Diogenes Laertios, Life of Empedokles 4
Satyros tells us that he had been present when Empedokles was practising magic; and that he professes this science, and many others too in his poems when he says:
And all the drugs which can relieve disease,
Or soften the approach of age, shall be
Revealed to your inquiries; I do know them,
And I to you alone will them disclose.
You shall restrain the fierce unbridled winds,
Which, rushing o’er the earth, bow down the corn,
And crush the farmer’s hopes. And when you will,
You shall recall them back to sweep the land:
Then you shall learn to dry the rainy clouds,
And bid warm summer cheer the heart of men.
Again at your behest, the drought shall yield
To wholesome show’rs: when you give the word
Hell shall restore its dead.
Apollonios Rhodios, Argonautika 4.1408–1418
Orpheus recognized the divine portent and for his comrades’ sake sought to comfort the nymphs with prayers. “O goddesses beautiful and kind, be gracious, O queens whether you are counted among the heavenly goddesses or those under the earth, or are called solitary nymphs, come, O nymphs, holy offspring of Okeanos, and appear before our longing eyes and show us either some flow of water from a rock or some sacred stream gushing from the ground, goddesses, with which we may relieve our endlessly burning thirst.”
Tagged: magic, new york, orpheus
