Bacchae

Euripides

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

  1. or of Libyan Gorgons. Let manifest justice go forth, let it go with sword in hand, slaying through the throat
  2. this godless, lawless, unjust, earth-born offspring of Echion.
Chorus
  1. Whoever with wicked mind and unjust rage regarding your rites, Bacchus, and those of your mother, comes with raving heart
  2. and mad disposition violently to overcome by force what is invincible—death is the discipline for his purposes, accepting no excuses when the affairs of the gods are concerned; to act like a mortal—this is a life that is free from pain. [*](The text and meaning of these and the following lines are highly uncertain. The above translation is based on the paraphrase that Murray includes in his apparatus qui iniuste etc. (v. 997), ei sententiarum castigatrix in rebus divinis indeprecabilis Mors est.)
  3. I do not envy wisdom, but rejoice in hunting it. But other things are great and manifest. Oh, for life to flow towards the good, to be pure and pious day and night, and to honor the gods,
  4. banishing customs that are outside of justice. Let manifest justice go forth, let it go with sword in hand, slaying through the throat
  5. this godless, lawless, unjust, earth-born offspring of Echion.
Chorus
  1. Appear as a bull or many-headed serpent or raging lion to see.
  2. Go, Bacchus, with smiling face throw a deadly noose around the hunter of the Bacchae as he falls beneath the flock of Maenads.
Second Messenger
  1. Oh house once fortunate in Hellas,
  2. house of the Sidonian old man who once sowed in the ground the earth-born harvest of the serpent Ophis, how I groan for you, though I am a slave, but still the masters’ affairs are a concern to good servants.[*](This line is most likely interpolated from Eur. Med. 54).
Chorus Leader
  1. What is it? Do you bring some news from the Bacchae?
Messenger
  1. Pentheus, the child of Echion, is dead.
sung
Chorus Leader
  1. Lord Bacchus, truly you appear to be a great god.
Messenger
  1. What do you mean? Why have you said this? Do you rejoice at the misfortunes of my master, woman?
sung
Chorus Leader
  1. I, a foreign woman, rejoice with foreign songs;
  2. for no longer do I cower in fear of chains.
Messenger
  1. Do you think Thebes so lacking in men?
sung
Chorus Leader
  1. Dionysus, Dionysus, not Thebes, holds my allegiance.
Messenger
  1. You may be forgiven, but still it is not good