登陆注册
5452300000010

第10章

Up soared the branch straight into the air above, with my master perched thereon, seen by the Maenads better far than he saw them;for scarce was he beheld upon his lofty throne, when the stranger disappeared, while from the sky there came a voice, 'twould seem, by Dionysus uttered-"Maidens, I bring the man who tried to mock you and me and my mystic rites; take vengeance on him." And as he spake he raised 'twixt heaven and earth a dazzling column of awful flame.Hushed grew the sky, and still hung each leaf throughout the grassy glen, nor couldst thou have heard one creature cry.But they, not sure of the voice they heard, sprang up and peered all round; then once again his bidding came; and when the daughters of Cadmus knew it was the Bacchic god in very truth that called, swift as doves they dirted off in cager haste, his mother Agave and her sisters dear and all the Bacchanals; through torrent glen, o'er boulders huge they bounded on, inspired with madness by the god.Soon as they saw my master perched upon the fir, they set to hurling stones at him with all their might, mounting a commanding eminence, and with pine-branches he was pelted as with darts; and others shot their wands through the air at Pentheus, their hapless target, but all to no purpose.For there he sat beyond the reach of their hot endeavours, a helpless, hopeless victim.At last they rent off limbs from oaks and were for prising up the roots with levers not of iron.But when they still could make no end to all their toil, Agave cried: "Come stand around, and grip the sapling trunk, my Bacchanals! that we may catch the beast that sits thereon, lest he divulge the secrets of our god's religion."Then were a thousand hands laid on the fir, and from the ground they tore it up, while he from his seat aloft came tumbling to the ground with lamentations long and loud, e'en Pentheus; for well he knew his hour was come.His mother first, a priestess for the nonce, began the bloody deed and fell upon him; whereon he tore the snood from off his hair, that hapless Agave might recognize and spare him, crying as he touched her cheek, "O mother! it is I, thy own son Pentheus, the child thou didst bear in Echion's halls; have pity on me, mother dear! oh! do not for any sin of mine slay thy own son."But she, the while, with foaming mouth and wildly rolling eyes, bereft of reason as she was, heeded him not; for the god possessed her.And she caught his left hand in her grip, and planting her foot upon her victim's trunk she tore the shoulder from its socket, not of her own strength, but the god made it an easy task to her hands;and Ino set to work upon the other side, rending the flesh with Autonoe and all the eager host of Bacchanals; and one united cry arose, the victim's groans while yet he breathed, and their triumphant shouts.One would make an arm her prey, another a foot with the sandal on it; and his ribs were stripped of flesh by their rending nails; and each one with blood-dabbled hands was tossing Pentheus' limbs about.

Scattered lies his corpse, part beneath the rugged rocks, and part amid the deep dark woods, no easy task to find; but his poor head hath his mother made her own, and fixing it upon the point of a thyrsus, as it had been a mountain lion's, she bears it through the midst of Cithaeron, having left her sisters with the Maenads at their rites.

And she is entering these walls exulting in her hunting fraught with woe, calling on the Bacchic god her fellow-hunter who had helped her to triumph in a chase, where her only prize was tears.

But I will get me hence, away from this piteous scene, before Agave reach the palace.To my mind self-restraint and reverence for the things of God point alike the best and wisest course for all mortals who pursue them.

Exit SECOND MESSENGER.

CHORUS

Come, let us exalt our Bacchic god in choral strain, let us loudly chant the fall of Pentheus from the serpent sprung, who assumed a woman's dress and took the fair Bacchic wand, sure pledge of death, with a bull to guide him to his doom.O ye Bacchanals of Thebes!

glorious is the triumph ye have achieved, ending in sorrow and tears.'Tis a noble enterprise to dabble the hand in the blood of a son till it drips.But hist! I see Agave, the mother of Pentheus, with wild rolling eye hasting to the house; welcome the revellers of the Bacchic god.

Enter AGAVE.

AGAVE

Ye Bacchanals from Asia CHORUS

Why dost thou rouse me? why?

AGAVE

From the hills I am bringing to my home a tendril freshly-culled, glad guerdon-of the chase.

CHORUS

I see it, and I will welcome thee unto our revels.All hail!

AGAVE

I caught him with never a snare, this lion's whelp, as ye may see.

CHORUS

From what desert lair?

AGAVE

Cithaeron-

CHORUS

Yes, Cithaeron?

AGAVE

Was his death.

CHORUS

Who was it gave the first blow?

AGAVE

Mine that privilege; "Happy Agave!" they call me 'mid our revellers.

CHORUS

Who did the rest?

AGAVE

Cadmus-

CHORUS

What of him?

AGAVE

His daughters struck the monster after me; yes, after me.

CHORUS

Fortune smiled upon thy hunting here.

AGAVE

Come, share the banquet.

CHORUS

Share? ah I what?

AGAVE

'Tis but a tender whelp, the down just sprouting on its cheek beneath a crest of failing hair.

CHORUS

The hair is like some wild creature's.

AGAVE

The Bacchic god, a hunter skilled, roused his Maenads to pursue this quarry skilfully.

CHORUS

Yea, our king is a hunter indeed.

AGAVE

Dost approve?

CHORUS

Of course I do.

AGAVE

Soon shall the race of Cadmus-

CHORUS

And Pentheus, her own son, shall to his mother-AGAVE

Offer praise for this her quarry of the lion's brood.

CHORUS

Quarry strange!

AGAVE

And strangely caught.

CHORUS

Dost thou exult?

AGAVE

Right glad am I to have achieved a great and glorious triumph for my land that all can see.

CHORUS

Alas for thee! show to the folk the booty thou hast won and art bringing hither.

AGAVE

同类推荐
  • On the Heavens

    On the Heavens

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 松崖医径

    松崖医径

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 十二笑

    十二笑

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说如来兴显经卷第一

    佛说如来兴显经卷第一

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 重楼玉钥续编

    重楼玉钥续编

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 诗经楚辞鉴赏辞典

    诗经楚辞鉴赏辞典

    在艺术创作经验上给后世留下了宝贵的财富。《诗经》是我国最早的一部诗歌总集。它反映我国从西周初至春秋中叶五百多年间的古代生活,不仅积淀了周代人民的智慧和经验,而且是华夏文明的文学结晶。《楚辞》是战国时流行于楚国的具有浓郁楚文化色彩的一种诗歌体裁。
  • 在不完美的人生里活得更精彩

    在不完美的人生里活得更精彩

    致平凡人生标配的你:你也许已经接受,芸芸众生里,不完美的人生十之八九。你也许已经试过,想冲破碌碌无为的结界。你也许已经沮丧到,开始怀疑人生……却唯独忘了,换一种方式,去和这世界握手言和。与其满身疲惫地强壮欢笑,奄奄一息地强灌鸡汤,不如换个角度,换个思维,换种姿态。人生,从来不是只有一种打开方式。如果这世上真的有所谓成功的标准,那就是,用自己喜欢的方式度过一生。
  • 教主大人宠夫忙

    教主大人宠夫忙

    新书:《快穿死党求生札记》欢迎来看哦~ 本书讲述的是重生女追男的故事:虞离:那位姑娘武功好生厉害!师轩:那位公子唇红齿白的公子真好看!虞离:为了她我可以放弃王权富贵,只想和她相濡于江湖。师轩:他是我前世今生的认定。
  • 90后大学生的价值观

    90后大学生的价值观

    本书从四个方面出发,通过调查问卷和文献研究的方式,对90后大学生的价值观及呈现出来的主要特征进行分析和概括。
  • 无敌愣仙

    无敌愣仙

    一个十五岁的无知少年,不求道不求仙,只随心,可一场中土修行界的动荡随之而起,迫不得已之下,卷入其中,得道仙醒!这是一个愣头青踏剑而行的故事,做人愣,打架愣,泡妞愣,在这个世界里,谁都在横,就他在愣!傻子有傻福,憨人有憨运,若问他何去,只因年少不懂事,伊人如梦,万剑如歌!
  • 养生秘旨

    养生秘旨

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 北平录

    北平录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 海贼之天赋系统

    海贼之天赋系统

    他并不想被悬赏通缉,也不想当海贼,但如果没有其他选择,只能当海贼的话……那就让这个世界,天翻地覆吧!…………………………书友群:580391329
  • 校花的极品邪医

    校花的极品邪医

    一代邪医奉旨入俗世,医治财团千金小姐,却发现隐秘。只好勉为其难当学生,做个守本分的护花达人!苏晨:“治肾亏,不含糖,男儿当自强!”企鹅群:375676581
  • 离殇玥

    离殇玥

    弹一首离殇玥,饮一杯酒断肠,天涯尽头是何处,世间大道尽沧桑。