Prayers and hymns Cleanthes

Hymn to Zeus

Hymn to Zeus, lines 1–39

Historical translation

E. H. Blakeney, 1921

Most glorious of Immortals, mighty God, Invoked by many a name, O sovran King Of universal Nature, piloting This world in harmony with Law,—all hail! Thee it is meet that mortals should invoke, For we Thine offspring are, and sole of all Created things that live and move on earth Receive from Thee the image of the One. Therefore I praise Thee, and shall hymn Thy power Unceasingly. Thee the wide world obeys, As onward ever in its course it rolls Where’er Thou guidest, and rejoices still Beneath Thy sway: so strong a minister Is held by Thine unconquerable hands,— That two-edged thunderbolt of living fire That never fails. Under its dreadful blow All Nature reels; therewith Thou dost direct The Universal Reason which, commixt With all the greater and the lesser lights, Moves thro’ the Universe. How great Thou art, The Lord supreme for ever and for aye! No work is wrought apart from Thee, O God, Or in the world, or in the heaven above, Or on the deep, save only what is done By sinners in their folly. Nay, Thou canst Make the rough smooth, bring wondrous order forth From chaos; in Thy sight unloveliness Seems beautiful; for so Thou hast fitted things Together, good and evil, that there reigns One everlasting Reason in them all. The wicked heed not this, but suffer it To slip, to their undoing; these are they Who, yearning ever to secure the good, Mark not nor hear the law of God, by wise Obedience 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, Working 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; That 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.

Text matched to linked transcription; typography normalized.

Greek

The ancient words

Κύδιστ᾽ ἀθανάτων, πολυώνυμε, παγκρατὲς ἀεὶ Ζεῦ, φύσεως ἀρχηγέ, νόμου μέτα πάντα κυβερνῶν, χαῖρε· σὲ γὰρ πάντεσσι θέμις θνητοῖσι προσαυδᾶν. ἐκ σοῦ γὰρ γένος ἐσμέν, ἑνὸς μίμημα λαχόντες μοῦνον, ὅσα ζώει τε καὶ ἕρπει θνήτ᾽ ἐπὶ γαῖαν. τῷ σε καθυμνήσω, καὶ σὸν κράτος αἰὲν ἀείσω. σοὶ δὴ πᾶς ὅδε κόσμος ἑλισσόμενος περὶ γαῖαν πείθεται, ᾗ κεν ἄγῃς, καὶ ἑκὼν ὑπὸ σεῖο κρατεῖται· τοῖον ἔχεις ὑποεργὸν ἀνικήτοις ἐνὶ χερσὶν ἀμφήκη, πυρόεντα, ἀειζώοντα κεραυνόν. τοῦ γὰρ ὑπὸ πληγῆς φύσεως πάντ᾽ ἐρρίγασιν, ᾧ σὺ κατευθύνεις κοινὸν λόγον ὃς διὰ πάντων φοιτᾷ, μιγνύμενος μεγάλους μικροῖς τε φάεσσιν, ὡς τόσσος γεγαὼς, ὕπατος βασιλεὺς διὰ παντός. οὐδέ τι γίγνεται ἔργον ἐπὶ χθανὶ σοῦ δίχα, δαῖμον, οὔτε κατ᾽ αἰθέριον θεῖον πόλον οὔτ᾽ ἐνὶ πόντῳ, πλὴν ὁπόσα ῥέζουσι κακοὶ σφετέρῃσιν ἀνοίαις. ἀλλὰ σὺ καὶ τὰ περισσὰ ἐπίστασαι ἄρτια θεῖναι, καὶ κοσμεῖν τὰ ἄκοσμα, καὶ οὐ φίλα σοὶ φίλα ἐστίν. ὧδε γὰρ εἰς ἓν ἅπαντα συνήρμοκας ἐσθλὰ κακοῖσιν, ὥσθ᾽ ἕνα γίγνεσθαι πάντων λόγον αἰὲν ἐόντα, ὃν φεύγοντες ἐῶσιν ὅσοι θνητῶν κακοί εἰσι δύσμοροι, οἵ τ᾽ ἀγαθῶν μὲν ἀεὶ κτῆσιν ποθέοντες οὔτ᾽ ἐσορῶσι θεοῦ κοινὸν νόμον, οὔτε κλύουσιν, ᾧ κεν πειθόμενοι σὺν νῷ βίον ἐσθλὸν ἔχοιεν, αὐτοὶ δ᾽ αὖθ᾽ ὁρμῶσιν ἄνευ καλοῦ ἄλλος ἐπ᾽ ἄλλα. οἱ μὲν ὑπὲρ δόξης σπουδὴν δυσέριστον ἔχοντες, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ κερδοσύνας τετραμμένοι οὐδενὶ κόσμῳ, ἄλλοι δ᾽ εἰς ἄνεσιν καὶ σώματος ἡδέα ἔργα, σπεύδοντες μάλα πάμπαν ἐναντία τῶνδε γενέσθαι. ἀλλὰ Ζεῦ πάνδωρε, κελαινεφές, ἀρχικέραυνε, ἀνθρώπους ῥύσιο ἀπειροσύνης ἀπὸ λυγρῆς, ἣν σύ, πάτερ, σκέδασον ψυχῆς ἄπο, δὸς δὲ κυρῆσαι γνώμης, ᾗ πίσυνος σὺ δίκης μέτα πάντα κυβερνᾷς, ὄφρ᾽ ἂν τιμηθέντες ἀμειβώμεσθά σε τιμῇ ὑμνοῦντες τὰ σὰ ἔργα διηνεκές, ὡς ἐπέοικε θνητὸν ἐόντ᾽, ἐπεὶ οὔτε βροτοῖς γέρας ἄλλο τι μεῖζον, οὔτε θεοῖς, ἢ κοινὸν ἀεὶ νόμον ἐν δίκῃ ὑμνεῖν.

Literal English

Editorial draft · developed with AI assistance

Most honored of the immortals, many-named, ever almighty Zeus, originator of nature, steering all things by law: hail. For it is right for every mortal to address you. From you we have our birth, alone receiving an image of the One among all mortal things that live and move upon the earth. Therefore I shall hymn you and sing of your power always. This whole ordered world, wheeling about the earth, obeys you wherever you lead, and willingly submits to your rule. Such is the servant you hold in your unconquerable hands: the two-edged, fiery, ever-living thunderbolt. Under its stroke all nature shudders. With it you direct the common Reason that moves through all things, mingling with the great lights and the small. So great are you, supreme ruler through all. No deed occurs on earth apart from you, divine power, nor in the heavenly sphere nor in the sea—except what bad people do through their own foolishness. Yet you know how to make the excessive measured, to order the disorderly; even what is unloved is loved by you. For so you have joined all things into one, the good with the bad, that there comes to be one everlasting Reason of them all. Bad mortals flee it and abandon it: unfortunate people who always desire to possess good things, yet neither see nor hear the common law of God. If they obeyed it intelligently, they would have a good life. Instead, without the good, each rushes toward something different: some into contentious striving for fame, some turned toward gain without any order, others toward ease and the pleasant activities of the body—hurrying headlong into outcomes opposite to these. But Zeus, giver of all, dark-clouded lord of the thunderbolt: rescue human beings from ruinous ignorance. Father, scatter it from the soul, and grant us to attain the understanding on which you rely as you steer all things with justice, so that, honored by you, we may repay you with honor, hymning your works continually, as is fitting for a mortal; for neither mortals nor gods have any greater privilege than always to hymn the common law in justice.

An aid to reading that has not received independent specialist review. About this rendering

Sources & notes

The Greek follows the text printed with Blakeney’s 1921 edition. Line 4 is textually disputed: “an image of the One” reflects this edition’s reading, not an uncontested original.

Historical editions may include surrounding context or use different phrasing. Parallel columns compare passages; their lines are not word-for-word alignments.

Greek text and Blakeney’s translation ↗

Editorial method