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
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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
tidingswill 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
lightningflash, 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