Euripides' BACCHAE Complete

Translated, with notes, by Th. Buckley.

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And we came together, herdsmen and shepherds, to reason with one
another concerning this strange matter, what terrible things and worthy of
marvel they do; and some one, a wanderer about the city, and practiced in
speaking, said to us all, O ye who inhabit the holy downs of the mountains,
will ye that we hunt out Agave, the mother of Pentheus, back from the
revels, and do the king a pleasure? And he seemed to us to speak well, and
hiding ourselves, we lay in ambush in the foliage of the thickets; and
they, at the appointed hour, waved the thyrsus in their solemnities,
calling on Bacchus with united voice, the son of Jove, Bromius; and the
whole mountain and the beasts were in a revel; and nothing was unmoved by
their running; and Agave was bounding near to me, and I sprang forth, as
wishing to seize her, leaving my ambush where I was hidden. But she cried
out, O my fleet hounds, we are hunted by these men; but follow me, follow,
armed with thyrsi in your hands. We then flying, avoided the tearing of the
Bacchae, but they sprang on the heifers browsing the grass with unarmed
hand, and you might see one rending asunder a fatted lowing calf, and
others rent open cows, and you might see either ribs, or a cloven-footed
hoof, tossed here and there, and hanging beneath the pine-trees the
fragments were dripping, dabbled in gore; and the fierce bulls before
showing their fury with their horns, were thrown to the ground, overpowered
by myriads of maiden hands; and quicker were the coverings of flesh torn
asunder by the royal maids than you could shut your eyes; and like birds
raised in their course, they proceed along the level plain, which by the
streams of the Asopus produce the fertile crop of the Thebans, and falling
on Hysiae and Erythrae,[41] which, are below Cithaeron, they turned every
thing upside down; they dragged children from the houses; and whatever they
put on their shoulders stuck there without chains, and fell not on the dark
plain, neither brass nor iron; and they bore fire on their tresses, and it
burned not; but some from rage betook themselves to arms, being plundered
by the Bacchae, the sight of which was fearful to behold, O king! For their
pointed spear was not made bloody, but the women hurling the thyrsi from
their hands, wounded them, and turned their backs to flight, women
[defeating] men; not without the aid of some God. And they went back again
to whence they had departed, to the same fountains which the God had caused
to spring up for them, and they washed off the blood; and the snakes with
their tongues cleaned off the drops from their cheeks. Receive then, O
master, this deity, whoever he be, in this city, since he is mighty in
other respects, and they say this too of him, as I hear, that he has given
mortals the vine which puts an end to grief,--for where wine exists not
there is no longer Venus, nor any thing pleasant to men.[42]

[41] These two cities were in ruins in the time of Pausanias. See ix. 3. p. 714, ed. Kuhn.

[42] Cf. Athenaeus, p. 40. B. Terent. Eun. iv. 5. "Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus." Apul Met. ii. p. 119, ed. Elm. "Ecce, inquam, Veneris hortator et armiger Liber advenit ultro," where see Pricaeus.

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