![]() ![]() ![]() Taking a thyrsos in my hand, a weapon of ivy. In this land of Hellas, I have first excited Thebes to my cry, fitting a fawn-skin to my body and I have left the wealthy lands of the Lydians and Phrygians, the sun-parched plains of the Persians,Īnd the Bactrian walls, and have passed over the wintry land of the Medes, and blessed Arabia, and all of Asia which lies along the coast of the salt sea with its beautifully-towered cities full of Hellenes and barbarians mingled together Īnd I have come to this Hellene city first, having already set those other lands to dance and established my mysteries there, so that I might be a deity manifest among men. ![]() I praise Kadmos, who has made this place hallowed, the shrine of his daughter and I have covered it all around with the cluster-bearing leaf of the vine. And I see the tomb of my thunder-stricken mother here near the palace, and the remnants of her house, smouldering with the still living flame of Zeus' fire, the everlasting insult of Hera against my mother. I am here at the fountains of Dirke and the water of Ismenus. And having taken a mortal form instead of a god's, I, the son of Zeus, have come to this land of the Thebans-Dionysus, whom once Semele, Kadmos' daughter, bore, delivered by a lightning-bearing flame. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |