Ah, woe is me that the pitiless day of death did not destroy me ere ever I wrought evil deeds of devouring with my lips! R. P. 184 b. (140) Abstain wholly from laurel leaves. (141) Wretches, utter wretches, keep your hands from beans! (142) Him will the roofed palace of aigis-bearing Zeus never rejoice, nor yet the house of.... (143) Wash your hands, cutting the water from the five springs in the unyielding bronze.[578] R. P. 184 c. (144) Fast from wickedness! R. P. 184 c. (145) Therefore are ye distraught by grievous wickednesses, and will not unburden your souls of wretched sorrows. (146, 147) But, at the last, they appear among mortal men as prophets, song-writers, physicians, and princes; and thence they rise up as gods exalted in honour, sharing the hearth of the other gods and the same table, free from human woes, safe from destiny, and incapable of hurt. <<5>> R. P. 181 c. (148) ... Earth that envelops the man. Footnote 569: Bernays conjectured ῥῆμα, “decree,” for χρῆμα, but this is not necessary. Necessity is an Orphic personage, and Gorgias, the disciple of Empedokles, says θεῶν βουλεύμασιν καὶ ἀνάγκης ψηφίσμασιν (_Hel._ 6). Footnote 570: I retain φόνῳ in v. 3 (so too Diels). The first word of v. 4 has been lost. Diels suggests Νείκεϊ, which may well be right, and takes ἁμαρτήσας as equivalent to ὁμαρτήσας. I have translated accordingly. Footnote 571: According to Porphyry, who quotes this line (_de Antro Nymph._ 8), these words were spoken by the “powers” who conduct the soul into the world (ψυχοπομποὶ δυνάμεις). The “cave” is not originally Platonic but Orphic. Footnote 572: This passage is closely modelled on the Catalogue of Nymphs in _Iliad_ xviii. 39 sqq. Chthonie is found already in Pherekydes (Diog. i. 119). Footnote 573: I have retained ἀλλόγνωτι as nearer the MSS., though a little hard to interpret. On the subsequent history of the Orphic _chiton_ in gnostic imagery see Bernays, _Theophr. Schr._ n. 9. It was identified with the coat of skins made by God for Adam. Footnote 574: This is the best μετοίκησις (Ael. _Nat. an._ xii. 7). Footnote 575: The dwellers in the Golden Age. Footnote 576: The MSS. of Porphyry have γραπτοῖς τε ζώοισι, which is accepted by Zeller and Diels. The emendation of Bernays (adopted in R. P.) does not convince me. I venture to suggest μακτοῖς, on the strength of the story related by Favorinus (_ap._ Diog. viii. 53) as to the bloodless sacrifice offered by Empedokles at Olympia. Footnote 577: