The Bacchae of Euripides Part 5

So let it be, A name fore-written to calamity!

PENTHEUS.

Away, and tie him where the steeds are tied; Aye, let him lie in the manger!--There abide And stare into the darkness!--And this rout Of womankind that cl.u.s.ters thee about, Thy ministers of wors.h.i.+p, are my slaves!

It may be I will sell them o'er the waves, Hither and thither; else they shall be set To labour at my distaffs, and forget Their timbrel and their songs of dawning day!

DIONYSUS.

I go; for that which may not be, I may Not suffer! Yet for this thy sin, lo, He Whom thou deniest cometh after thee For recompense. Yea, in thy wrong to us, Thou hast cast Him into thy prison-house!

[DIONYSUS, _without his wand, his hair shorn, and his arms tightly bound, is led off by the guards to his dungeon_. PENTHEUS _returns into the Palace_.

CHORUS.

_Some Maidens._

Achelous' roaming daughter, Holy Dirce, virgin water, Bathed he not of old in thee, The Babe of G.o.d, the Mystery?

When from out the fire immortal To himself his G.o.d did take him, To his own flesh, and bespake him: "Enter now life's second portal, Motherless Mystery; lo, I break Mine own body for thy sake, Thou of the Twofold Door, and seal thee Mine, O Bromios,"--thus he spake-- "And to this thy land reveal thee."

_All._

Still my prayer toward thee quivers, Dirce, still to thee I hie me; Why, O Blessed among Rivers, Wilt thou fly me and deny me?

By His own joy I vow, By the grape upon the bough, Thou shalt seek Him in the midnight, thou shalt love Him, even now!

_Other Maidens._

Dark and of the dark impa.s.sioned Is this Pentheus' blood; yea, fas.h.i.+oned Of the Dragon, and his birth From Echion, child of Earth.

He is no man, but a wonder; Did the Earth-Child not beget him, As a red Giant, to set him Against G.o.d, against the Thunder?

He will bind me for his prize, Me, the Bride of Dionyse; And my priest, my friend, is taken Even now, and buried lies; In the dark he lies forsaken!

_All._

Lo, we race with death, we perish, Dionysus, here before thee!

Dost thou mark us not, nor cherish, Who implore thee, and adore thee?

Hither down Olympus' side, Come, O Holy One defied, Be thy golden wand uplifted o'er the tyrant in his pride!

_A Maiden._

Oh, where art thou? In thine own Nysa, thou our help alone?

O'er fierce beasts in orient lands Doth thy thronging thyrsus wave, By the high Corycian Cave, Or where stern Olympus stands; In the elm-woods and the oaken, There where Orpheus harped of old, And the trees awoke and knew him, And the wild things gathered to him, As he sang amid the broken Glens his music manifold?

Blessed Land of Pierie, Dionysus loveth thee; He will come to thee with dancing, Come with joy and mystery; With the Maenads at his hest Winding, winding to the West; Cross the flood of swiftly glancing Axios in majesty; Cross the Lydias, the giver Of good gifts and waving green; Cross that Father-Stream of story, Through a land of steeds and glory Rolling, bravest, fairest River E'er of mortals seen!

A VOICE WITHIN.

Io! Io!

Awake, ye damsels; hear my cry, Calling my Chosen; hearken ye!

A MAIDEN.

Who speaketh? Oh, what echoes thus?

ANOTHER.

A Voice, a Voice, that calleth us!

THE VOICE.

Be of good cheer! Lo, it is I, The Child of Zeus and Semele.

A MAIDEN.

O Master, Master, it is Thou!

ANOTHER.

O Holy Voice, be with us now!

THE VOICE.

Spirit of the Chained Earthquake, Hear my word; awake, awake!

[_An Earthquake suddenly shakes the pillars of the Castle._

A MAIDEN.

Ha! what is coming? Shall the hall Of Pentheus racked in ruin fall?

LEADER.

Our G.o.d is in the house! Ye maids adore Him!

CHORUS.

We adore Him all!

THE VOICE.

Unveil the Lightning's eye; arouse The fire that sleeps, against this house!

[_Fire leaps up on the Tomb of Semele._

A MAIDEN.

Ah, saw ye, marked ye there the flame From Semele's enhallowed sod Awakened? Yea, the Death that came Ablaze from heaven of old, the same Hot splendour of the shaft of G.o.d?

LEADER.

Oh, cast ye, cast ye, to the earth! The Lord Cometh against this house! Oh, cast ye down, Ye trembling damsels; He, our own adored, G.o.d's Child hath come, and all is overthrown!