chapter 10 the monism of darkness and the dualism of limit and ...

MONISM OF DARKNESS - DUALISM OF LIMIT AND INDETERMINACY 111
who is dismembered by the Titans. Zagreus belongs to the sixth and final
generation of Orphism already in its early form (Plato, Philebus 66c): ≤ÎÙFË
‰’ âÓ ÁÂÓÂFÉ Î·Ù·apple·‡Û·Ù ÔrÌÔÓ àÔȉɘ (OF 14). Aboriginal Chaos counts
neither as generation (since it has no beginning and birth) nor as kingdom
(since it is inarticulate).
46. Etymologicum Magnum s.v. òAÎ̈Ó. Callimachus, Fr. 498 Pfeiffer.
Scholia ad Callimachum fr. 110. 65-6, p. 118 Pfeiffer. ˘Ó·ÁˆÁc Ϥ͈Ó
¯ÚËÛ›ÌˆÓ s.v. AÎÌÔÓ›‰Ë˜ (where Charon is also called Acmonides).
Bekker, Anecdota Graeca I p. 367. 12. Hesychius s.v. \AÎÌÔÓ›‰Ë˜. Photius
§¤ÍÂˆÓ Û˘Ó·ÁˆÁ‹ s.v. \AÎÌÔÓ›‰Ë˜ I p. 84 No. 774 Theodoridis.
Eustathius, Scholia ad Iliadem p. 1154. 25. Antimachus Fr. 44 Wyss.
Simmias, Ù¤Ú˘Á˜ 1 (=Anthologia Palatina XV 24. 1). Cornutus, \EappleÈ-
‰ÚÔÌc ÙáÓ Î·Ùa ÙcÓ ëÏÏËÓÈÎcÓ ıÂÔÏÔÁ›·Ó apple·Ú·‰Â‰ÔÌ¤ÓˆÓ 1, p. 2. 6
Lang. Probably the view was first to be found in the TÈÙ·ÓÔÌ·¯›· of the
Epic Cycle Fr. 2 Bernabι (Anecdota Oxoniensia I, 75. 11 Cramer) with
Aether as Acmon, that is untiring, at the beginning of things. (Cf.
Callimachus, Hymn. in Dianam 146: ^HÚ·ÎÏɘ TÈÚ‡ÓıÈÔ˜ ôÎ̈Ó). A
verse ascribed to Hesiod (Fr. 389 Merkelbach and West) posits Earth as
Acmon’s mother and Acmon as Sky’s father. It is uncertain whether Alcan
identified Acmon with the Sky (cf. also Hesychius s.v. òAÎ̈Ó. Eustathius
1154. 24: \AÎÌÔÓ›‰·È Ôî OéÚ·Ó›‰·È) or considered the latter to be the
former’s son (Fr. 111 Bergk=61 Davies).
47. Alcman’s Cosmogony may be related to the following equation: applefiÚÔ˜
\øηÓÔÜ ≈ \øηÓfi˜ ≈ \A‹Ú. From primordial Chaos there sprang (a) a
force ordering and determining everything, (b) appleÚ¤ÛÁ˘˜ (= appleÚÂÛ‚‡Ù˘,
old man) fiÚÔ˜ and (c) T¤Î̈Ú. T¤ÎÌ·Ú and Ù¤ÎÌˆÚ (or appleÂÖÚ·Ú) in
Homeric and ancient usage signify limit, boundary, term, end,
consummation, solution. Cf. e.g. Hesiod Fr. 273 (from Melampodia)
Merkelbach and West, which is found in identical form in Musaeus
fragments (2 B 7 DK): ‰ÂÈÏáÓ Ù ηd âÛıÏáÓ Ù¤ÎÌ·Ú âÓ·ÚÁ¤˜ (dividing
line). In cosmogonic contexts Ù¤ÎÌˆÚ is the limit that demarcates the
World from the massive Indeterminacy that surrounds it. fiÚÔ˜ is
therefore what stands in between the limits, the passage, the channel, as in
applefiÚÔ˜ \IfiÓÈÔ˜ (Pindar, Nemeon. IV, 53); apple¤Ï·ÁÔ˜ AåÁ·›Ô˘ applefiÚÔ˘
(Euripides, Helena 130). Such a cosmic channel is the region of the air. We
saw that the beginning of World-formation takes place, according to
Apion’s Orphic cosmogony, in a way similar to the production of a bubble
or vesicle inside a whirling liquid. This might in fact be the Scholiast’s
interpretation of Alcman’s Poros. The interpretation, however, is late.
Alcmans Poros is in truth the first steadfast basis within the Abyss of