Bacchae
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Agave
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Terribly indeed has
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lord Dionysus brought this misery to your home.
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Dionysus
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Yes, for I suffered terrible things at your hands, with my name not honored in Thebes.
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Agave
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Farewell, my father.
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daughter; and yet you cannot easily fare well.
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Agave
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Lead me, escorts, where I may take my pitiful sisters as companions to my exile. May I go where accursed Kithairon may not see me,
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nor I see Kithairon with my eyes, nor where a memorial of a thyrsos has been dedicated; let these concern other Bacchae.
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Chorus
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Many are the forms of divine things, and the gods bring to pass many things unexpectedly;
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what is expected has not been accomplished, but the god has found out a means for doing things unthought of. So too has this event turned out.
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Chorus
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O Thebes, nurse of Semele, crown yourself with ivy, flourish, flourish with the verdant yew bearing sweet fruit, and crown yourself in honor of Bacchus with branches of oak
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or pine. Adorn your garments of spotted fawn-skin with fleeces of white sheep, and sport in holy games with insolent thyrsoi The thyrsos is a staff that is crowned with ivy and that is sacred to Dionysus and an emblem of his worship.. At once all the earth will dance—
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whoever leads the sacred band is Bromius—to the mountain, to the mountain, where the crowd of women waits, goaded away from their weaving by Dionysus.
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Chorus
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O secret chamber of the Kouretes and you holy Cretan caves, parents to Zeus, where the Korybantes with triple helmet invented for me in their caves this circle,
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covered with stretched hide; and in their excited revelry they mingled it with the sweet-voiced breath of Phrygian pipes and handed it over to mother Rhea, resounding with the sweet songs of the Bacchae;
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nearby, raving Satyrs were fulfilling the rites of the mother goddess, and they joined it to the dances of the biennial festivals, in which Dionysus rejoices.
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Chorus
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Would that I could go to Cyprus, the island of Aphrodite, where the Loves, who soothe
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mortals’ hearts, dwell, and to Paphos, fertilized without rain by the streams of a foreign river flowing with a hundred mouths. Lead me there, Bromius, Bromius, god of joy who leads the Bacchae,
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to Pieria, beautiful seat of the Muses, the holy slope of Olympus. There are the Graces, there is Desire; there it is
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lawful for the Bacchae to celebrate their rites.
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Chorus
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The god, the son of Zeus, delights in banquets, and loves Peace, giver of riches,
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goddess who nourishes youths. To the blessed and to the less fortunate, he gives an equal pleasure from wine that banishes grief. He hates the one who does not care about this:
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to lead a happy life by day and friendly Because the Dionysiac ἱερά take place νύκτωρ τὰ πολλά (486) Dodds, ad loc. night and to keep his wise mind and intellect away from over-curious men.
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What the common people think and adopt, that would I accept.
189b
189b
Teiresias
189b
Then you and I have the same feelings,
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Pentheus
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Yes, my mother.
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Pentheus
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I am going for this reason.
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Pentheus
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You talk of a delicacy for me.
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Pentheus
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You will force me to luxury.
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Pentheus
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I will get what I deserve.
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Chorus
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Why do you excite me, oh?
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Chorus
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Kithairon?
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Agave
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The honor is mine first.
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Agave
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Kadmos’—
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Agave
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His other offspring took hold of this beast after me, after me. This is a lucky catch!
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Chorus
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What? I share in the feast, wretched woman?
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1193b
Chorus
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I praise you.
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Agave
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Will praise his mother who has caught this lion-like prey.
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Agave
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And extraordinarily caught.
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Agave
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I am delighted, for I have performed great—yes, great—and notable deeds on this hunt.
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Kadmos
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And I for you, child, and I weep for your sisters.
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Kadmos
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Farewell, unhappy