Kleanthes—Hymn to Zeus

Most glorious of the deathless gods, called by many a name:
Great King of Nature, Changeless One, All-Powerful!
You are the just ruler of all that is.
We hail you as mortals hail you everywhere.
Hail, Zeus!

We are your children.
And because of all the things that live and move
on earth’s broad ways, you gave the form of gods to us alone,
I shall always praise and celebrate your power.

Look! The heaven that whirls round the earth follows your command,
and still it pays glad homage to you. Your unconquerable hand
wields the two-edged sword of flaming lightning
whose immortal power pulsates through everything
that nature brings to light:
the lightning that carries the universal logos that flows through everything that is
and glows in the celestial light of every star, both large and small.

Through endless ages, God, you are a king of kings,
and it is your eternal purpose that is responsible for everything there is
on land and in the sea and in the vastness of the heavens—
except for what the bad man does in vain.

But you know how to make the crooked straight.
Chaos is order to you.
Even what no man loves is lovely in your eyes,
you who harmonize what is bad with what is good
so that one logos runs through everything forever.
One logos—which, alas! bad men do not heed.

Their spirits hunger for the good, yet even though they see and hear,
they do not hear and do not see your universal law:
the law revered by those who, guided by reason, win happiness.
The rest—the bad men quite devoid of reason—
pursue on their own the various forms of vice.
Some fight vainly on the battlefield of fame
to make themselves a name. Others lust for wealth.
Still others, utterly dissolute, pursue the pleasures of the flesh.
Achieving nothing, they wander here and there,
always seeking what is good but finding only what is bad.

All-bountiful Zeus, shrouded in darkness!
Your lightning flashes in the thundercloud!
Save your children from the deadly rule of ignorance.
Turn away the darkness from their souls and give them knowledge.
For by knowledge you are strengthened
and made able to rule justly over everything.

Honored by you, we honor you in turn,
praising your works continually with songs as mortals should.
Even the gods cannot lay claim to any higher good
than that of justly adoring the universal law forever.

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