§1ἥκω Διὸς παῖς τήνδε Θηβαίων χθόνα §2Διόνυσος, ὃν τίκτει ποθʼ ἡ Κάδμου κόρη §3Σεμέλη λοχευθεῖσʼ ἀστραπηφόρῳ πυρί·
I have come, the son of Zeus, to this land of the Thebans, Dionysus, whom once the daughter of Cadmus, Semele, brought forth, delivered by the lightning-bearing fire.
Having changed my form from a god to a mortal one, I am present at the streams of Dirce and the water of Ismenus.
§6ὁρῶ δὲ μητρὸς μνῆμα τῆς κεραυνίας §7τόδʼ ἐγγὺς οἴκων καὶ δόμων ἐρείπια §8τυφόμενα Δίου πυρὸς ἔτι ζῶσαν φλόγα, §9ἀθάνατον Ἥρας μητέρʼ εἰς ἐμὴν ὕβριν.
I see the monument of my thunder-stricken mother here near the palace, and the ruins of the house smoldering with the still-living flame of Zeus's fire, the immortal insolence of Hera against my mother.
§10αἰνῶ δὲ Κάδμον, ἄβατον ὃς πέδον τόδε §11τίθησι, θυγατρὸς σηκόν· ἀμπέλου δέ νιν §12πέριξ ἐγὼ ʼκάλυψα βοτρυώδει χλόῃ.
And I praise Cadmus, who made this ground untrodden, a sacred enclosure for his daughter; and around it I have covered it with the grape-clustering green of the vine.
§13λιπὼν δὲ Λυδῶν τοὺς πολυχρύσους γύας §14Φρυγῶν τε, Περσῶν θʼ ἡλιοβλήτους πλάκας §15Βάκτριά τε τείχη τήν τε δύσχιμον χθόνα §16Μήδων ἐπελθὼν Ἀραβίαν τʼ εὐδαίμονα §17Ἀσίαν τε πᾶσαν, ἣ παρʼ ἁλμυρὰν ἅλα §18κεῖται μιγάσιν Ἕλλησι βαρβάροις θʼ ὁμοῦ §19πλήρεις ἔχουσα καλλιπυργώτους πόλεις, §20ἐς τήνδε πρῶτον ἦλθον Ἑλλήνων πόλιν, §21τἀκεῖ χορεύσας καὶ καταστήσας ἐμὰς §22τελετάς, ἵνʼ εἴην ἐμφανὴς δαίμων βροτοῖς.
Leaving the golden fields of the Lydians and the Phrygians, and the sun-struck plains of the Persians, and the Bactrian walls, and the harsh land of the Medes, and having traversed wealthy Arabia and all Asia, which lies along the salty sea, holding mingled Greeks and barbarians together, filled with beautiful-towered cities, I have come first to this city of the Greeks, having set those places dancing and having established my rites, so that I might be a manifest divinity to mortals.
§23πρώτας δὲ Θήβας τῆσδε γῆς Ἑλληνίδος §24ἀνωλόλυξα, νεβρίδʼ ἐξάψας χροὸς §25θύρσον τε δοὺς ἐς χεῖρα, κίσσινον βέλος·
And first in Thebes of this Greek land I raised the ritual cry, fitting the fawnskin to their bodies and putting the thyrsus into their hands, an ivy-clad weapon.
§26ἐπεί μʼ ἀδελφαὶ μητρός, ἃς ἥκιστα χρῆν, §27Διόνυσον οὐκ ἔφασκον ἐκφῦναι Διός, §28Σεμέλην δὲ νυμφευθεῖσαν ἐκ θνητοῦ τινος §29ἐς Ζῆνʼ ἀναφέρειν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν λέχους, §30Κάδμου σοφίσμαθʼ, ὧν νιν οὕνεκα κτανεῖν §31Ζῆνʼ ἐξεκαυχῶνθʼ, ὅτι γάμους ἐψεύσατο.
For my mother's sisters, whom least of all it behoved, claimed that Dionysus was not born of Zeus, but that Semele, having wedded some mortal, attributed her bedroom sin to Zeus— Cadmus's clever device, for which reason they boasted that Zeus killed her, because she lied about the marriage.
§32τοιγάρ νιν αὐτὰς ἐκ δόμων ᾤστρησʼ ἐγὼ §33μανίαις, ὄρος δʼ οἰκοῦσι παράκοποι φρενῶν· §34σκευήν τʼ ἔχειν ἠνάγκασʼ ὀργίων ἐμῶν, §35καὶ πᾶν τὸ θῆλυ σπέρμα Καδμείων, ὅσαι §36γυναῖκες ἦσαν, ἐξέμηνα δωμάτων·
Therefore, I myself drove them from their homes in a frenzy with madness, and they dwell on the mountain, out of their minds; and I forced them to wear the equipment of my orgies, and all the female seed of the Cadmeans, as many as were women, I drove mad from their houses.
Mixed together with the daughters of Cadmus, they sit beneath the green firs on roofless rocks.
§39δεῖ γὰρ πόλιν τήνδʼ ἐκμαθεῖν, κεἰ μὴ θέλει, §40ἀτέλεστον οὖσαν τῶν ἐμῶν βακχευμάτων, §41Σεμέλης τε μητρὸς ἀπολογήσασθαί μʼ ὕπερ §42φανέντα θνητοῖς δαίμονʼ ὃν τίκτει Διί.
For this city must learn fully, even if it does not wish to, being uninitiated in my Bacchic rites, and I must defend my mother Semele by appearing to mortals as a divinity whom she bore to Zeus.
§43Κάδμος μὲν οὖν γέρας τε καὶ τυραννίδα §44Πενθεῖ δίδωσι θυγατρὸς ἐκπεφυκότι, §45ὃς θεομαχεῖ τὰ κατʼ ἐμὲ καὶ σπονδῶν ἄπο §46ὠθεῖ μʼ, ἐν εὐχαῖς τʼ οὐδαμοῦ μνείαν ἔχει.
Cadmus indeed gives his honor and tyranny to Pentheus, born from his daughter, who fights against gods regarding me, and thrusts me away from libations, and makes no mention of me in prayers.
For which reasons I will show myself as a god to him and to all Thebans.
And to another land, after setting things here well, I will move my foot, revealing myself.
But if the city of the Thebans seeks with anger and weapons to lead the Bacchae from the mountain, I will join battle, leading the Maenads.
For which reasons I have taken a mortal shape and changed my form into the nature of a man.
§55ἀλλʼ, ὦ λιποῦσαι Τμῶλον ἔρυμα Λυδίας, §56θίασος ἐμός, γυναῖκες, ἃς ἐκ βαρβάρων §57ἐκόμισα παρέδρους καὶ ξυνεμπόρους ἐμοί, §58αἴρεσθε τἀπιχώριʼ ἐν πόλει Φρυγῶν §59τύμπανα, Ῥέας τε μητρὸς ἐμά θʼ εὑρήματα, §60βασίλειά τʼ ἀμφὶ δώματʼ ἐλθοῦσαι τάδε §61κτυπεῖτε Πενθέως, ὡς ὁρᾷ Κάδμου πόλις.
But, O women who left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia, my holy band, whom from among the barbarians I brought as my assistants and companions, take up the tambourines native to the city of the Phrygians, the inventions of mother Rhea and myself, and coming around this royal palace of Pentheus, beat them, so that the city of Cadmus may see.
I indeed, going to the glens of Cithaeron where the Bacchae are, will share in their dances.
§64Ἀσίας ἀπὸ γᾶς §65ἱερὸν Τμῶλον ἀμείψασα θοάζω §66Βρομίῳ πόνον ἡδὺν §66aκάματόν τʼ εὐκάματον, Βάκ- §67χιον εὐαζομένα.
From the land of Asia, leaving sacred Tmolus, I hasten a sweet labor for Bromius, a tireless toil, shouting Bacchic cries.
§68τίς ὁδῷ τίς ὁδῷ;
Who is in the way? Who is in the way?
τίς;
Who?
Let them be out of the way from the halls, and let everyone keep their mouth holy in silence.
For according to the eternal customs I will hymn Dionysus.
§73ὦ §73aμάκαρ, ὅστις εὐδαίμων §74τελετὰς θεῶν εἰδὼς §74aβιοτὰν ἁγιστεύει καὶ §75θιασεύεται ψυχὰν §76ἐν ὄρεσσι βακχεύων §77ὁσίοις καθαρμοῖσιν, §78τά τε ματρὸς μεγάλας ὄρ- §79για Κυβέλας θεμιτεύων, §80ἀνὰ θύρσον τε τινάσσων, §81κισσῷ τε στεφανωθεὶς §82Διόνυσον θεραπεύει.
O blessed is he, who being happy, knowing the rites of the gods, consecrates his life and is initiated in soul into the Bacchic band on the mountains, with holy purifications, and performing the rites of the great mother Cybele, and brandishing the thyrsus, and crowned with ivy, serves Dionysus.
§83ἴτε βάκχαι, ἴτε βάκχαι, §84Βρόμιον παῖδα θεὸν θεοῦ §85Διόνυσον κατάγουσαι §86Φρυγίων ἐξ ὀρέων Ἑλ- §87λάδος εἰς εὐρυχόρους ἀ- §87aγυιάς, τὸν Βρόμιον·
Go, Bacchae, go, Bacchae, bringing the god Bromius, child of a god, Dionysus, from the Phrygian mountains to the wide-spaced streets of Greece, Bromius!
§88ὅν §88aποτʼ ἔχουσʼ ἐν ὠδίνων §89λοχίαις ἀνάγκαισι §90πταμένας Διὸς βροντᾶς νη- §91δύος ἔκβολον μάτηρ §92ἔτεκεν, λιποῦσʼ αἰῶ- §93να κεραυνίῳ πληγᾷ·
Whom once carrying in the laboring pangs of childbirth, as Zeus's lightning flew, his mother brought forth, cast out from her womb, leaving her life by the stroke of the thunderbolt.