Hymns — Plethon
===============
ΥΜΝΟΙ
Translation/edition: Claude Opus 4.8
Language: English
Read in Plato Scroll: https://plato-scroll.com/s/plethon-hymns/
This file: https://plato-scroll.com/text/plethon-hymns.txt
Sources and licences: https://plato-scroll.com/attribution.html
Numbers in [brackets] are the edition's reference loci (Stephanus, Bekker, book.line, page...). Superscript numerals refer to the Notes at the end.

Plethon's hymns to the gods, drawn from the liturgical portions of his Book of Laws — the perennial, monthly, sacred, and daily praises of his restored Hellenic worship. They are addressed to Zeus, the self-fathered first cause and the Good itself, to Poseidon and Hera, to Apollo and the Olympians, to the Titans and daemons, and they close with a sequence of daily beatitudes on the measured and virtuous life. Twenty-seven hymns in all. Public domain.

## I — Perennial Hymn to Zeus

Father Jove, Father of Thyself, First Creator,
King who generates everything, supreme, who dominates all,
Almighty, who art the Being, the Unity, the Good Itself;
Thou who, across the infinity of times, generated'st all things,
The greatest from Thyself and the other from these,
As excellent as possible.
Be propitious, save us, leading us with all other things
By means of Thy unerring children always glorious, to whom Thou entrusted'st
What was destined to us too, that Thou settest up.

## II — Perennial Hymn to the Gods

Glorious children of Jove, who is the being in itself and generated all,
You rulers, who lead us with justice,
May we consider Ye our guides
And follow the right laws You love
For what we can, the only ones to well regulate our lives.
But, Gods, You who address the mind that leads us
And that You put on us similar to Yourselves,
Let us lead our life well in everything
And hymn with Ye the supreme Jove.

## III — First Monthly Hymn to Zeus

The great Jove, who is Janus, Father of Himself,
Ancestor of all things to which He gave origin,
He did nothing in a moment, but as He exists,
He made such things, never staying inactive,
Never under His own power, well operating,
As it is proper, His being the Good Itself.
Hail, Jove, Supreme King who ruleth o'er everything,
Hail, Thou infinitely blissful — hail, generous giver of good things!

## IV — Second Monthly Hymn to Poseidon

O Great Lord, first Son of Jove, Neptune,
Thou who art the most beautiful and strongest of all things
Which took origin by Jove, Thou who powerfully
Rulest everything, second only to Thy Father
Who is immensely greater than all beings
As He is alone the absolutely ingenerated.
So by Thee this wide sky, on Thy Father's order,
Began to be, under which we too from Thee arise.
Father, be then always benevolent and propitious to us.

## V — Third Monthly Hymn to Hera

Juno, Venerable Goddess, Daughter of the Great Jove,
Thou whose husband is Neptune,
Who is the Beauty Itself, Mother of the Gods living in the sky,
Origin of the matter, Thou who givest place to all the force of species,
And, among others, to the force that leads towards virtue and all beauty,
Thou who establishest laws according to which for all
There are both numbers and eternity:
So grant us a good life, and lead us, propitious, to Virtue.

## VI — Fourth Monthly Hymn to the Olympian Gods

King Neptune, the noblest of the great Jove's children,
Thou who received'st from Thy Father the government of the whole Creation;
And Thou, Juno, His pure wife, equally benevolent Queen;
Apollo, Diana, Vulcan, Bacchus and Minerva;
You are the seven most powerful Gods
After the One who rules, supreme, from above;
And You all inhabitants of Olympus,
Parents to all immortal things, including Those within us,
Be to us propitious and benevolent.

## VII — Fifth Monthly Hymn to Apollo

Apollon, Lord, Thou patron and guide
Of everything in nature, Thou who trace back everything
To one, and submit the whole itself, so various,
So rich in sounds, to a single harmony;
From concordance, Thou give wisdom
And justice to the souls, the most beautiful things,
And health and beauty to the bodies.
Inspire the desire of divine beauties,
Lord, to our souls. Hail, Paean.

## VIII — Sixth Monthly Hymn to Artemis

Diana, Lady, Thou who leadest the diverse nature
And protectest her: in fact, Thou received'st a unique whole
And divided one thing from another as much as possible
In as many species as possible, and the species in individuals,
And then the entire in parts and limbs; Thou givest,
By separating the inferior parts, force unto souls
And prudence, and strength and integrity
Unto bodies. But, Lady, allow us to flee from every infamous thing
And lead well our life through various situations.

## IX — Seventh Monthly Hymn to the Planetary Gods

O Sun, Lord of this Sky, be propitious;
Thou too, be propitious to us, Moon, sacred Lady;
And Thou Phosphorus (Venus), and Thou Stilbon (Mercury),
Of the bright Sun always mates,
And Thou, Phenon (Saturn), Phaeton (Jupiter), Pyroen (Mars),
All subject to Sun, Sovereign who You help
For what concerns us, according to what is needed;
We celebrate Ye as our illustrious patrons,
Together with other stars, put in the sky for divine far-sightedness.

## X — Eighth Monthly Hymn to Athena

Minerva, Lady, Thou who protectest and guidest the form of matter undivided,
Thou art its own creator after Poseidon of wide majesty
Who draws from Thee the whole form;
Thou art the cause of all simultaneously-generated movements;
Thou repellest the unnecessary from everything
And therefore also from us,
And every time we make mistakes like fools, bring us back,
O Goddess, through intelligence, raising our heart to what is appropriate.

## XI — Ninth Monthly Hymn to Dionysus

Father Bacchus, Parent of all souls provided with reason,
Be it the souls of the Sky-Gods, or the Daemons,
Or our own, after Neptune the Lord,
Thou who art the cause of the movement led by the love for what is good
And by the ambition to what is best,
Allow us, every time we depart from good and divine acting
With unreasonable mind, to be immediately brought back through reason
And not to long act like fools regarding the good things around us.

## XII — Tenth Monthly Hymn to the Titans

Come! Let us celebrate the creator of the whole mortal nature:
Saturn the Lord, son of Jove,
The most ancient of the illegitimate born from Him,
The Titans of Tartarus, whom we celebrate with him,
All excellent, immune from accidents,
Though they are parents of mortal and ephemeral beings:
Venus, Saturn's sacred wife,
Pan chief of animals, Ceres of plants,
Maid of our mortal part, and all the others.

## XIII — Eleventh Monthly Hymn to Hephaestus

Vulcan, Lord, Thou who art the guide of the Gods who live above the sky,
Both the Olympian and the Tartarean Gods,
After Neptune of wide majesty,
Thou assignest to everyone his dominion and place,
Thou who art the cause for the whole of being itself
And bringest to everyone what is most eternal,
And so Neptune Himself does, because of His Father's decisions;
Thou keepest watch on us too and let us, being born,
Stay always on the way of good acting.

## XIV — Twelfth Monthly Hymn to the Daemons

We celebrate the Daemons too, together with other Immortals,
Venerable, close to us,
Because They well serve to the other superior Gods for what concerns us,
And they give us all the great number of goods
That come from Jove Himself through the other Gods.
So some of Them purifying us, others raising us,
Others keeping watch on us, They save us easily,
Raising our minds: be propitious!

## XV — Thirteenth Monthly Hymn to All the Gods

Zeus the greatest, who art superior to all other Gods,
Because you are the most ancient creator and father of all;
You too, Gods all, be Gods of the Olympus
Or Gods of the Tartarus, Gods of the sky or Gods of the earth —
Allow us, if we make an unacceptable mistake, or perform a wicked action,
Being so lowered by this, to get closer to you, excellent,
So that our life can become a blissful one. O Zeus,
You above all, you who are the most powerful of all,
You who are both the first and the last good.

## XVI — First Sacred Hymn to Zeus

Zeus, the only one absolutely non-generated who exists for himself,
Father of everything, who rules above all, who reunites in one
All things, not separating anything, so that every one of them
Can contribute to his work, as full and as beautiful
As possible, so that it's free from malevolence.
But, Zeus, you by mean of your illustrious children,
Guide us together with all the rest, orienting us as you decided,
And allow us to well start from the beginning and to complete our works.

## XVII — Second Sacred Hymn to the Olympian Gods

There, let's celebrate Poseidon the lord,
Who is the most ancient of all Zeus' children
And the most powerful, second chief after his father
Of all the generations, and creator next to us;
With him, queen Hera too,
Who, the most ancient among the goddesses, was born from her father Zeus;
Let's celebrate also the other Olympian Gods,
All patrons and co-creators of the immortal things
That are up there: be all propitious.

## XVIII — Third Sacred Hymn to All the Gods

O Gods all, you who, after Zeus the most wise,
Are absolutely perfect too, without fatal destinies;
Your coryphaeus and chief, according to Zeus' will, is Poseidon,
Both if you live above the sky, and if you live inside it,
You all glorious — we celebrate you because we too, even if least,
Have a nature that is similar to yours.
Hail, you truly blissful, you givers of goods,
Always uplift us, whose life is not always without tears,
By sharing good and beautiful things.

## XIX — Fourth Sacred Hymn to the Lesser Gods

Cronus, lord, who belong to the Titans above the sky
And rule on them; you who head the whole sky,
O Helios, whom the other planets follow;
From you two the breed of mortals took origin,
From both Cronus and Helios;
The Titans and the planets, your lieutenants,
Work with you each according to its nature; therefore
We celebrate you too, receiving many goods through you,
And with you we celebrate also the fixed stars and the pure daemons.

## XX — Fifth Sacred Hymn to Pluto

O lord Pluto, head of human nature
And its protector, you who received this task from Zeus himself,
You who have, all in one, the faculties that rise separately in us
And in us can be found, rule well everything for us
Down here, always raising us from this place.
Around you the heroes, who have a nature better than ours,
And the other friends of ours, beautiful and good.
Kore is with you, the propitious goddess of Tartarus,
Who binds our mortal part to us as long as it's necessary; be propitious.

## XXI — Sixth Sacred Hymn to Zeus

Zeus father, impetuous, most powerful, principle of good things,
Parent of everything; for your intelligence you're far more the good for the existent,
And we aren't born without the good things that are in the Gods,
But, perforce of our mortal part,
We are also prone to make mistakes and always able to correct ourselves.
Allow us to be freed from the disgrace of mistakes
By mean of your children, to whom you assigned these things,
To move closer to the pure ones who have a right mind,
So that we can relate with you being always benevolent and propitious.

## XXII — First Daily Hymn (Second Day)

O blissful Gods, may I always keep on thanking
For the good things that I always have from you
And always are born, of which Zeus is the supreme giver.
May I never neglect the common good of the breed
I belong to, insofar as I can; willingly working well
For the common good, because I know that it's also a great benefit for me.
May I never be the cause of evil, which I often run into,
For human beings, but instead of good, insofar as I can,
So that I'll become blissful too, becoming similar to you.

## XXIII — Second Daily Hymn (Third Day)

May I, o Gods, never enjoy sweet pleasures to excess,
But put a limit to them, so that nothing bad can happen
To the soul or to the body because of them.
May I never be hungry for richness, but
May I be tempered in their use and have dignity in the necessities
Of the body, so that I can be proud of my independence.
May I at last never be overwhelmed by a seducent,
Vain opinion, and recognize that it's worthy only because of this:
Because it can lead us to the real divine virtue.

## XXIV — Third Daily Hymn (Fourth Day)

O Gods, may the misfortunes that sometimes strike my mortal part
Never bring me down, since my soul
Is immortal, separated from the mortal part, therefore divine.
May the many difficulties that are among men
Never upset me, who exert my freedom,
And may I never be slave to my needs because of a bad appearance.
Every time I act for beauty's sake,
May I never spare my mortal part, but may my soul,
Since it's immortal, be considered as the best part, always to be cared of.

## XXV — Fourth Daily Hymn (Fifth Day)

Happy is he who takes care of his immortal soul, always,
So that it becomes an excellent one, not caring to excess
Of his mortal part, not sparing it if needed.
Happy is he who doesn't make himself slave to the mortals
That strike him and act senseless; since he has an imperturbable
Soul, he's above their wickedness.
Happy is he who doesn't upset for the events
That come from the Gods, even if they're the hardest, but bears them without pain
Thinking that the good is in his immortal part.

## XXVI — Fifth Daily Hymn (Sixth Day)

Happy is he who doesn't consider recklessly
The vain opinions of men, but thinking himself
With right mind exerts the divine virtue.
Happy is he who doesn't foolishly pursue
An always growing bunch of wealth without purpose, but measures
Wealth with the reasonable needs of his body.
Happy is he who put a suitable limit to enjoyment,
So that no evil can come for the soul
Nor for the body, but lives in agreement with the divine virtue.

## XXVII — Sixth Daily Hymn (Seventh Day)

Happy is he who, even being favoured,
Is not cause of evil for men, because of a terrible foolishness,
But instead cause of good things, similar to the blissful gods.
Happy is he who doesn't neglect the common good
Of his breed, but instead, aware that the gods
Care of the common deed, doesn't abandon it.
Happy is he who thanks the gods, for what
He has, and above all thanks Zeus himself,
From whom what is beautiful and good for everyone took origin.