Euripides' BACCHAE Complete

Translated, with notes, by Th. Buckley.

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Chorus: Coming from the land of Asia, having left the sacred Tmolus, I dance
in honor of Bromius, a sweet labor and a toil easily borne, celebrating the
god Bacchus. Who is in the way? who is in the way? who is in the halls? Let
him depart. And let every one be pure as to his mouth speaking propitious
things; for now I will with hymns celebrate Bacchus according to
custom:--Blessed is he,[5] whoever being favored, knowing the mysteries of
the gods, keeps his life pure, and has his soul initiated into the Bacchic
revels, dancing o'er the mountains with holy purifications, and reverencing
the mysteries of the mighty mother Cybele, and brandishing the thyrsus, and
being crowned with ivy, serves Bacchus! Go, ye Bacchae; go, ye Bacchae,
escorting Bromius, a God, the son of a God, from the Phrygian mountains to
the broad streets of Greece! Bromius! whom formerly, being in the pains of
travail, the thunder of Jove flying upon her, his mother cast from her
womb, leaving life by the stroke of the thunder-bolt. And immediately
Jupiter, the son of Saturn, received him in a chamber fitted for birth; and
covering him in his thigh, shuts him with golden clasps hidden from Juno.
And he brought him forth, when the Fates had perfected the horned God, and
crowned him with crowns of snakes, whence the thyrsus-bearing Maenads are
wont to cover their prey with their locks. O Thebes, thou nurse of Semele,
crown thyself with ivy, flourish, flourish with the verdant yew bearing
sweet fruit, and be ye crowned in honor of Bacchus with branches of oak or
pine, and adorn your garments of spotted deer-skin with fleeces of
white-haired sheep,[6] and sport in holy games with the insulting wands,
straightway shall all the earth dance, when Bromius leads the bands to the
mountain, to the mountain, where the female crowd abides, away from the
distaff and the shuttle,[7] driven frantic by Bacchus.

[5] Cf. Homer, Hymn. in Cerer. 485. ολβιος, ος ταδ' οπωπεν επιχθονιων ανθρωπων: Ος δ' ατελης, ιερων οστ' αμμορος, ουποθ' ομοιων Αισαν εχει, φθιμενος περ, υπο ζοφωι ευρωεντι. See Ruhnken's note, and Valck. on Eur. Hippol.

[6] This passage is extremely difficult. Πλοκαμων seems decidedly corrupt. Reiske would read ποκαδων, Musgrave λευκοτριχων πλοκαμοις μαλλων. Elmsley would substitute προβατων, "si προβατον apud Euripidem exstaret." This seems the most probable view as yet expressed. The εριοστεπτοι κλαδοι are learnedly explained by Lobeck on Ag. p. 375 sq., quoted by Dindorf. The μαλλωσις or insertion of spots of party-colored fur upon the plain skin of animals, was a favorite ornament of the wealthy. The spots of ermine similarly used now are the clearest illustration to which I can point. Lobeck also observes, "κατα βακχιουσθαι non bacchari significat, sed coronari."

[7] These ladies seem to have been rather undomestic in character, as Agave makes this very fact a boast, vs. 1236.

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