IDYLLIUM XXVI. Bacchæ.
ARGUMENT.
This Idyllium contains a short account of the death of
Pentheus, king of Thebes; who refusing to own
the divinity of Bacchus, and endeavouring to prohibit
his orgies, is torn in pieces by his own mother
Agavé, and by his aunts Ino and Autonoë.
Autonoe, and Agavé, whose rough cheeks
Resembled the ripe apple's ruddy streaks,
With frantic Ino had resolv'd to keep
Three holy revels on the mountain's steep:
Green ivy, and sweet asphodel they took,
And leafy branches from the shagged oak,
With these the madding Bacchanalians made
Twelve verdant altars in an opening glade;
Three to fair Semele they rais'd, and nine
To youthful Bacchus, jolly god of wine.
From chests they take, and joyful shouting, lay
Their offerings on the fresh erected spray;
Such rites they practis'd, and such offerings brought,
As pleas'd the god, and what himself had taught.
Lodg'd in a lentisk-tree, conceal'd from sight,
Astonish'd Pentheus saw the mystic rite;
Autonoë first the latent monarch spy'd,
With horrid yellings down the hill she hy'd,
The orgies of the frantic god o'erthrew,
Which no profane, unhallow'd eye must view.
Maddening she rag'd, the rest all rag'd; and dread
Supplied with pinions Pentheus as he fled;
He hop'd by flight their fury to elude;
With robes tuck'd up they eagerly pursued:
Then Pentheus thus; “What means this rage? forbear;
Autonoë thus; ‘You'l feel before you hear.’
His mother roar'd, and snatch'd his head away,
Loud as the female lion o'er her prey:
Ino, her foot upon his breast display'd,
Wrench'd off his shoulder, and the shoulder-blade;
Autonoë steep'd her hands in royal gore;
And all the monarch limb from limb they tore:
Thus drench'd in blood the Theban towers they sought,
And grief, not Pentheus, from the mountain brought.
Be warn'd; let none the jolly god offend,
Lest sorer penalties the wretch attend;
Let none behold his rites with eyes impure;
Age is not safe, nor blooming youth secure.
For me, the works of righteousness I love,
And may I grateful to the righteous prove!
For this is pleasing to almighty Jove.
The Pious blessings on their sons derive;
But can the children of the impious thrive?
Hail Bacchus, whom the ruler of the sky,
Great Jove, inclos'd, and foster'd in his thigh!
Hail, with thy sisters, Semele renown'd!
Offsprings of Cadmus, with bright praises crown'd,
In hymns of heroines: let none defame
This act; from Bacchus the incentive came:
'Tis not for man the deeds of Deities to blame.
IDYLLIUM XXVII
[_]
Is by the commentators generally attributed to Moschus,
and therefore I may well be excused from translating
it as the work of Theocritus. Were that not
the case, it is of such a nature that it cannot be admitted
into this volume: Scaliger, Casaubon, and Dan. Heinsius,
have left more notes upon it in proportion, than
upon any of the other Idylliums. Creech has done it
into English, but the spirit is evaporated, and nothing
remains but a caput mortuum. Dryden generally improves
and expatiates upon any subject that is ludicrous,
and therefore the tenor of his translation will be
found very different. The last five lines in Greek, he has expanded into fourteen.
