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Hymn to
Zeus
by Cleanthes
- Great Jove, most glorious of the immortal
gods,
- Wide known by many names, Almighty One,
- King of all nature, ruling all by law,
- We mortals thee adore, as duty calls;
- For thou our Father art, and we thy
sons,
- On whom the gift of speech thou hast
bestowed
- Alone of all that live and move on
earth.
- Thee, therefore, will I praise; and
ceaseless show
- To all thy glory and they mighty power.
- This beauteous system circling round the
earth
- Obeys they will, and. whereso'er thou
leadest,
- Freely submits itself to thy control.
- Such is, in thine unconquerable hands,
- The two-edged, fiery, deathless
thunderbolt;
- Thy minister of power, before whose
stroke
- All nature quails, and, trembling, stands
aghast;
- By which the common reason thou dost
guide,
- Pervading all things, filling radiant
worlds,
- The sun, the moon, and the host of
Stars.
- So great art thou, the universal King.
- Without thee naught is done on earth, O
God!
- Nor in the heavens above nor in the
sea;
- Naught save the deeds unwise of sinful
men.
- Which sinful men, blinded, forsake and
shun,
- Deceived and hapless, seeking fancied
good.
- Yet harmony from discord thou dost
bring;
- That which is hateful, thou dost render
fair;
- Evil and good dost so coordinate,
- That everlasting reason shall bear
sway;
- The law of Gold they will not see nor
hear;
- Which if they would obey, would lead to
life.
- But thou, O Jove! the giver of all
good,
- Darting the lightning from they home of
clouds,
- Permit not man to perish darkling thus;
- From folly save them; bring them to the
light;
- Give them to know the everlasting law
- By which in righteousness thou rulest
all;
- That we, thus honored, may return to
thee
- Meet honor, and with hymns declare thy
deeds,
- And, though we die, hand down thy deathless
praise.
- Since nor to men nor gods is higher
meed,
- Than ever to extol with righteous
praise
- The glorious, universal King Divine.
Excerpted from Hymn to
Zeus, by Cleanthes
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The
Cambridge Companion to the Stoics
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