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Chorus
Daughter of Acheloüs,
venerable Dirce, happy virgin, you once received the child of Zeus in your streams, when Zeus his father snatched him up from the immortal fire and saved him in his thigh,
520
crying out:
Go, Dithyrambus, enter this my male womb. I will make you illustrious, Bacchus, in
Thebes
, so that they will call you by this name.
525
But you, blessed Dirce, reject me with my garland-bearing company about you. Why do you refuse me, why do you flee me? I swear by the cluster-bearing
530
delight of Dionysus’ vine that you will have a care for Bromius.
535
Daughter of Acheloüs,
venerable Dirce, happy virgin, you once received the child of Zeus in your streams, when Zeus his father snatched him up from the immortal fire and saved him in his thigh,
520
crying out:
Go, Dithyrambus, enter this my male womb. I will make you illustrious, Bacchus, in
Thebes
, so that they will call you by this name.
525
But you, blessed Dirce, reject me with my garland-bearing company about you. Why do you refuse me, why do you flee me? I swear by the cluster-bearing
530
delight of Dionysus’ vine that you will have a care for Bromius.
535
Chorus
What rage, what rage does the earth-born race show, and Pentheus,
once descended from a serpent—Pentheus, whom earth-born Echion bore, a fierce monster, not a mortal man, but like a bloody giant, hostile to the gods.
540
He will soon bind me, the hand-maid of Bromius, in chains, and he already holds my fellow-reveler within the house, hidden in a dark prison.
545
Do you see this, O Dionysus, son of Zeus, your priests in the dangers of restraint? Come, lord, down from
Olympus
, brandishing your golden thyrsos,
550
and restrain the insolence of the blood-thirsty man.
555
What rage, what rage does the earth-born race show, and Pentheus,
once descended from a serpent—Pentheus, whom earth-born Echion bore, a fierce monster, not a mortal man, but like a bloody giant, hostile to the gods.
540
He will soon bind me, the hand-maid of Bromius, in chains, and he already holds my fellow-reveler within the house, hidden in a dark prison.
545
Do you see this, O Dionysus, son of Zeus, your priests in the dangers of restraint? Come, lord, down from
Olympus
, brandishing your golden thyrsos,
550
and restrain the insolence of the blood-thirsty man.
555
Chorus
Where on
Nysa
, which nourishes wild beasts, or on Corycian heights, do you lead with your thyrsos the bands of revelers?
Perhaps in the deep-wooded lairs of
Olympus
, where Orpheus once playing the lyre drew together trees by his songs, drew together the beasts of the fields.
560
Blessed
Pieria
, the Joyful one reveres you and will come to lead the dance in revelry; having crossed the swiftly flowing
Axius
he will bring the
565
whirling Maenads, leaving Lydias, giver of wealth to mortals, the father who they say fertilizes the land of beautiful horses with
570
fairest streams.
575
Where on
Nysa
, which nourishes wild beasts, or on Corycian heights, do you lead with your thyrsos the bands of revelers?
Perhaps in the deep-wooded lairs of
Olympus
, where Orpheus once playing the lyre drew together trees by his songs, drew together the beasts of the fields.
560
Blessed
Pieria
, the Joyful one reveres you and will come to lead the dance in revelry; having crossed the swiftly flowing
Axius
he will bring the
565
whirling Maenads, leaving Lydias, giver of wealth to mortals, the father who they say fertilizes the land of beautiful horses with
570
fairest streams.
575
Bacchae. Euripides. T. A. Buckley (Translator). London. 1850.
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