An Orphic Hymn to Justice

LXI.
TO JUSTICE.
The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE.
THE piercing eye of Justice bright, I sing,
Plac'd by the throne of heav'n's almighty king,
Perceiving thence, with vision unconfin'd,
The life and conduct of the human kind
To thee, revenge and punishment belong,
Chastising ev'ry deed, unjust and wrong;
Whose pow'r alone, dissimilars can join,
And from th' equality of truth combine:
For all the ill, persuasion can inspire,
When urging bad designs, with counsel dire,
'Tis thine alone to punish; with the race
Of lawless passions, and incentives base;
For thou art ever to the good inclin'd,
And hostile to the men of evil mind.
Come, all-propitious, and thy suppliant hear,
When Fate's predestin'd, final hour draws near.


Divae Iustitiae

Iustitiae obtestor pulcrae omnituentis ocellum,
Ad Iovi' Dictatori' sedet quae illustre tribunal,
Coelitus endotuens mores mortalium homonum,
Atque ultrix plectens humana nefantia facta,
Ex aequo veri coniungens disparile omne.
Nam quaecunque viris sententia pessima suasit,
Consiliis diris infanda volentibus quaeque
Sola iugum imponens iniustis iura ministris,
Iniustorum hostis, Sanatum mitis amica,
Verum adsis semper fausto Dea numine iusta,
Vitaï ut veniat finis, quam Morta profata est.

Above from Gottfried Hermann's Orphica (1805).

Above from The Book fo Orphic Hymns (1827).

Notes:

Derived from the word dikē, the term dikaiosynē (δικαιοσύνη) is a conceptual or abstraction of the root dikē. It means conformity with a standard of justice, usually law, and so it was used to refer to Solon's laws. Along with phronēsis (prudence), sōphrosynē (temperance), andreia (fortitude), dikaiosynē was considered one of the four cardinal virtues. It was used by the Greek translators of the Old Testament to translate the Hebrew sedaqa or sedeq, and was appropriated by the Evangelists and St. Paul when they speak of justification or righteousness in reference to both God and men (e.g., Romans 3:22, 10:3, 14:7; 2 Cor. 5:21). It appears to have a rich, ambiguous meaning, including such senses as adherence to law, integrity, and participation in the divine economy of salvation. It appears more than 90 times in the New Testament. For the Christian, then, it has therefore gained great theological significance.

The figure of Dikaiosynē shown above holding scales appears on the cupola of a chapel at the necropolis of al-Bagawat in the Kharga Oasis in Egypt. The necropolis is considered to be one of the earliest and best-preserved Christian cemeteries. Personified as a woman, Dikaiosynē is painted amidst typical biblical figures such as Adam, Even, Abraham, Isaac, Daniel, Jacob, Noath, Mary, and St. Paul. Also depicted are Eirēnē and Euchē, personifications of peace and prayer, respectively. This depiction of Justice or Dikaiosynē may be the first extant in a Christian setting. (See D. Curtis & J. Resnik, Images of Justice, 96 YALE L.J. 1727 n. 8 (1987) (citing A. Katnzenellenbogen, Allegories of the Virtues and Vices in Mediaeval Art 28 (1939)).

Orphic Hymn to Themis

LXXVIII.
TO THEMIS.
The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE.

ILLUSTRIOUS Themis, of celestial birth,
Thee I invoke, young blossom of the earth;
Beauteous-eyed virgin; first from thee alone,
Prophetic oracles to men were known,
Giv'n from the deep recesses of the fane
In sacred Pytho, where renown'd you reign;
From thee, Apollo's oracles arose,
And from thy pow'r his inspiration flows.
Honour'd by all, of form divinely bright,
Majestic virgin, wand'ring in the night:
Mankind from thee first learnt initial rites,
And Bacchus' nightly choirs thy soul delights;
For holy honours to disclose is thine,
With all the culture of the pow'rs divine.
Be present, Goddess, to my pray'r inclin'd,
And bless the mystic rites with fav'ring mind.

Divae Iuritis

Coeligena huc Iuritis ades patrima virago,
Muustea progenies telluris, Caesia dia,
Vaticinas quae prima aperis mortalibus fortes
Delporum Diis pro cortina oracula fatans
Puticulis ubi Puteolis regina cluebas,
Et Februo fandi donasti pectus habere
Augusta speciosa verendaque notctuvolga.
Priam etenim ritus hominum genus edocuisti
Nocturnis sacris Brumum fanatica ovando
Ex te enim castusque Deum cultusque verendi.
Huc adsis, huc Diva faventi numine blanda
Ad divina tui veneranda silentia sacri.

According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Themis was a daughter of Uranus and Ge, and was married to Zeus, by whom she became the mother of the Horae, Eunomia, Dice (Astraea), Eirene, and the Moerae. (Theog. 135, 901, ff.) Themis is personified in the Homeric hymns as the order of things, whether established by law, custom, or equity. In Homer's Odyssey, she is portrayed as regnant among the assemblies of men (e.g., Odyssey. ii. 68). Additionally, in Homer's Illiad, she convenes, pursuant to Zeus's command, the assembly of the gods. (Illiad. xx. 4.) Themis is a citizen of Olympus, and has a good relationship with Hera. (Illiad, xv. 87.) She is often shown holding a pair of scales. Themis is the source of our popular depiction of Lady Justice.

DIKH-An Orphic Hymn to Equity

LXII. (DIKE)
TO EQUITY.
The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE.
O Blessed Equity, mankind's delight,
Th' eternal friend of conduct just and right:
Abundant, venerable, honor'd maid,
To judgments pure, dispensing constant aid,
A stable conscience, and an upright mind;
For men unjust, by thee are undermin'd,
Whose souls perverse thy bondage ne'er desire,
But more untam'd decline thy scourges dire:
Harmonious, friendly power, averse to strife,
In peace rejoicing, and a stable life;
Lovely, loquacious, of a gentle mind,
Hating excess, to equal deeds inclin'd:
Wisdom, and virtue of whate'er degree,
Receive their proper bound alone in thee.
Hear, Goddess Equity, the deeds destroy
Of evil men, which human life annoy;
That all may yield to thee of mortal birth,
Whether supported by the fruits of earth,
Or in her kindly fertile bosom found,
or in the depths of Marine Jove profound.

("To Equity," Orphic Hymn LXII, Thomas Taylor, trans., The Hymns of Orpheus (London: 1792); see http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hoo/hoo00.htm)

DIVAE AEQUITATIS

O bona cura hominum locuples iustissima virgo,
Semper amans homines aequalia iura colentes,
O Veneranda, beata Dia, o Iuritis honora
Puris iudiciis dispensans optima iura,
Nec mentem labefacta, etenim cunctos labefactas
Qui tua non subiere boni iuga, sed magis ipsa
Indomiti horrifico declinant ubere flagri,
Concors omnibus aequa, venusta, dicacula, amica,
Munia pacis amans, certae cupidissima vitae
Nam plus deteriusque odisti, et diligis aequum,
In te habet virtus, in te sapientia finem,
Adsis Dia hominum frangens audacia facta,
Ut semper iustam aequa serant vestigia vitam
Omnium, qui terrae vescuntur munere opimo,
Atque animantum alium quaeque educat omniparenti
Alma sinu tellus, et quae maris aequoreus Dis.

From: Gottfried Hermann Orphica (1805).















From: The Book of Orphic Hymns (1827).

Dikē (Δίκη), also known as was Astraea. was the Greek goddess that personified justice or equity. According to the poet Hesiod, Dikē was the daughter of Zeus and Themis, and the sister of Eunomia ("good law" or "good order") and Eirene ("peace"). Hesiod, Theog. 901. She was one of the second-generation Horae, watcher of men's deeds, and advocate before Zeus whenever there was a violation of justice on earth. Hesiod, Work and Days, 239 ff. Before Zeus she lamented the violation of justice especially by judges who accepted bribes. Id. Not only was Dikē an advocate before Zeus, but she also had a role in piercing consciences with the sword of Aesa, and, in connection with the Erinyes, in meting out divine punishment. She did not punish only, but she also distributed out just deserts for acts of justice and virtue. These roles are particularly elaborated in the Greek tragedians such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The Orphic Hymns and Pindar in his Thirteenth Olympian Ode, praise her.

From Themis sprung, Eunomia pure,
Safe Justice [Dikē,] and congenial Peace [Eirene],
Basis of states; whose counsels sure
With wealth and wisdom bless the word
world's increase.

Pindar, Olympian Ode XIII, in Nathan Haskell Dole, The Breviary Treasures (Boston 1903), 95.

While her mother Themis was charged with divine justice, Dikē was in charge of human justice. Her enemy was Adikia (Ἀδικία), the goddess of injustice. Pausanias, the Greek historian and traveler who flourished in the second century A.D., in his description fo the Chest of Kypselos, describes a variety of scenes, among them he observes: "A beautiful woman punishing an ugly one, throttling her with one hand and beating her with a stick with the other, is Justice [Dikē] doing this to Injustice [Adikia]. Pausanias, Guide to Greece (Peter Levi, trans.) (London: Penguin, 1971), Vol. II, 5.18.2, p. 251)

Dikē's daughter through virgin birth was Hesychia (Ἡσυχία), that is, serenity or peace.

Dikē's was blended with her mother Themis to arrive at the the Roman counterpart, Iustitia.