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Translated, with notes, by Th. Buckley.
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Euripides in Print
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58 pages - You are on Page 44
Chorus: Let us dance in honor of Bacchus; let us raise a shout for what has
befallen Pentheus, the descendant of the dragon, who assumed female attire
and the wand with the beautiful thyrsus,--a certain death, having a
bull[61] as his leader to calamity. Ye Cadmean Bacchants, ye have
accomplished a glorious victory, illustrious, yet for woe and tears. It is
a glorious contest to plunge one's dripping hand in the blood of one's son.
But--for I see Agave, the mother of Pentheus, coining to the house with
starting eyes; receive the revel of the Evian God.
Agave: O Asiatic Bacchae!
Chorus: To what dost thou excite me? O!
Agave: We bring from the mountains a fresh-culled wreathing[62] to the house,
a blessed prey.
Chorus: I see it, and hail you as a fellow-reveler, O!
Agave: I have caught him without a noose, a young lion, as you may see.
[61] Alluding to the horns of Bacchus. Cf. Sidon. Apoll. Burg. Pontii Leontii, vs. 26, "Caput ardua rumpunt Cornua, et indigenam jaculantur fulminis ignem." See some whimsical reasons for this in Isidor. Origg viii. 2. Albricus de Deor. Nu. xix. But compare above, vs. 920. Και ταυρος ημιν προσθεν ηγεισθαι δοκεις, και σωι κερατε κρατι προσπεφυκεναι.
[62] Elmsley has rightly shown that ελικα could not of itself mean "a bull" or "heifer," although Homer has ειλιποδας ελικας βους. I have therefore followed Hermann, who remarks, "ελιξ seems properly to be meant for the clusters of ivy with which the thyrsus was entwined. Hence Agave says that she adorns the thyrsus with a new-fashioned wreath, viz. the head of her son." Such language is, however, more like the proverbial boldness of Aeschylus, than the even style of our poet.
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