Magnanimous, unconquered, boisterous Ares, in darts rejoicing, and in bloody wars; fierce and untamed, whose mighty power can make the strongest walls from their foundations shake: mortal-destroying king, defiled with gore, pleased with war's dreadful and tumultuous roar. Thee human blood, and swords, and spears delight, and the dire ruin of mad savage fight. Stay furious contests, and avenging strife, whose works with woe embitter human life; to lovely Kypris and to Lyaios yield, for arms exchange the labours of the field; encourage peace, to gentle works inclined, and give abundance, with benignant mind.
Commentarius · Commentary
Six consecutive lines set out what Ares is: unbreakable, arms-loving, untameable, man-slaying, wall-battering, forever spattered with slaughter, rejoicing in man-killing blood, dreadful. And then the hymn asks him to stop.
Στῆσον ἔριν λυσσῶσαν, ἄνες πόνον ἀλγεσίθυμον — halt the raving strife, release the heart-grieving toil. That is, the god is asked to give up the one thing by which he has just been defined. Of all the prayers in this collection it is the only one that argues a deity out of being itself.
Other gods' departments are offered instead: "incline to the desire of Kypris and the revels of Lyaios, exchanging the strength of arms for the works of Deo". Aphrodite, Dionysus and Demeter — love, wine and farming; Ares is handed a list of occupations he might move into.
Δῆριν ἄμουσον — the Museless fray. War is defined by a lack: it is the thing in which there are no Muses. This is said inside a song, and so it sounds like a verdict on a rival trade: we have singing, you do not.
Fons · Source
AuthorAnonymous (Orphic corpus)
WorkOrphic Hymns
Section65
PeriodHellenistic to Roman imperial (3rd c. BC – 2nd c. AD)
OccasionOrphic hymn to Ares with fumigation of frankincense — invocation calling on the war-god to lay down strife and yield to Aphrodite (Kypris) and Dionysus (Lyaios)
