章节正文
The reason being, they are far behind Hellenes in wisdom.
DIONYSUS
In this at least far in advance, though their customs differ.
PENTHEUS
Is it by night or day thou performest these devotions?
DIONYSUS
By night mostly; darkness lends solemnity.
PENTHEUS
Calculated to entrap and corrupt women.
DIONYSUS
Day too for that matter may discover shame.
PENTHEUS
This vile quibbling settles thy punishment.
DIONYSUS
Brutish ignorance and godlessness will settle thine.
PENTHEUS
How bold our Bacchanal is growing! a very master in this wordy
strife!
DIONYSUS
Tell me what I am to suffer; what is the grievous doom thou wilt
inflict upon me?
PENTHEUS
First will I shear off thy dainty tresses.
DIONYSUS
My locks are sacred; for the god I let them grow.
PENTHEUS
Next surrender that thyrsus.
DIONYSUS
Take it from me thyself; 'tis the wand of Dionysus I am bearing.
PENTHEUS
In dungeon deep thy body will I guard.
DIONYSUS
The god himself will set me free, whene'er I list.
PENTHEUS
Perhaps he may, when thou standest amid thy Bacchanals and callest
on his name.
DIONYSUS
Even now he is near me and witnesses my treatment.
PENTHEUS
Why, where is he? To my eyes he is invisible.
DIONYSUS
He is by my side; thou art a godless man and therefore dost not
see him.
PENTHEUS
Seize him! the fellow scorns me and Thebes too.
DIONYSUS
I bid you bind me not, reason addressing madness.
PENTHEUS
But I say "bind!" with better right than thou.
DIONYSUS
Thou hast no knowledge of the life thou art leading; thy very
existence is now a mystery to thee.
PENTHEUS
I am Pentheus, son of Agave and Echion.
DIONYSUS
Well-named to be misfortune's mate!
PENTHEUS
Avaunt! Ho! shut him up within the horses' stalls hard by, that
for light he may have pitchy gloom. Do thy dancing there, and these
women whom thou bringest with thee to share thy villainies I will
either sell as slaves or make their hands cease from this noisy
beating of drums, and set them to work at the loom as servants of my
own.
DIONYSUS
I will go; for that which fate forbids, can never befall me. For
this thy mockery be sure Dionysus will exact a recompense of thee-even
the god whose existence thou deniest; for thou art injuring him by
haling me to prison.
Exit DIONYSUS, guarded, and PENTHEUS.
CHORUS
Hail to thee, Dirce, happy maid, daughter revered of Achelous!
within thy founts thou didst receive in days gone by the babe of Zeus,
what time his father caught him up into his thigh from out the
deathless flame, while thus he cried: "Go rest, my Dithyrambus,
there within thy father's womb; by this name, O Bacchic god, I now
proclaim thee to Thebes." But thou, blest Dirce, thrustest me aside,
when in thy midst I strive to hold my revels graced with crowns. Why
dost thou scorn me? Why avoid me? By the clustered charm that Dionysus
sheds o'er the vintage I vow there yet shall come a time when thou
wilt turn thy thoughts to Bromius. What furious rage the earth-born
race displays, even Pentheus sprung of a dragon of old, himself the
son of earth-born Echion, a savagemonster in his very mien, not
made in human mould, but like some murderous giant pitted against
heaven; for he means to bind me, the handmaid of Bromius, in cords
forthwith, and e'en now he keeps my fellow-reveller pent within his
palace, plunged in a gloomydungeon. Dost thou mark this, O
Dionysus, son of Zeus, thy prophets struggling 'gainst resistless
might? Come, O king, brandishing thy golden thyrsus along the slopes
of Olympus; restrain the pride of this bloodthirsty wretch! Oh!
where in Nysa, haunt of beasts, or on the peaks of Corycus art thou,
Dionysus, marshalling with thy wand the revellers? or haply in the
thick forest depths of Olympus, where erst Orpheus with his lute
gathered trees to his minstrelsy, and beasts that range the fields. Ah
blest Pieria! Evius honours thee, to thee will he come with his
Bacchic rites to lead the dance, and hither" target="_blank" title="ad.到那里 a.那边的">thither will he lead the circling
Maenads, crossing the swift current of Axius and the Lydias, that
giveth wealth and happiness to man, yea, and the father of rivers,
which, as I have heard, enriches with his waters fair a land of
steeds.
DIONYSUS (Within)
What ho! my Bacchantes, ho! hear my call, oh! hear.
CHORUS I
Who art thou? what Evian cry is this that calls me? whence comes
it?
DIONYSUS
What ho! once more I call, I the son of Semele, the child of Zeus.
CHORUS II
My master, O my master, hail!
CHORUS III
Come to our revel-band, O Bromian god.
CHORUS IV
Thou solid earth!
CHORUS V
Most awful shock!
CHORUS VI
O horror! soon will the palace of Pentheus totter and fall.
CHORUS VII
Dionysus is within this house.
CHORUS VIII
Do homage to him.
CHORUS IX
We do! I do!
CHORUS X
Did ye mark yon architrave of stone upon the columns start
asunder?
CHORUS XI
Within these walls the triumph-shout of Bromius himself will rise.
DIONYSUS
Kindle the blazing torch with lightning's fire, abandon to the
flames the halls of Pentheus.
CHORUS XII
Ha! dost not see the flame, dost not clearly mark it at the sacred
tomb of Semele, the lightning flame which long ago the hurler of the
bolt left there?
CHORUS XIII
Your trembling limbs prostrate, ye Maenads, low upon the ground.
CHORUS XIV
Yea, for our king, the son of Zeus, is assailing and utterly
confounding this house.
Enter DIONYSUS.
DIONYSUS
Are ye so stricken with terror that ye have fallen to the earth, O
foreign dames? Ye saw then, it would seem, how the Bacchic god made
Pentheus' halls to quake; but arise, be of good heart, compose your
trembling limbs.
CHORUS
O chiefest splendour of our gladsome Bacchic sport, with what
joy I see thee in my loneliness!
DIONYSUS
Were ye cast down when I was led into the house, to be plunged
into the gloomydungeons of Pentheus?
CHORUS
Indeed I was. Who was to protect me, if thou shouldst meet with
mishap? But how wert thou set free from the clutches of this godless
wretch?
DIONYSUS
My own hands worked out my own salvation, easily and without
trouble.
CHORUS
But did he not lash fast thy hands with cords?
DIONYSUS
There too I mocked him; he thinks he bound me, whereas he never
touched or caught hold of me, but fed himself on fancy. For at the
stall, to which he brought me for a gaol, he found a bull, whose
legs and hoofs he straightly tied, breathing out fury the while, the
sweat trickling from his body, and he biting his lips; but I from near
at hand sat calmly looking on. Meantime came the Bacchic god and
made the house quake, and at his mother's tomb relit the fire; but
Pentheus, seeing this, thought his palace was ablaze, and hither and
hither" target="_blank" title="ad.到那里 a.那边的">thither he rushed, bidding his servants bring water; but all in vain
was every servant's busy toil. Thereon he let this labour be awhile,
and, thinking maybe that I had escaped, rushed into the palace with
his murderous sword unsheathed. Then did Bromius-so at least it seemed
to me; I only tell you what I thought-made a phantom in the hall,
and he rushed after it in headlong haste, and stabbed the lustrous
air, thinking he wounded me. Further the Bacchic god did other outrage
to him; he dashed the building to the ground, and there it lies a mass
of ruin, a sight to make him rue most bitterly my bonds. At last
from sheer fatigue he dropped his sword and fell fainting; for he a
mortal frail, dared to wage war upon a god; but I meantime quietly
left the house and am come to you, with never a thought of Pentheus.
But methinks he will soon appear before the house; at least there is a
sound of steps within. What will he say, I wonder, after this? Well,
be his fury never so great, I will lightly bear it; for 'tis a wise
man's way to school his temper into due control.
Enter PENTHEUS.
PENTHEUS
Shamefully have I been treated; that stranger, whom but now I made
so fast in prison, hath escaped me. Ha! there is the man! What means
this? How didst thou come forth, to appear thus in front of my palace?
DIONYSUS
Stay where thou art; and moderate thy fury.
PENTHEUS
How is it thou hast escaped thy fetters and art at large?
DIONYSUS
Did I not say, or didst thou not hear me, "There is one will loose
me."
PENTHEUS
Who was it? there is always something strange in what thou sayest.
DIONYSUS
He who makes the clustering vine to grow for man.
DIONYSUS
In this at least far in advance, though their customs differ.
PENTHEUS
Is it by night or day thou performest these devotions?
DIONYSUS
By night mostly; darkness lends solemnity.
PENTHEUS
Calculated to entrap and corrupt women.
DIONYSUS
Day too for that matter may discover shame.
PENTHEUS
This vile quibbling settles thy punishment.
DIONYSUS
Brutish ignorance and godlessness will settle thine.
PENTHEUS
How bold our Bacchanal is growing! a very master in this wordy
strife!
DIONYSUS
Tell me what I am to suffer; what is the grievous doom thou wilt
inflict upon me?
PENTHEUS
First will I shear off thy dainty tresses.
DIONYSUS
My locks are sacred; for the god I let them grow.
PENTHEUS
Next surrender that thyrsus.
DIONYSUS
Take it from me thyself; 'tis the wand of Dionysus I am bearing.
PENTHEUS
In dungeon deep thy body will I guard.
DIONYSUS
The god himself will set me free, whene'er I list.
PENTHEUS
Perhaps he may, when thou standest amid thy Bacchanals and callest
on his name.
DIONYSUS
Even now he is near me and witnesses my treatment.
PENTHEUS
Why, where is he? To my eyes he is invisible.
DIONYSUS
He is by my side; thou art a godless man and therefore dost not
see him.
PENTHEUS
Seize him! the fellow scorns me and Thebes too.
DIONYSUS
I bid you bind me not, reason addressing madness.
PENTHEUS
But I say "bind!" with better right than thou.
DIONYSUS
Thou hast no knowledge of the life thou art leading; thy very
existence is now a mystery to thee.
PENTHEUS
I am Pentheus, son of Agave and Echion.
DIONYSUS
Well-named to be misfortune's mate!
PENTHEUS
Avaunt! Ho! shut him up within the horses' stalls hard by, that
for light he may have pitchy gloom. Do thy dancing there, and these
women whom thou bringest with thee to share thy villainies I will
either sell as slaves or make their hands cease from this noisy
beating of drums, and set them to work at the loom as servants of my
own.
DIONYSUS
I will go; for that which fate forbids, can never befall me. For
this thy mockery be sure Dionysus will exact a recompense of thee-even
the god whose existence thou deniest; for thou art injuring him by
haling me to prison.
Exit DIONYSUS, guarded, and PENTHEUS.
CHORUS
Hail to thee, Dirce, happy maid, daughter revered of Achelous!
within thy founts thou didst receive in days gone by the babe of Zeus,
what time his father caught him up into his thigh from out the
deathless flame, while thus he cried: "Go rest, my Dithyrambus,
there within thy father's womb; by this name, O Bacchic god, I now
proclaim thee to Thebes." But thou, blest Dirce, thrustest me aside,
when in thy midst I strive to hold my revels graced with crowns. Why
dost thou scorn me? Why avoid me? By the clustered charm that Dionysus
sheds o'er the vintage I vow there yet shall come a time when thou
wilt turn thy thoughts to Bromius. What furious rage the earth-born
race displays, even Pentheus sprung of a dragon of old, himself the
son of earth-born Echion, a savagemonster in his very mien, not
made in human mould, but like some murderous giant pitted against
heaven; for he means to bind me, the handmaid of Bromius, in cords
forthwith, and e'en now he keeps my fellow-reveller pent within his
palace, plunged in a gloomydungeon. Dost thou mark this, O
Dionysus, son of Zeus, thy prophets struggling 'gainst resistless
might? Come, O king, brandishing thy golden thyrsus along the slopes
of Olympus; restrain the pride of this bloodthirsty wretch! Oh!
where in Nysa, haunt of beasts, or on the peaks of Corycus art thou,
Dionysus, marshalling with thy wand the revellers? or haply in the
thick forest depths of Olympus, where erst Orpheus with his lute
gathered trees to his minstrelsy, and beasts that range the fields. Ah
blest Pieria! Evius honours thee, to thee will he come with his
Bacchic rites to lead the dance, and hither" target="_blank" title="ad.到那里 a.那边的">thither will he lead the circling
Maenads, crossing the swift current of Axius and the Lydias, that
giveth wealth and happiness to man, yea, and the father of rivers,
which, as I have heard, enriches with his waters fair a land of
steeds.
DIONYSUS (Within)
What ho! my Bacchantes, ho! hear my call, oh! hear.
CHORUS I
Who art thou? what Evian cry is this that calls me? whence comes
it?
DIONYSUS
What ho! once more I call, I the son of Semele, the child of Zeus.
CHORUS II
My master, O my master, hail!
CHORUS III
Come to our revel-band, O Bromian god.
CHORUS IV
Thou solid earth!
CHORUS V
Most awful shock!
CHORUS VI
O horror! soon will the palace of Pentheus totter and fall.
CHORUS VII
Dionysus is within this house.
CHORUS VIII
Do homage to him.
CHORUS IX
We do! I do!
CHORUS X
Did ye mark yon architrave of stone upon the columns start
asunder?
CHORUS XI
Within these walls the triumph-shout of Bromius himself will rise.
DIONYSUS
Kindle the blazing torch with lightning's fire, abandon to the
flames the halls of Pentheus.
CHORUS XII
Ha! dost not see the flame, dost not clearly mark it at the sacred
tomb of Semele, the lightning flame which long ago the hurler of the
bolt left there?
CHORUS XIII
Your trembling limbs prostrate, ye Maenads, low upon the ground.
CHORUS XIV
Yea, for our king, the son of Zeus, is assailing and utterly
confounding this house.
Enter DIONYSUS.
DIONYSUS
Are ye so stricken with terror that ye have fallen to the earth, O
foreign dames? Ye saw then, it would seem, how the Bacchic god made
Pentheus' halls to quake; but arise, be of good heart, compose your
trembling limbs.
CHORUS
O chiefest splendour of our gladsome Bacchic sport, with what
joy I see thee in my loneliness!
DIONYSUS
Were ye cast down when I was led into the house, to be plunged
into the gloomydungeons of Pentheus?
CHORUS
Indeed I was. Who was to protect me, if thou shouldst meet with
mishap? But how wert thou set free from the clutches of this godless
wretch?
DIONYSUS
My own hands worked out my own salvation, easily and without
trouble.
CHORUS
But did he not lash fast thy hands with cords?
DIONYSUS
There too I mocked him; he thinks he bound me, whereas he never
touched or caught hold of me, but fed himself on fancy. For at the
stall, to which he brought me for a gaol, he found a bull, whose
legs and hoofs he straightly tied, breathing out fury the while, the
sweat trickling from his body, and he biting his lips; but I from near
at hand sat calmly looking on. Meantime came the Bacchic god and
made the house quake, and at his mother's tomb relit the fire; but
Pentheus, seeing this, thought his palace was ablaze, and hither and
hither" target="_blank" title="ad.到那里 a.那边的">thither he rushed, bidding his servants bring water; but all in vain
was every servant's busy toil. Thereon he let this labour be awhile,
and, thinking maybe that I had escaped, rushed into the palace with
his murderous sword unsheathed. Then did Bromius-so at least it seemed
to me; I only tell you what I thought-made a phantom in the hall,
and he rushed after it in headlong haste, and stabbed the lustrous
air, thinking he wounded me. Further the Bacchic god did other outrage
to him; he dashed the building to the ground, and there it lies a mass
of ruin, a sight to make him rue most bitterly my bonds. At last
from sheer fatigue he dropped his sword and fell fainting; for he a
mortal frail, dared to wage war upon a god; but I meantime quietly
left the house and am come to you, with never a thought of Pentheus.
But methinks he will soon appear before the house; at least there is a
sound of steps within. What will he say, I wonder, after this? Well,
be his fury never so great, I will lightly bear it; for 'tis a wise
man's way to school his temper into due control.
Enter PENTHEUS.
PENTHEUS
Shamefully have I been treated; that stranger, whom but now I made
so fast in prison, hath escaped me. Ha! there is the man! What means
this? How didst thou come forth, to appear thus in front of my palace?
DIONYSUS
Stay where thou art; and moderate thy fury.
PENTHEUS
How is it thou hast escaped thy fetters and art at large?
DIONYSUS
Did I not say, or didst thou not hear me, "There is one will loose
me."
PENTHEUS
Who was it? there is always something strange in what thou sayest.
DIONYSUS
He who makes the clustering vine to grow for man.
- mostly [´məustli]
ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中英语单词) - ignorance [´ignərəns] n.无知，愚昧 (初中英语单词)
- sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)
- surrender [sə´rendə] vt.&n.交出；引渡；放弃 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- mystery [´mistəri] n.神秘；秘密；故弄玄虚 (初中英语单词)
- existence [ig´zistəns] n.存在；生存；生活 (初中英语单词)
- furious [´fjuəriəs] a.狂怒的；猛烈的 (初中英语单词)
- dragon [´drægən] n.龙 (初中英语单词)
- savage [´sævidʒ] a.野蛮的 n.蛮人 (初中英语单词)
- monster [´mɔnstə] n.怪物 a.大得异常的 (初中英语单词)
- thither [´ðiðə] ad.到那里 a.那边的 (初中英语单词)
- wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
- abandon [ə´bændən] vt.抛弃，放弃，离弃 (初中英语单词)
- lightning [´laitniŋ] n.闪电 a.突然的 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- compose [kəm´pəuz] v.组成；创作；作曲 (初中英语单词)
- whereas [weər´æz] conj.鉴于；因此；而 (初中英语单词)
- calmly [´kɑ:mli] ad.平静地；无风浪地 (初中英语单词)
- meantime [´mi:ntaim] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
- hither [´hiðə] ad.到此处 (初中英语单词)
- bitterly [´bitəli] ad.悲痛地；憎恨地 (初中英语单词)
- lightly [´laitli] ad.轻微地，稍微 (初中英语单词)
- temper [´tempə] n.韧度 v.锻炼；调和 (初中英语单词)
- moderate [´mɔdərit] a.适度的n.温和主义者 (初中英语单词)
- corrupt [kə´rʌpt] a.腐败的 v.败坏；贿赂 (高中英语单词)
- dainty [´deinti] a.秀丽的 n.美味 (高中英语单词)
- dungeon [´dʌndʒən] n.地牢，土牢 (高中英语单词)
- befall [bi´fɔ:l] v.降临；发表(于) (高中英语单词)
- strive [straiv] vi.争取；努力；奋斗 (高中英语单词)
- sprung [sprʌŋ] spring的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
- gloomy [´glu:mi] a.昏暗的；忧郁的 (高中英语单词)
- restrain [ri´strein] vt.抑制；管束；限制 (高中英语单词)
- homage [´hɔmidʒ] n.敬意，尊敬 (高中英语单词)
- stricken [´strikən] strike的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
- salvation [sæl´veiʃən] n.救助；拯救 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- headlong [´hedlɔŋ] ad.&a.轻率地(的) (高中英语单词)
- fatigue [fə´ti:g] n.&vt.(使)疲劳(劳累) (高中英语单词)
- methinks [mi´θiŋks] vi.据我看来 (高中英语单词)
- grievous [´gri:vəs] a.痛苦的；严重的 (英语四级单词)
- recompense [´rekəmpens] n.&vt.回报；补偿 (英语四级单词)
- murderous [´mə:dərəs] a.行凶的；势不可挡的 (英语四级单词)
- whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
- totter [´tɔtə] vi.蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 (英语四级单词)
- prostrate [´prɔstreit, prɔ´streit] a.俯伏的 vt.弄倒 (英语四级单词)
- mockery [´mɔkəri] n.嘲笑；笑柄 (英语六级单词)
- olympus [əu´limpəs] n.(希腊)奥林匹斯山 (英语六级单词)
- biting [´baitiŋ] a.刺痛的；尖利的 (英语六级单词)
- phantom [´fæntəm] n.幽灵；幻影 a.幻想的 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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