Second Messenger
Oh house once fortunate in
Hellas
,
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.
1
.
1025
Chorus Leader
What is it? Do you bring some news from the Bacchae?
Messenger
Pentheus, the child of Echion, is dead.
1030
sung
Chorus Leader
Lord Bacchus, truly you appear to be a great god.
Messenger
What do you mean? Why have you said this? Do you rejoice at the misfortunes of my master, woman?
sung
Chorus Leader
I, a foreign woman, rejoice with foreign songs;
for no longer do I cower in fear of chains.
1035
Messenger
Do you think
Thebes
so lacking in men?
sung
Chorus Leader
Dionysus, Dionysus, not
Thebes
, holds my allegiance.
Messenger
You may be forgiven, but still it is not good
to rejoice at troubles once they have actually taken place, women.
1040
sung
Chorus Leader
Tell me, speak, what kind of a death did he die, the unjust man who did unjust things?
Bacchae. Euripides. T. A. Buckley (Translator). London. 1850.
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