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To Kadmos
Dionysus
. . . changing your form, you will become a dragon, and your wife, Harmonia, Ares’ daughter, whom you though mortal held in marriage, will be turned into a beast, and will receive in exchange the form of a serpent. And as the oracle of Zeus says, you will drive along with your wife a chariot of heifers, ruling over barbarians.
1330
You will sack many cities with a force of countless numbers. And when they plunder the oracle of Apollo, they will have a miserable return, but Ares will protect you and Harmonia and will settle your life in the land of the blessed.
1335
That is what I, Dionysus, born not from a mortal father, but from Zeus, say. And if you had known how to be wise when you did not wish to be, you would have acquired Zeus’ son as an ally, and would now be happy.
1340
. . . changing your form, you will become a dragon, and your wife, Harmonia, Ares’ daughter, whom you though mortal held in marriage, will be turned into a beast, and will receive in exchange the form of a serpent. And as the oracle of Zeus says, you will drive along with your wife a chariot of heifers, ruling over barbarians.
1330
You will sack many cities with a force of countless numbers. And when they plunder the oracle of Apollo, they will have a miserable return, but Ares will protect you and Harmonia and will settle your life in the land of the blessed.
1335
That is what I, Dionysus, born not from a mortal father, but from Zeus, say. And if you had known how to be wise when you did not wish to be, you would have acquired Zeus’ son as an ally, and would now be happy.
1340
Kadmos
Dionysus, we beseech you, we have acted injustly.
Dionysus, we beseech you, we have acted injustly.
Dionysus
You have learned it too late; you did not know it when you should have.
1345
You have learned it too late; you did not know it when you should have.
1345
Kadmos
Now we know, but you go too far against us.
Now we know, but you go too far against us.
Dionysus
Yes, for I, a god by birth, was insulted by you.
Yes, for I, a god by birth, was insulted by you.
Kadmos
Gods should not resemble mortals in their anger.
Gods should not resemble mortals in their anger.
Dionysus
My father Zeus approved this long ago.
My father Zeus approved this long ago.
Agave
Alas! A miserable exile has been decreed for us, old man.
1350
Alas! A miserable exile has been decreed for us, old man.
1350
Dionysus
Why then do you delay what must necessarily be?
Why then do you delay what must necessarily be?
Kadmos
Child, what a terrible disaster we have all come to—unhappy you, your sisters, and unhappy me. I shall reach a foreign land
as an aged immigrant. Still it is foretold that I shall bring into
Hellas
a motley barbarian army. Leading their spears, I, having the fierce nature of a serpent, will bring my wife Harmonia, daughter of Ares, to the altars and tombs of
Hellas
.
1355
I will neither rest from my troubles in my misery, nor will I sail over the downward flowing
Acheron
and be at peace.
1360
Child, what a terrible disaster we have all come to—unhappy you, your sisters, and unhappy me. I shall reach a foreign land
as an aged immigrant. Still it is foretold that I shall bring into
Hellas
a motley barbarian army. Leading their spears, I, having the fierce nature of a serpent, will bring my wife Harmonia, daughter of Ares, to the altars and tombs of
Hellas
.
1355
I will neither rest from my troubles in my misery, nor will I sail over the downward flowing
Acheron
and be at peace.
1360
Agave
O father, I will go into exile deprived of you.
O father, I will go into exile deprived of you.
Kadmos
Why do you embrace me with your hands, child,
like a swan for its exhausted gray-haired parent?
1365
Why do you embrace me with your hands, child,
like a swan for its exhausted gray-haired parent?
1365
Agave
For where can I turn, banished from my father-land?
For where can I turn, banished from my father-land?
Kadmos
I do not know, child; your father is a poor ally.
I do not know, child; your father is a poor ally.
Bacchae. Euripides. T. A. Buckley (Translator). London. 1850.
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