The Bacchae of Euripides Part 14

Beyond measure; Yea, glad in the breaking Of dawn upon all this land, By the prize, the prize of my hand!

LEADER.

Show then to all the land, unhappy one, The trophy of this deed that thou hast done!

AGAVE.

Ho, all ye men that round the citadel And shining towers of ancient Thebe dwell, Come! Look upon this prize, this lion's spoil, That we have taken--yea, with our own toil, We, Cadmus' daughters! Not with leathern-set Thessalian javelins, not with hunter's net, Only white arms and swift hands' bladed fall.

Why make ye much ado, and boast withal Your armourers' engines? See, these palms were bare That caught the angry beast, and held, and tare The limbs of him! . . . Father! . . . Go, bring to me My father! . . . Aye, and Pentheus, where is he, My son? He shall set up a ladder-stair Against this house, and in the triglyphs there Nail me this lion's head, that gloriously I bring ye, having slain him--I, even I!

[_She goes through the crowd towards the Castle, showing the head and looking for a place to hang it. Enter from the Mountain_ CADMUS, _with attendants, bearing the body of_ PENTHEUS _on a bier_.

CADMUS.

On, with your awful burden. Follow me, Thralls, to his house, whose body grievously With many a weary search at last in dim Kithaeron's glens I found, torn limb from limb, And through the interweaving forest weed Scattered.--Men told me of my daughters' deed, When I was just returned within these walls, With grey Teiresias, from the Baccha.n.a.ls.

And back I hied me to the hills again To seek my murdered son. There saw I plain Actaeon's mother, ranging where he died, Autonoe; and Ino by her side, Wandering ghastly in the pine-copses.

Agave was not there. The rumour is She cometh fleet-foot hither.--Ah! 'Tis true; A sight I scarce can bend mine eyes unto.

AGAVE (_turning from the Palace and seeing him_).

My father, a great boast is thine this hour.

Thou hast begotten daughters, high in power And valiant above all mankind--yea, all Valiant, though none like me! I have let fall The shuttle by the loom, and raised my hand For higher things, to slay from out thy land Wild beasts! See, in mine arms I bear the prize, That nailed above these portals it may rise To show what things thy daughters did! Do thou Take it, and call a feast. Proud art thou now And highly favoured in our valiancy!

CADMUS.

O depth of grief, how can I fathom thee Or look upon thee!--Poor, poor, bloodstained hand!

Poor sisters!--A fair sacrifice to stand Before G.o.d's altars, daughter; yea, and call Me and my citizens to feast withal!

Nay, let me weep--for thine affliction most, Then for mine own. All, all of us are lost, Not wrongfully, yet is it hard, from one Who might have loved--our Bromios, our own!

AGAVE.

How crabbed and how scowling in the eyes Is man's old age!--Would that my son likewise Were happy of his hunting, in my way, When with his warrior bands he will essay The wild beast!--Nay, his valiance is to fight With G.o.d's will! Father, thou shouldst set him right. . . .

Will no one bring him hither, that mine eyes May look on his, and show him this my prize!

CADMUS.

Alas, if ever ye can know again The truth of what ye did, what pain of pain That truth shall bring! Or were it best to wait Darkened for evermore, and deem your state Not misery, though ye know no happiness?

AGAVE.

What seest thou here to chide, or not to bless?

CADMUS (_after hesitation, resolving himself_).

Raise me thine eyes to yon blue dome of air!

AGAVE.

'Tis done. What dost thou bid me seek for there?

CADMUS.

Is it the same, or changed in thy sight?

AGAVE.

More shining than before, more heavenly bright!

CADMUS.

And that wild tremor, is it with thee still?

AGAVE (_troubled_).

I know not what thou sayest; but my will Clears, and some change cometh, I know not how.

CADMUS.

Canst hearken then, being changed, and answer, now?

AGAVE.

I have forgotten something; else I could.

CADMUS.

What husband led thee of old from mine abode?

AGAVE.

Echion, whom men named the Child of Earth.

CADMUS.

And what child in Echion's house had birth?

AGAVE.

Pentheus, of my love and his father's bred.

CADMUS.

Thou bearest in thine arms an head--what head?

AGAVE (_beginning to tremble, and not looking at what she carries_).

A lion's--so they all said in the chase.