Tempore enim hiemis abor-
tus, mare et terras aquis et tempestatibus lurbat.
tus, mare et terras aquis et tempestatibus lurbat.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
Scymnus of Chios appears to be tho only writer who
? lives any account of its foundation; he ascribes it to
tho Eubceans after their return from Troy. These are
the same people with the Abantes (v. 440). Apollo-
nius speaks of the arrival of a party of Golchians in
this port (4, 1216), whenco Pliny calls it a colony of
;'iat people (3, 23). Oricum, however, is much more
known in history as a haven frequented by the Ro-
mans in their communication with Greece, being very
conveniently situated for that purpose from its proxim-
ity to Hydruntum and Brundisium. During the sec-
ond Punic war, this town was taken by Philip, king
of Macedonia, but was afterward recovered by tho
? ? prretor Valerius Lavinus, who surprised the enemy in
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? ORIGENES.
OHIGENES.
eventually became acquainted with it. Surprised at
the hardihood of the deed, and yet forced to respect
such ardent and devoted piety in so young a man, he
encouraged him to persevere. Origen himself was
subsequently convinced of his error, and confuted in
his writings the literal interpretation of a text which
had led him to this extreme. --After a visit to Home,
where Zephirinus was the bishop, Origen turned his
attention to the acquiring of the Hebrew tongue, a
thing yery unusual at that time (Hieron. , de Vir. II-
lustr. , c. 56); but his knowledge of the language was
never very great. About the year 212, his preaching
reclaimed from the Valcntinian heresy a wealthy per-
son of the name of Ambrose, who afterward assisted
him materially in the publication of his Commentaries
on the Scriptures. His reputation kept continually in-
creasing, and he became eminent not merely as an in-
structer in religion, but also in philosophy and human
sciences. The governor of Arabia, having heard won-
derful accounts of his abilities, requested Demetrius
and the patriarch of Egypt to send Origen to him,
that they might converse together on literature and
the sciences. The voyage was made, and, when the
curiosity of the ruler was gratified, Origen returned to
his native capital. This city, however, he soon after
qnitted, and fled to Cssarea to avoid the cruelties ex-
ercised upon the Alcxandreans by the odious Caracal-
la. At Cssarea he gave public lectures, and, though
not yet a priest, was invited by the bishops in this
quarter to expound the scriptures in the assemblies of
the faithful. Demetrius took offence at this, and Ori-
gen, at his earnest request, returned to the capital of
Egypt and resumed his former functions. About this
lime the Emperor Alexander Severus had stopped for
a while at Antioch, to expedite the preparations for
war against the Persians; and the Empress Mammea,
who accompanied her son, sent letters and an escort
to Origen, inviting him to Antioch. The opportunity
was eagerly embraced, and Origen unfolded to his il-
lustrious hearer the hopes and the promises of the gos-
pel. At a later period also he had a correspondence
with the Emperor Philip and his wife Severa. On his
return once more to Alcxandrea, he directed his atten-
tion to the writing of commentaries on the Old and
New Testaments, at the instance principally of Am-
brose, whom he had both instructed in the sciences,
and, as we have already observed, reclaimed from his
heretical opinions. This disciple, well known in Alex-
andrea by the fame of his riches, liberally supplied his
former master with all the means requisite for pursuing
his studies. Origen had around him several secreta-
ries, to whom he dictated notes, and seven others to
arrange these notes in order: the former were called
notarii, the latter librarii. Other copyists were em-
ployed in transcribing works. Origen commented first
on the Gospel of St. John, then on Genesis, the first
twenty-five Psalms, and the Lamentations of Jere-
miah. Obliged at this period to undertake a journey
to Athens, for the purpose of succouring the churches
of Aehaia, he again visited Ciesarea on his way, where
the bishop of this church and the bishop of Jerusa-
lem ordained him priest. He was at this time forty-
five years of age. Demetrius vehemently disapproved
of this ordination, and made known the act committed
by Origen on his own person, and which he had thus
far kept secret. According to him, Origen could not
bo admitted to sacred orders, and he insisted that this
? ? point of ancient discipline could not be abandoned by
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? ORIGENES.
logic, geometry, arithmetic, music, grammar, rhetoric,
and all the sects of the philosophers; so that he was
resorted to by many students of secular literature,
whom he received chiefly that lie might embrace the
opportunity of instructing them in the faith of Christ"
(de Vir. Illustr. , c. 54). Elsewhere he calls him the
greatest teacher since the Apostles. \Ve find this
same Jerome, however, at a later period of his life, vi-
olently attacking Origen, and approving of the perse-
cution of his followers. Sulpicius Severus says, that
in reading Origen's works he saw many things that
pleased him, hut many also in which he (Origen) was
undoubtedly mistaken. He wonders how one and the
same man could be so different from himself; and
adds, "where he is right, he has not an equal since
the Apostles; where he is in the wrong, no man has
erred more shamefully. " (Dialog. , 1, 3. ) All agree
that he was a man of an active and powerful mind,
and of fervent piety; fond of investigating truth, and
free from all mean prejudices, of the most profound
learning, and the most untiring industry. His whole
life was occupied in writing, teaching, and especially
in explaining the Scriptures. No man, certainly none
in ancient times, did more to settle the true text of
the sacred writings, and to spread them among the
people; and yet few, perhaps, have introduced more
dangerous principles into their interpretation. For,
whether from a defect in judgment or from a fault in
his education, he applied to the Scriptures the allegor-
ical method which the Tlatonists used in interpreting
the heathen mythology. He says himself, "that the
source of many evils lies in adhering to the carnal or
external part of Scripture. Those who do so shall
not attain the kingdom of God. Let us therefore seek
after the spirit and the substantial fruit of the word,
which are hidden and mysterious. " And, again, " the
Scriptures are of little use to those who understand
them as they are written. "--In the fourth century, the
writings of Origen led to violent controversies in the
Church. Epiphanius, in a letter preserved by Jerome,
enumerates eight erroneous opinions as contained in
his works. He is charged with holding heretical no-
tions concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit; with
maintaining that the human soul is not created with
the body, but has a previous existence; that in the
resurrection the body will not have the same members
as before; and that future punishments will not be
eternal, but that both fallen angels and wicked men
will be restored, at some distant period, to the favour
of God. (Hicron. adv. Ruf. , lib. 2, vol. 4, p. 403. )
These opinions were not generally held by his follow-
ers, who maintained that the passages from which they
had been drawn had been interpolated in his writings
by heretics. In 401, Theophilus, bishop of Alexan-
drea, held a synod, in which Origen and his followers
were condemned, and the reading of his works was
prohibited; and the monks, most of whom were Ori-
genists, were driven out of Alexandrea. His opin-
ions were again condemned by the second general
council of Constantinople, in A. D. 553. -- We will
now proceed to give a more particular account of the
several works of this father, as far as they have come
down to us, or are known from the statements of other
writers. 1. Tlepi 'Apxuv (" On Pint Principles'").
This work was divided into four books; but we pos-
sess only a short notice of it in the Myriobiblon of
Photius (Cod. , 8), an extract in Euscbius (contra. Mar-
cell. Ancyran. , lib. 1), and some fragments in the Phi-
? ? localia. Rufinus made a Latin translation of the work
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? ORIGENES.
ORI
quently discovered two other Greek versions of some
parts of the Scriptures, usually called the fifth and
sixth, he added them to the preceding, inserting them
in their respective places, and thus composed the Oc-
tapla, containing eight columns. A separate transla-
tion of the Psalms, usually called the seventh version,
being afterward added, the entire work has by some
been termed the Enncapla. This last appellation,
however, was never generally adopted. But, as the
two editions made by Origen generally bore the name
of the Tetrapla and Hexapla, Urabe thinks that they
were thus called, not from the number of the columns,
but of the versions, which were six, the seventh con-
taining the Psalms only. Bauer, after Montfaucon, is
of opinion that Origen edited only the Tetrapla and
Hexapla; and this appears to be the real fact. --The
original Hebrow being regarded as the basis of the
whole work, the proximity of each translation to the
text, in point of closeness and fidelity, determined its
rank in the order of the columns; thus, Aquila's ver-
sion, being the most faithful, is placed next to the sa-
cred text; that of Symmachus occupies the fourth
column; the Scptuagint the fifth; and Theodotion's
the sixth. The other three anonymous translations,
not containing the entire books of' the Old Testament,
were placed in the last three columns of the Enneapla,
according to the order of time in which they were dis-
covered by Origen. In the Pentateuch, Origen com-
pared the Samaritan text with the Hebrew as received
by the Jews, and noted their differences. To each of
the translations inserted in this Hexapla was prefixed
an account of the author; each had its separate pro-
legomena; and the ample margins were filled with
notes. A few fragments of these prolegomena and
marginal annotations have been preserved, but nothing
remains of his history of the Greek versions. Mont-
faucon supposes that the Hexapla must have made
fifty large folio volumes. During nearly half a cen-
tury this great work remained buried, as it were, in
a corner of the city of Tyre, probably because the
expense of procuring a copy exceeded the means of
any single individual. It would, no doubt, have pcT-
ished there, had not Eusebius and Pamphilus restored
it to the light, and placed it in the library of the lat-
ter at Cesarea. It may be doubted whether a copy
ofthc original work was ever made. St. Jerome saw
it still at Csssarea, but as no writer makes mention
of it after his time, it is probable that it perished in
653 A. D. , when Cssarea was taken by the Arabi-
ans. --To repair as much as possible the loss of the
Hexapla of Origen, various scholars have occupied
themselves, in modern times, with the care of restoring
it. The first that undertook this task was Flaminio
N'obili, in the notes to his edition of the Scptuagint
(Roma, 1587); and after him Drusius, in his Frag-
menta vetrrum intcrpretum (Arnh. , 1622). With
these materials, and with the aid of manuscripts,
Montfaucon arranged1 his Hexapla Origcnis, which
were printed in 2 vols, folio, at Paris, in 1713. and
were reprinted by Bahrdt (Lips. , 2 vols. 8vo. , 1769).
It is thought, however, that the learned Benedictine
was not sufficiently well acquainted with Hebrew, and
that he was deficient in critical acumen. --7. The last
work of Origen's deserving of mention is his Reply to
Celsius. This philosopher, a member of the Epicu-
rean sect, had composed, under the Emperor Hadrian,
a work against Christianity, replete with calumny and
? ? falsehood. (Vid. Celsus II. ) At the instance of his
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? ORM
ORO
the. sea. The archer-goddess discharged a shaft: the
waves rolled the dead body of Orion to the land; and,
bewailing her fatal error with many tears, Diana placed
him among the stars. --The hero Orion is not mention-
ed in the Iliad; but in the Odyssey (5, 121) wc are
told by Calypso, that rosy-fingered Aurora took him,
and that Diana slew him with her gentle darts in Or-
tygia. In another place his size and beauty are praised.
(Oil. , 11, 309-- Keighlley's Mythology, p. 461, seqq. )
^-The constellation of Orion, which represents a man
of gigantic stature wielding a sword, is mentioned as
early as the time of Homer and Hesiod (II. , 17, 486.
--Op. et D. , 589, 615, 619). Both poets, in alluding
to it. use the expression odevoc 'Qpiuvoc. "the strength
of Orion" (i. e. , the strong or powerful Orion), analo-
gous to the (tin 'HpaKXein. We must connect, there-
fore, with the idea of Orion, as represented on the ce-
lestial planisphere, that of a powerful warrior, armed
with his " golden sword," or, as Aratus expresses it,
t'Hpeo; . . . l<pt ire-rrotdue (v. 588). So, too, the Ara-
bic name for this constellation, namely, El-dschebbdr,
means the " Giant," the " Hero. " According to Butt-
man, the form Oarion ('ilapiuv, Pind. , Isih. , 3, 67)
is earlier than Orion, and the letter o itself has arisen
from a peculiar mode of pronouncing the digamma,
which is known to have had a sound resembling our
wh or w. The name Yapiuv, therefore, will be de-
rived from Fdpric or 'Apnc, and signify "a warrior. ''
Indeed, the English term Warrior is almost identical
in form with the Greek 'Oapiav, and the word War
connects itself as plainly with the root of Fop-i/f or
Mars. It is worthy of remark, too, that the constella-
tion Orion was called by the Boeotians KavSduv, a de-
rivative in all likelihood of Kavouor, a name given to
the god Mars. (Lycophr. , 328. --Tzetz. , ad loc. --Ly-
eophr. , 938. )--That part of the legend, also, which re-
lates to the ox's hide, is explained by the same eminent
scholar, on the supposition of some resemblance hav-
ing been discovered between the position of the stars
in this constellation and the hide of an ox. Thus the
four stars, a, (i, y, k, will indicate the four extremities
or corners, and the feebler stars, which now form the
head, will represent the neck. In the same way, the
three brilliant stars in the middle may have suggested
the idea of the three deities, Jupiter, Neptune, and
Mercury. (Buttmann, Anmcrk. --Idelcr, Sternnamen,
p. 331. )--The cosmical setting of Orion, which took
place towards the end of Autumn, was always ac-
companied with rain and wind. Hence the south
wind is called by Horace "the rapid companion of the
setting Orion" (Od. , 1, 28, 21), and Orion himself as
"fraught with harm to mariners. " (Epod. , 15, 7. --
Compare Od. , 3, 27, 18. -- Virg. , . En. , 1, 535. --Id.
ib. , 4, 52. )--From the view which has here been taken
of the origin of the name Orion, it will be seen at
once how erroneous is the etymology assigned by Isi-
dorus, when he says, " Orion dictus ab urina, id est
ab tnundatione aquarum.
Tempore enim hiemis abor-
tus, mare et terras aquis et tempestatibus lurbat. "
(Ong. , 3, 70. ) There is also another error here. It
was not the rising, but the cosmical setting, of the
constellation which brought stormy weather. (Ideler,
Sternnamen, p. 219. )
Oeithyu (four syllables), a daughter of Erechtheus,
king of Athens, by Praxithea. She was carried off by
Boreas, the god of the northern wind. (Vid. Boreas. )
Ormenium, a city of Thessaly, in the district of
? ? Magnesia, near the shores of the Sinus Pelasgicus, and
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? ORO
Oropds, I. a city on the confines of Bceotia and At-
tica, on the lower bank of the Asopus, and not far
from its mouth. The possession of this place was
long the object of eager contest between the Boeotians
and the Athenians. There is little doubt but that the
former could prove priority of possession; but, as the
Athenians were anxious to enlarge their territory at
the expense of their Boeotian neighbours, and to make
(as all nations have been anxious to do) a river (the
Asopus) their boundary, and also to secure their com-
munication with Eubaea, they used their rising pow-
er to appropriate this place to themselves. {Bloom/,
ad Tkueyd. , 2, 23. ) In the Peloponnesian war we
find it occupied by the Athenians; but, towards the
close of that contest, we hear of the city being sur-
prised by the Boeotians, who retained possession of it
for many years. (Thucyd. , 8, 60. ) In consequence
of a sedition which occurred there, the Thebans chan-
ged the site of the place, and removed it about seven
stadia from the sea. (Diod. Sic. , 14, 17. ) After the
overthrow of Thebes, Oropus was ceded to the Athe-
nians by Alexander. Hence Livy, Pausanias, and
Pliny place the town in Attica. Dicearchus and
Stephanus, on the other hand, ascribe it to Bceotia.
Dicaearchus (Stat. Gr. , p. 11) styles Oropus "the
dwelling-house of Thebes, the traffic of retail venders,
the unsurpassable avarice of excisemen versed in ex-
cess of wickedness for ages, ever imposing duties on
imported goods. The generality are rough in their
manners, but courteous to those who are shrewd; they
are repulsive to the Boeotians, but the Athenians are
Boeotians. " The meaning of this last passage is per-
haps this, that the Athenians on this border were so
much mixed with the Boeotians as to have lost their
usual characteristics for acutenoss and intelligence.
"Oropus," says Dodwell, "is now called Ropo, and
contains only few and imperfect ruins" (vol. 2, p. 156.
--Cramer's Ane. Greece, vol. 2, p. 272). --II. A city
of Macedonia, mentioned by Stephanus (p. 770), but
otherwise unknown. --III. A city in the island of Eu-
bcea. (Amm. Marcell. , 30, i. --Steph. Byz. , p. 770. )
Oaosius, Paulus, a presbyter of the Spanish Church,
and a native of His pan ia Tarracon-nsis, who flourished
? bout the beginning of the fifth century, under Arca-
dius and Honorius. The invasion of his country by
the barbarians, and the troubles excited by the Priscilli-
anists, a sect of the Gnostics or Manicheeans, caused
him, about A. D. 414, to betake himself to St. Augus-
tin in Africa, who afterward sent him to St. Jerome.
The latter prelate was then in Palestine. Orosius act-
ed in this country the part of a turbulent man, and em-
broiled St. Jerome with Pelagius and John of Jerusa-
lem. He wrote also a treatise against Pelagius, who
was at that time spreading his opinions concerning
original sin and grace. The title of this production
is " Ltber Apologeticus contra Pelagium,de Arbitrii li-
bertale. " The treatise is annexed to the "History"
of Orosius. From Palestine he returned to Hippo
Regius in Africa, to his friend St. Augustin, and thence
to Spain. The calamities which had befallen the Ro-
man empire, and, above all, the capture and pillaoe of
Rome by Alaric (A. D. 410), afforded to the heathens,
and to Symmachus among the rest, a pretence for ac-
cusing the Christian religion of being the cause of all
these disasters, and of saying that, since the abandon-
ment of the old religion of the state, victory had utter-
ly-forsaken the Roman arms. To refute this charge,
Orosius, at the advice of St. Augustin, composed a
? ? history, in which he undertook to show that ever since
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? ORPHEUS.
ORPHEUS.
upon by them as barbarians. Muller explains this by
pointing out that the Thracians of these legends were
not the same people as those of the historical period,
but a Greek race who lived in the district called IV-
ria, to the east of the Olympus-range, to the north of
Thessaly, and to the south of Emathia or Macedonia.
(Muller, Hist. Gr. Lit. , p. 26. ) The time at which
Orpheus lived is placed by all writers not long before
the Trojan war, and by most at the period of the Argo-
nautic expedition, about twelve or thirteen centuries
before our era. He was said to have been the son of
Apollo and the muse Calliope, or, according to an-
other account, of Oeagrus and a muse. The poets
represent him as a King of Thrace, but the historians
are generally silent about his station. According to
Clemens of Alexandrea he was the disciple of Mnsxus,
but the more common accounts make him his teacher.
He was one of the Argonauts, to whom he rendered
the greatest service by his skill in music; the en-
chanting tones of his lyre made the Argo move into
the water, delivered the heroes from many difficulties
and dangers while on the voyage, and mainly contrib-
uted to their success in obtaining the golden fleece.
After the voyage, Orpheus returned to the cavern in
Thrace in which he commonly dwelt. He is said by
some authors to have made a voyage to Egypt before
the Argonautic expedition. --The skill with which Or-
pheus struck the lyre was fabled to have been such as
to move the very trees and rocks, and the beasts of the
fcrsst assembled round him as he touched its chords.
He had for his wife a nymph named Eurydicc, who
died from the bite of a serpent, as she was flying from
Aristasus. Orpheus, disconsolate at her loss, deter-
mined to descend to the lower world, to endeavour to
mollify its rulers, and obtain permission for his beloved
Eurydice to return to the regions of light. Armed
only with his lyre, he entered the realms of Hades, and
gained an easy admittance to the palace of Pluto. At
the music of his "golden shell," to borrow the beauti-
ful language of ancient poetry, the wheel of Ixion stop-
ped, Tantalus forgot the thirst that tormented him, the
vulture ceased to prey on the vitals of Tityos, and Plu-
to and Proserpina lent a favouring ear to his prayer.
Eurydice was allowed to return with him to the upper
world, but only on condition that Orpheus did not look
back upon her before they had reached the confines of
the kingdom of darkness. He broke the condition, and
she vanished from his sight. His death is differently
related. The most common account is, that he was
torn in pieces by the Thracian women, at a Bacchic
festival, in revenge for the contempt which ho had
shown towards them through his sorrow for the loss of
Eurydice. (Apollod. , 1, 3. -- Virg. , Georg. , 4, 454. )
His limbs were scattered over tho plain, but his head
was thrown upon the river Hcbrus, which bore it down
to the sea, and the waves then carried it to Lesbos,
where it was buried. ( Vid. Lesbos. ) The Muses col-
lected the fragments of his body and interred them at
Libethra, and Jupiter, at their prayer, placed his lyre
in the skies. (Apollod. , I. c. --Apoli. Rhod. , 1, 23. --
Hermes ap. Alhcn. , 13, p. 597. )--The poets and fab-
ulists have attributed to Orpheus many great improve-
ments in the condition of the human race. Indeed, his
having moved even animals, and trees, and the fliuty
rrcks by the sweetness of his strains, would seem to
. idicatc nothing more than his successful exertions in
civilizing the early race of men. (Horat. , Ep. ad
? ? Pis. , 391. ) Nearly all the ancient writers state, that
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? ORP
ORPHICA.
name of Aristasus connected, in a greater or less de-
gree, with the rites and mysteries of Bacchus. Thus,
Diodorus Siculus (3, 39) cites a legend, in which
ArisUous is mentioned as the instructor or governor
of the young Bacchus. From the same source (3, 71)
we are informed, that Aristivus was the first who sac-
rificed to Bacchus as to a god. Nonnus represents
him as one of the principal leaders in the expedition of
Bacchus against India; and in Greece his history is
connected with that of the time of Cadmus, the found-
er of Thebes, the birthplace of Bacchus in Grecian
mythology. (Noma Dionys. , 5, p. 153, ed. 1605,8vo. )
From a view of these and other authorities, it would
seem that there had been somo union effected be-
tween the religious worship of Aristoms and Bac-
chus. Regarding this latter deity as emblematic of
the great productive principle, which imparts its ani-
mating and fertilizing influence to everything around,
it is not difficult to conceive how a union should
have taken place between this system and that of
Aristams, the god of agriculture and of the flocks.
Now the religious system introduced by Orpheus,
though itself connected with the worship of Bacchus,
was very different from the popular rites of this same
deity. The Orphic worshippers of Bacchus did not
indulge in unrestrained pleasuro and frantic enthusi-
asm, but rather aimed at an ascetic purity of life and
manners. The consequence, therefore, would seem to
have been, that these two systems, the Orphic and the
popular one, came at last into direct collision, and the
former was made to succumb. In the figurative lan-
guage of poetry, Aristmus (the type of the popular sys-
tem) pursues Eurydice (Eupv-oVin;, the darling insti-
tutions of Orpheus), and the venom of the serpent (the
gross license connected with the popular orgies) occa-
sions her death. Orpheus, say the poets, lamenting
the loss of his beloved Eurydice, descended in quest
of her to the shades. The meaning of the legend
evidently is, that, afflicted at the overthrow of the fa-
vorite system which he had so ardently promulgated,
and the corruption which had succeeded to his purer
precepts of moral duty, he endeavoured to reclaim men
from the sensual indulgences to which they had be-
came attached, by holding up to their view the terrors
of future punishment in another world. Indeed, that
he was the first who introduced among the Greeks the
idea of a future state of rewards and punishments, is
expressly asserted by ancient authorities. {Diod. Sic. ,
1, 96. -- Wesseling, ad Diod. , I. c. --Banter's Mythol-
ogy, vol. 4, p. 159. ) The awful threatenings that
were thus unfolded to their view, and the blissful en-
joyments of an Elysium which were at the same time
promised to the faithful, succeoded for a time in bring-
ing back men to the purer path of moral rectitude, and
to a fairer and brighter state of things; but cither the
impatience of their instructer to see his efforts realized,
or some act of heedlessness and inattention on his
part, frustrated all his hopes, and mankind relapsed
once more into moral darkness. In the fanciful phra-
seology of the poet, the doctrins of a future state of
punishment, as taught by Orpheus, was converted into
his descent to the shades. His endeavour to re-es-
tablish by these means the moral system which he had
originally promulgated, became, to the eye of the ear-
lier bard, an impassioned search, even amid the dark-
ness of the lower world, for the lost object of conjugal
affection ; and by the tones of the lyre, which bent even
? ? Pluto and Proserpina to his will, appear to be indicated
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? ORPHICA.
ORT
tho gods; probably by Onomocritus. --As late as the
17th century, no one doubted but that the different
works which bear the name of Orpheus, or, at least, the
greater part of them, were either the productions of
Orpheus himself, or of Onomacritus, who was regard-
ed as the restorer of these ancient poems. The learn-
ed Huct was the first who, believing that he had dis-
covered in them traces of Christianity, expressed the
suspicion that they might be the work of some pious
impostor. In 1751, when Kuhnken published his sec-
ond critical letter, he attacked the opinion of Huet,
and placed the composition of the works in question
in the tenth century before the Christian era. Gesner
went still farther, and in hiB Prolegomena Orphiea,
which were read in 1759 at the University of Gottin-
gen, and subsequently placed in Hamberger's edition
of Orpheus, published after Gesner" s death, he declared
that he had found nothing in these poems which pre-
vented the belief that they were composed before the
period of the Trojan war. He allowed, however, at
the same time, that they might have been retouched
by Onomacritus. Gesner found an opponent in the
celebrated Valckenacr, who believed the author of the
poems in question to have belonged to the Alexandre-
an school. (Valck. ad Herod. , ed. Wcsseling. ) In
1777, Schneider revised and adopted the theory of
Huet. (Schneider, de dubia Carm. Orphic, auctoritale
el vetustate. --Analecl. Crit. , fasc.