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410 BC

THE BACCHANTES
by Euripides

Characters in the Play
Dionysus

Cadmus
Pentheus

Agave
Teiresias

First Messenger
Second Messenger

Servant
Chorus of Bacchantes

Before the Palace of Pentheus at Thebes. Enter DIONYSUS.
DIONYSUS

Lo! I am come to this land of Thebes, Dionysus' the son of Zeus,
of whom on a day Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, was delivered by a

flash of lightning. I have put off the god and taken human shape,
and so present myself at Dirce's springs and the waters of Ismenus.

Yonder I see my mother's monument where the bolt slew her nigh her
house, and there are the ruins of her home smouldering with the

heavenly flame that blazeth still-Hera's deathless outrage on my
mother. To Cadmus all praise I offer, because he keeps this spot

hallowed, his daughter's precinct, which my own hands have shaded
round about with the vine's clustering foliage.

Lydia's glebes, where gold abounds, and Phrygia have I left
behind; o'er Persia's sun-baked plains, by Bactria's walled towns

and Media's wintry clime have I advanced through Arabia, land of
promise; and Asia's length and breadth, outstretched along the

brackish sea, with many a fair walled town, peopled with mingled
race of Hellenes and barbarians; and this is the first city in

Hellas I have reached. There too have I ordained dances and
established my rites, that I might manifest my godhead to men; but

Thebes is the first city in the land of Hellas that I have made ring
with shouts of joy, girt in a fawn-skin, with a thyrsus, my

ivy-bound spear, in my hand; since my mother's sisters, who least of
all should have done it, denied that Dionysus was the son of Zeus,

saying that Semele, when she became a mother by some mortal lover,
tried to foist her sin on Zeus-a clever ruse of Cadmus, which, they

boldly asserted, caused Zeus to slay her for the falsehood about the
marriage. Wherefore these are they whom I have driven frenzied from

their homes, and they are dwelling on the hills with mind
distraught; and I have forced them to assume the dress worn in my

orgies, and all the women-folk of Cadmus' stock have I driven raving
from their homes, one and all alike; and there they sit upon the

roofless rocks beneath the green pine-trees, mingling amongst the sons
of Thebes. For this city must learn, however loth, seeing that it is

not initiated in my Bacchic rites, and I must take up my mother's
defence, by showing to mortals that the child she bore to Zeus is a

deity. Now Cadmus gave his sceptre and its privileges to Pentheus, his
daughter's child, who wages war 'gainst my divinity, thrusting me away

from his drink-offerings, and making no mention of me in his
prayers. Therefore will I prove to him and all the race of Cadmus that

I am a god. And when I have set all in order here, I will pass hence
to a fresh country, manifesting myself; but if the city of Thebes in

fury takes up arms and seeks to drive my votaries from the mountain, I
will meet them at the head of my frantic rout. This is why I have

assumed a mortal form, and put off my godhead to take man's nature.
O ye who left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia, ye women, my revel

rout! whom I brought from your foreign homes to be ever by my side and
bear me company, uplift the cymbals native to your Phrygian home, that

were by me and the great mother Rhea first devised, and march around
the royal halls of Pentheus smiting them, that the city of Cadmus

may see you; while I will seek Cithaeron's glens, there with my
Bacchanals to join the dance.

Exit DIONYSUS.
Enter CHORUS.

CHORUS
From Asia o'er the holy ridge of Tmolus hasten to a pleasant task,

a toil that brings no weariness, for Bromius' sake, in honour of the
Bacchic god. Who loiters in the road? who lingers 'neath the roof?

Avaunt! I say, and let every lip be hushed in solemn silence; for I
will raise a hymn to Dionysus, as custom aye ordains. O happy he!

who to his joy is initiated in heavenly mysteries and leads a holy
life, joining heart and soul in Bacchic revelry upon the hills,

purified from every sin; observing the rites of Cybele, the mighty
mother, and brandishing the thyrsus, with ivy-wreathed head, he

worships Dionysus. Go forth, go forth, ye Bacchanals, bring home the
Bromian god Dionysus, child of a god, from the mountains of Phrygia to

the spacious streets of Hellas, bring home the Bromian god! whom on
a day his mother in her sore travail brought forth untimely,

yielding up her life beneath the lightning stroke of Zeus' winged
bolt; but forthwith Zeus, the son of Cronos, found for him another

womb wherein to rest, for he hid him in his thigh and fastened it with
golden pins to conceal him from Hera. And when the Fates had fully

formed the horned god, he brought him forth and crowned him with a
coronal of snakes, whence it is the thyrsus-bearing Maenads hunt the

snake to twine about their hair. O Thebes, nurse of Semele! crown
thyself with ivy; burst forth, burst forth with blossoms fair of green

convolvulus, and with the boughs of oak and pine join in the Bacchic
revelry; dor;-thy coat of dappled fawn-skin, decking it with tufts

of silvered hair; with reverent hand the sportive wand now wield. Anon
shall the whole land be dancing, when Bromius leads his revellers to

the hills, to the hills away! where wait him groups of maidens from
loom and shuttle roused in frantic haste by Dionysus. O hidden cave of

the Curetes! O hallowed haunts in Crete, that saw Zeus born, where
Corybantes with crested helms devised for me in their grotto the

rounded timbrel of ox-hide, mingling Bacchic minstrelsy with the
shrill sweet accents of the Phrygian flute, a gift bestowed by them on

mother Rhea, to add its crash of music to the Bacchantes' shouts of
joy; but frantic satyrs won it from the mother-goddess for their

own, and added it to their dances in festivals, which gladden the
heart of Dionysus, each third recurrent year. Oh! happy that votary,

when from the hurrying revel-rout he sinks to earth, in his holy
robe of fawnskin, chasing the goat to drink its blood, a banquet sweet

of flesh uncooked, as he hastes to Phrygia's or to Libya's hills;
while in the van the Bromian god exults with cries of Evoe. With

milk and wine and streams of luscious honey flows the earth, and
Syrian incense smokes. While the Bacchante holding in his hand a

blazing torch of pine uplifted on his wand waves it, as he speeds
along, rousing wandering votaries, and as he waves it cries aloud with

wanton tresses tossing in the breeze; and thus to crown the revelry,
he raises loud his voice, "On, on, ye Bacchanals, pride of Tmolus with

its rills of gold I to the sound of the booming drum, chanting in
joyous strains the praises of your joyous god with Phrygian accents

lifted high, what time the holy lute with sweet complaining note
invites you to your hallowed sport, according well with feet that

hurry wildly to the hills; like a colt that gambols at its mother's
side in the pasture, with gladsome heart each Bacchante bounds along."

Enter TEIRESIAS.
TEIRESIAS

What loiterer at the gates will call Cadmus from the house,
Agenor's son, who left the city of Sidon and founded here the town

of Thebes? Go one of you, announce to him that Teiresias is seeking
him; he knows himself the reason of my coming and the compact I and he

have made in our old age to bind the thyrsus with leaves and don the
fawnskin, crowning our heads the while with ivy-sprays.

Enter CADMUS.
CADMUS

Best of friends! I was in the house when I heard thy voice, wise as
its owner. I come prepared, dressed in the livery of the god. For 'tis

but right I should magnify with all my might my own daughter's son,
Dionysus, who hath shown his godhead unto men. Where are we to join

the dance? where plant the foot and shake the hoary head? Do thou,
Teiresias, be my guide, age leading age, for thou art wise. Never

shall I weary, night or day, of beating the earth with my thyrsus.
What joy to forget our years?

TEIRESIAS
Why, then thou art as I am. For I too am young again, and will

essay the dance.
CADMUS

We will drive then in our chariot to the hill.
TEIRESIAS

Nay, thus would the god not have an equal honour paid.
CADMUS

Well, I will lead thee, age leading age.
TEIRESIAS

The god will guide us both hither" target="_blank" title="ad.到那里 a.那边的">thither without toil.
CADMUS

Shall we alone of all the city dance in Bacchus' honour?
TEIRESIAS

Yea, for we alone are wise, the rest are mad.
CADMUS

We stay too long; come, take my hand.
TEIRESIAS

There link thy hand in my firm grip.
CADMUS

Mortal that I am, I scorn not the gods.
TEIRESIAS

No subtleties do I indulge about the powers of heaven. The faith
we inherited from our fathers, old as time itself, no reasoning

shall cast down; no! though it were the subtlest invention of wits
refined. Maybe some one will say, I have no respect for my grey hair

in going to dance with ivy round my head; not so, for the god did
not define whether old or young should dance, but from all alike he

claims a universalhomage, and scorns nice calculations in his
worship.

CADMUS
Teiresias, since thou art blind, I must prompt thee what to say.

Pentheus is coming hither to the house in haste, Echion's son, to whom
I resign the government. How scared he looks I what strange tidings

will he tell?
Enter PENTHEUS.

PENTHEUS
I had left my kingdom for awhile, when tidings of strange mischief

in this city reached me; I hear that our women-folk have left their
homes on pretence of Bacchic rites, and on the wooded hills rush

wildly to and fro, honouring in the dance this new god Dionysus,
whoe'er he is; and in the midst of each revel-rout the brimming

wine-bowl stands, and one by one they steal away to lonely spots to
gratify their lust, pretending forsooth that they are Maenads bent

on sacrifice, though it is Aphrodite they are placing before the
Bacchic god. As many as I caught, my gaolers are keeping safe in the

public prison fast bound; and all who are gone forth, will I chase
from the hills, Ino and Agave too who bore me to Echion, and Actaeon's

mother Autonoe. In fetters of iron will I bind them and soon put an
end to these outrageous Bacchic rites. They say there came a

stranger hither, a trickster and a sorcerer, from Lydia's land, with
golden hair and perfumed locks, the flush of wine upon his face, and

in his eyes each grace that Aphrodite gives; by day and night he
lingers in our maidens' company on the plea of teaching Bacchic

mysteries. Once let me catch him within these walls, and I will put an
end to his thyrsus-beating and his waving of his tresses, for I will

cut his head from his body. This is the fellow who says that
Dionysus is a god, says that he was once stitched up in the thigh of

Zeus-that child who with his mother was blasted by the lightning
flash, because the woman falsely said her marriage was with Zeus. Is

not this enough to deserve the awful penalty of hanging, this
stranger's wantoninsolence, whoe'er he be?

But lo! another marvel. I see Teiresias, our diviner, dressed in
dappled fawn-skins, and my mother's father too, wildly waving the



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