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Chorus
Cadmus of
Tyre
came to this land, and at his feet a four-footed,
untamed heifer threw itself down, fulfilling an oracle, where the god’s prophecy told him to make his home in the plains rich with wheat,
640
and where the lovely waters of Dirce pour over the fields, the green and deep-seeded fields; here Bromius’ mother gave birth
645
from her union with Zeus; Bromius, round whom the ivy twined its wreaths while he was still a baby, covering him and blessing him in the shades of its green foliage,
650
a Bacchic dance for the maids and wives inspired in
Thebes
.
655
Cadmus of
Tyre
came to this land, and at his feet a four-footed,
untamed heifer threw itself down, fulfilling an oracle, where the god’s prophecy told him to make his home in the plains rich with wheat,
640
and where the lovely waters of Dirce pour over the fields, the green and deep-seeded fields; here Bromius’ mother gave birth
645
from her union with Zeus; Bromius, round whom the ivy twined its wreaths while he was still a baby, covering him and blessing him in the shades of its green foliage,
650
a Bacchic dance for the maids and wives inspired in
Thebes
.
655
Chorus
There was Ares’ murderous dragon, a savage guard,
watching with wandering eye the watery rivers and fresh streams. Cadmus destroyed it with a jagged stone, when he came there to draw lustral water; smiting the deadly head
660
with a blow of his beast-slaying arm; and by the counsel of
PalIas, the motherless goddess, he cast the teeth upon the deep fields to fall to the earth,
665
from which the earth brought forth a sight fully-armed, above the surface of the soil; but grim slaughter once again united them to the earth they loved, bedewing with blood the ground that had
670
shown them to the sunlit breath of heaven.
675
There was Ares’ murderous dragon, a savage guard,
watching with wandering eye the watery rivers and fresh streams. Cadmus destroyed it with a jagged stone, when he came there to draw lustral water; smiting the deadly head
660
with a blow of his beast-slaying arm; and by the counsel of
PalIas, the motherless goddess, he cast the teeth upon the deep fields to fall to the earth,
665
from which the earth brought forth a sight fully-armed, above the surface of the soil; but grim slaughter once again united them to the earth they loved, bedewing with blood the ground that had
670
shown them to the sunlit breath of heaven.
675
Chorus
And you, Epaphus, born from Io, our first mother, and child of Zeus: you I summon in foreign cry,
oh! in foreign prayers: come, come to this land; your descendants settled here; and the goddesses of twofold name, Persephone and the kindly
680
goddess Demeter the queen of all, Earth the nurse of all, won it for themselves; send to the help of this land those torch-bearing goddesses; for to gods all things are easy.
685
And you, Epaphus, born from Io, our first mother, and child of Zeus: you I summon in foreign cry,
oh! in foreign prayers: come, come to this land; your descendants settled here; and the goddesses of twofold name, Persephone and the kindly
680
goddess Demeter the queen of all, Earth the nurse of all, won it for themselves; send to the help of this land those torch-bearing goddesses; for to gods all things are easy.
685
The Phoenician Women. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1891.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.