39.10
With
these proofs of her love they had no secrets from each other, and the youth
told her in a jocular tone not to be surprised if he absented himself from her
for some nights; he had a religious duty to perform, the discharge of a vow
made while he was ill, and he intended therefore to be initiated into the
Bacchic mysteries. On hearing this she was terribly upset and exclaimed,
"Heaven forbid. Better for us both to die than that you should do this," and
then invoked deadly curses on the heads of those who had advised him to
take this course. The youth, astonished at her outburst and excitement, bade
her spare her curses; it was his mother who had given him this command
with the consent of his stepfather. "Your stepfather, then," she replied, "for,
perhaps, it is not right to charge your mother with it, is by this act hurrying
on the ruin of your modesty, your reputation, your hopes and your life." Still
more astonished, he asked her what she meant. With a prayer to the gods
and goddesses to forgive her if, constrained by her affection, she disclosed
what she ought to be silent about, she explained that when she was in service
she had accompanied her mistress into that place of initiation, but had never
gone near it when once she was free. She knew it to be a sink of every form
of corruption, and it was a matter of common knowledge that no one had
been initiated for the last two years above the age of twenty. As each person
was brought in, he was handed over to the priests like a victim and taken
into a place which resounded with yells and songs, and the jangling of
cymbals and drums, so that no cry from those who were suffering violation
could be heard. She then begged and implored him to get out of the affair in
whatever way he could, and not to rush blindly into a place where he would
first have to endure, and then to commit, every conceivable outrage. Until he
had given his word to keep clear of these rites she would not let him go.
