1080
18b
THE BACCHAE
OF EURIPIDES
KERR

ARTES
1817
VERITAS
LIBRARY
SCIENTIA
ILHAWOW
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
*PLUNTATIS UNUM
TUEBOR
SI QUÆRIS-PENINSULAM·AMŒNAM
CIRCUMSPICE
THE GIFT OF
Prof. W. H. Hobbs
↓
:
{
THE
BACCHAE OF EURIPIDES
THE TEXT, AND A TRANSLATION IN
ENGLISH VERSE
BY
ALEXANDER KERR
PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
BOSTON, U.S.A.
GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS
The Athenæum Press
1899
004
629
COPYRIGHT, 1899
BY ALEXANDER KERR
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CIFT OF
1 Lebray
2/8/46
ddled Ede
ROF. W. H. HOBBS
THE BACCHAE OF EURIPIDES
1
ΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΔΡΑΜΑΤΟΣ ΠΡΟΣΩΠΑ.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ΧΟΡΟΣ ΒΑΚΧΩΝ.
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ΘΕΡΑΠΩΝ.
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
ΕΤΕΡΟΣ ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
DIONYSOS.
TEIRESIAS.
CADMUS.
PENTHEUS.
A SERVANT.
A MESSENGER.
ANOTHER MESSENGER.
AGAVE.
CHORUS OF ASIATIC BACCHANALS.
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
Ηκω Διὸς παῖς τήνδε Θηβαίων χθόνα
Διόνυσος, ὃν τίκτει ποθ᾽ ἡ Κάδμου κόρη
Σεμέλη λοχευθεῖσ᾽ ἀστραπηφόρῳ πυρί·
μορφὴν δ᾽ ἀμείψας ἐκ θεοῦ βροτησίαν
5 πάρειμι Δίρκης νάματ᾽ Ἰσμηνοῦ θ᾽ ὕδωρ.
ὁρῶ δὲ μητρὸς μνῆμα τῆς κεραυνίας
τόδ᾽ ἐγγὺς οἴκων καὶ δόμων ἐρείπια
τυφόμενα Δίου πυρὸς ἔτι ζῶσαν φλόγα,
ἀθάνατον Ηρας μητέρ᾽ εἰς ἐμὴν ὕβριν.
10 αἰνῶ δὲ Κάδμον, ἄβατον ὃς πέδον τόδε
τίθησι θυγατρὸς σηκόν· ἀμπέλου δέ νιν
πέριξ ἐγὼ ἐκάλυψα βοτρυώδει χλόη.
λιπὼν δὲ Λυδῶν τῶν πολυχρύσων γύας
Φρυγών τε, Περσῶν ἡλιοβλήτους πλάκας
15 Βάκτριά τε τείχη τήν τε δύσχιμον χθόνα
Μήδων ἐπῆλθον ᾿Αραβίαν τ᾽ εὐδαίμονα
Ασίαν τε πᾶσαν, ἣ παρ᾽ ἁλμυρὰν ἅλα
κεῖται μιγάσιν Ἕλλησι βαρβάροις θ' ὁμοῦ
19 πλήρεις ἔχουσα καλλιπυργώτους πόλεις,
21 κἀκεῖ χορεύσας καὶ καταστήσας ἐμὰς
22 τελετάς, ἵν᾽ εἴην ἐμφανὴς δαίμων βροτοῖς,
20 εἰς τήνδε πρῶτον ἦλθον Ἑλλήνων χθόνα.
πρώτας δὲ Θήβας τάσδε γῆς Ἑλληνίδος
ἀνωλόλυξα, νεβρίδ᾽ ἐξάψας χροος
23
4
THE BACCHAE.
DIONYSOS.
HITHER to Thebes I, Dionysos, come
Whom erst the child of Cadmus, Semele,
Brought down by fiery lightning, bore to Zeus ;
And now a god in mortal shape I stand
5 By Dirce's fountain and Ismenos' flood.
And here my thunder-smitten mother's tomb
I see hard by the house whose crumbling halls
Still smoulder with celestial fire unquenched,
Hera's eternal outrage on my mother.
10 All praise to Cadmus who hath made this place
His daughter's shrine; but I have wreathed it round
On every side with foliage of the vine.
Quitting the fields of Lydia rich in gold
And Phrygia, through the Persians' sunburnt plains,
15 The Bactrian walls, the Mede's inclement land,
I took my way, through Araby the blest,
And through all Asia which by the salt sea
Extends, with teeming fair-towered cities holding
Greek and barbarian tribes together blent;
20 And there my choral dance and mystic rites
Giving, that men might own me for a god,
I visit first of all this land of Hellas.
But here in Greece Thebes first I filled with shouts
Of revelers, their forms in fawn-skins robed,
5
6
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
25 θύρσον τε δοὺς εἰς χεῖρα, κίσσινον βέλος,
ἐπεί μ' ἀδελφαί μητρός, ἃς ἥκιστα χρῆν,
Διόνυσον οὐκ ἔφασκον ἐκφῦναι Διός,
Σεμέλην δὲ νυμφευθεῖσαν ἐκ θνητοῦ τινος
εἰς τὴν ἀναφέρειν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν λέχους,
30 Κάδμου σοφίσμαθ', ὧν νιν εἵνεκα κτανεῖν
Ζῆν ἐξεκαυχῶνθ᾽, ὅτι γάμους ἐψεύσατο.
T
τοιγάρ νιν αὐτάς τ᾽ ἐκ δόμων ᾤστρησ᾽ ἐγὼ
μανίαις· ὄρος δ' οἰκοῦσι παράκοποι φρενῶν·
σκευήν τ᾽ ἔχειν ἠνάγκασ᾽ ὀργίων ἐμῶν,
35 καὶ πᾶν τὸ θῆλυ σπέρμα Καδμείων ὅσαι
γυναῖκες ἦσαν ἐξέμηνα δωμάτων·
ὁμοῦ δὲ Κάδμου παισὶν ἀναμεμιγμέναι
χλωραῖς ὑπ᾽ ἐλάταις ἀνορόφοις θ᾽ ἦνται πέτραις.
δεῖ γὰρ πόλιν τήνδ' ἐκμαθεῖν, κεἰ μὴ θέλει,
40 ἀτέλεστον οὖσαν τῶν ἐμῶν βακχευμάτων,
Σεμέλης τε μητρὸς ἀπολογήσασθαί μ' υπερ
φανέντα θνητοῖς δαίμον᾿ ὃν τίκτει Διί.
ον
Κάδμος μὲν οὖν γέρας τε καὶ τυραννίδα
Πενθεῖ δίδωσι θυγατρὸς ἐκπεφυκότι,
T
45 ὃς θεομαχεῖ τὰ κατ᾽ ἐμὲ καὶ σπονδῶν ἄπο
ὠθεῖ μ' ἐν εὐχαῖς τ᾽ οὐδαμῶς μνείαν ἔχει.
ὧν εἵνεκ᾽ αὐτῷ θεὸς γεγὼς ἐνδείξομαι
πασίν τε Θηβαίοισιν. εἰς δ᾽ ἄλλην χθόνα,
τἀνθένδε θέμενος εὖ, μεταστήσω πόδα,
50 δεικνὺς ἐμαυτόν· ἦν δὲ Θηβαίων πόλις
ὀργῇ σὺν ὅπλοις ἐξ ὄρους Βάκχας ἄγειν
ζητῇ, συνάψω Μαινάσι στρατηλατῶν.
ὧν εἵνεκ᾽ εἶδος θνητὸν ἀλλάξας ἔχω
μορφήν τ' ἐμὴν μετέβαλον εἰς ἀνδρὸς φύσιν.
ἀλλ᾽ ὦ λιποῦσαι Τμῶλον ἔρυμα Λυδίας,
55
7
THE BACCHAE.
25 And put into their hands the thyrsus wreathed
With ivy, since my mother's sisters basely
Said Dionysos was no son of Zeus,
But Semele wedded to a mortal lover
Charged upon Zeus her fault, unchastity,
30 By craft of Cadmus, and for this, the lie
About her marriage, Zeus, they vowed, destroyed her.
Therefore I drove them raging from the house,
And frenzied now they hold the mountain height;
Robes of my worship forced I them to wear,
35 And all of womankind among the Thebans,
All women maddened from their homes I sent ;
And there together joined with Cadmus' daughters
They sit beneath green pines on roofless rocks.
For to her sorrow must this city learn
40 That she knows nothing of my Bacchic rites ;
And my mother Semele I must defend
By showing men the god she bore to Zeus.
Now Cadmus his prerogative and power
Bestows on Pentheus, from his daughter born,
45 Who fights against the gods in slighting me,
Depriving me of offerings and prayers.
Wherefore I'll prove myself a god to him
And all the Thebans; then to other lands,
Leaving my labors here well done, depart,
50 Showing myself; but if Thebes angered seek
The Bacchanals from the mountain down to drag,
Leading my Maenads I will join the fray.
55
And to this end, transformed in shape and figure,
I have assumed the likeness of a man
Exiles from Tmolos, Lydia's moin wall,
8
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
θίασος ἐμὸς γυναῖκες, ἃς ἐκ βαρβάρων
ἐκόμισα παρέδρους καὶ ξυνεμπόρους ἐμοί,
αἴρεσθε τἀπιχώρι᾽ ἐν πόλει Φρυγών
τύμπανα, Ῥέας τε μητρὸς ἐμά θ' εὑρήματα,
60 βασίλειά τ᾽ ἀμφὶ δώματ' ἐλθοῦσαι τάδε
κτυπείτε Πενθέως, ὡς ὁρᾷ Κάδμου πόλις.
ἐγὼ δὲ Βάκχαις, εἰς Κιθαιρώνος πτυχὰς
ἐλθὼν ἵν᾽ εἰσί, συμμετασχήσω χορῶν.
Ασίας ἀπό γαίας
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
65 ἱερὸν Τμώλον ἀμείψασα θοάζω
Βρομίῳ [θεῷ] πόνον ἡδὺν κάματόν τ᾽ εὐ
κάματον, Βάκχιον εὐαζομένα.
τίς ὁδῷ τίς ὁδῷ; τίς;
μελάθροις ἔκτοπος ἔστω, στόμα τ' εὔφη-
70 μον ἅπας ἐξοσιούσθω· τὰ νομισθέν
τα γὰρ αἰεὶ Διόνυσον ὑμνήσω.
ὦ μάκαρ, ὅστις εὐδαίμων
τελετάς θεῶν εἰδὼς
βιοτὰν ἁγιστεύει
75 καὶ θιασεύεται ψυχὰν
ἐν ὄρεσσι βακχεύων
ὁσίοις καθαρμοῖσιν
τά τε ματρός μεγάλας ὄρ
για Κυβέλας θεμιτεύων,
60 ἀνὰ θύρσον τε τινάσσων
κισσῷ τε στεφανωθεὶς
Διόνυσον θεραπεύει.
ἴτε Βάκχας Βάκχαι,
Στροφή α'.
Αντιστροφή α'.
Στροφή β'.
THE BACCHAE.
My revel-band, my women, whom I brought
From lands barbaric as my ministers,
Take ye the timbrels of the Phrygian realm,
Devised by mother Rhea and myself;
60 And marching here around the royal house
Of Pentheus, beat them, so that Thebes may heed.
But with the Bacchanals I will join the dance,
Seeking Cithaeron's dells where they are hid.
CHORUS.
Away from the Asian land,
65 Departing from Tmolos divine, I urge on
For Bromios labor delightful and toil
STROPHE I.
All painless, with revel-shouts honoring Bacchus.
9
Who is this in the way? Who is this? ANTISTROPHE I.
To the palace in haste let him go, and let all
70 Keep silence and worship, for I will exalt
Dionysos with song, as my custom has been.
O blest the happy man who knows
The mysteries divine,
Who is sincere in life
75 And consecrate in soul,
With holy purifyings
Upon the mountains keeping Bacchic rites,
Keeping the lawful orgies too
Of the great mother Cybele,
80 And brandishing the thyrsus,
And with the ivy crowned,
Thus Dionysos serves.
Go, go, ye Bacchanals,
STROPHE II.
10
BAKXAI.
Βρόμιον παίδα θεὸν θεοῦ
85 Διόνυσον κατάγουσαι
Φρυγίων ἐξ ὀρέων Ελλάδος εἰς
εὐρυχόρους ἀγυιάς, τον Βρόμιον
ον
ὅν ποτ᾽ ἔχουσ᾽ ἐν ὠδίνων
λοχίαις ἀναγκαισι
90 πταμένας Διός βροντας
νηδύος ἔκβολον μάτηρ
ἔτεκεν, λιποῦσ᾽ αἰῶ
να κεραυνίῳ πλαγᾷ
λοχίοις δ' αὐτίκα νιν δέ-
95 ξατο θαλάμαις Κρονίδας Ζεύς,
κατὰ μηρῷ δὲ καλύψας
χρυσέαισιν συνερείδει
περόναις κρυπτόν ἀφ' Ηρας.
ἔτεκεν δ᾽, ἁνίκα Μοίραι
100 τέλεσαν, ταυρόκερων θεὸν
στεφάνωσέν τε δρακόντων
στεφάνοις, ἔνθεν ἄγραν θηροτρόφον
Μαινάδες ἀμφιβάλλονται πλοκάμοις.
105 ὦ Σεμέλας τροφοὶ Θῆ.
βαι στεφανοῦσθε κισσῷ·
βρύετε βρύετε χλοήρει
μίλακι καλλικάρπῳ
καὶ καταβακχιοῦσθε
110 δρυός ἢ ἐν ἐλάτας κλάδοισι,
στικτῶν τ᾽ ἐνδυτὰ νεβρίδων
T
στέφετε λευκοτρίχων πλοκάμων
μαλλοῖς· ἀμφὶ δὲ νάρθηκας ὑβριστάς
Αντιστροφή β'.
Στροφή γ'.
THE BACCHAE.
11
Restoring Dionysos,
85 The god-descended god,
Yea from the Phrygian mountains Bromios
To the broad highways of the Grecian land:
Whom erst his mother, in the stress
Of childbirth's pangs brought on
90 By the winged shaft of Zeus,
An outcast from the womb
Brought forth, and quitted life
ANTISTROPHE II.
Touched by the thunderbolt's descending stroke.
But straightway in a cell of birth
95 Zeus Cronides received him then,
For he hides him in his thigh.
And with clasps of gold confines him,
From Hera safe concealed.
And he bore the hornèd god
100 What time the fates matured him,
And wreathed his head with crowns
Of serpents, whence the Maenads round their hair
Fling this wild booty captured in the chase.
105 Thebes, nurse of Semele,
Put on the ivy crown ;
Bloom, bloom, with garlands green,
With smilax fruited fair,
And with boughs of oak or fir
110 Revel in Bacchic rage,
And your robes of dappled fawn-skins deck
With tufts of silvery locks of wool:
And round the wanton thyrsi consecrate
STROPHE III.
12
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ὁσιοῦσθ'· αὐτίκα γὰ πᾶσα χορεύσει,
115 Βρόμιος εὖτ᾽ ἂν ἄγῃ θιάσους
εἰς ὄρος εἰς ὄρος, ἔνθα μένει
θηλυγενής ὄχλος
120
ἀφ᾽ ἱστῶν παρὰ κερκίδων τ'
οιστρηθεὶς Διονύσῳ.
ὦ θαλάμευμα Κουρή
των ζάθεοί τε Κρήτας
Διογενέτορες ναυλοι,
ἔνθα Τρικόρυθες ἄντροις
βυρσότονον κύκλωμα
125 τόδε μοι Κορύβαντες ηὗρον·
αὐδᾷ βάκχια συντόνῳ
κέρασαν ἁδυβοᾶν Φρυγίων
αὐλῶν πνεύματα, ματρός τε Ρέας εἰς
χέρα θῆκαν, κτύπον εὐάσμασι Βακχάν
130 παρὰ δὲ μαινόμενοι Σάτυροι
ματέρος ἐξανύσαντο θεᾶς,
εἰς δὲ χορεύματα
συνῆψαν τριετηρίδων,
αἷς χαίρει Διόνυσος.
135 ἡδὺς ἐν οὔρεσιν, εὖτ᾽ ἂν
ἐκ θιάσων δρομαίων
πέσῃ πεδόσε, νεβρίδος ἔχων
ἱερὸν ἐνδυτόν, ἀγρεύων
αἷμα τραγοκτόνον, ὠμοφάγον χάριν,
140 ἱέμενος εἰς ὄρεα Φρύγια, Λύδια.
ὁ δ᾽ ἔξαρχος Βρόμιος, εὐοι.
Αντιστροφή γ.
Επωδός.
ῥεῖ δὲ γάλακτι πέδον, ῥεῖ δ' οἴνῳ, ῥεῖ δὲ μελισσᾶν
THE BACCHAE.
13
Yourselves; soon all the land shall join the dance,
115 When Bromios shall lead his revel-bands
Up to the mountain's summit, where awaits
A multitude of women
From looms and shuttles driven,
Made mad by Dionysos.
120 O home of the Curetes,
And ye all-sacred haunts
Of Crete where Zeus was born,
Where the tri-plumed Corybantes
In caves for me devised
125 This leathern disc tight drawn;
ANTISTROPHE III.
Then with its furious sound they joined
Wild notes of sweet-toned Phrygian flutes,
And in the mother Rhea's hands they placed it,
A din to match the Bacchanals' revel-shouts:
130 And by entreaty from the goddess mother
The raging satyrs gained the tympanum,
And in the dances joined
Of the trieteric feasts,
The delights of Dionysos.
135 Glad on the mountains is the worshiper
EPODE.
When from swift revel-bands
Upon the earth he falls,
Wearing the sacred fawn-skin robe, and thirsting
For blood of goats, eating with joy raw flesh,
140 Climbing the Phrygian and the Lydian mountains.
But Bromios the leader is, Evoe!
Earth flows with wine, milk, nectar of the bees,
14
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
145
νέκταρι, Συρίας δὲ θρώσκει λιβάνου καπνός.
ὁ Βακχεὺς δ᾽ ἔχων
πυρσώδη φλόγα πεύκας
ἐκ νάρθηκος αίσσει
δρόμῳ καὶ χοροῖς ἐρεθίζων πλανάτας
ἰαχαῖς τ᾿ ἀναπάλλων,
150 τρυφερόν πλόκον εἰς αἰθέρα ρίπτων.
ἅμα δ᾽ ἐπ᾿ εὐάσμασιν ἐπιβρέμει
τοιάδ᾽, ὦ ἴτε Βάκχαι,
ὦ ἴτε Βάκχαι, Πακ
κι
τώλου χρυσορόου χλιδα μ
155 μέλπετε τὸν Διόνυσον
βαρυβρόμων ὑπὸ τυμπάνων,
εὔια τον εὔιον ἀγαλλόμεναι θεὸν
ἐν Φρυγίαισι βοαῖς ἐνοπαῖσί τε,
160 λωτός ὅταν ευκέλαδος
ἱερὸς ἱερὰ παίγματα
βρέμη, σύνοχα φοιτάσιν
165 εἰς ὄρος εἰς ὄρος· ἡδομένα δ᾽ ἄρα,
πῶλος ὅπως ἅμα ματέρι φορβάδι,
κωλον ἄγει ταχύπουν σκιρτήμασι Βάκχα.
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
170 Τίς ἐν πύλαισι; Κάδμον ἐκκάλει δόμων
᾿Αγήνορος παῖδ᾽, ὃς πόλιν Σιδωνίαν
λιπὼν ἐπύργωσ' ἄστυ Θηβαίων τόδε.
ἴτω τις, εἰσάγγελλε Τειρεσίας ὅτι
ζητεῖ νιν· οἶδε δ᾽ αὐτὸς ὧν ἥκω πέρι
ἅ τε ξυνεθέμην πρέσβυς ὢν γεραιτέρῳ,
θύρσους ἀνάπτειν καὶ νεβρῶν δορὰς ἔχειν
στεφανοῦν τε κράτα κισσίνοις βλαστήμασιν.
175
THE BACCHAE.
15
And smoke of Syrian frankincense ascends.
145 And the Bacchant leader, holding
His flaming torch of fir
Upon the thyrsus, darts
Inciting to the race and to the dance
The wanderers, and rousing them with shouts,
150 As to the air he tosses his bright tresses.
And added to the revel-cries
Such words as these he shouts aloud :
On! On! ye Bacchanals,
Beauty of Tmolos with its streams of gold,
155 Sing ye of Dionysos,
Your voices with the deep-toned timbrels joined,
The Evian god in Bacchic strains exalting
With Phrygian shouts and cries,
160 Whene'er the sweet-toned holy flute
Sounds forth its sacred sportive airs,
Responsive to the Maenads as they wander
165 Off to the mountains; and right gladsome then,
As a young colt beside its grazing mother,
The Bacchanal bounds forward with swift foot.
TEIRESIAS.
170 Hail, porter! from the palace summon forth
Cadmus, Agenor's son, who quitting Sidon
Girded with towers this city of the Thebans.
Go, tell him that Teiresias is waiting.
Himself knows why I am come, the covenant
175 Which I who am old have made with him still older,
To bind the Bacchic wands, to wear the fawn-skins,
And with the ivy-sprays to crown the head.
16
BAKXAI.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ὦ φίλταθ', ὡς σὴν γῆρυν ᾐσθόμην κλύων
σοφὴν σοφοῦ παρ' ἀνδρός, ἐν δόμοισιν ὤν·
180 ἥκω δ᾽ ἕτοιμος τήνδ᾽ ἔχων σκευὴν θεοῦ.
185
δεῖ γάρ νιν ὄντα παῖδα θυγατρὸς ἐξ ἐμῆς,
Διόνυσον ὃς πέφηνεν ἀνθρώποις θεός,
ὅσον καθ' ἡμᾶς δυνατὸν αὔξεσθαι μέγαν.
ποῦ δεῖ χορεύειν, που καθιστάναι πόδα
καὶ κρᾶτα σεῖσαι πολιόν; ἐξηγοῦ σύ μοι
γέρων γέροντι, Τειρεσία· σὺ γὰρ σοφός.
ὡς οὐ κάμοιμ᾽ ἂν οὔτε νύκτ᾽ οὔθ᾽ ἡμέραν
θύρσῳ κροτῶν γῆν· ἐπιλελήσμεθ᾽ ἡδονῇ
γέροντες ὄντες.
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
ταῦτ᾽ ἐμοὶ πάσχεις ἄρα·
190 κἀγὼ γὰρ ἡβῶ κἀπιχειρήσω χοροῖς.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
οὐκοῦν ὄχοισιν εἰς ὄρος περάσομεν;
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὁμοίαν ὁ θεὸς ἂν τιμὴν ἔχοι.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
γέρων γέροντα παιδαγωγήσω σ' ἐγώ.
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
ὁ θεὸς ἀμοχθὶ κεῖσε νῶν ἡγήσεται.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
195 μόνοι δὲ πόλεως Βακχίῳ χορεύσομεν;
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
μόνοι γάρ εὖ φρονοῦμεν, οἱ δ᾽ ἄλλοι κακῶς.
THE BACCHAE.
17
CADMUS.
O dearest friend! for hearing in the house
Thy voice, I knew it, the wise voice of a sage !
180 Lo! here I come wearing the sacred garb;
For needs must he who is my daughter's son,
Lord Dionysos, shown to men a god,
As far as in me lies be raised to greatness.
Where must we lead the dance? Where stay the foot
185 And shake the hoary locks? Both aged men
Are we, Teiresias: as thou art skilled,
Expound to me; for I will never weary
By night or day the earth with the thyrsus smiting;
In our delightsome pleasure we have grown
Forgetful of our years.
TEIRESIAS.
Thy joy is mine;
190 I too grow young, I will attempt the dance.
CADMUS.
Shall we then go in a chariot to the mountain?
TEIRESIAS.
The god would not have equal honor thus.
CADMUS.
We both are old, but I will be thy guide.
TEIRESIAS.
The god will lead us thither without toil.
CADMUS.
195 Shall we alone of the city dance to Bacchus?
TEIRESIAS.
Yes, we alone are wise, the others foolish.
18
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
μακρὸν τὸ μέλλειν· ἀλλ' ἐμῆς ἔχον χερός.
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
Ιδού, ξύναπτε καὶ ξυνωρίζου χέρα.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
οὐ καταφρονῶ ἐγὼ τῶν θεῶν θνητός γεγώς.
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
200 οὐδὲν σοφιζόμεσθα τοῖσι δαίμοσι.
πατρίους παραδοχὰς ὥς θ' ὁμήλικας χρόνῳ
κεκτήμεθ', οὐδεὶς αὐτὰ καταβαλεῖ λόγος,
οὐδ᾽ εἰ δι᾽ ἄκρων τὸ σοφὸν ηὕρηται φρενῶν.
ἐρεῖ τις ὡς τὸ γῆρας οὐκ αἰσχύνομαι,
205 μέλλων χορεύειν κρᾶτα κισσώσας ἐμόν.
οὐ γὰρ διῄρηχ᾽ ὁ θεὸς εἶτε τὸν νέον
Ο
χρῄζει χορεύειν εἴτε τὸν γεραίτερον,
ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ ἁπάντων βούλεται τιμὰς ἔχειν
κοινάς, δι' ἀριθμῶν δ᾽ οὐδὲν αὔξεσθαι θέλει.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ἐπεὶ σὺ φέγγος, Τειρεσία, τόδ' οὐχ ὁρᾷς,
ἐγὼ προφήτης σοι λόγων γενήσομαι.
Πενθεὺς πρὸς οἴκους ὅδε διὰ σπουδῆς περᾷ
Εχίονος παῖς, ᾧ κράτος δίδωμι γῆς.
ὡς ἐπτόηται· τί ποτ' ἐρεῖ νεώτερον;
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
215 ἔκδημος ὢν μὲν τῆσδ᾽ ἐτύγχανον χθονός,
ων
κλύω δὲ νεοχμὰ τήνδ' ἀνὰ πτόλιν κακά,
γυναῖκας ἡμῖν δώματ' ἐκλελοιπέναι
πλασταῖσι βακχείαισιν, ἐν δὲ δασκίοις
THE BACCHAE.
19
CADMUS.
Too long we linger; hold my hand in thine.
TEIRESIAS.
Well spoken, join and link thy hand to mine.
CADMUS.
I born a mortal do not scorn the gods.
TEIRESIAS.
200 Against the gods we do not match our wisdom.
Our sires' traditions of a faith as old
As time no argument shall overthrow,
Not even when wisdom comes from subtle thought.
Some one will say that I disgrace my age,
205 In that with ivy crowned I go to dance.
Not so, the god hath fixed no test of age,
Both young and old must mingle in the rite;
But equal honor he would have from all,
Nor chooses worshipers from favored classes.
CADMUS.
210 Since thou, Teiresias, dost not see the light,
I shall become thy seer, to speak for thee.
Lo, to the palace hastes Echion's son,
Pentheus, by me made ruler of the land.
He shudders! what mischance will he recount?
PENTHEUS.
215 Late absent from this land and just returned,
I hear of strange ills in the city rife.
Our women have departed from their homes
For their feigned revels; on thick-shaded mountains
20
BAKXAI.
220
ὄρεσι θοάζειν, τὸν νεωστὶ δαίμονα
Διόνυσον ὅστις ἔστι τιμώσας χοροῖς·
πλήρεις δὲ θιάσοις ἐν μέσοισιν ἑστάναι
κρατῆρας, ἄλλην δ᾽ ἄλλοσ᾽ εἰς ἐρημίαν
πτώσσουσαν εὐναῖς ἀρσένων ὑπηρετεῖν,
πρόφασιν μὲν ὡς δὴ Μαινάδας θυοσκόους,
225 τὴν δ᾽ Αφροδίτην πρόσθ᾽ ἄγειν τοῦ Βακχίου.
ὅσας μὲν οὖν εἴληφα, δεσμίους χέρας
σῴζουσι πανδήμοισι πρόσπολοι στέγαις
ὅσαι δ᾽ ἄπεισιν, ἐξ ὄρους θηράσομαι,
Ινώ τ' Αγαύην θ᾽ ἦ μ' ἔτικτ᾽ Ἐχίονι,
230 ᾿Ακταίονός τε μητέρ', Αυτονόην λέγω.
καὶ σφᾶς σιδηραῖς ἁρμόσας ἐν ἄρκυσι
παύσω κακούργου τῆσδε βακχείας τάχα.
λέγουσι δ' ὥς τις εἰσελήλυθε ξένος
γόης ἐπῳδὸς Λυδίας ἀπό χθονός,
235 ξανθοίσι βοστρύχοισιν εὐόσμοις κομῶν,
οἰνωπός, όσσοις χάριτας Αφροδίτης ἔχων,
ὃς ἡμέρας τε κεὐφρόνας συγγίγνεται
τελετὰς προτείνων εὐίους νεάνισιν.
εἰ δ᾽ αὐτὸν εἴσω τῆσδε λήψομαι στέγης,
παύσω κτυποῦντα θύρσον ἀνασείοντά τε
κόμας, τράχηλον σώματος χωρὶς τεμών.
[ἐκεῖνος εἶναί φησι Διόνυσον θεόν,
ἐκεῖνος ἐν μηρῷ ποτ᾽ ἐρράφθαι Διός,
ὃς ἐκπυροῦται λαμπάσιν κεραυνίαις
σὺν μητρί, Δίους ὅτι γάμους ἐψεύσατο.
ταῦτ᾽ οὐχὶ δεινῆς ἀγχόνης ἔστ' ἄξια,
ὕβρεις ὑβρίζειν, ὅστις ἔστιν ὁ ξένος;
ἀτὰρ τόδ' ἄλλο θαῦμα, τὸν τερασκόπον
ἐν ποικίλαισι νεβρίσι Τειρεσίαν ὁρῶ
240
245
THE BACCHAE.
21
They rush like furies, honoring with dances
220 Bacchus, the new-made god, whoever that is;
Amid each festive throng the mixing-bowls
Stand crowned, while cowering in the wilderness,
One here, one there, they yield to secret love,
Maenads inspired appearing, but in sooth
225 They worship Aphrodite more than Bacchus.
All whom I've captured, them with fettered hands
Safe in the prison do my servants keep;
But those still free I'll hunt down from the mountain,
Agave, her who bore me to Echion,
230 Autonoe, the mother of Actaeon,
And Ino — these made fast in iron bonds
I soon from their vile orgies will restrain.
They say there is a stranger hither come,
A juggling wizard from the Lydian land,
235 With ruddy face, with fragrant golden curls,
The grace of Aphrodite in his eyes,
Who day and night holds converse with the throng,
Feigning to teach young maidens Bacchic rites.
But if I capture him within this house,
240 From making the thyrsus ring and his hair stream back
I'll stop him, severing his neck and trunk.
'Tis he says Dionysos is a god,
Sewn up of old within the thigh of Zeus;
But the flaming bolt consumed the child with the mother,
245 Who falsely called herself the wife of Zeus.
Do not these deeds, this outrage of the stranger
Whoe'er he be, deserve the fatal halter?
But here another wonder I behold,
The seer Teiresias wearing dappled fawn-skins,
22
BAKXAI.
250 πατέρα τε μητρὸς τῆς ἐμῆς, πολὺν γέλων,
νάρθηκι βακχεύοντ᾽· ἀναίνομαι, πάτερ,
255
τὸ γῆρας ὑμῶν εἰσορῶν νοῦν οὐκ ἔχον.
οὐκ ἀποτινάξεις κισσόν; οὐκ ἐλευθέραν
θύρσου μεθήσεις χεῖρ᾽, ἐμῆς μητρὸς πάτερ;
σὺ ταῦτ᾽ ἔπεισας, Τειρεσία· τόνδ' αὖ θέλεις
τὸν δαίμον' ἀνθρώποισιν εἰσφέρων νέον
σκοπεῖν πτερωτοὺς καμπύρων μισθοὺς φέρειν.
εἰ μή σε γῆρας πολιὸν ἐξερρύετο,
καθῆσ᾽ ἂν ἐν Βάκχαισι δέσμιος μέσαις,
αν
260 τελετὰς πονηρὰς εἰσάγων· γυναιξὶ γὰρ
ὅπου βότρυος ἐν δαιτὶ γίγνεται γάνος,
οὐχ ὑγιὲς οὐδὲν ἔτι λέγω τῶν ὀργίων.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τῆς δυσσεβείας. ὦ ξέν', οὐκ αἰδεῖ θεοὺς
Κάδμον τε τὸν σπείραντα γηγενῆ στάχυν;
265 Εχίονος δ᾽ ἂν παῖς καταισχύνεις γένος;
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
ὅταν λάβῃ τις τῶν λόγων ἀνὴρ σοφὸς
καλὰς ἀφορμάς, οὐ μέγ᾽ ἔργον εὖ λέγειν·
σὺ δ' εὔτροχον μὲν γλῶσσαν ὡς φρονῶν ἔχεις,
ἐν τοῖς λόγοισι δ᾽ οὐκ ἔνεισί σοι φρένες.
270 θρασὺς δὲ [γλώσσῃ] καὶ λέγειν οἷός τ᾿ ἀνὴρ
κακὸς πολίτης γίγνεται νοῦν οὐκ ἔχων.
οὗτος δ᾽ ὁ δαίμων ὁ νέος ὃν σὺ διαγελᾷς,
Ο
Ο
οὐκ ἂν δυναίμην μέγεθος ἐξειπεῖν ὅσος
καθ' Ελλάδ᾽ ἔσται. δύο γάρ, ὦ νεανία,
275 τὰ πρῶτ᾽ ἐν ἀνθρώποισι· Δημήτηρ θεά·
γῆ δ᾽ ἐστίν, ὄνομα δ᾽ ὁπότερον βούλει κάλει
αὕτη μὲν ἐν ξηροῖσιν ἐκτρέφει βροτούς
THE BACCHAE.
23
250 My mother's father too, great cause of mirth,
With a ferule reveling— father, I'm ashamed
To see your hoary age bereft of sense.
My mother's sire, the ivy from thy head
Cast off, and from the thyrsus free thy hand.
255 Thy counsel this, Teiresias; thou wilt reap
More gain from auspices and offerings
By introducing this new god to men.
Did not thy hoary age deliver thee,
Thou wouldst be sitting 'mid the Bacchanals bound,
260 For bringing in vile mysteries: for where
To women at the banquets wine gives joy,
Naught in their worship call I good and pure.
CHORUS.
Words impious! dost not, sire, revere the gods,
And Cadmus, sower of the earth-born crop?
265 Dost thou born of Echion shame thy race?
TEIRESIAS.
When the sage gains fair subject for discourse,
'Tis no hard task for him to reason well;
But thou appearing wise hast a glib tongue,
Yet in thy words there is no wisdom found.
270 But the man bold of speech and eloquent
Proves a bad citizen for want of sense.
Now this new deity, whom thou dost mock,
Such power as I can ne'er express shall have
In Hellas. Youth! there are two things by man
275 Accounted first; the deity Demeter
(Or mother Earth perchance thou fain wilt call her)
With solid food sustains the life of man;
24
BAKXAI.
285
ὃς δ᾽ ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τἀντίπαλον ὁ Σεμέλης γόνος
βότρυος ὑγρὸν πωμ' ηὗρε κεἰσηνέγκατο
280 θνητοῖς, ὁ παύει τοὺς ταλαιπώρους βροτοὺς
λύπης, ὅταν πλησθῶσιν ἀμπέλου ῥοῇς,
ὕπνον τε λήθην τῶν καθ᾽ ἡμέραν κακῶν
δίδωσιν, οὐδ᾽ ἔστ᾽ ἄλλο φάρμακον πόνων.
οὗτος θεοῖσι σπένδεται θεὸς γεγώς,
ὥστε διὰ τοῦτον τἀγαθ᾽ ἀνθρώπους ἔχειν.
[καὶ καταγελᾷς νιν, ὡς ἐνερράφη Διὸς
μηρῷ; διδάξω σ᾿ ὡς καλῶς ἔχει τόδε.
ἐπεί νιν ἥρπασ᾽ ἐκ πυρὸς κεραυνίου
Ζεύς, εἰς δ᾽ Ολυμπον βρέφος ἀνήγαγεν θεόν,
290 Ηρα νιν ἤθελ᾽ ἐκβαλεῖν ἀπ᾿ οὐρανοῦ·
Ζεὺς δ᾽ ἀντεμηχανήσαθ᾽ οἷα δὴ θεός.
ῥήξας μέρος τι τοῦ χθόν᾽ ἐγκυκλουμένου
αἰθέρος, ἔθηκε τόνδ' ὅμηρον ἐκδιδοὺς
Διόνυσον Ηρας νεικέων· χρόνῳ δέ νιν
295 βροτοὶ τραφῆναί φασιν ἐν μηρῷ Διός,
ὄνομα μεταστήσαντες, ὅτι θεᾷ θεὸς
Ηρᾳ ποθ᾽ ὡμήρευσε, συνθέντες λόγον.]
μάντις δ' ὁ δαίμων δε· τὸ γὰρ βακχεύσιμον
καὶ τὸ μανιώδες μαντικὴν πολλὴν ἔχει·
300 ὅταν
ὅταν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸ σῶμ᾽ ἔλθῃ πολύς,
λέγειν το μέλλον τοὺς μεμηνότας ποιεῖ.
*Αρεώς τε μοιραν μεταλαβὼν ἔχει τινά
στρατὸν γὰρ ἐν ὅπλοις ὄντα κἀπὶ τάξεσι
φόβος διεπτόησε πριν λόγχης θιγεῖν·
305 μανία δὲ καὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ Διονύσου πάρα.
ἔτ᾽ αὐτὸν ὄψει κἀπὶ Δελφίσιν πέτραις
πηδῶντα σὺν πεύκαισι δικόρυφον πλάκα,
πάλλοντα καὶ σείοντα Βακχεῖον κλάδον,
THE BACCHAE.
25
But other needs this son of Semele
Has met, has found and introduced to mortals
280 The flowing draught which brings release from pain
To wretched men when they are filled with wine,
And gives them sleep, relief from daily ills,
Nor is there other remedy for troubles.
'Tis he, a god, makes peace with the other gods,
285 And thus through him do men enjoy rich blessings.
Him dost thou mock as sewn up in the thigh
Of Zeus? I will reveal to thee this truth.
What time Zeus snatched him from the lightning's flame,
And to Olympus bore the infant god,
290 Hera desired to cast him forth from heaven;
But Zeus contrived against her like a god:
He took a part of the earth-encircling ether
And made of this a pledge, but Dionysos
He saved from Hera's rage; and men soon tell
295 That he was nurtured in the thigh of Zeus;
By interchange of words they made the fable,
Because the god had been a pledge to Hera.
A prophet is this god; for Bacchic rage
And madness hold large gift of prophecy;
300 And when the god in power enters the body,
He makes the frantic tell what is to be.
And in the might of Ares too he shares;
For a host standing armed in line of battle
Panic oft scatters ere they touch the spear;
305 And this is also madness sent from Bacchus.
Thou yet shalt see him even on Delphic rocks,
Bounding with pine torch o'er the twin-peaked summit,
Swaying and brandishing his Bacchic wand,
26
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
αν
μέγαν τ᾿ ἀν᾽ Ἑλλάδ'. ἀλλ' ἐμοί, Πενθεῦ, πιθοῦ·
310 μὴ τὸ κράτος αὔχει δύναμιν ἀνθρώποις ἔχειν,
μηδ' ἢν δοκῇς μέν, ἡ δὲ δόξα σου νοσῇ,
φρονεῖν δόκει τι· τὸν θεὸν δ᾽ εἰς γῆν δέχον
καὶ σπένδε και βάκχευε και στέφου κάρα.
οὐχ ὁ Διόνυσος σωφρονεῖν ἀναγκάσει
315 γυναῖκας εἰς τὴν Κύπριν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τῇ φύσει
[τὸ σωφρονεῖν ἔνεστιν εἰς τὰ πάντ᾽ ἀεὶ]
τοῦτο· σκοπεῖν χρή· καὶ γὰρ ἐν βακχεύμασιν
οὖσ᾽ ἤ γε σώφρων οὐ διαφθαρήσεται.
ὁρᾷς, σὺ χαίρεις, ὅταν ἐφεστῶσιν πύλαις
πολλοί, τὸ Πενθέως δ' ὄνομα μεγαλύνῃ πόλις
κἀκεῖνος, οἶμαι, τέρπεται τιμώμενος.
325
330
335
ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν καὶ Κάδμος, ὃν σὺ διαγελᾷς,
κισσῷ τ᾽ ἐρεψόμεσθα καὶ χορεύσομεν,
πολιὰ ξυνωρίς, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως χορευτέον,
κού θεομαχήσω σῶν λόγων πεισθεὶς υπο.
μαίνει γὰρ ὡς ἄλγιστα, κοὔτε φαρμάκοις
ἄκη λάβοις ἂν οὔτ᾽ ἄνευ τούτων ἔσει.
αν
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ὦ πρέσβυ, Φοῖβόν τ᾽ οὐ καταισχύνεις λόγοις,
τιμῶν τε Βρόμιον σωφρονεῖς μέγαν θεόν.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ὦ παῖ, καλῶς σου Τειρεσίας παρήνεσεν
οἴκει μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν, μὴ θύραζε τῶν νόμων.
νῦν γὰρ πέτει τε καὶ φρονῶν οὐδὲν φρονεῖς.
κεἰ μὴ γὰρ ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς οὗτος, ὡς σὺ φής,
παρὰ σοὶ λεγέσθω· καὶ καταψεύδον καλῶς
ὡς ἔστι, Σεμέλη θ᾽ ἵνα δοκῇ θεὸν τεκεῖν,
ἡμῖν τε τιμὴ παντὶ τῷ γένει προσῇ.
THE BACCHAE.
27
Grown great in Hellas. Pentheus, heed my words!
310 Presume not that mere power prevails with men,
Nor, even if with thy mind diseased thou think it,
Think thyself wise at all; within the land
Receive the god, honor him with libations,
Join in the sacred dance and crown thy head.
It is not Dionysos who will force
315 The women to be chaste, but self-control,
Constant in all things, this is nature's gift:
Consider this: even in the Bacchic revels
She who is modest will be undefiled.
Lo, thou art glad when many throng the gates,
320 Glad too when Thebes exalts the name of Pentheus;
So he, I think, delights in being honored.
I then and Cadmus, whom thou dost deride,
Will crown our heads with ivy and will dance,
A hoary pair, yet must we join the dance,
325 Nor will I heeding thee assault the god.
The fell disorder of thy mind no drugs
Can cure, yet shalt thou not lack remedies.
CHORUS.
Thou dost not with thy words, old man, shame Phoebus,
And honoring Bromios, that great god, thou art wise.
CADMUS.
330 My son, well hath Teiresias counseled thee;
Abide with us, within the pale of custom,
For now thy mind's distraught, thy wit is folly.
Even though he is no god, as thou dost say,
Call thou him god, and tell the glorious falsehood,
335 That the child of Semele may be thought divine,
And honor come to us and all our house.
28
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ὁρᾷς τὸν ᾿Ακταίωνος ἄθλιον μόρον,
ὃν ὠμόσιτοι σκύλακες ἃς ἐθρέψατο
διεσπάσαντο, κρείσσον᾽ ἐν κυναγίαις
340 Αρτέμιδος εἶναι κομπάσαντ', ἐν ὀργάσιν.
ὁ μὴ πάθῃς σύ, δευρό σου, στέψω κάρα
κισσῷ· μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν τῷ θεῷ τιμὴν δίδου.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
οὐ μὴ προσοίσεις χεῖρα, βακχεύσεις δ᾽ ἰών,
μηδ' ἐξομόρξει μωρίαν τὴν σὴν ἐμοί;
345 τῆς σῆς δ᾽ ἀνοίας τόνδε τὸν διδάσκαλον
δίκην μέτειμι. στειχέτω τις ὡς τάχος,
ἐλθὼν δὲ θάκους τοῦδ᾽ ἵν' οιωνοσκοπεί
μοχλοῖς τριαίνου κἀνάτρεψον ἔμπαλιν,
ἄνω κάτω τὰ πάντα συγχέας ὁμοῦ,
καὶ στέμματ' ανέμοις καὶ θυέλλαισιν μέθες.
μάλιστα γάρ νιν δήξομαι δράσας τάδε.
350
οἱ δ᾽ ἀνὰ πόλιν στείχοντες ἐξιχνεύσατε
τὸν θηλύμορφον ξένον, ὅς εἰσφέρει νόσον
καινὴν γυναιξὶ καὶ λέχη λυμαίνεται.
355 κάνπερ λάβητε, δέσμιον πορεύσατε
360
δεῦρ᾽ αὐτόν, ὡς ἂν λευσίμου δίκης τυχών
θάνῃ πικρὰν βάκχευσιν ἐν Θήβαις ἰδών.
ΤΕΙΡΕΣΙΑΣ.
ὦ σχέτλι, ὡς οὐκ οἶσθα ποῦ ποτ' εἶ λόγων.
μέμηνας ἤδη καὶ πρὶν ἐξέστης φρενών.
στείχωμεν ἡμεῖς, Κάδμε, κἀξαιτώμεθα
ὑπέρ τε τούτου καίπερ ὄντος ἀγρίου
ὑπέρ τε πόλεως τὸν θεὸν μηδὲν νέον
δρᾶν. ἀλλ' ὅπου μοι κισσίνου βάκτρου μέτα·
πειρῶ δ᾽ ἀνορθοῦν σῶμ᾽ ἐμὸν κἀγὼ τὸ σόν·
TO
THE BACCHAE.
29
Thou dost behold Actaeon's wretched fate,
Whom ravenous hounds which he had fed and fondled
Tore in the meadows limb from limb for boasting
340 That in the chase he distanced Artemis.
Lest thus thou fare, let me with ivy crown
Thy head; with us give honor to the god.
PENTHEUS.
Lay not thy hand on me, thyself go revel,
Nor make me share thy imbecility.
345 But on this teacher who hath made thee mad
I will take vengeance. Quick! let some one haste,
Approach his seat where he takes auguries,
With levers lift it, turn it upside down,
And all things in confusion throw together,
350 Giving his fillets to the winds and storms;
For by this course I best shall torture him.
Go others of you through the town, seek out
The effeminate stranger who with new disease
Afflicts our women and dishonors marriage.
355 And if ye catch him, bring him hither bound,
To die by stoning, righteous penalty,
When he has seen in Thebes a bitter revel.
TEIRESIAS.
O wretched man! thou knowest not what thou sayest,
Now art thou crazed and thou wast daft before.
360 Let us go, Cadmus, and beseech the god,
Both for this savage prince and for the city,
To bring upon us no calamity.
Follow me, bring the staff with ivy wreathed;
Try to sustain my form as I do thine.
30
BAKXAI.
365 γέροντε δ' αἰσχρὸν δύο πεσεῖν· ἴτω δ᾽ ὅμως.
τῷ Βακχίῳ γὰρ τῷ Διὸς δουλευτέον.
Πενθεὺς δ᾽ ὅπως μὴ πένθος εἰσοίσει δόμοις
τοῖς σοῖσι, Κάδμε· μαντικῇ μὲν οὐ λέγω,
τοῖς πράγμασιν δέ· μωρα γὰρ μῶρος λέγει.
370 Οσία πότνα θεῶν,
Ὁσία δ᾽ ἃ κατὰ γᾶν
α
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
χρυσέαν πτέρυγα φέρεις,
τάδε Πενθέως αίεις;
ἀίεις οὐχ ὁσίαν
375 ὕβριν εἰς τὸν Βρόμιον,
τὸν Σεμέλας τὸν παρὰ καλλιστεφάνοις
εὐφροσύναις δαίμονα πρω
τον μακάρων; ὃς τάδ᾽ ἔχει,
θιασεύειν τε χοροίς
380 μετά τ᾽ αὐλοῦ γελάσαι
T
ἀποπαύσαί τε μερίμνας,
ὁπόταν βότρυος ἔλθῃ
γάνος ἐν δαιτὶ θεῶν,
κισσοφόροις δ᾽ ἐν θαλίαις
385 ἀνδράσι κρατὴρ ὕπνον ἀμφιβάλλῃ.
ἀχαλίνων στομάτων
ἀνόμου τ' ἀφροσύνας
τὸ τέλος δυστυχία·
ὁ δὲ τᾶς ἡσυχίας
390 βίοτος καὶ τὸ φρονεῖν
ἀσάλευτόν τε μένει
καὶ συνέχει δώματα· πόρσω γὰρ ὅμως
αιθέρα ναίοντες ὁρῶ-
Στροφή α.
᾿Αντιστροφὴ α'.
THE BACCHAE.
365 Two old men fallen were shame; but let it pass;
For we must worship Bacchus, son of Zeus.
But see that Pentheus bring not sorrow, Cadmus,
Into thy palace:-not as prophet now
Deal I with oracles, but with simple facts;
For folly is the language of a fool.
CHORUS.
370 Thou holy one, queen in the heaven,
Thou goddess, who over the earth
Art borne on thy pinions of gold,
Dost thou hear what this Pentheus hath said,
Dost thou witness the impious crime,
375 The outrage on Bromios wrought,
31
STROPHE I.
On Semele's son, who, where garlands are bright
At banquets, is first of the gods,
The immortals? And this is his task,
In the revels to order the dance,
380 To rejoice at the sound of the flute
And to banish all harassing cares,
When joy that is born of the wine
Comes in at the feast of the gods,
When at banquets with ivy bedecked
385 The bowl round the guests throws the spirit of sleep.
Of speech that defies all restraint,
Of folly that violates law,
The outcome is ruin at last.
But a life filled with quiet and peace
390 And prudence with reverence joined
Unruffled and steadfast remain,
ANTISTROPHE I.
And a house in security keep; for afar
Though the gods have their homes in the ether,
32
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
395
σιν τὰ βροτῶν οὐρανίδαι.
τὸ σοφὸν δ᾽ οὐ σοφία
τό τε μὴ θνητά φρονεῖν.
βραχὺς αἰών· ἐπὶ τούτῳ
δέ τις ἂν μεγάλα διώκων
αν
τὰ παρόντ᾽ οὐχὶ φέροι.
400 μαινομένων οἵδε τρόποι
405
καὶ κακοβούλων παρ᾽ ἔμοιγε φωτῶν.
ἱκοίμαν ποτί Κύπρον,
νᾶσον τᾶς ᾿Αφροδίτας,
ἐν ᾧ θελξίφρονες νέμον
ται θνατοῖσιν Ερωτες,
χθόνα θ᾽ ἂν ἑκατόστομοι
αν
βαρβάρου ποταμοῦ ῥοαὶ
καρπίζουσιν ἄνομβροι.
ποῦ δ᾽ ἁ καλλιστευομένα
410 Πιερία μουσειος ἕδρα,
σεμνὰ κλιτύς Ολύμπου;
ἐκεῖσ᾽ ἄγε μ᾽, ὦ Βρόμιε Βρόμιε,
πρόβακχ' εὔτε δαῖμον.
415
EK
ἐκεῖ Χάριτες, ἐκεῖ δὲ Πόθος·
ἐκεῖ δὲ Βάκχαις θέμις ὀργιάζειν.
Ο
ὁ δαίμων ὁ Διὸς παῖς
χαίρει μὲν θαλίαισιν,
φιλεῖ δ᾽ ὀλβοδότειραν Εἰ-
420 ρήναν, κουροτρόφον θεάν.
ἴσα δ᾽ εἴς τε τὸν ὄλβιον
τόν τε χείρονα δῶκ᾽ ἔχειν
οἶνον τέρψιν ἄλυπον·
Στροφή β'.
Αντιστροφή β'.
THE BACCHAE.
33
Yet behold they the doings of men.
395 'Tis not wisdom to be overwise
And to dwell on the thoughts that to man
Are forbidden; for short is our life,
And so he who pursues lofty ends
Shall fail of the good that is near.
400 These ways are the ways of the fools,
Of the mortals, I trow, of right reason bereft.
O might I betake me to Cyprus,
The island of Aphrodite,
Where, filling with joy the soul
405 Of mortal man, dwell the loves,
Come to the land which the manifold
Streams of a river remote,
Streams never fed by showers enrich.
But where is the fairest realm of all,
410 Pieria, home of the muses,
Majestic slope of Olympus?
Thither conduct me, O Bromios, Bromios,
Leader of Bacchanals, Evian god.
There are the Graces, and there dwells Desire;
STROPHE II.
415 And there too it is lawful to celebrate Bacchic rites.
This deity Zeus-descended
Ever in feasts rejoices,
And wealth-bringing Peace he loves,
420 The goddess who rears the youth.
Both to the rich gives he equally
And to the poor to enjoy
The pleasures of wine that banish pain;
ANTISTROPHE II.
34
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
425
μισεῖ δ᾽ ᾧ μὴ ταῦτα μέλει,
κατὰ φάος νύκτας τε φίλας
εὐαίωνα διαζήν
σοφὸν δ᾽ ἀπέχειν πραπίδα φρένα τε
περισσῶν παρὰ φωτῶν.
430 τὸ πλῆθος ὅ τι τὸ φαυλότερον
ἐνόμισε χρῆταί τε, τόδ᾽ ἂν δεχοίμαν.
ΘΕΡΑΠΩΝ.
Πενθεῦ, πάρεσμεν τήνδ' ἄγραν ἠγρευκότες
435 ἐφ᾽ ἣν ἔπεμψας, οὐδ᾽ ἄκρανθ᾽ ὡρμήσαμεν.
ὁ θὴρ δ' ὅδ᾽ ἡμῖν πρᾶος οὐδ᾽ ὑπέσπασε
φυγῇ πόδ', ἀλλ᾽ ἔδωκεν οὐκ ἄκων χέρας,
οὐδ᾽ ὠχρὸς οὐδ᾽ ἤλλαξεν οἰνωπὸν γένυν,
γελῶν δὲ καὶ δεῖν κἀπάγειν ἐφίετο
440 ἔμενέ τε, τοὐμὸν εὐπετὲς ποιούμενος.
κἀγὼ δι' αἰδοῦς εἶπον· ὦ ξέν᾽, οὐχ ἑκὼν
ἄγω σε, Πενθέως δ᾽ ὅς μ᾿ ἔπεμψ᾽ ἐπιστολαῖς.
ἃς δ᾽ αὖ σὺ Βάκχας εἶρξας, ἃς συνήρπασας
κάδησας ἐν δεσμοῖσι πανδήμου στέγης,
445 φροῦδαί γ' ἐκεῖναι λελυμέναι πρὸς ὀργάδας
σκιρτῶσι Βρόμιον ἀνακαλούμεναι θεόν·
αυτόματα δ' αὐταῖς δεσμὰ διελύθη ποδῶν,
κληδές τ᾿ ἀνῆκαν θύρετρ᾽ ἄνευ θνητῆς χερός.
πολλῶν δ᾽ ὅδ᾽ ἀνὴρ θαυμάτων ἥκει πλέως
εἰς τάσδε Θήβας. σοὶ δὲ τἆλλα χρὴ μέλειν.
450
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
μέθεσθε χειρῶν τοῦδ'· ἐν ἄρκυσιν γὰρ ὢν
οὐκ ἔστιν οὕτως ὠκὺς ὥστε μ' ἐκφυγεῖν.
ἀτὰρ τὸ μὲν σῶμ᾽ οὐκ ἄμορφος εἶ, ξένε,
ὡς εἰς γυναῖκας, ἐφ' ὅπερ εἰς Θήβας πάρει·
THE BACCHAE.
35
But hateful to him the man who scorns,
425 In the day and the glad night seasons,
To live the life of the blessed;
Wise is it mind and heart safely to guard against
Men who have over-much learning attained.
430 But what the scantly taught multitude
Always sanctions and practises, this I too would accept.
SERVANT.
Here are we, Pentheus, we have caught this game
435 For which you sent us, not in vain we followed,
We found our quarry mild; he did not flee,
But offered willingly his hands, nor paled
Nor changed the color of his ruddy cheek,
But laughing bade us bind and lead away,
440 And waited, making thus my task no burden.
Awe-struck I said: "Sir, I arrest thee not
Of my free will, but by command of Pentheus."
But all the Bacchanals whom thou hadst seized,
Confined and fettered in the common prison,
445 Released from bonds far off unto the groves
They bound, invoking Bromios the god;
Self-moved from off their feet the fetters dropped,
And keys without mortal hand unlocked the door.
So, filled with many wonders comes this man
450 Hitter to Thebes. The rest must be thy care.
PENTHEUS.
Let loose his hands; for hemmed in by my toils,
Swift as he is, he never can escape me.
Stranger, the women think thee fair of form,
And to entice them thou art come to Thebes;
36
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
455 πλόκαμός τε γάρ σου ταναὸς οὐ πάλης υπο,
γένυν παρ' αὐτὴν κεχυμένος, πόθου πλέως·
λευκὴν δὲ χροιὰν ἐκ παρασκευῆς ἔχεις,
οὐχ ἡλίου βολαῖσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὸ σκιᾶς,
τὴν ᾿Αφροδίτην καλλονῇ θηρώμενος.
460 πρῶτον μὲν οὖν μοι λέξον ὅστις εἶ γένος.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
οὐ κόμπος οὐδείς, ῥᾴδιον δ᾽ εἰπεῖν τόδε.
τὸν ἀνθεμώδη Τμῶλον οἶσθά που κλύων.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
οἶδ', ὃς τὸ Σάρδεων ἄστυ περιβάλλει κύκλῳ.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἐντεῦθέν εἰμι, Λυδία δέ μοι πατρίς.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
465 πόθεν δὲ τελετὰς τάσδ᾽ ἄγεις εἰς Ελλάδα
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
Διόνυσος ἡμᾶς εἰσέβησ᾽ ὁ τοῦ Διός.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
Ζεὺς δ᾽ ἔστ' ἐκεῖ τις, ὃς νέους τίκτει θεούς;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
οὔκ, ἀλλὰ Σεμέλην ἐνθάδ᾽ ἔζευξεν γάμοις. -
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
πότερα δὲ νύκτωρ σ᾽ ἢ κατ᾿ ὄμμ' ἠνάγκασεν;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
470 ὁρῶν ὁρῶντα, καὶ δίδωσιν ὄργια.
THE BACCHAE.
37
455 Thy locks are long, no growth of the palaestra,
Beside thy cheek thick showered, warm with desire;
Thy skin too thou with care preservest white,
Not by the help of sunlight but of shade,
By thy beauty making Aphrodite captive.
160 First then declare to me thy name and race.
DIONYSOs.
I need no boast — easy is that to tell.
Perchance thou knowest by hearsay flowery Tmolos.
PENTHEUS.
Yes; that which girds around the city of Sardis.
DIONYSOS.
Thence do I come, Lydia my fatherland.
PENTHEUS.
465 Why dost thou bring these mystic rites to Greece?
DIONYSOS.
'T was Dionysos, son of Zeus, who brought me.
PENTHEUS.
And is there yonder a Zeus who gets new gods?
DIONYSOS.
No, 't was the Zeus who married Semele here.
PENTHEUS.
By night, or openly, did he compel thee?
DIONYSOS.
470 'T was eye to eye, and he taught me sacred rites.
38
BAKXAI.
475
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
τὰ δ᾽ ὄργι᾽ ἐστὶ τίν' ἰδέαν ἔχοντά σοι;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἄρρητ' ἀβακχεύτοισιν εἰδέναι βροτῶν.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἔχει δ' ὄνησιν τοῖσι θύουσιν τίνα;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
οὐ θέμις ἀκοῦσαί σ᾽, ἔστι δ᾽ ἄξι᾽ εἰδέναι.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
εὖ τοῦτ᾽ ἐκιβδήλευσας, ἵν᾽ ἀκοῦσαι θέλω.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἀσέβειαν ἀσκοῦντ᾽ ὄργι᾽ ἐχθαίρει θεοῦ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
τὸν θεὸν ὁρᾶν γὰρ φὴς σαφῶς, ποιός τις ἦν;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ὁποῖος ἤθελ'· οὐκ ἐγὼ ἔτασσον τόδε.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
τοῦτ᾽ αὖ παρωχέτευσας εὖ κοὐδὲν λέγων.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
480 δόξει τις ἀμαθεῖ σοφὰ λέγων οὐκ εὖ φρονεῖν.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἦλθες δὲ πρῶτα δεῦρ᾽ ἄγων τὸν δαίμονα;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
πᾶς ἀναχορεύει βαρβάρων τάδ' ὄργια.
THE BACCHAE.
39
PENTHEUS.
What is the nature of thy mysteries?
DIONYSOS.
The god's initiates alone can know.
PENTHEUS.
What profit bring they to the worshippers?
DIONYSOS.
Thou canst not hear, but it is worth the knowing.
PENTHEUS.
475 Well hast thou tricked this out to make me eager.
DIONYSOS.
The mysteries abhor an impious man.
PENTHEUS.
Thou plainly saw'st the god, thou say'st, how looked he?
DIONYSos.
As pleased himself; 't was not for me to order.
PENTHEUS.
This too thou hast neatly turned, declaring naught.
DIONYSOS.
480 He who speaks wisdom shall to a fool seem foolish.
PENTHEUS.
Hast thou brought the god to Thebes, his first abode?
DIONYSos.
All the barbarians honor him with dances.
40
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
φρονοῦσι γὰρ κάκιον Ἑλλήνων πολύ.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
τάδ' εὖ γε μάλλον· οἱ νόμοι δὲ διάφοροι.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
485 τὰ δ᾽ ἱερὰ νύκτωρ ἢ μεθ' ἡμέραν τελεῖς;
490
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
νύκτωρ τὰ πολλά· σεμνότητ᾽ ἔχει σκότος.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
τοῦτ᾽ εἰς γυναῖκας δόλιον ἐστι καὶ σαθρόν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
κἂν ἡμέρᾳ τό γ' αἰσχρὸν ἐξεύροι τις ἄν.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
δίκην σε δοῦναι δεῖ σοφισμάτων κακῶν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
σὲ δ᾽ ἀμαθίας γε κἀσεβοῦντ᾽ εἰς τὸν θεόν.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ὡς θρασὺς ὁ βάκχος κοὐκ ἀγύμναστος λόγων.
Ο
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
εἴφ' ὅ τι παθεῖν δεῖ· τί με τὸ δεινὸν ἐργάσει;
Ο
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
πρῶτον μὲν ἁβρόν βόστρυχον τεμῶ σέθεν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἱερὸς ὁ πλόκαμος· τῷ θεῷ δ᾽ αὐτὸν τρέφω.
THE BACCHAE.
41
PENTHEUS.
Yes, they in folly far surpass the Greeks.
DIONYSOS.
In this they are wiser, though their customs differ.
PENTHEUS.
485 Dost thou worship in the night or in the day?
DIONYSOs.
By night most often; darkness bringeth awe.
PENTHEUS.
This for the women is a cheat and bane.
DIONYSOS.
By day too one may compass wantonness.
PENTHEUS.
For thy base juggling thou must make amends.
DIONYSOS.
490 For thy folly thou, and thy sin against the god.
PENTHEUS.
How bold our Bacchant is, how skilled in speech!
DIONYSOS.
Declare my fate; what evil wilt thou do me?
PENTHEUS.
First then thy delicate curls I will cut off.
DIONYSOs.
My locks are sacred, to the god devoted.
42
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
495
500
ἔπειτα θύρσον τόνδε παράδος ἐκ χεροῖν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
αυτός μ' ἀφαιροῦ· τόνδε Διονύσου φορῶ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
εἱρκταῖσί τ᾽ ἔνδον σῶμα σὸν φυλάξομεν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
λύσει μ' ὁ δαίμων αὐτός, ὅταν ἐγὼ θέλω.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ὅταν γε καλέσῃς αὐτὸν ἐν Βάκχαις σταθείς.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
καὶ νῦν ἃ πάσχω πλησίον παρὼν ὁρᾷ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
καὶ ποῦ ἔστιν; οὐ γὰρ φανερὸς ὄμμασίν γ' ἐμοῖς.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
παρ' ἐμοί· σὺ δ᾽ ἀσεβὴς αὐτὸν ὧν οὐκ εἰσορᾷς.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
λάζυσθε, καταφρονεῖ με καὶ Θήβας όδε.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
αἰδῶ με μὴ δεῖν σωφρονῶν οὐ σώφροσιν.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
505 ἐγὼ δὲ δεῖν γε κυριώτερος σέθεν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
οὐκ οἶσθ᾽ ἀτίζων οὔθ᾽ ὁ δρᾷς οὔθ᾽ ὅστις εἶ.
THE BACCHAE.
43
PENTHEUS.
495 Out of thy hands next yield that thyrsus up.
DIONYSOs.
Take it thyself; I bear the wand of Bacchus.
PENTHEUS.
I'll guard thy body too in prison walls.
DIONYSOS.
The god himself will free me when I wish.
PENTHEUS.
Yes, when thou call'st him 'mid thy Bacchanals.
DIONYSOs.
500 Even now what I endure, being near, he sees.
PENTHEUS.
But where? for he is hidden from my eyes.
DIONYSOs.
With me; but thou being impious dost not see him.
PENTHEUS.
Seize him this man despises me and Thebes.
DIONYSOS.
I sound of mind bid thee insane not bind me.
PENTHEUS.
505 But I outranking thee in power say, Bind him.
DIONYSOS.
Scornful, thy deed thou know'st not nor thyself.
44
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
3.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
Πενθεὺς ᾿Αγαύης παῖς, πατρὸς δ᾽ Εχίονος.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἐνδυστυχήσαι τοὔνομ᾽ ἐπιτήδειος εἶ
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
χώρει· καθείρξατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἱππικαῖς πέλας
510 φάτναισιν, ὡς ἂν σκότιον εἰσορᾷ κνέφας.
ἐκεῖ χόρευε· τάσδε δ᾽ ἃς ἄγων πάρει
κακῶν συνεργοὺς ἢ διεμπολήσομεν
ἢ χεῖρα δούπον τοῦδε καὶ βύρσης κτύπου
παύσας, ἐφ᾽ ἱστοῖς δμωίδας κεκτήσομαι.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
515 στείχοιμ' ἄν· ὅ τι γὰρ μὴ χρεών, οὗτοι χρεὼν
αν Ο
παθεῖν. ἀτάρ τοι τῶνδ᾽ ἄποιν᾽ ὑβρισμάτων
μέτεισι Διόνυσός σ᾽, ὃν οὐκ εἶναι λέγεις·
ἡμᾶς γὰρ ἀδικῶν κεῖνον εἰς δεσμούς ἄγεις.
*
*
Αχελῴου θύγατερ,
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
*
520 πότνι᾽ εὐπάρθενε Δίρκα·
σὺ γὰρ ἐν σαῖς ποτε παγαῖς
τὸ Διὸς βρέφος ἔλαβες,
ὅτε μηρῷ πυρὸς ἐξ ἀ-
θανάτου Ζεὺς ὁ τεκὼν ἦρ-
πασέ νιν, ταῦτ᾽ ἀναβώσας
ἴθι, Διθύραμβ', ἐμὰν ἄρ-
σενα τάνδε βαθι νηδύν
ἀναφαίνω σε τόδ᾽, ὦ Βάκ
χιε, Θήβαις ὀνομάζειν.
525
Στροφή.
THE BACCHAE.
45
PENTHEUS.
Pentheus, Agave's son, my sire Echion.
DIONYSOs.
Thou hast a name to match a hapless fate.
PENTHEUS.
Go-near the horse-stalls make him prisoner,
510 That on thick darkness he may set his eyes.
There dance; but these the women thou hast brought,
Partners in crime, I will either sell apart,
Or, stopping from this din and noise of the drum
Their hand, I'll keep them servants at the loom.
DIONYSOs.
515 I go; for what is not my fate I ne'er
May suffer. For these insults Dionysos,
Whose being thou deniest, shall requite thee.
For in wronging me, thou art dragging him to prison.
CHORUS.
Hail! thou, Acheloös' daughter,
520 Hail! Dirce, fair maiden adored;
Yea thou in thy fountains of yore
The scion of Zeus didst receive,
When him in his thigh from the fire
Immortal the Father Zeus
*
STROPHE.
525 Hid away, giving voice to these words:
Come, my Dithyrambus, and enter
This retreat which thy father provides;
I proclaim thee, O Bacchus, to Thebes
To be called by this name Dithyrambus.
46
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
530 σὺ δέ μ᾽, ὦ μάκαιρα Δίρκα,
στεφαναφόρους ἀπωθεῖ
θιάσους ἔχουσαν ἐν σοί.
τί μ' ἀναίνει; τί με φεύγεις ;
ἔτι καὶ τὰν βοτρυώδη
535 Διονύσου χάριν οἶνας
540
545
ἔτι σοι τοῦ Βρομίου μελήσει.
οἵαν οἵαν ὀργάν
ἀναφαίνει χθόνιον
γένος ἐκφύς τε δράκοντός
ποτε Πενθεύς, ὃν Εχίων
ἐφύτευσε χθόνιος,
ἀγριωπὸν τέρας, οὐ φῶ-
τα βρότειον, φόνιον δ' ὥστ
τε γίγαντ᾽ ἀντίπαλον θεοῖς·
ὃς ἐμὲ βρόχοισι τὰν τοῦ
Βρομίου τάχα ξυνάψει,
τὸν ἐμὸν δ᾽ ἐντὸς ἔχει δώ
ματος ἤδη θιασώταν
σκοτίαισι κρυπτὸν εἱρκταῖς.
550 ἐσορᾷς τάδ᾽, ὦ Διὸς παῖ
Διόνυσε, σοὺς προφήτας
ἐν ἁμίλλαισιν ἀνάγκας;
μόλε χρυσώπα τινάσσων,
ἄνα, θύρσον κατ᾽ Ολύμπου,
555 φονίου δ᾽ ἀνδρὸς ὕβριν κατάσχες.
πόθι Νύσας ἄρα τας θη-
ροτρόφον θυρσοφορείς
θιάσους, ὦ Διόνυσ', ἢ
κορυφαῖς Κωρυκίαις;
Αντιστροφή.
Επωδός.
THE BACCHAE.
47
#
530 But thou, O Dirce, the blest,
Dost reject me who hold in thy land
My revels with garlands adorned.
Why repel me? why flee from my sight?
By the grace of the clustering vine,
535 By the gift of the lord Dionysos,
Hereafter for Bromios yet shalt thou care.
Ah me! what implacable wrath
Does the child of the earth now display,
The child from the dragon erst born,
540 Even Pentheus, he whom Echion,
His earth-born father, begot,
A savage-eyed monster, no man
In humanity's likeness, but fierce
As a giant at war with the gods.
545 Since myself, who our Bromios serve,
With cords he will quickly bind fast,
And already within he detains
My own fellow-reveler deep
In the gloom of the dungeon concealed.
550 Dost thou see this, divine son of Zeus,
Dionysos, thy heralds involved
In a warfare 'gainst violence waged?
Come, waving thy golden-hued wand,
O king, down the slopes of Olympus,
ANTISTROPHE.
555 And restrain thou the pride of the furious man.
O where on Nysa, the lair
Of wild beasts, art thou wielding thy wand
While thy revelers dance, Dionysos,
Or on the Corycian heights?
EPODE.
48
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
560 τάχα δ' ἐν ταῖς πολυδένδρεσ
σιν Ολύμπου θαλάμαις, ἔν
θα ποτ' Ορφεύς κιθαρίζων
σύναγεν δένδρεα μούσαις,
σύναγεν θῆρας ἀγρώτας.
565 μάκαρ ὦ Πιερία,
σέβεταί σ᾽ Εὔιος, ἥξει
τε χορεύων ἅμα βακχεύ
μασι, τόν τ᾽ ὠκυρόαν
διαβὰς 'Αξιον είλισ
570 σομένας Μαινάδας ἄξει,
Λυδίαν τε, τὸν εὐδαιμονίας
βροτοῖς ὀλβοδόταν
575
πατέρα, τὸν ἔκλυον
εὔιππον χώραν ὕδασιν
καλλίστοισι λιπαίνειν.
580
ἰώ.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
κλύετ᾽ ἐμᾶς κλύετ᾽ αὐδᾶς,
ἰὼ Βάκχαι, ω Βάκχαι.
ΗΜΙΧΟΡΟΣ α'.
τίς δε, τίς δε πόθεν ὁ κέλαδος ἀνά μ' ἐκάλεσεν
Ενίου;
ίώ ιώ, πάλιν αὐδῶ,
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ὁ Σεμέλας, ὁ Διὸς παῖς.
ΗΜΙΧΟΡΟΣ Β΄.
ἰὼ τώ δέσποτα δέσποτα,
THE BACCHAE.
49
560 Or perhaps in the shady retreats
Of Olympus, the thick-wooded haunts,
Where Orpheus once playing the lyre
With his music assembled the trees,
Called round him wild beasts of the wood.
565 O happy Pierian land,
The Evian god honors thee,
And he in the chorus will come
With revels, and, passing beyond
The Axios-torrent, will lead
570 The Maenads that whirl in the dance,
And will pass o'er the Lydias, source
Of prosperity, giver of wealth
Unto mortals, the stream which I hear
With its waters the brightest of all
575 Enriches the land famed for steeds.
DIONYSOS.
Attend, attend to my voice;
Ho Bacchanals, Bacchanals, hear!
FIRST SEMICHORUS.
Who is here? Whence and what is this voice,
This summons to me from the Evian god?
DIONYSOS.
580 What ho! Give ear! I call again,
The son of Zeus and Semele.
SECOND SEMICHORUS.
All hail to thee, our lord and master!
50
BAKXAI.
585
μόλε νυν ἡμέτερον εἰς
θίασον, ὦ Βρόμιε Βρόμιε.
ΚΟΡΥΦΑΙΟΣ.
πέδου χθονὸς ἔνοσι πότνια.
â â
τάχα τὰ Πενθέως
μέλαθρα διατινάξεται πεσήμασιν.
ὁ Διόνυσος ἀνὰ μέλαθρα
590 σέβετέ νιν.
σέβομεν ω.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ΗΜΙΧΟΡΟΣ α'.
ἰδὲ τὰ λάινα κίοσιν ἔμβολα
διάδρομα τάδε·
Βρόμιος ἀλαλάξεται στέγας ἔσω.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἅπτε κεραύνιον αἴθοπα λαμπάδα·
595 σύμφλεγε σύμφλεγε δώματα Πενθέως.
600
â â,
ΗΜΙΧΟΡΟΣ Β΄.
πῦρ οὐ λεύσσεις οὐδ᾽ αὐγάζει
Σεμέλας ἱερὸν ἀμφὶ τάφον ἂν
ποτε κεραυνόβολος ἔλιπε φλόγα
Δίου βροντας;
ΚΟΡΥΦΑΙΟΣ.
δίκετε πεδόσε δίκετε τρομερά
σώματα, Μαινάδες
ὁ γὰρ ἄναξ ἄνω κάτω τιθεὶς ἔπεισι
μέλαθρα τάδε Διός γόνος.
THE BACCHAE.
51
O Bromios, our Bromios,
Come thou and join our revel-band.
CORYPHAEUS.
585 O, awful quaking of Earth's floor!
Alas! alas !
Soon shall the house of Pentheus
Be shaken to its fall.
In the palace Dionysos walks ;
590 Honor him as a god.
CHORUS.
Oh! him we do adore.
FIRST SEMICHORUS.
See where the marble architraves
Are reeling yonder; Bromios
Within the house will raise the shout of triumph.
DIONYSOs.
Kindle the lurid lightning-torch;
595 Burn with devouring fire the halls of Pentheus.
Alas! alas!
SECOND SEMICHORUS.
Dost thou not see the burning, nor behold
Around the sacred tomb of Semele
The flame of the lightning's bolt sent down by Zeus,
Which she the thunder-stricken left at death?
CORYPHAEUS.
600 Fall to the ground, ye Maenads,
Fling down your quivering bodies ;
Behold, your king, the son of Zeus, will come
And lay the Palace of Pentheus in the dust.
52
BAKXAI.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
βάρβαροι γυναίκες, οὕτως ἐκπεπληγμέναι φόβῳ
605 πρὸς πέδῳ πεπτώκατ᾽; ᾔσθησθ', ὡς ἔοικε, Βακχίου
διατινάξαντος μέλαθρον· ἀλλ᾽ ἄγ᾽ ἐξανίστατε
σῶμα καὶ θαρσείτε σαρκὸς ἐξαμείψασαι τρόμον.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ὦ φάος μέγιστον ἡμῖν εὐίου βακχεύματος,
ὡς ἐσεῖδον ἀσμένη σε, μονάδ᾽ ἔχουσ᾽ ἐρημίαν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
610 εἰς ἀθυμίαν ἀφίκεσθ', ἡνίκ᾽ εἰσεπεμπόμην,
Πενθέως ὡς εἰς σκοτεινὰς ὁρκάνας πεσούμενος;
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
πῶς γὰρ οὔ; τίς μοι φύλαξ ἦν, εἰ σὺ συμφορᾶς
τύχοις ;
ἀλλὰ πῶς ἠλευθερώθης ἀνδρὸς ἀνοσίου βρόχων;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
αὐτὸς ἐξέσωσ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν ῥᾳδίως ἄνευ πόνου.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
οὐδὲ σου συνήψε χεῖρε δεσμίοισιν ἐν βρόχοις;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ταῦτα καὶ καθύβρισ᾽ αὐτόν, ὅτι με δεσμεύειν δοκῶν
οὔτ᾽ ἔθιγεν οὔθ᾽ ἦψαθ᾽ ἡμῶν, ἐλπίσιν δ᾽ ἐβόσκετο.
πρὸς φάτναις δὲ ταῦρον εὑρών, οὗ καθεῖργ᾽ ἡμᾶς
ἄγων,
τῷδε περὶ βρόχους ἔβαλλε γόνασι καὶ χηλαῖς ποδῶν,
620 θυμὸν ἐκπνέων, ἱδρῶτα σώματος στάζων ἀπο,
χείλεσιν διδοὺς ὁδόντας· πλησίον δ᾽ ἐγὼ παρὼν
THE BACCHAE.
53
DIONYSos.
Ye barbarian women, smitten thus with overmastering
dread,
605 On the earth have ye fallen prostrate? you have seen,
it seems, the god
Rend the palace walls asunder: Come, take courage
and arise,
Lifting up the head and putting from your limbs all
fear away.
CHORUS.
Hail to thee, O light the brightest of our Bacchic revelries!
With what joy we do behold thee, in our solitary state!
DIONYSOS.
610 To Despair did you surrender, when I was conducted in,
Thinking I was doomed to languish in the gloom of
Pentheus' cell?
CHORUS.
That did we; who would protect us, shouldst thou
meet an evil fate?
But how wast thou freed from durance of thine impious
enemy?
DIONYSOS.
By mine own unaided prowess easily I freed myself.
CHORUS.
615 Did he not with galling fetters both thy hands securely
bind?
DIONYSos.
In this very thing I mocked him: thinking there to
fetter me,
He did neither touch nor seize me, but on idle hopes.
he fed.
Finding in the stalls a bullock where he wished to shut
me in,
Round the creature's knees he twisted, round its hoofs
the tight-drawn cords,
620 Breathing wrath, while from his body drops of sweat
fell down like rain,
And he bit his lips in anger; but beside him all serene
54
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ἥσυχος θάσσων ἔλευσσον. ἐν δὲ τῷδε τῷ χρόνῳ
ἀνετίναξ᾽ ἐλθὼν ὁ Βάκχος δῶμα καὶ μητρὸς τάφῳ
πῦρ ἀνῆψ'· ὁ δ᾽ ὡς ἐσεῖδε, δώματ' αἴθεσθαι δοκῶν
625 ἧσσ᾽ ἐκεῖσε κατ᾽ ἐκεῖσε, δμωσὶν ᾿Αχελῷον φέρειν
ἐννέπων, ἅπας δ᾽ ἐν ἔργῳ δοῦλος ἦν μάτην πονῶν.
διαμεθεὶς δὲ τόνδε μόχθον, ὡς ἐμοῦ πεφευγότος,
ἵεται ξίφος κελαινὸν ἁρπάσας δόμων ἔσω.
καθ᾽ ὁ Βρόμιος, ὡς ἔμοιγε φαίνεται, δόξαν λέγω,
630 φάσμ᾽ ἐποίησεν κατ' αὐλήν· ὁ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῦθ᾽ ὡρμη
μένος
ἦσσε κἀκέντει φαεννὸν αἰθέρ', ὡς σφάζων ἐμέ.
πρὸς δὲ τοῖσδ᾽ αὐτῷ τάδ' ἄλλα Βάκχιος λυμαίνεται·
δώματ' έρρηξεν χαμᾶζε· συντεθράνωται δ᾽ ἅπαν
πικροτάτους ἰδόντι δεσμοὺς τοὺς ἐμοὺς· κόπου δ᾽ ὕπο
635 διαμεθεὶς ξίφος παρεῖται. πρὸς θεὸν γὰρ ὢν ἀνὴρ
εἰς μάχην ἐλθεῖν ἐτόλμησ᾽· ἥσυχος δ᾽ ἐκβὰς ἐγὼ
δωμάτων ἥκω πρὸς ὑμᾶς, Πενθέως οὐ φροντίσας.
ὡς δέ μοι δοκεῖ, ψοφεῖ γοῦν ἀρβύλη δόμων ἔσω,
εἰς προνώπι᾽ αὐτίχ' ἥξει. τί ποτ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐκ τούτων ἐρεῖ;
640 ῥᾳδίως γὰρ αὐτὸν οἶσω, κἂν πνέων ἔλθῃ μέγα.
πρὸς σοφοῦ γὰρ ἀνδρὸς ἀσκεῖν σώφρον εὐοργησίαν.
645
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
EK
πέπονθα δεινά διαπέφευγέ μ' ὁ ξένος,
ὃς ἄρτι δεσμοῖς ἦν κατηναγκασμένος.
τα κα
ὅδ᾽ ἐστὶν ἁνήρ· τί τάδε; πῶς προνώπιος
φαίνει πρὸς οἴκοις τοῖς ἐμοῖς, ἔξω βεβώς;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
στῆσον πόδ', ὀργῇ δ᾽ ὑπόθες ἥσυχον τρόπον.
THE BACCHAE.
55
Sitting there I watched and waited. But behold what
now befell:
Bacchus coming shook the palace, and upon his mother's tomb
Kindled fire: but when he saw it, thinking 't was the house
in flames
625 Hither and thither darted Pentheus shouting orders to the
slaves,
Shouting "water," and each vassal labored at the task in vain.
But this toil he soon gave over, thinking me a fugitive,
Rushed into the palace, grasping in his hand his deadlysword.
Bromios then, methinks, created, what I think I utter forth,
630 In the palace court a phantom: Pentheus furious upon this
Forward rushed, the bright air stabbing, slaying me, as he
believed.
More than this, the god afflicts him with these new calamities:
To the ground he hurled the structures, all in ruin pros-
trate lies,
So that now he finds disaster in my bonds; and wearily
635 Letting fall his sword sinks helpless. Mortal man against
a god
He has dared to come in battle. But I peaceful passing out
From the palace stand before you, heeding Pentheus not
at all.
But I think there is the sound of footsteps in the palace
halls,
Straightway he will come before us. After this what will
he say?
640 Unconcerned will I confront him, even if breathing rage
he stands,
For a wise man it is easy to maintain his self-command.
PENTHEUS.
I'm baffled, foiled! The stranger hath escaped me,
He who just now in fetters was confined.
Ha! ha!
645 Here is the man; what means this? how emerging
Dost thou appear in front beside my house?
DIONYSOs.
Stay! let a quiet spirit rule thine anger.
56
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
πόθεν σὺ δεσμὰ διαφυγὼν ἔξω περᾷς;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
οὐκ εἶπον ἢ οὐκ ἤκουσας ὅτι λύσει μέ τις;
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
650 τίς; τοὺς λόγους γὰρ εἰσφέρεις καινοὺς ἀεί.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ὃς τὴν πολύβοτρυν ἄμπελον φύει βροτοῖς.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ὠνείδισας δὴ τοῦτο Διονύσῳ καλόν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
*
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
- κλῄειν κελεύω πάντα πύργον ἐν κύκλῳ.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
τί δ'; οὐχ ὑπερβαίνουσι καὶ τείχη θεοί;
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
655 σοφὸς σοφὸς σύ, πλὴν ἃ δεῖ σ᾽ εἶναι σοφόν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἃ δεῖ μάλιστα, ταῦτ᾽ ἔγωγ᾽ ἔφυν σοφός.
κείνου δ᾽ ἀκούσας πρῶτα τοὺς λόγους μάθε,
ὃς ἐξ ὄρους πάρεστιν ἀγγελῶν τί σοι·
ἡμεῖς δέ σοι μενοῦμεν, οὐ φευξούμεθα.
THE BACCHAE.
57
PENTHEUS.
How didst thou break the fetters and pass out?
DIONYSOS.
Said I not? Heard'st thou not-"Some one will free me?"
PENTHEUS.
650 Who? Always answers that are strange thou givest.
DIONYSOs.
He who brings forth for men the fruitful vine.
PENTHEUS.
In this fine thing thou hast brought reproach on Bacchus.
*
*
*
DIONYSOS.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
PENTHEUS.
Each tower around I bid you close and bar.
DIONYSOS.
But why? do not the gods o'erleap the walls?
PENTHEUS.
655 Wise, wise art thou, save where thou shouldst be wise.
DIONYSOS.
Where need is greatest, there am I found wise.
But first attend and learn the words of him
Who from the mountain tidings brings to thee;
Here, be assured, I wait, I will not fly.
58
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
660 Πενθεῦ κρατύνων τῆσδε Θηβαίας χθονός,
ἥκω Κιθαιρῶν ἐκλιπών, ἵν᾽ οὔποτε
λευκῆς ἀνεῖσαν χιόνος ἐξαυγεῖς βολαί.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἥκεις δὲ ποίαν προστιθεὶς σπουδὴν λόγου;
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
Βάκχας ποτνιάδας εἰσιδών, αἳ τῆσδε γῆς
665 οἴστροισι λευκὸν κώλον ἐξηκόντισαν,
ἥκω φράσαι σοὶ καὶ πόλει χρήζων, ἄναξ,
ὡς δεινὰ δρῶσι θαυμάτων τε κρείσσονα.
θέλω δ᾽ ἀκοῦσαι, πότερά σοι παρρησίᾳ
φράσω τὰ κεῖθεν ἢ λόγον στειλώμεθα·
στο τὸ γὰρ τάχος σου τῶν φρενῶν δέδοικ᾽, ἄναξ,
καὶ τοὐξύθυμον καὶ τὸ βασιλικὸν λίαν.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
λέγ', ὡς ἀθῷος ἐξ ἐμοῦ πάντως ἔσει·
[τοῖς γὰρ δικαίοις οὐχὶ θυμοῦσθαι χρεών·]
ὅσῳ δ᾽ ἂν εἴπῃς δεινότερα Βακχῶν πέρι,
675 τοσῷδε μᾶλλον τὸν ὑποθέντα τὰς τέχνας
γυναιξὶ τόνδε τῇ δίκῃ προσθήσομεν.
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
ἀγελαῖα μὲν βοσκήματ᾽ ἄρτι πρὸς λέπας
μόσχων ὑπεξήκριζον, ἡνίχ' ἥλιος
ἀκτῖνας ἐξίησι θερμαίνων χθόνα·
680 ὁρῶ δὲ θιάσους τρεῖς γυναικείων χορῶν,
ὧν ἦρχ᾽ ἑνὸς μὲν Αὐτονόη, τοῦ δευτέρου
μήτηρ ᾿Αγαύη σή, τρίτου δ᾽ Ἰνὼ χοροῦ.
THE BACCHAE.
59
MESSENGER.
660 Pentheus, thou ruler of this Theban land,
I come before thee, from Cithaeron yonder,
Where the glistening flakes of pure snow never cease.
PENTHEUS.
With what important message art thou come?
MESSENGER.
The furious Bacchanals, who from this land
665 Darted in frenzy forth with gleaming limb,
I have beheld, and now am come, O king,
To tell thee and the state how strange their deeds.
But I would learn if boldly I shall speak,
Or with reserve, to thee of things done yonder.
670 For I do fear, O king, thy fiery spirit,
Its keen resentment and imperiousness.
PENTHEUS.
Speak, since from me thou shalt not suffer harm;
[Against the just we should not be enraged ;]
But the worse thy story of the Bacchanals
675 Shall be, so much the more I'll punish him,
This man who has with his arts beguiled our women.
MESSENGER.
The herds of grazing cattle had begun
To climb the mountain crag just when the sun
Sent forth his morning rays to warm the earth,
680 When I saw three bands, three choruses of women:
One troop Autonoe marshaled, thy own mother
Agave led the second, Ino, the third.
60
685
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ηἶδον δὲ πᾶσαι σώμασιν παρειμέναι,
αι
αἱ μὲν πρὸς ἐλάτης νῶτ᾽ ἐρείσασαι φόβην,
αἳ δ᾽ ἐν δρυὸς φύλλοισι πρὸς πέδῳ κάρα
εἰκῇ βαλοῦσαι σωφρόνως, οὐχ ὡς σὺ φὴς
νωμένας κρατῆρι καὶ λωτοῦ ψόφῳ
θηρᾶν καθ' ύλην Κύπριν ἠρημωμένην.
ἡ σὴ δὲ μήτηρ ὠλόλυξεν ἐν μέσαις
690 σταθεῖσα Βάκχαις, ἐξ ὕπνου κινεῖν δέμας,
μυκήμαθ᾽ ὡς ἤκουσε κεροφόρων βοῶν.
αἳ δ᾽ ἀποβαλοῦσαι θαλερὸν ὀμμάτων ὕπνον
ἀνῇξαν ὀρθαί, θαῦμ᾿ ἰδεῖν ευκοσμίας,
νέαι παλαιαί παρθένοι τ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἄζυγες.
695
αι
καὶ πρῶτα μὲν καθεῖσαν εἰς ὤμους κόμας
νεβρίδας τ᾿ ἀνεστείλανθ᾽ ὅσαισιν ἁμμάτων
σύνδεσμ᾽ ἐλέλυτο, καὶ καταστίκτους δορὰς
ὄφεσι κατεζώσαντο λιχμῶσιν γένυν.
Επι
αἳ δ᾽ ἀγκάλαισι δορκάδ᾽ ἢ σκύμνους λύκων
700 ἀγρίους ἔχουσαι λευκὸν ἐδίδοσαν γάλα,
ὅσαις νεοτόκοις μαστὸς ἦν σπαργῶν ἔτι
βρέφη λιπούσαις· ἐπὶ δ᾽ ἔθεντο κισσίνους
στεφάνους δρυός τε μίλακός τ᾿ ἀνθεσφόρου.
θύρσον δέ τις λαβοῦσ᾽ ἔπαισεν εἰς πέτραν,
705 ὅθεν δροσώδης ὕδατος ἐκπηδᾷ νοτίς·
ἄλλη δὲ νάρθηκ᾽ εἰς πέδον καθῆκε γῆς,
καὶ τῇδε κρήνην ἐξανῆκ᾽ οἴνου θεός·
ὅσαις δὲ λευκοῦ πώματος πόθος παρῆν,
ἄκροισι δακτύλοισι διαμῶσαι χθόνα
710 γάλακτος ἑσμοὺς εἶχον· ἐκ δὲ κισσίνων
θύρσων γλυκεῖαι μέλιτος ἔσταζον ῥοαί.
ὥστ᾽ εἰ παρῆσθα, τὸν θεὸν τὸν νῦν ψέγεις
εὐχαῖσιν ἂν μετῆλθες εἰσιδὼν τάδε.
αν
THE BACCHAE.
61
They all were slumbering with limbs relaxed,
Some leaning 'gainst the boughs of the silver fir,
685 Some with their heads upon the oak-leaves resting,
In careless guise but modest, nor are they
Drunk, as thou say'st, with wine and flute-notes, roaming
The forest wilds alone in search of Cypris.
Then stood thy mother 'mid the Bacchanals,
690 And raised the cry to rouse their forms from sleep,
As she heard the lowing of the horned steers.
And from their eyes shaking off balmy sleep
They sprang erect, a sight of marvellous grace,
The young and old, the virgins still unwed.
695
And first their locks they showered upon their shoulders,
Tied up their fawn-skins - all of those whose bands.
Had been unloosed, and girt the dappled skins
With wreaths of serpents that did lick their cheeks.
And others, holding in their arms a roe
700 Or wild wolf's cubs, with white milk suckled them,
Those who from recent child-birth had swollen breasts
Leaving their babes; and on their heads they placed
Garlands of ivy, oak and flowery smilax.
And one her thyrsus taking smote the rock,
705 Whence gushed a spring of sparkling water forth;
Another with her ferule struck the earth,
And the god sent up for her a fount of wine.
And all who for a white draught had desire
Scraped with their finger-tips the earth and found
710 Rich streams of milk; while from their ivy wands
Sweet drops of liquid honey were distilled.
Hadst thou been there, the god whom now thou blamest
Thou wouldst, on seeing this, have sought in prayer.
62
BAKXAI.
715
ξυνήλθομεν δὲ βουκόλοι καὶ ποιμένες,
κοινῶν λόγων δώσοντες ἀλλήλοις ἔριν·
[ὡς δεινὰ δρῶσι θαυμάτων τ᾽ ἐπάξια]
καί τις πλάνης κατ᾽ ἄστυ καὶ τρίβων λόγων
ἔλεξεν εἰς ἅπαντας· ὦ σεμνὰς πλάκας
ναίοντες ὀρέων, θέλετε θηρασώμεθα
720 Πενθέως ᾿Αγαύην μητέρ' ἐκ βακχευμάτων
χάριν τ' ἄνακτι θώμεθ'; εὖ δ᾽ ἡμῖν λέγειν
ἔδοξε, θάμνων δ᾽ ἐλλοχίζομεν φόβαις
κρύψαντες αὑτούς· αἱ δὲ τὴν τεταγμένην
ὥραν ἐκίνουν θύρσον εἰς βακχεύματα,
725 Ιακχον ἀθρόῳ στόματι τὸν Διὸς γόνον
Βρόμιον καλοῦσαι· πᾶν δὲ συνεβάκχευ᾽ ὄρος
καὶ θῆρες, οὐδὲν δ᾽ ἦν ἀκίνητον δρόμῳ.
κυρεί δ' Αγαύη πλησίον θρώσκουσά μου·
κἀγὼ ξεπήδησ᾽ ὡς συναρπάσαι θέλων,
730 λόχμην κενώσας ἔνθ᾽ ἐκρύπτομεν δέμας
ἡ δ᾽ ἀνεβόησεν· ὦ δρομάδες ἐμαὶ κύνες,
θηρώμεθ᾽ ἀνδρῶν τῶνδ᾽ ὑπ᾽· ἀλλ᾽ ἕπεσθέ μοι,
ἕπεσθε θύρσοις διὰ χερῶν ἁπλισμέναι.
ἡμεῖς μὲν οὖν φεύγοντες ἐξηλύξαμεν
735 Βακχών σπαραγμόν, αἱ δὲ νεμομέναις χλόην
μόσχοις ἐπῆλθον χειρὸς ἀσιδήρου μέτα.
καὶ τὴν μὲν ἂν προσεῖδες εὔθηλον πόριν
μυκωμένην ἔχουσαν ἐν χεροῖν βίᾳ,
ἄλλαι δὲ δαμάλας διεφόρουν σπαράγμασιν.
740 εἶδες δ᾽ ἂν ἢ πλεύρ᾽ ἢ δίχηλον ἔμβασιν
ῥιπτόμεν᾽ ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω· κρεμαστὰ δὲ
ἔσταζ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἐλάταις ἀναπεφυρμέν' αἵματι.
ταῦροι δ᾽ ὑβρισταί, κεἰς κέρας θυμούμενοι
τὸ πρόσθεν, ἐσφάλλοντο πρὸς γαῖαν δέμας,
THE BACCHAE.
63
And now we herdsmen with the shepherds met
715 For mutual debate among ourselves.
[Since what they did was strange and marvelous]
A city stroller, skilled in the art of speech,
Said before all: "O, ye whose dwelling is
On the sacred upland levels, shall we chase
720 Agave, mother of Pentheus, from her orgies,
And do the king a pleasure?" This we thought
Well said; so, hidden by the leaves of shrubs,
We lay in ambush. They at the set time
Brandished the thyrsus in their revelries,
725 Iacchus, Bromios, the son of Zeus
With one voice calling; with them danced the mountain,
Danced the wild beasts; all was awake and moving.
By chance near me Agave leaps and dances;
And forth I sprang intent on seizing her,
730 Leaving the thicket where we had lain concealed.
And loud she cried: "Ho, my fleet-footed hounds!
We are hunted by these men : come follow me,
Follow ye, armed with the thyrsi in your hands.”
We therefore fleeing them escaped being torn
735 In pieces by the Bacchanals. They then,
Their hands unarmed, rushed on the pasturing cattle.
One, by her strength of hands, you might have seen
Hold fast a bellowing cow with swollen udder,
And some were tearing heifers into fragments.
740 You might have seen their ribs or cloven hoofs
Tossed up and down, while pieces which hung suspended
All stained with blood, dripped 'neath the silver firs.
The wanton bulls, that glared along their horns
Erstwhile in fury, then were flung to earth,
64
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
745 μυριάσι χειρῶν ἀγόμενοι νεανίδων.
θάσσον δὲ διεφοροῦντο σαρκὸς ἐνδυτὰ
ἢ σε ξυνάψαι βλέφαρα βασιλείοις κόραις.
χωροῦσι δ' ὥστ᾽ ὄρνιθες ἀρθεῖσαι δρόμῳ
πεδίων ὑποτάσεις, αἳ παρ' Ασωποῦ ῥοαῖς
750 εὔκαρπον ἐκβάλλουσι Θηβαίοις στάχυν,
Υσιάς τ' Ερυθράς θ', αἳ Κιθαιρῶνος λέπας
νέρθεν κατῳκήκασιν, ὥστε πολέμιοι
ἐπεισπεσοῦσαι πάντ᾽ ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω
διέφερον· ἥρπαζον μὲν ἐκ δόμων τέκνα,
755
*
αι
ὁπόσα δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ὤμοις ἔθεσαν, οὐ δεσμῶν ὕπο
προσείχετ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἔπιπτεν εἰς μέλαν πέδον,
οὐ χαλκός, οὐ σίδηρος· ἐπὶ δὲ βοστρύχοις
πῦρ ἔφερον, οὐδ᾽ ἔκαιεν. οἱ δ᾽ ὀργῆς ὕπο
εἰς ὅπλ᾽ ἐχώρουν φερόμενοι Βακχῶν υπο·
760 ούπερ τὸ δεινὸν ἦν θέαμ' ἰδεῖν, ἀναξ.
τοῖς μὲν γὰρ οὐχ ἵμασσε λογχωτὸν βέλος,
κεῖναι δὲ θύρσους ἐξανιεῖσαι χερῶν
ἐτραυμάτιζον κἀπενώτιζον φυγῇ
γυναῖκες ἄνδρας, οὐκ ἄνευ θεῶν τινος.
765 πάλιν δ' ἐχώρουν ὅθεν ἐκίνησαν πόδα,
κρήνας ἐπ' αὐτὸς ἃς ἀνῆκ᾽ αὐταῖς θεός.
νίψαντο δ' αἷμα, σταγόνα δ᾽ ἐκ παρηίδων
γλώσσῃ δράκοντες ἐξεφαίδρυνον χροός.
τὸν δαίμον᾽ οὖν τόνδ' ὅστις ἔστ᾽, ὦ δέσποτα,
77ο δέχου πόλει τῇδ᾽, ὡς τά τ' ἀλλ᾽ ἐστὶν μέγας,
κἀκεῖνό φασιν αὐτόν, ὡς ἐγὼ κλύω,
τὴν παυσίλυπον ἄμπελον δοῦναι βροτοῖς.
οἴνου δὲ μηκέτ' ὄντος οὐκ ἔστιν Κύπρις
οὐδ᾽ ἄλλο τερπνὸν οὐδὲν ἀνθρώποις ἔτι.
THE BACCHAE.
65
745 By the countless hands of maidens overpowered.
And the flesh that covered them was torn asunder
Ere thou couldst close the lids of thy royal eyes.
And they go uplifted in their flight like birds
O'er the low plains that by the Asopus' streams
750 Produce abundant harvests for the Thebans ;
Next Hysiae and Erythrae, nestling low
Beneath Cithaeron's crag, like enemies.
Assaulting, all things there pell-mell they scattered;
The children from their homes they snatched away;
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
755 Whate'er they placed upon their shoulders clung
Unbound with cords, nor fell to the black earth,
Not even brass or iron; on their locks
They carried fire that burned not. But the people,
Robbed by the Bacchanals, furious rushed to arms;
760 What now befell was a strange sight, O king.
For the men's pointed weapons drew no blood;
But they, shooting the thyrsi from their hands,
Gave wounds and turned the enemy in flight,
Women pursuing men, with help divine.
765 So to their starting-place they went again,
Back to the fountains which the god sent up;
Washed off the blood; while from their cheeks the snakes
With their tongues licked clean the blood-drops on their skin.
This god, whoe'er he is, receive, O master,
770 In our city. Great in other things is he,
And this too, as I learn, they tell of him,
That he gave the pain-assuaging vine to mortals.
But when we have no wine, no love is left
Nor other pleasure to the race of men.
66
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
775 ταρβῶ μὲν εἰπεῖν τοὺς λόγους ἐλευθέρους
εἰς τὸν τύραννον, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως εἰρήσεται·
Διόνυσος ήσσων οὐδενὸς θεῶν ἔφυ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἤδη τόδ᾽ ἐγγὺς ὥστε πῦρ ὑφάπτεται
ὕβρισμα Βακχῶν, ψόγος ἐς Ελληνας μέγας.
780 ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ὀκνεῖν δεῖ· στεῖχ᾽ ἐπ᾽ Ηλέκτρας ἰὼν
πύλας· κέλευε πάντας ἀσπιδηφόρους
ἵππων τ᾽ ἀπαντᾶν ταχυπόδων ἐπεμβάτας
πέλτας θ᾽ ὅσοι πάλλουσι καὶ τόξων χερὶ
ψάλλουσι νευράς, ὡς ἐπιστρατεύσομεν
785 Βάκχαισιν· οὐ γὰρ ἀλλ᾽ ὑπερβάλλει τάδε,
εἰ πρὸς γυναικῶν πεισόμεσθ᾽ ἃ πάσχομεν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
πείθει μὲν οὐδὲν τῶν ἐμῶν λόγων κλύων,
Πενθεῦ· κακῶς δὲ πρὸς σέθεν πάσχων ὅμως
οὔ φημι χρήναί σ᾽ ὅπλ᾽ ἐπαίρεσθαι θεῷ,
790 ἀλλ' ἡσυχάζειν· Βρόμιος οὐκ ἀνέξεται
κινοῦντα Βάκχας σ᾿ εὐίων ὀρῶν ἄπο
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
οὐ μὴ φρενώσεις μ', ἀλλὰ δέσμιος φυγών
σώσει τόδ'; ἢ σοὶ πάλιν ἀναστρέψω χέρας.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
θύοιμ᾽ ἂν αὐτῷ μᾶλλον ἢ θυμούμενος
795 πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζοιμι θνητὸς ὢν θεῷ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
θύσω — φόνον γε θῆλυν, ὥσπερ ἄξιαι,
THE BACCHAE.
67
CHORUS.
775 I shrink from uttering the words of freedom
Before the king, and yet they shall be spoken:
Dionysos is the peer of any god.
PENTHEUS.
Already is this Bacchic insolence kindling,
Like fire hard by, a shame in the eyes of Hellas.
780 We must not halt: On to the Electran gate!
Bid muster all the men that bear the shield
And all the warriors mounted on fleet steeds
And all who brandish bucklers, those who twang
The bow-strings, since against the Bacchanals
785 We go to war: for this is past enduring,
From women's hands to suffer what we suffer.
DIONYSOS.
My words, no doubt, do not convince thee, Pentheus;
Yet I, ill used by thee, advise thee well,
Bid thee desist from warfare with the god.
790 Be quiet! Bromios will not brook thy driving
His Maenads from the mountains where they revel.
PENTHEUS.
Counsel me not! thou art free from bonds; let this
Content thee! Else I fetter thee again.
DIONYSOS.
I would bring him offerings, rather than in anger
795 Kick 'gainst the pricks, a man at war with a god.
PENTHEUS.
I'll offer the victims women, as they merit,
68
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
πόλεμον ταράξας ἐν Κιθαιρῶνος πτυχαῖς.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
φενξεῖσθε πάντες· καὶ τόδ᾽ αἰσχρόν, ἀσπίδας
θύρσοισι Βακχῶν ἐκτρέπειν χαλκηλάτους.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
800 ἀπόρῳ γε τῷδε συμπεπλέγμεθα ξένῳ,
ὃς οὔτε πάσχων οὔτε ὁρῶν σιγήσεται.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ὦ τᾶν, ἔτ᾽ ἔστιν εὖ καταστῆσαι τάδε.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
τί δρῶντα; δουλεύοντα δουλείαις ἐμαῖς;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἐγὼ γυναῖκας δεῦρ᾽ ὅπλων ἄξω δίχα.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
805 οἴμοι· τόδ' ἤδη δόλιον εἰς με μηχανᾷ.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ποιόν τι, σῶσαί σ᾽ εἰ θέλω τέχναις ἐμαῖς;
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ξυνέθεσθε κοινῇ τάδ', ἵνα βακχεύητ᾽ ἀεί.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
καὶ μὴν ξυνεθέμην τοῦτό γ', ἴσθι, τῷ θεῷ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἐκφέρετέ μοι δεῦρ᾽ ὅπλα· σὺ δὲ παῦσαι λέγων.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
810 βούλει σφ' ἐν ὄρεσι συγκαθημένας ἰδεῖν;
THE BACCHAE.
69
Stirring up war within Cithaeron's dells.
DIONYSOS.
Ye all shall flee: shame would it be to turn
Your bronze-wrought shields before the Bacchanals'
wands.
PENTHEUS.
800 Awkward to manage is our stranger here,
Doing or suffering he will not be quiet.
DIONYSOS.
This still admits, my friend, a happy issue.
PENTHEUS.
How shall I gain it? Serving my own slaves?
DIONYSOS.
I will bring the women hither without weapons.
PENTHEUS.
805 Ah me! thou art planning now some wile against me.
DIONYSOS.
But what if I would save thee by mine arts?
PENTHEUS.
Your compact this, that you may always revel.
DIONYSOS.
Well, be assured my league was with the god.
PENTHEUS.
Bring ye my armor; and do thou cease speaking.
DIONYSOs.
810 Ha! wouldst thou see them seated on the hills?
70
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
μάλιστα, μυρίον γε δοὺς χρυσου σταθμόν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
τί δ᾽ εἰς ἔρωτα τοῦδε πέπτωκας μέγαν;
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
λυπρῶς νιν εἰσίδοιμ᾽ ἂν ἐξωνωμένας.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
815 ὅμως δ᾽ ἴδοις ἂν ἡδέως ἅ σοι πικρά;
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ
σάφ᾽ ἴσθι, σιγῇ γ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἐλάταις καθήμενος.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἀλλ᾽ ἐξιχνεύσουσίν σε, κἂν ἔλθῃς λάθρα.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἀλλ' ἐμφανῶς· καλῶς γὰρ ἐξεῖπας τάδε.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἄγωμεν οὖν σε κἀπιχειρήσεις ὁδῷ;
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
820 ἄγ᾽ ὡς τάχιστα, τοῦ χρόνου δέ σοι φθονῶ.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ
στελλαί νυν ἀμφὶ χρωτὶ βυσσίνους πέπλους.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
τί δὴ τόδ'; εἰς γυναῖκας ἐξ ἀνδρὸς τελῶ;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
μή σε κτάνωσιν, ἣν ἀνὴρ ὀφθῇς ἐκεῖ.
THE BACCHAE.
71
PENTHEUS.
Yes, for the sight I'd give vast weight of gold.
DIONYSOS.
Why has such eagerness for this possessed thee?
PENTHEUS.
To their sorrow I would see them drunk with wine.
DIONYSOS.
815 Yet wouldst thou gladly see what will bring thee pain?
PENTHEUS.
Yes, sitting in silence 'neath the silver firs.
DIONYSOs.
They will trace thee out, e'en though thou go in secret.
PENTHEUS.
Openly then; this thou hast spoken well.
DIONYSOS.
Well, shall I guide thee? Wilt thou attempt the way?
PENTHEUS.
820 With all speed guide me, for I grudge delay.
DIONYSOS.
Then robe thyself in a peplus of fine lawn.
PENTHEUS.
What then? Shall I, a man, become a woman?
DIONYSOS.
Lest they should slay thee, seeing thee there a man.
72
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
825
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
εὖ γ᾽ εἶπας αὐτό καί τις εἶ πάλαι σοφός.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
Διόνυσος ἡμᾶς ἐξεμούσωσεν τάδε.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
πῶς οὖν γένοιτ' ἂν ἃ σύ με νουθετεῖς καλῶς;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἐγὼ στελῶ σε δωμάτων εἴσω μολών.
[ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
828 τίνα στολήν; ἢ θῆλυν; ἀλλ᾽ αἰδώς μ' ἔχει.]
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
830 στολὴν δὲ τίνα φὴς ἀμφὶ χρῶτ᾽ ἐμὸν βαλεῖν ;
833
836
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
κόμην μὲν ἐπὶ σῷ κρατὶ ταναὸν ἐκτενῶ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
τὸ δεύτερον δὲ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τί μοι ;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
πέπλοι ποδήρεις· ἐπὶ κάρᾳ δ᾽ ἔσται μίτρα.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
οὐκ ἂν δυναίμην θῆλυν ἐνδῦναι στολήν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
829 οὐκέτι θεατης Μαινάδων πρόθυμος εἶ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
834 ή καί τι πρὸς τοῖσδ᾽ ἄλλο προσθήσεις ἐμοί;
THE BACCHAE.
73
PENTHEUS.
Thou speakest well and hast a practised wit.
DIONYSOs.
825 My teacher in this art was Dionysos.
PENTHEUS.
How can we fitly do what thou advisest?
DIONYSOS.
Going within the palace I will robe thee.
[PENTHEUS.
828 In what attire? A woman's? Shame restrains me.]
PENTHEUS.
830 And in what dress dost thou propose to array me?
DIONYSOS.
Thy flowing locks I'll smooth upon thy head.
PENTHEUS.
What is the second part of my adorning?
DIONYSOS.
833 Long trailing robes, a snood upon thy head.
PENTHEUS.
836 I cannot dress myself in women's garments.
DIONYSOs.
829 Thou hast lost thy eagerness to see the Maenads.
PENTHEUS.
834 Wilt thou add aught else than this to my attire?
74
BAKXAI.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
835 θύρσον γε χειρὶ καὶ νεβροῦ στικτὸν δέρος.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
842 πᾶν κρείσσον ὥστε μὴ ᾽γγελᾶν Βάκχας ἐμοί.
837
840
841
843
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἀλλ᾽ αἷμα δεύσεις συμβαλὼν Βάκχαις μάχην.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ὀρθῶς· μολεῖν χρὴ πρῶτον εἰς κατασκοπήν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
σοφώτερον γοῦν ἡ κακοῖς θηρᾶν κακά.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
καὶ πῶς δι᾽ ἄστεως εἶμι Καδμείους λαθών ;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ὁδοὺς ἐρήμους μεν· ἐγὼ δ᾽ ἡγήσομαι.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἐλθόντ᾽ ἐς οἴκους ἂν δοκῇ βουλεύσομαι.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἔξεστι· πάντῃ τό γ' ἐμὸν εὐτρεπές πάρα.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
845 στείχοιμ' ἄν· ἡ γὰρ ὅπλ᾽ ἔχων πορεύσομαι
ἢ τοῖσι σοῖσι πείσομαι βουλεύμασιν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
848 γυναῖκες, ἀνὴρ εἰς βόλον καθίσταται·
847 ἥξει δὲ Βάκχας, οὗ θανών δώσει δίκην.
THE BACCHAE.
75
DIONYSOs.
835 A dappled fawn-skin, and in thy hand a thyrsus.
PENTHEUS.
842 Anything save the Bacchanals' mockery.
DIONYSOs.
837 Fighting the Bacchanals thou wilt shed thy blood.
PENTHEUS.
'Tis true, first I must go and spy them out.
DIONYSOs.
A wiser course than chasing ills with ills.
PENTHEUS.
840 And how am I to traverse Thebes unseen?
DIONYSOS.
841 We'll go by lonely streets, and I will lead thee.
PENTHEUS.
843 Come in, and what is best I will consider.
DIONYSOs.
So be it: I at least am ready here.
PENTHEUS.
845 Well, I will go; I will then either march
In arms, or else thy counsels will obey.
DIONYSOS.
Women, our man within the net is coming.
He will go forth against the Bacchanals,
Where dying he will pay the penalty.
і
76
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
Διόνυσε, νῦν σὸν ἔργον, οὐ γὰρ εἶ πρόσω,
850 τισώμεθ᾽ αὐτόν. πρῶτα δ᾽ ἔκστησον φρενῶν,
ἐνεὶς ἐλαφρὰν λύσσαν· ὡς φρονῶν μὲν εὖ
οὐ μὴ θελήσῃ θῆλυν ἐνδῦναι στολήν,
ἔξω δ᾽ ἐλαύνων τοῦ φρονεῖν ἐνδύσεται.
χρήζω δέ νιν γέλωτα Θηβαίοις ὀφλεῖν
ἐκ τῶν ἀπειλῶν τῶν πρίν, αἶσι δεινὸς ἦν,
855 γυναικόμορφον ἀγόμενον δι᾽ ἄστεως.
856
ἀλλ᾽ εἶμι κόσμον, ὅνπερ εἰς "Αιδον λαβὼν
ἄπεισι μητρὸς ἐκ χεροῖν κατασφαγείς,
Πενθεῖ προσάψων· γνώσεται δὲ τὸν Διὸς
860 Διόνυσον, ὃς πέφυκεν ἐλλέροις θεὸς
δεινότατος, ἐννόμοισι δ᾽ ἠπιώτατος.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ἆρ᾽ ἐν παννυχίοις χοροῖς
θήσω ποτέ λευκὸν
πόδ᾽ ἀναβακχεύουσα, δέραν
865 αιθέρ' εἰς δροσερὸν
870
ῥίπτουσ', ὡς νεβρός χλοεραῖς
ἐμπαίζουσα λείμακος ἡδοναῖς,
ἡνίκ᾽ ἂν φοβερὰν φύγῃ
θήραν έξω φυλακας
εὐπλέκτων ὑπὲρ ἀρκύων,
θωύσσων δὲ κυναγέτας
συντείνῃ δρόμημα κυνῶν·
μόχθοις ὠκυδρόμοις ἀελ-
λὰς θρώσκει πεδίον
παραποτάμιον, ἡδομένα
875 βροτῶν ἐρημίαις
σκιαροκόμοιό τ᾽ ἔρνεσιν ὕλας.
Στροφή.
THE BACCHAE.
77
Dionysos, to thy task, for thou art near;
850 Let us take vengeance. First unsettle him,
Implanting a mild madness; since, being sane,
He'll ne'er consent to wear a woman's dress,
But lost to reason he will put it on.
Now I would have him laughed at by the Thebans
856 After those threats, in which he was terrific,
855 Led habited like a woman through the city.
But I will go to clothe the form of Pentheus
With the very robe in which he shall meet his doom,
Slain by his mother's hand; and he shall know
860 Bacchus, the son of Zeus, who is a terror
To wicked men, though to the just most gentle.
CHORUS.
Oh! shall I ever my gleaming foot set
In the dances prolonged all the night
As I shout aloud in my revel,
865 Flinging back my neck to the dewy air,
As a sportive fawn exults
In the green expanse of the meadow,
When she flees from the dreaded chase
Away from the watcher's beat,
870 O'erleaping the well-woven toils,
While the hunter with many a cheer
Urges on his hounds to their utmost speed;
And she with fleet laboring steps
As swift as the wings of the wind
Bounds over the riverside plain,
875 Rejoicing in lonely solitudes
'Mid the sheltering boughs of the shady wood.
STROPHE.
78
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
880
885
τί τὸ σοφὸν ἢ τί τὸ κάλλιον
παρὰ θεῶν γέρας ἐν βροτοῖς
ἢ χεῖρ᾽ ὑπὲρ κορυφας
τῶν ἐχθρῶν κρείσσω κατέχειν;
ὅ τι καλὸν φίλον ἀεί.
ὁρμᾶται μόλις, ἀλλ' ὅμως
πιστόν τι τὸ θεῖον
σθένος· ἀπευθύνει δὲ βροτῶν
τούς τ᾿ ἀγνωμοσύναν
τιμῶντας καὶ μὴ τὰ θεῶν
αὔξοντας σὺν μαινομένα δοκᾷ.
κρυπτεύουσι δὲ ποικίλως
δαρὸν χρόνου πόδα καὶ
890 θηρῶσιν τὸν ἄσεπτον.
895
900
οὐ
γὰρ κρεισσόν ποτε τῶν νόμων
γιγνώσκειν χρὴ καὶ μελετᾶν.
κούφα γὰρ δαπάνα νομί
ζειν ἰσχὺν τόδ᾽ ἔχειν,
ὅ τι ποτ' ἄρα τὸ δαιμόνιον,
τό τ᾽ ἐν χρόνῳ μακρῷ
εν
νόμιμον ἀεὶ φύσει τε πεφυκός.
τί τὸ σοφὸν ἢ τί τὸ κάλλιον
T
παρὰ θεῶν γέρας ἐν βροτοῖς
ἢ χεῖρ᾽ ὑπὲρ κορυφᾶς
τῶν ἐχθρῶν κρείσσω κατέχειν;
ὅ τι καλὸν φιλον ἀεί.
εὐδαίμων μὲν ὃς ἐκ θαλάσσας
ἔφυγε χειμα, λιμένα δ᾽ ἔκιχεν·
εὐδαίμων δ' ὃς ὕπερθε μόχθων
Αντιστροφή.
Επωδός.
THE BACCHAE.
79
What wisdom is most to be prized,
Or what among men is the gift of the gods.
That is fairer than holding the hand
880 In victory over a foe?
What is noble is ever dear.
Slowly, but yet very surely withal,
ANTISTROPHE.
Moves onward the power of heaven,
And punishes those among mortals
885 Who are servants in bondage to folly and pride,
And forget to exalt the gods,
Led astray with infatuate mind.
And with cunning intent do they lie in wait
While the long seasons roll,
890 And capture the impious man.
It is never right to overpass
The limits of law in our thoughts and deeds.
Slight is the cost to believe
That this has the sovereign power,
Whate'er it be that is divine,
895 And in the long ages supported by law,
And whose source is found in nature itself.
What wisdom is most to be prized,
Or what among men is the gift of the gods
That is fairer than holding the hand
900 In victory over a foe?
What is noble is ever dear.
Happy the man who has escaped
From the storm at sea and has found the port;
And happy is he who has finished his toils.
EPODE.
80
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
905 ἐγένεθ'· ἕτερα δ᾽ ἕτερος ἕτερον
ὄλβῳ καὶ δυνάμει παρῆλθεν.
μυρίαι δὲ μυρίοισιν
ἔτ᾽ εἶσ᾽ ἐλπίδες· αἱ μὲν
ET
τελευτῶσιν ἐν ὄλβῳ
βροτοῖς, αἳ δ᾽ ἀπέβησαν·
910 τὸ δὲ κατ᾽ ἦμαρ ὅτῳ βίοτος
εὐδαίμων, μακαρίζω.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
α
σὲ τὸν πρόθυμον ὄνθ᾽ ἃ μὴ χρεών ὁρᾶν
σπεύδοντά τ᾽ ἀσπούδαστα, Πενθέα λέγω,
ἔξιθι πάροιθε δωμάτων, ὀφθητί μοι
915 σκευὴν γυναικὸς μαινάδος Βάκχης ἔχων,
μητρός τε τῆς σῆς καὶ λόχου κατάσκοπος·
πρέπεις δὲ Κάδμου θυγατέρων μορφὴν μιᾷ.
920
925
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
καὶ μὴν ὁρᾶν μοι δύο μὲν ἡλίους δοκῶ,
δισσὰς δὲ Θήβας καὶ πόλισμ᾽ ἑπτάστομον·
καὶ ταῦρος ἡμῖν πρόσθεν ἡγεῖσθαι δοκεῖς
καὶ σῷ κέρατα κρατὶ προσπεφυκέναι.
ἀλλ᾽ ἦ ποτ᾽ ἦσθα θήρ; τεταύρωσαι γὰρ οὖν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ὁ θεὸς ὁμαρτεῖ, πρόσθεν ὧν οὐκ εὐμενής,
ἔσπονδος ἡμῖν· νῦν δ᾽ ὁρᾷς ἃ χρή σ' ὁρᾶν.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
τί φαίνομαι δῆτ'; οὐχὶ τὴν Ἰνοῦς στάσιν
ἢ τὴν ᾿Αγαύης έστάναι μητρός γ' ἐμῆς;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
αὐτὰς ἐκείνας εἰσορᾶν δοκῶ σ᾿ ὁρῶν.
THE BACCHAE.
81
905 In the struggle for wealth and power
One here, one there, leaves his neighbor behind.
Besides there are myriads more
Who by numberless hopes are lured on;
And of these some end to mortals in bliss,
While others vanish away.
910 But blest do I deem the man
Whose life is found happy day by day.
DIONYSOS.
Thou, mad to witness what were best unseen,
Who cravest what thou shouldst not crave, O Pentheus,
Come forth from the house and show thyself to me,
915 Wearing the dress of a mad Bacchanal,
A spy upon thy mother and her band;
Thou art like in form to one of Cadmus' daughters.
PENTHEus.
But now indeed I seem to see two suns,
A double Thebes; two cities of seven gates;
920 Thou seem'st like a bull to lead me; horns appear
Upon thy head to have sprouted. Wast thou then
Truly a bull? Thou hast the form of one.
DIONYSOs.
The god attends us, who before was angry,
At peace with us; now thou dost see aright.
925 How do I look?
Or like Agave do
PENTHEUS.
Have I the mien of Ino,
I bear myself?
DIONYSOS.
Methinks in seeing thee I see them both.
82
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ἀλλ᾽ ἐξ ἕδρας σοι πλόκαμος ἐξέστηχ᾽ ὅδε.
[οὐχ ὡς ἐγώ νιν ὑπὸ μίτρᾳ καθήρμοσα.]
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
T
930 ἔνδον προσείων αὐτὸν ἀνασείων τ᾽ ἐγὼ
καὶ βακχιάζων ἐξ ἕδρας μεθώρμισα.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸν ἡμεῖς, οἷς σε θεραπεύειν μέλει,
πάλιν καταστελοῦμεν· ἀλλ᾽ ὄρθου κάρα.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἰδού, σὺ κόσμει· σοὶ γὰρ ἀνακείμεσθα δή.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
935 ζωναί τέ σοι χαλῶσι κοὐχ ἑξῆς πέπλων
στολίδες ὑπὸ σφυροῖσι τείνουσιν σέθεν.
940
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
κἀμοι δοκοῦσι παρά γε δεξιὸν πόδα·
τἀνθένδε δ᾽ ὀρθῶς παρὰ τένοντ᾽ ἔχει πέπλος.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἦ πού με τῶν σῶν πρῶτον ἡγήσει φίλων,
ὅταν παρὰ λόγον σώφρονας Βάκχας ἴδῃς;
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
πότερα δὲ θύρσον δεξιᾷ λαβὼν χερὶ
ἢ τῇδε, Βάκχη μᾶλλον εἰκασθήσομαι;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἐν δεξιᾷ χρὴ χαμα δεξιῷ ποδι
αἴρειν νιν· αἰνῶ δ᾽ ὅτι μεθέστηκας φρενών.
THE BACCHAE.
83
But stop! this lock of hair is out of place.
[Not as I smoothed it down beneath the snood.]
PENTHEUS.
930 Within the house, shaking it up and down,
I, in my frenzy, loosed it from its place.
DIONYSOS.
But I, whose care it is to be thy servant,
Will rearrange it.
Come, hold up thy head.
PENTHEUS.
Well, do thou deck me; I depend on thee.
DIONYSos.
935 Thy girdle too is loose, and round thy ankles
The folds of thy garment hang in disarray.
PENTHEUS.
Beside the right foot, yes; but, as I think,
On the left side the fall of the robe is perfect.
DIONYSOs.
Wilt thou think me thy best friend when thou shalt see
940 To thy surprise that the Bacchanals are chaste?
PENTHEUS.
With the thyrsus in my right hand or in this,
Shall I appear more like a Bacchanal ?
DIONYSOs.
With thy right hand thou must raise it, keeping time
With thy right foot; I praise thy change of mind.
84
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
945 ἆρ᾽ ἂν δυναίμην τὰς Κιθαιρῶνος πτυχὰς
αὐταῖσιν ἐλάταις τοῖς ἐμοῖς ὤμοις φέρειν
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
δύναι ἄν, εἰ βούλοιο· τὰς δὲ πρὶν φρένας
οὐκ εἶχες ὑγιεῖς, νῦν δ᾽ ἔχεις οἷας σε δεῖ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
μοχλοὺς φέρωμεν ἢ χεροῖν ἀνασπάσω
950 κορυφαῖς ὑποβαλὼν ὦμον ή βραχίονα ;
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
μὴ σύ γε τὰ Νυμφῶν διολέσῃς ἱδρύματα
καὶ Πανὸς ἕδρας, ἔνθ' ἔχει συρίγματα.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
καλῶς ἔλεξας· οὐ σθένει νικητέον
γυναῖκας, ἐλάταισιν δ᾽ ἐμὸν κρύψω δέμας.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
955 κρύψει σὺ κρύψιν ἦν σε κρυφθῆναι χρεὼν
ἐλθόντα δόλιον Μαινάδων κατάσκοπον.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
καὶ μὴν δοκῶ σφᾶς, ἐν λόχμαις ὄρνιθας ὥς,
λέκτρων ἔχεσθαι φιλτάτοις ἐν ἕρκεσιν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
οὔκουν ἐπ' αὐτὸ τοῦτ᾽ ἀποστέλλει φύλαξ
960 λήψει δ᾽ ἴσως σφᾶς, ἢν σὺ μὴ ληφθῇς πάρος.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
κόμιζε δια μέσης με Θηβαίας πόλεως
μόνος γὰρ αὐτῶν εἰμ᾽ ἀνήρ, τολμῶν τόδε.
THE BACCHAE.
85
PENTHEUS.
945 Pray, could I not upon my shoulders carry
Cithaeron's glens, with its crown of silver firs?
DIONYSOS.
If 't were thy will thou couldst; thou hadst before
A mind diseased; now it is as it should be.
PENTHEUS.
Shall we bring levers, or, putting 'neath its peak
950 My arm or shoulder, shall I with my hands uptear it?
DIONYSOS.
Do not, I pray thee, wreck the shrines of the nymphs
And the haunts of Pan, where he doth play the pipes.
PENTHEUS.
Well said; we must not women overcome
By force; I'll hide among the silver firs.
DIONYSos.
955 Thou shalt be hidden where 't is thy fate to hide,
Coming a crafty spy upon the Maenads.
PENTHEUS.
And they, I think, are held, like birds in a copse,
Entangled in the pleasant snares of love.
DIONYSOS.
Dost thou then go a spy of that? Perhaps,
960 Unless first caught thyself, thou wilt catch them.
PENTHEUS.
Escort me through the midst of the Theban city;
For I alone am the man who dares this deed.
86
965
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
A
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
μόνος σὺ πόλεως τῆσδ᾽ ὑπερκάμνεις, μόνος
τοιγάρ σ᾿ ἀγῶνες ἀναμένουσιν οὖς σε χρή.
ὅπου δέ· πομπός δ᾽ εἴμ᾽ ἐγὼ σωτήριος,
κεῖθεν δ᾽ ἀπάξει σ᾽ ἄλλος
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἡ τεκοῦσά γε.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ἐπίσημον ὄντα πᾶσιν.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἐπὶ τόδ᾽ ἔρχομαι.
φερόμενος ἥξεις
ἐν χερσὶ μητρός.
970 τρυφάς γε τοιάσδ'.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἁβρότητ᾽ ἐμὴν λέγεις,
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
και τρυφάν μ' ἀναγκάσεις.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
ΠΕΝΘΕΥΣ.
ἀξίων μὲν ἅπτομαι.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
δεινὸς σὺ δεινὸς κἀπὶ δείν᾽ ἔρχει πάθη,
ὥστ᾽ οὐρανῷ στηρίζον εὑρήσεις κλέος.
ἔκτειν᾽, ᾿Αγαύη, χεῖρας αἱ θ᾽ ὁμόσποροι
Κάδμου θυγατέρες· τὸν νεανίαν ἄγω
THE BACCHAE.
87
DIONYSOs.
Alone thou toilest for this land, alone;
Therefore the battles which are meet await thee.
965 Follow thou me: I am thy saving guide,
Another shall conduct thee hence.
PENTHEUS.
My mother.
DIONYSOs.
A spectacle to all.
PENTHEUS.
For this I am going.
DIONYSOs.
Thou wilt be carried back-
PENTHEUS.
That will be pure delight!
DIONYSOS.
In thy mother's hands.
PENTHEUS.
Thou wilt force luxury on me.
DIONYSOs.
970 Yes, a strange luxury.
PENTHEUS.
'Tis what I merit.
DIONYSOS.
Strange, strange art thou, and destined to strange woes,
Thou shalt find glory rising up to heaven.
Stretch forth thy hands, Agave, and ye her sisters,
Daughters of Cadmus; this young man I bring
88
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
975 τόνδ' εἰς ἀγῶνα μέγαν, ὁ νικήσων δ᾽ ἐγὼ
καὶ Βρόμιος ἐστι. τἆλλα δ᾽ αὐτὸ σημανεῖ.
980
985
990
995
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ἴτε θοαὶ Λύσσας κύνες ἴτ᾽ εἰς ὄρος,
θίασον ἔνθ᾽ ἔχουσι Κάδμου κόραι,
ἀνοιστρήσατέ νιν
ἐπὶ τὸν ἐν γυναικομίμῳ στολᾷ,
Μαινάδων τὸν κατάσκοπον λυσσώδη.
μάτηρ πρωτα νιν λευρᾶς ἀπὸ πέτρας
σκόπελος ὄψεται
δοκεύοντα, Μαινάσιν δ᾽ ἀπύσει·
τις δε Καδμείων
μαστὴρ ὀρθρεύων
ἐς ὄρος ἐς ὄρος ἔμολ᾽ ἔμολεν, ὦ Βάκχαι;
τίς ἄρα νιν ἔτεκεν ;
οὐ γὰρ ἐξ αἵματος γυναικῶν ἔφυ,
λεαίνας δέ τινος ὅδ᾽ ἢ Γοργόνων
Λιβυσσαν γένος.
ἴτω δίκα φανερὸς ἴτω ξιφηφόρος
φονεύουσα λαιμῶν διαμπαξ
τὸν ἄθεον ἄνομον ἄδικον Εχίονος
τόκον γηγενή.
ὃς ἀδίκῳ γνώμᾳ παρανόμῳ τ᾿ ὀργᾷ
περὶ τὰ Βάκχι᾽ ὄργιά τε θεᾶς ματρὸς
μανείσα πραπίδι
1000 παρακόπῳ τε λήματι στέλλεται
τὰν ἀνίκατον ὡς κρατήσων νίκαν.
γνώμαν σώφρονα θνατοῖς ἀπροφασίστοις
εἰς τὰ θεῶν ἔφυ
βροτείαν τ᾽ ἔχειν ἄλυπος βίος.
Στροφή.
Αντιστοφή.
THE BACCHAE.
89
975 To a great contest; I, the victor, am
Even Bromios: The event will show the rest.
CHORUS.
STROPHE.
Ye swift hounds of Frenzy, on, on to the mountain,
Where the daughters of Cadmus their wild revel hold,
And goad them to madness
980 Against him that is robed in the guise of a woman,
That raging spy of the Maenads.
Him first shall his mother behold as he watches
From the lookout place of a level rock,
And shall cry aloud to the Maenads:
985 Who comes here as a hunter
Of Thebans upon the hills,¹
To the mountain, the mountain, O Bacchanals, comes?
Who can have been his mother?
For he is not born of a woman,
990 But either sprung from a lion,
Or is child of a Libyan Gorgon.
Let Justice come openly, come sword in hand,
995 To slay, as she pierces his throat through and through,
The godless, the lawless, the unjust man
The earth-born child of Echion.
For he, with perversity, lawless in temper, ANTISTROPHE
At the revels of Bacchus and Cybele's rites,
With mind all distracted,
1000 And with spirit insane, rushes thinking to win
The victory not to be conquered.
To keep the whole mind in control, to man's nature
Conformed, brings a painless life to mortals.
Who obey the mandates of Heaven.
1 Reading ὀριδρόμων for ὀρθρεύων.
90
BAKXAI,
1005 τὸ σοφὸν οὐ φθονῶ·
χαίρω θηρεύον
σα τάδ' ἕτερα μεγάλα φανέρ᾽ ἄγοντ᾽ ἀεὶ
ἐπὶ τὰ καλὰ βίον,
T
ἦμαρ εἰς νύκτα τ᾽ εὐαγοῦντ᾽ εὐσεβεῖν,
1010 τὰ δ᾽ ἔξω νόμιμα δίκας ἐκβαλόν.
τα τιμᾶν θεούς.
ἴτω δίκα φανερὸς ἴτω ξιφηφόρος
φονεύουσα λαιμῶν διαμπαξ
1015 τὸν ἄθεον ἄνομον ἄδικον Εχίονος
τόκον γηγενή.
φάνηθι ταῦρος ἢ πολύκρανος ἰδεῖν
δράκων ἢ πυριφλέγων
ὁρᾶσθαι λέων.
1020 ἴθ᾽, ὦ Βάκχε, θηραγρευτᾷ Βακχάν
γελῶντι προσώπῳ περίβαλε
βρόχον ἐπὶ θανάσιμον
ἀγέλαν πεσόντι τὰν Μαινάδων.
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
ὦ δῶμ᾽ ὁ πρίν ποτ' ηὐτύχεις ἀν Ἑλλάδα,
1025 Σιδωνίου γέροντος, ὃς τὸ γηγενές
δράκοντος ἔσπειρ᾽ ὄφεος ἐν γύαις θέρος,
ὥς σε στενάζω, δοῦλος ὢν μέν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως.
[χρηστοισι δούλοις συμφορὰ τὰ δεσποτῶν]
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τί δ᾽ ἔστιν; ἐκ Βακχῶν τι μηνύεις νέον;
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
1030 Πενθεὺς ὄλωλε, παῖς Ἐχίονος πατρός.
Επωδός.
THE BACCHAE.
91
1005 False wisdom I do not envy:
Delightful to me is the quest
Of those other things, manifest, great, that a man
Should aim at noble ends always,
Ever living a life pure and holy,
1010 And honoring God by rejecting
Those customs that violate justice.
Let Justice come openly, come sword in hand,
To slay, as she pierces his throat through and through,
1015 The godless, the lawless, the unjust man
The earth-born child of Echion.
Appear as a bull to our sight,
Or a dragon with many heads,
Or a lion with fiery glare.
1020 O Bacchus, come, and with smiling face
Cast thy snare around the man
Who pursues the Bacchanals, when he shall fall
On the deadly band of the Maenads.
MESSENGER.
O house, that once wast prosperous in Hellas,
1025 House of the sage from Sidon, who in the soil
Of the serpent-dragon sowed the earth-born crop,
How I deplore thee, albeit I am a slave.
[To upright slaves their masters' ills are a grief.]
CHORUS.
EPODE.
What bring'st thou? Tidings from the Bacchanals?
MESSENGER.
1030 Pentheus is dead, son of his sire Echion.
92
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ἄναξ ὦ Βρόμιε· θεὸς φαίνει μέγας.
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
πῶς φής; τί τοῦτ᾽ ἔλεξας; ἢ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς
χαίρεις κακῶς πράσσουσι δεσπόταις, γύναι;
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
εὐάζω ξένα μέλεσι βαρβάροις·
1035 οὐκέτι γὰρ δεσμῶν ὑπὸ φόβῳ πτήσσω.
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
Θήβας δ' ανάνδρους ὧδ' ἄγεις * * *
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ὁ Διόνυσος ὁ Διὸς παῖς, οὐ Θῆβαι
κράτος ἔχουσ᾽ ἐμόν.
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
*
συγγνωστὰ μέν σοι, πλὴν ἐπ᾿ ἐξειργασμένοις
1040 κακοῖσι χαίρειν, ὦ γυναῖκες, οὐ καλόν.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ἔννεπέ μοι, φράσον, τίνι μόρῳ θνήσκει
ἄδικος ἄδικά τ᾽ ἐκπορίζων ἀνήρ;
ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ.
ἐπεὶ θεράπνας τῆσδε Θηβαίας χθονός
λιπόντες ἐξέβημεν Ασωποῦ ῥοάς,
1045 λέπας Κιθαιρώνειον εἰσεβάλλομεν
Πενθεύς τε κάγώ, δεσπότῃ γὰρ εἱπόμην,
ξένος θ᾽ ὃς ἡμῖν πομπὸς ἦν θεωρίας.
πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ποιηρὸν ἵζομεν νάπος,
τά τ᾽ ἐκ ποδῶν σιγηλὰ καὶ γλώσσης απο
THE BACCHAE.
93
CHORUS.
Thou show'st thyself a mighty god, King Bromios.
MESSENGER.
What say'st thou? why dost thou speak thus? dost thou
Exult over my master's fall, O woman?
CHORUS.
A stranger, in foreign strains, I honor Bacchus ;
1035 For I no longer cower in fear of fetters.
MESSENGER.
Dost thou deem Thebes so destitute of men?
CHORUS.
Not Thebes, but Dionysos, son of Zeus,
Has mastery of me.
MESSENGER.
I cannot blame thee, but it is not noble,
1040 Ye women, to rejoice over violence done.
CHORUS.
Relate to me, declare, by what fate perished
The unjust contriver of unrighteous deeds.
MESSENGER.
When we had left the abodes of this Theban land
And had passed beyond the Asopus' flowing stream,
1045 We three began to ascend Cithaeron's steep,
Pentheus and I (for I was with my master)
And the stranger who was leader of our quest.
First then we rested in a grassy glen,
Making no sound of footsteps or of words,
94
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
1050 σῴζοντες, ὡς ὁρῶμεν οὐχ ὁρώμενοι.
ἦν δ᾽ ἄγκος ἀμφίκρημνον, ὕδασι διάβροχον,
πεύκαισι συσκιάζον, ἔνθα Μαινάδες
καθῆντ᾽ ἔχουσαι χεῖρας ἐν τερπνοῖς πόνοις.
αἱ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν θύρσον ἐκλελοιπότα
1055 κισσῷ κομήτην αὖθις ἐξανέστεφον,
αι
αι
αἱ δ᾽ ἐκλιποῦσαι ποικίλ᾽ ὡς πολοι ζυγά,
βακχεῖον ἀντέκλαζον ἀλλήλαις μέλος.
Πενθεὺς δ᾽ ὁ τλήμων θῆλυν οὐχ ὁρῶν ὄχλον
ἔλεξε τοιάδ᾽· ὦ ξέν' οὗ μὲν ἔσταμεν,
1060 οὐκ ἐξικνοῦμαι Μαινάδων ὅποι μόθων·
ὄχθον δ' ἐπεμβὰς ἢ ἐλάτην ὑψαύχενα
αν
ἴδοιμ᾽ ἂν ὀρθῶς Μαινάδων αἰσχρουργίαν.
τοὐντεῦθεν ἤδη τοῦ ξένου θέαμ᾽ ὁρῶν
λαβὼν γὰρ ἐλάτης οὐράνιον ἄκρον κλάδον
1065 κατῆγεν, ἦγεν, ἦγεν εἰς μέλαν πέδον·
κυκλοῦτο δ' ὥστε τόξον ἢ κυρτός τροχός
τόρνῳ γραφόμενος περιφορὰν ἑλικοδρόμον·
ὣς κλῶν ὄρειον ὁ ξένος χεροῖν ἄγων
8
ἔκαμπτεν εἰς γῆν, ἔργματ᾽ οὐχὶ θνητὰ δρῶν.
1070 Πενθέα δ᾽ ἱδρύσας ἐλατίνων ὄζων ἔπι,
ὀρθὸν μεθίει διὰ χερῶν βλάστημ᾽ ἄνω
ἀτρέμα, φυλάσσων μὴ ἀναχαιτίσειέ νιν.
ὀρθὴ δ' ἐς ὀρθὸν αἰθέρ᾽ ἐστηρίζετο
ἔχουσα νώτοις δεσπότην ἐφήμενον.
1075 ὤφθη δὲ μᾶλλον ἢ κατεῖδε Μαινάδας·
ὅσον γὰρ οὔπω δῆλος ἦν θάσσων ἄνω,
καὶ τὸν ξένον μὲν οὐκέτ᾽ εἰσορᾶν παρῆν,
ἐκ δ' αιθέρος φωνή τις, ὡς μὲν εἰκάσαι
Διόνυσος, ἀνεβόησεν· ὦ νεάνιδες,
1080 ἄγω τὸν ὑμᾶς καμὲ τἀμά τ' ὄργια
THE BACCHAE.
95
1050 That we might see, and be ourselves unseen.
There was a cliff-girt vale, with streamlets moist,
With pines thick shaded, where the Bacchanals
Sat with their hands employed in pleasant toil.
For some of them were garlanding anew
1055 A thyrsus which had lost its ivy crown,
And some, like colts released from the painted yokes,
Alternate sang their Bacchic melody.
Unhappy Pentheus, when he could not see
The women's band, spake thus: "Where we stand, stranger,
1060 I have no view of the Maenads' place for dancing;
But climbing a bank or a towering silver fir
I could see well the Maenads' shameless conduct."
A miracle then I saw the stranger do;
He seized a heaven-piercing fir-tree's top,
1065 And drew it down, down, down, to the dark earth;
Just like a bow it bent, or circling wheel,
When its curvèd disk is marked by compasses.
The stranger thus that mountain branch did bend
Down to the earth, a superhuman deed.
1070 And seating Pentheus on the boughs of the fir,
Up through his hands he let it rise erect
All gently, lest the rider should be thrown.
Upright it rose aloft into the air,
Bearing my master seated on its back.
1075 And he saw the Maenads less than they saw him;
For he scarce was visible seated there on high
When the stranger from our view had disappeared;
But a voice from out the sky, 't was Dionysos,
As we supposed, shouted aloud: "Ho! maidens,
1080 I bring the man who laughs to scorn yourselves,
96
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
γέλων τιθέμενον· ἀλλὰ τιμωρεῖσθέ νιν.
καὶ ταῦθ᾽ ἅμ᾽ ἠγόρευε καὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν
καὶ γαῖαν ἐστήριζε φως σεμνοῦ πυρός.
σίγησε δ' αιθήρ, σίγα δ' εὔλειμος νάπη
1085 φύλλ᾽ εἶχε, θηρῶν δ᾽ οὐκ ἂν ἤκουσας βοήν.
αἱ δ᾽ ὠσὶν ἠχὴν οὐ σαφῶς δεδεγμέναι
ἔστησαν ὀρθὰ καὶ διήνεγκαν κόρας.
ὁ δ᾽ αὖθις ἐπεκέλευσεν· ὡς δ᾽ ἐγνώρισαν
σαφῆ κελευσμὸν Βακχίου Κάδμου κόραι,
1090 ήξαν πελείας ὠκύτητ᾽ οὐχ ἥσσονες,
1095
[ποδῶν ἔχουσαι συντόνοις δρομήμασι]
μήτηρ ᾿Αγαύη σύγγονοί θ᾽ ὁμόσποροι
πᾶσαί τε Βάκχαι· διὰ δὲ χειμάρρου νάπης
ἀγμῶν τ᾽ ἐπήδων θεοῦ πνοαῖσιν ἐμμανεῖς.
ὡς δ᾽ εἶδον ἐλάτῃ δεσπότην ἐφήμενον,
πρῶτον μὲν αὐτοῦ χερμάδας κραταιβόλους
ἔρριπτον, ἀντίπυργον ἐπιβᾶσαι πέτραν,
ὄζοισί τ' ἐλατίνοισιν ἠκοντίζετο·
ἄλλαι δὲ θύρσους ἵεσαν δι' αἰθέρος
1100 Πενθέως, στόχον δύστηνον· ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἤνυτον.
κρείσσον γὰρ ὕψος τῆς προθυμίας ἔχων
καθῆστο τλήμων, ἀπορίᾳ λελημμένος.
τέλος δὲ δρυΐνοις συντριαινοῦσαι κλάδοις
ῥίζας ἀνεσπαρασσον ἀσιδήροις μοχλοῖς.
1105 ἐπεὶ δὲ μόχθων τέρματ᾽ οὐκ ἐξήνυτον,
ἔλεξε Αγαύη· φέρε, περιστᾶσαι κύκλῳ
πτόρθου λάβεσθε, Μαινάδες, τὸν ἀμβάτην
θῆρ᾽ ὡς ἕλωμεν, μηδ' ἀπαγγείλῃ θεοῦ
χοροὺς κρυφαίους. αἱ δὲ μυρίαν χέρα
1110 προσέθεσαν ἐλάτῃ κἀξανέσπασαν χθονός.
ὑψοῦ δὲ θάσσων ὑψόθεν χαμαιπετής
αι
THE BACCHAE.
97
Me, and my orgies; now take vengeance on him."
And calling thus, between the earth and heaven
He stretched a shining belt of awful flame.
Silent the air, no leaf in the grassy dell
1085 Rustled, the cry of beasts you could not hear.
But the Maenads catching an uncertain sound
Pricked up their ears and round about them glared.
Again he shouted; and the daughters of Cadmus,
What time they knew the clear command of the god,
1090 Then forward sprang, vying with doves in swiftness,
[Holding their course with eagerly flying feet]
The mother Agave, her sisters too, and all
The Bacchanals; on through the torrent-dell,
Over crags they sped, filled with a heaven-sent fury.
1095 But when on the fir they saw my master seated,
First they attacked him furiously with stones,
Climbing a rock that rose like a tower in front,
And they darted at him boughs of silver fir,
While others shot, with sorry aim, at Pentheus
1100 Their thyrsi through the air, but did not strike him.
For on a height too lofty for their striving
He sat, a wretched, baffled prisoner.
At last they tried, rending with boughs of oak,
To rive the roots with levers, not of iron.
1105 But when their labors brought them no advantage,
Agave said: “Now, Maenads, stand around
And grasp the tree, that we may catch the beast
Upon its top; and he shall not reveal
The god's mysterious rites." A thousand hands
1110 Grappled the fir and tore it from the earth.
And earthward plunging from his seat on high
98
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
πίπτει πρὸς οἶδας μυρίοις οἰμώγμασι
Πενθεύς· κακοῦ γὰρ ἐγγὺς ὢν ἐμάνθανε.
πρώτη δὲ μήτηρ ἦρξεν ἱερία φόνου
1115 καὶ προσπίτνει νιν· ὃ δὲ μίτραν κόμης απο
ἔρριψεν, ὥς νιν γνωρίσασα μὴ κτάνοι
τλήμων Αγαύη, καὶ λέγει παρηίδος
ψαύων· ἐγώ τοι, μῆτερ, εἰμὶ παῖς σέθεν
Πενθεύς, ὃν ἔτεκες ἐν δόμοις Εχίονος·
1120 οἴκτειρε δ᾽ ὦ μητέρ με μηδὲ ταῖς ἐμαῖς
ἁμαρτίαισι σπέρμα σὸν κατακτάνης.
ἡ δ᾽ ἀφρὸν ἐξιεῖσα καὶ διαστρόφους
κόρας ελίσσουσ', οὐ φρονοῦσ᾽ ἃ χρὴ φρονεῖν,
ἐκ Βακχίου κατείχετ', οὐδ᾽ ἔπειθέ νιν.
1125 λαβοῦσα δ᾽ ὠλέναις ἀριστερὰν χέρα,
πλευραῖσιν ἀντιβᾶσα τοῦ δυσδαίμονος
ἀπεσπάραξεν ώμον, οὐχ ὑπὸ σθένους,
ἀλλ' ὁ θεὸς εὐμάρειαν ἐπεδίδου χεροίν.
Ἰνὼ δὲ τἀπὶ θάτερ᾽ ἐξειργάζετο
1130 ῥηγνῦσα σάρκας, Αὐτονόη τ᾿ ὄχλος τε πᾶς
ἐπεῖχε Βακχῶν· ἦν δὲ πᾶσ᾽ ὁμοῦ βοή,
ὃ μὲν στενάζων ὅσον ἐτύγχανεν πνέων,
αἱ δ᾽ ἐλάλαζον. ἔφερε δ᾽ ἡ μὲν ὠλένην,
ἡ δ᾽ ἴχνος αὐταῖς ἀρβύλαις· γυμνοῦντο δὲ
1135 πλευραί σπαραγμοῖς· πᾶσα δ᾽ ἡματωμένη
χεῖρας διεσφαίριζε σάρκα Πενθέως.
κεῖται δὲ χωρὶς σῶμα, τὸ μὲν ὑπὸ στύφλοις
πέτραις, τὸ δ᾽ ὕλης ἐν βαθυξύλῳ φόβῃ,
οὐ ῥᾴδιον ζήτημα· κρᾶτα δ᾽ ἄθλιον,
1140 ὅπερ λαβοῦσα τυγχάνει μήτηρ χεροῖν,
πήξασ᾽ ἐπ᾿ ἄκρον θύρσον ὡς ὀρεστέρου
φέρει λέοντος διὰ Κιθαιρῶνος μέσου,
THE BACCHAE.
99
With myriad lamentations to the ground
Falls Pentheus, well aware of his coming doom.
And his priestess mother first began the slaying
1115 And fell on him: his head-band from his hair
He threw, that sad Agave knowing him
Might spare his life; and touching then her cheek
He said: "Mother, I am thy own son, Pentheus,
Whom thou didst bear in the palace of Echion;
1120 Pity me, O my mother, I entreat thee,
And do not for my sins murder thy son.
son."
She, foaming at the mouth and wildly rolling
Her startled eye-balls, and with mind distorted,
By Bacchus held in thrall, heeded him not.
1125 But his left hand holding fast with both her hands,
Pressing her foot against the victim's side,
Tore out his shoulder, not with human strength,
The god it was who taught her hands to war.
And on the other side toiled Ino, rending
1130 His flesh: Autonoe and all the band
Of Bacchanals pressed on; while mingled cries
Arose, he groaning while he still drew breath,
They shouting victory; one bore an arm,
And one a foot with its sandal shod; his sides
1135 Lay open, torn, while each with bloody hands
Tossed to and fro the mangled flesh of Pentheus.
His body lies, here under rugged rocks,
There 'mid the wood's thick foliage, strewed around
In fragments hard to find. The wretched head,
1140 Which in her hands his mother seized and held
Transfixed upon the thyrsus-point, she carries
As a fierce lion's o'er Cithaeron's wilds,
100
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
λιποῦσ᾽ ἀδελφὰς ἐν χοροῖσι Μαινάδων.
χωρεῖ δὲ θήρα δυσπότμῳ γαυρουμένη
1145 τειχέων ἔσω τῶνδ᾽, ἀνακαλοῦσα Βάκχιον
τὸν ξυγκύναγον, τὸν ξυνεργάτην ἄγρας,
τὸν καλλίνικον, ἣ δάκρυα νικηφορεῖ.
ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν τῇδ᾽ ἐκποδὼν τῇ ξυμφορά
ἄπειμ', ᾿Αγαύην πρὶν μολεῖν πρὸς δώματα.
1150 τὸ σωφρονεῖν δὲ καὶ σέβειν τὰ τῶν θεῶν
κάλλιστον· οἶμαι δ᾽ αὐτὸ καὶ σοφώτατον
θνητοῖσιν εἶναι κτῆμα τοῖσι χρωμένοις.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ἀναχορεύσωμεν Βάκχιον,
ἀναβοάσωμεν ξυμφορὰν
τα
1155 τὰν τοῦ δράκοντος ἐκγενέτα Πενθέως,
ὃς τὰν θηλυγενῆ στολὰν
νάρθηκά τε πιστὸν Αιδαν
ἔλαβεν εὔθυρσον,
ταῦρον προηγητῆρα συμφορᾶς ἔχων.
1160 Βάκχαι Καδμείαι,
τὸν καλλίνικον κλεινὸν ἐξεπράξατε
εἰς γόον, εἰς δάκρυα.
καλὸς ἀγών, ἐν αἵματι στάζουσαν
χέρα περιβαλεῖν τέκνου.
1165 ἀλλ᾽ εἰσορῶ γὰρ εἰς δόμους ὁρμωμένην
Πενθέως ᾿Αγαύην μητέρ' ἐν διαστρόφοις
ὄσσοις, δέχεσθε κώμον εὐίου θεοῦ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
Ασιάδες Βάκχαι,
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τί μ' ὀροθύνεις ὤ;
Στροφή.
THE BACCHAE.
101
Leaving her sisters in the Maenad chorus.
And she comes exulting in her ill-starred prey
1145 Within these walls, still calling upon Bacchus,
The conquering partner in the chase with her
Who wins but tears, the victor's only prize.
I therefore turn from this calamity
Before Agave to the palace comes.
1150 To curb our passions and revere the gods
I deem the noblest and the wisest course
For men who in their conduct follow it.
CHORUS.
In the dance let us glorify Bacchus,
Let us sing of the fate that has come
1155 Upon Pentheus born of the dragon,
Who put on the garb of a woman,
Took the ferule with goodly shaft,
The certain pledge of his doom,
With the bull as his fatal guide.
1160 O ye Cadmaean Bacchanals,
Renowned is the triumph-song ye have won,
But it leads you to mourning and tears;
'Tis indeed a glorious game
To clasp a son with a blood-dripping hand.
1165 But now I see Agave, Pentheus' mother,
With wildly rolling eyes approach the palace.
Give ear to the revel of the Evian god.
AGAVE.
Ye Asiatic Bacchanals,
STROPHE.
CHORUS.
Why dost thou urge me on?
102
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
φέρομεν ἐξ όρεος
1170 ελικα νεότομον ἐπὶ μέλαθρα,
μακάριον θήραν.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ὁρῶ καί σε δέξομαι σύγκωμον.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ἔμαρψα τόνδ' ἄνευ βρόχων
λέοντος -υυ- νέον νιν,
1175 ὡς ὁρᾶν πάρα.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
πόθεν ἐρημίας;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
Κιθαιρών
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τί Κιθαιρών;
κατεφόνευσέν νιν.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τίς ἁ βαλοῦσα πρώτα;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ἐμὸν τὸ γέρας.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
1180 μάκαιρ' Αγαύη
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
κληζόμεθ᾽ ἐν θιάσοις.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τις αλλα
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
τὰ Κάδμου
THE BACCHAE.
103
AGAVE.
See! from the mountain we bring to the palace
1170 A freshly cut tendril,
Our fortunate capture.
CHORUS.
I behold and receive thee to join in the revel.
AGAVE.
Without the snares of the huntsman
I have caught this lion's cub,
1175 As you may see.
CHORUS.
In what desert place didst thou catch him?
AGAVE.
Cithaeron -
CHORUS.
Why say'st thou Cithaeron?
AGAVE.
CHORUS.
Who was the first to smite him?
AGAVE.
Slew him.
Mine the honor.
1180 O happy Agave!
Who else?
CHORUS.
AGAVE.
So call they me amid the revelers.
CHORUS.
AGAVE.
Of Cadmus
104
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
:
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
μετ᾽ ἐμὲ μετ' ἐμὲ τοῦδ᾽
ἔθιγε θηρός.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τί Κάδμου;
εὐτυχεῖς τᾷδ᾽ ἄγρᾳ.
μέτεχέ νυν θοίνας.
1185 νέος ὁ μόσχος ἄρ-
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τί μετέχω, τλάμων ;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
τι γένυν ὑπὸ κόρυθ᾽ ἁπαλότριχα
κατάκομον θάλλει.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
πρέπει γ' ὥστε θὴρ ἄγραυλος φόβῃ.
ὁ Βάκχιος κυναγέτας
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
1190 σοφὸς σοφῶς ἀνέπηλ᾽ ἐπὶ θήρα
τοῦδε Μαινάδας.
ὁ γὰρ ἄναξ ἀγρεύς.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
ἐπαινεῖς;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τί δ'; ἐπαινω.
τάχα δε Καδμείοι
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
γένεθλα
Αντιστροφή.
THE BACCHAE.
105
CHORUS.
What of Cadmus ?
AGAVE.
Next after me, next after me
Attacked this beast.
CHORUS.
His daughters
Thrice happy in this prize.
AGAVE.
Be thou partaker in the feast.
ANTISTROPHE.
CHORUS.
Ah me! what shall I share?
AGAVE.
1185 The whelp is still young and his downy cheek
Just under the crest of soft-flowing hair
Is beginning to bloom.
CHORUS.
With his mane he resembles a roaming wild beast.
AGAVE.
It was Bacchus, the mighty hunter,
1190 Who skilfully urged on the Maenads
To capture this game.
CHORUS.
Yes, our king knows the hunter's art.
Dost thou praise?
AGAVE.
CHORUS.
What? I do.
AGAVE.
Soon the Cadmeans
106
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
1195 καὶ παῖς γε Πενθεὺς ματέρ
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ἐπαινέσεται
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
λαβοῦσαν ἄγραν
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
τάνδε λεοντοφυ
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
περισσὰν
περισσώς.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
μεγάλα μεγάλα καὶ
φανερὰ τῇδε γα
ἀγάλλει;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
γέγηθα
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
κατειργασμένα.
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
1200 δεϊξόν νυν, ὦ τάλαινα, σὴν νικηφόρον
ἀστοῖσιν ἄγραν ἣν φέρουσ᾽ ἐλήλυθας.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ὦ καλλίπυργον ἄστυ Θηβαίας χθονός
ναίοντες, ἔλθεθ᾽ ὡς ἴδητε τήνδ' ἄγραν,
Κάδμου θυγατέρες θηρὸς ἣν ἀγρεύσαμεν
1205 οὐκ ἀγκυλητοῖς Θεσσαλῶν στοχάσμασιν,
οὐ δικτύοισιν, ἀλλὰ λευκοπήχεσι
χειρῶν ἀκμαίσι. κατα κομπάζειν μάτην
καὶ λογχοποιῶν ὄργανα κτᾶσθαι χρεών;
THE BACCHAE.
107
CHORUS.
1195 And thy son Pentheus will his mother
AGAVE.
Praise
For taking booty,
A wondrous booty!
CHORUS.
AGAVE.
This, the lion's whelp,
CHORUS.
AGAVE.
Wondrously.
CHORUS.
Rejoicest thou?
AGAVE.
I do exult
In my exploits, yea deeds of might and valor
Made famous in this land, that I
CHORUS.
Have wrought.
CHORUS.
1200 Show now, O wretched woman, to the Thebans
The prize of victory with which thou comest.
AGAVE.
Ye dwellers in the fair-towered Theban city,
Come and behold this prize, this savage beast,
Which we, the daughters of Cadmus, made our prey,
1205 Not with the looped Thessalian javelins,
Not with the hunting-nets, but with the fingers
Of our fair hands. Must one then idly boast
And get one weapons of the armorer's craft?
108
BAKXAI.
ἡμεῖς δέ γ' αὐτῇ χειρὶ τόνδε θ' είλομεν
1210 χωρίς τέ γ' ἀθέρος ἄρθρα διεφορήσαμεν.
ποῦ μοι πατὴρ ὁ πρέσβυς; ἐλθέτω πέλας.
Ο
Πενθεύς τ᾽ ἐμὸς παῖς ποῦ 'στιν; αἰρέσθω λαβὼν
πηκτῶν πρὸς οἴκους κλιμάκων προσαμβάσεις,
ὡς πασσαλεύσῃ κράτα τριγλύφοις τόδε
1215 λέοντος ὃν πάρειμι θηράσασ᾽ ἐγώ.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ἕπεσθέ μοι φέροντες ἄθλιον βάρος
Πενθέως, ἕπεσθε, πρόσπολοι, δόμων πάρος,
οὗ σῶμα μόχθων μυρίοις ζητήμασι
φέρω τόδ' εὑρὼν ἐν Κιθαιρῶνος πτυχαῖς
1220 διασπαρακτόν, κοὐδὲν ἐν ταὐτῷ πέδῳ
λαβών, ἐν ὕλῃ κείμενον δυσευρέτῳ.
ἤκουσα γάρ του θυγατέρων τολμήματα,
ἤδη κατ᾽ ἄστυ τειχέων ἔσω βεβὼς
σὺν τῷ γέροντι Τειρεσίᾳ Βακχῶν πάρα
1225 πάλιν δὲ κάμψας εἰς ὄρος κομίζομαι
τὸν κατθανόντα παῖδα Μαινάδων υπο.
καὶ τὴν μὲν ᾿Ακταίων ᾿Αρισταίῳ ποτὲ
τεκοῦσαν εἶδον Αὐτονόην Ινώ θ᾽ ἅμα
ἔτ᾽ ἀμφὶ δρυμοῖς οἰστροπλῆγας ἀθλίας,
1230 τὴν δ᾽ εἶπέ τίς μοι δεῦρο βακχείῳ ποδὶ
στείχειν ᾿Αγαύην, οὐδ᾽ ἄκραντ᾽ ἠκούσαμεν·
λεύσσω γὰρ αὐτήν, ὄψιν οὐκ εὐδαίμονα.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
πάτερ, μέγιστον κομπάσαι πάρεστί σοι,
πάντων ἀρίστας θυγατέρας σπεῖραι μακρῷ
1235 θνητῶν· ἁπάσας εἶπον, ἐξόχως δ᾽ ἐμέ,
ἢ τὰς παρ᾽ ἱστοῖς ἐκλιποῦσα κερκίδας
THE BACCHAE.
109
With our hands alone, unaided by the spear,
1210 We have caught this beast and torn his limbs asunder.
Where is my aged sire? Let him come near.
And where is my son Pentheus? Let him take
And lift against the palace the firm ladders,
That to the triglyphs he may nail this trophy,
1215 This lion's head, my capture in the chase.
CADMUS.
Follow me, servants, bearing your sad burden,
Follow before the house, with the form of Pentheus,
Whose body, after many a weary search,
I carry here, finding it torn asunder
1220 Within Cithaeron's dells, not in one place,
But lying scattered in the trackless wood.
My daughter's awful doings I had learned
On entering through the gates into the city,
Home from the Bacchanals with old Teiresias;
1225 And back returning to the mountain, hither
I bear my son slain by the frantic Maenads.
Autonoe, her who bore to Aristaeus
Actaeon, there I saw, and Ino too,
Still frenzied, woe is me, amid the copses;
1230 But the third, Agave, I am told, approaches
With frantic step, nor did I hear in vain;
I see her now-O sight most pitiful!
AGAVE.
Father, 't is thine to make the greatest boast,
That thou hast begotten daughters best of all
1235 Noblest by far, and me the peerless one.
For I have left the shuttle and the loom
110
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
εἰς μεῖζον ἥκω, θῆρας ἀγρεύειν χεροίν.
φέρω δ' ἐν ὠλέναισιν, ὡς ὁρᾷς, τάδε
λαβοῦσα τἀριστεῖα, σοῖσι πρὸς δόμοις
1240 ὡς ἂν κρεμασθῇ· σὺ δὲ πάτερ δέξαι χεροῖν·
γαυρούμενος δὲ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἀγρεύμασι
κάλει φίλους εἰς δαῖτα· μακάριος γὰρ εἶ,
μακάριος, ἡμῶν τοιάδ᾽ ἐξειργασμένων.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ὦ πένθος οὐ μετρητὸν οὐδ᾽ οἷόν τ' ἰδεῖν,
1245 φόνον ταλαίναις χερσὶν ἐξειργασμένων.
καλὸν τὸ θῦμα καταβαλοῦσα δαίμοσιν
ἐπὶ δαῖτα Θήβας τάσδε κἀμὲ παρακαλεῖς.
οἴμοι κακῶν μὲν πρῶτα σῶν, ἔπειτ᾽ ἐμῶν·
ὡς ὁ θεὸς ἡμᾶς ἐνδίκως μέν, ἀλλ᾽ ἄγαν
1250 Βρόμιος ἄναξ ἀπώλεσ' οἰκεῖος γεγώς.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ὡς δύσκολον τὸ γῆρας ἀνθρώποις ἔφυ
ἔν τ᾿ ὄμμασι σκυθρωπόν. εἴθε παῖς ἐμὸς
εὔθηρος εἴη, μητρὸς εἰκασθεὶς τρόποις,
ὅτ᾽ ἐν νεανίαισι Θηβαίοις ἅμα
ΟΤ
1255 θηρῶν ὀριγνῷτ᾽ ἀλλὰ θεομαχείν μόνον
οἷός τ᾽ ἐκεῖνος. νουθετητέος, πάτερ,
σοὐστίν. τίς αὐτὸν δεῖρ᾽ ἂν ὄψιν εἰς ἐμὴν
καλέσειεν, ὡς ἴδῃ με τὴν εὐδαίμονα ;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
φεῦ φεῦ· φρονήσασαι μὲν οἷς ἐδράσατε,
1260 ἀλγήσετ᾽ ἄλγος δεινόν· εἰ δὲ διὰ τέλους
ἐν τῷδ᾽ ἀεὶ μενεῖτ᾽ ἐν ᾧ καθέστατε,
οὐκ εὐτυχοῦσαι δόξετ᾽ οὐχὶ δυστυχεῖν.
THE BACCHAE.
111
For higher things, to capture with my hands
Wild beasts. Behold within my arms I bear
These trophies of the chase, to be suspended
1240 Upon thy house; with thy hands, father, take them;
Exulting in the booty I have captured,
Call thy friends to a feast; thou art twice blest
In us who have done these wonderful exploits.
CADMUS.
O boundless woe, not to be looked upon,
1245 Since murder foul your wretched hands have wrought.
Glorious thy victim offered to the gods!
All Thebes and me thou biddest to the feast.
Alas! alas! our miseries, mine and thine!
How justly, more than justly, hath the god,
1250 King Bromios, to our house akin, destroyed us.
AGAVE.
Ah me! how crabbed is old age in men,
How sad in people's eyes. O that my son
May, like his mother, prove a skilful hunter,
When with the Theban youths he plies the chase.
1255 But he displays his power alone in fighting
Against the gods. From thee, O sire, must come
His warning. Who would summon him to our presence
That he may look on me, the blessèd one?
CADMUS.
Alas! when ye shall come to know your deeds,
1260 Ye will grieve deeply; but if to the end
Ye shall continue in your present state,
Not being blest, ye will seem not unblest.
112
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
τί δ᾽ οὐ καλῶς τῶνδ᾽ ἢ τί λυπηρῶς ἔχει;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
πρῶτον μὲν εἰς τόνδ' αιθέρ᾽ ὄμμα σον μέθες.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
1265 ιδού· τί μοι τόνδ' ἐξυπεῖπας εἰσορᾶν;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ἔθ᾽ αὑτὸς ἤ σοι μεταβολὰς ἔχειν δοκεῖ;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
λαμπρότερος ἢ πρὶν καὶ διιπετέστερος.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
τὸ δὲ πτοηθὲν τόδ' ἔτι σῇ ψυχῇ πάρα;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
οὐκ οἶδα τούπος τοῦτο, γίγνομαι δέ πως
1270 ἔννους μετασταθεῖσα τῶν πάρος φρενῶν.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
κλύοις ἂν οὖν τι κἀποκρίναι᾽ ἂν σαφῶς;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ὡς ἐκλέλησμαι γ᾽ ἃ πάρος εἴπομεν, πάτερ.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
εἰς ποῖον ἦλθες οἶκον ὑμεναίων μέτα;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
σπαρτῷ μ᾿ ἔδωκας, ὡς λέγουσ᾽, Εχίονι.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
1275 τίς οὖν ἐν οἴκοις παῖς ἐγένετο σῷ πόσει;
THE BACCHAE.
113
AGAVE.
Why, what is wrong or sorrowful in this?
CADMUS.
First fix thy gaze upon the sky above us.
AGAVE.
1265 Well; why hast thou thus bidden me look up?
CADMUS.
Is it still the same or dost thou think it changed?
AGAVE.
'Tis brighter, clearer than it was before.
CADMUS.
Is this distraction still within thy soul?
AGAVE.
This word I know not, but I do become
1270 Conscious, freed from my former state of mind.
CADMUS.
Canst thou give ear to me and answer clearly?
AGAVE.
I have forgotten, father, all we said.
CADMUS.
To what house didst thou come with marriage songs?
AGAVE.
I was bride of Echion called the dragon-born.
CADMUS.
1275 What son was born to thy husband in the house?
114
BAKXAI.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
Πενθεύς, ἐμῇ τε καὶ πατρὸς κοινωνία.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
τίνος πρόσωπον δῆτ᾽ ἐν ἀγκάλαις ἔχεις;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
λέοντος, ὥς γ᾽ ἔφασκον αἱ θηρώμεναι.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
σκέψαι νυν ὀρθῶς, βραχὺς ὁ μόχθος εἰσιδεῖν.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
1280 ἔα, τί λεύσσω; τί φέρομαι τόδ' ἐν χεροῖν;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ἄθρησον αὐτὸ καὶ σαφέστερον μάθε.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ὁρῶ μέγιστον ἄλγος ἡ τάλαιν᾽ ἐγώ.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
μῶν σοι λέοντι φαίνεται προσεικέναι;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
οὔκ· ἀλλὰ Πενθέως ἡ τάλαιν' ἔχω κάρα.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
1285 ᾑμαγμένον γε πρόσθεν ἢ σὲ γνωρίσαι.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
τίς ἔκτανέν νιν; πῶς ἐμὰς ἦλθεν χέρας;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
δύστην᾽ ἀλήθει, ὡς ἐν οὐ καιρῷ πάρει.
THE BACCHAE.
115
AGAVE.
'T was Pentheus, from my union with his sire.
CADMUS.
Whose head then art thou holding in thy hands?
AGAVE.
A lion's, as our band of hunters said.
CADMUS.
Observe with care, 't is no long task to look.
AGAVE.
1280 What see I? What is this my hands are holding?
CADMUS.
Now gaze upon it and observe more closely.
AGAVE.
Ah me! I look on grief unspeakable.
CADMUS.
Dost thou think it has the semblance of a lion?
AGAVE.
Nay; woe is me! I hold the head of Pentheus.
CADMUS.
1285 Dabbled in blood ere thou didst recognize it.
AGAVE.
Who slew him? How into my hands did he come?
CADMUS.
Sad truth! how ill-timed is thy presence here!
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
116
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
λέγ', ὡς τὸ μέλλον καρδία πήδημ᾽ ἔχει.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
σύ νιν κατέκτας καὶ κασίγνηται σέθεν.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
1290 ποῦ δ᾽ ὤλετ'; ἢ κατ᾽ οἶκον; ἢ ποίοις τόποις;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
οὗπερ πρὶν ᾿Ακταίωνα διέλαχον κύνες.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
τί δ᾽ εἰς Κιθαιρῶν ἦλθε δυσδαίμων δε;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ἐκερτόμει θεὸν σάς τε βακχείας μολών.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ἡμεῖς δ᾽ ἐκεῖσε τίνι τρόπῳ κατηραμεν ;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
1295 ἐμάνητε, πασά τ' ἐξεβακχεύθη πόλις.
T
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
Διόνυσος ἡμᾶς ὤλεσ᾽, ἄρτι μανθάνω.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ὕβριν γ' ὑβρισθείς· θεὸν γὰρ οὐχ ἡγεῖσθέ νιν.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
τὸ φίλτατον δὲ σῶμα ποὺ παιδός, πάτερ;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ἐγὼ μόλις τόδ᾽ ἐξερευνήσας φέρω.
THE BACCHAE.
117
AGAVE.
Speak, for my heart throbs with a dread foreboding.
CADMUS.
His slayers were thy sisters and thyself.
AGAVE.
1290 Where did he die? At home? Or in what place?
CADMUS.
Where once Actaeon's hounds tore him in pieces.
AGAVE.
Why to Cithaeron went this hapless man?
CADMUS.
He went to mock the god and mock your revels.
AGAVE.
But we - how was it that we thither sped?
CADMUS.
1295 Ye were insane, and all the city frenzied.
AGAVE.
Bacchus hath ruined us, now I understand.
CADMUS.
Outraged by you; for you denied his godhead.
AGAVE.
Father, where can I see my son's dear body?
CADMUS.
Here do I bear it, found with painful search.
118
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
1300 ή πᾶν ἐν ἄρθροις συγκεκλημένον καλῶς;
*
*
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
*
*
*
*
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
Πενθεῖ δὲ τί μέρος ἀφροσύνης προσῆκ᾿ ἐμῆς;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ
ὑμῖν ἐγένεθ' ὅμοιος, οὐ σέβων θεόν.
τοιγάρ συνῆψε πάντας εἰς μίαν βλάβην,
ὑμᾶς τε τόνδε θ', ὥστε διολέσαι δόμους
1305 καμ᾽, ὅστις ἄτεκνος ἀρσένων παίδων γεγὼς
τῆς σῆς τόδ᾽ ἔρνος, ὦ τάλαινα, νηδύος
αἴσχιστα καὶ κάκιστα κατθανόνθ' ὁρῶ,
ᾧ δωμ᾽ ἀνέβλεψ᾽, ὃς συνεῖχες, ὦ τέκνον,
τοὐμὸν μέλαθρον, παιδὸς ἐξ ἐμῆς γεγώς,
1310 πόλει τε τάρβος ἦσθα· τὸν γέροντα δὲ
οὐδεὶς ὑβρίζειν ἤθελ᾽ εἰσορῶν τὸ σὸν
κάρα· δίκην γὰρ ἀξίαν ἐλάμβανες.
νῦν δ᾽ ἐκ δόμων ἄτιμος ἐκβεβλήσομαι
ὁ Κάδμος ὁ μέγας, ὃς τὸ Θηβαίων γένος
1315 ἔσπειρα κἀξήμησα κάλλιστον θέρος.
ὦ φίλτατ' ἀνδρῶν—καὶ γὰρ οὐκέτ᾽ ὢν ὅμως
τῶν φιλτάτων ἔμοιγ' ἀριθμήσει, τέκνον
οὐκέτι γενείου τοῦδε θιγγάνων χερί,
τὸν μητρὸς αὐδῶν πατέρα προσπτύξει, τέκνον,
1320 λέγων· τίς ἀδικεῖ, τίς σ᾽ ἀτιμάζει, γέρον;
τίς σὴν ταράσσει καρδίαν λυπηρὸς ὤν;
λέγ', ὡς κολάζω τὸν ἀδικοῦντά σ᾽, ὦ πάτερ.
νῦν δ᾽ ἄθλιος μέν εἰμ᾽ ἐγώ, τλήμων δὲ σύ,
THE BACCHAE.
119
AGAVE.
1300 Is it all well compact, with the parts unsevered?
*
*
CADMUS.
*
*
*
AGAVE.
*
*
*
*
And in my madness how did Pentheus share?
CADMUS.
Like you he did not reverence the god.
He therefore in one ruin all involved,
Both you and him, destroying utterly
1305 The house and me, who, left without male offspring,
alas!—this one child of thy womb
Now see
Most shamefully and miserably slain,
To whom the house looked up; thou wast, O son,
The guardian of my hall, born of my daughter,
1310 And the people feared thee; no one wished to flout
The aged man while he beheld thy face;
For thou the proper punishment wouldst inflict.
But now I shall be driven from home dishonored,
Cadmus the great, who sowed the Theban race,
1315 And after sowing reaped the glorious harvest.
O dearest one! -for though no longer living
Thou shalt be counted best beloved, my child—
No more this beard caressing with thy hand,
Calling me grandsire, wilt thou clasp my neck,
1320 O child, and say: "Who wrongs, who flouts thee, sire?
Who, grieving thee, disquiets thy sad heart?
Speak, and I'll punish him who wrongs thee, father."
But I am wretched now, and thou art hapless,
120
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
οἰκτρὰ δὲ μήτηρ, τλήμονες δὲ σύγγονοι.
1325 εἰ δ᾽ ἔστιν ὅστις δαιμόνων ὑπερφρονεῖ,
εἰς τοῦδ᾽ ἀθρήσας θάνατον ἡγείσθω θεούς.
ΤΟ
ΧΟΡΟΣ.
τὸ μὲν σὸν ἀλγῶ, Κάδμε· σὺς δ᾽ ἔχει δίκην
παῖς παιδὸς ἀξίαν μέν, ἀλγεινὴν δὲ σοί.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ὦ πάτερ, ὁρᾷς γὰρ τἄμ' ὅσῳ μετεστράφη
*
*
*
*
*
*
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
*
*
*
*
*
1330 δράκων γενήσει μεταβαλών, δάμαρ τε σή,
1332 ἣν Αρεος ἔσχες Αρμονίαν θνητός γεγώς,
1331 ἐκθηριωθεῖσ᾽ ὄφεος ἀλλάξει τύπον.
ὄχον δὲ μόσχων, χρησμὸς ὡς λέγει Διός,
ἐλᾷς μετ᾿ ἀλόχου, βαρβάρων ἡγούμενος.
1335 πολλὰς δὲ πέρσεις ἀναρίθμῳ στρατεύματι
πόλεις· ὅταν δὲ Λοξίου χρηστήριον
διαρπάσωσι, νόστον ἄθλιον πάλιν
σχήσουσι· σὲ δ᾽ ῎Αρης ῾Αρμονίαν τε ῥύσεται
μακάρων τ' ἐς αἶαν σὸν καθιδρύσει βίον.
1340 ταῦτ᾽ οὐχὶ θνητοῦ πατρὸς ἐκγεγώς λέγω
Διόνυσος, ἀλλὰ Ζηνός· εἰ δὲ σωφρονεῖν
OT
ἔγνωθ᾽, ὅτ᾽ οὐκ ἠθέλετε, τὸν Διὸς γόνον
εὐδαιμονοῖτ᾽ ἂν σύμμαχον κεκτημένοι.
αν
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
Διόνυσε, λισσόμεσθά σ', ήδικήκαμεν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
1345 ὄψ' ἐμάθεθ᾽ ἡμᾶς, ὅτε δὲ χρῆν, οὐκ ᾔδετε.
THE BACCHAE.
Thy mother pitiable, and her sisters sad.
1325 Lives there a man who scorns the might of heaven,
Let him mark this death and in the gods believe.
CHORUS.
Cadmus, I mourn thy fate; thy daughter's son
Has his reward, a bitter thing to thee.
AGAVE.
Father, thou see'st how my lot is changed.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
DIONYSOS.
*
*
*
*
*
*
121
1330 Thou shalt become a dragon, and thy wife,
Harmonia, Ares' child, married to thee,
A mortal, shall assume a serpent's form.
Thou with thy wife shalt drive a chariot drawn
By oxen, as the oracle of Zeus
Declares, and leader of barbarians shalt be.
1335 Many the cities with thy countless host
Thou wilt sack; but when Apollo's shrine they plunder,
Returning backward they shall meet disaster.
But thee and Harmonia Ares will deliver
And bear thee to the Islands of the Blest.
1340 This say I, from no mortal father sprung,
Dionysos, son of Zeus; had ye known wisdom
When ye would not, your ally then had been
This child of Zeus, and you would yet be happy.
AGAVE.
Dionysos, we beseech thee, we have sinned.
DIONYSOS.
1345 You know me late; when you should have known, you
would not.
122
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ἐγνώκαμεν ταῦτ᾽· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεξέρχει λίαν.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
καὶ γὰρ πρὸς ὑμῶν θεός γεγὼς ὑβριζόμην.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ὀργὰς πρέπει θεοὺς οὐχ ὁμοιοῦσθαι βροτοῖς.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
πάλαι τάδε Ζεὺς οἱμὸς ἐπένευσεν πατήρ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
1350 αἰαῖ, δέδοκται, πρέσβυ, τλήμονες φυγαί.
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΟΣ.
τί δῆτα μέλλεθ᾽ ἅπερ ἀναγκαίως ἔχει;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
ὦ τέκνον, ὡς εἰς δεινὸν ἤλθομεν κακόν,
σύ θ᾽ ἡ τάλαινα σύγγονοί θ᾽ ὁμόσποροι
ἐγώ θ᾽ ὁ τλήμων βαρβάρους ἀφίξομαι
1355 γέρων μέτοικος· ἔτι δέ μοὐστὶ θέσφατον
εἰς Ελλάδ᾽ ἀγαγεῖν μιγάδα βάρβαρον στρατόν.
καὶ τὴν ῎Αρεως παῖδ᾽ ῾Αρμονίαν δάμαρτ᾽ ἐμὴν
δράκων δρακαίνης σχῆμ᾽ ἔχουσαν ἀγρίας
ἄξω ἐπὶ βωμοὺς καὶ τάφους Ελληνικούς,
1360 ἡγούμενος λόγχαισιν· οὐδὲ παύσομαι
κακῶν ὁ τλήμων, οὐδὲ τὸν καταιβάτην
Αχέροντα πλεύσας ἥσυχος γενήσομαι.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ὦ πάτερ, ἐγὼ δὲ σοῦ στερεῖσα φεύξομαι.
THE BACCHAE.
123
AGAVE.
We are convinced; yet too great is thy vengeance.
DIONYSOs.
Yes, for you outraged me, albeit a god.
AGAVE.
Gods in their wrath should not resemble men.
DIONYSOS.
My father Zeus sanctioned this long ago.
AGAVE.
1350 Alas, old man! sad exile is decreed.
DIONYSOS.
Why then delay what cannot be averted?
CADMUS.
Ah me, my child, sore evil hath befallen us,
Wretched art thou, and wretched too thy sisters!
But I, alas, who am old, must go to sojourn
1355 Among barbarians; yet my lot shall be
To lead to Greece a motley host of strangers.
And Ares' child, Harmonia, my wife,
Herself assuming a fierce dragon's form,
Shall I, a dragon in command of spearmen,
1360 Lead to the tombs and altars of the Greeks;
Nor shall I cease from woes and be at rest
When I have crossed the nether Acheron.
AGAVE.
O father, torn from thee I shall be exiled.
124
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
τί μ' ἀμφιβάλλεις χερσίν, ὦ τάλαινα παῖ,
1365 ὄρνιν ὅπως κηφήνα πολιόχρων κύκνον;
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ποῖ γὰρ τράπωμαι πατρίδος ἐκβεβλημένη ;
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
οὐκ οἶδα, τέκνον· μικρὸς ἐπίκουρος πατήρ.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
χαῖρ᾽, ὦ μέλαθρον, χαῖρ᾽, ὦ πατρία
πόλις· ἐκλείπω σ᾽ ἐπὶ δυστυχίᾳ
1370 φυγάς ἐκ θαλάμων.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
στεῖχέ νυν, ὦ παῖ, τὸν ᾿Αρισταίου
*
*
*
στένομαί σε, πάτερ.
*
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
*
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
κἀγὼ σέ, τέκνον,
καὶ σὰς ἐδάκρυσα κασιγνήτας.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
δεινῶς γὰρ τάνδ' αἰκίαν
1375 Διόνυσος αναξ
τοὺς σοὺς εἰς οἴκους ἔφερεν.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
καὶ γὰρ ἔπασχεν δεινὰ πρὸς ὑμῶν,
ἀγέραστον ἔχων ὄνομ᾽ ἐν Θήβαις.
THE BACCHAE.
125
CADMUS.
Unhappy daughter, why dost thou embrace me,
1365 As a white swan by hoary age enfeebled?
AGAVE.
Whither am I, banished from home, to turn?
CADMUS.
I know not, child, thy sire is a feeble helper.
AGAVE.
Farewell to thee, O palace, and farewell,
O city of my fathers, leaving thee
1370 I go a hapless wanderer from my home.
CADMUS.
Escape, my child, to the house of Aristaeus.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
AGAVE.
I mourn for thee, my father.
CADMUS.
And for thee,
My child, and for thy sisters I lament.
A terrible outrage this
AGAVE.
1375 That Dionysos the king
Upon thy house hath wrought.
CADMUS.
Yes, dire was the wrong that he suffered from you,
For he found his name unhonored in Thebes.
126
ΒΑΚΧΑΙ.
χαῖρε, πάτερ μοι.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ΚΑΔΜΟΣ.
χαῖρ᾽, ὦ μελέα
1380 θύγατερ. χαλεπῶς δ᾽ εἰς τόδ᾽ ἂν ἤκοις.
ΑΓΑΥΗ.
ἄγετ᾽ ὦ πομποί με, κασιγνήτας
ἵνα συμφυγάδας ληψόμεθ' οἰκτράς.
ἔλθοιμι δ᾽ ὅπου
μήτε Κιθαιρών [μ' ἐσίδοι] μιαρός,
1385 μήτε Κιθαιρῶν ὄσσοισιν ἐγώ,
μήθ' ὅθι θύρσου μνῆμ᾽ ἀνάκειται·
Βάκχαις δ᾽ ἄλλαισι μέλοιεν.
[ΧΟΡΟΣ.
πολλαὶ μορφαὶ τῶν δαιμονίων,
πολλὰ δ᾽ ἀέλπτως κραίνουσι θεοί·
1390 καὶ τὰ δοκηθέντ᾽ οὐκ ἐτελέσθη,
τῶν δ᾽ ἀδοκήτων πόρον ηὗρε θεός.
τοιόνδ᾽ ἀπέβη τόδε πρᾶγμα.]
THE BACCHAE.
127
Farewell, my father.
AGAVE.
CADMUS.
Fare thee well, sad daughter.
1380 And yet 't were hard for thee to come to this.
AGAVE.
Ye attendants, conduct me where I shall receive
As companions in exile my sisters forlorn.
O let me depart
Where accursed Cithaeron may see me no more,
1385 And my eyes may not look on Cithaeron again;
Where no thought of the reveler's wand haunts the
place;
But let others care for the orgies.
[CHORUS.
Many the forms of things divine,
And much beyond hope do the gods bring to pass ;
1390 The schemes of men often fail at last:
Out of straits unexpected the god finds a way.
'T was in such wise this matter ended.]
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