| The Orphic literature influenced many Bacchic mystery groups in antiquity. |
| Yet how does one distill the Orphic essence from its various and utterly distinctive incarnations? |
| The works of the Orphic artist must simultaneously give a pure aesthetic pleasure, a structure which is self-evident, and a sublime meaning, that is, a subject. |
| And Orphic purity was mainly, though not entirely, the result of moral discipline. |
| Of such a nature, and connected in particular with the improvement of the arts of life, were the Dionysiac and Orphic arts. |
| These were the Orphic hymns, which were sung by the Lycomed at Athens. |
