Invoked by many a name, O sovereign King
Of Universal Nature, piloting
This world in harmony with Law,—all hail!
"You it is right that mortals should invoke,
For we are Your offspring, and alone of all
Created things that live and move on earth
Receive from You the image of the One.
"Therefore I praise You, and shall sing of Your power
Unceasingly. You the wide world obeys,
As onward ever in its course it rolls
Wherever You guide, and rejoices still
Beneath Your sway: so strong a minister
Is held by Your unconquerable hands—
That two-edged thunderbolt of living fire
That never fails.
"Under its dreadful blow
All Nature reels; therewith You direct
The Universal Reason which, co-mixed
With all the greater and the lesser lights,
Moves through the Universe.
"How great You are,
The Lord supreme for ever and ever!
No work is wrought apart from You, O God,
Or in the world, or in the heaven above,
Or on the deep, save only what is done
By sinners in their folly.
"No, You can
Make the rough smooth, bring wondrous order forth
From chaos; in Your sight the unlovely
Seems beautiful; for so You have fitted things
Together, good and evil, that there reigns
One everlasting Reason in them all.
"The wicked do not heed this, but suffer it
To slip, to their undoing; these are they
Who, yearning ever to secure the good,
Mark not nor hear the law of God, by wise
Obedience unto which they might attain
A nobler life, with Reason harmonized.
"But now, unbid, they pass on diverse paths
Each his own way, yet knowing not the truth,—
Some in unlovely striving for renown,
Some bent on lawless gains, some on pleasure,
Working their own undoing, self-deceived.
"O You most bounteous God who sits enthroned
In clouds, the Lord of lightning, save mankind
From grievous ignorance!
"Oh, scatter it
Far from their souls, and grant them to achieve
True knowledge, on whose might You do rely
To govern all the world in righteousness;
"That so, being honored, we may requite You
With honor, chanting without pause Your deeds,
As all men should: since greater gain never
Befalls on man or god than evermore
Duly to praise the Universal Law."
--Cleanthes of Assos, Hymn to Zeus (tr Blakeney)
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