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» Ihe suri ? My only refuge was then the stormy 

 » sea. My path traced in the firmament was sud- 

 ;> denly obscured and the storm succoured me. 

 » I am named Orpheus ; I have never known , either 

 » the falher who begot me , or the mother who 

 » gave me birth. Tf I can give crédit to the dreams 

 » which relate to the days of my infancy , I was 

 » found in the sacred bowers of Ilhea. The bees of 

 » Pierius fed me wilh honey , lhat they dropped 

 » on my lips. Later , olher 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 was my 

 » only inherilance , and it is the lyre which ci- 

 » vilizes mankind. I had faith in the instinct which 

 » was in me , I had faith in the fatidical power 

 » of my lyre , and I have been equally deceived 

 » by my genius and my lyre. As y et I have 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 them. They will not receive 

 » the religion of the tombs nor the holiness of 

 » marriage. August old man , I would say more 

 » 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- 

 11 tar of nameless divinities ; and I must walk unar- 



