Euripides - The Bacchae (Scene III & Interlude III) lyrics

[The soldiers move in to round up the chorus of Bacchae. As they do so, the ground begins to shake, thunder sounds, lightning flashes, and the entire palace starts to break apart] DIONYSUS: [shouting from within the palace] Io! Hear me, hear me as I call you. Io! Bacchae! Io Bacchae! CHORUS: [a confusion of different voices in the following speeches] Who's that? Who is it? It's Dionysus' voice! It's calling me. But from what direction? DIONYSUS: [From inside the palace] Io! Io! I'm calling out again— [580] the son of Semele, a child of Zeus! 720 CHORUS: Io! Io! Lord and master! Come join our company, Bromius, oh Bromius! DIONYSUS: [From inside] Sacred lord of earthquakes, shake this ground. [The earthquake tremors resume] CHORUS VOICE 1: Ai! Soon Pentheus' palace will be shaken into rubble. CHORUS VOICE 2: Dionysus is in the house—revere him. CHORUS VOICE 3: We revere him, we revere him. [590] CHORUS VOICE 4: You see those stone lintels on the pillars— they're splitting up. It's Bromius calling, 730 shouting to us from inside the walls. DIONYSUS: [from inside the palace] Let fiery lightning strike right now— burn Pentheus' palace—consume it all! CHORUS VOICE 5: Look! Don't you see the fire— there by the sacred tomb of Semele! The flame left by that thunderbolt from Zeus, when the lightning flash destroyed her, all that time ago. Oh Maenads— throw your bodies on the ground, down, down, [600] for our master, Zeus' son, moves now 740 against the palace—to demolish it. [Enter Dionysus, bursting through the palace front doors, free of all chains, smiling and supremely confident.] DIONYSUS: Ah, my barbarian Asian women, Do you lie there on the ground prostrate with fear? It seems you feel Dionysus' power, as he rattles Pentheus' palace. Get up now. Be brave. And stop your trembling. CHORUS LEADER: How happy I am to see you— Our greatest light in all the joyful dancing. We felt alone and totally abandoned. DIONYSUS: Did you feel despair when I was sent away, 750 [610] cast down in Pentheus' gloomy dungeon? CHORUS LEADER: How could I not? Who'll protect me if you run into trouble? But tell me, how did you escape that ungodly man? DIONYSUS: No trouble. I saved myself with ease. CHORUS LEADER: But didn't he bind up your hands up in chains? DIONYSUS: In this business I was playing with him— he thought he was tying me up, the fool! He didn't even touch or handle me, he was so busy feeding his desires. 760 In that stable where he went to tie me up, he found a bull. He threw the iron fetters around its knees and hooves. As he did so, he kept panting in his rage, dripping sweat [620] from his whole body—his teeth gnawed his lip. I watched him, sitting quietly nearby. After a while, Bacchus came and shook the place, setting his mother Semele's tomb on fire. Seeing that, Pentheus thought his palace was burning down. He ran round, here and there, 770 yelling to his slaves to bring more water. His servants set to work—and all for nothing! Once I'd escaped, he ended all that work. Seizing a dark sword, he rushed inside the house. Then, it seems to me, but I'm guessing now, Bromius set up out there in the courtyard [630] some phantom image. Pentheus charged it, slashing away at nothing but bright air, thinking he was butchering me. There's more— Bacchus kept hurting him in still more ways. 780 He knocked his house down, right to the ground, all shattered, so Pentheus has witnessed a bitter end to my imprisonment. He's dropped his sword, worn out, exhausted, a mere mortal daring to fight a god. So now I've strolled out calmly to you, leaving the house, ignoring Pentheus. Wait! It seems to me I hear marching feet— no doubt he'll come out front here soon enough. What will he say, I wonder, after this? 790 Well, I'll deal with him quite gently, [640] even if he comes out breathing up a storm. After all, a wise man ought to keep his temper. [Pentheus comes hurriedly out of the palace, accompanied by armed soldiers] PENTHEUS: What's happening to me—total disaster! The stranger's escaped, and we'd just chained him up. [Seeing Dionysus] Ah ha! Here is the man—right here. What's going on? How did you get out? How come you're here, outside my palace? DIONYSUS: Hold on. Calm down. Don't be so angry. PENTHEUS: How did you escape your chains and get here? 800 DIONYSUS: Didn't I say someone would release me— or did you miss that part? PENTHEUS: Who was it? [650] You're always explaining things in riddles. DIONYSUS: It was the one who cultivates for men the richly clustering vine. PENTHEUS: Ah, this Dionysus. Your words are a lovely insult to your god. DIONYSUS: He came to Thebes with nothing but good things. PENTHEUS: [To soldiers] Seal off all the towers on my orders— all of them around the city. DIONYSUS: What for? Surely a god can make it over any wall? 810 PENTHEUS: You're so wise, except in all those things in which you should be wise. DIONYSUS: I was born wise, especially in matters where I need to be. [Enter the Messenger, a cattle herder from the hills] DIONYSUS: But first you'd better listen to this man, hear what he has to say, for he's come here from the mountains to report to you. I'll still be here for you. I won't run off. MESSENGER: Pentheus, ruler of this land of Thebes, [660] I've just left Cithaeron, that mountain where the sparkling snow never melts away. 820 PENTHEUS: What this important news you've come with? MESSENGER: I saw those women in their Bacchic revels, those sacred screamers, all driven crazy, the ones who run barefoot from their homes. I came, my lord, to tell you and the city the dreadful things they're doing, their actions are beyond all wonder. But, my lord, first I wish to know if I should tell you, openly report what's going on up there, or whether I should hold my tongue. 830 Your mood changes so fast I get afraid— [670] your sharp spirit, your all-too-royal temper. PENTHEUS: Speak on. Whatever you have to report, you'll get no punishment at all from me. It's not right to vent one's anger on the just. The more terrible the things you tell me about those Bacchic women, the worse I'll move against the one who taught them all their devious tricks. MESSENGER: The grazing cattle were just moving into upland pastures, 840 at the hour the sun sends out its beams to warm the earth. Right then I saw them— three groups of dancing women. One of them [680] Autonoe led. Your mother, Agave, led the second group, and Ino led the third. They were all asleep, bodies quite relaxed, some leaning back on leafy boughs of pine, others cradling heads on oak-leaf pillows, resting on the ground—in all modesty. They weren't as you described—all drunk on wine 850 or on the music of their flutes, hunting for Aphrodite in the woods alone. Once she heard my horned cattle lowing, your mother stood up amid those Bacchae, then called them to stir their limbs from sleep. They rubbed refreshing sleep out of their eyes, [690] and stood up straight there—a marvelous sight, to see such an orderly arrangement, women young and old and still unmarried girls. First, they let their hair loose down their shoulders, 860 tied up the fawn skins (some had untied the knots to loosen up the chords). Then around those skins they looped some snakes, who licked the women's cheeks. Some held young gazelles or wild wolf cubs and fed them on their own white milk, the ones [700] who'd left behind at home a new-born child whose breasts were still swollen full of milk. They draped themselves with garlands from oak trees, ivy and flowering yew. Then one of them, taking a thyrsus, struck a rock with it, 870 and water gushed out, fresh as dew. Another, using her thyrsus, scraped the ground. At once, the god sent fountains of wine up from the spot. All those who craved white milk to drink just scratched the earth with their fingertips— it came out in streams. From their ivy wands [710] thick sweet honey dripped. Oh, if you'd been there, if you'd seen this, you'd come with reverence to that god whom you criticize so much. Well, we cattle herders and shepherds met 880 to discuss and argue with each other about the astonishing things we'd seen. And then a man who'd been in town a bit and had a way with words said to us all, "You men who live in the holy regions of these mountains, how'd you like to hunt down Pentheus' mother, Agave—take her [720] away from these Bacchic celebrations, do the king a favour?" To all of us he seemed to make good sense. So we set up 890 an ambush, hiding in the bushes, lying down there. At the appointed time, the women started their Bacchic ritual, brandishing the thyrsus and calling out to the god they cry to, Bromius, Zeus' son. The entire mountain and its wild animals were, like them, in one Bacchic ecstasy. As these women moved, they made all things dance. Agave, by chance, was dancing close to me. Leaving the ambush where I'd been concealed, 900 I jumped out, hoping to grab hold of her. [730] But she screamed out, "Oh, my quick hounds, men are hunting us. Come, follow me. Come on, armed with that thyrsus in your hand." We ran off, and so escaped being torn apart. But then those Bacchic women, all unarmed, went at the heifers browsing on the turf, using their bare hands. You should have seen one ripping a fat, young, lowing calf apart— others tearing cows in pieces with their hands. 910 You could've seen ribs and cloven hooves [740] tossed everywhere—some hung up in branches dripping blood and gore. And bulls, proud beasts till then, with angry horns, collapsed there on the ground, dragged down by the hands of a thousand girls. Hides covering their bodies were stripped off faster than you could wink your royal eye. Then, like birds carried up by their own speed, they rushed along the lower level ground, beside Asopus' streams, that fertile land 920 which yields its crops to Thebes. Like fighting troops, [750] they raided Hysiae and Erythrae, below rocky Cithaeron, smashing everything, snatching children from their homes. Whatever they carried their shoulders, even bronze or iron, never tumbled off onto the dark earth, though nothing was tied down. They carried fire in their hair, but those flames never singed them. Some of the villagers, enraged at being plundered by the Bacchae, 930 seized weapons. The sight of what happened next, [760] my lord, was dreadful. For their pointed spears did not draw blood. But when those women threw the thrysoi in their hands, they wounded them and drove them back in flight. The women did this to men, but not without some god's a**istance. Then they went back to where they'd started from, those fountains which the god had made for them. They washed off the blood. Snakes licked their cheeks, cleansing their skin of every drop. My lord, 940 you must welcome this god into our city, whoever he is. He's a mighty god [770] in many other ways. The people say, so I've heard, he gives to mortal human beings that vine which puts an end to human grief. Without wine, there's no more Aphrodite— or any other pleasure left for men. CHORUS LEADER: I'm afraid to talk freely before the king, but nonetheless I'll speak—this Dionysus is not inferior to any god. 950 PENTHEUS: This Dionysian arrogance, like fire, keeps flaring up close by—a great insult to all the Greeks. We must not hesitate. [To one of his armed attendants] Go to the Electra Gates. Call out the troops, [780] the heavy infantry, all fast cavalry. Tell them to muster, along with all those who carry shields—all the archers, too, the men who pull the bowstring back by hand. We'll march out against these Bacchae. In this whole business we will lose control, 960 if we have to put up with what we've suffered from these women. DIONYSUS: You've heard what I had to say, Pentheus, but still you're not convinced. Though I'm suffering badly at your hands, I say you shouldn't go to war against a god. You should stay calm. Bromius will not let you [790] move his Bacchae from their mountains. PENTHEUS: Don't preach to me! You've got out of prison— enjoy that fact. Or shall I punish you some more? DIONYSUS: I'd sooner make an offering to that god 970 than in some angry fit kick at his whip— a mortal going to battle with a god. PENTHEUS: I'll sacrifice all right—with a slaughter of those women, just as they deserve— in the forests on Cithaeron. DIONYSUS: You'll all run. What a disgrace! To turn your bronze shields round, fleeing the thyrsoi of those Bacchic women! PENTHEUS: [turning to one of his armed attendants, as if to go] It's useless trying to argue with this stranger— [800] whatever he does or suffers, he won't shut up. DIONYSUS [calling Pentheus back] My lord! There's still a chance to end this calmly. 980 PENTHEUS: By doing what? Should I become a slave to my own slaves? DIONYSUS: I'll bring the women here— without the use of any weapons. PENTHEUS: I don't think so. You're setting me up for your tricks again. DIONYSUS: What sort of trick, if I want to save you in my own way? PENTHEUS: You've made some arrangement, you and your god, so you can always dance your Bacchan*lian orgies. DIONYSUS: Yes, that's true. I have made some arrangement with the god. PENTHEUS: [to one of his armed servants] You there, bring me my weapons. [to Dionysus] And you, 990 No more talk! Keep quiet! DIONYSUS: Just a minute! [810] [moving up to Pentheus] How'd you like to gaze upon those women out there, sitting together in the mountains? PENTHEUS: I'd like that. Yes, for that I'd pay in gold—and pay a lot. DIONYSUS: Why is that? Why do you desire it so much? PENTHEUS: I'd be sorry to see the women drunk. DIONYSUS: Would you derive pleasure from looking on, viewing something you find painful? PENTHEUS: Yes, I would— if I were sitting in the trees in silence. DIONYSUS: But even if you go there secretly, 1000 they'll track you down. PENTHEUS: You're right. I'll go there openly. DIONYSUS: So you're prepared, are you, to make the trip? Shall I lead you there? PENTHEUS: Let's go, and with all speed. I've got time. [820] DIONYSUS: In that case, you must clothe your body in a dress—one made of eastern linen. PENTHEUS: What! I'm not going up there as a man? I've got to change myself into a woman? DIONYSUS: If they see you as a man, they'll k** you. PENTHEUS: Right again. You always have the answer. 1010 DIONYSUS: Dionysus taught me all these things. PENTHEUS: How can I best follow your suggestion? DIONYSUS: I'll go inside your house and dress you up. PENTHEUS: What? Dress up in a female outfit? I can't do that—I'd be ashamed to. DIONYSUS: You're still keen to see the Maenads, aren't you? PENTHEUS: What sort of clothing do you recommend? How should I cover up my body? [830] DIONYSUS: I'll fix up a long hair piece for your head. PENTHEUS: All right. What's the next piece of my outfit? 1020 DIONYSUS: A dress down to your feet—then a headband, to fit just here, around your forehead. PENTHEUS: What else? What other things will you provide? DIONYSUS: A thyrsus to hold and a dappled fawn skin. PENTHEUS: No. I can't dress up in women's clothes! DIONYSUS: But if you go fighting with these Bacchae, you'll cause bloodshed. PENTHEUS: Yes, that's true. So first, we must go up and spy on them. DIONYSUS: Hunt down evil by committing evil— that sounds like a wise way to proceed. 1030 PENTHEUS: But how will I make it through the city without the Thebans noticing me? [840] DIONYSUS: We go by deserted streets. I'll take you. PENTHEUS: Well, anything's easier to accept than being made a fool by Bacchic women. Let's go into the house. I'll think about what's best. DIONYSUS: As you wish. Whatever you do, I'm ready. PENTHEUS: I think I'll go in now. It's a choice of going with weapons or taking your advice. [Exit Pentheus into the palace. Dionysus turns to face the chorus] DIONYSUS: My women! that man's now entangled in our net. 1040 He'll go to those Bacchae, and there he'll die. That will be his punishment. Dionysus, you're not far away. Now it's up to you. Punish him. First, make sure he goes insane [850] with some crazed fantasy. If his mind is strong, he'll not agree to put on women's clothes. But he'll do it, if you make him mad. I want him made the laughing stock of Thebes, while I lead him through the city, mincing as he moves along in women's clothing, 1050 after he made himself so terrifying with all those earlier threats. Now I'll be off, to fit Pentheus into the costume he'll wear when he goes down to Hades, once he's butchered by his mother's hands. He'll come to acknowledge Dionysus, son of Zeus, born in full divinity, [860] most fearful and yet most kind to men. [Exit Dionysus] CHORUS: Oh, when will I be dancing, leaping barefoot through the night, 1060 flinging back my head in ecstasy, in the clear, cold, dew-fresh air— like a playful fawn celebrating its green joy across the meadows— joy that it's escaped the fearful hunt— as she runs beyond the hunters, leaping past their woven nets— [870] they call out to their hounds to chase her with still more speed, 1070 but she strains every limb, racing like a wind storm, rejoicing by the river plain, in places where no hunters lurk, in the green living world beneath the shady branches, the foliage of the trees. What is wisdom? What is finer than the rights men get from gods— to hold their powerful hands 1080 over the heads of their enemies? [880] Ah yes, what's good is always loved. The power of the gods is difficult to stir— but it's a power we can count on. It punishes all mortal men who honour their own ruthless wills, who, in their fits of madness, fail to reverence the gods. Gods track down every man 1090 who scorns their worship, using their cunning to conceal the enduring steady pace of time. [890] For there's no righteousness in those who recognize or practice what's beyond our customary laws. The truth is easy to acknowledge: whatever is divine is mighty, whatever has been long-established law is an eternal natural truth. 1100 What is wisdom? What is finer than the rights men get from gods— to hold their powerful hands over the heads of their enemies? [900] Ah yes, what's good is always loved. Whoever has escaped a storm at sea is a happy man in harbour, whoever overcomes great hardship is likewise another happy man. Various men out-do each other 1110 in wealth, in power, in all sorts of ways. The hopes of countless men are infinite in number. Some make men rich; some come to nothing. So I consider that man blessed who lives a happy life [910] existing day by day.