correct reading corpora (v. 14) is kept by cod. P.

¹⁶ The MSS read, v. 13–14: ut mundo redeat, quod partibus austrum (abstrum is a vulgar “betacismus”) perdiderit. An (h)austrum is a scoop attached to a water-wheel, see Nonius 13, and Lucret. V 516. We expect, however, not a noun, but a perf. pass, part., agreeing with quod and governing the abl. partibus; this is most simply provided by Quicherat's emendation (h)austum; cf. Nonius 319, haurire significat exaurire; Serv. Aen. V 396, ‘effetae’ exhaustae, et est translatio a mulieribus, quas frequens partus debiles reddit; Seneca, Contr. II 5, 6, nullis hausta puerperiis fuit (jemima). Accordingly, we should follow Baehrens and derive partibus from partus, not pars; the heteroclitic form offers no difficulty.

¹⁷ Tim. 41 A f. Cf. also 33 C, 49 C.

¹⁸ Proclus, Comm. in Plat. Tim. III, p. 241, 7–11, 30–31; p. 242, 2–4; and cf. p. 310, 15f., p. 318, 13f. See also Plut. De Iside 59, 375 B; 63, 376 D; Celsus ap. Orig. c. Cels. IV 59–60, 69; Hippolyt. Ref. I 19, 5 (Diels, Doxographi 567, 22f.); Sallustius, De deis XVII p. 30, 20f.; p. 32, 21f. Nock: Synesius, Hymn III 325f.; Chalcidius in Plat. Tim. XXIV. For the wording cf. Seneca, Quaest. nat. III 10, 3 (giving the Stoic theory on the alteration of the elements): quidquid alteri petit in alterum transit.

¹⁹ Chalcidius in Plat. Tim. CXXXVIII; Julian. Orat. IV 140 A. See Zeller, Philosoph. d. Griech. II 1⁵, p. 813, n. 3, 814, n. 3.

²⁰ Tim. 42 D—E. The emphasis laid on the fera fata (v. 10–11) suggests that the author had in mind the Middle Platonic differentiation between Providence and Fate, Providence being the general world-plan as fore-thought by the Creator, and Fate its realization in time and space; cf. e.g. Boeth. Phil. cons. IV 6, p. 109, 45 f. Peiper, especially p. 110, 77: ea (fati) series … nascentia occidentiaque omnia per similes fetuum seminumque renovat progressus. For the Middle Platonic origin of this doctrine see Klingner, op. cit. 88f., E. R. Dodds, Proclus, The Elements of Theology, 271, n. 1, and cf. Chalcidius in Plat. Tim. CXLI f.

²¹ Spectans (v. 10) must be kept, as v. 10–14 describe the ending of the world cycle mentioned in v. 9.

²² Plat. Pol. 272 D f.

²³ Cf. Plat. Rep. 540 A. In v. 20, solemque diemque, for dies = solis splendor see Thes. ling. Lat., s.v. dies I A 2 a.

²⁴ Suscipit (v. 1): the heavens bear the Omnipotent like a burden (the reading suspicit makes no sense). The view is derived from Plat. Phaedr. 247 C; cf. Apuleius, Apol. 64; id. De Platone I 11, p. 95, 9 Thomas: ultramundanus (deus) ; Albinus 181, 36 Hermann; ὐπερουρανίῳ.

²⁵ Tim. 28 C: τὸν μὲν οὖν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντός.

²⁶ The comparison of the vision of God to a lightning flash occurs in Plut. De Iside 77, quoted in n. 57 below. Cf. also Plat. Epist. VII 341 C and Symp. 210 E.

²⁷ Cf. Plat. Rep. 532 A–B; Albinus 165, 4: τῷ νῷ μόνῳ ληπτός. Boeth. Cons. phil. III 9, v. 23–24 says correctly: da luce reperta in te conspicuos animi defigere visus.

²⁸ V. 2, sub millenis semper virtutibus unum: cf. Maximus of Madaura ap. Augustin. Epist. 16, Migne, P.L. XXXIII 82: unum esse deum summum …huius nos virtutes per mundanum opus diffusas multis vocabulis invocamus, quoniam nomen eius cuncti proprium videlicet ignoramus. Maximus reproduces a Middle Platonic doctrine; see Beyerhaus, Rhein. Mus. 1926, 36f.; A. D. Nock, Rev. Ét. Anc. 1928, 287, n. 2. For other parallels see Cumont, Religions Orientales⁴ 300, n. 22.

V. 3, nee numero quisquam poterit pensare nee aevo: cf. Albinus 164, 28, ἀίδιος; Apuleius, De Platone I 5, p. 86, 13 Thomas, ἀπερίμετρος; Maxim. Tyr. XI 9 C, 11 E. It may be noted that in the hymn aevum signifies ‘time,’ and aeternum ‘eternity.’

²⁹ Norden, Agnostos Theos, 78, n. 1.

³⁰ Preisendanz, Pap. Mag. Gr. XII 239 (quoted by Norden, loc. cit.): ἐπάκουσόν μου, κύριε, οὗ ἐστιν τὸ κρυπτὸν ὄνομα, ἄρρητον, δ οἱ δαίμονες ἀκούσαντες πτοοῦνται … οὗ (τὸ ὄνομα) ἡ γῆ ἀκούουσα ἑλίσσεται … ποταμοὶ, θάλασσα, λίμναι, πηγαὶ ἀκούουσαι πήγυνται; XIII 871: ἐπικαλοῦμαί σου τὸ ὄνομα, τὸ μέγιστον ἐν θεοῖς. δ ἐὰν εἴπω τέλειον, ἔσται σειασμός, ὁ ἥλιος στήσεται, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ἔνϕοβος ἔσται. Cf. also Lucan, Phars. VI 744 f.: Paretis? an Me Conpellandus erit, quo nnmquam terra vocato Non concussa tremit? Annotatio super Lucanum ad loc: Dem maior, quern magi noscunt. For these and other parallels see T. Hopfner, Griech-Aegypt. Offenbarungszauber II § 153.

³¹ See H. Usener, Götternamen, 336, n. 11.

³² On the wrath of the evoked demons, see Hopfner, op. cit. I § 239.

³³ Cf. Porphyry, De philos. ex orac., quoted by Euseb. Praep. evang. V 8, 4, v. 4–5 (Wolff, 156): πειθοῖ τʼ ἀρρήτων ἐπέων, οἷς δὴ ϕρένα τέρπειν | ἀθανάτων ἐδάη θνητὸς βροτός; Pap. Mag. Gr. IV 1609: ἐπικαλοῦμαί σου τὰ ἱερά καὶ μεγάλα καὶ κρυπτὰ ὀνόματα, οἷς χαίρεις ἀκούων; ibid. VII 690: ἐπικαλοῦμαί σε τοῖς ἁγίοις σου ὀνόμασι, οἶς χαίρει σοῦ ἡ θειότης; Orph. Lithica 725 f. Abel: τόϕρα δὲ κικλήσκειν μακάρων ἄρρητον ἑκάστων | οὔνομα. τέρπονται γάρ, ἐπεί κέ τις ἐν τελετῇσιν | μυστικὸν ἀείδῃσιν ἐπώνυμον οὐρανιώνων. See Hopfner, op. cit. I § 688.

²⁴ Ἄρρητος: Albinus 164, 28; Apuleius, De Plat. I 5, p. 86, 16; De deo Socr. 3, p. 9, 13f.; Apologia 64; Celsus ap. Orig. VII 42; Maxim. Tyr. II 10 A, XI 9 C–D; Clem. Alex. Strom. V 10 (65, 2), 12 (81, 5) ; Plotin. V 3, 13. See Dodds, op. cit. 310–313.

³⁵ On the ἄρρητον ὄνομα of the magicians see Hopfner, op. cit. I § 681 f.

³⁶ Cf. e.g. Pap. Mag. Gr. II 81 f., IV 930 f., 1955 f., 2714 f., V 400 f., VII 668 f.

³⁷ Superstes is an addition by the author of the hymn, and alludes to the Platonic doctrine of the world-ages. See note 22.

³⁸ Tu natura omnis, v. 22: ϕύσις is identified with the Supreme God of the Orphics in Hymn Orph. X v. 10, 18. These hymns show the Stoicizing tendency common to many products of later Orphism.

³⁹ The deification of the universe is, however, not an Orphic but a Platonic doctrine. Cf. Tim. 34 B, 40 A, 92 C.

⁴⁰ V. 24 recalls the Stoic formula, mundus communis deorum atque hominum domus, cf. Fragm. St. Vet. II 1131; Diels Doxographi 464, 20. Cf. also, however, Orph. Frag. no. 169, 7–8 (Kern): ἐν ὄμμασι πατρὸς ἄνακτος | ναίουσʼ ἀθάνατοί τε θεοὶ θνητοὶ τε ἄνθρωποι. The third hie in v. 24 must be kept, as all three pronouns refer to mundus.

⁴¹ Flore iuventae: cf. Virg. Aen. VII 162, VIII 160.

⁴² Orph. Fragm. no. 168, p. 207 Kern. See Wilamowitz, Glaube d. Hellenen II 199, n. 1.

⁴³ See Norden, Agnostos Theos, 229, n. 1. Cf. also Orph. Fragm. no. 248, 5, μητροπάτωρ. With deus innumerabilis unus (v. 22) cf. Soranus (quoted by Norden, loc. cit. and Kern, p. 93), deus unus et omnes, and Orph. Fragm. no. 239.

⁴⁴ Orph. Fragm. no. 168, 1–2, p. 201. Cf. note 49 below.

⁴⁵ Orph. Fragm. no. 62, p. 145.

⁴⁶ Orph. Fragm. no. 245–248. These three versions were transmitted to the Greek Fathers by Jewish Hellenists who recast an Orphic hymn on the παντοκράτωρ; see Kern's notes, p. 255 f., Lobeck, Aglaophamus 447 f., Rohde, Psyche II 114, n. 3, Norden, op. dt. 199, n. 2. Διαθῆκαι, ‘testaments,’ the original title of this group of hymns, has to be understood as the spiritual inheritance which Orpheus left to his successor Musaeus (identified by the Jewish Hellenists as Moses). The other title, παλινῳδία, is a Jewish invention, and finds no support in the text; the alleged contradiction between Orpheus' doctrine of 365 deities and his confession to One God (regarded by Jews and Christians as proof of his repentance) does not in fact exist, since, according to Orphic ideas, the highest god is units et omnes (see note 43 above).

⁴⁷ Orph. Fragm. no. 248 b, p. 265: Ἄϕθιτον, ἀθάνατον, ῥητὸν μόνον ἀθανάτοισιν, | ἐλθέ, μέγιστε θεῶν πάντων, κρατερῇ σὺν ἀνάγκῃ, | ϕρικτὸς, ἀήττητος, μέγας, ἄϕθιτος, δν στέϕει αἰθήρ.

⁴⁸ The magical character of this conclusion was recognized by Lobeck, Aglaophamus 456.

⁴⁹ Plat. Laws 715 E (Orph. Fragm. no. 21, p. gof.). The passage is quoted by the following Platonists: Albinus 181, 31 f.; Atticus ap. Euseb. Praep. evang. XV 5, 2; Celsus ap. Orig. VI 15; Hippolyt. Ref. I 19, 6. Cf. also ps.-Aristotle, De mundo 401 B 24 f., ps-Archytas ap. Iambl. Protr. IV, p. 23, 3 f. Pistelli.

⁵⁰ See note 44 above.

⁵¹ Compare Orph. Fragm. no. 21a with no. 168. See R. Harder, Philologus LXXXV, 243 f., Kern, Religion d. Griech. II 158, n. 1.

⁵² Orph. Fragm. no. 247, p. 261, v. 9 (the end of the prologue): παλαιὸς δὲ λόγος περὶ τοῦδε (sc. τοῦ κόσμου ἄνακτος) ϕαείνει, and v. 35 (the end of the hymn): ἀρχὴν αὐτὸς ἔχων καὶ μέσσην ἠδὲ τελεντήν, ὡς λόγος ἀρχαίων.

⁵³ See note 46 above.

⁵⁴ Magical invocation: no. 248 b, see note 47 above; line quoted by Plato: see note 52 above; the Supreme God: no. 245, 7, no. 247, 8, no. 248 a, 14.

⁵⁵ We must bear in mind that Orphic poetry was neither canonized nor preserved by an organized body of devotees, and so was easily changed in both form and content. See Nock, A. D., Harv. Theol. Rev. XXXIII (1940) 302 fGoogle Scholar.

⁵⁶ It goes without saying that neither the author of our hymn nor any other ancient votary of Orphic traditions was interested in, deeper inquiries into the original form of the hymn and its modifications. The Neoplatonists believed that Plato knew of the ἱερὸς λόγος (Rohde, Psyche II 416), and Proclus thought that the later version of the Orphic hymn to Zeus was Plato's model, cf. Kern, O., De Orphei etc. theogoniis (Berlin, 1888) 38Google Scholar.

⁵⁷ The Latin translation is, as a whole, a remarkable performance, but it seems that in one instance Tiberianus did not quite master the difficulties. Fulmineis forsan rapida sub imagine membris (v. 18) is disordered. Fulmineis membris depends on complecteris (v. 17) but rapida sub imagine lacks syntactical connection. Was he perhaps trying to render Greek δέμας, cf. Horn. Il. XI 596, δέμας πυρὸς ἀιθομένοιο? As to the simile itself, cf. Plut. De Iside 77, 382 D; ἡ δἑ τοῦ νοητοῦ … νόησις, ὡσπερ ἀστρπἠ διαλάμψασα, and Plat. Epist. VII 341 C: οἷον ἀπὸ πυρὸς πηδήδαντος ἐξαϕθὲν ϕῶς. Cf. also note 26.

⁵⁸ Kroll, W., De oraculis Chaldaicis (Breslau, 1894) 68Google Scholar. I shall deal with this problem at length in my “Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy.”

⁵⁹ On the demonology of Plutarch, Apuleius, and Maximus see R. Heinze, Xenokrates, 99 f. Numenius calls Moses ἀνδρὶ γενομένῳ θεῷ εὔξασθαι δυνατωτάτῳ (see Leemans, E. A., Numenius van Apamea, 1937, 137Google Scholar fr. 18) ; this presupposes belief in the magical power of prayer.

⁶⁰ Anth. Lat. I 2, no. 809 Riese. See Lenz, PWK, s.v. Tiberianus, 767 f.

⁶¹ Anth. Lat. I 2, no. 719 b; see Lenz, loc. cit. 770. On no. 810, which has been assigned to Tiberianus, but which is transmitted anonymously, see Lenz 771 f.

⁶² No. 809 (see note 60) is preserved only in one MS of the XVth century, which also contains no. 719 b. On the transmission of the hymn to the Omnipotent see above, note 1.

⁶³ Anth. Lat. I 2, no. 809, fr. 4, p. 298 Riese.

⁶⁴ Platonis hereditatem Diogenes Cynicus invadens nihil ibi plus aurea lingua invenit, ut Tiberianus in libro de Socrate memorat.

⁶⁵ The suggestion that the poem on gold and the hymn to the Omnipotent both come from the work on Socrates was made by Lenz, loc. cit. 773.

⁶⁶ See Schanz, cited above, note 1, and Teuffel-Kroll-Skutsch, Gesch. d. röm. Lit. (1913) § 401, n. 8.

⁶⁷ Cod. Theodos. 12, 5, 1; Cod. Just. 6, 1, 6; Cod. Theodos. 3, 5, 5.

⁶⁸ Servius, Aen. VI 136 fin., 532 (quoted p. 298 Riese).

⁶⁹ Norden, Agnostos Theos 78, n. 1, followed by Lenz, 773.

⁷⁰ Porphyry, V. Plot. 7. See Zeller, Gesch. d. gr. Philosophie III 2⁴ p. 523, n. 5. On Cynical views in Porphyry see R. Reitzenstein, Des Athanasius Werk über das Leben des Antonius, Sitzungsber. Heidelberg, 1914, passim, and his Historia monachorum (Göttingen 1916) 102 f.

⁷¹ Wolff, G., Porphyrii de philosophia ex oraculis haurienda librorum reliquiae, Berlin 1856Google Scholar; Bidez, J., Vie de Porphyre (Gand 1913) 17Google Scholar f.

⁷² The passage is quoted by Euseb. Praep. evang. IV 7, 2. See Wolff, 110.

⁷³ Wolff, 144 f., has one hymn to the World-ruler; for another see ps.-Justin, Cohort, ad. Graec. c. 38, who points to a pagan source. As the oracle on the Hebrews quoted by him in c. 11 and 24 is taken from Porphyry's Philosophy of the Oracles (see Wolff, 141, n. 7), the hymn may come from the same source.

⁷⁴ Augustine, Civ. dei XIX 23 (Wolff, 183 f.).

⁷⁵ Cf. the study of Mras, cited above, note 7.