Bacchae
Euripides
Euripides. The Tragedies of Euripides. Vol. I. Buckley, Theodore Alois, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1850.
- Why do you bring these rites to Hellas?
- Dionysus, the child of Zeus, sent me.
- Is there a Zeus who breeds new gods there?
- No, but the one who married Semele here.
- Did he compel you at night, or in your sight?
- Seeing me just as I saw him, he gave me sacred rites.
- What appearance do your rites have?
- They can not be told to mortals uninitiated in Bacchic revelry.
- And do they have any profit to those who sacrifice?
- It is not lawful for you to hear, but they are worth knowing.
- You have counterfeited this well, so that I desire to hear.
- The rites are hostile to whoever practices impiety.
- Are you saying that you saw clearly what the god was like?
- He was as he chose; I did not order this.
- Again you diverted my question well, speaking mere nonsense.
- One will seem to be foolish if he speaks wisely to an ignorant man.
- Did you come here first, bringing the god?
- All the barbarians celebrate these rites.
- Yes, for they are far more foolish than Hellenes.
- In this at any rate they are wiser; but their laws are different.