Hymn to Zeus by Cleanthes of Assos

“Most glorious of Immortals, mighty God,

Invoked by many a name, O sovran King

Of universal Nature, piloting

This world in harmony with Law,—all hail!

Thee it is meet that mortals should invoke,

For we Thine offspring are, and sole of all

Created things that live and move on earth

Receive from Thee the image of the One.

Therefore I praise Thee, and shall hymn Thy power

Unceasingly. Thee the wide world obeys,

As onward ever in its course it rolls

Where'er Thou guidest, and rejoices still

Beneath Thy sway: so strong a minister

Is held by Thine unconquerable hands,—

That two-edged thunderbolt of living fire

That never fails.

Under its dreadful blow

All Nature reels; therewith Thou dost direct

The Universal Reason which, commixt

With all the greater and the lesser lights,

Moves thro' the Universe.

How great Thou art,

The Lord supreme for ever and for aye!

No work is wrought apart from Thee, 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.

Nay, Thou canst

Make the rough smooth, bring wondrous order forth

From chaos; in Thy sight unloveliness

Seems beautiful; for so Thou hast fitted things

Together, good and evil, that there reigns

One everlasting Reason in them all.

The wicked heed not 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 divers paths

Each his own way, yet knowing not the truth,—

Some in unlovely striving for renown,

Some bent on lawless gains, on pleasure some,

Working their own undoing, self-deceived.

O Thou most bounteous God that sittest throned

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 Thou dost rely

To govern all the world in righteousness;

That so, being honoured, we may Thee requite

With honour, chanting without pause Thy deeds,

As all men should: since greater guerdon ne'er

Befalls or man or god than evermore

Duly to praise the Universal Law.”