BACCHAE

THE

BACCHAE
OF

EURIPIDES

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH RHYMING V

.RSE

WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES BY

GILBERT MURRAY, LLD.,

KKUUS
PROI'KWIOR OF

D.Lrrr.

GXSBK

IH

THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

THOUSAND

LONDON: OEORGR ALLEN & UNWIN

LTD,
CO.

NEW YORK

LONGMANS, (JRKUN &

First Edition

November 1904
.

Reprinted

September 1910

August

1913

,,

July March

1916
19*9

,,

Novembct 1920

(All ri

THE BACCHAE

CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY

DIONYSUS, THE GOD; son of Zeus end of
Semett.
the

Theban print en

CADMUS, formerly King of

PENTHEUS, King of
Thebes^

T/icbts

-,

father of Semeli

grandson of Cadmus,
^

AGAVE, daughter of Cadmus mother of Pcntheit*.

TEIRESIAS, an aged Thtban prophet.

SOLDIER OF PENTHEUS' GUARD.

MESSENGERS.
following

Two

CHORUS OF INSPIRED DAMSELS,

from
the East.

Dionyws

*'

jr0,

The play was first produced after th& death of Euripides by his who bore the same name, together with the Iphiginta m Antis*
'

andtht *AlcmaeonJ probably in

the year 405 B.C."

THE BACCHAE
The background
represents

the

front

of the
one siJf

Gasik of
is

PENTHEUS, King of Thelw,

the sacred

At
a

vuillt

Tomb of

iW$,
issues

little

chchsure over*
rocky floor

grown with wild

of
it

vines^

with a
at

clfft

in the

from

which then
is

twin steam or tmokt.

The God DIONYSUS

discovered alone.

DIONYSUS,
Behold, God's Son
is

come unto

this land

Of Thebes, even I, Dionysus, whom the brand Of heaven's hot splendour lit to life, when she

Who
Died

bore me, Cadmus' daughter Semclfi,

here,

So,

changed in shape from

God

to

man, I walk again by Dirce's streams and scan

EURIPIDES
Ismenus* shore,
I see

There by

the castle side

her place, the

Tomb

of the Lightning's Bride,

The wreck

of smouldering chambers, and the greac

1

Faint wreaths of fire undying as the hate Dies not, that Hera held for Semele .

Aye, Cadmus hath done well

in

purity

He

keeps this place apart, inviolate,

His daughter's sanctuary ; and I have set My green and clustered vines to robe it round,

Far now behind me lies the golden ground Of Lydian and of Phrygian far away The wide hot plains where Persian sunbeams play, The Bactrian war-holds, and the storm-oppressed
;

Clime of the Mcde, and Araby the

Blest,

And

Asia

all,

that

by the
cities,

salt sea lies

In proud embattled

motley-wise
;

Of Hellene and Barbarian interwrought And now I come to Hellas having taught
All the world else

my

dances and

my

rite

Of mysteries,

to

show me

in men's sight

Manifest God.

And
I

first

of Hellene lands
;

cry this
clasp

Thebes

to

waken

set

her hands

To

my

wand, mine

ivied javelin,

And round her shoulders hang my wild fawn-skin. For they have scorned me whom it least beseemed, Semel^s sisters 5 mocked my birth, nor deemed
That Dionysus sprang from Dian
seed. in her need,

My

mother sinned,

said

they

and

With Cadmus plotting, cloaked her human shame With the dread name of Zeus for that the flame
;

From heaven consumed her, seeing she lied to God, Thus must they vaunt; and therefore hath iny rod

THE BACCHAE
On
them
first

fallen,

From empty chambers Is made their home, and

;

and stung them forth wild-eyed the bare mountain side

all

their hearts arc flame.

Yea, I have bound upon the necks of them The harness of my rites. And with them all

The
And

seed of

womankind from hut and

hath this

hall

Of Thebes,

my magic goaded out. the old with there, King's daughters, in a rout make their Confused, they dwelling-place between
roofless rocks

The

and shadowy pine

trees green.
it

Thus

shall this

Thebes,

how

sore soe'cr

smart,

Learn and forget not, till she crave her part In mine adoring ; thus must I speak clear

To
As

save
true

my

mother's fame, and crown

me

here

God, born by Semeli to Zeus.

yicklcth

Now Cadmus
Of royal
Pentheus

up

his

throne and use

honour
;

to his daughter's son

who on my body

hath begun

A war

with God,

He

thrusteth

me away
pray,
hi*

From due My name

Head and

drink-offering, and,

when men

entreats not.

Therefore on

own

his people's shall

my power
all

he shown.

Then
Are

to another land,

when

things here

well,

must

I fare

onward, making clear

My
My

But should this Thehan town godhead's might. Essay with wrath and battle to drap; down
maids,
lo, in

their path myself shall be,

And maniac
For

armies battled after

me

godhead with the wan Form of the things that die, and walk as Marv.
this I veil

my

Brood of Tmolus

o'er the

wide woiid

Lydian band,

my

chosen and mint own,

io

EURIPIDES
uplifted o'er the orient

Damsels

deep
to sleep
old sweet sound,

To

wander where I wander, and

j

Where I sleep The clang that

up, and
I

wake the

The
I

and mystic Rhea found, Timbrel of the Mountain Gather

1

all

Thebes
seek

to your song

round Pentheus' royal

hall.

worshippers, to guide Their dances up Kithacron's pine-clad side.

my new-made

W*

he departs, there comes stealing in from the

left

a band of fifteen Eastern Women, the

light

of the sunrise streaming upon their long white

roles

skins over the robes,

and ivy-bound hair. They wear fawnand carry some of them timbrels, some pipes and other instruments.

Many

bear the thyrsus, or sacred

reed ringed with ivy.

Wand,
enter
is

made of

They

see that the stealthily till they place

empty,

and then

begin their mystic song of worship.

CHORUS.

A Maiden.
From
Asia, from the dayspring that uprises,

To

Bromios ever glorying

is

we

came.
j

We laboured for our Lord in many guises We toiled, but the toil as the prize
is
;

Thou Mystery we
,

hail thee

by thy name

Another.

Who
He

lingers in the road

shall hide

Who espies us
defies us
j

him

in his

house nor be bold.

Let the heart keep silence that

For I sing

The

day to Dionysus song that is appointed from of

this

old*

THE BACCHAE
AII the
Oh,
blessed he in
all

Maiden**
wlse 5

Who

hath drunk the Living Fountain^

Whose life no folly staineth, And his soul is near to God 5 Whrve sins are lifted, pall-wise, As he worships on the Mounta: And where Cyliele ordaineth. Our Mother, fie has trod
:

His head with ivy laden

And
64

hib

thyrsus tossing high,

lifts

For our Clod he

his

cry

Up,

() Crirchne, wife

and maiden,
;

Come,

(j

ye Bacchae, come

Ol^

Joy-bcstowcr, God-seed of (Jod the Sower,

firing the

Bring Bromios

in his

power

From

Phrygia's mountain

dome j
**
1

To

street

and town and tower, Oh, brinf! ye Bromios home

anguish lying
life's desire,

Whom
As

erst in

For an unborn

a dead thinp; in the

Thunder
5

His mother

t*ast

to earth

For her heart was dyinf, dying, In the white heart of the fire ;
Till Zeus, the Lord of

Wonder,
;

Devised

new

lairs

of birth

Yea, his own flesh tore to hide him, And with clasps of bitter gold

Did

a secret von enfold,

12

EURIPIDES
And
the

Queen knew not

beside

him
j

Till the perfect hour

was theic

Then a horned God was found, And a God with serpents crowned And for that are serpents wound
And
the songs of serpents sound

In the wands his maidens bear,

In the mazes of their

hair,

Some Maidens.
All
hail,

O Thebes,

thou nurse of Semelfi

With
Oh,

Semeli's wild ivy crown thy towers burst in bloom of wreathing bryony,
Berries and leaves and flowers
$

Uplift the dark divine wand,

The oak-wand and And don thy fawn-skin,

With
Oh,

the pine-wand,
fringed in purity

like ours. fleecy white,

cleanse thee in the wands'

nil

waving pride
anil

Yea,

men

shall
his

dance with us
shall

pniy,

When

Bromios

companies

piide
stay,

Hillward, ever hillwurd,

where they

The The
By

flock of the Kclievinp;,

maids from loom smd weaving

the ma^ic of his breath borne away.

Others.

Hail thou,

Where

fierce

Nurse of Zeus, Caverncd Flaunt arms chinked to f,uurd G**l\

cradle rare,

For thee of

old

some

crested
in

Coryhant
air

First

woke

Cretan

THE BACCHAE
The
Rang with
wild orb of our orgies,
;

13

Our Timbrel
this strain

and thy gorges and blended Phrygian chant

And

sweet keen pipes were there,

But the Timbrel, the Timbrel was another's, And away to Mother Rhea it must wend 5

And

to our holy singing from the Mother's

The mad

Satyrs carried

it,

to blend

In the dancing and the cheer Of our third and perfect Year

And

it

serves

Dionysus

in the

end

A Maiden.

glad,

glad on the mountains

To swoon in the race outworn, When the holy fawn -skin clings,
And
all else

sweeps away,

To

the joy of the red quick fountains,

The blood of the hill-goat torn, The glory of wild-beast ravenin; % Where the hill-tops catch the <l;iy
r

To

the Phrygian, Lydian, mountains

*Tis Bromios leads the way.

Another Maiden.

Then streams the earth with milk, yea, streams With wine and nectar of the bee, And through the air dim perfume steams

Of Syrian
Our

frankincense

and He,

leader,

from

his thyrsus

A torchlight tosses A torchlight like a To waken all that

spray high and higher,

beacon-fire,
faint

and stray

EURIPIDES
And
His
sets

them leaping

as

he

sings,

tresses rippling to the sky.

And

deep beneath the Maenad cry His proud voice rings :

"

Come,

ye Bacchae, come

n
I

All the Maidens.

Hither,
fragrant of Tmolus the Golden, with the voice of timbrel and drum
uplift

Come

Let the cry of your joyance

and embolden
1

The God
With

of the joy-cry j Bacchanals, come pealing of pipes and with Phrygian clamour, On, where the vision of holiness thrills,
the music climbs and the maddening glamour, the wild White Maids, to the hills, to the
hills
1

And

With
Oh,

then, like a colt as

his

he runs by a

river,

A colt
With

the heart of him sings, by the keen limbs drawn and the fleet foot
a- quiver,

dam, when

Away
Enter TF.IRESIAS,

the Bacchanal springs

lit h an old

upon a staff and moving with

man and Hind) leaning dow statdines^ though

wearing

the

Ivy ami

tfie

Bacchic fawn-skin*

TEIRESIAS.

Ho,

there,

who

keeps the gate

son,

?-

Go, summon me
hold,

Cadmus, Agfinor's

who

crossed the sea

From

Siclon

and uprcared
art.

this

Theban
will

GO, whosoe'er thoti

Sec he be told

Teiresias seekcth him.

Himself
r,

gauge

Mine

errand* and the cowpai

age with age.

THE BACCHAE
I

15
hair,

vowed with him, grey

deck the

hair with

snow-white

To

new God's

thyrsus,

and to wear

His fawn-skin, and with ivy crown our brows.

Enter

CADMUS from

the Castle,

He

is

even older than

attin.

TEIRESIAS> and wears

the sain

CADMUS.
True friend
!

knew

that voice of thine, that flows

Like mellow wisdom from a fountain wise.

And,

lo,

I come prepared, in
this

all

the guise
told

And
His

harness of
is

God.

Are we not
life

the soul of that dead

of old

That sprang from mine own daughter ? Surely then Must them and I with all the strength of men
Exalt him.

Where then shall I stand, where tread The dance and toss this bowed and hoary head
?

friend, in thee

is

wisdom

guide

my

grey

And eld- worn steps, am not weak.

[At
the
first
to

eld- worn Teiresias.

Nay;

begins

movement of worship his manner change ; a mysterious strength and

exaltation enter Into him.

Surely this

arm

could smite
night,

The wild earth with its thyrsus, day and And faint not Sweetly and forgetfully The dim years fall from off me
I

TBTRESIAS.

As with
With
ftjid

thee,

me

'tis

likrvisc.

Lf^hi

am

and young,

will cssaj ttc dancinj/: and the song.

i6

EURIPIDES
CADMUS.

to the Quick, then, our chariots

mountain

road.

TEIRESIAS,

Nay

to take steeds

were to mistrust the God.

CADMUS.
So be it

Mine

old

arm

shall guide thee there,

TEIRESIAS.

The God

himself shall guide

Have thou no

care,

CADMUS,

And

in all

Thebes

shall

no man dance but

we ?

TEIRESIAS.

Aye, Thebes

is

blinded.

Thou and

can

see,

CADMUS.
'Tis weary waiting
;

hold

my

hand, friend

so,

TEIRESIAS,

Lo, there

is

mine.

So linked

let

us go.

CADMUS.
Shall things

of dust the Gods' dark ways despise

TEIRESIAS.

Or

Not thou and

prove our wit on Heaven's high mysteries I ! That heritage sublime

sires

Our

have

left us,

wisdom

old as time,

No word
And won

of man,

how

deep soever his thought

of subtlest

toil,

may

bring to

naught

THE BACCHAE
Aye, men
will rail that I forget

17
years,
;

my

To

dance and wreathe with ivy these white hairs

recks
It f

What

Seeing the

God no

line hath told

To mark what man

But craves
All,
his

shall dance, or

young or
shall

old

no man

honours from mortality marked apart ; and great

be

CADMUS

(after looking

away toward

the

Mountain).

Teiresias, since this light thou canst not read,

I

must be

seer for thee.

Here comes

in speed

Pentheus, Echton's son,

whom

I have raised

To

rule my people in my stead, Amazed He seems. Stand close, and mark what we shall hear.

[The two stand then enters

by a

back^ partially concealed^

in hot haste

wink
to

PENTHEUS, followed
speaking
the

bodyguard.
in

He u

SOLDIER

command,

PENTHEUS.
Scarce had
I crossed

our borders,

when mine

ear

caught by this strange rumour, that our own Wives, our own sisters, from their hearths arc flown

Was

To
To

wild and secret

rites

and cluster there

with dance and prayer
this

High on the shadowy

adore this

hills,

new-made God,
!

Dionysc,

Whutc'cr he be

companies Deep wine-jars stand, and ever and anon Away into the lonelimtss now une
Steals forth,

And

in their

and
lies

Where

love

a second, maid or dame, The flame, waiting, not of Gud 1

now

They say, of Bacchios wraps

*Tis more to Aphrodite
that,

them.

Bacchiobl Nay,

they pray.

i8
all

EURIPIDES
Howbeit,
that I have found,
in our
I

my men

Hold bound and shackled

The

rest, I will

go hunt them

dungeon den \ Aye, and snare

My

birds

And mountain

with nets of iron, to quell their prayer song and rites of rascaldom
!

They tell me, too, A man of charm and

there

is

a stranger

come s

A A

spell, from Lydian seas? and gold cloudy fragrancies, wine-red check, and eyes that hold the

head

all

light

Of the very Cyprian. Day and livelong night He haunts amid the damsels, o^er each lip Let me grip Dangling his cup of joyance Him once, but once, within these walls, right
!

swift

That wand

shall cease its music,

still

and that

drift

Of tossing
Falls

curls lie

when my rude sword

1

between neck and trunk

tale

'Tis

all

his word,

This

of Dionysus

how

that

same

Babe

that

was

blasted

by the lightning flame

lie,

With

his dead

mother, for that mother's

Was re-conceived, bom perfect from the thigh What call ye these Of Zeus, and now is God
I

Dreams f Gibes
phemies

of the

unknown wanderer ?
?

Blas-

That
Here

crave the very gibbet

Stay
is

God

wot,

another marvel

See

not

In motley fawn-skins robed the vision-seer And my mother's father hereTeircsias ?

Of Bacchios ?
It

depth of scorn Iadoring with the wand -Father 1 -Nay, mine eyes are fond
not your white heads so fancy-flown
1

It cannot be

Cast off that ivy crown,

THE BACCHAE
mine own mother's
sire
!

19

Set free that hand

That cowers about

Its staff*

*Tis thou hast planned

Tis thou must This work, Teircsias Another altar aad another yet
I

set

Amongst

us,

watch new

birds,

and win more hire

1

Of gold,
But

interpreting

new

signs of fire

for thy silver hairs, I tell thcc true,

sitting

Thou now wert

chained amid thy crew

Of raving
Thou

damsels, for this evil

dream
!

hast brought us, of

new Gods

When

once

the gleam

Of grapes
In
all

hath

lit

Woman's
no more

Festival,
luvtlth at all
!

their prayers

is

LEADER OF THE CHORUS

(the

words are not heard ly PENTHF.UR),

hast thou no care for Injurious King,

God,

Nor Cadmus, sower of

the Giants' Sod,

Life-spring to great Eeiiinn ami to thcc?

TKMKHIAS.

Good
That
Else

words,
speaks

my
is

son,

come

easily,

when he
for the right.

wise,

and speaks but

!

come they never

Swift are thine, and bright

As though with thought, yet have no thought at all Lo, this new God, whom tluw dost flout withal,
1

cannot speak the greatness wherewith

!

He
first

In Hellas shall be great

Two
is

spirits (here be,

Young
Call her

Prince, that in man's work! arc

of worth,

Dfimfitfir

one

is

named; she

the

Earth-

which name thou will 1

things dry.

With sustenance of

who feeds man's frame And that which came

20

EURIPIDES
to perfect, second,
is

Her work

the

Power

From SemelS
Hid

born.

in the grape.

He found the liquid shower He rests man's spirit dim

the vine exaltcth him.

From

grieving,

when

He

givcth sleep to sink the fretful day

Is

In cool forgetting,

there any

way
?
is

With man's

sore heart, save only to forget

Yea, being God, the blood of

Before the Gods

him

set

in sacrifice, that

we
so, to thee,

For

his sake

may
?

be

blest,

And
this

That

fable

shames him,

how

God was

knit
it,

Into God's flesh

Nay,
false.

learn the truth of

Cleared

from the

When

from that deadly

1

light

Zeus saved the babe, and up to Olympus height Raised him, and Hera's wrath would cast him thence,

Then Zeus

devised

him a divine defence.

fire

fragment of the world-encircling

rent apart, and

He

wrought

to his desire

Of shape
And
By

and

line, in

the linage of the child,

gave to Hera's rage. And so, beguiled change and passing time, this tale was born,
the babe-god was hidden in the torn
sire.
is

How

Flesh of his

He

hath no shame thereby.

A
To

prophet
all

he likewise.

Prophecy
all else

Cleaves to

frenzy, but

beyond
in

frenzy of prayer.
himself,

Then

us verily dwells
to be.

The God

and speaks the thing

Yea, and of Arcs' realm a part hath he. When mortal armies, mailed and arrayed,

Have

in strange fear, or ever blade

'tis

met

blade,

Fled maddened,

this

God

hath palsied them*

Aye, over Delphi's rock-built diadem

THE BACCHAE
Thou
yet shalt see

21

him leaping with

his

his train

Of fire
And

across the twin-peaked mountain-plain,

Flaming the darkness with

great in Hellas,
!

List

mystic wand, and understand,

is

King Pcntheus
if

Dream

not thou that force

power

thou hast a thought, and that thought sour Nor, And sick, oh, dream not thought is wisdom J Up,
Receive this

Of sacrifice,
Thou

God to Thebes ; pour forth the cup and pray, and wreathe thy brow. fearest for the damsels ? Think thee now
this the part of

How toucheth To hold mnids

And
their

Dionyse
In them
it

pure perforce
hearts
;

lies,

own

and

in the wildest rite

is

Cometh no

stain to her

whose heart

white.

Nay, mark

me

Thou hast
in

thy joy,

when
not

the Gate

Stands thronged, and Pentheus*

name
;

is

lifted great

And

high by

Thebes

clamour

shall

He
arid 1

due meed of majesty ? Rejoice this Cadmus whom thou scorn'st Howbeit,
in his
1

Will wear His* crown, and tread His dances Aye, Our hairs are white, yet shall that dance be trod 1
I will not lift

mine arm
all

to

war with God

For thcc nor

Is

thy words*

Madness most

fell

madness wrought by some dread But not by spell nor lecchcraft to be cured

on

thcc,

spell,
!

CHORUS,

Grey prophet, worthy of Phoebus

is

thy word,

And

wise in honouring Bromios, our great God,

CADMUS,

My
Oh, Not

son, right well Ttiresias points thy road.

rrake thine habitation here with us,

lonely, against

men's

uses.

Hazardous

22
Is this

EURIPIDES
quick bird-like beating of thy thought
dwells.

Where no thought
naught,

Grant that

this

God

bt?

Yet

let that

Naught be Somewhat

in

thy

mouth

Lie boldly, and say

Shall marvel,

He

Is

So north and south

how

there sprang a thing divine

From

Semele's

flesh,

and honour

all

our

line.
to

[Drawing

nearer

PENTHJEUS.

Is there not blood before thine eyes

even

now

long ago His own red hounds through yonder forest dim Tore unto death, because he vaunted him

Our

lost

Actacon's blood,

whom

Against most holy Artemis ? Oh, beware, And let me wreathe thy temples. Make thy prayer With us, and walk thce humbly in God's sight.

[He wuh's

as

if

to set the

wmith

on

PENTHEUS*

head.

PENTHKUS.

Down

with that hand

Aroint thcc to thy

!

rite,

Nor smear on me

thy foul contagion

[Turning upon TKIRHMAS,

This

Thy folly's head The justice that

O'er
birds

and prompter shall not miss he needs Go, half my guard,

!

Forth to the rock-seat where he dwells

in

ward

and wonders
;

rend the stone with crow

of high and low,
1

And And

trident
toss his

make one wreck

bands to
all

the winds of air

Ha, have I found the

way

to sting thce, there

!

The
This

rest, forth

through the town

And

seek amain

wrought such bane Thebes ? preying on our maids and wives. Seek till yc find 5 and lead him here in gyves*
that hath girl-faced stranger,

To

all

THE BACCHAE
Till he be judged and stoned,

23
in blood

and weep

The

day he troubled Penthcus with his

God

[Tht guards

set

forth in two

Miss $ PENTHEUS

goes Into the Castle.

TEIRESIAS,

Hard

heart,

how
!

little

dost thou

Thou

sowest
!

Blind before, and

let

know what seed now indeed

us go our way.

Most mad

Come, Cadmus,

And

our persecutor, pray For this poor city, that the righteous God Move not in anger, Take thine ivy rod
pray for this

And
If

help
old

my

steps, as I help thine.

'Twere

ill,

two

men

should

fall

by the roadway.
shall

Still,

Come what come may,

our service

be done

To

Bacchios, the All-Father's mystic son.

Pentheus,

named of sorrow

Shall he claim

From
But

thy house fulfilment of his name, Old Cadmus ? Nay, I speak not from mine
all

art,

as I

seeblind words and a

blind heart
the

[The two Old

Mm go off towards
CHORUS.

Mountain*

Some Maidens*

Thou Immaculate on high j Thou Recording Purity Thou that stoopest, Golden Wing,
;

Earthward, manward, pitying, Hcarcst thou this angry King f

Heaiest thou the rage and scorn
'Gainst the Lord of Many Voices, Him of mortal mother born, Htm in whom man's heart rejoices,

24

EURIPIDES
Girt with garlands and with glee.
First in Heaven's sovranty
F

kingdom, In the dancing and the prayerf In the music and the laughter,
there,

For

his

it is

And

In the vanishing of care, of all before and after ;

In the Gods' high banquet,

when

Gleams
Yea, and

the grape-blood, flashed to

;

heaven

in the feasts of

men
;

Comes
Pain

his
is

crowned slumber

then
I

dead and hate forgiven

Others.

Loose thy
Lift thy

lips

from out the rein

to disdain
;

?,

wisdom

Whatso law thou

canst not sec,

Scorning ; Uttermost calamity f Tis the life of quiet breath,

!

so the end shall be

'Tis the simple and the true.

Storm nor earthquake

shattcreth.

Nor

shall

aught the house undo

Where

they dwell. For, far away ? Hidden from the eyes of day, Watchers are there in the skies, That can sec man's life, and prize

Deeds well done by things of clay. But the world's Wise are not wise? Claiming more than mortal may.
Life
is

such a

little

thing
is

Lo, their present

departed

THE BACCHAE
And the dreams to which they Come not. Mad imagining
cling

25

Theirs, I ween, and empty-hearted

Divers Maidens*

Where
Aphrodite's

is

the

Home

for

me ?

Cyprus,

set in the sea,

home In the soft sea- foam, Would I could wend to thee Where the wings of the Loves are furled, And faint the heart of the world,
\

Aye, unto Paphos*

isle,

meadows srrnl'e With riches rolled From the hundred-fold Mouths of the far-off Nile,
the rainless

Where

Streaming beneath the waves To the roots of the seaward caves.

But

a better land

is

there

Where Olympus cleaves the air, The high still dell Where the Muses dwell,
Fairest of
all

things

fair

there

is

Grace, and there

is

the Heart's Desire,

And

peace to adore thee, thou Spirit of Guiding Fire!

A God of Heaven is he, And born in majesty ;

Yet hath he mirth In the joy of the Earth,

And
Her who

he loveth constantly
brings increase,

The

Feeder of Children, Pcare.

20

EURIPIDES
No No
But
grudge hath he of the great
scorn of the
5

mean

estate

to all that liveth

His wine he giveth,

;

Griefless,

immaculate
that spurn

Only on them
Joy,

may

his

anger burn.

Love than the Day and the Night 5 Be glad of the Dark and the Light ;

And

avert thine eyes

From
in

the lore of the wise,

That have honour

The
Hath

proud men's sight herd of nameless simple Humanity

decils

and

faith that arc truth

enough forme!

[/fi

the Chorus

a party of the guards ceases, in the midst return^ hading of them DIONYSUS,

bound.
firth) as

The SOLDIER
PKNTHEUS,

in

command

stands
of

hearing the

tramp

feft) comes out from the Castle*

SOLDIER.

Our

King, quest is finished, and thy prey, Caught for the chase was swift, and this wild thing Most tame j yet never flinched, nor thought to flee,
;

But

No He

both hands out unresistingly change, no blanching of the wine-red cheekheld

waited while

we came, and

bade us wreak

All thy decree; yea, laughed, and

made

my

hest

Easy,

till 1

for
*

And

said

very shame confessed stranger, not of mine own

fulfil

will

1 bind thee,

but his bidding to

Who sent

me.*

And

those prisoned

Maids withal

Whom

thwi didst seize and bind within the wall

THE BACCHAE
Of thy great dungeon, they are fled, King9 Free in the woods, a-dance and glorying To Bromios, Of their own impulse fell

2?

To

earth,

men

say, fetter

and manacle,
land
it lies

And
Yea,

bars slid back untouched of mortal hand.

full

Is this

of many wonders to thy man come, Howbeit,

.

with thee

PENTHEUS.

Ye

are

mad
are

Unhand him.
round him and he
guards
loose

Howso
shall

swift he be,
fly.

My

toils

not

[Tht

of DIONYSUS; PBNTHEUS studies him for a while in silence^

then
speaks jeeringly.

the

arms

DIONYSUS remains

gent Is

and unafraid,
thou scck'st no more, I ween

Marry, a

fair
!

shape for a woman's eye,

Sir stranger

And
1

Long

curls,
1

withal

That shows thou

a

ne'er hast been

A wrestler
Thee

down both cheeks

!

so softly tossed
I

And winsome
And

And

white skin

It

hath cost

pains, to please thy damsels

with

this

white
1

red of cheeks that never face the light

Speak, sirrah

tell

me

first

[DIONYSUS is silent* thy name and race.

DIONYSUS.

No glory is therein, nor yet disgrace. Thou hast heard of Tmolus, the bright
PENTHEUS.
Surely
;

hill

of flowers?

the ridge that winds by Sardis* towers

DIONYSUS,

Thence am

Lydia was

my

fatherland

28

EURIPIDES
PENTHIUS.

And whence

these revelations, that thy hand Hellas ? in Spreadcth

DIONYSUS,

Their intent and use

Dionysus oped to me, the Child of Zeus,

PKNTHKUS
Is

(brutally}.
still

there a

7ous

there, that can

bc^et

Youm; Gods f
DIONYSUS.

Nay, only He whose

Here
In thy

seal

was

set

Thebes on SemulS.
PHNTHEUS.

What way
IWcndrd he upon Or vision of ni^ht
thccf
In
full

day

DIONYSUS.

Most

clear

lie

stood,

and scannc

My soul,
What

and gave

his

emblems

to

mine hand,

PENTHEUS.
like

be they, these emblems

DIONYSUS.

That may nor

Reveal, nor know, save his Elect alone.

PENTHEUS,

Ami what

good bring they to the worshipper

DIONYSUS.

Gtwd beyond

price,

but not

for thec to

THE BACCHAE
PENTHEUS.

2 <j

Thou

trickster

Thou wouldst
1

prick

me on

the

more

To

seek

them out

DIONYSUS.
His mysteries abhor

The

touch of sin-lovers.

PENTHEUS.

And
Saw
this

so thine
?

eye

God

plain

what

guise had he

DIONYSUS.

What
It liked

guise

him.

Twos

not

ordained his shape*

PENTHEUS,
Aye, deftly turned again. And nothing answered
I

An

idle

jape,

DIONYSUS,

Wise words being brong!/

To

blinded eyes will seem as things of nought,

PENTHKUS.

And

comest
?

tliou first to

Thebes, to have thy

God

Established

DIONYSUS.

Nay
His dance ere
this.

all

Barhary hath trod

PINTIJKUS.

A
Beside our Hellenes
I

low

blind folk, I

30

EURIPIDES
DIONYSUS,

Higher and more keen

In this thing, though their ways are not thy way,

PENTHEUS,

How

is

thy worship held, by night or day f

DIONYSUS,

Most

oft

by night

'tis

a majestic thing,

The

darkness.

PENTHEUS.

Ha

with
1

women

worshipping

"Tis craft and rottenness

DIONYSUS,

Whoso

will seek

may

find

By day no uu holiness.

less,

PENTUKUS.

Enough

Thy doom

is

fixed, for false

pretence

Corrupting Thebes,

DIONYSUS,

Not mine

but thine, for dense

Blindness of heart, and for blaspheming

God

PENTHEUS.

ready knave

it

is,

and brazen-browed,
1

This mystery-priest

DIONYSUS,
Conic, say what
it shall

be,

My

doom ; what

dire thing wilt thou do to

me I

THE BACCHAE
PENTHEUS.
First, shear that delicate curl that dangles there.

31

[He

beckons to the

soldiery

who approach DIONYSUS.

DIONYSUS.
I have

vowed

it

to

my God

'tis

holy hair.
off
the

[The

soldiers cut

tms,

PENTHEUS.
Nextj yield

me up

thy staff!

DIONYSUS.
Raise thine

own hand

To

take

it.

This

is

Dionysus' wand.

[PENTHKUS
PENTHEUS.
Last, I will hold thee prisoned here.

take* the

staff.

DIONYSUS.

My Lord
God
will unloose

me, when I speak the word,

PENTHEUS.

He may, if e'er again amid his Of saints he hears thy voice

1

bands

DIONYSUS.

Even now he
Close here> and sees
all

stands

that I suffer.

PENTHEUS,

What?
Where
is

he

For mine eyes discern him not

32

EURIPIDES
DIONYSUS.

Where
That

am

*Tis thine
thee.

own

impurity

veils

him from

PENTHEUS.

The
At me and Thebes
!

dog
1

jeers at

me

Bind him
soldiers

[The

begin to bind him,

DIONYSUS,

Me

not

I charge ye, bind having vision and ye blind 1

PENTHEUS.

And

I,

with better right, say bind the more

[The
DIONYSUS,

soldiers

obey,

Thou knowcst nut what end thou scekest, nor What deed thou docst, nor what man thou art
PKNTHF.US
(meeting}.

AftWs son, and on the father's Ednon\ higlit Pcnthcus

!

part

DIONYSUS,
So
let it bt',
I

name

fore -written to calamity

PKNTHEUC.

Awnv, ami
Avr,
hit

tic

him where
in the

the steeds are tied;

!

him

Isc

manner
!

There

abide

Awl

stare into the darkness

And

this rout

Of womankind

that clusters thec about,

THE BACCHAE
Thy ministers of worship, are my slaves I It may be 1 will sell them o'er the waves, Hither and thither ; else they shall be set

33

To

labour at

my

distaffs,

and forget

Their timbrel and

their songs of

dawning day

DiONrais,
I go
;

for that
!

Not

suffer

Whom
Thou

which may not be, I may Yet for this thy sin, lo, He thou densest comcth after thee
Yea,
in

For recompense.
hast cast

thy wrong to

us,

into thy prison-house I [DiONVsus, ivithaitt hh wand^ his hair shorn 9

his
to

Him

and

arms

tighl/y found)

led

ojfby the guards

returns into the

hh tlungwn.

PENTHHUS

Palate.

CHORUS.
Some AftiidfM*
Achclolis*

roaming

daui'Jhtrr,

Holy Dircf, virgin water, Bathed he not of old in thce,

The Babe

of God, the Mystery

When from nut the fire immortal To himself his God did take Iiim^ To his own flesh, and bcspa'.e him
^ Enter now
life's

wond
;

portal,

Motherless Mystery

lo, I

break

Mine own

hotly for

thy sake,

Thau of the Twofold Door, and seal thee Mine, () Browios," thus he spake"Arui to this thy land reveal thee."

34

EURIPIDES
All
Still

my

prayer toward thee quiver^

still

Dirci,

to thee I hie

me

Why,

Blessed
fly

among

Rivers,

Wilt them

me

and deny
I

me I

By His

own

joy

vow,

Thou

shalt

the grape upon the bough, seek Him in the midnight, thou shalt love

By

Him, even

now

Other Maidens.

Dark and of the dark impassioned

Is this

Pcnthcus* blood

yea, fashioned

Of
lie

the

Dragon, and

his birth

From Echfon,
is

child of Earth,

no man, but a wonder ; Did the Earth-Child not beget him,

a red Giant, to set

As

him

AfJiiast

God,
hind

against the

Thunder

He
Me,

will
tiic

me

for his prize,

;

Bride of Dionyse
priest,

And my

my
lies

friend,
lies ;

is

taken

Even now, and buried

In the dark he

forsaken

Lo,

we

race with death,

we

perish,
I

Dionysus, here before thee Dost thou mark us not, nor cherish,

Who

implore thee, and adore thee Hither down Olympus* side,

Come,
Be thy golden wand

Holy One

defied,

uplifted o'er the tyrant in his pride I

THE BACCHAE
A Maiden,
On, where
art

35

them

In thine

own

Nysa, thou our help alone ? O'er fierce beasts in orient lands
thyrsus wave^ the high Corycian Cave, where stern Olympus stands ;

Doth thy thronging

By

Or

In the elm- woods and the oaken,

And And

There where Orpheus harped of old, the trees awoke and knew him,
the wild things gathered to him,
his

As he sang amid the broken

Glens
"Blessed

music manifold
Picrie,
j

Land of

Dionysus lovcth thce

He will come to thee with Come with joy and mystery

With
the

dancing,

Maenads

at his host to the

Winding, winding

West

Cross the flood of swiftly glancing Axios in majesty ;

Cross the Lydias, the giver

Of good
Through

gifts

and waving green

story,.

Cross that Father-Stream of

a land of steeds and glory

Rolling, bravest, fairest River K'er of mortals seen 1

VOICE WITHIN.
lo! Io!
;

Awake, ye damsels
Calling

hear
j

my

cry,
1

my

Chosen

hearken ye

36

EURIPIDES

A
Who speakcth
?

MAIDEN.
Oh, what echoes thus ?

ANOTHER.

Voice, a Voice, that callcth us

THE
Be of good
cheer
!

VOICE.

Lo,

it is

I,

The

Child of Zeus and Semeli,

MAIDEN.
it is

Master, Master,

Thou

ANOTHER.
Holy Voice, be with us now
I

THE
Spirit

VOICE.

of the Chained Earthquake?

Hear

my

word

awake, awake

[An Earthquake suddenly shahs the

Castlt.

pillars of the

A
I

MAIDEN,
?

Ha what is coming Of Pentiums racked in

Shall the hall

ruin

fall f

LEADER.

Our God

is

in the

house

Ye

maids adore

Him

CHORUS.

We adore Him all

THE BACCHAE
Tim
The
VOICE.
;

37

Unveil the Lightning's eye

fire

arouse
1

that sleeps, against this house

[Fire leaps up on the

Tomb

of Semeli.

A
Ah, saw
ye,

MAIDEN.

marked ye there the flame

Yea, the Death that cime
old, the

From

Semele's cnhallowed sod

?

Awakened

Ablaze from heaven of

smio

Hot splendour of the

LEADER.

shaft of

God

Oh, Cometh

to the earth cast ye, cast ye,

The
cant

Lord

Ye

Oh, ye down, He, our own adored, Cod's Child hath come, and all is era-thrown
!

against this

house

trembling damsels

[The

MahLms

cast

themselves ufwi the

their ryes earthward*

/vvwWj DIONYSUS, alum and

unbound^ cntenfrwi the Ca\th\

DIONYSUS,

Ye

Damsels of the Morning

dismayed
?

Hills,

why

lie

yc thus

Ye

marked him, then, our Master, and the mighty hand h& laid
tower and rock, shaking the house of Pcntheus
?

On

But

arise,

And

cast the

trembling from your

flesh,

and

lift

un-

troubled eyes.

38

EURIPIDES
LEADER.
Light
thy
in

Durkru *;,
1

Is

it

tliou

Priest, Is this

face

My

heart leaps out to greet thcc from the deep of

loneliness.

DIONYSUS.

Fdl ye

so quick di-sp-urin^
?

when beneath

[lie

Gate

I pnssrd

Should the
ness

j'.ates
i

of IVntheus quell me, or his darkfast

?

make no

LEADER.

Ohj what was

loft if tliou
?

wnl

j<rme

What

could

but despair

How

hast thou

\iaped the man of sin?

?

Who

freed

thce from the snare

DIONYSUS.
1

had no pain nor peril

free,

'twas

mine own hand

set

me

LFADKR.

Thine arms were

j'.yviid

J)lONVbU8.

Nay, no

f^yve,

no tow

h,

was

laid

on

me

'Twas

there I

mocked him,
led

in ln\ ryves,

and gave him

dreams

for food,

For when he

me

down, behold, before the

stall

there stood

Bull of Oilcrin^.

And

this

Kinft he

bit his lips,

and straight Fell on ;uid hound

it,

hoof and limb, with gasping

wrath and sweat.

THE BACCHAE
A>nd I sat watching
!

39
;

Then

a Voice

and

lo,

our

Lord

wits corne,

Aul

the house shook, and a great flame stood o'er his

mother's tomb.

And

Pentlieus hied this

thralls

way and
burn

that,

and called

his

amain
lest his roof-tree
;

For water,

and

all

toiled, all

in vain.

Then deemed
and sped

a-siulden I

was gone
and

and

left

his fire,

Hack
But

to tie prison portals,

then:, meihinl'.s, the

his lifted

sword shone

red.

God

had wrought

1 speak

hut

a,i

f ;

nr-,s

Some dream-shape
cmpiimss, Stahhcd in the
'twere

in

mine

imrr.'e

for

he smote at

air,
lie

and strove

in

wrath, as tliuu^h

me

slew.
(J;il

Then

"'mid his

dreams

smote him yet

there in

a;*,ain

lie

overthrew
All that
bi|',h
it

house.

And

wicck

for ever-

mou:

lies,

That

th

day of
1

this
!

my
is

bondage may
and he

be sure in

Pcnthcus' eyes

And now
and wan

his

sword

fallen,

lies

outworn

Who
And
1

dared tu

rise

ayainst his

God

in

wrath, being

but man,

uprose and

left

him, and in

all

peace took

my

path

Forth to
his

my

Chosen, recking light of Pcntheus and

wrath,
snit,

But

n.rthmh a

footstep sounds even

now

within the hall;

4o

EURIPIDES
he
;

Tis

how

think ye he will stand, and what word*

?

speak withal
1 will endure

him

jrnitly,

though

lie

come

in

fury hot,

For

still

arc the

ways of Wisdom, and her temper

!

trcmblcth not

Knttr Pi'.NTHEUi;

in

fury*

PKNTHEUS.
It is too

nine It

Tin's Eastern knave hath slipped

I Iu:ld
!

His prison,
In hondui;<*.

whom
H:i

hut now, hard rrippjd

'Tis he

IWhat,

sirrah,

how

Sliow'&t thou before

my

portals?

[7/i?

adwnu'S furiously upon him*

DlONVSUS.
Softly thou
1

And

set 2 quiet carriage to tliy ra^c.

PKNTHFUb.

Slow comrst thuu here?

How

didst

thou break thy

Speak

DIONYSUS.
Said I not, or didst thou

mark not me,

There was One

living that should set

me

free

PKNTIIKUS.

Who

Ever wiMer are these

tales of thine,

DIONVSITS.
fie

who

first

made

fur

man

the clustered vine,

P NTH F.US,
I scorn

him and

his vines

THE BACCHAE
DlONYSUS,

For Dionysc
f

Tis well

for in thy scorn Jib glory lies,

FENTHKUS

(to

hh guard}.

Go

swift to

all

die towers^ and bar withal

Each

gate

DlONVM.T'.

What, cannot Cud

FEKTHKUS.

o'erlcap a wall

Oh, wit thou

hast, save

where thou

neeilest

it

DlUNYLUS.

Whereso

it

most imjwrts, there

1

Is

my

wit

The

Nay, peace mountain

Abide

till

he

who

hastcth from

side with

news

for thcc, be rouse,

We

will not ily, but wait

[/i////r

on thy command, in lutfe a and suddenly Aleutngtt

the

Ml-.SSKN^ER.

Great Pcnthcus, Lonl of all this Thcban I come from high Kitlwrron, where the frurc Snow spangles gkam and cease not evermore.
IV.NTiSl'JJS,

And what

of import

may

thy coming

brinj',

have seen the Wild

White

Women

there,

King,

Whose fleet limbs darted arrow-like but now From Thebes way, and come to tell thcc how
si

42

EURIPIDES
strange deeds and passing marvel.

They work
I first

Yet

My

would learn thy pleasure. Shall I set whole tale forth, or veil the stranger part

Yea, Lord, I fear the swiftness of thy heart, Thine edged wrath and more than royal soul.

PENTHEUS.

Thy
Nay,
Shall

tale shall

nothing scathe thee.

Tell the whole.

It skills
if

not to be wroth with honesty. thy news of them be dark, 'tis he

it,

pay

who

bewitched and led them on.

MESSENGER,

Our

herded kine were moving in the

dawn
rime

Up to the peaks, the greyest, coldest time, When the first rays steal earthward, and the
Yields,

when

saw three bands of them,

The

one

AutonoU

one Ino, one thine own Mother, Agftvfl. There beneath the
led,

trees

Sleeping they In the forest ; one half sinking on a bed Of deep pine greenery ; one with careless head

like wild things flung at ease lay,

Amid

the fallen oak leaves

all

most cold

In purity

Of

not as thy tale was told wine-cups and wild music and the chase
forest's loneliness.

For love amid the

Then Amid

rose the

Queen

Ag.lvfi

suddenly

her band, and gave the God's wild cry? " Awake, ye Bacchanals I hear the sound
!

Of horned
Alert, the

kine,

Awake ye
sleep fallen

"

Then,

all

round f

warm

from their eyes,

rise,

marvel of swift ranks I saw them

THE BACCHAE
Dames young and
old,

43

and gentle maids unwed

first

Among
Their

them.

O'er their shoulders

they shed

Of

and caught up the fallen fold mantles where some clasp had loosened hold,
tresses,

And

girt

the dappled fawn-skins in with long

Quick

snakes that hissed and writhed with quivering

tongue.

And one a young fawn held, and one a wild Wolf cub, and fed them with white milk, and
In love, young mothers with a mother's breast

smiled

And

babes at

home

forgotten

Then

they pressed

Wreathed

their brows, and oaken ivy round sprays

And

flowering bryony.

And
rock,

one would

raise

Her wand and smite the

and straight a

jet

Of quick
Her

bright water came.

in the

Another

set

thyrsus
red

bosomed

earth,

and there
to her,

Was

wine that the God sent up

fountain.

A darkling

And

if

any

lips

Sought whiter draughts, with dipping finder-tips They pressed the sod, and gushing from the ground

Came springs of milk. Ami reed-wands ivy-crowned Ran with sweet honey, drop by drop. () King,
With
Hadst thou been there, as I, and seen this thing, prayer and most high wonder liadst thou pwe
adore this

To

God whom now thou

rail's t

upon

Howbcit, the kinc-wardcns and shepherds straight

Came to one place, amazed, and held debate And one being there who walked the streets and scanned The ways of speech, took lead of them whose hand
;

Knew
And

but the slow

soil

and the solemn

:

hill,

flattering spoke,

and asked

"Is

it

your

will,

Masters,

we

stay the

mother of the King,

lawless AgJvfi, from her worshipping,

41

EURIPIDES
us royal thanks?"

And win

And

this

seemed good
there

To

all

and through the branching underwood

We

hid us, cowering in the leaves.

And

Through the appointed hour they made

their

prayer

And worship of the Wand, with one accord Of heart and cry-" larch os, Bromios, Lord, God of God born "And all the mountain felt, And worshipped with them and the wild things knelt And ramped and gloried, and the wilderness Was filled with moving voices and dim stress.
!

Soon, as it chanced, beside my thicket-close The Queen herself passed dancing, and I rose And sprang to seize her. But she turned her face a Ho, my rovers of the chase, Upon me My wild White Hounds, we are hunted Up, each
:
!

rod

And

follow, follow, for our

for fear
5

Lord and

God "
!

Thereat,

they tear us, all

we

lied

Amazed

and on, with hand unwcaponcd They swept toward our herds that browsed the green Hill grass. Great uddcred kinc then hadst thou seen

Bellowing in sword-like hands that cleave and live steer riven asunder, and the air
ribs or

tear,

Tossed with rent

limbs of cloven tread,

And

flesh

upon the branches, and a red

pride,

Rain from the deep green pines, Yea, bulls of Horns swift to rage, were fronted and aside

Flung stumbling, by those multitudinous hands Dragged pitilessly. And swifter were the bands

Of {nir bid

flesh

and bone unbound withal

Than on thy royal eyes the lids may fall. Then on like birds, by their own speed
They swept toward

upborne,

the plains of waving corn

THE BACCHAE
That
lie

45

beside Asopus' banks,

and bring
nursed

To Thebes the On Hysiae and

Amid They

rich fruit of her harvesting,

Erythrae that

lie

Kithaeron's bowering rocks, they burst Destroying, as a focman's army conies.

caught up little children from their homes, their shoulders, babes unheld, that on High swayed And laughed and fell not ; all a wreck they made ;

Yea, bronze and iron did shatter, and

in play
;

Struck hither and thither, yet no wound had they Caught fire from out the hearths, yea, carried hot Flames in their tresses and were scorched not
I

The village folk in wrath took spear and sword, And turned upon the Hacchac. Then, dread Lord The wonder was. For spear nor barbed brand
Could scathe nor touch the damsels
;

but the

Wand,

and wreathid wand their white hands sped, Blasted those men and quelled them, and they fled
soft

The

Dizzily,

Sure some

And

the holy

Returned, that Dawned, on the upper heights; and washed away The stain of battle. And those m'rdlin;!; snakes
Hissed out to lap the watenlrops from checks

God was in these things women back to those strange spring God had sent them when the day
1

And

hair and breast.

Therefore

I counsel thee,

() King, receive this Spirit, whoe'er he be,

To

Thebes

in

glory.
;

Greatness manifold
is

Is all

about him
this
is

ant! the talc

first

told

That

he

who

to

man
Oh,

did give
let
is

The
For

grief-assuaging vine.
if

him

live

he

die,

then Love herself

slain,

And

nothing joyous in the world

46

EURIPIDES
LEADER.

Albeit I tremble, and scarce

To

may speak my thought a king's face, yet will I hide it not. Dionyse is God, no God more true nor higher 1
PENTHEUS,
hard by us, like a smothered fire, All ray land This frenzy of Bacchic women
It bursts
!

Is

made

their

mock.
!

This needs an
to the

iron

hand

Ho, Captain
Bid gather
Call
all
all

Quick

Ekctran Gate
;

my

men-at-arms thereat
all

who know bow ; We march to war Tore God, shall women dare Such deeds against us ? Tis too much to bear
that spur the charger,

To

wield the orbed targe or bend the

!

DIONYSUS,

Thou

mark'st

me

not,
j

King, and boldest

light

My
I

solemn words

in thine yet,

own

despite,

warn thce still. Lift thou not up thy spear Against a God, but hold thy peace, and fear He will not brook it, if thou fright His wrath
1

His Chosen from the

lulls

of their delight.

PKNTHEUS.
Peace, thou
chain,
!

And
!

if

for

once thou hast slipped thy

knot thine arms again

Give thanks

Or

shall I

DIONYSUS.
Better to yield

him prayer and

sacrifice

Than
Is

kick against the pricks, since Dionyse God, and thou but mortal

THE BACCHAE
PENTHEUS.

45

That
Yea, His name through
sacrifice

will [

of women's blood, to cry

al!

Kithaeron
DIONYSUS,

Ye
AH, and abase your
Before their wamis.
shields of

shall

fly,

bronzen rim

PENT HE us,
There
This stranfw that so
1

is
1

no way with him,

do;;s us

Well

or
I

ill

may

entreat him, he

must bubble
DlONY'.US.

still

Wait, good

my

friend

These crooked matters may

to

Even

yet be straightened,

[PKNTHF.ns has itantd MS though

at the gatf.

wtk hh atmj

PKNTHEUS.
Aye,
if I
?

obey

Mine own

slaves* will

how

else

DIONYSUS.

Myself

will lead

The

damsels hither, without sword or steed.

PKNTIIHJS.

How now

?-

-This

is

sonic plot against

me

DIONYSUS.

What
Dost
fear
?

Only

to save thee

do

plot

48

EURIPIDES
PENTHEUS.

It

is

some compact ye have made, whereby

dance these
hills for

To

ever

DIONYSUS,
Verily,

That

is

my

compact, plighted with

my

Lord

PENTHEUS
Ho, armourers
!

(turning from him).

forth

Bring
!

my

shield

and sword

!*

And

thou, be silent

DIONYSUS
him fixedly^ speaks with resignation), {after regarding

Ah
[He
fixes
his
eyes

upon

Have then thy will PENTHEUS again, whik

!

the armourers bring out his

speaks in

armour

then

a tons of command.

Man, thou wouldst

Praying
!

fain behold

them on the

hill

PKNTHKUS
{who during the
rest

of

this scene,

with a

few

exceptions,

the thoughts that simply speaks

DIONYSUS

puts Into

htm, losing power over his twit mind).

That would

I,

though

it

cost

me

all

The

gold of Thebes!

DIONYSUS.
So

much

Thou

art quick to fall

To

such great longing,

PENTHF.US
(somewhat bewildered at what ha has said).

Aye

'twould grieve

me much

To

see

them flown with wine.

THE BACCHAE
DIONYSUS.

49

Yet

cravest thou such

sight as

would much grieve thee

PENTHEUS.

Yes

I fain

Would

watch, ambushed among the pines.

DIONYSUS.

'Twere vain

To

hide.

They

soon will track thee out.

PENTHEUS.

Well

said

'Twere

best

done openly.
DIONYSUS,

Wilt thou be

led

By

me, and

the venture try

PENTHEUS.

Aye, indeed

Lead

on.

Why

should

we

tarry

DIONYSUS.
First

we need

A rich and trailing To gird thee.

robe of fine-linen

PENTHEUS.

And

no

Nay man more P

am

I a

woman,

then,

DIONYSUS.
Woulilhi have them slay thee dead
?

No man may

see their mysteries,

So

EURIPIDES
PBNTHEUS.

Well
I

said

marked thy subtle temper long ere now.

DIONYSUS.

'Tis Dionyse that

promptcth me.

PENTHEUS.

And how
Meanest thou the further plan
?

DIONYSUS,
First take thy

way

Witliin*

I will

array thce.

PENTHEUS.

What

array

The woman's f

Nay,

I will not.

DIONYSUS.

Doth
So soon, Adoring
all
?

it

change

thy desire to see this strange

PENTHBUS.

Wait
About me?

What

garb wilt thou bestow

DIONYSUS.
First a long tress dangling

low

Beneath thy shoulders.

PENTHEUS.
Aye, and next?

THE BACCHAE
DlONYSUB.

51

The
Robe,
falling to

said

thy feet

and on thine head

A snood.
PENTHEUS.

And

after

Hast thou aught beyond

DIONYSUS.
Surely
j

the dappled fawn-skin and the

wand.

PENTHEUS

(after

a struggle with himself).

Enough

cannot wear a robe and snood.

DIONYSUS.

Wouldst

liefer

draw the sword and

spill

men's blood

PENT HE us
True,
that

(again doubting),
'tis

First to

were evil- Aye ; some place of watch.

best to

go

DIONYSUS.

Far wiser

so,

Than

seek by wrath wrath's bitter recompense.

PENTHEUS.

What

of the city streets

of

Canst lead

me hence

Unseen

any?
DIONYSUS.

Thy

Lonely and untried shall be, and I from hence path thy guide

PENTHEUS.
I care for nothing, so these Bacchanals

Triumph not
Within
I

against

me

Forward

to

my

halls

I will ordain

what

sccxxicth best.

52

EURIPIDES
DIONYSUS.

So be

it,
it

King
be.

'Tis mine to obey thine best,

Whatever

PENTHEUS
(after hesitating ones

more and waiting),

Well,

I will

go

perchance
serried lance, I

To

march and

scatter

them with

Perchance to take thy plan.

[Exit

...

know

not yet.

PENTHEUS

into the Casth,

DKOTSUS.
Djimscls, the lion walkcth to the net
!

Be finds his Bacchae now, and sees and And pays for all his sin Dionyse,
!

dies,

This

is

thine hour and thou not far away.

!

Grant us our vengeance

First,

Master, stay
instil

The

course of reason in him, and

foam of madness.

Let

his seeing will,

Which

ne'er had stooped to put thy vesture on,

till

Re darkened, Loud

the deed

is

lightly

done.

Grant likewise that he

scorn, this

find through all his streets

man

of wrath and bitter threats

That made Thebes

I

tremble, led in

woman's

guise.

go

to fold that robe of sacrifice

On

His mother's gift

Pentheus, that shall deck him to the dark, So shall he learn and mark
1

God's true Son, Dionyse,

in fulness

Most

fearful, yet to

man most

soft of

God, mood.
into
tht

[Exit

DIONYSUS, following PJKNTHEUS

THE BACCHAE
CHORUS.
Some Maidens.

53

Will they ever come to me, ever again,

On

long long dances, through the dark till the dim

The

stars

wane

Shall I feel the

dew on my

throat,

and the stream

feet

Of wind

in

my hair ?

Shall our

white

gleam

In the dim expanses ? Oh, feet of a fawn to the greenwood

fled,
;

Alone

in the grass

and the loveliness

in dread,

Leap of the hunted, no more

Beyond the snares and the deadly press Yet a voice still in the distance sounds,

A voice and a fear and

Onward
it

a haste of hounds
fleet,

wildly labouring, fiercely

Is

yet by river and glen . . , joy or terror, ye storm-swift feet? . . . To the clear lone lands untroubled of men,

Where no voice sounds, and amid the shadowy The little things of the woodland live unseen.

green

What else is Wisdom ? What of man's Or God's high grace, so lovely and so

endeavour
great
?

To To
And

stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait

hold a hand uplifted over

Hate

5 ?

shall

not Loveliness be loved for ever

Others.

Strength of God, slow art thou and Yet failcst never

!

still,

On On

them them

that worship the Ruthless Will, that dream, doth His

judgment wait
great

Dreams of the proud man, making

And

greater ever.

54

EURIPIDES
Things which
are not of

God.

In wide

And devious coverts, hunter-wise, He coucheth Time's unhasting stride.

J

n ok

Following, following, him whose eyes not to Heaven. For all is vain,

Tin* pake of the heart, the plot of the brain, striveth beyond the laws that live*

Thm
And

is

thy Faith so

much

to give,

lb it so

hard a thing to see,

it

That

the Spirit of God, whate'er

be,

The Law that abides and changes not, ages long, The Eternal and Nature-born these things be strong?

What else is Wisdom f What of man's endeavour Or God's high grace so lovely and so great f

To To
And

stand from fear set

free, to

breathe and wait

5

hold a hand uplifted over Hate

shall not Loveliness be loved for ever

LKADER.

Happy

lie,

on the weary sea

the tempest and

Who

hath

fled

won

the haven,

Happy whoso hath risen, free, Above his striving. For strangely graven Is the orb of life, that one and another
In gold and power

may

outpass his brother.

And men
And

in their millions float

and flow
;

seethe with a million hopes as leaven

And And

or they miss their Will, they win their Will, the hopes are dead or are pined for still j

But whoe'er can know, As the long days go,

That

To

Live

is

happy, hath found his Heaven

THE BACCHAE
Rt-mter DIONYSUS from
DIONYSUS.
th< Castle.

55

O eye

that cravest sights thou must not see, heart athirst for that which slakes not !
call
;

Thee,

Pentheus, I

forth and be seen, in guise

saint of

Of woman, Maenad,

Dionyse,

To

spy upon His Chosen and thine

!

own

Mother

[Enter PENTHEUS, clad

like a Bacchanal, and a Bacchic madness spirit of strangely excited^ him, overshadowing

Thy
Of Cadmus*

shape, methinks,
!

is

like to

one

royal maids

PENTHEUS.

Yea
Is

and mine eye

in

bright

Yon

sun shines twofold

the sky,
.

Thebes twofold and the Wall of Seven Gates. And is it a Wild Bull this, that walks and waits
Before me There What art thou, man The Bull is on thee
?

are horns

or beast
!

upon thy brow For surely now

1

DIONYSUS,

He who
Goes with us now
in gentleness.

erst

was wrath,
hath
see.

He

Unsealed thine eyes to see what thou shouldst

PENTHEUS.
Say
;

stand I not as Ino stands, or she

Who

bore

me ?

56

EURIPIDES
DIONYSUS.

When
I see their very selves
!

I look

on thee,
;

it

seems

But
where

stay

why
it,

streams

That

lock abroad, not

I laid

crossed

Under

the coif?

PKNTHEUS.
I did
it,

as I tossed
fro,

My head in dancing, to and His holy music

!

and cried

DIONYSUS

(tending him),

It shall
?

soon be tied
.

Aright.

Tis mine
straight,

to tend thee,

Nay, but stand

With head

PENTHEUS.
In the hollow of thy hand
I

lay

me.

Deck me

as

thou wilt.

DlONYl)US.

Thy
Is

zone

loosened likewise

and the folded gown

Not evenly

falling to the feet.

PENTHEUS.

Tis

so,

By

the

ri!!;ht

foot

But

here, niethinks, they flow

la one straight

line to the heel.

DIONYSUS (while tending

him).
if

And
Their madness
true, aye,

thou prove

more than

true,

what

love

And

thanks hast thou for

me ?

THE BACCHAE
PENTHEUS
(not listening
to

57
him).

In
Is
it,

my

right hand

or thus, that

should bear the wand,

?

To

be most like to them

DIONYSUS,

Up
In
the
right
.
,

let it

svnng
right
foot's

hand, timed
.

will?

the

spring.

*Tis well thy heart

is

changed

PENTHEUS (more

wildly}.

What
Kithaeron's steeps and
all

strength
is

is

this

that in

them

flow

say'st

thou

Could

my shoulders

lift

the whole

DIONYSUS.
Surely tliou
canst, and
if

thou wilt
stands as

Thy

soul,

Being once so sick,

now

it

should stand.

PK NT HE us.
Shall
it

be bars of iron

Or

this bare

hand
?

And

shoulder to the cra^s, to

wrench them down

DIONYSUS.

Wouldst wreck the Nymphs' wild temples, and the brown

Rocks, where Pan pipes at noonday
?

PKNTHEUS.

Nay
Force
is

not 1

not well with

women.

I will lie

Hid

in the pine-brake.

58

EURIPIDES
DIONYSUS*

Even

as fits a

spy
lie
!

On holy and

fearful things, so shalt

thou

PENTHEUS

(with a laugh}.

They lie there now, methinks By love among the leaves, and

the wild birds, caugh

fluttering not
1

DIONYSUS,
It

may

be.

That

is

what thou

goest to see,
!

Aye, and

to trap

them

so they trap not thee

PENTHEUS.
Forth through the Thebans' town Aye, their one Man, seeing I dare
!

am

their king
!

this

thing

DIONYSUS.
Yea, thou shalt bear llieir burden, thou alone But on ; trial awaitcth thee
!

Therefore thy

With me

into thine
;

ambush

shalt

thou come

Unscathed

then

let

another bear thee

home

PENTHEUS.

The Queen, my

mother.

DIONYSUS.

Marked of every
PENTHEUS,
For that I go
!

eye.

DIONYSUS,

Thou

shalt be

borne on high

PENTHEUS,,

That were

like pride

THE BACCHAE
DIONYSUS.

59

Thy Thy
carrying,

mother's hands shall share

PENTHEUS.

Nay

need not such

soft care

DIONVSUS.

So

soft

PENTHEUS.

Whatever
[Exit

it

be, I

have earned

it

well

PENTHEUS towards
DIONYSUS,

the

Mountain.

Fell,

fell

art

thou

and to a doom so

fell

Thou

walkest, that thy

name from South

!

to

North

Shall shine, a sign for ever

Reach thou

forth

Thine arms, Agftvfi, now, and ye dark-browed Cadmeian sisters Greet this prince so proud
1

To

the high ordeal, where save

God and me,

day
shall see.

None

walks unscathed

The

rest this

[Exit DIONYSUS jWAwMirf PENTHEUS,

CHORUS,
Some Maidens*

Up

hounds raging and by the mountain road,

Sprites of the

maddened mind,

To
Fill

the wild Maids of

God

with your rage their eyes,

at the rage

Rage

un blest,
guise,

Watching

in

woman's

The

spy upon God's Possessed.

60

EURIPIDES
A
Bacchanal.

Who

shall be first, to

mark

Eyes

in the rock that spy,

Eyes in the pine-tree dark Is it his mother ? and cry : tt Lo, what is this that comes,
Haunting, troubling
still,

Even

in our heights, our

homes,
Hill.
?

The wild Maids of the What flesh bare this child

Never on woman's
Changeling so
evil

breast
; I

smiled

Man

is

he not, but Beast

Lion-shape of the wild, Gorgon-breed of the waste

>f
I

All
Hither, for

the Chorus.

doom and deed

lifted

Hither with
Justice,

sword,
the Lord,
1

Wrath of

Come
Smite Smite

in our visible need

till

the throat shall bleed,

till

the heart shall bleed,

Him

the tyrannous, lawless, Godless, Echlon's earth-

born seed

Other Maidens.

Tyrannous! jr hath he trod ; Marched him, in Law's despite,

God, Against thy Light, Yea, and thy Mother's Light Girded him, falsely bold,
Blinded in
craft, to quell

And

by man's violence hold

Tilings unconquerable*

THE BACCHAE
A
Bacchanal

61

A strait
And

pitiless

mind

Is death

unto godliness 5 to feel in human kind

Life,

and a pain the

less.

Knowledge, we are not

I seek thce

foes
;

diligently

But the world with a

great

wind blows,
;

Shining, and not from thce

Blowing to beautiful things, On, amid dark and light,

Till Life, through the trammellings Of Laws that are not the Right,

Breaks, clean anil pure, and sings

Glorying to God

in the height

All the Chorus.

Hither

for

doom and deed

lifted

Hither with
Justice,

sword,

Wrath

of the Lord,
!

Come
Smile
Smite

in
till till

our visible need

the throat shall

hl<-cd,

the heart shall hb-d,

Him

the tyrannous, lawless, Godless, Kehfon's earth horn seed !

Appear, appear, whatso thy shape or name () Mountain Bull, Snake of the Hundred Heads,

Lion of Burning Flame

() Go*!, Beast, Mystery,

come

Are hunted

-Blast their

Thy mystic nunMs hunter with thy breath,

1

And

Cast o'er his head thy snare ; laugh aloud and drag him to his death,
thy

Who stalks

herded madness in

its lair

62
Enter

EURIPIDES
hastily

a MESSENGER ^raw

the

Mountain^

pah and

distraught.

MESSENGER.

Woe to the house once blest in Hellas Woe To thee, old King Sidonian, who didst sow
I

The

dragon-seed on Ares' bloody lea Alas, even thy slaves must weep for thee
!

LEADER.

News from
sped?

the mountain

-Speak

How

hath

it

MESSENGER.
Pentheus,

my

king, Echlon's son,

is

dead

LEADER.
All
hail,

God

of the Vo!ce
!

Manifest ever more

MESSENGER.

What

say'st

thou?

And how

strange

thy tone,

as

though
In joy at
this

my

master's overthrow

LEADER.

With

fierce joy I rejoice. Child of a savage shore

For the chains of

my

prison are broken,

!

and the dread

where

cowered of yore

MESSENGER,

And

deem'st thou Thebes so beggared, so forlorn

as to sit

Of manhood,

beneath thy scorn

THE BACCHAE
LEADER.

63

Thebes hath oVr

me no sway

None

save

Him

I obey,

Dionysus, Child of the Highest,

Him I obey and adore

MESSENGER.

One

can forgive thee

Yet

'tis

no

fair

thing,

Maids, to rejoice in a man^s suffering.

LEADER.
Speak of the mountain side
Tell us the
1

doom he

died,

The

sinner smitten to death, even

sore
!

where

his sin

was

MESSENGER.

We climbed

beyond the utmost habiting?

1

Of Theban shepherds, passed Asopus springs, And struck into the land of rock on dim
Kithaeron
I,

Pentheus, and, attending him,

and the Stranger

who

should guide our way.

unmoving, warily Watching, to be unseen and yet to see, A narrow glen it was, by crags oVrtowered,

Then first in a Lips dumb and

green
feet

dell

we

stopped, and lay,

Torn through by

tossing waters, and there lowered

A shadow of great
The Maenad
Busily glad.

pines over
;

it.

And

there

maidens sate

Some

they were, with an ivy chain

;

in toil

Tricked a worn wand

to toss its locks again wild in Some, joyance, like young steeds set

free,

Made answering
But

my

songs of mystic melody. poor master saw not the great band

Before him*

"Stranger/ cried he, "where

we

stand

64

EURIPIDES
eyes can reach not these false saints of thine,

Mine

Mount we the bank, And I shall see their

There came Touched a
crown,

or

some high-shouldered
"
!

pine,

follies clear

At

that

a marvel
great

pine-tree's high

For the Stranger straight and heavenward

And

lower, lower, lower, urged

it

down
a bending bow,

To
Or

the hcrbless floor.

Round

like

slow wheel's rim a joiner forces to, So in those hands that tough and mountain stem

Bowed slow

oh, strength not mortal dwelt in

them

To

the very earth.

slowly, lest
it

And
cast

there he set the King,

in its spring,

And

him

Let back the young and straining tree, till high It towered again amid the towering sky j

And Penthcus in the He saw the Maenads

For scarce was he

branches

Well,

ween,
!

then, and well was seen

aloft,

when

suddenly

There was no Stranger any more with me, But out of Heaven a Voice -oh, what voice eke

Twas He
I bring

that called

"Behold,

damosels,

ye him

who
?

turneth to despite

Both me and yc and darkened* rny great Light. " So spake he, and there came 'Tis yours to avenge
!

Twixt earth and sky a pillar of high flame. And silence took the air, and no leaf stirred In all the forest dell Thou hadst not heard
And up
In that vast silence any wild thing's cry. bewildered eye, they sprang ; but with

true. AfrT/e and listening, scarce yet hearing

Then came
Their God's

the Voice again.

clear call, old

And when

they

knew

Cadmus*

royal brood,

Up,

like wild

pigeons startled in a wood,

THE BACCHAE
On
flying feet they came, his
1

65

mother blind,

Agive , and her

sisters,

and behind

All the wild crowd, more deeply maddened then. Through the angry rocks and torrent- tossing glen,

Then

Until they spied him in the dark pine-tree climbed a crag hard by and furiously
to stone him,

Some sought
Lance- wise

some

their

wands would

fling

aloft, in cruel targeting.

But none could

rage,

strike.

The

height o'ertoppcd their

And

there he clung, unscathed, as in a ca^e

Caught And of all their strife no end was found. Then, "Hither/* cried Ag,lvfl ; "stand we round And grip the stern, my Wild Ones, till we take

He shall not mukc This climbing cat-o'-the-mount A tale of God's high dances " Out then shone
!
!

Arm

upon arm,

past count,
;

and closed upon

The pine, and gripped and the ground gave, and down And that high sitter from the crown It reeled.

Of the
Was He

Fell, as his

green pine-top, with a shrieking cry mind grew clear, and there hard by

horror visible.

HP was

his

mother stood
rites

O'er him,

first priestess

of those
his

of blood.

head away Flung it, that she might know him, and not slay To her own misery. He touched the wild
tore the coif,

and from

Cheek, crying: "Mother, it is I, thy Thy Pentheus, born thee in Echton's

!

child,
hall
1

Let it not befall Have mercy, Mother " Through sin of mine, that thou shouldst slay thy son But she, with lips a-foara and eyes that run
!

Like leaping

fire,

with thoughts that ne'er should be

l>y

On

earth, possessed

Baccliios utterly,

66

EURIPIDES
Round
his left

Stays not nor hears.

arm she put

!

Both hands,

set

hard against his side her foot,

Drew

and the shoulder severed

easily,

Not by might

Of arm,
Was

but

as the

God made

light

Her hand's

essay.

And

at the other side

And Of ravening
With

Ino rending ; and the torn flesh cried, on Autonoci pressed, and all the crowd
arms.

Yea,

all

the

air

was loud

groans that faded into sobbing breath,

shrieks,

Dim And

and joy, and triumph-cries of death.

white bones lay bare

here was borne a severed arm, and there

;

hunter's booted foot

;

With rending
Tossed
as in

and swift hands ensanguined sport the flesh of Pentheus dead.

His body

lies afar.

The

precipice

Hath

part,

and

parts in

Lurk of the tangled

many an interstice woodlandno light quest

I

To

find.

And,

ah, the head

it,

Of all
a

the rest,

His mother hath

pierced

upon

As one might
Leaving her
Bears
it

pierce a lion's,

wand, and through the land,

sisters in their
!

dancing place,

on high

Yea,

to these walls her face

Was

set,

exulting in her deed of blood,

Calling

upon her Bromios, her Cod,

the Prey,

Her Comrade, Fellow-Render of

Her

All-Victorious, to

whom

this

She bears in triumph For me, after that

Before AgilvS comes,-

...

her

own
fulfil

day broken heart

sight, I will depart

-Oh, to

God's laws, and have no thought beyond His will, Is man's best treubiue. Aye, and wiudom true,
Mcthinks, for things of dust to clave unto
!

[Tht MESSENGER departs

Into the

Cattk,

THE BACCHAE
CHORUS.
Some Maidens*

67

Weave ye

the dance, and

crJl

Praise to

God

Bless ye the Tyrant's is trod

fall

Down

Pentheus, the Dragon's Seed Wore he the woman's weed

Clasped he his death indeed.

Clasped the rod
f

Bacchanal.

Yea, the wild ivy lapt him, and the doomed Wild Bull of Sacrifice before him loomed 1

Othm.

Ye who

did

Bromios scorn,

Praise

Him

the more,
j

Bacchanals,

Cadmus -born
!

Praise with sore

Agony, yea, with tears Great are the gifts he bears Hands that a mother rears

Red with

gore

LEADER.
But
stay, Agftvfl
fire
1

cometh

And
I

Make

around her, reeling

All
hail,

her eyes Ho, the prize

I

Cometh

[Enter from

the

O Rout of Dionyse Mountain AGAVE, ma fly and

in her fumd*

all seeming wondr&usly happy^ bearing the head

of PF.NTUEUS

The CHORUS
;

MAIDENS
the

stand horror-struck at the tight

horror-struck^ strives
in
it

LEADER, also it and rejoice

to

as tin

God

68

EURIPIDES
AGAVE.

Yc

from the lands of

Morn 1

LEADER.
Call

me

not

I give praise

AGAVE.
Lo, from the trunk new-shorn Hither a Mountain Thorn

Bear

we

Asia-born
!

Bacchanals, bless this chase

LEADER.
I see.

Yea
I not

I see.
?

Have

welcomed thee

AGAVE

(very calmly

and peacefully}.
:

He was young
Without
j

in the wild wood

nets I caught

him

Nay look without fear on The Lion I have ta'en him

9

LEADER.

Where in the wildwood ? Whence have ye brought him

AGAVE.
Kithaeron.
.

LEADER.
Kithaeron
?

AGAVE.

The Mountain

hath

slain

him

THE BACCFIAE
LEADER.

69

Who

first

came nigh him

AGAVE.
I, I, 'tis

confessed

And

they named me there by the Blessed !

him

LEADER.

Who
The

was next in the band on him

AGAVE.
daughters.
,

LEADER.

The
AGAVE.

daughters?

Of Cadmus
Is

laid

hand on him.

But the swift hand that slaughters mine ; mine is the praise I
I

Bless ye this day of days

[The LEADER tries to speak, hut ts not AGAVE begins gently stroking the head.

Me;

AGAVE.
Gather ye now to the
feast
I

LEADER,
Feast
!

miserable

AGAVE.
See,
it falls

to his breast,

Curling and gently tressed,

The hair of the Wild Hull's crest The young steer of the fell
I

7o

EURIPIDES
LEADER.

Most That

like

a beast of the wild

head, those locks defiled.

AGAVE

(lifting

up the head^ more

his

excitedly).

He wakened

Mad

Ones,
!

Chase-God, a wise God He sprang them to seize this He preys where his band preys.
I

LEADER
In the

(brooding,

with horror)*

trail

of thy

Mad Ones
God
I

Thou

tearcst thy prize,

AGAVE*
Dost
praise
it ?

LEADER.
I praise this
?

AGAVE. Ah, soon

shall

the land praise

LEADER.

And

Pentheus,
child
?

Mother>

Thy

AGAVE.

He

shall

cry on

My

name

as

none other,
I

Bless the spoils of the Lion

THE BACCHAE
LEADER.

71

Aye

strange

is

thy treasure

AGAVE.

And
Thou

strange

was the taking

LEADER.
art glad
?

AGAVE.
Beyond measure
Yea, glad in the breaking
j

Of dawn
By

upon

all this

land,

the prize, the prize of

my

hand

Show

then to

all

the land,

unhappy one,
!rni
I

The

trophy of this deed that than hast

Ho, all ye men that round the citadel And shining towers of ancient Thclx! dwell, Look upon this prize, this lion's '.poll, Come That we have taken yea, with our own toil,
!

We, Cadmus'

daughters

Not with

leathern- set

Thessalian javelins, not with hunter's net, Only white arms and swift hands* Waded fall.

Why
Your

make ye much

ado, and boast withal

f

armourers' engines bare

See, these

palms were

That caught

the angry beast, and held, and tare

The

limbs of
to

him

Father

... Go,

bring

me
! . .

My

father

Aye, and Pcnthcus, where

is

he,

72

EURIPIDES

My son ? He shall
Nail

set

up

a ladder-stair

Against this house, and in the triglyphs there

me

this lion's head, that gloriously

I bring ye,

having

slain

him

I,

even 1

[She goes through the

crowd towards the

Castle,
to

showing the head and looking for a place

it.

Enter from the Mountain CADhang MUS, with attendants^ bearing the body of

PENTHEUS

on a bitr,

CADMUS.

On, with your awful burden.

Thralls, to his house,

Follow me, whose body grievously With many a weary search at last in dim Kithacron's glens I found, torn limb from limb,

And

Scattered.

through the interweaving forest weed Men told me of my daughters' deed,

I

When

was

within these walls, just returned

With grey Tdresias, from the Bacchanals. And back I hied me to the hills again

To

seek

my

murdered son.

There saw

I plain

Actaeon's mother, ranging where he died, Autonoc ; and Ino by her side,

Wandering ghastly in the pine-copses, The rumour AgAvfi was not there.
She comcth
fleet-foot hither.

is

Ah

Tis

true

A sight I

scarce can bend

mine eyes unto.

AGAVE
(turning from the Palace

and

steing him),

My

father, a great boast

is

thine this hour.

Thou

hast begotten daughters, high in

power

THE BACCHAE
And
The
valiant above ail

73
yea, all I have let

mankind
like

Valiant, though

none

me

fall

shuttle by the loom, and raised

my

hand

For higher things, to slay from out thy land Wild beasts See, in mine arms I bear the prize,
!

That nailed above these portals it may To show what things thy daughters
thou

rise

did

Do

Take

it,

and

call a feast.

Proud

art

thou
I

now

And

highly favoured in our valiancy

CADMUS.

O depth
Or
look

of grief,

how
!

can I fathom thce

Poor, poor, bloodstained

upon thce hand

!

Poor

sisters

fair sacrifice

to stand
call

Before God's

altars,

daughter; yea, and

!

Me

and

Nay,

let

my me weepfor
mine own.
have loved
is it

citizens to feast withal

thine ailliction most,

all

Then
Not

for

All,

of us are

Iost,

wrongfully, yet

hard,

from one

Who might
How
Is

our Bromios, our

own

AGAVE.
crabbed and
!

man's old age of his hunting, in my way, When with his warrior bands he will essay

how scowling in the eyes Would that my son likewise

Were happy

The wild beast With God's will

!

Nay,
!

his valianre

is

to fi^ht

Father, thou shoultlst set

him

right,

Will no one bring him hither, that mine ryes May look on his, and show him this

my

74

EURIPIDES
CADMUS.

Alas,

if

ever ye can

know

again

The

truth of what ye did,

truth shall bring
1

what pain of pain

That

Or were

it

best to wait

and deem your state Not misery, though ye know no happiness ?

Darkened

for evermore,

AGAVE,

What

seest

thou here to chide, or not to bless

CADMUS
Raise

(after hesitation^ resolving himself)*

me

thine eyes to yon blue

dome of air

AGAVE.

Tis

done.

What

dost thou bid

me

seek for there

CADMUS,,
Is
it

the same, or changed in thy sight

AGAVE,

More

shining than before,

more heavenly

bright

CADMUS.

And

that wild tremor,

is it

with thce

still I

AGAVE
I

(troubled}.
;

know

not what thou sayest

but
I

my

will

Clears,

and some change comcth,

know

not how*

CADMUS.
Canst hearken then, being changed, and answer,

now f

AGAVE.
I have forgotten

something

else I could.

THE BACCHAE
CADMUS.

75

What

husband led

tlice

of old from mine abode

AGAVE.
Echion,

whom men named

the Child of Earth*

CADMUS.

And what

child in Echfon's house had birth

AGAVE.
Pcntheus, of

my

love and his father's bred.

CADMUS.

Thou bearest

in thine

arms an head

what head

AGAVE
(kfginnwg
to

trembly and
all

not

lotting at

what

she

carriety

lion's

so they

said in the chase.

CADMUS.

Turn

to

it

now

'tis

no long

toil

and gaze.

AGAVE,

Ah

But what

is it ?

What am
CADMUS,

carrying here

Look once upon

it

full, till all

be clear

AGAVE,
I see
*

most deadly pain

Oh, woe

is

me

CADMUS.

Wears

it

die likeness of a lion to thec

76

EURIPIDES
AGAVE.

No

'tis

the head

God

of Pentheus, this

CADMUS.
Blood-drenched ere thou wouldst
'tis his.

know him

Aye,

AGAVE,

Who

slew him

How

came

I to

hold this thing?

CADMUS.
cruel

Truth,

is

this thine

home-coming?

AGAVE,

Answer

My

heart

is

hanging on thy breath

CADMUS.
'Twas
thou.

Thou

and thy

sisters

wrought

his death.

A GAVE,
In what place was it?

His

own

house, or where

CADMUS.

Where

the dogs tore Acfaeon, even there.

AGAVE.

Why

went he

to

Kithacron

What

sought he

CADMUS.

To mock

the

God and

thine

own

ecstasy.

AGAVE,
Cut how should

we

be on the

hills this

day

CADMUS.
Being mail
1

spirit

drove

all

the land that way.

THE BACCHAE
AGAVE.

77

Tis Dionyse hath done

it

Now

I see.

CADMUS

(earnestly).
I

Ye wronged Him

Ye

denied his deity

AGAVE
Show me
the

(turning from him).

I love
!

body of the son

CADMUS
'Tis here,

(leading her to the bier} t

my

child.

Hard was the quest

AGAVE.

thereof.

Laid in due state

[As then

is

no answer she the veil lifts of the bltry

t

and

sees.

Oh,
'Twas mine
!

if I

wrought a

sin,
I

What

portion had

my

child therein

CADMUS,

He made him like to you, adoring not The God who therefore to one bane hath brought You and this body, wrecking all our line, And me. Aye, no man-child was ever mine And now this first-fruit of the flesh of thee,
j

Sad woman, foully here and frightfully the house looked up unto, Lies murdered
1

Whom

[Kneeling by the body*

Child,

my

daughter's child
5

who

hcldest true

My

castle walls

and to the
;

folk a

name
that thou wast

Of fear

thou wast

and no

man

sought to shame

My

grey beard,
there,

when they knew

Else had they swift reward !*Aiid

now

I fare

78

EURIPIDES
Forth in dishonour, outcast, I, the great Cadmus, who sowed the seed-rows of this

state

Of Thebes,

and reaped the harvest wonderful

is

my

beloved, though thy heart

still

dull

In death, Beloved

belovid, and alway

shalt

Never more, then,

ask

thou lay

Thine hand

to this white beard, and speak to

me

Thy "Mother's Father";

"Who wrongeth thee?

"'
!

Who

stints thine

Thine

heart

honour, or with malice stirs Speak, and I smite thine injurers

But now

Woe

to
!

woe, woe, to me and thee also, thy mother and her sisters, woe

Alway

Of Gods,

let

Oh, whoso walketh not in dread him but look on this man dead
LEADER,

Loj I weep with thee.

'Twas but due reward

;

God

sent on Pentheus

but for thee

Tis

hard,

AGAVE.

My

father, thou canst see the change in me,

[A page

or more has here

copies

which all our

of

Iffen torn out of the MS, from u The Bacchae " are derived. It

a speech of Agfrui (followed presumevidently contained

the Clwrus\ ably by some words of

and an appearance of

DIONYSUS upon a cloud. ment upon the The tans in

declared his determination
the

He

must have pronounced judg-

general,

and

especially

upon the

daughters of CADMUS, have

justified

hh own

action^

and

to establish

hh godhead. Whert

MS.

begins a^uin^

we

find

him

addrmw* CADMUS,]

THE BACCHAE
DIONYSUS,

79

And tell of Time, what gifts for thee he bears, What griefs and wonders in the winding years.
For thou must change and be a Serpent Thing Strange, and beside thee she whom thou didst bring

Of old

to

be thy bride from Heaven

afar,

Harmonia, daughter of the Lord of War. Yea, and a chariot of kine so spake

The word

of Zeus

Through many

thee and thy Queen shall take lands, Lord of a wild array

And many towns shall they spears. that vast horde, until beneath thee, Destroy touch and fulfil Apollo's dwelling, They
Their doom, back driven on stormy ways and Thee only and thy spouse shall Ares keep,
steep,

Of orient

And

save alive to the Islands of the Blest

Thus

speaketh Dionysus, Son confessed

I

Of

Truth

Ah, had ye seen hour ye would not, all had been Weil with ye, and the Child of God your friend
in the

no man but of Zeus

AGAVE.
Dionysus,

we

beseech thee

We have sinned

DIONYSUS.

Too

late

When

there

was time, ye knew me not

AGAVE.

We have confessed.
Yc mocked me,

Yet

is

thine hand too hot,

DIONYSUS,
being

God

this

is

your wage*

80

EURIPIDES
AGAVE.

Should

God

be like a proud

man

in his rage f

DIONYSUS.
*Tis as

my

sire,

Zeus, willed

it

long ago.

AGAVE

(turning from him almost with dhdain^

is

Old Man, the word

spoken

we must

go.

DIONYSUS.

And

seeing ye must,

what

is it

that ye wait

CADMUS,
Child,
All
;

we

are

come

into a deadly strait,

thou, poor sufferer, and thy sisters twain,

sad
self*

And my

Far off to barbarous men,

grey-haired wanderer, I must take my road. And then the oracle, the doom of God,

That

must

lead a raging horde far-flown

To

prey on Hellas ; lead my spouse, mine Harmon ia, Ares' child, d incorporate

own

haunting forms, dragon and dragon-mate, Against the tombs and altar-stones of Greece,

And

Lance upon lance behind us

and not cease

From

toils, like other

men, nor dream, nor past

The foam

of Acheron find

my

peace at

last.

AGAVE*
Father
!

And

must wander

far

from thee

CADMUS.

O
As

Child,

why

wilt thou reach thine

arms

to

me,
J

the milk-white swan, yearns

when

old swans die

AGAVE,

Where

bhall

turn

me cLc I

No home

have

THE BACCHAE
CADMUS.
I

8r

know

not

I can help thee not,

AGAVE.
Farewell,

Lo, I

am

ancient tower home, outcast from my bower,

And

leave ye for a worser lot.

CADMUS,

Go

forth, go forth to misery,

The way

Actaeon's father went

AGAVE,
Father, for thee

my

tears are spent,

CADMUS.
Nay, Child,
'tis

must weep
thy
sisters

for thee

For thee and

for

twain

AGAVE.

On

all this

house, in bitter wise,

Our Lord and

Hath poured the

Master, Dionyse,
I

utter dregs of pain

DIONYSUS.
In bitter wise, for bitter was the shame

Ye

did me,

when Thebes honoured not my name,

AGAVE.

Then

lead

me where my
let

sisters

be

Together

our tears be shed,

;

Our ways

be wandered

where no red

Kithaeron waits to gaze on

me j

82

EURIPIDES
Nor
I gaze back
\

no thyrsus stem,

Nor
Oh,
Not
I,

song, nor

memory

in the air,

other Bacchanals be there,

I,

not

to

dream of them

[AGAVE with her group of attendants goes out

the side

away from

the

Mountain.

m D IONYSUS

rim

upon the Cloud

and

disappears*

CHORUS.

There be many shapes of mystery,

And many

things

God makes

to be,

Past hope or fear.

And And

the end
a path

men

looked for cometh not,

is

there

where no man thought

here.

So hath

it fallen

[Exeunt*

NOTES ON THE BACCHAE

INTRODUCTORY NOTE
THE
Bacchae, being from one point of view a religious

drama, a kind of

"
mystery
play,'

is

full

of allusions

both to the

myth and to the religion of Dionysus.

as

1.

The Myth,

implied by Euripides*

SemelS,

daughter of Cadmus, being loved by Zeus, asked her

divine lover to appear to her once in his full glory
;

he came, a blaze of miraculous lightning, in the

ecstasy
to

of which Scmelfi died, giving premature birth

Zeus, to save this child's
as well as
life

a son,

and make him

truly

God

Man,

tore open his

till

own

flesh

and therein

fostered the child

in

due time, by a

miraculous and

mysterious
full life as

Second Birth, the child

of Semelfi came to

God.

2,

The

Religion of Dionysus

is

hard to formulate

or even describe, both because of

its

composite origins
vitality,

and

because of

its

condition

of constant

fluctuation,
(a)

and development.
first

The

datum, apparently,

is

the introduction

from Thrace of the characteristic

northern mountains, a
spiration,

God

of the wild

God

of Intoxication, of Inlife,

a giver of superhuman or immortal

is

His worship

superposed

upon

that of divers old

in

Tree

or

Vegetation

Gods, already worshipped

84
Greece.

EURIPIDES
He becomes
specially the

God

of the Vine,

and unOriginally a god of the common folk, despised be adopted authorised, he is eventually so strong as to
into the

Olympian hierarchy
is

the Gods, son of Zeus.

to speak,
dressed

as the "youngest** of " His " Olympian name, so but in his worship he is adDionysus,

less mystic Bacchios or Baccheus, lacchos, Bromios, Some of these Elcuthereus, Zagreus, Sabazios, &c. old spirits whom he has disthe of names be may

by numbers of names, more or

and

secret

placed

sSome arc his

own Thracian names.

Bromos

and Sabaja, for instance, seern to have been Thracian names for two kinds of intoxicating drink. Bacchos means a "wand." Together with his many names, he has many shapes, especially appearing as a Bull and
a Serpent.
[k]

This

religion,

very

primitive

and

barbarous,

but
the

possessing a strong hold

over the

emotions of

common

people, was seized

upon and transfigured

by the great
the

wave of

religious reform,

known under

name of Orphism, which swept over Greece and

South Italy in the sixth century B.C., and influenced the teachings of such philosophers as Pythagoras, Aristeas, Empcdocles, and the many writers on purification

and the world

after

death.

Orphism may

very possibly represent an ancient Cretan religion in clash or fusion with one from Thrace. At any rate, it

was grafted straight upon the Dionysus- worship, and, without rationalising, spiritualised and reformed it
Ascetic, mystical, ritualistic, and emotional, Orphisra
easily
itself

excited both enthusiasm and ridicule.

It

lent

both to inspired saintliness and to imposture. In doctrine it laid especial stress upon sin, and the

NOTES
sacerdotal purification of sin
;

85
eternal reward

on the

due beyond the grave to the pure and the impure, the pure living in an eternal ecstasy "perpetual intoxication," as Plato satirically calls
it

the impure toiling

stains.

through long ages to wash out their

in various

It recast

the story

ways the myth of Dionysus, and especially of his Second Birth. All true worshippers
;

become
are

in a mystical sense one with the God they bom again and are "Bacchoi." Dionysus being the God within, the perfectly pure soul is possessed by the God wholly, and becomes nothing but the God.

Based on very primitive

religion of

rites

and

feelings,

on the
image

men who made

their gods in the

of snakes and bulls and fawns, because they hardly felt any difference of kind between themselves and
the animals, the worship of Dionysus kept always this The beautiful feeling of kinship with wild things.
side

of

this

feeling

Is

vividly

conspicuous
is

in

The

Bacchae.

And

the horrible side

not in the least

concealed.

curious relic of primitive superstition and cruelty

firmly

remained
irrational

imbedded

in

Orphism

a doctrine

and unintelligible, and for that very reason wrapped in the deepest and most sacred mystery : a belief in the sacrifice of Dionysus himself, and the
purification of
It

actually

man by his blood. seems possible that the savage Thracians, in the of their worship on the mountains, when they fury " were possessed by the God and became wild beasts," tore with their teeth and hands any hares,
or the like that goats, fawns,

they came across.

There

survives a constant tradition of inspired Bacchanals in

their miraculous strength tearing

even

bulls

asunder

86
a feat, happily,
bility.

EURIPIDES
beyond the bounds of human
possi-

The
God

wild beast that tore was, of course, the

himself.

savage

And

by one of those curious

confusions of thought, which seem so inconceivable to

us
so absolutely natural and obvious to primitive beast the torn was also the God The Orphic men,
!

and

roii^rciiti;ns

most holy of the blood of a bull, gatherings, solemnly partook

later

of

times,

in

their

which was, by a mystery, the blood of Dionysus" Bui! of /agruus himself, the God," slain in sacrifice
for

the purification of man.

And

the

Maenads

of

poetry and myth, among more beautiful proofs of their superhuman or infra-human character, have always to
tear
bulls

in

pieces

and

taste of

the blood.

It

is

noteworthy, ami

throws

much

li^ht

on

the

spirit

of Orphism, that apart from this sacramental tasting of the blood, the Orphic worshipper held it an abomination to rat the
flesh

of animals at all

The same
at the
utterly

relij'jous fervour and zeal for purity

which made him

reject

the pollution of animal food,

to a ceremonial

made him

same time cling

which would

disgust the ordinary hardened flesh-cater.

It fascinated

him

just
;

because
because

it

was so incredibly primitive and

was a mystery which transcended

uncanny
reason
!

it

It will

be observed that Euripides, though certainly

familiar with

Orphism
treated

which he mentions
at

in

The

Hippvfyte* and
(M:C

length

in

The Cretans
from which

Appendix)to the

has in The Jiacchae gone back behind

Orphism
was i!Kh;

more primitive
little

stuff

it

lie has
;

reference to

any

specially

Orphic doctrine

not

word, for

instance, about

the immortality of the soul

And

his idealisation or

NOTES
spiritualisation of

87

Dionysus-worship proceeds along the

lines of his

own

thought, not on those already fixed by

the Orphic teachers*

P. 8,
*.*.

1.

15, Asia

all

that by the salt sea

lies,

&c.],

the coasts of Asia Minor inhabited by Greeks,

Ionia, Acolis, and Doris.

P. 8,
1.

27,

From Dian

seed.]

Dian = belonging
to

to Zeus,

Dionysus seemed from /Uo?, the genitive of " Zeus."

P. 9,
1.

The name

be derived

50, Should this

battle,
is

Theban town

essay with
possi-

wrath and
bility

&c.]

This suggestion of a
is

which

never realised or approached

perhaps

The a mark of the unreviscd condition of the play. same may be said of the repetitious in the Prologue.
Pp, 10-14,
11.

64-169,
deal

This

first

song of the Chorus

covers a great

The

first

strophe,

"Oh
two

of Bacchic doctrine and myth. blessed he in all wise,"

;

&c., describes the bliss of Bacchic purity

the anti-

gives Dionysus, from and from the body of Zeus, mentioning his The next mystic epiphanies as Bull and as Serpent strophe is an appeal to Tlicbcs, the birthplace or

strophe
Scinel

the

births

of

nurse" of the God's mother, ScmeW ; the antithe cavern in Crete, the birthplace strophe, an appeal to
of Zeus, the God's father, and the original
the
full,

home

of

The Epode, or closing song, is mystic Timbrel. not of doctrine, but of the pure poetry of the
11,

worship.

Pp. 14-23,

170-369, Teiresias and Cadmus,]

Teiresias seems to be not a spokesman of the poet's

own

views

far

from

it-

but a type of the more cultured

8S
sort

EURIPIDES

of Dionysiac priest, not very enlightened, but ready to abate some of the extreme dogmas of his creed
if

he

may keep
:

the

rest,

Cadmus, quite a

different

character, takes a very

human and

earthly point of

view
if

the
is

God

is

probably a true
is

God

but even

he

false,

worship will
iamily.
It is

no great harm done, and the renown to Thebes and the bring royal
there

noteworthy
with the

how

full

of pity

Cadmus

is

the sympathetic kindliness of the sons of this world

as contrasted
pitilcssness

of gods and their

devotees.

Even
other

Sec especially the last scenes of the play, his final outburst of despair at not dying like

men

(p.

Hn),

hl.nws

the

same

sympathetic

humanity.
Pp. 17
ft.,
II.

215 262,
is

Pcntheus, though his case

so good, and he

against the
easily lytus,

new worship

might so

have been made into a fine martyr,

is

like Jlippo-

left

harsh and unpleasant, and very close in

to the ordinary type

p.
it

"tyrant" of Greek tragedy

I think, that

(cf.

46).

It is also

noteworthy,

he

is,

as

were, out of tone with the other characters.

like, to

He

belongs to a different atmosphere,,

instance,

fake a recent

G<lam!
I.

in /W/fVj ft .WtiMtult.

P. 19,

of a certain yielding to
later style,

26j, Injurious Kin:;, &c.]~-It is a mark 1 e convention in Euripides strt;

(

that he allows the

Chorus Leader

to

make

remark which arc nut "usules," but arc yet not heard
or noticed

by anybody.
264, Sower of the Giants' sod.]

P. 19,

1.

Cadmus,

slew a dragon and sowed the teeth Dy divine guidance, " From the Field of Arcs/* of it like seed HI the
teeth
rose
a

harvest

of

Earth-born^ or

"Giant

1"

warrior^ of

whom

Ediion was one.

NOTES
P. 20,
the false.]
1.

89
it,

287, Learn the truth of

cleared from

This timid
efforts in

essay in rationalism reminds

one of similar

Pindar

(e.g,

OL

I).

It

is

the product of a religious and

unspeculative mind,

not feeling

difficulties

itself,

people's questions and objections.

Teiresias,)

but troubled by other (See above on

P. 20,

1.

292,

The

world-encircling Fire.]

This

was the ordinary material of which fire, or phantoms apparitions were made. Pp. 21-23, 11. 330-369. These three speeches are
or ether,

Cadmus, thoroughly human, very clearly contrasted. thinking of sympathy and expediency, and vividly remembering the fate of his other grandson, Actaeon ; " " Teiresias Pcnthcus, angry and tyrannical speaking like a Christian priest of the Middle Ages, almost
;

like

Tennyson's Becket
-

The goddess Ocrfo, Purity," seems 370. to be one of the many abstractions which were half
% 3>
I-

"

personified
sible that

by philosophy and by Orphism. It is pos" the word is really adjectival, Immaculate

originally
as

One," and
goddess,

an epithet of some more definite

e,g<

Miss Harrison suggests, of Nemesis.

it is very uncertain how be distributed between the whole

In

this

and other choruses

the lines should

chorus, the

two semi-choruses, and the various

indi-

vidual chorcutae.

Pp. 25-26,
lines, see

11.

402-430.

For the meaning of these

Ixi,
Ixii.

Introduction to Euripides, pp.

1.

P. 28,

47 1,

These emblems.]- There were genewith mysteries, or special forms of

could not be performed.
Cf, Hdr.

rally associated

worship, certain relics or sacred implements, without

which the

rites

90
vii.

EURIPIDES
153,

where Telines of Gela

stole

the sacred im-

plements or emblems of the nether gods, so that no worship could be performed, and the town was, as it
were> excommunicated.
P. 31,
11.

4.93

The

Mien cut of the rtmj

It
is

The
all

stage directions here arc difficult.

conceivable
;

that none of Pcnthcus* threats are carried out at

that the

God
I

mysteriously paralyses the hand that

is

lifted to take his rod

it.

without Penthcus himself knowing

But

think
is
is

it

more

likely that

the humiliation

of Dionysus

made,
not

as far as

externals go, complete,

and
his

that

it

till

later that

he begins

to

show

superhuman powers.
P. 32
f

1.

508, So

let it

be,}

The name
*

Pentheus

suj

,;',rsts

'mourner,' from

/>/://Jw,

mourning'

!'

33

9?

Acheloils'
all

roaming daughter.]
Rivers.

Aclurlotls

was the Father of

'

^- 35>

556) In thine

divine mountain,

own Nysa.] An unknown formed apparently to account for

name Dionysus,

the second part of the

35>

'

57

Cross the Lydias,

&c.]~ These

are

rivers of

Thrace which Dionysus must

cross in his

the Lydias, the Axios, and passage from the East,

other, perhaps the Huliacmon,

some
"the

winch

is

called

father-stream of story."
!*

God

of

!& 57% A Voice, a Voice,] Uromios, the Many Voices fur, whatever the real deriva!

tion, the fifth-rentury

'

Greeks certainly associated the

'

name with ^/K/AW, to roar voice here ami below (p. 64).
pp, ^7 -,p,
1

manifests himself as a

11,

602-^4

1,

Yc Damsels of the Morning

metre always strike

Hills,

& r,|-<' This scene

littlr

in lonj/rr

UK; as u

unlike the style of Kuripide*, and inferior,

NOTES
It

9i
left

may mark one

and written

of the parts
in

unfinished by the
it

poet,

by
Call

his son.

But

may

be that

I have not understood

it.

P. 465

11.

781
*

ff,,

all

The
ing'

typical

Ercles vein

Pp. 48-52,
if

11.

810

11

charger, &c.] of the tragic tyrant, This scene of the 'hypnotis'

who spur the

depends not ventured to prescribe, Pcntheus seems to struggle against the process all through, to be amazed at himself for

may much on

one

use the

word of Pcntheus probably the action, which, however, I have

consenting,

while constantly finding fresh

reasons for doing so.

P. 49, L 822,

Am

I a

woman, then

?]-

The

robe

and coif were,

in the original legend,

marks of the

Thracian

worn by the Thracian followers of and The tradition notably by Orpheus. Dionysus, became fixed that Pentheus wore such a robe and
dress

coif;
dress

and

to the

Greeks of Euripides' time such a

seemed to be a woman's.

Hence

this

turn of

the story (cf, above, p 9 85). The refrain of this chorus P. 53, 1L 877-881,

about the fawn

is

difficult to

interpret

I have practi-

cally interpolated the third line ("

set free, to breathe

To

stand from fear

and wait
j

"),

in order to (i)

show

the

connection of ideas
(as I
is

(2) to

make

clearer the

meaning

of the two Orphic formulae, "What u hand uplifted If I am wrong, the refrain over the head of Hate."
understand
is
it)

beautiful

beloved for ever," and

is

probably a mere cry for revenge, in the tone of the

refrain,

u Hither

for

doom and

deed," on

p.

60.

It

is

one of the many passages where there is a sharp antagonism between the two spirits of the Chorus, first,
as furious

Bacchanal^ and, secondly,

as exponents of

92

EURIPIDES
which
is

the idealised Bacchic religion of Euripides,

so

strongly expressed in the rest of this wonderful

lyric.

P, 55, 1 920, Is
in his

it

Wild

Bull, this

?]

Penthcus,

Bacchic possession, sees fitfully the mystic shapes of the God beneath the human disguise. This secondsight, the exaltation of spirit,

and the feeling of superas

natural strength

come

to

Penthcus
to

they came to

the

two Old Men.

But
;

them the change came

Pentiums
it

peacefully and for good

force, stormily and the God,

to

comes hy

for evil,

because his will was against

P. S9>
Spirits of

I976, Madness.

hounds raging and blind.]

/,*.

This

lyric

prepares us for

what

follows, especially for

A Ravi's

delusion,

which otherI

wise might have been hard to understand.

tried to

have

keep the peculiar metre of the on:5nal, the The scheme dachmuie, with a few simplu licences.
is

based on

or

V,

the latter

bnn^ much

commoner.
P.
is

61,11.997-1011.-

The

greater part of this chorus

generally abandoned
last

as unintelligible

and corrupt.
a very

The
&{",)

ten lines
I

will,

think,

Knowledge, we ( make sense if we

"

are not foes/'

a ccpt

slight conjecture of my own, au'TW, instead of the impossible Acl TJW.

let

them blow,"
four lines

The

before that

("A

strait

pitiless

uiiml," &c.) are an

almost

literal
is

translation of the

MS.

reading, which,

however,

incorrect in metre, and theiefbre cannot

be exactly what Euripides wrote.

P. 62,
gaird.j
1.

1036,

And deemV
is

thoit

Thebes so hcgthe

The

couplet
is

incomplete

in

MS,

Hut

the sense needed

obvious.

NOTES
P. 65, L
1 1

93

20,

Let

it

not befall through

sm

of

mine, &c.]

This note of

unselfish feeling, of pity

and

humanity, becomes increasingly marked in all the victims of Dionysus towards the end of the play, and
contrasts the

more

vividly with the God's pitilessness.

always gentle, and always thinking of the of others ; and, indeed, so is AgfivS, after her sufferings return to reason, though with more resentment against
is

Cadmus

the oppressor.

Pp. 67-715
defies (1)

11.

comment.

1165-1200. This marvellous scene But I may be excused for remarking

that the psychological change of the chorus is, to my mind, proved by the words of the original, and does not
in the least

depend on

my

interpolated stage directions

(2) the extraordinary exultation of

Agivi

is

part of

her Bacchic possession.

if she

It

is

not to be supposed that,

such joy would be the

had

really

killed

lion,

natural thing.
P. 69, after
It
is
1.

1183, The Leader

tries to

$peak &c.]
}

also possible that

by some

error of a scribe

two

lines

have been omitted in the

MS.

But

I think the

explanation given in the text

dramatic.
P. 70, L 1195,

more probable and more

And

Penthcus,

Mother?]

The
is

Leader mentions Pcnthcus, I suppose,

liberately
to
test Ag&vfi's

in order de-

delusion, to see if she

indeed utterly unconscious of the truth. P. 74, L 1267, More shining than before, &c.]

The
tnind
i$

sight of the pure

heaven brings back

light to her

that

is

clear.

But does she mean

which

that the
still

sky

of her madness brighter because

it is

remains,

or that
in bar

brighter
I

now,

after

having been darkened

madness

94

EURIPIDES

P. 77, 1/1313, And now 1 fere forth in dishonour.] has not yet been sentenced to exile, though he might well judge that after such pollution all his family

He

But probably this is another would be .banished. mark of the unrevised state of the play. P. 79, 1. 1330, For thou must change and be a
Serpent Thing, &c.] prophecy like this is a very common occurrence in the last scenes of Euripides* "The subject of the play is really a long tragedies.
chain of events.
it

The poet fixes on some portion of the action of one day, generally speaking -and treats it as a piece of vivid concrete life, led up to by

a merely narrative introduction (the Prologue), and The melting away into a merely narrative close*

method
enough.

is

to our taste undramatic, but

It falls in

it is

explicable

to finish,
strain

"

with the tendency of Greek art not with a climax, but with a lessening of
p.

(Greek Literature,

267).

prophecy was that Cadmus and Harmon ia should be changed into serpents and should lead a identified with an Illyrian host of barbarian invaders

The

tribe,

the

Enchelezs

against

they Herodotus says that Delphi, and then be destroyed. the Persians were influenced by this prophecy when
prosper

until

laid

Hellas ; they should hands on the treasures of

they refrained from attacking Delphi (Hdt.

ix.

42),

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