The Bacchae notes.

AESCHYLUS - THE EUMENIDES

Translated by Richmond Lattimore.
Part of GREEK TRAGEDIES, VOLUME 3, Second Edition.
Published by THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO & LONDON.

SOPHOCLES

PHILOCTETES translated by David Grene.
OEDIPUS AT COLONUS translated by David Grene.
Edited by DAVID GRENE and RICHMOND LATTIMORE

EURIPIDES

THE BACCHAE Translated by William Arrowsmith.
ALCESTIS Translated by Richmond Lattimore.

Publication Details

Published by The University of Chicago Press.
Various copyright dates for introductions and plays, mostly in the 1950s and 1960s, with a second edition published in 1991.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data included.
ISBN: 0-226-30791-3 (pbk.)

Publisher's Note

Robert Fitzgerald's 1941 translation of Oedipus at Colonus replaced with a new translation by David Grene.
Richmond Lattimore wrote brief introductions to the plays, stating they represent his personal views.
Longer introductions by the translators are available in The Complete Greek Tragedies, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore.
The complete collection is available in nine paperback volumes.

Paper Quality

The paper meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

Rights

All rights of performance, professional and amateur, are strictly reserved. Permission requests should be addressed to the publisher.

THE BACCHAE

Translated by William Arrowsmith

Introduction

Euripides wrote The Bacchae during his exile in Macedon.
It was produced posthumously in Athens in 406 B.C. and won first prize.
Dionysus provides an explicit prologue, outlining the central conflict.
Dionysus is a new god fighting for recognition in his birthplace, Thebes.
His legitimacy hinges on his parentage: son of Zeus or illegitimate impostor.
He uses madness and slaughter to punish his disbelieving kinsmen and establish his divinity.
The drama centers on the struggle between Dionysus and Pentheus, the master of Thebes.
Dionysus represents a new kind of religion, not just wine, demanding either pious devotion or forcing its way in as madness.
The Chorus of Bacchae has accepted Dionysus, while the mad women in the hills have had Bacchism forced upon them.
Pentheus is defeated by internal invasion, surrendering his integrity to Dionysus before his death.
The Chorus' odes celebrate a new religious feeling open to all, regardless of background.
These odes, the wildest by Euripides, provide relief from the vengeance and brutal punishment depicted.

Note on the Translation

The translation is based on the Oxford text of Gilbert Murray.
It is supplemented by the commentary of E. R. Dodds.

Characters in The Bacchae

Dionysus (also called Bromius, Evius, and Bacchus)
Chorus of Asian Bacchae (followers of Dionysus)
Teiresias
Cadmus
Pentheus
Attendant
First Messenger
Second Messenger
Agave
Coryphaeus (chorus leader)

Scene

Before the royal palace at Thebes.
The way to Cithaeron is on the left, to the city on the right.
The vine-covered tomb of Semele, Dionysus' mother, stands in the center of the orchestra, still smoking.

Dionysus' Prologue

Dionysus, son of Zeus, returns to Thebes, his birthplace.
His mother, Semele, was Cadmus' daughter, killed by lightning.
Dionysus appears disguised as a man, near the stream of Dirce and the waters of Ismenus.
He sees his mother's grave and the ruins of her house, still smoldering from Zeus' fire.
The fire is a "deathless witness of Hera's violence" against Semele.
Cadmus is praised for making the tomb a shrine.
Dionysus hid the grave with vines.
Dionysus recounts his travels through Lydia, Phrygia, Persia, Bactria, Media, and Arabia, teaching his rites.
He aims to be revealed as a god.
Thebes now echoes with the cries of his ecstatic women.
He armed the Theban women with shafts of ivy.
He refutes the slander of Semele's sisters, who claimed Dionysus was not Zeus' son.
They said Semele lied and Zeus killed her with lightning.
As punishment, Dionysus drove them mad, forcing them to wander the mountains in orgiastic frenzy.
Every woman in Thebes, except those who remain home, is driven mad.
The city must learn its lesson and be initiated into his mysteries.
Dionysus will vindicate Semele and reveal himself as the god she bore to Zeus.

Cadmus' Abdication

Cadmus abdicated, leaving the throne to his grandson Pentheus.
Pentheus revolts against Dionysus' divinity, rejects his offerings, and forgets his name in prayers.
Dionysus will prove his godhood to Pentheus and all of Thebes.
After establishing his worship, Dionysus will reveal himself in other lands.
If Thebans try to force his Bacchae from the mountains, he will marshal his Maenads.
He laid his deity aside and goes disguised as man.

Summons to the Bacchae

Dionysus calls his female worshipers from Asia, specifically Lydia and Tmolus.
He summons them to beat the Phrygian drum at the palace doors of Pentheus.
They must let Thebes behold them, while Dionysus rejoins his Bacchae in Cithaeron's forest glens.

Entrance of the Chorus

The Chorus enters, dressed in fawn-skins, crowned with ivy, carrying thyrsi, timbrels, and flutes.
They come from Asia, serving Bromius.
The labors of god are hard but sweet.
They cry "Bacchus! Evohé!"
They call for silence and reverence from those on the streets and roads.
They raise an old hymn to Dionysus.
They invoke Thebes to crown itself with ivy and celebrate.
They pronounce blessings on those who know the mysteries, hallow their lives in worship, are possessed by the spirit of god and are one with the holy body of god.
Blessings upon the dancers, the purified, and those who keep the rite of Cybele the Mother, the thyrsus-bearers and wearers of the ivy crown.
Dionysus is their god.
They urge the Bacchae to bear their god in triumph home from Phrygian hill, escorting Dionysus through the streets of Hellas.

The Birth of Dionysus and Orgiastic Rites

His mother died, lightning-struck by Zeus.
Zeus saved his son, concealing him in his thigh.
He was born of Zeus, crowned, with serpents on his head.
The Maenads wear a chevelure of snakes.
They invoke blessings on those who crown their hair with ivy.
The Chorus urges Thebes to turn green with bryony and redden with berries.
Fringe fawn-skins with twisted wool.
Handle the wand of god with care and start the dance.
Bromius runs to the mountain, where women wait, possessed and driven from their looms.
They praise the holies of Crete and the caves of the Curetes.
Zeus was born there, and the Corybantes danced around the primal drum.
The holy drum went to Rhea's hands, then to the Satyrs, and finally accompanies the dance today.
They cry Evohé! to the Evian god.
The holy flute plays the sacred song of those who go to the mountain.
Dionysus is sweet upon the mountains, wearing the fawn-skin and hunting the wild goat.
He delights in raw flesh and runs to the mountains of Phrygia and Lydia.
Bromius leads them. Evohé!
The earth flows with milk, wine, and nectar.
The blaze of the torch he bears is like frankincense.
The Bacchante runs like a colt, leaping, and her curls stream to the wind.
They follow the glory of golden Tmolus, hymning god with drums and cries of Evohé!.

Teiresias and Cadmus

Teiresias, dressed as a bacchant, seeks Cadmus.
They agreed to deck their wands, wear fawn-skins, and crown their heads with ivy.
Cadmus recognizes Teiresias by his wisdom.
They must honor Dionysus, Semele's son and a god revealed to men.
Cadmus asks where they should dance and expresses his joy in forgetting his old age.
Teiresias suggests walking to show more honor to the god.
They link arms to support each other.
They do not scoff at heaven or trifle with divinity.
They are heirs to age-old customs and traditions.
They are not ashamed to dance, regardless of their age.
The god desires honor from all mankind, excluding none.

Pentheus's Entrance and Rebuke

Pentheus is Echion's son, hastening from the palace, appearing excited and disturbed.
Teiresias says the god will guide them.
Only they can see, as others are blind.
Pentheus reports that tales of women leaving home to engage in mock ecstasies in the mountains, honoring Dionysus have reached him.
He says the women are drinking wine and engaging in lustful activities.
He has jailed some and will hunt the rest, including his mother Agave and her sisters.
He will trap them in iron nets to stop the obscene disorder.
A foreigner from Lydia, a magician with perfumes, spends his days and nights with women, initiating them into his mysteries.
Pentheus will cut off his head for claiming Dionysus is a god sewn into Zeus' thigh.
Pentheus is incredulous to see Teiresias and Cadmus dressed as bacchants.
He accuses Teiresias of profiting from burnt offerings and bird-watching by revealing another god.
Only his age prevents Pentheus from jailing Teiresias with the Bacchic women.

Teiresias's Defense of Dionysus

Teiresias says Pentheus's words are foolish, not wise.
He says that Pentheus's glibness is worthless and stupid.
Dionysus will have enormous power and prestige throughout Hellas.
Mankind possesses two supreme blessings: Demeter (Earth) who provides grain, and Semele's son, who invented wine.
$Wine$ brings sleep and oblivion from troubles, serving as medicine for misery.
Libations to the gods include the god of wine himself.
Teiresias explains the story of Zeus sewing Dionysus into his thigh: Zeus rescued the infant from a thunderbolt, but Hera plotted to hurl Dionysus from heaven.
Zeus created a dummy Dionysus from ether and showed it to Hera as a hostage.
Dionysus is a god of prophecy. His worshippers receive mantic breath.
He can stir up panic in armies. At times, armies mustered under arms are stricken with panic before lifting a spear. This panic comes from Dionysus.
Apollo would approve his words.
This panic will one day cause him to bound with touches among the crags at Delphi.
Wisely honor Bromius: a great god.
Pentheus should not mistake fantasies for wisdom and should welcome the god to Thebes.
Dionysus does not compel women to be chaste; their character does.
The god, like Pentheus, delights in glory.

Cadmus's Plea and Pentheus's Rejection

Cadmus advises Pentheus to accept Dionysus, even if he is not a god, to honor Semele and their family.
He warns Pentheus of Actaeon's fate, devoured by his own hounds for boasting of surpassing Artemis in hunting skill.
Cadmus urges Pentheus to wreathe his head with ivy and glorify the god.
Pentheus refuses, threatening to punish whoever taught them this folly.
He orders the destruction of Teiresias's prophetic place and searches for the effeminate stranger who infects the women.

Teiresias's Warning and Departure

Teiresias warns Pentheus of the consequences of his words, calling it raving lunacy.
Cadmus suggests they pray for Pentheus and Thebes.
They acknowledge their service to Bacchus and depart.

The Chorus's Ode Against Pentheus

The Chorus calls upon Holiness to hear Pentheus's blasphemy against Bromius.
They celebrate the blessings of laughter, wine, and the loosening of cares.
A tongue without reins and defiance leads to disaster, while quiet good and wisdom preserve houses.
The sons of heaven watch the lives of men and judge their wisdom.
The deity delights in feast and festival, loving peace and giving the gladness of wine.
He hates scoffers and mockers, those who hunt glory and boundless dreams, risking death.
They praise the deity of the island of Cyprus, and the holy hill of Olympus.
The deity should take him to the lovely graces who should give him the choice to worship as he pleases.
May he live in the thought of proud men.

Pentheus and Dionysus

Attendants bring Dionysus captive.
He did not try to run or hide.
He was smiling as they bound his hands.
Pentheus is told that those who were put in chains had gone away crying on their god.
The chains on their legs snapped apart by themselves.
Untouched by any human hands, the doors swung wide of their own accord.
This stranger is full of miracles.
Pentheus unties Dionysus's hands, preparing to scrutinize him.
Pentheus asks who he his, where he comes from.
$Dionysus states that, at least he's attractive to women$ .
His curls are long and he does not wrestle.
He comes from Mount Tmolus and Lydia.
Dionysus says he was initiated by Zeus.
Pentheus mocks Dionysus; "You have some local Zeus that spawns new gods?".
He says the initiated must be ignorant, since they're not Greeks.
Their mysteries abhor an unbelieving man.
Pentheus then asks what form it takes.
Dionysus responds whatever form he wishes and evades the rest of the questions with wordplay.
Pentheus asks why he does not introduce the riots in other cities. Dionysus claims foreigners everywhere now dance for Dionysus.
Dionysus then cuts off the girls curls. He states his hair is holy to which Pentheus will surrender his wand. Dionysus states that it belongs to Dionysus.
Pentheus chains him, but is he is blaspheming.
Dionysus said that he is mocking him and Thebes.
The women are put to the looms and should be silenced. Dionysus states that Dionysus himself. Is the one being outraged by his acts.
*Dirce, holy river, child of Achelous's water, yours are the springs that welcomed divinity.
They banish me and when I come, crowned with ivy, it is rejected.
You should see the lord to whom you shackled.
What has been spawned by the dragon and will be ruled with death. Then do you see the lord waiving his wand among the company.
From the inside is, ho, my cry! How the house is falling apart. What women of Asia? Now those I saw him jocking around.
Is it worth it to have me despair you and those men you jailed.
You've come again?
When this is done, you will ask him if to do anything
From my side if the tramping is correct and what they can bluster what will it do if they can bluster? The tramplings are under control, then
What, that man off you do, you
Have to do because there's too many ways to make him hold us in time and so they make sacrifice.