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Teiresias
Who is at the gates? Call from the house Kadmos, son of Agenor, who leaving the city of
Sidon
built this towering city of the Thebans. Let someone go and announce that Teiresias is looking for him. He knows why I have come and
170
what agreement I, an old man, have made with him, older still: to twine the thyrsoi, to wear fawn-skins, and to crown our heads with ivy branches.
175
Who is at the gates? Call from the house Kadmos, son of Agenor, who leaving the city of
Sidon
built this towering city of the Thebans. Let someone go and announce that Teiresias is looking for him. He knows why I have come and
170
what agreement I, an old man, have made with him, older still: to twine the thyrsoi, to wear fawn-skins, and to crown our heads with ivy branches.
175
Kadmos
Dearest friend, for inside the house I heard and recognized your wise voice, the voice of a wise man;
I have come prepared with this equipment of the god. For we must extol him, the child of my daughter,
Dionysus, who has appeared as a god to men as much as is in our power. Where must I dance, where set my feet
180
and shake my grey head? Show me the way, Teiresias, one old man leading another; for you are wise. And so I shall never tire night or day striking the ground with the thyrsos. Gladly I have forgotten that I am old.
185
Dearest friend, for inside the house I heard and recognized your wise voice, the voice of a wise man;
I have come prepared with this equipment of the god. For we must extol him, the child of my daughter,
Dionysus, who has appeared as a god to men as much as is in our power. Where must I dance, where set my feet
180
and shake my grey head? Show me the way, Teiresias, one old man leading another; for you are wise. And so I shall never tire night or day striking the ground with the thyrsos. Gladly I have forgotten that I am old.
185
Teiresias
Then you and I have the same feelings,
for I too feel young and will try to dance.
190
Then you and I have the same feelings,
for I too feel young and will try to dance.
190
Kadmos
Then will we go to the mountain in a chariot?
Then will we go to the mountain in a chariot?
Teiresias
But then the god would not have equal honor.
But then the god would not have equal honor.
Kadmos
I, an old man, will lead you, an old man, like a pupil.
I, an old man, will lead you, an old man, like a pupil.
Teiresias
The god will lead us there without trouble.
The god will lead us there without trouble.
Kadmos
Are we the only ones in the city who will dance in Bacchus’ honor?
195
Are we the only ones in the city who will dance in Bacchus’ honor?
195
Teiresias
Yes, for we alone think rightly, the rest wrongly.
Yes, for we alone think rightly, the rest wrongly.
Kadmos
The delay is long; come, take hold of my hand.
The delay is long; come, take hold of my hand.
Teiresias
Here, take hold, and join your hand with mine.
Here, take hold, and join your hand with mine.
Kadmos
Having been born mortal I do not scorn the gods.
Having been born mortal I do not scorn the gods.
Teiresias
We mortals have no cleverness in the eyes of the the gods.
1
Our ancestral traditions, and those which we have held throughout our lives, no argument will overturn, not even if some craftiness should be discovered by the depths of our wits.
2
Will anyone say that I do not respect old age,
200
being about to dance with my head covered in ivy? No, for the god has made no distinction as to whether it is right for men young or old to dance, but wishes to have common honors from all and to be extolled, setting no one apart.
205
We mortals have no cleverness in the eyes of the the gods.
1
Our ancestral traditions, and those which we have held throughout our lives, no argument will overturn, not even if some craftiness should be discovered by the depths of our wits.
2
Will anyone say that I do not respect old age,
200
being about to dance with my head covered in ivy? No, for the god has made no distinction as to whether it is right for men young or old to dance, but wishes to have common honors from all and to be extolled, setting no one apart.
205
Kadmos
Since you do not see this light, Teiresias, I will be your interpreter. Pentheus, child of Echion, to whom I gave control of this land, is coming here to the house now in haste. How fluttered he is! What new matter will he tell us?
210
Since you do not see this light, Teiresias, I will be your interpreter. Pentheus, child of Echion, to whom I gave control of this land, is coming here to the house now in haste. How fluttered he is! What new matter will he tell us?
210
Bacchae. Euripides. T. A. Buckley (Translator). London. 1850.
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