Bacchae

Euripides

Euripides. The Tragedies of Euripides. Vol. I. Buckley, Theodore Alois, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1850.

  1. for which you sent us, nor have we set out in vain. This beast was docile in our hands and did not withdraw in flight, but yielded not unwillingly. He did not turn pale or change the wine-dark complexion of his cheek, but laughed and allowed us to bind him and lead him away.
  2. He remained still, making my work easy, and I in shame said: Stranger, I do not lead you away willingly, but by order of Pentheus, who sent me. And the Bacchae whom you shut up, whom you carried off and bound in the chains of the public prison,
  3. are set loose and gone, and are gamboling in the meadows, invoking Bromius as their god. Of their own accord, the chains were loosed from their feet and keys opened the doors without human hand. This man has come to Thebes
  4. full of many wonders. You must take care of the rest.
Pentheus
  1. Release his hands, for caught in the nets he is not so swift as to escape me. But your body is not ill-formed, stranger, for women’s purposes, for which reason you have come to Thebes.