Bacchantes -- Drama; Dionysus (Greek deity) -- Drama; Pentheus, King of Thebes (Mythological character) -- Drama
Pp. 120-124, ll. 810 ff.--This scene of the 'hypnotising'--if one may
use the word--of Pentheus probably depends much on the action, which,
however, I have not ventured to prescribe. Pentheus seems to struggle
against the process all through, to be amazed at himself for consenting,
while constantly finding fresh reasons for doing so.
P. 121, l. 822, Am I a woman, then?]--The robe and coif were, in the
original legend, marks of the Thracian dress worn by the Thracian
followers of Dionysus, and notably by Orpheus. The tradition became
fixed that Pentheus wore such a robe and coif; and to the Greeks of
Euripides' time such a dress seemed to be a woman's. Hence this turn of
the story (cf. above, p. 167).
P. 125, ll. 877-881.--The refrain of this chorus about the fawn is
difficult to interpret. I have practically interpolated the third line
("To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait"), in order (1) to
show the connection of ideas; (2) to make clearer the meaning (as I
understand it) of the two Orphic formulæ, "What is beautiful is beloved
for ever," and "A hand uplifted over the head of Hate." If I am wrong,
the refrain is probably a mere cry for revenge, in the tone of the
refrain, "Hither for doom and deed," on p. 132. It is one of the many
passages where there is a sharp antagonism between the two spirits of
the Chorus, first, as furious Bacchanals, and, secondly, as exponents of
the idealised Bacchic religion of Euripides, which is so strongly
expressed in the rest of this wonderful lyric.
P. 127, l. 920, Is it a Wild Bull, this?]--Pentheus, in his Bacchic
possession, sees fitfully the mystic shapes of the God beneath the human
disguise. This second-sight, the exaltation of spirit, and the feeling
of supernatural strength come to Pentheus as they came to the two Old
Men. But to them the change came peacefully and for good; to Pentheus it
comes by force, stormily and for evil, because his will was against the
God.
P. 131, l. 976, O hounds raging and blind.]--_i.e._ Spirits of Madness.
This lyric prepares us for what follows, especially for Agâvê's
delusion, which otherwise might have been hard to understand. I have
tried to keep the peculiar metre of the original, the dochmiac, with a
few simple licences. The scheme is based on u-- --u-- or --uu --u-- the
latter being much commoner.
P. 133, ll. 997-1011.--The greater part of this chorus is generally
abandoned as unintelligible and corrupt. The last ten lines ("Knowledge,
we are not foes," &c.) will, I think, make sense if we accept a very
slight conjecture of my own, [Greek: aentôn], "let them blow", instead
of the impossible [Greek: aei tôn]. The four lines before that ("A
strait pitiless mind," &c.) are an almost literal translation of the MS.
reading, which, however, is incorrect in metre, and therefore cannot be
exactly what Euripides wrote.
P. 134, l. 1036, And deem'st thou Thebes so beggared.]--The couplet is
incomplete in the MS. But the sense needed is obvious.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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