I, Bacchus, the son of Jove, am come to this land of the Thebans, whom
formerly Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, brought forth, delivered by the
lightning-bearing flame. And having taken a mortal form instead of a God's,
I am present at the fountains of Dirce and the water of Ismenus. And I see
the tomb of my thunder-stricken mother here near the palace, and the
remnants of the house smoking, and the still living name of Jove's fire,
the everlasting insult of Juno against my mother. But I praise Cadmus, who
has made this place hallowed, the shrine of his daughter; and I have
covered it around with the cluster-bearing leaf of the vine. And having
left the wealthy lands of the Lydians and Phrygians, and the sun-parched
plains of the Persians, and the Bactrian walls; and having come over the
stormy land of the Medes, and the happy Arabia, and all Asia which lies
along the coast of the salt sea, having fair-towered cities full of Greeks
and barbarians mingled together; and there having danced and established my
mysteries, that I might be a God manifest among men, I have come to this
city first of the Grecian [cities,] and I have raised my shout first in
Thebes of this land of Greece, fitting a deer-skin on my body, and taking a
thyrsus in my hand, an ivy-clad[2] weapon, because the sisters of my
mother, whom, it least of all became, said that I, Bacchus, was not born of
Jove; but that Semele, having conceived by some mortal, charged the sin of
her bed upon Jove, a trick of Cadmus; on which account they said that Jove
had slain her, because she told a false tale about her marriage. Therefore
I have now driven them from the house with frenzy, and they dwell on the
mountain, insane of mind; and I have compelled them to wear the dress of my
mysteries. And all the female seed of the Cadmeans, as many as are women,
have I driven maddened from the house. And they, mingled with the sons of
Cadmus, sit on the roofless rocks beneath the green pines. For this city
must know, even though it be unwilling, that it is not initiated into my
Bacchanalian rites, and that I plead the cause of my mother, Semele, in
appearing manifest to mortals as a God whom she bore to Jove. Cadmus then
gave his honor and power to Pentheus, born from his daughter, who fights
against the Gods as far as I am concerned, and drives me from sacrifices,
and in his prayers makes no mention of me; on which account I will show him
and all the Thebans that I am a God. And having set matters here aright,
manifesting myself, I will move to another land. But if the city of the
Thebans should in anger seek by arms to bring down the Bacchæ from the
mountain, I, general of the Mænads, will join battle.[3] On which account I
have changed my form to a mortal one, and transformed my shape into the
nature of a man. But, O ye who have left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia; ye
women, my assembly, whom I have brought from among the barbarians as
assistants and companions to me; take your drums, your native instruments
in the Phrygian cities, the invention of the mother Rhea[4] and myself, and
coming beat them around this royal palace of Pentheus, that the city of
Cadmus may see it. And I, with the Bacchæ, going to the dells of Cithæron,
where they are, will share their dances.
CHOR. Coming from the land of Asia, having left the sacred Tmolus, I dance
in honor of Bromius, a sweet labor and a toil easily borne, celebrating the
god Bacchus. Who is in the way? who is in the way? who is in the halls? Let
him depart. And let every one be pure as to his mouth speaking propitious
things; for now I will with hymns celebrate Bacchus according to
custom:--Blessed is he,[5] whoever being favored, knowing the mysteries of
the gods, keeps his life pure, and has his soul initiated into the Bacchic
revels, dancing o'er the mountains with holy purifications, and reverencing
the mysteries of the mighty mother Cybele, and brandishing the thyrsus, and
being crowned with ivy, serves Bacchus! Go, ye Bacchæ; go, ye Bacchæ,
escorting Bromius, a God, the son of a God, from the Phrygian mountains to
the broad streets of Greece! Bromius! whom formerly, being in the pains of
travail, the thunder of Jove flying upon her, his mother cast from her
womb, leaving life by the stroke of the thunder-bolt. And immediately
Jupiter, the son of Saturn, received him in a chamber fitted for birth; and
covering him in his thigh, shuts him with golden clasps hidden from Juno.
And he brought him forth, when the Fates had perfected the horned God, and
crowned him with crowns of snakes, whence the thyrsus-bearing Mænads are
wont to cover their prey with their locks. O Thebes, thou nurse of Semele,
crown thyself with ivy, flourish, flourish with the verdant yew bearing
sweet fruit, and be ye crowned in honor of Bacchus with branches of oak or
pine, and adorn your garments of spotted deer-skin with fleeces of
white-haired sheep,[6] and sport in holy games with the insulting wands,
straightway shall all the earth dance, when Bromius leads the bands to the
mountain, to the mountain, where the female crowd abides, away from the
distaff and the shuttle,[7] driven frantic by Bacchus. O dwelling of the
Curetes, and ye divine Cretan caves,[8] parents to Jupiter, where the
Corybantes with the triple helmet invented for me in their caves this
circle o'erstretched with hide; and with the constant sweet-voiced breath
of Phrygian pipes they mingled a sound of Bacchus, and put the instrument
in the hand of Rhea, resounding with the sweet songs of the Bacchæ. And
hard by the raving satyrs went through the sacred rites of the mother
Goddess. And they added the dances of the Trieterides;[9] in which Bacchus
rejoices; pleased on the mountains, when after the running dance he falls
upon the plain, having a sacred garment of deer-skin, seeking a sacrifice
of goats, a raw-eaten delight,[10] on his way to the Phrygian, the Lydian
mountains; and the leader is Bromius, Evoe![11] but the plain flows with
milk, and flows with wine, and flows with the nectar of bees; and the smoke
is as of Syrian frankincense. But Bacchus bearing a flaming torch of pine
on his thyrsus, rushes about arousing in his course the wandering Choruses,
and agitating them with shouts, casting his rich locks loose in the
air,--and with his songs he shouts out such words as this: O go forth, ye
Bacchæ; O go forth, ye Bacchæ, delight of gold-flowing Tmolus. Sing Bacchus
'neath the loud drums, Evoe, celebrating the God Evius in Phrygian cries
and shouts. When the sweet-sounding sacred pipe sounds a sacred playful
sound suited to the frantic wanderers, to the mountain, to the
mountain--and the Bacchant rejoicing like a foal with its mother at
pasture, stirs its swift foot in the dance.
TIRESIAS. Who at the doors will call out Cadmus from the house, the son of
Agenor, who, leaving the city of Sidon, erected this city of the Thebans?
Let some one go, tell him that Tiresias seeks him; but he himself knows on
what account I come, and what agreement I, an old man, have made with him,
yet older; to twine the thyrsi, and to put on the skins of deer, and to
crown the head with ivy branches.
CADMUS. O dearest friend! how I, being in the house, was delighted, hearing
your voice, the wise voice of a wise man; and I am come prepared, having
this equipment of the God; for we needs must extol him, who is the son
sprung from my daughter, Bacchus, who has appeared as a God to men, as much
as is in our power. Whither shall I dance, whither direct the foot, and
wave the hoary head? Do you lead me, you, an old man! O Tiresias, direct
me, an old man; for you are wise. Since I shall never tire, neither night
nor day, striking the earth with the thyrsus. Gladly we forget that we are
old.
TI. You have the same feelings indeed as I; for I too feel young, and will
attempt the dance.