§8οὐ μετὰ πολλὸν δὲ καὶ Λίβυες ἐπέβησαν τοῦ λόγου· καὶ γὰρ τὸ Λιβύων μαντήιον τὸ Ἄμμωνος, καὶ τοῦτο ἐς τὸν ἠέρα καὶ ἐς τὴν τούτου σοφίην ἵδρυτο, παρʼ ὃ τὸν Ἄμμωνα καὶ οὗτοι κριοπρόσωπον ποιέονται.
Not long after, the Libyans also embarked upon this science; for indeed the Libyan oracle of Ammon, this too was established with reference to the heavens and to its wisdom, wherefore they too fashion Ammon with a ram's face.
§9ἔγνωσαν δὲ τούτων ἕκαστα καὶ Βαβυλώνιοι, οὗτοι μέν, λέγουσιν, καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων, ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκέει, πολλὸν ὕστερον ἐς τούτους ὁ λόγος ἀπίκετο.
The Babylonians also knew each of these things; they, people say, even before the others, but to me it seems that the science arrived among them much later.
§10Ἕλληνες δὲ οὔτε παρʼ Αἰθιόπων οὔτε παρʼ Αἰγυπτίων ἀστρολογίης πέρι οὐδὲν ἤκουσαν, ἀλλὰ σφίσιν Ὀρφεὺς ὁ Οἰάγρου καὶ Καλλιόπης πρῶτος τάδε ἀπηγήσατο, οὐ μάλα ἐμφανέως, οὐδὲ ἐς φάος τὸν λόγον προήνεγκεν, ἀλλʼ ἐς γοητείην καὶ ἱερολογίην, οἵη διανοίη ἐκείνου.
But the Greeks heard nothing about astrology either from the Ethiopians or from the Egyptians; rather, Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus and Calliope, first related these things to them, not very clearly, nor did he bring the discourse into the light, but into magic and sacred lore, such as his disposition was.
πηξάμενος γὰρ λύρην ὄργιά τε ἐποιέετο καὶ τὰ ἱερὰ ἤειδεν· ἡ δὲ λύρη ἑπτάμιτος ἐοῦσα τὴν τῶν κινεομένων ἀστέρων ἁρμονίην συνεβάλλετο.
For having constructed a lyre, he performed mysteries and sang sacred songs; and the lyre, being seven-stringed, represented the harmony of the moving stars.
ταῦτα Ὀρφεὺς διζήμενος καὶ ταῦτα ἀνακινέων πάντα ἔθελγεν καὶ πάντων ἐκράτεεν· οὐ γὰρ ἐκείνην τὴν λύρην ἔβλεπεν οὐδέ οἱ ἄλλης ἔμελε μουσουργίης, ἀλλʼ αὕτη Ὀρφέος ἡ μεγάλη λύρη, Ἕλληνές τε τάδε τιμέοντες μοίρην ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἀπέκριναν καὶ ἀστέρες πολλοὶ καλέονται λύρη Ὀρφέος.
Seeking these things and moving all of them, Orpheus charmed and ruled over all things; for he did not look at that lyre nor was he concerned with other music-making, but this was the great lyre of Orpheus, and the Greeks, honoring these things, set apart a portion in the sky, and many stars are called the Lyre of Orpheus.
ἢν δέ κοτε Ὀρφέα ἴδῃς ἢ λίθοισιν ἢ χροιῇ μεμιμημένον, μέσῳ ἕζεται ἴκελος ἀείδοντι, μετὰ χερσὶν ἔχων τὴν λύρην, ἀμφὶ δέ μιν ζῷα μυρία ἕστηκεν, ἐν οἷς καὶ ταῦρος καὶ ἄνθρωπος καὶ λέων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστον.
And if you should ever see Orpheus represented either in stone or in colors, he sits in the midst like one singing, having the lyre in his hands, and around him stand countless creatures, among which are a bull, a man, a lion, and each of the others.
εὖτʼ ἂν ἐκεῖνα ἴδῃς, μέμνησό μοι τουτέων, κοίη ἐκείνου ἀοιδή, κοίη δὲ καὶ ἡ λύρη, κοῖος δὲ καὶ ταῦρος ἢ ὁκοῖος λέων Ὀρφέος ἐπαΐουσιν.
Whenever you see those things, remember my words, what sort of song his was, and what sort of lyre, and what sort of bull or lion of Orpheus is listening.
ἢν δὲ τὰ λέγω αἴτια γνοίης, σὺ δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ δέρκεο ἕκαστον τουτέων.
And if you understand the causes of what I say, do you also look at each of these in the sky.
§11λέγουσιν δὲ Τειρεσίην ἄνδρα Βοιώτιον, τοῦ δὴ κλέος μαντοσύνης πέρι πολλὸν ἀείρεται, τοῦτον τὸν Τειρεσίην ἐν Ἕλλησιν εἰπεῖν ὅτι τῶν πλανεομένων ἀστέρων οἱ μὲν θήλεες οἱ δὲ ἄρρενες ἐόντες οὐκ ἴσα ἐκτελέουσιν· τῷ καί μιν διφυέα γενέσθαι καὶ ἀμφίβιον Τειρεσίην μυθολογέουσιν, ἄλλοτε μὲν θῆλυν ἄλλοτε δὲ ἄρρενα.
And they speak of Tiresias, a Boeotian man, whose fame concerning divination is raised very high; they say that this Tiresias said among the Greeks that of the wandering stars some being female and some male do not accomplish equal things; wherefore they also mythologize that Tiresias became of double nature and amphibious, at one time female and at another male.
§12Ἀτρέος δὲ καὶ Θυέστεω περὶ τῇ πατρωίῃ βασιληίῃ φιλονεικεόντων ἤδη τοῖσιν Ἕλλησιν ἀναφανδὸν ἀστρολογίης τε καὶ σοφίης τῆς οὐρανίης μάλιστʼ ἔμελεν, καὶ τὸ ξυνὸν τῶν Ἀργείων ἄρχειν ἔγνωσαν ἑωυτῶν ὅστις τοῦ ἑτέρου σοφίην προφερέστερος.
When Atreus and Thyestes were contending for their ancestral kingdom, the Greeks already openly cared most for astrology and celestial wisdom, and the community of the Argives decided that whoever was more outstanding in wisdom than the other should rule over them.
ἔνθα δὴ Θυέστης μὲν τὸν κριὸν σφίσιν τὸν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ σημηνάμενος ἐπέδειξεν, ἀπὸ τέω δὴ ἄρνα χρύσεον Θυέστῃ γενέσθαι μυθολογέουσιν.
There indeed Thyestes pointed out and showed to them the Ram in the sky, from which they mythologize that a golden lamb was born to Thyestes.
Ἀτρεὺς δὲ τοῦ ἠελίου πέρι καὶ τῶν ἀντολέων αὐτοῦ λόγον ἐποιήσατο, ὅτι οὐκ ἐς ὁμοίην φορὴν ἠέλιός τε καὶ ὁ κόσμος κινέονται, ἀλλʼ ἐς ἀντίξοον ἀλλήλοις ἀντιδρομέουσιν, καὶ αἱ νῦν δύσιες δοκέουσαι, τοῦ κόσμου δύσιες ἐοῦσαι, τοῦ ἠελίου ἀντολαί εἰσιν.
But Atreus made a discourse about the sun and its rising, that the sun and the cosmos do not move in the same course, but run contrary to each other, and what are now thought to be settings, being settings of the cosmos, are risings of the sun.
τάδε εἰπόντα βασιλέα μιν Ἀργεῖοι ἐποιήσαντο, καὶ μέγα κλέος ἐπὶ σοφίῃ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο.
The Argives, because he said these things, made him king, and great fame arose for his wisdom.
§13ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ περὶ Βελλεροφόντεω τοιάδε φρονέω· πτηνὸν μέν οἱ γενέσθαι ὡς ἵππον οὐ μάλα πείθομαι, δοκέω δέ μιν ταύτην τὴν σοφίην μετέποντα ὑψηλά τε φρονέοντα καὶ ἄστροισιν ὁμιλέοντα ἐς οὐρανὸν οὐχὶ τῷ ἵππῳ ἀναβῆναι ἀλλὰ τῇ διανοίῃ.
And concerning Bellerophon I think in this way: I do not very much believe that a winged horse was born to him, but I think that, pursuing this wisdom and thinking high things and associating with the stars, he ascended into heaven not by the horse but by his mind.
§14ἴσα δέ μοι καὶ ἐς Φρίξον τὸν Ἀθάμαντος εἰρήσθω, τὸν δὴ κριῷ χρυσέῳ διʼ αἰθέρος ἐλάσαι μυθέονται.
Let the same also be said by me concerning Phrixus, the son of Athamas, whom indeed they mythologize to have ridden through the ether on a golden ram.
ναὶ μέντοι καὶ Δαίδαλον τὸν Ἀθηναῖον· ξείνη μὲν ἡ ἱστορίη, δοκέω γε μὴν οὐκ ἔξω ἀστρολογίης, ἀλλά οἱ αὐτὸς μάλιστα ἐχρήσατο καὶ παιδὶ τῷ ἑωυτοῦ κατηγήσατο.
Yes, indeed, and Daedalus the Athenian; the story is strange, yet I think it is not outside of astrology, but he himself used it most of all and taught it to his own child.
§15Ἴκαρος δέ, νεότητι καὶ ἀτασθαλίῃ χρεόμενος καὶ οὐκ ἐπιεικτὰ διζήμενος ἀλλὰ ἐς πόλον ἀερθεὶς τῷ νῷ, ἐξέπεσε τῆς ἀληθείης καὶ παντὸς ἀπεσφάλη τοῦ λόγου καὶ ἐς πέλαγος κατηνέχθη ἀβύσσων πρηγμάτων, τὸν Ἕλληνες ἄλλως μυθολογέουσιν καὶ κόλπον ἐπʼ αὐτῷ ἐν τῇδε τῇ θαλάσσῃ Ἰκάριον εἰκῆ καλέουσιν.
But Icarus, using youth and recklessness and seeking what was not fitting, but being raised in mind to the pole, fell away from the truth and was tripped up from the whole discourse, and was carried down into a sea of bottomless affairs, which the Greeks mythologize otherwise, and they call the gulf after him in this sea the Icarian, at random.