( 100 ) 



•> Ihe Sun P My only refuge was then Ihe stormy 

 •> sea. My path traced in the firmament was sud- 

 ) denly obscured and the storm succoured me. 

 ) I am named Orpheus ; I hâve never known , either 

 ) the falher who, begot me, or the mother who 

 ) gave mebirth. If I can give crédit to the dreams 

 i) which relate to the days of my infaney , I was 

 ) found in the sacred bowers of Rhea. The bées of 

 Pierius fed me wilh honey , that they dropped 

 on my lips. Later , other dreams revealed to 

 me that I was born in the déserts of Scythia. 

 » No , I know nothing concerning my birth ; 

 I know not whether the blood of a Scythian 

 ) barbarian or^of a glorious divinity flows in my 

 ) veins. However it may be, this lyre w^as my 

 > only inheritance , and it is the lyre w^hich ci- 

 vilizes maukind. I had faith in the instinct w^hich 

 was in me , I had faith in the fatidical power 

 of my lyre , and I hâve been equally deceived 

 by my genius and my lyre. As y et I hâve only 

 found men pushed on , by an inimical power , to 

 ) refuse the blessings of civilization. Men who 

 ) contemning harmony , prefer the gross food of 

 ) the oak to corn , the new food which I had 

 ) the mission to offer Ihem. They will not receive 

 ) the religion of the tombs nor the holiness of 

 ) marriage. August old man , I would say more 

 i) were not that innocent virgin at your side. Those 

 untameable men issued from their forests to break 

 in pièces my lyre , to immolate me on the al- 

 tar of nameless divinities ; and I must walk unar- 



