[135]
Oh! happy that votary, when
from the hurrying revel-rout
he sinks to earth, in his holy robe of fawnskin, chasing the goat
to drink its blood, a banquet sweet of flesh uncooked,
as he hastes
to Phrygia's or to Libya's hills; while in the van the Bromian god
exults with cries of Evoe
(Eve, Zoe and
now Mary).
With milk
and wine
and streams of luscious honey flows the earth, and Syrian incense smokes.
Paul
warned about "uncovered
prophesying" in Corinth:
While
the Bacchante
holding in his
hand a blazing torch of pine uplifted on his wand
waves it, as he
speeds along, rousing wandering votaries, and as he waves it cries
aloud with wanton
tresses tossing
in the breeze; and thus
to crown the revelry, he raises
loud his
voice,
"On, on, ye
Bacchanals, pride of Tmolus (a
gold-producing mountain in Lydia, near Sardis:)
with its rills of gold to the sound
of the booming
drum, chanting in
joyous strains the praises of your joyous god
with Phrygian accents lifted high, what
time the holy
lute
with sweet
complaining note invites you to your hallowed sport,
melpete ton Dionuson
barubromôn hupo tumpanôn,
euia ton euion agallomenai theon
Melpô [melos]
I. to sing of, celebrate with song and dance, Il.,
Eur.; m.
tina kata chelun Eur.
2. intr. to sing, Aesch., Eur.;-- c. acc. cogn., m. thanasimon goon
II. also as Dep. melpomai to sing to the lyre or harp,
Od.;
to dance and sing, as a chorus, meta melpomenêisin
en chorôi Il.; melpesthai Arêi
to dance a
war-dance in honour of Ares, i. e. to
fight, id=Il.
Barubromos:
Drum Pindar, Nagy 21: On the basis of
these self-references, it becomes clear
that there were in fact other such harmoniai,
besides
the ones listed en passant by Plato in Republic
398e-399a. Most notably missing from Plato's
list is the harmoniâ named as the Aeolian
harmoniâ described as Aeolian in Lasus of
Hermione PMG 702.3, where it is described as barubromostessitura
of the Aeolian was marked by its frequency of lower
notes. in the Archaic
diction of lyric poetry. I cite the specific reference to a
'deep-roaring', suggesting that the
Agallomenai Ar.
Th.128 Agallô [Pass., mostly in pres.
and imperf.] to make glorious, glorify, exalt,
c. acc. : esp. to pay
honour to a god, ag. tina thusiaisi Ar.; to adorn, deck, gamêlious eunas Eur.; Pass. to glory, take
delight, exult in a thing,
a. strut in borrowed plumes,
Gamelios.
Nuptial of divinities presiding
over a marriage. koitêId.Supp.805
Koite: the
marriage Bed. IV. of sexual connexion, to
become pregnant by a man, Ep.Rom.9.10;
in
bad sense, lasciviousness, ib. 13.13
(pl.).
Phrygian
accents lifted high: enopê
,3. of things, sound, aulôn suringôn t'enopênIl.10.13;
iachênt'enopênte, of thunder, Hes.Th.708;
kitharas e. E.Ion882
(anap.); sarkônêd'osteôn
crushing, Pi.Fr.168
.--Ep. and Lyr. word, used by E. in lyr. e.
Bombus , i, m., =
bombos,
I.
a hollow, deep sound, a booming, humming, buzzing:
Ennius sonum pedum bombum pedum dixit, Fortun. Dial. (v. Enn. p. 183
fin. Vahl.); of bees; of a horn;
of the clapping
of
hands: si (apes)
intus faciunt bombum,
Varr. R. R. 3, 16, 32 : cum tuba... mugit, Et reboat raucum regio
cita barbara bombum, Lucr. 4, 546 :
raucisonos efflabant cornua
bombos, Cat. 64, 263 : torva mimalloneis inplerunt cornua bombis,
Pers. 1, 99 Coningt. ad loc.; Mart. Cap. 1, § 67; 2, § 197: organorum,
Serv. ad Verg. A. 7, 23 : qui plausuum genera condiscerent (bombos et
imbrices et testas vocabant), Suet. Ner. 20 Casaub.
Barbaria Bombum is
why Paul compared INSTRUMENTS to SPEAKING IN TONGUES. Surely, humming
or clapping would be speaking in tongues.
according
well with feet
that hurry wildly to
the hills; like a colt that gambols at its mother's side in
the
pasture, with gladsome heart each Bacchante bounds
along."
Enter TEIRESIAS.
TEIRESIAS
-[170]
What loiterer at the gates will
call Cadmus from the house, Agenor's son, who left the city of Sidon and
founded here the town of Thebes? Go one of you, announce to him that
Teiresias is seeking him; he knows himself the reason of my coming
and the compact I and he have made in our old age to bind the thyrsus
with leaves and don the fawnskin, crowning our
heads the while with
ivy-sprays.
Enter CADMUS.
CADMUS
Best
of friends! I was in
the house
when I heard thy voice, wise as its owner. I come prepared, dressed
in the livery of the god. For 'tis but right
I should
magnify with all my might
my own daughter's son, Dionysus, who hath shown
his godhead
unto men. Where are we to join the dance? where plant the
foot and shake the
hoary head? Do thou, Teiresias, be my guide, age
leading age, for thou art wise. Never shall I weary, night or day, of beating the earth with my
thyrsus. What joy to forget our years?
TEIRESIAS
Why,
then thou art as I
am. For I
too am young again, and will essay the dance.
CADMUS
We
will drive then in our chariot to
the hill.
TEIRESIAS
Nay,
thus would the god not
have an equal honour
paid.
CADMUS
Well,
I will lead thee,
age leading
age.
TEIRESIAS
The
god will guide us both
thither
without toil.
CADMUS
Shall
we alone of all the city
dance in Bacchus'
honour?
TEIRESIAS
Yea, for we alone
are wise, the
rest are mad.
CADMUS
We
stay too long; come,
take my
hand.
TEIRESIAS
There
link thy hand in my
firm
grip.
CADMUS
Mortal
that I am, I scorn
not the
gods.
TEIRESIAS
No
subtleties do I indulge
about
the powers of heaven. The faith we inherited from our fathers, old as
time itself, no reasoning shall cast
down; no! though
it were the subtlest
invention of wits refined.
Maybe
some one will say, I
have no respect for
my grey hair in going to dance with ivy round my head; not so, for
the god did not define whether old or young should dance, but from
all alike he claims
a universal
homage,
and scorns nice calculations
in his worship.
CADMUS
Teiresias,
since thou art blind, I
must prompt thee what to say. Pentheus is coming hither to the house
in haste, Echion's son, to whom I resign the
government. How scared he
looks I what strange tidings will he tell?
Here is something on
Echion:
THOUGH I
speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal. 1 Corinthians
13:1
And
though I have
the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and
though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1
Corinthians 13:2
Enter
PENTHEUS.
PENTHEUS
[215]
I had left my kingdom for awhile,
when tidings of strange mischief in this city reached me;
I
hear that our women-folk have left their
homes on pretence of Bacchic
rites, and on
the wooded hills rush
wildly to and fro, honouring in the dance this new god Dionysus, whoe'er he is; and in the midst of each
revel-rout the
brimming wine-bowl stands, and
one by one they steal away to lonely spots to gratify their lust,
pretending forsooth that they are Maenads bent on sacrifice,
though it is Aphrodite they are placing before the Bacchic
god. As many as I
caught, my gaolers are keeping safe in the public prison fast bound;
and all who are gone forth, will I chase from the hills, Ino and
Agave too who bore me to Echion, and Actaeon's
mother Autonoe. In fetters of iron will I bind them and soon
put an
end to these outrageous Bacchic rites.
They
say there came a
stranger
hither, a trickster and a sorcerer, from Lydia's
land, with golden
hair and perfumed locks,
the flush of
wine upon his
face, and in his eyes
each grace that Aphrodite gives; by day and night he lingers in our
maidens' company
on
the plea of
teaching Bacchic mysteries.
Here
is something on
Echion:
THOUGH
I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians
13:1
And
though I have
the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and
though I have all faith, so
that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1
Corinthians 13:2
Echeo
(g2278) ay-kheh'-o;
from 2279; to make
a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.
Lu.21:25
And
there shall be signs in the
sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress
of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Echos
(g2279) ay'-khos; of
uncert. affin.; a loud or confused noise ("echo"), i.e. roar: fig. a
rumor: - fame, sound.
Heb.12:19
And
the sound of a trumpet, and
the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the
word should not be spoken to them any more:
êch-eô , I. intr., sound,
ring, peal,
êchei de karê . . Olumpou Hes.Th.42 ; hotan
achêsêi polios buthos Mosch.Fr.1.4 ; achousi
prospolôn cheres E.Supp.72 (lyr.); of metal, êcheeske ho chalkos tês aspidos (round
brass shield)
Hdt.4.200 ; ta chalkia
plêgenta
makron êchei Pl.Prt.329a , cf. Men.66.4; of the grasshopper, chirp, Alc.39,
Theoc.16.96; of the ears, tingle,
êchêsei ta ôta LXX 1 Ki.3.11 ; dia ti êchei
ê dia ti emphainetai; impers., of anecho, Arist.AP0.98a27.
2.
suffer from noises in the
ears, Herod.Med. ap. Orib.10.40.3.
II.
c. acc. cogn., achein
(iachein codd.) humnon to let it sound, A.Th.869 (lyr.);
kôkuton S.Tr.866 ; goous Id.Fr.523 ; humnous E.Ion883 (lyr.);
chalkeon achei sound the cymbal! Theoc.2.36; ephexês
êchounta auta (sc. ta phônêenta) Demetr.Eloc.71:
--Med., acheisthai tina to sound his praises, dub. in Pi.Fr.75.19:--
Pass., êcheitai ktupos a sound is made, S.OC1500. (Cf.
sq.)
êchetês , ou, ho, Ep. êcheta^ ,
Dor. achetas , acheta^
, ( [êcheô] )
A.
clear-sounding, musical, shrill,
donax
achetas A.Pr.575 (lyr.); kuknos E.El.151 (lyr.); epith. of the cicada [locusts],
chirping, êcheta tettix
Hes.Op.582 , AP 7.201
(Pamphil.); achetat. ib.213 (Arch.): abs., achetas, ho, the chirper,
i.e. the male cicada, Anan.5.6, Ar.Pax1159 (lyr.), Av.1095 (lyr.),
cf. Arist.HA532b16,556a20: Orph.A.1250 has Ep.acc. êcheta
porthmon the sounding strait.
Once
let me catch him
within these walls, and I
will put an end to his thyrsus-beating and his waving of his tresses, for
I will cut
his head from his body.
This
is the fellow who
says that Dionysus
is a god, says
that he was once stitched up in the thigh of
Zeus-that child who with his mother was blasted by the lightning
flash, because the woman falsely said her marriage was with Zeus. Is
not this enough to deserve the awful penalty of hanging, this
stranger's wanton insolence, whoe'er he be? But lo! another
marvel.
I
see Teiresias, our diviner,
dressed in dappled fawn-skins, and my mother's father too, wildly
waving the Bacchic
wand; droll
sight enough! Father, it grieves me to see you two old men so void of
sense.
Oh! shake that ivy from thee! Let fall the thyrsus from thy
hand, my
mother's sire! Was it thou,
Teiresias, urged him on to this? Art bent on introducing this fellow
as another new deity amongst men, that thou mayst then observe the
fowls of the air and make
a gain from
fiery [lewd] divination?
Divination: orgi-a
A. secret rites, secret
worship, practised by the initiated, of the rites of the Cabeiri and
Demeter cogn. with
erdô, rhezô, cf. ergon, orgeôn.)
Organon
, to, ( [ergon, erdô] ) I.
an implement, instrument, A.
instrument, implement, tool, for making
or doing a thing
3.musical instrumen
Ergon
[Ergô] I.work, 1.
in Il. mostly of deeds
of war, polemêïaerga, 3.a
hard piece of work, a hard task, Il.:
also, a shocking deed or act,
"Candidates for
initiation into the KABIRI were crowned with a
garland of olive
and wore a purple band round their loins. The dancing was then begun.
In
fact, homosexuality
was part
of the ritual,
what the
historians in their scholarly dungeons called their "most immoral
tendencies." The purpose was to evoke a passage beyond earth to a higher
life. That is, "to lead the worshipers
into
the presence of the gods."
That
is, in their mystical
dances, continued leaping
into the
air achieves a shamanic state of trance,
a
transfer of consciousness analogous to the transformation of the
magician
into a bird whereby the apprentice
masters his
powers to join a
gay
brotherhood "who,
by nature, are superior to other men." 14
"Smiths
and shamans
are from the same
nest," also
declares a
Yakut proverb from early North America, cited by the mythologist
Mircea Eliade. 15
According
to
Herodotus, they surfaced some
2,000 years after that as an effeminate
priesthood in what
is
now southern Russia and present-day Ukraine. They were called the ENAREE,
"endowed
by the goddess Venus
with the gift of prophecy." Source
Hislop:
Hence the "Horned bull" signified "The Mighty
Prince,
and
constant friction (minemployment) between
men of corrupt
mind, who have been robbed
of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to
financial gain. 1
Timothy 6:5
Were
it not that thy grey
hairs protected
thee,
thou shouldst sit in chains amid the Bacchanals,
for introducing
knavish mysteries;
for where the gladsome
grape is found
at women's feasts,
I deny that their rites have any longer good
results.
CHORUS
What
impiety! Hast thou no
reverence, sir stranger, for the gods or for Cadmus who sowed the
crop of earth-born warriors? Son of Echion as thou art, thou
dost shame thy birth.
Sounding
brass
is:
Echeo
(g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make
a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.
TEIRESIAS
[266]
Whenso a man of wisdom finds
a good topic for
argument, it is
no difficult matter to
speak well; but thou,
though
possessing a glib
tongue as if
endowed with sense,
art yet devoid thereof in all thou sayest.
[a
proper prophets with the
true "voice of the angels" would by nature be insane and therefore
speak in gibberish or tongues because they believed that dod always
used the emotionally or sexual abnormal to make people trust the
gods.]
A
headstrong man, if he
have influence and a
capacity for speaking, makes a bad citizen because he lacks sense.
This
new deity, whom thou
deridest, will rise
to power I cannot say how great, throughout Hellas. Two things there
are, young prince, that hold first rank among men,
the goddess
Demeter, that
is,
the earth, call her which name thou please; she it is that feedeth
men with solid
food; and as her
counterpart came this god,
(Dionysus) the son of Semele, who discovered the juice
of the grape and introduced it to
mankind, stilling thereby each grief
that
mortals suffer
from, soon as e'er they
are filled
with the juice
of the
vine; and sleep also he giveth,
sleep that brings forgetfulness of daily
ills, the sovereign charm for all our woe.
God
though he is, he
serves all other gods for
libations, so that through him mankind is blest.
He
it is whom thou dost mock, because he was sewn
up in the thigh of Zeus. But I will show thee this fair mystery. When
Zeus had snatched him from the lightning's blaze, and to Olympus
borne the tender babe, Hera would have cast him forth from heaven, but Zeus, as such a god well
might,
devised a counterplot.
He
broke off a fragment of the ether
which surrounds the world, and made thereof a hostage against Hera's
bitterness, while he gave out Dionysus into other hands; hence, in
time, men said that he was reared in the thigh of Zeus, having
changed the word and invented a legend, because the god was once a
hostage to the goddess Hera.
[298]
This god too hath prophetic
power, [Bakcheusimos]
for
there is no small prophecy
inspired by Bacchic
frenzy;
for whenever the god in his full
might enters the human frame,
he makes his frantic votaries foretell the
future.
Maniôdês
A. like madness, noseumata Hp. Aër.7,
cf. Coac.475.
2. like a madman, crazy,
Kunas,
II. causing madness,
Dsc. 1.68,
4.68; himasthlê Panos Nonn.D.10.4 .Pan is horn footed
Kunas:
Kuôn II.
as a word of
reproach, freq. in Hom. of women, to
denote shamelessness or audacity; applied by Helen to herself rhapsôidos of the Bakchai, Lussas
k. E.Ba.977 Lussao
rave, be mad, erotic. also of offensive persons, compared to yapping
dogs
[977] To
the hills! to the
hills! fleet
hounds of madness, where the daughters of
Cadmus hold their revels,
goad them
into wild fury
against the man
disguised in woman's dress,
a frenzied spy upon the Maenads.
Rhapsoidos
stitching songs together. Reciter of poems, of Aoide
Used with "hypokrites" 5. = eppsdê, spell, incantation
3.
of the Cynics, areskei
toutois kunôn metamphiennusthai bion. Catamites.
Epôidos
A. singing to or over, using songs
or charms to heal wounds, epôidoi muthoi
b. Subst., enchanter, e. kai goês E.Hipp.
1038 (but goês e. Ba.234):
c. gen., a charm for or against,
c. c. dat., assisting, profitable,
2.
Pass., sung to
music, phônai
Plu.2.622d ; fit for singing, poiêtikên e.
parechein S.E.M.6.16 .
2. epôidos, ho, verse or passage returning at
intervals, in Alcaics and Sapphics, D.H.Comp.19 ; chorus, burden,
Psalm
22:
[14] I
am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is
like wax; It is melted within me. [15] My strength is dried
up
like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have
brought me into the dust of death. [16] For dogs have
surrounded
me. A company of evil-doers have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and
my feet. [17] I can count all of my bones. They look and
stare at
me. [18] They divide my garments among them. They cast lots
for
my clothing. [19] But don't be far off, Yahweh. You are my
help:
hurry to help me. [20] Deliver my soul from the sword, My
precious life from the power of the dog.
Rhapsôid-os , ho,
A. reciter
of Epic poems,
sts. applied to the
bard who recited his own poem,
as to Hesiod, Nicocl. ap. Sch.Pi.N.2.2 (v. infr.); but usu., professional
reciters, esp. of
the poems
of Homer,
Hdt.5.67, Pl.Ion 530c, etc.:
also rh. kuôn, ironically, of the Sphinx who chanted
her riddle, S.OT391.
(Prob. from
rhaptô, aoidê; Hes.Fr. 265 speaks of
himself and Homer as en
nearois humnois rhapsantes aoidên, and Pi.N.2.2 calls
Epic poets
rhaptôn epeôn aoidoi: not from rhabdos (cf. rhabdos
1.6 )
as if rhabdôidos (Eust.6.24, rhabdôidia ib.16).)
Pindar Ode 2
[1]
Just as the Homeridae, the singers
[rhapton] of woven verses [epos], most often begin with Zeus
as their
prelude, so this man has received a first down-payment of victory [nike]
in
the
sacred games by winning [5] in the grove of
Nemean Zeus, which is
celebrated in many hymns.
Likewise
he hath some
share in Ares' rights; for oft, or
ever a weapon is touched, a panic seizes an army
when it is
marshalled in array; and this too is a frenzy sent by Dionysus.
Yet shalt thou behold him e'en on Delphi's rocks leaping o'er the
cloven height, torch in hand, waving and brandishing the branch by Bacchus
loved, yea, and through the length and breadth of Hellas.
Pallô II.
Pass., swing, dash oneself, vibrate,
of strings, Pl.Phd.94c
psalloito
Plato,
Phaedo
94c. “Did we not agree in our previous
discussion that it could never, if it
be a harmony, give forth a sound at variance with the tensions and
relaxations and vibrations and other conditions of the elements which
compose it, but that it would follow them and never lead them?”
94d
Homer has shown in the Odyssey when he says of
Odysseus: Hom. Od 20.17-18
He smote
his breast, and thus he chid his heart:
“Endure it, heart, you have born worse
than this.”
Pallo
and Seio
or shaking: one dancing, E.Ba. 185; 2. of earthquakes, which were
attributed to Poseidon, 3. metaph., agitate, disturb, II. Pass., shake,
heave, quake, of the earth, earthquake.
We call her Pallas, you know.[406e] who
think this name is derived from armed dances, for lifting oneself or
anything else from the ground or
[407a] in
the hands is called shaking (pallein) and
being shaken, or dancing and being danced.
Hearken
to me, Pentheus;
never boast that might
alone doth sway the world,
nor
if thou think so,
unsound as
thy opinion is, credit thyself with any wisdom;
but receive the god into thy realm, pour out libations, join the revel rout, and crown thy
head.
It
is not Dionysus that
will force chastity on
women in their love;
but this is
what we should
consider, whether chastity is part of their
nature for good and all; for if it is,
no
really modest maid will
ever fall 'mid Bacchic mysteries.
Mark this: thou thyself art glad when thousands
throng thy gates, and citizens extol the name of Pentheus;
he too, I trow,
delights in being
honoured. Wherefore I and Cadmus, whom thou jeerest so,
will wreath our brows with ivy and join
the dance;
pair
of grey beards
though we be, still must we
take part therein; never will I for any words of thine fight against
heaven.
Most grievous
is thy madness,
nor canst thou find a charm
to cure
thee,
albeit charms have
caused thy
malady.
CHORUS
Old
sir, thy words do not
discredit Phoebus,
and thou art wise in honouring Bromius, potent
deity.
CADMUS
My
son, Teiresias hath
given thee
sound advice; dwell with us, but o'erstep
not the threshold
of custom;
for now thou
art soaring aloft, and thy
wisdom is no wisdom. E'en though he be no god, as thou assertest,
still say he is; be guilty of a splendid fraud, declaring him the son of
Semele, that she may be thought the mother of a god,
and we and all our race gain
honour.
Dost
thou mark the awful
fate of Actaeon? whom
savage hounds of his own rearing rent in pieces in the meadows,
because he
boasted himself a better
hunter than
Artemis.
Lest thy fate be the same, come let
me crown thy head with ivy; join
us in
rendering homage to the god.
PENTHEUS
[343]
Touch me not, away to thy Bacchic
rites thyself!
never try to infect me
with thy foolery!
Vengeance will I have on the fellow who teaches thee such senselessness. Away one of you without delay! seek yonder
seat where
he observes his birds, wrench it from its base with levers, turn it upside down,
o'erthrowing it in utter confusion, and toss
his
garlands to the tempest's blast. For by so doing shall I wound him
most deeply. Others of you, range the city and hunt down
this girl-faced [effeminate] stranger,
who is
introducing a new complaint
amongst our
women, and doing
outrage to the
marriage tie.
And
if haply ye catch
him, bring
him hither to me in chains, to be stoned to death, a bitter ending to
his revelry in Thebes.
Exit
PENTHEUS.
TEIRESIAS
Unhappy
wretch! thou
little knowest
what thou art saying. Now art thou become a raving madman, even before unsound in
mind. Let us away, Cadmus, and pray earnestly for him, spite of his
savage temper, and likewise for the city, that the god inflict not a
signal vengeance.
Come,
follow me with thy
ivy-wreathed staff;
try to support my tottering
frame as I do thine, for it is unseemly
that two old men should fall; but let that-pass.
For we must
serve the Bacchic
god, the son of Zeus.
Only, Cadmus, beware lest Pentheus' bring sorrow to thy house;
it is not
my prophetic
art, but
circumstances that lead me to say this; for
the words of a fool are folly.
Exeunt CADMUS and
TEIRESIAS.
CHORUS
[370]
O holiness, queen amongst the gods,
sweeping on golden pinion o'er the earth! dost hear
the words of Pentheus,
dost hear his proud blaspheming Bromius,
the son of Semele;
first of all the
blessed gods at
every merry
festival?
His it
is
to rouse the
revellers to
dance, to laugh away dull care,
.......and wake
the
flute, [Gelaô
laugh to, mock,
deride]
.......whene'er at banquets of the
gods the luscious
grape appears,
.......or when the winecup in the feast sheds sleep on men who wear the ivy-spray. [ivy-bearing]
Aristophanes,
Thesmophoriazusae
[985]
Let us form fresh measures that keep good time, and may our songs
resound to the very heavens. Do thou, oh divine Bacchus, who art
crowned with ivy, direct our chorus; 'tis to thee that both my hymns
and my dances are dedicated.
Chorus
[995]
Echo,
the nymph of Cithaeron, returns thy words, which resound beneath the
dark vaults of the thick foliage and in the midst of the rocks of the
forest; the ivy [1000] enlaces thy brow with its tendrils charged with
flowers.
kuklos
A. kukla Il. ,
etc., v. infr.11.1, 3,9,
111.1:--ring, circle, hoppote min dolion peri kuklon
agôsin, of
the circle which hunters
draw round
their game,
Od.4.792; k. deka chalkeoi
(concentric)
circles of brass on a round shield,
3.
place of assembly, of the agora,
hieros
[filled divine power, mystical marriage k. Il.18.504 ; ho k. tou Zênos
tôgoraiou Schwyzer 701 B6
(Erythrae, v B.C.); agoras k. (cf. kukloeis) E.Or.919; of the amphitheatre, D.C.72.19.
Agoarios
A. in, of, or belonging to the agora, Zeus
A. as guardian of popular assemblies, Hermês A. as patron of
traffic, the common sort, low fellows, 2. of things, vulgar, III.
generally, proper to the agora, skilled in, suited for forensic
speaking, skilled in poetry, emporias kai kapêleias diatribon,
Agitators Acts 17:5
Acts
17:5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took
unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a
company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house
of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
E.Or.919 Euripides,
Orestes
Another then stood up and said the opposite; he was not handsome in
appearance, but a brave man, rarely coming in contact with the town or
the circle in the market-place
b. crowd of people standing round, ring or circle of people, k.
turannikos S.Aj.749 ; kukla chalkeôn hoplôn, i.e. of armed
men,
chalkeos [chalkos]
I.
of copper or bronze, brasen, Lat.
aeneus, aheneus, Hom., etc.; ch. Zeus
a bronze statue of Zeus,
Hdt.; hê chalkê Athêna Dem.; chalkeon
histanai tina
(v. histêmi A. III).
b. ch. agôn a contest for a shield of brass,
Pind.<>
2. metaph. brasen, i. e. stout, strong, chalkeon
êtor, a heart of brass, Il.; ops ch. id=Il.; ch. hupnos, i. e. the
sleep of death,
Virg. ferreus somnus,
id=Il.
Il.18.504 Homer, Iliad
[490]
Therein fashioned he also two cities of mortal
men exceeding
fair.
In
the one there were
marriages and feastings,
and by the light of the blazing
torches they were
leading the brides from their
bowers through the city, and loud rose the bridal song. And young
men were whirling in the dance, and in
their midst
[495] flutes and lyres
sounded continually; and there the women stood each before her door
and marvelled.
But
the folk were gathered in
the place of assembly; for there a strife
had arisen, and two men were striving about the blood-price
of a man
slain; the one avowed that he had paid all,
[500]
declaring his cause to
the people, but the other refused to accept aught; and each was fain
to win the issue on the word of a daysman. Moreover,
the folk were cheering
both, shewing
favour to
this side and to that. And heralds
held back the folk, and the elders
were sitting upon polished stones in the sacred
circle,
But
around the other city
lay in leaguer two hosts of warriors
[510]
gleaming
in armour.
And
twofold plans found favour
with them,
either
to
lay
waste the
town
or to divide in portions
twain
all the substance that the lovely city
contained within.2
Howbeit
the
besieged would nowise hearken
thereto, but were arming
to meet the
foe
in an ambush. The wall
were their dear wives and little children guarding,
[515]
as they stood thereon,
and there withal the men that were holden of old age; but the rest
were faring forth, led of Ares
and Pallas
Athene, both fashioned
in gold, and of gold
was the raiment wherewith they were clad. Goodly were they and tall
in their harness, as beseemeth gods, clear to view amid the rest, and
the folk at their feet were smaller.
[520]
But when they were come
to the place where it seemed good unto them to set their ambush, in a river-bed where
was a watering-place for
all
herds alike, there they
sate them down, clothed about with flaming bronze.
Thereafter were two
scouts set by them apart from
the host, waiting till they should have sight of the sheep and sleek cattle.
[525]
And these came presently,
and two herdsmen followed with them playing upon pipes; and of the guile wist they not at all.
surinx 2.cat-call,
whistle, hiss, as in theatres, Id.Lg.700c;
cf.
surizô11.2
, surigmos:--the
last part of the nomosPuthikos was
called suringes,
prob. because it imitated the dying hisses of the
serpent Pytho, Str.9.3.10.
18.527
But the liers-in-wait, when they saw these coming on, rushed forth
against them and speedily cut off the herds of cattle and fair flocks
of white-fleeced sheep, and slew the herdsmen withal.[530] But
the
besiegers, as they sat before the places of gathering
and heard much tumult among the kine, mounted forthwith behind their
high-stepping horses, and set out thitherward, and speedily came upon
them. Then set they their battle in array and fought beside the river
banks, and were ever smiting one another with bronze-tipped spears.
The
end of all unbridled
speech and
lawless senselessness is misery;
Blaspheming.
[Hubris]
A. wanton violence, arising from the pride of strength or
from passion, insolence
but
the life of calm
repose and
the rule of reason abide unshaken and support
the home;
for far away in
heaven though they dwell,
....... the powers
divine behold man's state.
Stop the:
apo-pauô, A. stop or
hinder from, make to cease from
Stop
the: Erôt-aô
Stop the questioning 2. in Dialectic,
opp.
demonstration, question an opponent in order to refute him from
his answers,
Stop the: Logos:
Stop the speaking III. explanation, 1. plea, pretext, ground b. plea,
case, in Law or argument 2. statement of a theory, argument, c. in
Logic, proposition, whether as premiss or conclusion, d. rule,
principle, law, as embodying the result of logismos
Stop the: Aoide.
2.
act of singing, song, 5. = eppsdê, spell, incantation,
ôkus
quick, swift, fleet, 2. of sound, shrill, aoidai
anathrôiskontesaoidaisA.R.4.42
, cf. 59.
Cf.
ôidê.
[Dissyll. in Hes.Th.48
(unless lêgousit'aoidês be
read) and in Pi. l.c. (unless melizen be
read).].
Hesoid,
Theo (ll. 36-52) Come thou, let us begin with the Muses who
gladden the great
spirit of their
father Zeus in
Olympus with their songs,
telling of things that are and that shall
be and that were
aforetime with consenting voice.
Unwearying
flows the sweet
sound from their lips,
and the house of
their father Zeus the loud-thunderer is glad at the lily-like voice of the goddesses as it spread
abroad, and the peaks of snowy Olympus resound, and the homes of
the immortals.
Stop
the:
Merimn-a
A.
care, thought, solicitude
2. concrete, object of care or thought, 3. pursuit, ambition,
5. anxious mind, A.Ag. 460
Aeschylus,
Agamemnon. Dangerous is a people's voice charged
with wrath--it acts as a curse of publicly ratified doom. [460] In anxious
fear
I wait to hear something shrouded still in gloom. The gods are not
blind to men with blood upon their hands. In the end the black Spirits
of Vengeance bring to obscurity that one who has prospered in
unrighteousness and [465] wear down his fortunes by reverse. Once a man
is among the unseen, there is no more help for him. Glory in excess is
fraught with peril; [470] the lofty peak is struck by Zeus'
thunderbolt. I choose prosperity unassailed by envy. May I not be a
sacker of cities, and may I not myself be despoiled and live to see my
own life in another's power!
Pindar,
Olympian,
1.[105] whom we shall adorn with the
glorious folds of song. A god is set over your ambitions
as a guardian, Hieron, and he devises with this as his concern. If he
does not desert you soon, I hope that I will celebrate
an even greater sweetness, [110][110] sped by a swift chariot, finding
a helpful path of song
when I come to the sunny hill of Cronus. For me the Muse tends her
mightiest shaft of courage. Some men are great in one thing, others in
another; but the peak of the farthest limit is for kings. Do not look
beyond that! [115] May it be yours to walk on high throughout your
life, and mine to associate with victors as long as I live,
distinguished for my skill among Greeks everywhere.
melos
, eos, to,
melê, ta, lyric poetry, choral songs opposite Epic
or Dramatic verse,
2. music to which a song is set,
tune, Arist.Po.1450a14;
opp.
rhuthmos, metron, Pl.Grg.
502c; opp. rhuthmos, rhêma, Id.Lg.656c;
Krêtikon, Karikon, Iônikon m
logou te kai harmonias kai rhuthmou ib.398d.
Stop
the:
Burden laded.
Dangerous: Barus.
2.
heavy to bear, grievous, burdensome, grievous, oppressive, orge. 1.
of sound, strong, deep, bass
Orge
3.
c. gen., Panos orgai visitations of Pan's wrath
[395]
Sophistry is not
wisdom, and to
indulge in thoughts
beyond man's ken is to shorten life; and if a man on such poor terms
should aim too
high, he may
miss the pleasures in his reach.
These,
to my mind, are the
ways of madmen and idiots.
Oh! to make my way to Cyprus, isle of Aphrodite,
where dwell the love-gods strong to soothe
man's soul, or to Paphos, which that foreign river, never fed by rain,
enriches
with its hundred mouths!
[402]
Oh! lead me, Bromian
[Dionysus "to roar"] god,
celestial
guide of Bacchic
pilgrims, to the
hallowed slopes of
Olympus, where Pierian Muses have their haunt
most fair.
Bromian
also of music, lura bremetai kai aoida Pi.N.11.7
Pindar
Nemean
11. [6] often they worship you, first of
the gods, with libations, and often with the savor of burnt sacrifice. Lyres
and songs peal among them, and Themis, who belongs
to Zeus the god of hospitality,
There
dwell the Graces; there is soft desire; there thy votaries may hold their revels freely.
The joy [417]
of
our god, the son of Zeus, is in banquets, his delight is
in peace, that giver of riches and nurse divine of youth.
Both to rich and poor alike hath he granted the delight of wine, that makes all pain to cease;
Grace
is CHARA or CHARIS which
is the "goddess" of Charismatic which involves pederasty among the "priesthood."
hateful
to him is every
one who careth not to
live the life of
bliss, that
lasts through days and nights of joy.
True wisdom is to keep the heart and soul aloof from
over-subtle wits. That
which the less enlightened crowd approves and practises, will I
accept.
Re-enter PENTHEUS.
Enter SERVANT bringing
DIONYSUS bound.
SERVANT
[434]
We are come, Pentheus, having hunted down this
prey, for which thou didst send us forth;
not in
vain hath
been our quest. We found our quarry tame; he did not fly from us,
but yielded
himself without
a struggle; his cheek
ne'er blanched,
nor
did his ruddy colour change, but with a smile he bade me bind
and
lead him away, and he waited, making my
task an easy one.
For
very shame I said to
him, "Against my will,
sir stranger, do I lead thee hence, but Pentheus ordered it, who sent
me hither." As for his votaries whom thou thyself didst check,
seizing and binding them hand and foot in the public gaol,
all
these have loosed
their bonds
and fled into the meadows where they now are sporting,
See the meaning of PLAY or SPORTING at Mount
Sinai.
calling aloud
on the Bromian
god. Their
chains fell off their feet
of their own accord, and doors flew open without man's hand to help.
Many a marvel hath
this stranger
brought with him
to our city of Thebes;
what yet remains must be thy care.
PENTHEUS
Loose
his hands; for now
that I
have him in the net he is scarce swift enough to elude me. So, sir
stranger,
thou art not
ill-favoured from a
woman's point of view,
which was thy real object in coming to Thebes;
thy hair is long because thou
hast never been a wrestler, flowing right down thy
cheeks most
wantonly; thy
skin is white
to help
thee gain thy end,
not tanned by ray of sun, but kept within the shade, as thou goest in
quest of love with beauty's
bait. Come, tell
me first of thy race.
DIONYSUS
That
needs no braggart's
tongue,
'tis easily told; maybe thou knowest Tmolus by hearsay.
PENTHEUS
I
know it, the range that
rings the
city of Sardis round.
DIONYSUS
Thence
I come, Lydia is my
native
home.
PENTHEUS
What
makes thee bring
these
mysteries to Hellas?
DIONYSUS
Dionysus,
the son of Zeus, initiated
me.
PENTHEUS
Is
there a Zeus in Lydia,
who begets new
gods?
DIONYSUS
No,
but Zeus who married Semele in
Hellas.
PENTHEUS
Was
it by night or in the
face of
day that he constrained
thee?
DIONYSUS
'Twas face to face he intrusted
his mysteries to me.
PENTHEUS
Pray,
what special
feature stamps thy rites?
DIONYSUS
That
is a secret
to be hidden from
the uninitiated.
Jesus
refused to BOW when the Jews (Not
Israelites) piped.
See
From
Strabo
THE
SATYROI were rustic fertility
Daimones (Spirits) of
the wilderness and countryside. They were usually associated with the
gods Dionysos, Rheia, Gaia, Hermes and Hephaistos; and were said to
mate with the Nymphai in the mountains.
Satyroi
were depicted as
animal-like men with the tail of a horse, the ears of an ass,
upturned pug noses, reclining hair-lines, and erect members.
As
companions of Dionysos, they
were depicted draped in animal skins, drinking, dancing, playing
tambourines and flutes (the instruments of the
Dionysian orgy)
and sporting
with the
Nymphai Bakkhai.
They
were also frequently shown
in vase paintings, dancing around the goddess Gaia (Earth), rising up
from the fertile earth.
Other
closely related Daimones included: the Panes (goat-legged satyroi),
and the Seilenoi (elderly satyroi).
Child satyrs were known as Satyriskoi.
Orgi-a , iôn, ta,
A.
secret rites, secret
worship, practised by the initiated, a post-Hom. word ; used of the worship of
Demeter at Eleusis,
h.Cer.273,476. Ar.Ra.386, Th.948 ;
of the rites of the Cabeiri
and Demeter
Achaia, Hdt.2.51,5.61; of Orpheus, Id.2.81; of Eumolpus,
App.Anth.1.318 ; of Cybele,
E.Ba.78 (lyr.): most freq. of the rites of Dionysus,
Hdt.2.81, E.Ba.34,
al., Theoc.26.13.
II.
generally, rites,
sacrifices, SIG57.4 (Milet., v B. C.), A.Th.179 (lyr.), S.Tr.765,
Ant.1013 ; orgia
Mousôn
Ar.Ra.356
2.
metaph., mysteries, without
reference to religion, epistêmês Hp.Lex5 ; tois tês Aphroditês o. eilêmmenon
Ar.Lys.832 , cf. Ach.Tat.4.1; ta
Epikourou theophanta o. Metrod.38 .--The sg. orgion
is rare,
Jahresh.13Beibl.29 No.3 (Erythrae, iv B. C.), Luc.Syr.D.16,
Orph.H.52.5. (Prob. cogn. with erdô, rhezô, cf. ergon,
orgeôn.)
Mousa , ês, hê,
Aeol. Moisa Sapph.84, IG42(1).130.16, etc.; Dor. Môsa Alcm. 1,
etc.; Lacon. Môha (for Môsa) Ar.Lys.1298, cf. An.
Ox.1.277:--Muse,
A.
Olumpiades M., Dios
aigiochoio thugateres Il.2.491 , cf. Hes.Th.25, etc.; nine in number, first in Od.24.60;
named in Hes.Th.75
sqq.
II. mousa, as Appellat., music, song, m. stugera A.Eu.308
(anap.); euphamos Id.Supp.695
(lyr.); kanachan . . theias antiluron mousas S.Tr.643 (lyr.);
Aiakôi moisan pherein Pi.N.3.28 ; tis hêde mousa; what
strain is this ? E.Ion757; aluros m. Id.Ph.1028 (lyr.); dia mousas
êixa Id.Alc.962 (lyr.): in Prose, aidein adokimon m. Pl.Lg.
829d : in pl., mousai Sphingos, of the Sphinx's riddle, E.Ph.50; esp.
liberal arts, accomplishments, tas mousas aphanizôn Ar.Nu.972 ;
apaideuton tôn peri tas numphikas m. Pl.Lg.775b : also in sg.,
tês alêthinês m. êmelêkenai Id.R.548b ;
koinônein mousês ib.411c.
2.
hautê hê Sôkratous m. that was Socrates's way, Gal.UP1.9.
But
all educated men, and
especially the musicians, are ministers
of the Muses;
and
both these and
those who have to do with divination are ministers of Apollo;
and the initiated
and
torch-bearers and hierophants, of Demeter; and the Sileni
and Satyri
and Bacchae, and also the Lenae and
Thyiae and Mimallones and
Naïdes and Nymphae and the beings called Tityri, of Dionysus.
PENTHEUS
What
profit bring they to
their
votaries?
DIONYSUS
Thou
must not be told,
though 'tis
well worth knowing.
PENTHEUS
A
pretty piece of trickery, to excite my
curiosity!
DIONYSUS
[476]
A man of godless life is an abomination to the
rites of the god.
PENTHEUS
Thou
sayest thou didst see
the god clearly;
what was he like?
DIONYSUS
What
his fancy chose; I
was not
there to order this.
PENTHEUS
Another clever twist and turn of
thine, without a word of answer.
DIONYSUS
He
were a fool, methinks,
who would
utter wisdom to a fool.
PENTHEUS
Hast
thou come hither
first with
this deity?
DIONYSUS
All
foreigners already celebrate
these mysteries with dances.
PENTHEUS
The
reason being, they are
far behind
Hellenes in wisdom.
DIONYSUS
In
this at least far in
advance,
though their customs differ.
PENTHEUS
Is
it by night or day thou
performest these devotions?
DIONYSUS
By night mostly; darkness
lends solemnity.
PENTHEUS
Calculated
to entrap
and corrupt women.
DIONYSUS
Day
too for that matter
may
discover shame.
PENTHEUS
This
vile quibbling
settles thy
punishment.
DIONYSUS
Brutish
ignorance and godlessness will settle thine.
PENTHEUS
How bold
our Bacchanal
is growing! a
very master in this wordy
strife!
DIONYSUS
Tell
me what I am to
suffer; what
is the grievous doom thou wilt inflict upon me?
PENTHEUS
First
will I shear off
thy dainty tresses.
DIONYSUS
My locks
are sacred;
for the god I let
them grow. [It
is a shame
for a man to have long hair 1Co.11:14 ]
PENTHEUS
Next
surrender that
thyrsus.
DIONYSUS
Take
it from me thyself;
'tis the
wand of Dionysus I am bearing.
PENTHEUS
In
dungeon deep thy body
will I
guard.
DIONYSUS
The
god himself will set
me free,
whene'er I list.
PENTHEUS
Perhaps
he may, when thou
standest
amid thy Bacchanals and callest on his name.
DIONYSUS
Even
now he is near me and witnesses
my
treatment.
PENTHEUS
Why,
where is he? To my
eyes he is invisible.
DIONYSUS
He
is by my side; thou art
a
godless man and therefore dost
not see
him.
PENTHEUS
Seize
him! the fellow
scorns me and Thebes too.
DIONYSUS
I
bid you bind me not,
reason
addressing madness.
PENTHEUS
But
I say "bind!" with
better right
than thou.
DIONYSUS
Thou
hast no knowledge of the
life thou art
leading; thy
very existence is now a mystery
to thee.
PENTHEUS
I
am Pentheus,
son of Agave and Echion.
DIONYSUS
Well-named
to be
misfortune's
mate!
PENTHEUS
Avaunt! Ho! shut
him up within the
horses' stalls hard by, that for light he may have pitchy gloom. Do thy dancing there,
and these women whom thou bringest
with thee to share thy villainies
I will either sell
as slaves or
make
their hands
cease from this noisy
beating of drums,
and set them to
work at the loom
as servants of my
own.
DIONYSUS
I
will go; for that which fate
forbids, can never befall me.
For
this thy mockery be
sure
Dionysus will exact a recompense of thee-even the god whose existence thou deniest; for thou art injuring him by haling me to prison.
Exit DIONYSUS,
guarded, and
PENTHEUS.
CHORUS
[519]
Hail to thee, Dirce, happy maid,
daughter revered of Achelous! within thy founts thou didst receive in
days gone by the babe of Zeus, what time his father caught him up
into his thigh from out the deathless flame,
while
thus he cried: "Go
rest, my Dithyrambus, there within thy father's womb; by this name,
O
Bacchic god, I now proclaim thee to Thebes." But thou, blest Dirce, thrustest me aside, when in
thy midst I strive to hold my revels
graced with crowns. Why dost thou scorn
me? Why avoid me?
[6] Dithurambos Harmatideô. Dithyrambos,
son of
Harmatides, was not the captain,
or general of the Thespians (cp. c. 222 supra). Dithyrambos, as a
proper name, is a little startling: it is primarily (like
Marôn) a title of Bakchos, cp. Eurip. Bakch. 526;
it is secondarily a kind of
poetry or melody
(of which Arion
was inventor, cp. 1. 23). This Thespian is the only human
person to whom the name is given.
His father ('Wagoner') may have been a musician --of the Dionysiac
order (the dithyramb was always
in the 'Phrygian' mode, and decidedly orgiastic: Aristot. Pol. 5 (8).
7. 9 f.=1342 A-B).
The
dionysus infleunced clergy
hoped that John wore soft clothing of a king's catamite and that
Jesus would lament and dance the choral to prove that He was also a homosexual:
They
are like unto children sitting in the
marketplace, and calling
one to another, and saying, We have piped
unto you, and ye have not danced;
we
have mourned
to you, and ye have not
wept. Lu.7:32
The
lament is derived from
the Greek base:
Thriambeuo ((g2358)
three-am-byoo'-o; from a prol. comp. of the
base of 2360 and a der. of 680 (mean. a noisy iambus, sung in honor
of Bacchus); to make an
acclamatory procession, i.e. (fig.) to
conquer or (by Hebr.) to give victory: - (cause) to triumph (over).
Thriambos
A. hymn to
Dionysus, sung in festal
processions to his honour,
Cratin.36. 2. epith. of Dionysus,
Because
Jesus DRANK they
accused Him of being a winedrinker. Of course in His own way He
called them liars.
By
the clustered charm that Dionysus sheds o'er the vintage I
vow there yet shall come a time when thou wilt turn thy thoughts to
Bromius.
[537]
What furious rage the earth-born race displays,
even
Pentheus sprung of a dragon
(serpent) of old, himself the son of earth-born
Echion, a savage
monster in his
very mien, not made in human mould,
THOUGH
I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am
become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Cor13:1
Sounding
in Greek is: 1
Corinthians chapter 13:, 1 Corinthians chapter 13:,
Echeo
(g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: -
roar, sound.
Echos
(g2279) ay'-khos; of uncert. affin.; a loud or confused noise ("echo"),
i.e.
roar: fig. a rumor: - fame, sound.
Hebrew
Dictionary linked to
Strong Numbers Chalal (h2490) an
instructor/ of distance/space, start, commence; to redeem, to desecrate, make void, to create a
cavity, vacuum, hollow, an empty
space; a hollow/vacuum as a means to trap
or bring
together, nature;
a
vault, to make hollow: to wound, pierce, define, violate, make
vulgar, wounded,
slain,
dead, the action of resisting: to break, disregard; violating
instruction, to arrange/ an order of instruction; to assign, to pipe,
play
pipes
Echo 1
Corinthians chapter
13:,
in
Greek mythology, a mountain
nymph, or oread. Ovid's Metamorphoses relates that Echo offended the
goddess Hera by keeping
her
in conversation,
thus preventing her from spying on one of Zeus' amours. To punish
Echo, Hera deprived her of speech, except for the ability to repeat the
last words of another. Echo's hopeless love
for Narcissus,
who fell in love with his own image, made her fade away until all
that was left of her was her voice.
According
to
the Greek writer
Longus, Echo
rejected
the advances of the god Pan; he thereupon drove the
shepherds mad, and they tore
her to pieces. Gaea (Earth) buried her limbs but allowed her to
retain the power of song. (Britannica Members
Ovid
Metamorphoses 7.346. 1
Corinthians chapter 13:,
against the
magic-making sound of gongs
........O
wonder-working Moon, I draw you down
against the magic-making sound of gongs
........and brazen
vessels of Temesa's ore;
I cast my spells and veil the jeweled
raysof Phoebus' wain,
........and quench Aurora's
fires.
At my command you tamed the flaming
bulls
but
like some murderous
giant pitted against
heaven; for he means to bind me, the
handmaid of
Bromius, in
cords forthwith, and e'en now he keeps my fellow-reveller pent
within his palace, plunged in a gloomy
dungeon. Dost
thou mark this, O
Dionysus, son of Zeus, thy prophets struggling 'gainst resistless
might? Come, O king, brandishing thy golden thyrsus along the slopes
of Olympus; restrain the pride of this bloodthirsty wretch!
[556]
Oh! where
in Nysa, haunt of beasts, or on the peaks of Corycus art thou,
Dionysus, marshalling with thy wand the revellers?
or haply in the
thick forest depths
of Olympus,
where erst Orpheus with his lute gathered trees to
his minstrelsy,
and beasts
that range the
fields.
Ah
blest Pieria! Evius
honours thee, to thee
will he come with his Bacchic
rites to lead
the dance,
and thither will he
lead the circling
Maenads, crossing
the swift current
of Axius and the Lydias, that giveth wealth and happiness to man,
yea, and the father of rivers, which, as I have heard, enriches with his waters
fair a land of steeds.
mainas
, ados, hê, ( [mainomai] )
A. raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4; bakchê E.Ba.915 .
2. as Subst., mad woman, esp. Bacchante, Maenad, mainadi isê
Il.22.460 , cf. h.Cer.386, A.Fr.382, S.OT212 (lyr.), etc.; of the
Furies, A.Eu.500 (lyr.); of Cassandra, E.Tr. 173 (lyr.).
3. = pornê, Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.
II. Act., causing madness, esp. of love, mainas ornis Pi.P.4.216 .
Chor-euô
: hence, take part in the chorus, regarded as a matter of religion
Paizô
play like a child, sport. 4. play on a musical instrument, h.Ap.206: c.
acc., Pan ho kalamophthonga paizôn Ar.Ra.230 ; dance
and sing, Pi. O.1.16.
5. play amorously, pros
allêlous X.Smp.9.2 ; meta tinos LXX Ge.26.8 ; of mares,
Arist.HA572a30.
Pindar,
Olympian 1 [1] Water is best, and gold, like a
blazing fire in the night, stands out supreme of all lordly wealth. But
if, my heart, you wish to
sing
of contests, [5] look no further for any star warmer than the sun,
shining by day through the lonely sky, and let us not proclaim any
contest greater than Olympia. From there glorious song enfolds the
wisdom of poets,1 so that they loudly sing [10] the son of Cronus, when
they arrive at the rich and blessed hearth of Hieron, [12] who wields
the scepter of law in Sicily of many flocks, reaping every excellence
at its peak, and is glorified [15] by the choicest music, which we men
often play around his hospitable table. Come, take the Dorian lyre down
from its peg, if the splendor of Pisa and of Pherenicus placed your
mind under the influence of sweetest thoughts
DIONYSUS Within
[576]
What ho! my Bacchantes, ho! hear my
call, oh! hear.
CHORUS
Who
art thou? what Evian
cry is this that
calls me? whence comes it?
DIONYSUS
What
ho! once more I call,
I the
son of Semele, the child of Zeus.
CHORUS II
My
master, O my master,
hail!
CHORUS III
Come to our
revel-band, O
Bromian god.
CHORUS IV
Thou
solid earth!
CHORUS
Most
awful shock!
CHORUS VI
O
horror! soon will the
palace of
Pentheus totter and fall.
CHORUS VII
Dionysus
is within this
house.
CHORUS VIII
Do
homage to him.
CHORUS IX
We
do! I do!
CHORUS
Did
ye mark yon architrave
of stone
upon the columns start asunder?
CHORUS XI
Within
these walls the triumph-shout of Bromius himself will rise.
DIONYSUS
Kindle
the blazing torch
with
lightning's fire, abandon to the flames the halls of Pentheus.
CHORUS XII
Ha!
dost not see the flame,
dost
not clearly mark it at the sacred tomb of Semele, the lightning flame
which long ago the hurler of the bolt left there?
CHORUS XIII
Your
trembling limbs
prostrate, ye
Maenads, low upon the ground.
CHORUS XIV
Yea,
for our king, the son
of Zeus,
is assailing and utterly confounding this house.
Enter DIONYSUS.
DIONYSUS
[604]
Are ye so stricken with terror that
ye have fallen
to the
earth, O foreign
dames? Ye saw then, it
would seem, how the Bacchic god made Pentheus' halls to quake; but
arise, be of good heart, compose your trembling limbs.
CHORUS
O
chiefest splendour of
our
gladsome Bacchic
sport, with what
joy I see thee in my loneliness!
DIONYSUS
Were ye cast down when I was
led into the house, to be plunged into the gloomy
dungeons of Pentheus?
CHORUS
Indeed
I was. Who was to
protect
me, if thou shouldst meet with mishap? But how wert thou set free
from the clutches of this godless wretch?
DIONYSUS
My
own hands worked out my
own
salvation, easily and
without trouble.
CHORUS
But
did he not lash fast
thy hands
with cords?
DIONYSUS
There
too I mocked
him; he thinks he
bound me, whereas he never touched or caught hold of me, but fed himself on fancy. For
at the stall, to which he brought me for
a gaol,
he found a bull, whose legs and hoofs he straightly tied,
breathing out
fury the while, the sweat trickling from his body, and he biting his
lips; but I from near at hand sat calmly looking on.
katorcheomai
,
A. dance in triumph over one, treat despitefully, Hdt.3.151, LXX
Za.12.10, Phld.Piet.52, Ael.NA5.54; tês anaisthêsias Plu.
2.57a .
II. subdue or enchant by dancing, Luc.Salt.22.
III. intr., dance vehemently, Str.17.1.17.
Meantime
came the Bacchic
god and made the
house quake,
and at his mother's
tomb relit the
fire; but Pentheus,
seeing this, thought his palace was ablaze, and hither and thither he
rushed, bidding his servants
bring
water; but all
in vain was every
servant's busy toil.
Thereon
he let this labour
be awhile, and,
thinking maybe that I had escaped, rushed into the palace with his
murderous sword unsheathed.
Then
did Bromius-so
at least it
seemed to me; I only tell you what I thought-made a phantom in the
hall, and he rushed after it in headlong haste, and stabbed the lustrous air,
thinking he wounded me.
Further
the Bacchic
god did other
outrage to him; he dashed the building to the ground, and there it
lies a mass of ruin, a sight to make him rue most bitterly my bonds.
At last from sheer fatigue he dropped his sword and fell fainting;
for he a mortal frail,
dared to wage
war upon a
god;
but
I meantime quietly
left the house and am
come to you, with never a thought of Pentheus. But methinks he will
soon appear before the house; at least there is a sound of steps
within. What will he say, I wonder, after this? Well, be his fury
never so great, I will lightly bear it; for 'tis a wise man's way to school
his temper into due control.
Enter PENTHEUS.
PENTHEUS
[642]
Shamefully have
I been treated; that stranger, whom but now I made
so fast in prison, hath escaped me. Ha! there is the man! What means
this? How didst thou come forth, to appear thus in front of my
palace?
DIONYSUS
Stay
where thou art; and
moderate
thy fury.
PENTHEUS
How
is it thou hast
escaped thy
fetters and art at large?
DIONYSUS
Did
I not say, or didst
thou not
hear me, "There is one will loose me."
PENTHEUS
Who
was it? there is
always
something strange in what thou sayest.
DIONYSUS
He
who makes the
clustering vine to
grow for man.
PENTHEUS
(I
scorn him and his
vines!)
DIONYSUS
A
fine taunt
indeed thou hurlest
here at Dionysus!
PENTHEUS To
his servants
Bar
every tower that hems us in, I order you.
DIONYSUS
What
use? Cannot gods pass
even
over walls?
PENTHEUS
How
wise thou art, except
where thy
wisdom is needed!
DIONYSUS
Where
most 'tis needed,
there am I
most wise. But first listen to yonder messenger and hear what he
says; he comes from the hills with tidings for thee; and I will await
thy pleasure, nor seek to fly.
Enter MESSENGER.
Messenger.
Pentheus, ruler of this realm of Thebes! I am come from Cithaeron,
where the dazzling flakes of pure white snow ne'er cease to
fall.
PENTHEUS
What
urgent news dost
bring
me?
MESSENGER
I
have seen, O king, those frantic
Bacchanals, who
darted in frenzy from this land with
bare white feet, and I am come to tell thee and the city the wondrous
deeds they do, deeds passing strange. But I fain would hear, whether
I am freely to tell all I saw there, or shorten my story; for I fear
thy hasty temper, sire, thy sudden bursts of wrath and more than
princely rage.
PENTHEUS
Say
on, for thou shalt go
unpunished by me in all respects; for to be angered with the upright
is wrong. The direr thy tale about the Bacchantes, the heavier
punishment will I inflict on
this
fellow who brought
his secret
arts amongst our women.
MESSENGER (lying?)
[677]
I was just driving the herds of
kine to a ridge of the hill as I fed them, as the sun shot forth his
rays and made the earth grow warm; when lo!
I
see three
revel-bands of women;
Autonoe was chief of one,
thy mother Agave of the second,
while Ino's
was the third.
There
they lay asleep, all
tired out; some were
resting on branches of the pine, others had laid their heads in
careless ease on oak-leaves piled upon the ground,
observing all
modesty; not,
as thou
sayest,
seeking to gratify
their lusts
alone amid the woods,
by wine and
soft flute-music
maddened.
Anon
in their midst thy
mother
uprose and cried aloud to wake them from their sleep, when she heard
the lowing
of my horned
kine.
And up they started to their feet, brushing
from their
eyes sleep's quickening dew, a wondrous sight of grace and modesty,
young and old and maidens yet unwed.
First
o'er their
shoulders they
let stream
their hair;
then all did gird their fawn-skins
up, who hitherto
had left the
fastenings loose, girdling the dappled
hides with snakes
that licked
their cheeks.
Others
fondled in their
arms gazelles or savage
whelps of wolves, and suckled them-young mothers
these with babes at home, whose breasts were still full of milk; crowns
they wore of ivy or of oak or blossoming convolvulus. And one took
her thyrsus and struck it into the earth,
and forth there
gushed a limpid
spring; and
another plunged her wand into the lap of earth
and there the god sent up a fount
of wine; and all
who
wished for draughts
of
milk had but to
scratch the soil with
their finger-tips and there they had it in abundance, while from
every ivy-wreathed staff sweet rills of honey
trickled.
Hadst
thou been there and
seen this, thou
wouldst have turned
to pray to the
god, whom now
thou dost disparage. Anon we
herdsmen and shepherds met to discuss their strange and wondrous
doings;
then
one, who wandereth
oft to town and hath a trick
of speech, made
harangue in the midst,
"O
ye who dwell upon the
hallowed
mountain-terraces! shall we chase Agave, mother of Pentheus, from her
Bacchic rites, and thereby do our prince a service?"
We
liked his speech, and
placed ourselves in
hidden ambush
among the leafy thickets; they at the
appointed time began
to wave the
thyrsus for
their Bacchic
rites, calling
on Iacchus (Iacchus
or Bacchus, honored by all, deviser of
our festal song
and dance
- the Bromian
god, the son
of Zeus, in united
chorus, and the
whole mount and the
wild creatures re-echoed their cry; all nature stirred as they rushed
on.
[728]
Now Agave chanced to come
springing near me, so up I leapt from out my ambush where I lay
concealed, meaning to seize her.
But
she cried out, "What
ho! my nimble
hounds (homosexual
priests),
here are men upon our track; but follow me, ay, follow, with the thyrsus in
your hand for weapon."
Jesus
IDENTIFIED
them as the Crooked Generation and as NIMBLE HOUNDS
And when the messengers of John
were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John,
What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with
the wind? Lu.7:24
But
what went ye
out for to see? A man clothed in soft (clothes of a Catamite=male
prostitute)
raiment?
Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately
(effeminate), are in kings courts.
Luke 7:25
Malakos , d. = pathêtikos e. of music, soft, effeminate, m. harmoniai
Pl.R.398e , 411a, cf.
Arist.Pol.1290a28; tuned to a low pitch, opp. suntonos, chrôma m.
Cleonid.Harm.7 , etc.
And the
Lord said, Whereunto
then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they
like? Luke 7:31
They are like unto children
sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying,
We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to
you, and ye have not wept. Luke 7:32
Latin: [17] dicunt cecinimus vobis et non saltastis lamentavimus et non
planxistis
CANO , to produce melodious
sounds, whether
of men or animals, of the crowing of a cock, (the
crowing of a hen being considered as an
auspicium malum),
[IN
ROMANS 14] In the lang.
of the Pythagoreans, of the heavenly bodies
(considered as
living
beings), the music of the spheres,C. Since the responses of oracles
were given in verse, to prophesy, foretell, predict. In poetry: Sibylla,
Canto
III.
In the lang. of
religion, as v. n.
or a., to use
enchantments, charms, incantations, to enchant, to charm,
Arnobius
speaking
of the Parasites: Was
it
for this He sent souls, that in men they should become IMPURE,
in women
harlots, players on the triangle and psaltery; that they should prostitute their bodies for hire,
should abandon
themselves to
the lust of all ready in the brothels, to be met
with in the stews,
ready to submit to
anything, prepared
to do violence to their mouth even?
Psaltes , ae, m., =
psaltês, a player
on the cithara, a musician, minstrel,
Quint. 1, 10, 18;
Mart. Cap. 9, § 924; Sid. Ep. 8, 9; Inscr. Grut. 331, 2; Vulg. 2
Reg. 23, 1.
Thrêneô sing a dirge, wail, Mousai
Thriambeuo (g2358)
three-am-byoo'-o; from a prol.
comp. of the base of 2360 and a der. of 680 (mean. a noisy iambus,
sung in honor of Bacchus); to make an
acclamatory procession,
i.e. (fig.) to
conquer or (by Hebr.) to give victory: - (cause) to triumph (over).
For John
the Baptist came
neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil.
Luke 7:33
The Son of man is come eating
and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber,
a friend of publicans and sinners Luke 7:34
But
wisdom is
justified of all her children. Luke 7:35
Thereat we fled,
to escape being torn in
pieces by the Bacchantes;
but they,
with hands that bore no weapon of steel, attacked our cattle as they
browsed. Then wouldst thou have seen Agave mastering
some sleek lowing calf, while others rent
the heifers limb from
limb. Before thy eyes there would have been hurling of ribs and hoofs
this way and that; and strips of flesh, all blood-bedabbled, dripped
as they hung from the pine-branches.
Wild bulls,
that glared but now with rage along their horns,
found themselves tripped up, dragged down
to earth by countless maidens' hands.
The
flesh upon their
limbs was
stripped therefrom quicker than thou couldst have closed thy royal
eye-lids.
Many
bulls have compassed me:
strong bulls of Bashan have beset
me round. Psalm 22:12
They gaped
upon me with their
mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
Psalm 22:13
I am poured out
like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax;
it is melted in the midst of my bowels. Psalm 22:14
See
Gilgamesh and The Bull of Heaven
Then
off they sped, like
birds that skim the
air, to the plains beneath the hills, which bear a fruitful harvest
for Thebes beside the waters of Asopus; to Hysiae and
Erythrae, hamlets 'neath Cithaeron's peak, with
fell intent, swooping on everything and scattering all pellmell; and
they would snatch children from their homes; but all that they placed
upon their shoulders, abode there firmly without being tied, and fell
not to the dusky earth, not even brass or iron; and on their hair
they carried fire and it burnt them not; but the
country-folk rushed
to arms, furious at being pillaged by Bacchanals;
[760]
whereon ensued, O king, this wondrous spectacle. For
though the ironshod
dart would draw no blood from them,
they with the thyrsus, which they hurled, caused many a wound and put their foes to utter rout, women
chasing men, by
some god's intervention. Then they returned to the place whence they
had started, even to the springs the god had made to spout for them;
and there washed off the blood, while serpents with their
tongues were licking
clean each gout from their cheeks.
thursos A.thursaAP6.158
(Sabin.): --wand wreathed in ivy and vine-leaves with a
pine-cone at the top, carried by the devotees of Dionysus, E.Ba.80 (lyr.), SIG1109.138,
Hero Spir.2.9, etc.; also of the devotees
themselves, Sch.E.Hec.
261.
II. = klados, rhabdos, Hsch.
(Prob. a loan-word.)
Rhabdos
, hê, A.rod,
wand, Hom. (v. infr.), etc.; lighter than the baktêria or
walking-stick, X.Eq.11.4
(but = baktêria, Ev.Matt.10.10,
al.)
1.magic wand, as that of Circe, Od.10.238,
319,
6. wand borne by the rhapsôidos, tonepirhabdôimuthonhuphainomenon
[770] Wherefore,
my lord and master, receive
this deity,
whoe'er he be, within the city; for, great as he is in all else, I
have likewise heard men say, 'twas he that gave the vine to man,
sorrow's antidote. Take wine away and Cypris flies,
and every other
human joy is dead.
daimôn [Perh. from daiô B, to
divide or distribute destinies.] I.
a god, goddess, like theos, thea, Hom., Trag., etc.:--in Hom. also
deity or divine power (theos denotes a god in person), manes
Kupris, Cypris:
Demoteros
III. =
dêmosios 1.2, common, vulgar, Kupris ib.415.2 (Antiphil.).
Kupris 1
I. Cypris,
a name of Aphrodite, from the island of Cyprus, where she was most
worshipped, Il., Trag., etc.
2.
metaph., of a beautiful girl, a Venus, II. as
appellat. love,
passion, Eur., etc.
CHORUS
[775]
Though I fear to speak
my mind with freedom
in the presence of my king, still must I utter this; Dionysus yields
to no deity in might.
PENTHEUS
Already, look you! the presumption of these Bacchantes is upon us,
swift as fire, a sad disgrace in the eyes of all Hellas. No time for
hesitation now! away to the Electra gate! order a muster of all my men-at-arms,
of those that mount fleet steeds, of all who
brandish
light bucklers,
of archers too that make the bowstring twang; for I will
march
against the Bacchanals. By Heaven this passes all, if we are to be
thus treated by
women.
Pentheus
êdê tod' engus hôste pur huphaptetai
hubrisma bakchôn, psogos es Hellênas megas.
all' ouk oknein dei: steich' ep' Êlektras iôn
pulas: keleue pantas aspidêphorous
hippôn t' apantan tachupodôn epembatas
peltas th' hosoi pallousi kai toxôn cheri
psallousi neuras, hôs epistrateusomen
bakchaisin: ou gar all' huperballei tade,
ei pros gunaikôn peisomesth' ha paschomen.
Psallous
to touch sharply, to pluck,
pull, twitch
Neura,
A.string or cord of sinew,
in Ep. usu. bowstring,
Bakchê
, A.Bacchante, A.Eu.25,
S.Ant.1122
(lyr.), Ar.Nu.605,
Pl.
Ion534a, etc.: generally, BakchêHaidoufrantic
handmaid of Hades, E.Hec.1077;
b.
nekuônId.Ph.1489
(lyr.).
mainas
, ados, hê, ( [mainomai] )
A.raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4;
bakchêE.Ba.915
.
2. as Subst., mad woman, esp. Bacchante, Maenad, mainadiisêIl.22.460
, cf. h.Cer.386,
A.Fr.382, S.OT212
(lyr.), etc.; of the Furies, A.Eu.500
(lyr.); of Cassandra, E.Tr.
173 (lyr.).
3. = pornê,
Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.
II. Act., causing madness, esp. of love, mainasornisPi.P.4.216
.
huperballô E.Ba.785
exceed all bounds, excess
Click for: The
Twanging Bowstring is the background to
external
melody or the Greek PSALLO in Paul's writings.
Click
For: Of
the song to Deborah:
This
was a warrior's song which was a
boasting song. Here, the NIV
supports the "musical" position without
authority:
the
voice of the singers [e] at the watering
places. They
recite the righteous acts of the LORD,
the
righteous acts of his warriors [f] in Israel. "Then the people of the
LORD went down to the city gates. Judges 5:11NIV
- e11
Or 'archers'; the meaning of the
Hebrew
- for
this word is uncertain. f11 Or 'villagers'
Exit MESSENGER.
DIONYSUS
(Don't question God's annointed!)
Still
obdurate, O
Pentheus, after
hearing my words!
In spite of all
the evil treatment
I am enduring from thee,
still I warn
thee of the sin of bearing arms against
a
god, and bid
thee cease;
for Bromius
will not endure thy driving his votaries from the mountains where
they revel.
PENTHEUS
A truce to thy
preaching to
me! thou hast
escaped thy bonds,
preserve thy liberty; else will I renew thy punishment.
DIONYSUS
I
would rather do him
sacrifice
than in a fury kick
against the
pricks; thou a
mortal, he a god.
PENTHEUS
Sacrifice!
that will I, by
setting
afoot a wholesale
slaughter of
women 'mid Cithaeron's glens, as they
deserve.
DIONYSUS
Ye
will all be put to
flight-a
shameful thing that they with the Bacchic
thyrsus should
rout your mail-clad warriors.
PENTHEUS
I
find this stranger a
troublesome
foe to encounter; doing or suffering he is alike
irrepressible.
DIONYSUS
(Let's compromise)
Friend,
there is still a
way to
compose this bitterness.
PENTHEUS
Say
how; am I to serve my
own
servants?
DIONYSUS
I
will bring the women
hither
without weapons.
PENTHEUS
Ha!
ha! this is some crafty
scheme of thine
against me.
DIONYSUS
What
kind of scheme, if by
my craft I
purpose to save thee?
PENTHEUS
You
have combined with
them to form
this plot, that your revels may on for
ever.
DIONYSUS
Nay,
but this is the
compact I made
with the god; be sure of that.
PENTHEUS Preparing
to start forth
Bring
forth my arms. Not
another
word from thee!
DIONYSUS
[810]
Ha! wouldst thou see them seated on
the hills?
PENTHEUS
Of
all things, yes! I
would give
untold sums for that.
DIONYSUS
Why
this sudden, strong
desire?
PENTHEUS
'Twill
be a bitter sight,
if I find
them drunk with wine.
DIONYSUS
And
would that be a
pleasant sight
which will prove bitter to thee?
PENTHEUS
Believe
me, yes! beneath
the
fir-trees as I sit in silence.
DIONYSUS
Nay,
they will track thee,
though
thou come secretly.
PENTHEUS
Well,
I will go openly;
thou wert
right to say so.
DIONYSUS
Am
I to be thy guide? wilt
thou
essay the road?
PENTHEUS
Lead
on with all speed, I
grudge
thee all delay.
(Dionysus, by
getting Pentheus involved in
the effeminate practices will discredit him, emasculate him and
weaken him so that he will be destroyed by his own charismatic
mother)
DIONYSUS
Array thee then in robes of fine
linen.
PENTHEUS
Why
so? Am I to enlist
among women
after being a man?
DIONYSUS
They
may kill thee, if
thou show thy
manhood
there.
PENTHEUS
Well
said! Thou hast given
me a
taste of thy wit already.
DIONYSUS
Dionysus
schooled me in
this
lore.
PENTHEUS
How
am I to carry out thy
wholesome
advice?
DIONYSUS
Myself
will enter thy
palace and robe
thee.
PENTHEUS
What
is the robe to be? a
woman's?
Nay, I am ashamed.
DIONYSUS
Thy
eagerness to see the Maenads
goes no further.
PENTHEUS
But
what dress dost say
thou wilt
robe me in?
DIONYSUS
Upon
thy head will I make
thy hair grow long.
PENTHEUS
Describe
my costume
further.
DIONYSUS
Thou
wilt wear a robe
reaching to thy feet;
and on thy head shall be a snood. (a ribbon for unwed
girls)
PENTHEUS
Wilt
add aught else to my
attire?
DIONYSUS
A thyrsus in thy hand, and a dappled fawnskin.
Here
is the Judas bag attached to the dappled
fawnskin flute case. The
little box is derived from two Greek words: "speaking in tongues" and
"of the world." Of course, when the pipers are both drunk and naked
they used the thyrus or crooked stick to prop themselves up. This is
a picture of the KOMO.
PENTHEUS
I
can never
put on woman's dress.
DIONYSUS
Then
wilt thou cause bloodshed by coming to blows
with the Bacchanals.
PENTHEUS
Thou
art right. Best go
spy upon
them first.
DIONYSUS
Well,
e'en that is wiser
than by
evil means to follow evil ends.
PENTHEUS
But
how shall I pass
through the
city of the Cadmeans unseen?
DIONYSUS
We
will go by unfrequented
paths. I
will lead the way.
PENTHEUS
Anything
rather than that
the
Bacchantes should laugh at me.
DIONYSUS
We
will enter the palace
and
consider the proper steps.
PENTHEUS
Thou
hast my leave. I am all
readiness. I will enter, prepared to set out either sword in hand or
following thy advice.
Exit PENTHEUS.
DIONYSUS
Women!
our
prize is nearly in
the net. Soon
shall he reach the
Bacchanals,
and
there pay forfeit with his
life.
O Dionysus! now 'tis thine to
act, for thou art
not far away; let us take vengeance on him.
First drive him
mad by fixing in
his soul a wayward
frenzy;
for never, whilst his senses
are his
own,
will he consent to don a woman's
dress;
but when his mind
is gone
astray he will
put it on.
And
fain would I make
him a laughing-stock to Thebes as he is led in woman's
dress through the city, after those
threats with which he menaced me
before.
But
I will go to array
Pentheus in those robes
which he shall wear when he sets out for Hades'
halls, a victim to
his own mother's
fury;
so
shall he recognize
Dionysus, the
son of Zeus, who proves himself at last a god
most terrible, for all
his gentleness to man.
Exit
DIONYSUS.
CHORUS
[862]
Will this white foot e'er join the night-long
dance? what time in Bacchic ecstasy I toss
my neck to
heaven's
dewy breath, like a fawn, that gambols 'mid the meadow's green
delights, when she hath escaped the fearful chase,
clear
of the watchers, o'er the woven nets; while the huntsman, with loud
halloo, harks on his hounds' full cry, and she with
laboured breath
at lightning speed bounds o'er the level water-meadows, glad to be
far from man amid the foliage of the bosky grove.
What
is true wisdom, or
what fairer boon has
heaven placed in mortals' reach,
than
to gain the mastery o'er a
fallen foe? What
is fair is dear for
aye.
Though slow be its advance, yet surely
moves the power of the gods, correcting
those mortal wights, that court a
senseless
pride, or,
in
the madness
of their fancy, disregard the gods. Subtly they lie in wait, through the long
march of
time, and so hunt down the godless man.
For
it is never right in
theory or in practice
to o'erride the
law of
custom. This is
a maxim cheaply bought:
whatever comes of god, or in time's long annals, has grown into a law
upon a natural
basis, this is
sovereign.
What
is true wisdom, or
what fairer
boon has heaven placed in mortals' reach,
than to
gain the mastery o'er a fallen
foe?
[902]
What is fair is dear for wave. Happy is he who
hath escaped the wave from out the sea, and reached the haven; and
happy he who hath triumphed o'er his
troubles; though
one surpasses another in wealth and power; yet there be myriad hopes
for all the myriad minds; some end in happiness for man, and others
come to naught; but him, whose life from day to day is blest, I deem
a happy man.
The
archaic sound of the English “happy is he...”, with its implicit echo
of the beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, is appropriate here,
for the chorus is describing beatitudes of a kind (though not strictly
religious beatitudes) as appear at 73ff.
Enter DIONYSUS.
[912]
DIONYSUS
Ho!
Pentheus, thou that
art so
eager to see
what is
forbidden, and
to show thy zeal in an
unworthy cause, come forth before the palace,
let
me see thee clad
as a woman
in frenzied
Bacchante's dress, to spy upon thy own mother
and her
company.
Mainas
, ados, hê, ( [mainomai] )
A. raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4;
bakchê E.Ba.915 .
2. as Subst., mad woman, esp.
Bacchante, Maenad, mainadi isê Il.22.460
, cf. h.Cer.386, A.Fr.382, S.OT212 (lyr.), etc.; of the Furies,
A.Eu.500 (lyr.); of Cassandra, E.Tr. 173 (lyr.).
3. = pornê, Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.
II. Act., causing madness, esp. of love, mainas ornis Pi.P.4.216 .
Enter PENTHEUS.
Yes,
thou resemblest
closely a daughter
of Cadmus.
PENTHEUS
(already frenzied)
Of
a truth I seem to see two
suns,
and two
towns of Thebes, our seven-gated city; and thou, methinks, art a bull
going
before to guide me, and on thy head a pair
of horns have grown.
Wert thou really once a brute beast? Thon hast at any rate the
appearance of a bull.
mainas
, ados, hê, ( [mainomai] )
A.raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4;
bakchêE.Ba.915
.
