§9.30.7Μακεδόνων δὲ οἱ χώραν τὴν ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος τὴν Πιερίαν ἔχοντες καὶ πόλιν Δῖον, φασὶν ὑπὸ τῶν γυναικῶν γενέσθαι τὴν τελευτὴν ἐνταῦθα τῷ Ὀρφεῖ· ἰόντι δὲ ἐκ Δίου τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος καὶ στάδια προεληλυθότι εἴκοσι κίων τέ ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ καὶ ἐπίθημα ἐπὶ τῷ κίονι ὑδρία λίθου, ἔχει δὲ τὰ ὀστᾶ τοῦ Ὀρφέως ἡ ὑδρία, καθὰ οἱ ἐπιχώριοι λέγουσι.
But of the Macedonians, those who possess the land under Mount Pieria and the city of Dium say that the end came to Orpheus here by the hands of the women; and to one going from Dium on the road to the mountain and having advanced twenty stades, there is a pillar on the right, and on the pillar as an ornament is a stone urn, and the urn contains the bones of Orpheus, as the inhabitants of the place say.
§9.30.8ῥεῖ δὲ καὶ ποταμὸς Ἑλικών· ἄχρι σταδίων ἑβδομήκοντα πέντε προελθόντι τὸ ῥεῦμα ἀφανίζεται τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου κατὰ τῆς γῆς· διαλιπὸν δὲ μάλιστα δύο καὶ εἴκοσι στάδια ἄνεισι τὸ ὕδωρ αὖθις, καὶ ὄνομα Βαφύρας ἀντὶ Ἑλικῶνος λαβὼν κάτεισιν ἐς θάλασσαν ναυσίπορος.
There flows also a river Helicon; to one having advanced as far as seventy-five stades, the stream from it disappears under the earth; and having left an interval of about twenty-two stades, the water rises again, and having taken the name Baphyras instead of Helicon, it flows down into the sea, navigable for ships.
τοῦτον οἱ Διασταὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐπιρρεῖν διὰ παντὸς τῇ γῇ τὰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς φασι· τὰς γυναῖκας δὲ αἳ τὸν Ὀρφέα ἀπέκτειναν ἐναπονίψασθαί οἱ θελῆσαι τὸ αἷμα, καταδῦναί τε ἐπὶ τούτῳ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐς τὴν γῆν, ἵνα δὴ μὴ τοῦ φόνου καθάρσια τὸ ὕδωρ παράσχηται.
The people of Dium say that this river flowed entirely on the earth in the beginning; but that the women who killed Orpheus wished to wash off his blood in it, and on this account the river sank into the earth, in order that indeed the water might not afford purification from the murder.
§9.30.9ἤκουσα δὲ καὶ ἄλλον ἐν Λαρίσῃ λόγον, ὡς ἐν τῷ Ὀλύμπῳ. πόλις οἰκοῖτο Λίβηθρα, ᾗ ἐπὶ Μακεδονίας τέτραπται τὸ ὄρος, καὶ εἶναι οὐ πόρρω τῆς πόλεως τὸ τοῦ Ὀρφέως μνῆμα· ἀφικέσθαι δὲ τοῖς Λιβηθρίοις παρὰ τοῦ Διονύσου μάντευμα ἐκ Θρᾴκης, ἐπειδὰν ἴδῃ τὰ ὀστᾶ τοῦ Ὀρφέως ἥλιος, τηνικαῦτα ὑπὸ συὸς ἀπολεῖσθαι Λιβηθρίοις τὴν πόλιν.
And I heard also another story in Larissa, how on Olympus a city Libethra was inhabited, where the mountain turns towards Macedonia, and that the tomb of Orpheus is not far from the city; and that there came to the Libethrians an oracle from Dionysus out of Thrace, that whenever the sun should see the bones of Orpheus, then the city would be destroyed for the Libethrians by a boar.
οἱ μὲν διʼ οὐ πολλῆς φροντίδος ἐποιοῦντο τὸν χρησμόν, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι θηρίον οὕτω μέγα καὶ ἄλκιμον ἔσεσθαι νομίζοντες ὡς ἑλεῖν σφισι τὴν πόλιν, συὶ δὲ θρασύτητος μετεῖναι μᾶλλον ἢ ἰσχύος.
They indeed made little of the oracle, believing neither that any other beast would be so large and valiant as to capture their city, and that to a boar belonged boldness rather than strength.
§9.30.10ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐδόκει τῷ θεῷ, συνέβαινέ σφισι τοιάδε.
But when it pleased the god, things of this sort happened to them.
ποιμὴν περὶ μεσοῦσαν μάλιστα τὴν ἡμέραν ἐπικλίνων αὑτὸν πρὸς τοῦ Ὀρφέως τὸν τάφον, ὁ μὲν ἐκάθευδεν ὁ ποιμήν, ἐπῄει δέ οἱ καὶ καθεύδοντι ἔπη τε ᾄδειν τῶν Ὀρφέως καὶ μέγα καὶ ἡδὺ φωνεῖν.
A shepherd, about midday especially, leaning himself against the tomb of Orpheus, the shepherd indeed fell asleep, and even as he slept it came upon him to sing the verses of Orpheus and to speak in a loud and sweet voice.
οἱ οὖν ἐγγύτατα νέμοντες ἢ καὶ ἀροῦντες ἕκαστοι τὰ ἔργα ἀπολείποντες ἠθροίζοντο ἐπὶ τοῦ ποιμένος τὴν ἐν τῷ ὕπνῳ ᾠδήν· καί ποτε ὠθοῦντες ἀλλήλους καὶ ἐρίζοντες ὅστις ἐγγύτατα ἔσται τῷ ποιμένι ἀνατρέπουσι τὸν κίονα, καὶ κατεάγη τε ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ πεσοῦσα ἡ θήκη καὶ εἶδεν ἥλιος ὅ τι ἦν τῶν ὀστῶν τοῦ Ὀρφέως λοιπόν.
Therefore, those pasturing or even plowing nearest, leaving each their works, gathered together for the shepherd's song in his sleep; and once, pushing one another and striving who should be nearest to the shepherd, they overturned the pillar, and the urn having fallen from it was broken, and the sun saw whatever was left of the bones of Orpheus.
§9.30.11αὐτίκα δὲ ἐν τῇ ἐπερχομένῃ νυκτὶ ὅ τε θεὸς κατέχει πολὺ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ ὁ ποταμὸς ὁ Σῦς—τῶν δὲ περὶ τὸν Ὄλυμπον χειμάρρων καὶ ὁ Σῦς ἐστι—, τότε οὖν οὗτος ὁ ποταμὸς κατέβαλε μὲν τὰ τείχη Λιβηθρίοις, θεῶν δὲ ἱερὰ καὶ οἴκους ἀνέτρεψεν ἀνθρώπων, ἀπέπνιξε δὲ τούς τε ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ πόλει ζῷα ὁμοίως τὰ πάντα.
And immediately in the coming night, the god poured down much water from heaven, and the river Sys—and among the mountain-torrents around Olympus is the Sys—then therefore this river threw down the walls for the Libethrians, and overturned temples of gods and houses of men, and drowned both the men and the animals in the city, all alike.
ἀπολλυμένων δὲ ἤδη Λιβηθρίων, οὕτως οἱ ἐν Δίῳ Μακεδόνες κατά γε τὸν λόγον τοῦ Λαρισαίου ξένου ἐς τὴν ἑαυτῶν τὰ ὀστᾶ κομίζουσι τοῦ Ὀρφέως.
And the Libethrians being now destroyed, thus the Macedonians in Dium, at least according to the story of the Larisaean stranger, carried the bones of Orpheus into their own land.
§9.30.12ὅστις δὲ περὶ ποιήσεως ἐπολυπραγμόνησεν ἤδη, τοὺς Ὀρφέως ὕμνους οἶδεν ὄντας ἕκαστόν τε αὐτῶν ἐπὶ βραχύτατον καὶ τὸ σύμπαν οὐκ ἐς ἀριθμὸν πολὺν πεποιημένους· Λυκομίδαι δὲ ἴσασί τε καὶ ἐπᾴδουσι τοῖς δρωμένοις.
And whoever has already investigated concerning poetry, knows that the hymns of Orpheus are, each of them, extremely short, and in their entirety not composed to a great number; and the Lycomidae know them and sing them to the rites.
κόσμῳ μὲν δὴ τῶν ἐπῶν δευτερεῖα φέροιντο ἂν μετά γε Ὁμήρου τοὺς ὕμνους, τιμῆς δὲ ἐκ τοῦ θείου καὶ ἐς πλέον ἐκείνων ἥκουσι.
In the adornment of verses indeed, they would carry second prize after the hymns of Homer, but in honor from the divine they have come even to more than those.