6. Aeschylus, Agamemnon, 282, 1090, 1098-1135, 1140-1145, 1156-1162, 1166, 1178-1202, 1206, 1208, 1213, 1223-1241, 1248, 1254-1256, 1272, 1289, 1291, 1295-1298, 1300-1304, 1322-1330, 1340, 1362-1366, 1526-1527 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aeschylus, rapport of Cassandra with chorus • Chorus of Agamemnon • Chorus of Choephori • Chorus of Elders • Chorus of Seven, alternative mode of knowledge • Chorus of Seven, awareness of reciprocity • Chorus of Slave Women • Chorus of Suppliants • Seneca, chorus in • chorus, and Cassandras silence • chorus, and Cassandras too much Greek • chorus, and song • chorus, response to prophecy • chorus, witness and validation role
Found in books: Fertik (2019), The Ruler's House: Contesting Power and Privacy in Julio-Claudian Rome, 100; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 8, 35, 116, 134, 145, 172, 173, 180, 181, 182, 185, 188, 189, 196; Pillinger (2019), Cassandra and the Poetics of Prophecy in Greek and Latin Literature, 33, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 71, 73, 236, 237; Shilo (2022), Beyond Death in the Oresteia: Poetics, Ethics, and Politics, 54, 55, 56, 70, 77, 86, 87, 102
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282 φρυκτὸς δὲ φρυκτὸν δεῦρʼ ἀπʼ ἀγγάρου πυρὸς
1090 μισόθεον μὲν οὖν, πολλὰ συνίστορα'
1098 τὸ μὲν κλέος σοῦ μαντικὸν πεπυσμένοι 1099 ἦμεν· προφήτας δʼ οὔτινας ματεύομεν. Κασάνδρα 1100 ἰὼ πόποι, τί ποτε μήδεται; 1101 τί τόδε νέον ἄχος μέγα 1102 μέγʼ ἐν δόμοισι τοῖσδε μήδεται κακὸν 1103 ἄφερτον φίλοισιν, δυσίατον; ἀλκὰ δʼ 1104 ἑκὰς ἀποστατεῖ. Χορός 1105 τούτων ἄιδρίς εἰμι τῶν μαντευμάτων. 1106 ἐκεῖνα δʼ ἔγνων· πᾶσα γὰρ πόλις βοᾷ. Κασάνδρα 1107 ἰὼ τάλαινα, τόδε γὰρ τελεῖς, 1108 τὸν ὁμοδέμνιον πόσιν 1109 λουτροῖσι φαιδρύνασα—πῶς φράσω τέλος; 1110 τάχος γὰρ τόδʼ ἔσται· προτείνει δὲ χεὶρ ἐκ 1111 χερὸς ὀρέγματα. Χορός 1112 οὔπω ξυνῆκα· νῦν γὰρ ἐξ αἰνιγμάτων 1113 ἐπαργέμοισι θεσφάτοις ἀμηχανῶ. Κασάνδρα 1114 ἒ ἔ, παπαῖ παπαῖ, τί τόδε φαίνεται; 1115 ἦ δίκτυόν τί γʼ Ἅιδου; 1116 ἀλλʼ ἄρκυς ἡ ξύνευνος, ἡ ξυναιτία 1117 φόνου. στάσις δʼ ἀκόρετος γένει 1118 κατολολυξάτω θύματος λευσίμου. Χορός 1119 ποίαν Ἐρινὺν τήνδε δώμασιν κέλῃ 1120 ἐπορθιάζειν; οὔ με φαιδρύνει λόγος. 1121 ἐπὶ δὲ καρδίαν ἔδραμε κροκοβαφὴς 1122 σταγών, ἅτε καιρία πτώσιμος 1123 ξυνανύτει βίου δύντος αὐγαῖς· 1124 ταχεῖα δʼ ἄτα πέλει. Κασάνδρα 1125 ἆ ἆ, ἰδοὺ ἰδού· ἄπεχε τῆς βοὸς 1126 τὸν ταῦρον· ἐν πέπλοισι 1127 μελαγκέρῳ λαβοῦσα μηχανήματι 1128 τύπτει· πίτνει δʼ ἐν ἐνύδρῳ τεύχει. 1129 δολοφόνου λέβητος τύχαν σοι λέγω. Χορός 1130 οὐ κομπάσαιμʼ ἂν θεσφάτων γνώμων ἄκρος 1131 εἶναι, κακῷ δέ τῳ προσεικάζω τάδε. 1132 ἀπὸ δὲ θεσφάτων τίς ἀγαθὰ φάτις 1133 βροτοῖς τέλλεται; κακῶν γὰρ διαὶ 1134 πολυεπεῖς τέχναι θεσπιῳδὸν 1135 φόβον φέρουσιν μαθεῖν. Κασάνδρα
1140 φρενομανής τις εἶ θεοφόρητος, ἀμ- 1141 φὶ δʼ αὑτᾶς θροεῖς 1142 νόμον ἄνομον, οἷά τις ξουθὰ 1143 ἀκόρετος βοᾶς, φεῦ, ταλαίναις φρεσίν 1144 Ἴτυν Ἴτυν στένουσʼ ἀμφιθαλῆ κακοῖς 1145 ἀηδὼν βίον. Κασάνδρα
1156 ἰὼ γάμοι γάμοι Πάριδος ὀλέθριοι φίλων. 1157 ἰὼ Σκαμάνδρου πάτριον ποτόν. 1158 τότε μὲν ἀμφὶ σὰς ἀϊόνας τάλαινʼ 1159 ἠνυτόμαν τροφαῖς· 1160 νῦν δʼ ἀμφὶ Κωκυτόν τε κἀχερουσίους 1161 ὄχθας ἔοικα θεσπιῳδήσειν τάχα. Χορός 1162 τί τόδε τορὸν ἄγαν ἔπος ἐφημίσω;
1166 θραύματʼ ἐμοὶ κλύειν. Κασάνδρα
1178 καὶ μὴν ὁ χρησμὸς οὐκέτʼ ἐκ καλυμμάτων 1179 ἔσται δεδορκὼς νεογάμου νύμφης δίκην· 1180 λαμπρὸς δʼ ἔοικεν ἡλίου πρὸς ἀντολὰς 1181 πνέων ἐσᾴξειν, ὥστε κύματος δίκην 1182 κλύζειν πρὸς αὐγὰς τοῦδε πήματος πολὺ 1183 μεῖζον· φρενώσω δʼ οὐκέτʼ ἐξ αἰνιγμάτων. 1184 καὶ μαρτυρεῖτε συνδρόμως ἴχνος κακῶν 1185 ῥινηλατούσῃ τῶν πάλαι πεπραγμένων. 1186 τὴν γὰρ στέγην τήνδʼ οὔποτʼ ἐκλείπει χορὸς 1187 ξύμφθογγος οὐκ εὔφωνος· οὐ γὰρ εὖ λέγει. 1188 καὶ μὴν πεπωκώς γʼ, ὡς θρασύνεσθαι πλέον, 1189 βρότειον αἷμα κῶμος ἐν δόμοις μένει, 1190 δύσπεμπτος ἔξω, συγγόνων Ἐρινύων. 1191 ὑμνοῦσι δʼ ὕμνον δώμασιν προσήμεναι 1192 πρώταρχον ἄτην· ἐν μέρει δʼ ἀπέπτυσαν 1193 εὐνὰς ἀδελφοῦ τῷ πατοῦντι δυσμενεῖς. 1194 ἥμαρτον, ἢ θηρῶ τι τοξότης τις ὥς; 1195 ἢ ψευδόμαντίς εἰμι θυροκόπος φλέδων; 1196 ἐκμαρτύρησον προυμόσας τό μʼ εἰδέναι 1197 λόγῳ παλαιὰς τῶνδʼ ἁμαρτίας δόμων. Χορός 1198 καὶ πῶς ἂν ὅρκος, πῆγμα γενναίως παγέν, 1199 παιώνιον γένοιτο; θαυμάζω δέ σου, 1200 πόντου πέραν τραφεῖσαν ἀλλόθρουν πόλιν 1201 κυρεῖν λέγουσαν, ὥσπερ εἰ παρεστάτεις. Κασάνδρα 1202 μάντις μʼ Ἀπόλλων τῷδʼ ἐπέστησεν τέλει. Χορός
1206 ἀλλʼ ἦν παλαιστὴς κάρτʼ ἐμοὶ πνέων χάριν. Χορός
1208 ξυναινέσασα Λοξίαν ἐψευσάμην. Χορός
1213 ἡμῖν γε μὲν δὴ πιστὰ θεσπίζειν δοκεῖς. Κασάνδρα
1223 ἐκ τῶνδε ποινὰς φημὶ βουλεύειν τινὰ 1224 λέοντʼ ἄναλκιν ἐν λέχει στρωφώμενον 1225 οἰκουρόν, οἴμοι, τῷ μολόντι δεσπότῃ 1226 ἐμῷ· φέρειν γὰρ χρὴ τὸ δούλιον ζυγόν· 1227 νεῶν τʼ ἄπαρχος Ἰλίου τʼ ἀναστάτης 1228 οὐκ οἶδεν οἷα γλῶσσα μισητῆς κυνὸς 1229 λείξασα κἀκτείνασα φαιδρὸν οὖς, δίκην 1230 Ἄτης λαθραίου, τεύξεται κακῇ τύχῃ. 1231 τοιάδε τόλμα· θῆλυς ἄρσενος φονεὺς 1232 ἔστιν. τί νιν καλοῦσα δυσφιλὲς δάκος 1233 τύχοιμʼ ἄν; ἀμφίσβαιναν, ἢ Σκύλλαν τινὰ 1234 οἰκοῦσαν ἐν πέτραισι, ναυτίλων βλάβην, 1235 θύουσαν Ἅιδου μητέρʼ ἄσπονδόν τʼ Ἄρη 1236 φίλοις πνέουσαν; ὡς δʼ ἐπωλολύξατο 1237 ἡ παντότολμος, ὥσπερ ἐν μάχης τροπῇ, 1238 δοκεῖ δὲ χαίρειν νοστίμῳ σωτηρίᾳ. 1239 καὶ τῶνδʼ ὅμοιον εἴ τι μὴ πείθω· τί γάρ; 1240 τὸ μέλλον ἥξει. καὶ σύ μʼ ἐν τάχει παρὼν 1241 ἄγαν γʼ ἀληθόμαντιν οἰκτίρας ἐρεῖς. Χορός
1248 ἀλλʼ οὔτι παιὼν τῷδʼ ἐπιστατεῖ λόγῳ. Χορός
1254 καὶ μὴν ἄγαν γʼ Ἕλληνʼ ἐπίσταμαι φάτιν. Χορός 1255 καὶ γὰρ τὰ πυθόκραντα· δυσμαθῆ δʼ ὅμως. Κασάνδρα 1256 παπαῖ, οἷον τὸ πῦρ· ἐπέρχεται δέ μοι.
1272 φίλων ὑπʼ ἐχθρῶν οὐ διχορρόπως, μάτην—
1289 οὕτως ἀπαλλάσσουσιν ἐν θεῶν κρίσει,
1291 Ἅιδου πύλας δὲ τάσδʼ ἐγὼ προσεννέπω·
1295 ὦ πολλὰ μὲν τάλαινα, πολλὰ δʼ αὖ σοφὴ 1296 γύναι, μακρὰν ἔτεινας. εἰ δʼ ἐτητύμως 1297 μόρον τὸν αὑτῆς οἶσθα, πῶς θεηλάτου 1298 βοὸς δίκην πρὸς βωμὸν εὐτόλμως πατεῖς; Κασάνδρα
1300 ὁ δʼ ὕστατός γε τοῦ χρόνου πρεσβεύεται, Κασάνδρα 1301 ἥκει τόδʼ ἦμαρ· σμικρὰ κερδανῶ φυγῇ. Χορός 1302 ἀλλʼ ἴσθι τλήμων οὖσʼ ἀπʼ εὐτόλμου φρενός. Κασάνδρα 1303 οὐδεὶς ἀκούει ταῦτα τῶν εὐδαιμόνων. Χορός 1304 ἀλλʼ εὐκλεῶς τοι κατθανεῖν χάρις βροτῷ. Κασάνδρα
1322 ἅπαξ ἔτʼ εἰπεῖν ῥῆσιν οὐ θρῆνον θέλω 1323 ἐμὸν τὸν αὐτῆς. ἡλίῳ δʼ ἐπεύχομαι 1324 πρὸς ὕστατον φῶς τοῖς ἐμοῖς τιμαόροις 1325 ἐχθροῖς φονεῦσι τοῖς ἐμοῖς τίνειν ὁμοῦ, 1326 δούλης θανούσης, εὐμαροῦς χειρώματος.
1362 —ἦ καὶ βίον τείνοντες ὧδʼ ὑπείξομεν 1363 δόμων καταισχυντῆρσι τοῖσδʼ ἡγουμένοις;— 1364 —ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀνεκτόν,ἀλλὰ κατθανεῖν κρατεῖ· 1365 πεπαιτέρα γὰρ μοῖρα τῆς τυραννίδος.— 1366 —ἦ γὰρ τεκμηρίοισιν ἐξ οἰμωγμάτων ' None | sup>
282 Beacon did beacon send, from fire the poster,
1090 God-hated, then! of many a crime it knew — '
1090 How! How!
1098 Ay, we have heard of thy soothsaying glory, 1099 Doubtless: but prophets none are we in scent of! KASSANDRA. 1100 Ah, gods, what ever does she meditate? 1100 What this new anguish great? 1101 Great in the house here she meditates ill 1102 Such as friends cannot bear, cannot cure it: and still 1103 off stands all Resistance 1104 Afar in the distance! CHOROS. 1105 of these I witless am — these prophesyings. 1106 But those I knew: for the whole city bruits them. KASSANDRA. 1107 Ah, unhappy one, this thou consummatest? 1107 Thy husband, thy bed’s common guest, 1108 In the bath having brightened. .. How shall I declare 1109 Consummation? It soon will be there: 1110 For hand after hand she outstretches, 1111 At life as she reaches! CHOROS. 1112 Nor yet I’ve gone with thee! for — after riddles — 1113 Now, in blind oracles, I feel resourceless. KASSANDRA. 1114 Eh, eh, papai, papai, 1114 What this, I espy? 1115 Some net of Haides undoubtedly 1116 In his bed, who takes part in the murder there! 1116 Is she who has share 1116 Nay, rather, the snare 1117 But may a revolt — 1117 On the Race, raise a shout 1117 Unceasing assault — 1118 A victim — by stoning — 1118 For murder atoning! CHOROS. 1118 Sacrificial, about 1119 What this Erinus which i’ the house thou callest 1120 To raise her cry? Not me thy word enlightens! 1121 To my heart has run 1122 A drop of the crocus-dye: 1122 Which makes for those 1123 A common close 1123 On earth by the spear that lie, 1123 With life’s descending sun. 1124 Swift is the curse begun! KASSANDRA. 1125 How! How! 1125 Keep the bull from the cow! 1125 See — see quick! 1126 In the vesture she catching him, strikes him now 1127 With the black-horned trick, 1128 And he falls in the watery vase! 1129 of the craft-killing cauldron I tell thee the case! CHOROS. 1130 I would not boast to be a topping critic 1131 of oracles: but to some sort of evil 1132 I liken these. From oracles, what good speech 1133 To mortals, beside, is sent? 1134 It comes of their evils: these arts word-abounding that sing the event 1135 Bring the fear’t is their office to teach. KASSANDRA.
1140 Thou art some mind-mazed creature, god-possessed: 1141 And all about thyself dost wail 1142 A lay — no lay! 1142 Like some brown nightingale 1143 Insatiable of noise, who — well-away! — 1144 From her unhappy breast 1144 Keeps moaning Itus, Itus, and his life 1145 With evils, flourishing on each side, rife. KASSANDRA.
1156 Ah me, the nuptials, the nuptials of Paris, the deadly to friends! 1157 Ah me, of Skamandros the draught 1158 Paternal! There once, to these ends, 1159 On thy banks was I brought, 1160 The unhappy! And now, by Kokutos and Acheron’s shore 1161 I shall soon be, it seems, these my oracles singing once more! CHOROS. 1162 Why this word, plain too much,
1166 of thee shrill shrieking:
1166 To me who hear — a wonder! KASSANDRA.
1178 Well then, the oracle from veils no longer 1179 Shall be outlooking, like a bride new-married: 1180 But bright it seems, against the sun’s uprisings 1181 Breathing, to penetrate thee: so as, wave-like, 1182 To wash against the rays a woe much greater 1183 Than this. I will no longer teach by riddles. 1184 And witness, running with me, that of evils 1185 Done long ago, I nosing track the footstep! 1186 For, this same roof here — never quits a Choros 1187 One-voiced, not well-tuned since no 1188 And truly having drunk, to get more courage, 1189 Man’s blood — the Komos keeps within the household 1190 — Hard to be sent outside — of sister Furies: 1191 They hymn their hymn — within the house close sitting — 1192 The first beginning curse: in turn spit forth at 1193 The Brother’s bed, to him who spurned it hostile. 1194 Have I missed aught, or hit I like a bowman? 1195 False prophet am I, — knock at doors, a babbler? 1196 Henceforward witness, swearing now, I know not 1197 By other’s word the old sins of this household! CHOROS. 1198 And how should oath, bond honourably binding, 1199 Become thy cure? No less I wonder at thee 1200 — That thou, beyond sea reared, a strange-tongued city 1201 Shouldst hit in speaking, just as if thou stood’st by! KASSANDRA. 1202 Prophet Apollon put me in this office. CHOROS.
1206 But he was athlete to me — huge grace breathing! CHOROS.
1208 Having consented, I played false to Loxias. CHOROS.
1213 To us, at least, now sooth to say thou seemest. KASSANDRA.
1223 For this, I say, plans punishment a certain 1224 Lion ignoble, on the bed that wallows, 1225 House-guard (ah, me!) to the returning master 1226 — Mine, since to bear the slavish yoke behoves me! 1227 The ship’s commander, 1228 Knows not what things the tongue of the lewd she-dog 1229 Speaking, outspreading, shiny-souled, in fashion 1230 of Até hid, will reach to, by ill fortune! 1231 Such things she dares — the female, the male’s slayer! 1232 She is . . . how calling her the hateful bite-beast 1233 May I hit the mark? Some amphisbaina, — Skulla 1234 Housing in rocks, of mariners the mischief, 1235 Revelling Haides’ mother, — curse, no truce with, 1236 Breathing at friends! How piously she shouted, 1237 The all-courageous, as at turn of battle! 1238 She seems to joy at the back-bringing safety! 1239 of this, too, if I nought persuade, all’s one! Why? 1240 What is to be will come. And soon thou, present, 1241 CHOROS.
1248 Nay, if the thing be near: but never be it! KASSANDRA.
1254 For Puthian oracles, thy speech, and hard too. KASSANDRA 1255 Papai: what fire this! and it comes upon me! 1256 Ototoi, Lukeion Apollon, ah me — me!
1272 For, called crazed stroller, — as I had been gipsy,
1289 I go, will suffer, will submit to dying!
1291 And pray that on an opportune blow chancing,
1295 O much unhappy, but, again, much learned 1296 Woman, long hast thou outstretched! But if truly 1297 Thou knowest thine own fate, how comes that, like to 1298 A god-led steer, to altar bold thou treadest? KASSANDRA.
1300 He last is, anyhow, by time advantaged. KASSANDRA. 1301 It comes, the day: I shall by flight gain little. CHOROS. 1302 But know thou patient art from thy brave spirit! KASSANDRA. 1303 Such things hears no one of the happy-fortuned. CHOROS. 1304 But gloriously to die — for man is grace, sure. KASSANDRA.
1322 Yet once for all, to speak a speech, I fain am: 1323 No dirge, mine for myself! The sun I pray to, 1324 Fronting his last light! — to my own avengers — 1325 That from my hateful slayers they exact too 1326 Pay for the dead slave — easy-managed hand’s work! CHOROS.
1362 What, and, protracting life, shall we give way thus 1363 To the disgracers of our home, these rulers? CHOROS 9. 1364 Why, ’t is unbearable: but to die is better: 1365 For death than tyranny is the riper finish! CHOROS 10. 1366 What, by the testifying
Found in books: Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 265, 266; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 390, 743; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 129; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 32, 33, 41, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197; Shilo (2022), Beyond Death in the Oresteia: Poetics, Ethics, and Politics, 61, 94, 96, 97, 98, 104, 105, 108, 123, 170, 171, 183, 184, 185
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22 ἰαλτὸς ἐκ δόμων ἔβαν 23 χοὰς προπομπὸς ὀξύχειρι σὺν κτύπῳ.
32 τορὸς δὲ Φοῖβος ὀρθόθριξ 33 δόμων ὀνειρόμαντις, ἐξ ὕπνου κότον 34 πνέων, ἀωρόνυκτον ἀμβόαμα 35 μυχόθεν ἔλακε περὶ φόβῳ, 36 γυναικείοισιν ἐν δώμασιν βαρὺς πίτνων. 37 κριταί τε τῶνδʼ ὀνειράτων 38 θεόθεν ἔλακον ὑπέγγυοι 39 μέμφεσθαι τοὺς γᾶς 40 νέρθεν περιθύμως 41 τοῖς κτανοῦσί τʼ ἐγκοτεῖν. Χορός' 59 ται δέ τις. τὸ δʼ εὐτυχεῖν, 60 τόδʼ ἐν βροτοῖς θεός τε καὶ θεοῦ πλέον. 61 ῥοπὴ δʼ ἐπισκοπεῖ δίκας 62 ταχεῖα τοὺς μὲν ἐν φάει, 63 τὰ δʼ ἐν μεταιχμίῳ σκότου 64 μένει χρονίζοντας ἄχη βρύει, 65 τοὺς δʼ ἄκραντος ἔχει νύξ. Χορός 66 διʼ αἵματʼ ἐκποθένθʼ ὑπὸ χθονὸς τροφοῦ 67 τίτας φόνος πέπηγεν οὐ διαρρύδαν.
75 ἐμοὶ δʼ —ἀνάγκαν γὰρ ἀμφίπτολιν 76 θεοὶ προσήνεγκαν· ʽἐκ γὰρ οἴκων 77 πατρῴων δούλιόν μʼ ἐσᾶγον αἶσαν̓— 78 δίκαια καὶ μὴ δίκαια ἀρχὰς πρέπον 80 βίᾳ φρενῶν αἰνέσαι 81 πικρὸν στύγος κρατούσῃ.
118 τί φῶ; δίδασκʼ ἄπειρον ἐξηγουμένη. Χορός 119 ἐλθεῖν τινʼ αὐτοῖς δαίμονʼ ἢ βροτῶν τινα— Ἠλέκτρα 120 πότερα δικαστὴν ἢ δικηφόρον λέγεις; Χορός 121 ἅπλῶς τι φράζουσʼ, ὅστις ἀνταποκτενεῖ. Ἠλέκτρα 1
22 καὶ ταῦτά μοὐστὶν εὐσεβῆ θεῶν πάρα; Χορός 123 πῶς δʼ οὐ τὸν ἐχθρὸν ἀνταμείβεσθαι κακοῖς; Ἠλέκτρα
309 ἀντὶ μὲν ἐχθρᾶς γλώσσης ἐχθρὰ 310 γλῶσσα τελείσθω· τοὐφειλόμενον 311 πράσσουσα Δίκη μέγʼ ἀυτεῖ· 312 ἀντὶ δὲ πληγῆς φονίας φονίαν 313 πληγὴν τινέτω. δράσαντι παθεῖν, 314 τριγέρων μῦθος τάδε φωνεῖ. Ὀρέστης 315 ὦ πάτερ αἰνόπατερ, τί σοι
400 ἀλλὰ νόμος μὲν φονίας σταγόνας 401 χυμένας ἐς πέδον ἄλλο προσαιτεῖν 402 αἷμα. βοᾷ γὰρ λοιγὸς Ἐρινὺν
461 Ἄρης Ἄρει ξυμβαλεῖ, Δίκᾳ Δίκα. Ἠλέκτρα
526 ἦ καὶ πέπυσθε τοὔναρ, ὥστʼ ὀρθῶς φράσαι; Χορός 527 τεκεῖν δράκοντʼ ἔδοξεν, ὡς αὐτὴ λέγει. Ὀρέστης 528 καὶ ποῖ τελευτᾷ καὶ καρανοῦται λόγος; Χορός 529 ἐν σπαργάνοισι παιδὸς ὁρμίσαι δίκην. Ὀρέστης 530 τίνος βορᾶς χρῄζοντα, νεογενὲς δάκος; Χορός 531 αὐτὴ προσέσχε μαζὸν ἐν τὠνείρατι. Ὀρέστης 5
32 καὶ πῶς ἄτρωτον οὖθαρ ἦν ὑπὸ στύγους; Χορός 533 ὥστʼ ἐν γάλακτι θρόμβον αἵματος σπάσαι. Ὀρέστης 534 οὔτοι μάταιον· ἀνδρὸς ὄψανον πέλει. Χορός
540 ἀλλʼ εὔχομαι γῇ τῇδε καὶ πατρὸς τάφῳ 541 τοὔνειρον εἶναι τοῦτʼ ἐμοὶ τελεσφόρον. 542 κρίνω δέ τοί νιν ὥστε συγκόλλως ἔχειν. 543 εἰ γὰρ τὸν αὐτὸν χῶρον ἐκλιπὼν ἐμοὶ 5
44 οὕφις ἐμοῖσι σπαργάνοις ὡπλίζετο, 545 καὶ μαστὸν ἀμφέχασκʼ ἐμὸν θρεπτήριον, 546 θρόμβῳ δʼ ἔμειξεν αἵματος φίλον γάλα, 547 ἡ δʼ ἀμφὶ τάρβει τῷδʼ ἐπῴμωξεν πάθει, 548 δεῖ τοί νιν, ὡς ἔθρεψεν ἔκπαγλον τέρας, 549 θανεῖν βιαίως· ἐκδρακοντωθεὶς δʼ ἐγὼ 550 κτείνω νιν, ὡς τοὔνειρον ἐννέπει τόδε. Χορός
928 οἲ ʼγὼ τεκοῦσα τόνδʼ ὄφιν ἐθρεψάμην. Ὀρέστης
973 ἴδεσθε χώρας τὴν διπλῆν τυραννίδα 974 πατροκτόνους τε δωμάτων πορθήτορας.
1047 δυοῖν δρακόντοιν εὐπετῶς τεμὼν κάρα. Ὀρέστης'' None | sup>
22 Sent forth from the palace I have come to convey libations to the sound of sharp blows of my hands. My cheek is marked with bloody gashes
32 For with a hair-raising shriek, Terror, the diviner of dreams for our house, breathing wrath out of sleep, uttered a cry of terror in the dead of night from the heart of the palace, 35 a cry that fell heavily on the women’s quarter. And the readers of these dreams, bound under pledge, cried out from the god that those 40 beneath the earth cast furious reproaches and rage against their murderers. Chorus
44 Intending to ward off evil with such a graceless grace, O mother Earth,
59 The awe of majesty once unconquered, unvanquished, irresistible in war, that penetrated the ears and heart of the people, is now cast off. But there is still fear. And prosperity—this, 60 among mortals, is a god and more than a god. But the balance of Justice keeps watch: swiftly it descends on those in the light; sometimes pain waits for those who linger on the frontier of twilight; 65 and others are claimed by strengthless night. Chorus 66 Because of blood drunk up by the fostering earth, the vengeful gore lies clotted and will not dissolve away. Soul-racking calamity distract
75 For since the gods laid constraining doom about my city and led me from my father’s house to a slave’s lot, it is fitting for me to govern my bitter hate, even against my will, and submit to the wishes of my masters, whether just or unjust.
118 What should I say? Instruct my inexperience, prescribe the form. Chorus 119 Pray that some divinity or some mortal may come to them— Electra 120 As judge or as avenger, do you mean? Chorus 121 Say in plain speech, Electra 1
22 And is it right for me to ask this of the gods? Chorus 123 How could it not be right to repay an enemy with ills? Electra
309 You mighty Fates, through the power of Zeus grant fulfilment in the way to which Justice now turns. 311 Justice cries out as she exacts the debt, Orestes 315 O father, unhappy father, by what word or deed of mine can I succeed in sailing from far away to you, where your resting-place holds you, a light to oppose your darkness?
400 And it is the eternal rule that drops of blood spilled on the ground demand yet more blood. Murder cries out on the Fury, which from those killed before brings one ruin in the wake of another. Orestes
461 Ares will encounter Ares; Right will encounter Right. Electra
526 And have you learned the nature of the dream so as to tell it properly? Chorus 527 She dreamed she gave birth to a serpent: that is her own account. Orestes 528 And where does the tale end, and what is its consummation? Chorus 529 She laid it to rest as if it were a child, in swaddling clothes. Orestes 530 What food did it crave, the newborn viper? Chorus 531 In her dream she offered it her own breast. Orestes 5
32 Surely her nipple was not unwounded by the loathsome beast? Chorus 533 No: it drew in clotted blood with the milk. Orestes 534 Truly it is not without meaning: the vision signifies a man! Chorus
540 Well then, I pray to this earth and to my father’s grave that this dream may come to its fulfilment in me. As I understand it, it fits at every point. For if the snake left the same place as I; if it was furnished with my swaddling clothes; 545 if it sought to open its mouth to take the breast that nourished me and mixed the sweet milk with clotted blood while she shrieked for terror at this, then surely, as she has nourished a portentous thing of horror, she must die by violence. For I, turned serpent, 550 am her killer, as this dream declares. Chorus
928 Oh no! I myself bore and nourished this serpent! Orestes
973 Behold this pair, oppressors of the land, who murdered my father and ransacked my house! They were majestic then, when they sat on their thrones,
1047 ince you have freed the whole realm of Orestes ' ' None |
|
8. Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 564 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chorus of Suppliants • chorus, ancient, (ps-)Aeschylean • chorus, ancient, Euripidean
Found in books: Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 133, 142; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 35
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564 τίνος ἀμπλακίας ποινὰς ὀλέκῃ;'' None | sup>
564 What land is this? What people? By what name am I to call the one I see exposed to the tempest in bonds of rock? What offence have you committed that as punishment you are doomed to destruction? '' None |
|
9. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chorus of Agamemnon • Chorus of Choephori • Chorus of Elders • Chorus of Seven, awareness of reciprocity • Chorus of Slave Women • Chorus of Suppliants • chorus, ancient, Aeschylean • chorus, ancient, Greek, comic
Found in books: Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 43, 44, 148; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 35, 145, 200; Shilo (2022), Beyond Death in the Oresteia: Poetics, Ethics, and Politics, 61, 182, 183, 184, 185
|
10. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chorus of Agamemnon • Chorus of Elders • Chorus of Seven, alternative mode of knowledge • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos
Found in books: Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 115; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 212; Shilo (2022), Beyond Death in the Oresteia: Poetics, Ethics, and Politics, 170
|
11. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chorus of Seven, interpretation of shields • chorus χορός, choral
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 49; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 121
|
12. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chorus of Suppliants • Chorus of Suppliants,, authorial agency of • Chorus of Suppliants,, ethnicity of • chorus, khoros, and socialization • chorus, khoros, animals in myth turned into dancers in ritual • chorus, khoros, as religious offering
Found in books: Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 280, 281; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 153, 154, 160, 161
|
13. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chorus of Suppliants • Lucian, on choruses
Found in books: Boeghold (2022), When a Gesture Was Expected: A Selection of Examples from Archaic and Classical Greek Literature. 51; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 35
|
14. None, None, nan (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, khoros, kyklios • chorus, khoros, of islands
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 87; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 57, 61, 62
|
15. Euripides, Bacchae, 6, 58-59, 64-166, 439, 443, 445-446, 576-637, 642, 652, 667, 690, 697-698, 724-727, 735, 743, 757-759, 767-768, 772, 777, 918-938, 940, 942, 946, 976, 978, 987, 995-996, 998, 1015-1023, 1029-1031, 1037, 1047, 1059, 1061, 1063, 1068, 1077, 1079-1136, 1139-1143, 1145-1146, 1345 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Basel krater, tragic chorus in Theater of Dionysus • Euripides, and the chorus • chorus leader • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, in drama • choruses • choruses, and cosmic imagery • choruses, in mystery cult • dithyramb/dithyrambic choruses/contests • leader, chorus-leader
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 41, 47, 49, 50, 53, 88, 90, 146, 160, 162, 175, 192, 273, 279, 280, 289, 302, 311, 314, 315, 316, 333, 334, 335, 339, 340, 342, 343, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359; Bierl (2017), Time and Space in Ancient Myth, Religion and Culture, 110, 131; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 27, 257; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 98, 109, 112; Papadodima (2022), Ancient Greek Literature and the Foreign: Athenian Dialogues II, 65, 104; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 171, 336; Shannon-Henderson (2019), Power Play in Latin Love Elegy and its Multiple Forms of Continuity in Ovid’s , 254; Simon, Zeyl, and Shapiro, (2021), The Gods of the Greeks, 301
sup>
6 ὁρῶ δὲ μητρὸς μνῆμα τῆς κεραυνίας
58 αἴρεσθε τἀπιχώριʼ ἐν πόλει Φρυγῶν 59 τύμπανα, Ῥέας τε μητρὸς ἐμά θʼ εὑρήματα,
64 Ἀσίας ἀπὸ γᾶς
65 ἱερὸν Τμῶλον ἀμείψασα θοάζω
6
6 Βρομίῳ πόνον ἡδὺν κάματόν τʼ εὐκάματον,
67 Βάκχιον εὐαζομένα.
68 τίς ὁδῷ τίς ὁδῷ; τίς;
69 μελάθροις ἔκτοπος ἔστω, στόμα τʼ εὔφημον 70 ἅπας ἐξοσιούσθω· 71 τὰ νομισθέντα γὰρ αἰεὶ 72 Διόνυσον ὑμνήσω. Χορός 73 μάκαρ, ὅστις εὐδαίμων 73 ὦ 74 βιοτὰν ἁγιστεύει καὶ 74 τελετὰς θεῶν εἰδὼς 75 θιασεύεται ψυχὰν 7
6 ἐν ὄρεσσι βακχεύων 77 ὁσίοις καθαρμοῖσιν, 78 τά τε ματρὸς μεγάλας ὄργια 79 Κυβέλας θεμιτεύων, 80 ἀνὰ θύρσον τε τινάσσων, 81 κισσῷ τε στεφανωθεὶς 82 Διόνυσον θεραπεύει. 83 ἴτε βάκχαι, ἴτε βάκχαι, 84 Βρόμιον παῖδα θεὸν θεοῦ 85 Διόνυσον κατάγουσαι 8
6 Φρυγίων ἐξ ὀρέων Ἑλλάδος εἰς 87 εὐρυχόρους ἀγυιάς, τὸν Βρόμιον· Χορός 88 ὅν 88 ποτʼ ἔχουσʼ ἐν ὠδίνων 89 λοχίαις ἀνάγκαισι 90 πταμένας Διὸς βροντᾶς νηδύος 91 ἔκβολον μάτηρ 92 ἔτεκεν, λιποῦσʼ αἰῶνα 93 κεραυνίῳ πληγᾷ· 94 λοχίοις δʼ αὐτίκα νιν δέξατο 95 θαλάμαις Κρονίδας Ζεύς, 9
6 κατὰ μηρῷ δὲ καλύψας 97 χρυσέαισιν συνερείδει 98 περόναις κρυπτὸν ἀφʼ Ἥρας. 99 ἔτεκεν δʼ, ἁνίκα Μοῖραι 100 τέλεσαν, ταυρόκερων θεὸν'101 στεφάνωσέν τε δρακόντων 102 στεφάνοις, ἔνθεν ἄγραν θηροτρόφον 103 μαινάδες ἀμφιβάλλονται 104 πλοκάμοις. Χορός 105 ὦ Σεμέλας τροφοὶ Θῆβαι, word split in text 10
6 στεφανοῦσθε κισσῷ· 107 βρύετε βρύετε χλοήρει 108 μίλακι καλλικάρπῳ 109 καὶ καταβακχιοῦσθε δρυὸς 110 ἢ ἐλάτας κλάδοισι, 111 στικτῶν τʼ ἐνδυτὰ νεβρίδων 112 στέφετε λευκοτρίχων πλοκάμων 113 μαλλοῖς· ἀμφὶ δὲ νάρθηκας ὑβριστὰς 114 ὁσιοῦσθʼ· αὐτίκα γᾶ πᾶσα χορεύσει— 115 Βρόμιος ὅστις ἄγῃ θιάσουσ— 11
6 εἰς ὄρος εἰς ὄρος, ἔνθα μένει 117 θηλυγενὴς ὄχλος 118 ἀφʼ ἱστῶν παρὰ κερκίδων τʼ 119 οἰστρηθεὶς Διονύσῳ. Χορός 120 ὦ θαλάμευμα Κουρήτων word split in text 121 ζάθεοί τε Κρήτας 122 Διογενέτορες ἔναυλοι, 123 ἔνθα τρικόρυθες ἄντροις 124 βυρσότονον κύκλωμα τόδε 125 μοι Κορύβαντες ηὗρον· 12
6 βακχείᾳ δʼ ἀνὰ συντόνῳ 127 κέρασαν ἁδυβόᾳ Φρυγίων 128 αὐλῶν πνεύματι ματρός τε Ῥέας ἐς 129 χέρα θῆκαν, κτύπον εὐάσμασι Βακχᾶν· 130 παρὰ δὲ μαινόμενοι Σάτυροι 131 ματέρος ἐξανύσαντο θεᾶς, 132 ἐς δὲ χορεύματα 133 συνῆψαν τριετηρίδων, 134 αἷς χαίρει Διόνυσος. Χορός 135 ἡδὺς ἐν ὄρεσιν, ὅταν ἐκ θιάσων δρομαίων 13
6 πέσῃ πεδόσε, νεβρίδος 138 ἔχων ἱερὸν ἐνδυτόν, ἀγρεύων 139 αἷμα τραγοκτόνον, ὠμοφάγον χάριν, ἱέμενος 140 ἐς ὄρεα Φρύγια, Λύδιʼ, ὁ δʼ ἔξαρχος Βρόμιος, 141 εὐοἷ. 142 ῥεῖ δὲ γάλακτι πέδον, ῥεῖ δʼ οἴνῳ, ῥεῖ δὲ μελισσᾶν 143 νέκταρι. 144 Συρίας δʼ ὡς λιβάνου καπνὸν 145 ὁ Βακχεὺς ἀνέχων 145 πυρσώδη φλόγα πεύκας 14
6 ἐκ νάρθηκος ἀίσσει 147 δρόμῳ καὶ χοροῖσιν 148 πλανάτας ἐρεθίζων 149 ἰαχαῖς τʼ ἀναπάλλων, 150 τρυφερόν τε πλόκαμον εἰς αἰθέρα ῥίπτων. 151 ἅμα δʼ εὐάσμασι τοιάδʼ ἐπιβρέμει· 152 Ὦ ἴτε βάκχαι, 153 ὦ ἴτε βάκχαι, 154 Τμώλου χρυσορόου χλιδᾷ 155 μέλπετε τὸν Διόνυσον 157 βαρυβρόμων ὑπὸ τυμπάνων, 1
58 εὔια τὸν εὔιον ἀγαλλόμεναι θεὸν 159 ἐν Φρυγίαισι βοαῖς ἐνοπαῖσί τε, 1
60 λωτὸς ὅταν εὐκέλαδος 1
64 ἱερὸς ἱερὰ παίγματα βρέμῃ, σύνοχα 1
65 φοιτάσιν εἰς ὄρος εἰς ὄρος· ἡδομένα 1
6
6 δʼ ἄρα, πῶλος ὅπως ἅμα ματέρι
439 γελῶν δὲ καὶ δεῖν κἀπάγειν ἐφίετο
445 φροῦδαί γʼ ἐκεῖναι λελυμέναι πρὸς ὀργάδας 44
6 σκιρτῶσι Βρόμιον ἀνακαλούμεναι θεόν· 57
6 ἰώ, 57
6 κλύετʼ ἐμᾶς κλύετʼ αὐδᾶς, 577 ἰὼ βάκχαι, ἰὼ βάκχαι. Χορός 578 τίς ὅδε, τίς ὅδε πόθεν ὁ κέλαδος 579 ἀνά μʼ ἐκάλεσεν Εὐίου; Διόνυσος
580 ἰὼ ἰώ, πάλιν αὐδῶ,
581 ὁ Σεμέλας, ὁ Διὸς παῖς. Χορός
582 ἰὼ ἰὼ δέσποτα δέσποτα,
583 μόλε νυν ἡμέτερον ἐς
584 θίασον, ὦ Βρόμιε Βρόμιε. Διόνυσος
585 σεῖε πέδον χθονὸς Ἔννοσι πότνια. Χορός
58
6 ἆ ἆ,
587 τάχα τὰ Πενθέως μέλαθρα διατινάξεται word split in text
588 πεσήμασιν.
589 — ὁ Διόνυσος ἀνὰ μέλαθρα· 590 σέβετέ νιν. — σέβομεν ὤ. 591 — εἴδετε λάινα κίοσιν ἔμβολα 592 διάδρομα τάδε; Βρόμιος ὅδʼ ἀλαλάζεται word split in text 593 λάζεται στέγας ἔσω. Διόνυσος 594 ἅπτε κεραύνιον αἴθοπα λαμπάδα· 595 σύμφλεγε σύμφλεγε δώματα Πενθέος. Χορός 59
6 ἆ ἆ, 59
6 πῦρ οὐ λεύσσεις, οὐδʼ αὐγάζῃ, 597 Σεμέλας ἱερὸν ἀμφὶ τάφον, ἅν 598 ποτε κεραυνόβολος ἔλιπε φλόγα 599 Δίου βροντᾶς;
600 δίκετε πεδόσε τρομερὰ σώματα
601 δίκετε, Μαινάδες· ὁ γὰρ ἄναξ
602 ἄνω κάτω τιθεὶς ἔπεισι
603 μέλαθρα τάδε Διὸς γόνος. Διόνυσος
604 βάρβαροι γυναῖκες, οὕτως ἐκπεπληγμέναι φόβῳ
605 πρὸς πέδῳ πεπτώκατʼ; ᾔσθησθʼ, ὡς ἔοικε, Βακχίου
60
6 διατινάξαντος δῶμα Πενθέως· ἀλλʼ ἐξανίστατε
607 σῶμα καὶ θαρσεῖτε σαρκὸς ἐξαμείψασαι τρόμον. Χορός
608 ὦ φάος μέγιστον ἡμῖν εὐίου βακχεύματος,
609 ὡς ἐσεῖδον ἀσμένη σε, μονάδʼ ἔχουσʼ ἐρημίαν. Διόνυσος
610 εἰς ἀθυμίαν ἀφίκεσθʼ, ἡνίκʼ εἰσεπεμπόμην,
611 Πενθέως ὡς ἐς σκοτεινὰς ὁρκάνας πεσούμενος; Χορός
612 πῶς γὰρ οὔ; τίς μοι φύλαξ ἦν, εἰ σὺ συμφορᾶς τύχοις;
613 ἀλλὰ πῶς ἠλευθερώθης ἀνδρὸς ἀνοσίου τυχών; Διόνυσος
614 αὐτὸς ἐξέσῳσʼ ἐμαυτὸν ῥᾳδίως ἄνευ πόνου. Χορός
615 οὐδέ σου συνῆψε χεῖρε δεσμίοισιν ἐν βρόχοις; Διόνυσος
61
6 ταῦτα καὶ καθύβρισʼ αὐτόν, ὅτι με δεσμεύειν δοκῶν
617 οὔτʼ ἔθιγεν οὔθʼ ἥψαθʼ ἡμῶν, ἐλπίσιν δʼ ἐβόσκετο.
618 πρὸς φάτναις δὲ ταῦρον εὑρών, οὗ καθεῖρξʼ ἡμᾶς ἄγων,
619 τῷδε περὶ βρόχους ἔβαλλε γόνασι καὶ χηλαῖς ποδῶν,
620 θυμὸν ἐκπνέων, ἱδρῶτα σώματος στάζων ἄπο,
621 χείλεσιν διδοὺς ὀδόντας· πλησίον δʼ ἐγὼ παρὼν
622 ἥσυχος θάσσων ἔλευσσον. ἐν δὲ τῷδε τῷ χρόνῳ
623 ἀνετίναξʼ ἐλθὼν ὁ Βάκχος δῶμα καὶ μητρὸς τάφῳ
624 πῦρ ἀνῆψʼ· ὃ δʼ ὡς ἐσεῖδε, δώματʼ αἴθεσθαι δοκῶν,
625 ᾖσσʼ ἐκεῖσε κᾆτʼ ἐκεῖσε, δμωσὶν Ἀχελῷον φέρειν
62
6 ἐννέπων, ἅπας δʼ ἐν ἔργῳ δοῦλος ἦν, μάτην πονῶν.
627 διαμεθεὶς δὲ τόνδε μόχθον, ὡς ἐμοῦ πεφευγότος,
628 ἵεται ξίφος κελαινὸν ἁρπάσας δόμων ἔσω.
629 κᾆθʼ ὁ Βρόμιος, ὡς ἔμοιγε φαίνεται, δόξαν λέγω,
630 φάσμʼ ἐποίησεν κατʼ αὐλήν· ὃ δʼ ἐπὶ τοῦθʼ ὡρμημένος
631 ᾖσσε κἀκέντει φαεννὸν αἰθέρʼ, ὡς σφάζων ἐμέ.
632 πρὸς δὲ τοῖσδʼ αὐτῷ τάδʼ ἄλλα Βάκχιος λυμαίνεται·
633 δώματʼ ἔρρηξεν χαμᾶζε· συντεθράνωται δʼ ἅπαν
634 πικροτάτους ἰδόντι δεσμοὺς τοὺς ἐμούς· κόπου δʼ ὕπο
635 διαμεθεὶς ξίφος παρεῖται· πρὸς θεὸν γὰρ ὢν ἀνὴρ
63
6 ἐς μάχην ἐλθεῖν ἐτόλμησε. ἥσυχος δʼ ἐκβὰς ἐγὼ
637 δωμάτων ἥκω πρὸς ὑμᾶς, Πενθέως οὐ φροντίσας.
642 πέπονθα δεινά· διαπέφευγέ μʼ ὁ ξένος,
652 ὠνείδισας δὴ τοῦτο Διονύσῳ καλόν. Πενθεύς
6
67 ὡς δεινὰ δρῶσι θαυμάτων τε κρείσσονα.
690 σταθεῖσα βάκχαις, ἐξ ὕπνου κινεῖν δέμας,
697 σύνδεσμʼ ἐλέλυτο, καὶ καταστίκτους δορὰς
698 ὄφεσι κατεζώσαντο λιχμῶσιν γένυν.
724 ὥραν ἐκίνουν θύρσον ἐς βακχεύματα, 725 Ἴακχον ἀθρόῳ στόματι τὸν Διὸς γόνον 72
6 Βρόμιον καλοῦσαι· πᾶν δὲ συνεβάκχευʼ ὄρος 727 καὶ θῆρες, οὐδὲν δʼ ἦν ἀκίνητον δρόμῳ.
735 βακχῶν σπαραγμόν, αἳ δὲ νεμομέναις χλόην
743 ταῦροι δʼ ὑβρισταὶ κἀς κέρας θυμούμενοι
757 οὐ χαλκός, οὐ σίδηρος· ἐπὶ δὲ βοστρύχοις 7
58 πῦρ ἔφερον, οὐδʼ ἔκαιεν. οἳ δʼ ὀργῆς ὕπο 759 ἐς ὅπλʼ ἐχώρουν φερόμενοι βακχῶν ὕπο· 7
67 νίψαντο δʼ αἷμα, σταγόνα δʼ ἐκ παρηίδων 7
68 γλώσσῃ δράκοντες ἐξεφαίδρυνον χροός.
772 τὴν παυσίλυπον ἄμπελον δοῦναι βροτοῖς.
777 Διόνυσος ἥσσων οὐδενὸς θεῶν ἔφυ. Πενθεύς
918 καὶ μὴν ὁρᾶν μοι δύο μὲν ἡλίους δοκῶ, 919 δισσὰς δὲ Θήβας καὶ πόλισμʼ ἑπτάστομον· 920 καὶ ταῦρος ἡμῖν πρόσθεν ἡγεῖσθαι δοκεῖς 921 καὶ σῷ κέρατα κρατὶ προσπεφυκέναι. 922 ἀλλʼ ἦ ποτʼ ἦσθα θήρ; τεταύρωσαι γὰρ οὖν. Διόνυσος 923 ὁ θεὸς ὁμαρτεῖ, πρόσθεν ὢν οὐκ εὐμενής, 924 ἔνσπονδος ἡμῖν· νῦν δʼ ὁρᾷς ἃ χρή σʼ ὁρᾶν. Πενθεύς 925 τί φαίνομαι δῆτʼ; οὐχὶ τὴν Ἰνοῦς στάσιν 92
6 ἢ τὴν Ἀγαύης ἑστάναι, μητρός γʼ ἐμῆς; Διόνυσος 927 αὐτὰς ἐκείνας εἰσορᾶν δοκῶ σʼ ὁρῶν. 928 ἀλλʼ ἐξ ἕδρας σοι πλόκαμος ἐξέστηχʼ ὅδε, 929 οὐχ ὡς ἐγώ νιν ὑπὸ μίτρᾳ καθήρμοσα. Πενθεύς 930 ἔνδον προσείων αὐτὸν ἀνασείων τʼ ἐγὼ 931 καὶ βακχιάζων ἐξ ἕδρας μεθώρμισα. Διόνυσος 932 ἀλλʼ αὐτὸν ἡμεῖς, οἷς σε θεραπεύειν μέλει, 933 πάλιν καταστελοῦμεν· ἀλλʼ ὄρθου κάρα. Πενθεύς 934 ἰδού, σὺ κόσμει· σοὶ γὰρ ἀνακείμεσθα δή. Διόνυσος 935 ζῶναί τέ σοι χαλῶσι κοὐχ ἑξῆς πέπλων 93
6 στολίδες ὑπὸ σφυροῖσι τείνουσιν σέθεν. Πενθεύς 937 κἀμοὶ δοκοῦσι παρά γε δεξιὸν πόδα· 938 τἀνθένδε δʼ ὀρθῶς παρὰ τένοντʼ ἔχει πέπλος. Διόνυσος
940 ὅταν παρὰ λόγον σώφρονας βάκχας ἴδῃς. Πενθεύς
942 ἢ τῇδε, βάκχῃ μᾶλλον εἰκασθήσομαι; Διόνυσος 94
6 αὐταῖσι βάκχαις τοῖς ἐμοῖς ὤμοις φέρειν; Διόνυσος 97
6 καὶ Βρόμιος ἔσται. τἄλλα δʼ αὐτὸ σημανεῖ. Χορός
978 θίασον ἔνθʼ ἔχουσι Κάδμου κόραι,
987 ἔμολεν, ὦ βάκχαι; τίς ἄρα νιν ἔτεκεν; 99
6 γόνον γηγενῆ. Χορός
998 περὶ σὰ Βάκχιʼ, ὄργια ματρός τε σᾶς
1015 τὸν ἄθεον ἄνομον ἄδικον Ἐχίονος 101
6 τόκον γηγενῆ. Χορός' '1018 φάνηθι ταῦρος ἢ πολύκρανος ἰδεῖν 1019 δράκων ἢ πυριφλέγων ὁρᾶσθαι λέων. 1020 ἴθʼ, ὦ Βάκχε, θηραγρευτᾷ βακχᾶν 1021 γελῶντι προσώπῳ περίβαλε βρόχον 1022 θανάσιμον ὑπʼ ἀγέλαν πεσόντι word split in text 1023 τὰν μαινάδων. Ἄγγελος Β
1029 τί δʼ ἔστιν; ἐκ βακχῶν τι μηνύεις νέον; Ἄγγελος 1030 Πενθεὺς ὄλωλεν, παῖς Ἐχίονος πατρός. Χορός 1031 ὦναξ Βρόμιε, θεὸς φαίνῃ μέγας. Ἄγγελος
1037 ὁ Διόνυσος ὁ Διόνυσος, οὐ Θῆβαι
1047 ξένος θʼ ὃς ἡμῖν πομπὸς ἦν θεωρίας.
1059 ἔλεξε τοιάδʼ· Ὦ ξένʼ, οὗ μὲν ἕσταμεν, 10
61 ὄχθων δʼ ἔπʼ, ἀμβὰς ἐς ἐλάτην ὑψαύχενα, 10
63 10
68 ὣς κλῶνʼ ὄρειον ὁ ξένος χεροῖν ἄγων
1077 καὶ τὸν ξένον μὲν οὐκέτʼ εἰσορᾶν παρῆν,
1079 Διόνυσος, ἀνεβόησεν· Ὦ νεάνιδες, 1080 ἄγω τὸν ὑμᾶς κἀμὲ τἀμά τʼ ὄργια 1081 γέλων τιθέμενον· ἀλλὰ τιμωρεῖσθέ νιν. 1082 καὶ ταῦθʼ ἅμʼ ἠγόρευε καὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν 1083 καὶ γαῖαν ἐστήριξε φῶς σεμνοῦ πυρός. 1085 φύλλʼ εἶχε, θηρῶν δʼ οὐκ ἂν ἤκουσας βοήν. 108
6 αἳ δʼ ὠσὶν ἠχὴν οὐ σαφῶς δεδεγμέναι 1087 ἔστησαν ὀρθαὶ καὶ διήνεγκαν κόρας. 1088 ὃ δʼ αὖθις ἐπεκέλευσεν· ὡς δʼ ἐγνώρισαν 1089 σαφῆ κελευσμὸν Βακχίου Κάδμου κόραι, 1090 ᾖξαν πελείας ὠκύτητʼ οὐχ ἥσσονες 1091 ποδῶν τρέχουσαι συντόνοις δραμήμασι, 1092 μήτηρ Ἀγαύη σύγγονοί θʼ ὁμόσποροι 1093 πᾶσαί τε βάκχαι· διὰ δὲ χειμάρρου νάπης 1094 ἀγμῶν τʼ ἐπήδων θεοῦ πνοαῖσιν ἐμμανεῖς. 1095 ὡς δʼ εἶδον ἐλάτῃ δεσπότην ἐφήμενον, 109
6 πρῶτον μὲν αὐτοῦ χερμάδας κραταιβόλους 1097 ἔρριπτον, ἀντίπυργον ἐπιβᾶσαι πέτραν, 1098 ὄζοισί τʼ ἐλατίνοισιν ἠκοντίζετο. 1099 ἄλλαι δὲ θύρσους ἵεσαν διʼ αἰθέρος 1100 Πενθέως, στόχον δύστηνον· ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἤνυτον. 1101 κρεῖσσον γὰρ ὕψος τῆς προθυμίας ἔχων 1102 καθῆσθʼ ὁ τλήμων, ἀπορίᾳ λελημμένος. 1103 τέλος δὲ δρυΐνους συγκεραυνοῦσαι κλάδους 1104 ῥίζας ἀνεσπάρασσον ἀσιδήροις μοχλοῖς. 1105 ἐπεὶ δὲ μόχθων τέρματʼ οὐκ ἐξήνυτον, 110
6 ἔλεξʼ Ἀγαύη· Φέρε, περιστᾶσαι κύκλῳ 1107 πτόρθου λάβεσθε, μαινάδες, τὸν ἀμβάτην 1108 θῆρʼ ὡς ἕλωμεν, μηδʼ ἀπαγγείλῃ θεοῦ 1109 χοροὺς κρυφαίους. αἳ δὲ μυρίαν χέρα 1110 προσέθεσαν ἐλάτῃ κἀξανέσπασαν χθονός· 1111 ὑψοῦ δὲ θάσσων ὑψόθεν χαμαιριφὴς 1112 πίπτει πρὸς οὖδας μυρίοις οἰμώγμασιν 1113 Πενθεύς· κακοῦ γὰρ ἐγγὺς ὢν ἐμάνθανεν. 1115 καὶ προσπίτνει νιν· ὃ δὲ μίτραν κόμης ἄπο 111
6 ἔρριψεν, ὥς νιν γνωρίσασα μὴ κτάνοι 1117 τλήμων Ἀγαύη, καὶ λέγει, παρηίδος 1118 ψαύων· Ἐγώ τοι, μῆτερ, εἰμί, παῖς σέθεν 1119 Πενθεύς, ὃν ἔτεκες ἐν δόμοις Ἐχίονος· 1120 οἴκτιρε δʼ ὦ μῆτέρ με, μηδὲ ταῖς ἐμαῖς 1121 ἁμαρτίαισι παῖδα σὸν κατακτάνῃς. 1123 κόρας ἑλίσσουσʼ, οὐ φρονοῦσʼ ἃ χρὴ φρονεῖν, 1124 ἐκ Βακχίου κατείχετʼ, οὐδʼ ἔπειθέ νιν. 1125 λαβοῦσα δʼ ὠλένης ἀριστερὰν χέρα, 112
6 πλευραῖσιν ἀντιβᾶσα τοῦ δυσδαίμονος 1127 ἀπεσπάραξεν ὦμον, οὐχ ὑπὸ σθένους, 1128 ἀλλʼ ὁ θεὸς εὐμάρειαν ἐπεδίδου χεροῖν· 1129 Ἰνὼ δὲ τἀπὶ θάτερʼ ἐξειργάζετο, 1130 ῥηγνῦσα σάρκας, Αὐτονόη τʼ ὄχλος τε πᾶς 1131 ἐπεῖχε βακχῶν· ἦν δὲ πᾶσʼ ὁμοῦ βοή, 1132 ὃ μὲν στενάζων ὅσον ἐτύγχανʼ ἐμπνέων, 1133 αἳ δʼ ἠλάλαζον. ἔφερε δʼ ἣ μὲν ὠλένην, 1134 ἣ δʼ ἴχνος αὐταῖς ἀρβύλαις· γυμνοῦντο δὲ 1135 πλευραὶ σπαραγμοῖς· πᾶσα δʼ ᾑματωμένη 113
6 χεῖρας διεσφαίριζε σάρκα Πενθέως.
1139 οὐ ῥᾴδιον ζήτημα· κρᾶτα δʼ ἄθλιον, 1140 ὅπερ λαβοῦσα τυγχάνει μήτηρ χεροῖν, 1141 πήξασʼ ἐπʼ ἄκρον θύρσον ὡς ὀρεστέρου 1142 φέρει λέοντος διὰ Κιθαιρῶνος μέσου, 1143 λιποῦσʼ ἀδελφὰς ἐν χοροῖσι μαινάδων.
1145 τειχέων ἔσω τῶνδʼ, ἀνακαλοῦσα Βάκχιον 114
6 τὸν ξυγκύναγον, τὸν ξυνεργάτην ἄγρας,
1345 ὄψʼ ἐμάθεθʼ ἡμᾶς, ὅτε δὲ χρῆν, οὐκ ᾔδετε. Κάδμος ' None | sup>
6 I am here at the fountains of Dirke and the water of Ismenus. And I see the tomb of my thunder-stricken mother here near the palace, and the remts of her house, smouldering with the still living flame of Zeus’ fire, the everlasting insult of Hera against my mother.
58 But, you women who have left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia , my sacred band, whom I have brought from among the barbarians as assistants and companions to me, take your drums, native instruments of the city of the Phrygians, the invention of mother Rhea and myself,
64 From the land of Asia ,
65 having left sacred Tmolus, I am swift to perform for Bromius my sweet labor and toil easily borne, celebrating the god Bacchus Lit. shouting the ritual cry εὐοῖ . . Who is in the way? Who is in the way? Who? Let him get out of the way indoors, and let everyone keep his mouth pure E. R. Dodds takes this passage Let everyone come outside being sure to keep his mouth pure . He does not believe that there should be a full stop after the third τίς . , 70 peaking propitious things. For I will celebrate Dionysus with hymns according to eternal custom. Choru 73 Blessed is he who, being fortunate and knowing the rites of the gods, keeps his life pure and 75 has his soul initiated into the Bacchic revels, dancing in inspired frenzy over the mountains with holy purifications, and who, revering the mysteries of great mother Kybele, 80 brandishing the thyrsos, garlanded with ivy, serves Dionysus.Go, Bacchae, go, Bacchae, escorting the god Bromius, child of a god, 85 from the Phrygian mountains to the broad streets of Hellas—Bromius, Choru 88 Whom once, in the compulsion of birth pains, 90 the thunder of Zeus flying upon her, his mother cast from her womb, leaving life by the stroke of a thunderbolt. Immediately Zeus, Kronos’ son, 95 received him in a chamber fit for birth, and having covered him in his thigh shut him up with golden clasps, hidden from Hera.And he brought forth, when the Fate 100 had perfected him, the bull-horned god, and he crowned him with crowns of snakes, for which reason Maenads cloak their wild prey over their locks. Choru'101 had perfected him, the bull-horned god, and he crowned him with crowns of snakes, for which reason Maenads cloak their wild prey over their locks. Choru 105 O Thebes , nurse of Semele, crown yourself with ivy, flourish, flourish with the verdant yew bearing sweet fruit, and crown yourself in honor of Bacchus with branches of oak 110 or pine. Adorn your garments of spotted fawn-skin with fleeces of white sheep, and sport in holy games with insolent thyrsoi The thyrsos is a staff that is crowned with ivy and that is sacred to Dionysus and an emblem of his worship. . At once all the earth will dance— 115 whoever leads the sacred band is Bromius—to the mountain, to the mountain, where the crowd of women waits, goaded away from their weaving by Dionysus. Choru 120 O secret chamber of the Kouretes and you holy Cretan caves, parents to Zeus, where the Korybantes with triple helmet invented for me in their caves this circle, 125 covered with stretched hide; and in their excited revelry they mingled it with the sweet-voiced breath of Phrygian pipes and handed it over to mother Rhea, resounding with the sweet songs of the Bacchae; 130 nearby, raving Satyrs were fulfilling the rites of the mother goddess, and they joined it to the dances of the biennial festivals, in which Dionysus rejoices. Choru 135 He is sweet in the mountains cf. Dodds, ad loc. , whenever after the running dance he falls on the ground, wearing the sacred garment of fawn skin, hunting the blood of the slain goat, a raw-eaten delight, rushing to the 140 Phrygian, the Lydian mountains, and the leader of the dance is Bromius, evoe! A ritual cry of delight. The plain flows with milk, it flows with wine, it flows with the nectar of bees. 145 The Bacchic one, raising the flaming torch of pine on his thyrsos, like the smoke of Syrian incense, darts about, arousing the wanderers with his racing and dancing, agitating them with his shouts, 150 casting his rich locks into the air. And among the Maenad cries his voice rings deep: This last phrase taken verbatim from Dodds, ad loc. Go, Bacchae, go, Bacchae, with the luxury of Tmolus that flows with gold, 155 ing of Dionysus, beneath the heavy beat of drums, celebrating in delight the god of delight with Phrygian shouts and cries, 1
60 when the sweet-sounding sacred pipe sounds a sacred playful tune suited 1
65 to the wanderers, to the mountain, to the mountain! And the Bacchante, rejoicing like a foal with its grazing mother, rouses her swift foot in a gamboling dance. Teiresia
439 for which you sent us, nor have we set out in vain. This beast was docile in our hands and did not withdraw in flight, but yielded not unwillingly. He did not turn pale or change the wine-dark complexion of his cheek, but laughed and allowed us to bind him and lead him away.
443 He remained still, making my work easy, and I in shame said: Stranger, I do not lead you away willingly, but by order of Pentheus, who sent me. And the Bacchae whom you shut up, whom you carried off and bound in the chains of the public prison,
445 are set loose and gone, and are gamboling in the meadows, invoking Bromius as their god. of their own accord, the chains were loosed from their feet and keys opened the doors without human hand. This man has come to Thebe 57
6 within Io! Hear my voice, hear it, Io Bacchae, Io Bacchae! Choru 578 Who is here, who? From what quarter did the voice of the Joyful one summon me? Dionysu
580 Io! Io! I say again; it is I, the child of Zeus and Semele. Choru
582 Io! Io! Master, master! Come now to our company, Bromius. Dionysu
585 Shake the world’s plain, lady Earthquake! Choru
58
6 Oh! Oh! Soon the palace of Pentheus will be shaken in ruin. The following lines are probably delivered by individual chorus members. —Dionysus is in the halls. 590 Revere him.—We revere him!—Did you see these stone lintels on the pillars falling apart? Bromius cries out in victory indoors. Dionysu 594 Light the fiery lamp of lightning! 595 Burn, burn Pentheus’ home! Choru 59
6 Oh! Oh! Do you not see the the fire, do you not perceive, about the sacred tomb of Semele, the flame that Zeus’ thunderbolt left?
600 Cast on the ground your trembling bodies, Maenads, cast them down, for our lord, Zeus’ son, is coming against this palace, turning everything upside down. Enter Dionysus Dionysu
604 Barbarian women, have you fallen on the ground
605 o stricken with fear? You have, so it seems, felt Bacchus shaking the house of Pentheus. But get up and take courage, putting a stop to your trembling. Chorus Leader
608 Oh greatest light for us in our joyful revelry, how happy I am to see you—I who was alone and desolate before. Dionysu
610 Did you despair when I was sent to fall into Pentheus’ dark dungeon? Chorus Leader
612 How not? Who was my guardian, if you met with misfortune? But how were you freed, having met with an impious man? Dionysu
614 By myself I saved myself easily, without trouble. Chorus Leader
615 Did he not tie your hands in binding knots? Dionysu
61
6 In this too I mocked him, for, thinking to bind me, he neither touched nor handled me, but fed on hope. He found a bull by the stable where he took and shut me up, and threw shackles around its knees and hooves,
620 breathing out fury, dripping sweat from his body, gnashing his teeth in his lips. But I, being near, sitting quietly, looked on. Meanwhile, Bacchus came and shook the house and kindled a flame on his mother’s tomb. When Pentheus saw this, thinking that the house was burning,
625 he ran here and there, calling to the slaves to bring water, and every servant was at work, toiling in vain.Then he let this labor drop, as I had escaped, and snatching a dark sword rushed into the house. Then Bromius, so it seems to me—I speak my opinion—
630 created a phantom in the courtyard. Pentheus rushed at it headlong, stabbing at the shining air, as though slaughtering me. Besides this, Bacchus inflicted other damage on him: he knocked his house to the ground, and everything was shattered into pieces, while he saw my bitter chains. From fatigue,
635 dropping his sword, he is exhausted. For he, a man, dared to join battle with a god. Now I have quietly left the house and come to you, with no thought of Pentheus.But I think—at any rate I hear the tramping of feet inside—he will soon come to the front of the house. What will he say after this?
642 I have suffered terrible things; the stranger, who was recently constrained in bonds, has escaped me. Ah!
652 You reproach Dionysus for what is his glory. Pentheu
6
67 goaded to madness have darted from this land with their fair feet, I have come to tell you and the city, lord, that they are doing terrible things, beyond marvel. I wish to hear whether I should tell you in free speech the situation there or whether I should repress my report,
690 tanding up in the midst of the Bacchae, to wake their bodies from sleep, when she heard the lowing of the horned cattle. And they, casting off refreshing sleep from their eyes, sprang upright, a marvel of orderliness to behold, old, young, and still unmarried virgins.
697 First they let their hair loose over their shoulders, and secured their fawn-skins, as many of them as had released the fastenings of their knots, girding the dappled hides with serpents licking their jaws. And some, holding in their arms a gazelle or wild
724 Pentheus’ mother Agave out from the Bacchic revelry and do the king a favor? We thought he spoke well, and lay down in ambush, hiding ourselves in the foliage of bushes. They, at the appointed hour, began to wave the thyrsos in their revelries, 725 calling on Iacchus, the son of Zeus, Bromius, with united voice. The whole mountain revelled along with them and the beasts, and nothing was unmoved by their running. Agave happened to be leaping near me, and I sprang forth, wanting to snatch her,
735 from being torn apart by the Bacchae, but they, with unarmed hands, sprang on the heifers browsing the grass. and you might see one rending asunder a fatted lowing calf, while others tore apart cows.
743 You might see ribs or cloven hooves tossed here and there; caught in the trees they dripped, dabbled in gore. Bulls who before were fierce, and showed their fury with their horns, stumbled to the ground,
757 and whatever they put on their shoulders, whether bronze or iron, was not held on by bonds, nor did it fall to the ground. They carried fire on their locks, but it did not burn them. Some people in rage took up arms, being plundered by the Bacchae, 7
67 And they returned where they had come from, to the very fountains which the god had sent forth for them, and washed off the blood, and snakes cleaned the drops from the women’s cheeks with their tongues.Receive this god then, whoever he is,
772 into this city, master. For he is great in other respects, and they say this too of him, as I hear, that he gives to mortals the vine that puts an end to grief. Without wine there is no longer Aphrodite or any other pleasant thing for men. Chorus Leader
777 I fear to speak freely to the king, but I will speak nevertheless: Dionysus is inferior to none of the gods. Pentheu
918 Oh look! I think I see two suns, and twin Thebes , the seven-gated city. 920 And you seem to lead me, being like a bull and horns seem to grow on your head. But were you ever before a beast? For you have certainly now become a bull. Dionysu 923 The god accompanies us, now at truce with us, though formerly not propitious. Now you see what you should see. Pentheu 925 How do I look? Don’t I have the posture of Ino, or of my mother Agave? Dionysu 927 Looking at you I think I see them. But this lock of your hair has come out of place, not the way I arranged it under your headband. Pentheu 930 I displaced it indoors, shaking my head forwards and backwards and practising my Bacchic revelry. Dionysu 932 But I who ought to wait on you will re-arrange it. Hold up your head. Pentheu 933 Here, you arrange it; for I depend on you, indeed. Dionysu 935 Your girdle has come loose, and the pleats of your gown do not extend regularly down around your ankles. Pentheu 937 At least on my right leg, I believe they don’t. But on this side the robe sits well around the back of my leg. Dionysu
940 when contrary to your expectation you see the Bacchae acting modestly. Pentheu
942 But shall I be more like a maenad holding the thyrsos in my right hand, or in my left? Dionysu 94
6 Could I carry on my shoulders the glens of Kithairon, Bacchae and all? Dionysu 97
6 to a great contest, and Bromius and I will be the victors. The rest the matter itself will show. Choru
978 Go to the mountain, go, fleet hounds of Madness, where the daughters of Kadmos hold their company, and drive them raving
987 Who is this seeker of the mountain-going Kadmeans who has come to the mountain, to the mountain, Bacchae? Who bore him? For he was not born from a woman’s blood, but is the offspring of some lione
998 Whoever with wicked mind and unjust rage regarding your rites, Bacchus, and those of your mother, comes with raving heart
1015 this godless, lawless, unjust, earth-born offspring of Echion. Choru 1017 Appear as a bull or many-headed serpent or raging lion to see. 1020 Go, Bacchus, with smiling face throw a deadly noose around the hunter of the Bacchae as he falls beneath the flock of Maenads. Second Messenger
1029 What is it? Do you bring some news from the Bacchae? Messenger 1030 Pentheus, the child of Echion, is dead. sung Chorus Leader 1031 Lord Bacchus, truly you appear to be a great god. Messenger
1037 Dionysus, Dionysus, not Thebes , holds my allegiance. Messenger
1047 we began to ascend the heights of Kithairon, Pentheus and I—for I was following my master—and the stranger who was our guide to the sight. First we sat in a grassy vale,
1059 the worn thyrsos, making it leafy with ivy, while some, like colts freed from the painted yoke, were singing a Bacchic melody to one another. And the unhappy Pentheus said, not seeing the crowd of women: Stranger, 10
61 from where we are standing I cannot see these false Maenads. But on the hill, ascending a lofty pine, I might view properly the shameful acts of the Maenads. And then I saw the stranger perform a marvelous deed. For seizing hold of the lofty top-most branch of the pine tree, 10
68 he pulled it down, pulled it, pulled it to the dark earth. It was bent just as a bow or a curved wheel, when it is marked out by a compass, describes a circular course The sense of the text here is not clear. The translation (which follows Dodds) assumes that the curved wheel is not a hollow circle connected to the hub by spokes, but a single piece of wood which has been cut into the shape of a circle. In the action described, a peg ( τόρνος ) is fixed into the center of the word-section. A string with a piece of chalk on one end is then attached to the peg, and the chalk, held tight against the string, is able to mark out an even circle. The bending of the tree thus resembles the circular path taken by the chalk. : in this way the stranger drew the mountain bough with his hands and bent it to the earth, doing no mortal’s deed.
1077 He was seen by the Maenads more than he saw them, for sitting on high he was all but apparent, and the stranger was no longer anywhere to be seen, when a voice, Dionysus as I guess, cried out from the air: Young women, 1080 I bring the one who has made you and me and my rites a laughing-stock. Now punish him! And as he said this a light of holy fire was placed between heaven and earth. The air became quiet and the woody glen 1085 kept its leaves silent, nor would you have heard the sounds of animals. But they, not having heard the sound clearly, stood upright and looked all around. He repeated his order, and when the daughters of Kadmos recognized the clear command of Bacchus, 1090 they rushed forth, swift as a dove, running with eager speed of feet, his mother Agave, and her sisters, and all the Bacchae. They leapt through the torrent-streaming valley and mountain cliffs, frantic with the inspiration of the god. 1095 When they saw my master sitting in the pine, first they climbed a rock towering opposite the tree and began to hurl at him boulders violently thrown. Some aimed with pine branches and other women hurled their thyrsoi through the air 1100 at Pentheus, a sad target indeed. But they did not reach him, for the wretched man, caught with no way out, sat at a height too great for their eagerness. Finally like lightning they smashed oak branches and began to tear up the roots of the tree with ironless levers. 1105 When they did not succeed in their toils, Agave said: Come, standing round in a circle, each seize a branch, Maenads, so that we may catch the beast who has climbed aloft, and so that he does not make public the secret dances of the god. They applied countless hand 1110 to the pine and dragged it up from the earth. Pentheus fell crashing to the ground from his lofty seat, wailing greatly: for he knew he was in terrible trouble. His mother, as priestess, began the slaughter, 1115 and fell upon him. He threw the headband from his head so that the wretched Agave might recognize and not kill him. Touching her cheek, he said: It is I, mother, your son, Pentheus, whom you bore in the house of Echion. 1120 Pity me, mother, and do not kill me, your child, for my sins. But she, foaming at the mouth and twisting her eyes all about, not thinking as she ought, was possessed by Bacchus, and he did not persuade her. 1125 Seizing his left arm at the elbow and propping her foot against the unfortunate man’s side, she tore out his shoulder, not by her own strength, but the god gave facility to her hands. Ino began to work on the other side, 1130 tearing his flesh, while Autonoe and the whole crowd of the Bacchae pressed on. All were making noise together, he groaning as much as he had life left in him, while they shouted in victory. One of them bore his arm, another a foot, boot and all. His ribs were stripped bare 1135 from their tearings. The whole band, hands bloodied, were playing a game of catch with Pentheus’ flesh.His body lies in different places, part under the rugged rocks, part in the deep foliage of the woods, not easy to be sought. His miserable head, 1140 which his mother happened to take in her hands, she fixed on the end of a thyrsos and carries through the midst of Kithairon like that of a savage lion, leaving her sisters among the Maenads’ dances. She is coming inside these walls, preening herself
1145 on the ill-fated prey, calling Bacchus her fellow hunter, her accomplice in the chase, the glorious victor—in whose service she wins a triumph of tears.And as for me, I will depart out of the way of this calamity before Agave reaches the house.
1345 You have learned it too late; you did not know it when you should have. Kadmo ' None |
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16. Euripides, Electra, 439, 455-465, 467 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus, ancient, Euripidean • chorus, as emotional commentator • chorus, khoros, of islands • chorus, of stars
Found in books: Borg (2008), Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic, 389; Chaniotis (2021), Unveiling Emotions III: Arousal, Display, and Performance of Emotions in the Greek World, 348, 349, 350, 351, 352, 353, 354, 355, 356; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 172; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 120
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455 κλεινᾶς ἀσπίδος ἐν κύκλῳ 456 τοιάδε σήματα, δείματα 457 Φρύγια, τετύχθαι: 458 περιδρόμῳ μὲν ἴτυος ἕδρᾳ 459 Περσέα λαιμοτόμαν ὑπὲρ 460 ἁλὸς ποτανοῖσι πεδί- 461 λοισι φυὰν Γοργόνος ἴ- 462 σχειν, Διὸς ἀγγέλῳ σὺν ̔Ερ- 463 μᾷ, τῷ Μαί- 464 ἐν δὲ μέσῳ κατέλαμπε σάκει φαέθων 465 κύκλος ἀελίοιο' "
467 ἄστρων τ' αἰθέριοι χοροί," ' None | sup>
455 on the circle of your famous shield, O son of Thetis, were wrought these signs, a terror to the Phrygians: on the surrounding base of the shield’s rim, Perseus the throat-cutter, over 460 the sea with winged sandals, was holding the Gorgon’s body, with Hermes, Zeus’ messenger, the rustic son of Maia . Choru 464 In the center of the shield the sun’s bright circle 465 was shining on winged horses, and the heavenly chorus of stars, Pleiades, Hyades, bringing defeat to the eyes of Hector;
467 was shining on winged horses, and the heavenly chorus of stars, Pleiades, Hyades, bringing defeat to the eyes of Hector;' ' None |
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17. Euripides, Hercules Furens, 687-695 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus • chorus, khoros, of islands
Found in books: Borg (2008), Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic, 393; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 66
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687 The maids of Delos raise their song of joy, circling round the temple gates in honor of Leto’s fair son,'688 The maids of Delos raise their song of joy, circling round the temple gates in honor of Leto’s fair son, 690 the graceful dancer; so I with my old lips will cry aloud songs of joy at your palace-doors, like the swan, aged singer; for there is a good 695 theme for minstrelsy; he is the son of Zeus; yet high above his noble birth tower his deeds of prowess, for his toil secured this life of calm for man, ' None |
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18. Euripides, Ion, 216, 218, 1080-1081 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, as emotional commentator • chorus, of stars
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 47, 273, 281; Borg (2008), Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic, 389; Chaniotis (2021), Unveiling Emotions III: Arousal, Display, and Performance of Emotions in the Greek World, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 362
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216 Μίμαντα πυρὶ καταιθαλοῖ.
218 ἐναίρει Γᾶς τέκνων ὁ Βακχεύς.
1080 χορεύει δὲ σελάνα'1081 καὶ πεντήκοντα κόραι ' None | sup>
216 I do; ’tis blasting with its flame Mimas, that deadly foe. (Ninth) Choru
218 Bromius too, the god of revelry, is slaying another of the sons of Earth with his thyrsus of ivy, never meant for battle. (First) Choru
1080 the moon, and Nereus’ fifty daughters, that trip it lightly o’er the sea and the eternal rivers’ tides, join the dance in honour'1081 the moon, and Nereus’ fifty daughters, that trip it lightly o’er the sea and the eternal rivers’ tides, join the dance in honour ' None |
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19. Euripides, Orestes, 907-913, 1366-1368, 1381-1394, 1474-1476, 1514, 1516-1517 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aristotle, and the tragic chorus in the fourth century • Chorus,oaths sworn by • choruses/choreuts • choruses/choreuts, tragic • dithyramb/dithyrambic choruses/contests • leader, chorus-leader • tragedy, choruses of
Found in books: Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 206; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 229, 244; Papadodima (2022), Ancient Greek Literature and the Foreign: Athenian Dialogues II, 100, 104; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 186
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907 ὅταν γὰρ ἡδύς τις λόγοις φρονῶν κακῶς 908 πείθῃ τὸ πλῆθος, τῇ πόλει κακὸν μέγα:' "909 ὅσοι δὲ σὺν νῷ χρηστὰ βουλεύους' ἀεί," "910 κἂν μὴ παραυτίκ', αὖθίς εἰσι χρήσιμοι" "911 πόλει. θεᾶσθαι δ' ὧδε χρὴ τὸν προστάτην" "912 ἰδόνθ': ὅμοιον γὰρ τὸ χρῆμα γίγνεται" '913 τῷ τοὺς λόγους λέγοντι καὶ τιμωμένῳ.
1366 ἀλλὰ κτυπεῖ γὰρ κλῇθρα βασιλείων δόμων,'1367 σιγήσατ': ἔξω γάρ τις ἐκβαίνει Φρυγῶν," '1368 οὗ πευσόμεσθα τἀν δόμοις ὅπως ἔχει.
1381 ̓́Ιλιον ̓́Ιλιον, ὤμοι μοι, 1382 Φρύγιον ἄστυ καὶ καλλίβωλον ̓́Ι-' "1383 δας ὄρος ἱερόν, ὥς ς' ὀλόμενον στένω" '1384 ἁρμάτειον ἁρμάτειον μέλος' "1385 βαρβάρῳ βοᾷ δι' ὀρνιθόγονον" '1386 ὄμμα κυκνοπτέρου καλλοσύνας, Λήδας 1387 σκύμνου, δυσελένας 1388 δυσελένας, 1389 ξεστῶν περγάμων ̓Απολλωνίων 1390 ἐρινύν: ὀττοτοῖ: 1390 ἰαλέμων ἰαλέμων 1391 Δαρδανία τλᾶμον Γανυμήδεος 1392 ἱπποσύνᾳ, Διὸς εὐνέτα.' "1393 σαφῶς λέγ' ἡμῖν αὔθ' ἕκαστα τἀν δόμοις." "1394 τὰ γὰρ πρὶν οὐκ εὔγνωστα συμβαλοῦς' ἔχω." 1474 ἰαχᾷ 1475 βοηδρομοῦμεν ἄλλος ἄλλοθεν στέγης,' "1475 δόμων θύρετρα καὶ σταθμοὺς 1476 μοχλοῖσιν ἐκβαλόντες, ἔνθ' ἐμίμνομεν," "1476 ὃ μὲν πέτρους, ὃ δ' ἀγκύλας," 1514 δειλίᾳ γλώσσῃ χαρίζῃ, τἄνδον οὐχ οὕτω φρονῶν.
1516 ὄμοσον — εἰ δὲ μή, κτενῶ σε — μὴ λέγειν ἐμὴν χάριν.' "1517 τὴν ἐμὴν ψυχὴν κατώμος', ἣν ἂν εὐορκοῖμ' ἐγώ." '" None | sup>
907 confident in bluster and ignorant free speech, and plausible enough to involve them in some mischief sooner or later; for whenever a man with a pleasing trick of speech, but of unsound principles, persuades the mob, it is a serious evil to the state; but those who give sound and sensible advice on all occasions, 910 if not immediately useful to the state, yet prove so afterwards. And this is the way in which to regard a party leader; for the position is much the same in the case of an orator and a man in office. He was for stoning you and Orestes to death,
1366 But the bolts of the palace-doors rattle; be silent; for one of the Phrygians is coming out, from whom we will inquire of the state of matters within. Phrygian'1367 But the bolts of the palace-doors rattle; be silent; for one of the Phrygians is coming out, from whom we will inquire of the state of matters within. Phrygian
1381 Ilium , Ilium , oh me! city of Phrygia , and Ida’s holy hill with fruitful soil, how I mourn for your destruction a shrill song 1385 with barbarian cry; destroyed through her beauty, born from a bird, swan-feathered, Leda’s cub, hellish Helen! to be a curse to Apollo’s tower of polished stone. Ah! Alas! 1390 woe to Dardania, its wailing, wailing, for the horsemanship of Ganymede, bedfellow of Zeus. Chorus Leader 1393 Tell us clearly each event within the house. for till now I have been guessing at what I do not clearly understand. Phrygian
1474 With a loud cry from the house we battered down with bars the doors and doorposts where we had been, 1475 and ran to her assistance from every direction, one with stones, another with javelins, a third with a drawn sword; but Pylades came to meet us, undaunted, like
1514 Your cowardice makes you glib; this is not what you really think. Phrygian
1516 Swear you are not saying this to humor me, or I will kill you. Phrygian 1517 I swear by my life, an oath I would keep! Oreste ' None |
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20. Euripides, Phoenician Women, 301, 1489, 1579-1581 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aristotle, and the tragic chorus in the fourth century • chorus / choral lyric • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, ancient, Aeschylean • dithyramb/dithyrambic choruses/contests
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 41; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 130; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 229, 237; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 192
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1489 αἰδομένα φέρομαι βάκχα νεκύ-'
1579 πάντα δ' ἐν ἄματι τῷδε συνάγαγεν," '1580 ὦ πάτερ, ἁμετέροισι δόμοισιν ἄχη θεὸς ὃς 1581 τάδε τελευτᾷ. " None | sup>
1489 I do not veil my tender cheek shaded with curls, nor do I feel shame, from maiden modesty, at the dark red beneath my eyes, the blush upon my face, as I hurry on, in bacchic revelry for the dead,'
1579 a murderous libation of blood already cold, owed to Hades, poured out by Ares. Then, taking from the dead a sword of hammered bronze, she plunged it in her flesh, and in sorrow for her sons fell with her arms around them. So the god who fulfills these sorrows has brought them all together on this day, 1580 father, for our house. Chorus Leader ' None |
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21. Euripides, Trojan Women, 1245 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Troades destruction of city, response of Hecuba and Chorus to • chorus, witness and validation role
Found in books: Pillinger (2019), Cassandra and the Poetics of Prophecy in Greek and Latin Literature, 236; Pucci (2016), Euripides' Revolution Under Cover: An Essay, 198
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1245 μούσαις ἀοιδὰς δόντες ὑστέρων βροτῶν.'' None | sup>
1245 furnishing to bards of after-days a subject for their minstrelsy. Go, bury now in his poor tomb the dead, wreathed all duly as befits a corpse. And yet I think it makes little difference to the dead, if they get a gorgeous funeral;'' None |
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22. Herodotus, Histories, 8.65 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • choruses, aristocratic/egalitarian
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 113; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 177
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8.65 ἔφη δὲ Δίκαιος ὁ Θεοκύδεος, ἀνὴρ Ἀθηναῖος φυγάς τε καὶ παρὰ Μήδοισι λόγιμος γενόμενος τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον, ἐπείτε ἐκείρετο ἡ Ἀττικὴ χώρη ὑπὸ τοῦ πεζοῦ στρατοῦ τοῦ Ξέρξεω ἐοῦσα ἔρημος Ἀθηναίων, τυχεῖν τότε ἐὼν ἅμα Δημαρήτῳ τῷ Λακεδαιμονίῳ ἐν τῷ Θριασίῳ πεδίῳ, ἰδεῖν δὲ κονιορτὸν χωρέοντα ἀπʼ Ἐλευσῖνος ὡς ἀνδρῶν μάλιστά κῃ τρισμυρίων, ἀποθωμάζειν τε σφέας τὸν κονιορτὸν ὅτεων κοτὲ εἴη ἀνθρώπων, καὶ πρόκατε φωνῆς ἀκούειν, καί οἱ φαίνεσθαι τὴν φωνὴν εἶναι τὸν μυστικὸν ἴακχον. εἶναι δʼ ἀδαήμονα τῶν ἱρῶν τῶν ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι γινομένων τὸν Δημάρητον, εἰρέσθαί τε αὐτὸν ὅ τι τὸ φθεγγόμενον εἴη τοῦτο. αὐτὸς δὲ εἰπεῖν “Δημάρητε, οὐκ ἔστι ὅκως οὐ μέγα τι σίνος ἔσται τῇ βασιλέος στρατιῇ· τάδε γὰρ ἀρίδηλα, ἐρήμου ἐούσης τῆς Ἀττικῆς, ὅτι θεῖον τὸ φθεγγόμενον, ἀπʼ Ἐλευσῖνος ἰὸν ἐς τιμωρίην Ἀθηναίοισί τε καὶ τοῖσι συμμάχοισι. καὶ ἢν μέν γε κατασκήψῃ ἐς τὴν Πελοπόννησον, κίνδυνος αὐτῷ τε βασιλέι καὶ τῇ στρατιῇ τῇ ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ ἔσται, ἢν δὲ ἐπὶ τὰς νέας τράπηται τὰς ἐν Σαλαμῖνι, τὸν ναυτικὸν στρατὸν κινδυνεύσει βασιλεὺς ἀποβαλεῖν. τὴν δὲ ὁρτὴν ταύτην ἄγουσι Ἀθηναῖοι ἀνὰ πάντα ἔτεα τῇ Μητρὶ καὶ τῇ Κούρῃ, καὶ αὐτῶν τε ὁ βουλόμενος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων μυεῖται· καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τῆς ἀκούεις ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ὁρτῇ ἰακχάζουσι.” πρὸς ταῦτα εἰπεῖν Δημάρητον “σίγα τε καὶ μηδενὶ ἄλλῳ τὸν λόγον τοῦτον εἴπῃς· ἢν γάρ τοι ἐς βασιλέα ἀνενειχθῇ τὰ ἔπεα ταῦτα, ἀποβαλέεις τὴν κεφαλήν, καὶ σε οὔτε ἐγὼ δυνήσομαι ῥύσασθαι οὔτʼ ἄλλος ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ εἶς. ἀλλʼ ἔχʼ ἥσυχος, περὶ δὲ στρατιῆς τῆσδε θεοῖσι μελήσει.” τὸν μὲν δὴ ταῦτα παραινέειν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κονιορτοῦ καὶ τῆς φωνῆς γενέσθαι νέφος καὶ μεταρσιωθὲν φέρεσθαι ἐπὶ Σαλαμῖνος ἐπὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων. οὕτω δὴ αὐτοὺς μαθεῖν ὅτι τὸ ναυτικὸν τὸ Ξέρξεω ἀπολέεσθαι μέλλοι. ταῦτα μὲν Δίκαιος ὁ Θεοκύδεος ἔλεγε, Δημαρήτου τε καὶ ἄλλων μαρτύρων καταπτόμενος.'' None | sup>
8.65 Dicaeus son of Theocydes, an Athenian exile who had become important among the Medes, said that at the time when the land of Attica was being laid waste by Xerxes' army and there were no Athenians in the country, he was with Demaratus the Lacedaemonian on the Thriasian plain and saw advancing from Eleusis a cloud of dust as if raised by the feet of about thirty thousand men. They marvelled at what men might be raising such a cloud of dust and immediately heard a cry. The cry seemed to be the “Iacchus” of the mysteries, ,and when Demaratus, ignorant of the rites of Eleusis, asked him what was making this sound, Dicaeus said, “Demaratus, there is no way that some great disaster will not befall the king's army. Since Attica is deserted, it is obvious that this voice is divine and comes from Eleusis to help the Athenians and their allies. ,If it descends upon the Peloponnese, the king himself and his army on the mainland will be endangered. If, however, it turns towards the ships at Salamis, the king will be in danger of losing his fleet. ,Every year the Athenians observe this festival for the Mother and the Maiden, and any Athenian or other Hellene who wishes is initiated. The voice which you hear is the ‘Iacchus’ they cry at this festival.” To this Demaratus replied, “Keep silent and tell this to no one else. ,If these words of yours are reported to the king, you will lose your head, and neither I nor any other man will be able to save you, so be silent. The gods will see to the army.” ,Thus he advised, and after the dust and the cry came a cloud, which rose aloft and floated away towards Salamis to the camp of the Hellenes. In this way they understood that Xerxes' fleet was going to be destroyed. Dicaeus son of Theocydes used to say this, appealing to Demaratus and others as witnesses. "" None |
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23. Plato, Laws, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus, khoros, and civic identity • chorus, khoros, and social integration • chorus, khoros, and socialization • chorus, khoros, image of community • chorus, khoros, integral to sacrificial rituals • chorus, of Dionysus • dramatic festivals, choruses
Found in books: Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 79; Bartels (2017), Plato's Pragmatic Project: A Reading of Plato's Laws, 125; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 5
| 803d ΚΛ. πῶς; ΑΘ. νῦν μέν που τὰς σπουδὰς οἴονται δεῖν ἕνεκα τῶν παιδιῶν γίγνεσθαι· τὰ γὰρ περὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἡγοῦνται σπουδαῖα ὄντα τῆς εἰρήνης ἕνεκα δεῖν εὖ τίθεσθαι. τὸ δʼ ἦν ἐν πολέμῳ μὲν ἄρα οὔτʼ οὖν παιδιὰ πεφυκυῖα οὔτʼ αὖ παιδεία ποτὲ ἡμῖν ἀξιόλογος, οὔτε οὖσα οὔτʼ ἐσομένη, ὃ δή φαμεν ἡμῖν γε εἶναι σπουδαιότατον· δεῖ δὴ τὸν κατʼ εἰρήνην βίον ἕκαστον πλεῖστόν τε καὶ ἄριστον διεξελθεῖν. τίς οὖν'840c ἡμεῖς καλλίστην ἐκ παίδων πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγοντες ἐν μύθοις τε καὶ ἐν ῥήμασιν καὶ ἐν μέλεσιν ᾄδοντες, ὡς εἰκός, κηλήσομεν; ΚΛ. ποίας; ΑΘ. τῆς τῶν ἡδονῶν νίκης ἐγκρατεῖς ὄντας ἂν ζῆν εὐδαιμόνως, ἡττωμένους δὲ τοὐναντίον ἅπαν. πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἔτι φόβος ὁ τοῦ μηδαμῇ μηδαμῶς ὅσιον αὐτὸ εἶναι δύναμιν ἡμῖν οὐκ ἄρα ἕξει κρατεῖν ὧν ἄλλοι κεκρατήκασι τούτων ὄντες χείρονες; ΚΛ. εἰκὸς γοῦν. ΑΘ. ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἐνταῦθά ἐσμεν τούτου τοῦ νομίμου 876b πόλει ἐν ᾗ δικαστήρια φαῦλα καὶ ἄφωνα, κλέπτοντα τὰς αὑτῶν δόξας, κρύβδην τὰς κρίσεις διαδικάζει καί, ὃ τούτου δεινότερον, ὅταν μηδὲ σιγῶντα ἀλλὰ θορύβου μεστὰ καθάπερ θέατρα ἐπαινοῦντά τε βοῇ καὶ ψέγοντα τῶν ῥητόρων ἑκάτερον ἐν μέρει κρίνῃ, χαλεπὸν τότε πάθος ὅλῃ τῇ πόλει γίγνεσθαι φιλεῖ. τοῖς οὖν δὴ τοιούτοις δικαστηρίοις νομοθετεῖν ὑπό τινος ἀνάγκης ληφθέντα οὐκ εὐτυχὲς μέν, ὅμως δὲ ἐξ ἀνάγκης ' None | 803d Clin. How so? Ath. Now they imagine that serious work should be done for the sake of play; for they think that it is for the sake of peace that the serious work of war needs to be well conducted. But as a matter of fact we, it would seem, do not find in war, either as existing or likely to exist, either real play or education worthy of the name, which is what we assert to be in our eyes the most serious thing. It is the life of peace that everyone should live as much and as well as he can. What then is the right way? We should live out our lives playing'840c and sentences and songs. Clin. What victory? Ath. Victory over pleasures,—which if they win, they will live a life of bliss, but if they lose, the very opposite. Furthermore, will not the dread that this is a thing utterly unholy give them power to master those impulses which men inferior to themselves have mastered? Clin. It is certainly reasonable to suppose so. Ath. Now that we have reached this point in regard to our regulation, 876b that in a State where the courts are poor and dumb and decide their cases privily, secreting their own opinions, or (and this is a still more dangerous practice) when they make their decisions not silently but filled with tumult, like theaters, roaring out praise or blame of each speaker in turn,—then the whole State, as a rule, is faced with a difficult situation. To be compelled by some necessity to legislate for law courts of this kind is no happy task; but when one is so compelled, one must commit to them the right of fixing penaltie ' None |
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24. Sophocles, Ajax, 137-140, 151, 158-166, 185-186, 196, 201, 245-256, 349-350, 364-367, 443, 458, 460-461, 464, 479-480, 522, 565-573, 600-606, 693-705, 712, 1055, 1091-1092, 1100-1106, 1113, 1118-1119, 1159-1160, 1182-1184, 1216-1222 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aeschylus, and the chorus • Ajax and the chorus • Ajax, chorus • Ajax, chorus and army • Chorus of Choephori • Chorus of Seven, awareness of reciprocity • Chorus of Suppliants • Chorus,oaths sworn by • Euripides, and the chorus • Oedipus Rex, chorus • Oedipus the King (Sophocles), the chorus in • Sophocles, and the chorus/choral song • Thracian Women, The (Aeschylus), the chorus in • arrival, of the chorus • chorus • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, Antigone, flexible • chorus, Antigone, in danger and safe • chorus, Antigone, oedipus tyrannus • chorus, Antigone, opening out to Greeks and humans in general • chorus, Antigone, part of 'the large group' • chorus, the, and Ajax • chorus, the, and stasima • chorus, the, and the hero(ine) • chorus, the, and versification • chorus, the, arrival of • chorus, the, as minor characters • chorus, the, dialogue with • chorus, the, in agōn scenes • chorus, the, in the commoi • chorus, the, movements of • chorus, the, notation of • choruses/choreuts • choruses/choreuts, tragic • dance, and the chorus • dialogue, with the chorus • entrance, of the chorus • tragedy, choruses of
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 289; Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 231, 232, 233, 234, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241; Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 206; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 194, 250, 272, 284, 299, 300, 302, 303, 443, 709, 713, 715; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 258; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 31; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 89
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137 your throne on wave-washed Salamis near the open sea, when your fortune is fair, I rejoice with you. But whenever the stroke of Zeus, or the raging rumor of the Danaans with the clamor of their evil tongues attacks you, then I shrink with great fear and shudder in terror, 140 like the fluttering eye of the winged dove. Just so with the passing of the night loud tumults oppressed us to our dishonor, telling how you visited the meadow wild with horses and destroyed
151 and he wins much belief. For now he tells tales concerning you that easily win belief, and each hearer rejoices with spiteful scorn at your burdens more than he who told. Point your shaft at a noble spirit,
158 and you could not miss; but if a man were to speak such things against me, he would win no belief. It is on the powerful that envy creeps. Yet the small without the great are a teetering tower of defence. 160 For the lowly stand most upright and prosperous when allied with the great, and the great when served by less. But foolish men cannot learn good precepts in these matters beforehand. It is men of this sort that subject you to tumult, and 165 we lack the power to repel these charges without you, O King. For when they have escaped your eye, they chatter like flocking birds. But, terrified by a mighty vulture,
185 as to fall upon the flocks. When the gods send madness, it cannot but reach its target, but may Zeus and Phoebus avert the evil rumor of the Greeks! And if it is the great kings who slander you with their furtive stories,
196 and are making the flame of disaster blaze up to the sky! The violent insolence of your enemies rushes fearlessly about in the breezy glens, while the tongues of all the army cackle out a load of grief.
201 Mates of the ship of Ajax, offspring of the race that springs from the Erechtheids, the soil’s sons, cries of grief are the portion of us who care from afar for the house of Telamon.
245 The time has come for each of us to veil his head and steal away on foot, or to sit and take on the swift yoke of rowing, 250 giving her way to the sea-faring ship. So angry are the threats which the brother-kings, the sons of Atreus, speed against us! I fear to share in bitter death beneath an onslaught of stones, 255 crushed at this man’s side, whom an untouchable fate holds in its grasp. Tecmessa
349 Ah, good sailors, you alone of my friend 350 who alone still abide by the true bond of friendship, see how great a wave has just now crested over and broken around me, set on by a murderous storm! Choru
364 Do you see the bold, the strong of heart, 365 the dauntless in battles with the enemy—do you see me now, terrible in the force of my hands against beasts unformidable? Oh, the mockery! How I have been violated! Tecmessa
443 I am ruined as you see by dishonor from the Greeks. And yet of this much I feel sure: if Achilles lived, and had been called to award the first place in valor to any claimant of his arms, no one would have grasped them before me.
458 not that I wanted their escape. But if a god sends harm, it is true that even the base man can elude the worthier. And now what shall I do, when I am plainly hated by the gods, abhorred by the Greek forces and detested by all Troy and all these plains?
460 Shall I leave my station at the ships and the Atreidae to their own devices in order to go home across the Aegean ? And how shall I face my father Telamon, when I arrive? How will he bear to look on me, when I stand before him stripped, without that supreme prize of valor
479 What joy is there in day following day, now advancing us towards, now drawing us back from the verge of death? I would not buy at any price the man who feels the glow of empty hopes. 480 The options for a noble man are only two: either live with honor, or make a quick and honorable death. You have heard all. Choru
522 So remember me, too. A true man should cherish remembrance, if anywhere he takes some pleasure. It is kindness that always begets kindness. But whoever lets the memory of benefits seep from him, he can no longer be a noble man. Choru
565 O my warriors, my seafaring comrades! On you as on him, I lay this shared task of love: give my command to Teucer! Let him take this child to my home and set him before the face of Telamon, and of my mother, Eriboea, 570 o that he may become the comfort of their age into eternity until they come to the deep hollows of the god below . And order him that no commissioners of games, nor he who is my destroyer, should make my arms a prize for the Greeks. No, you take this for my sake, Son, my broad shield from which you have your name.
600 But I, miserable, have long been delayed here, still making my bed through countless months in the camp on the fields of Ida. 605 I am worn by time and with anxious expectation still of a journey to Hades the abhorred, the unseen. Choru
693 I shiver with rapture; I soar on the wings of sudden joy! 695 O Pan, O Pan, appear to us, sea-rover, from the stony ridge of snow-beaten Cyllene. King, dancemaker for the gods, come, so that joining with us you may set on the Nysian and the Cnosian steps, 700 your self-taught dances. Now I want to dance. And may Apollo, lord of Delos , step over the Icarian sea 705 and join me in his divine form, in eternal benevolence! Choru
712 our swift, sea-speeding ships, since Ajax forgets his pain anew, and has instead fully performed all prescribed sacrifices to the gods with worship and strict observance. The strong years make all things fade.
1055 ince he plotted the murder of the entire army and marched by night against us in order to take us with his spear. And if some god had not smothered this attempt, we would have been allotted the fate which he now has, and we would be dead and lie prostrate by an ignoble doom,1091 Menelaus, after laying down wise precepts, do not then violate the dead. Teucer
1100 On what grounds are you his commander? On what grounds have you a right to kingship over the men whom he brought from home? It was as Sparta ’s king that you came, not as master over us. Nowhere was it established among your lawful powers that you should order him any more than he you. 1105 You sailed here under the command of others, not as a supreme commander who might at any time exercise authority over Ajax. No, rule the troops you rule, and use your reverend words to punish them! But this man, whether you or the other general forbid it, I will lay
1113 in the grave as justice demands, and I will not fear your tongue. It was not at all for your wife’s sake that Ajax made this expedition, as did those toil-worn drudges. No, it was for the sake of the oath by which he had sworn, and not at all for you, since it was not his habit to value nobodies.
1118 Again, I say, in these troubles I cannot approve of such a tone. Harsh words sting, however just they are. Menelau
1159 I will go—it would be a disgrace to have it known 1160 that I argue when I have the power to use force. Teucer
1182 Take it, Nephew, and keep it safe. Let no one move you, but kneel there and cling to the dead. And you there, do not stand idly by like women, not men. Help defend us until I return, when I have seen to a grave for him, though all the world forbids it. Exit Teucer. Choru
1216 to a maligt divinity. What joy, then, what delight awaits me anymore? O to be where the wooded wave-washed cape fences off the deep sea, 1220 to be beneath Sunium’s jutting plateau, so that we might salute sacred Athens ! Enter Teucer. Teucer ' None |
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25. Sophocles, Antigone, 61-62, 74-77, 152-154, 159-160, 332-341, 356, 367, 369, 810-862, 876, 883-886, 940, 1015, 1115-1154, 1339 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Ajax, chorus • Ajax, chorus and army • Antigone (Sophocles), chorus in • Antigone, chorus • Chorus of Agamemnon • Chorus of Suppliants • Chorus,oaths sworn by • Electra, chorus • Euripides, and the chorus • Sophocles, and the chorus/choral song • Trachiniae, chorus • arrival, of the chorus • chorus • chorus leader • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, Antigone • chorus, Antigone, Electra • chorus, Antigone, flexible • chorus, Antigone, in danger and safe • chorus, Antigone, opening out to Greeks and humans in general • chorus, Antigone, part of 'the large group' • chorus, in drama • chorus, of stars • chorus, the, Sophocles’ use of • chorus, the, and Creon • chorus, the, and Oedipus • chorus, the, and women • chorus, the, arrival of • chorus, the, dialogue with • chorus, the, in the commoi • chorus, the, notation of • chorus, the, prayer of • choruses, and cosmic imagery • choruses, aristocratic/egalitarian • choruses/choreuts • choruses/choreuts, tragic • dialogue, with the chorus • leader, chorus-leader • tragedy, choruses of
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 41, 48, 273, 274, 277, 280, 289, 290, 315, 316; Bierl (2017), Time and Space in Ancient Myth, Religion and Culture, 116, 123, 126, 127, 132; Borg (2008), Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic, 389; Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 245, 246; Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 206; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 255, 273, 355, 400, 401, 402, 403, 441, 458, 709, 714; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 258; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 112; Papadodima (2022), Ancient Greek Literature and the Foreign: Athenian Dialogues II, 65, 66; Park (2023), Reciprocity, Truth, and Gender in Pindar and Aeschylus. 73; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 170, 171, 177; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 89
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61 we transgress against an autocrat’s decree or his powers. No, we must remember, first, that ours is a woman’s nature, and accordingly not suited to battles against men; and next, that we are ruled by the more powerful, so that we must obey in these things and in things even more stinging.
74 would I welcome you as my partner in this action. No, be the sort that pleases you. I will bury him—it would honor me to die while doing that. I shall rest with him, loved one with loved one, a pious criminal. For the time is greater 75 that I must serve the dead than the living, since in that world I will rest forever. But if you so choose, continue to dishonor what the gods in honor have established.
152 let us make for ourselves forgetfulness after the recent wars, and visit all the temples of the gods with night-long dance and song. And may Bacchus, who shakes the earth of Thebes , rule our dancing!
159 But look, the king of the land is coming here, Creon, the son of Menoeceus, our new ruler in accordance with the new circumstances fated by the gods. What policy is he setting in motion, 160 that he has proposed this special conference of elders, and summoned it by a general mandate?
332 Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man. 335 This power spans the sea, even when it surges white before the gales of the south-wind, and makes a path under swells that threaten to engulf him. Earth, too, the eldest of the gods, the immortal, the unwearied, 340 he wears away to his own ends, turning the soil with the offspring of horses as the plows weave to and fro year after year.
356 wind and the moods that give order to a city he has taught himself, and how to flee the arrows of the inhospitable frost under clear skies and the arrows of the storming rain.
367 Possessing resourceful skill, a subtlety beyond expectation he moves now to evil, now to good. When he honors the laws of the land and the justice of the gods to which he is bound by oath,
810 and never again. No, Hades who lays all to rest leads me living to Acheron ’s shore, though I have not had my due portion of the chant that brings the bride, nor has any hymn been mine 815 for the crowning of marriage. Instead the lord of Acheron will be my groom. 817 Then in glory and with praise you depart to that deep place of the dead, neither struck by wasting sickness, 820 nor having won the wages of the sword. No, guided by your own laws and still alive, unlike any mortal before, you will descend to Hades. 823 I have heard with my own ears how our Phrygian guest, the daughter of Tantalus, perished 825 in so much suffering on steep Sipylus—how, like clinging ivy, the sprouting stone subdued her. And the rains, as men tell, do not leave her melting form, nor does the snow, 830 but beneath her weeping lids she dampens her collar. Most like hers is the god-sent fate that leads me to my rest. 834 Yet she was a goddess, as you know, and the offspring of gods, 835 while we are mortals and mortal-born. Still it is a great thing for a woman who has died to have it said of her that she shared the lot of the godlike in her life, and afterwards, in death. 839 Ah, you mock me! In the name of our fathers’ gods, 840 why do you not wait to abuse me until after I have gone, and not to my face, O my city, and you, her wealthy citizens? Ah, spring of Dirce, and you holy ground of Thebes whose chariots are many, 845 you, at least, will bear me witness how unwept by loved ones, and by what laws I go to the rock-closed prison of my unheard-of tomb! Ah, misery! 850 I have no home among men or with the shades, no home with the living or with the dead. 853 You have rushed headlong to the far limits of daring, and against the high throne of Justice 855 you have fallen, my daughter, fallen heavily. But in this ordeal you are paying for some paternal crime. 858 You have touched on my most bitter thought 860 and moved my ever-renewed pity for my father and for the entire doom ordained for us, the famed house of Labdacus. Oh, the horrors of our mother’s bed! Oh, the slumbers of the wretched mother at the side
876 Unwept, unfriended, without marriage-song, I am led in misery on this journey that cannot be put off. No longer is it permitted me, unhappy girl,
883 Do you not know that dirges and wailing before death would never be given up, if it were allowed to make them freely? 885 Take her away—now! And when you have enshrouded her, as I proclaimed, in her covered tomb, leave her alone, deserted—let her decide whether she wishes to die or to live entombed in such a home. It makes no difference, since our hands are clean so far as regards this girl.
940 Look at me, you who are Thebes ’ lords—look at the only remaining daughter of the house of your kings. See what I suffer, and at whose hands, because I revered reverence! Antigone is led away by the guards.
1015 And it is your will that is the source of the sickness now afflicting the city. For the altars of our city and our hearths have one and all been tainted by the birds and dogs with the carrion taken from the sadly fallen son of Oedipus. And so the gods no more accept prayer and sacrifice at our hands,1115 God of many names, glory of the Cadmeian bride and offspring of loud-thundering Zeus, you who watch over far-famed Italy and reign 1120 in the valleys of Eleusinian Deo where all find welcome! O Bacchus, denizen of Thebes , the mother-city of your Bacchants, dweller by the wet stream of Ismenus on the soil 1125 of the sowing of the savage dragon’s teeth! 1126 The smoky glare of torches sees you above the cliffs of the twin peaks, where the Corycian nymphs move inspired by your godhead, 1130 and Castalia’s stream sees you, too. The ivy-mantled slopes of Nysa ’s hills and the shore green with many-clustered vines send you, when accompanied by the cries of your divine words, 1135 you visit the avenues of Thebes . 1137 Thebes of all cities you hold foremost in honor, together with your lightning-struck mother. 1140 And now when the whole city is held subject to a violent plague, come, we ask, with purifying feet over steep Parnassus , 1145 or over the groaning straits! 1146 O Leader of the chorus of the stars whose breath is fire, overseer of the chants in the night, son begotten of Zeus, 1150 appear, my king, with your attendant Thyiads, who in night-long frenzy dance and sing you as Iacchus the Giver!
1339 Lead me away, I beg you, a rash, useless man. ' None |
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26. Sophocles, Electra, 121, 124-127, 129, 153-163, 193-200, 226, 234, 477, 491, 597-598, 856, 947-989, 1354, 1509 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Ajax (Sophocles), the chorus in • Electra, chorus • Philoctetes (Sophocles), the chorus in • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, Antigone, Electra • chorus, Antigone, flexible • chorus, Antigone, in danger and safe • chorus, Antigone, opening out to Greeks and humans in general • chorus, Antigone, part of 'the large group' • chorus, the, Sophocles’ use of • chorus, the, and Electra • chorus, the, and stasima • chorus, the, and the hero(ine) • chorus, the, and versification • chorus, the, and women • dance, and the chorus
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 343; Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 257, 262, 263; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 251, 354, 355, 390, 713, 743
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121 Ah, Electra, child of a most wretched mother, why are you always wasting away in this unsated mourning for Agamemnon, who long ago was godlessly'
124 Ah, Electra, child of a most wretched mother, why are you always wasting away in this unsated mourning for Agamemnon, who long ago was godlessly 125 ensnared in your false mother’s wiles and betrayed by her corrupt hand? May the one who did that perish, if I may speak such a curse without breaking the gods’ laws. Electra
129 Ah, noble-hearted girls,
153 Ah, all-suffering Niobe, you I count divine, since you weep forever in your rocky tomb! Choru 154 Not to you alone of mortals, my daughter, has sorrow come, 155 though you face it with less restraint than those girls inside, Chrysothemis and Iphianassa, whose parents and blood you share. They still live, as he, too, lives, sorrowing in his secluded youth, 160 yet happy in that this famous realm of the Mycenaeans shall one day receive him as a noble lord, if with the blessing of Zeus’s escort he, Orestes, returns to this land. Electra
193 Mournful was the voice heard at his return, and mournful the voice amidst your father’s reclining banquet 195 when the straight, swift blow of the bronze-jawed axe was sped against him. Deceit was the plotter, Lust the slayer, two dread parents of a dreadful 200 phantom, whether it was god or mortal that did this deed. Electra
226 o long as life is in me. Who indeed, my noble friends, who that keeps what is appropriate in mind, would think any word of comfort right for my ears? Let me be, let me be, my comforters!
234 It is nevertheless with goodwill, like a true-hearted mother,
477 Justice, the sender of the omen, will come, winning the just victory of her hands’ might. She will come in pursuit before long, my child. Courage is mine,
491 the bronze-shod Erinys. For an unwed, unbetrothed passion for a marriage polluted by murder seized the pair, though divine law forbade it to them.
597 But no, I can hardly even admonish you, when your every cry is that I slander my mother. I think, rather, that you are no less a mistress to me than a mother; so lowly is the life that I live,
856 Cease, then, to divert me from it, since no longer— Choru
947 Hear, then, in what way I have decided to take action. As for the support of friends, you yourself doubtless know that we have none. Hades has taken our friends away, 950 and we two are left alone. I, so long as I heard that my brother still lived and prospered, had hopes that he would yet come to avenge the murder of our father. But now that he is no more, I look next to you 955 and ask that you not flinch from aiding me, your sister, to slay our father’s murderer, Aegisthus. There—I can have no secrets from you anymore. How long will you wait in indifference? What hope is left standing, to which your eyes can turn? Now you are right to complain 960 that you are robbed of possession of your father’s estate; now you may mourn that you have advanced this far in years without wedded love or bridal song. And do not cling to hopes that you will ever meet with such joys. The man, Aegisthus, is not so unthinking 965 as ever to permit that offspring should shoot up from you or from me either to be a certain bane for himself. But if you will follow my plans, first you will win praise for piety from our dead father below, and from our brother, too; 970 next, you shall be called hereafter free, just as you were born, and shall find a worthy marriage. For noble natures draw the gaze of all. Then do you not see what fair fame you will procure for yourself and for me, by obeying me? 975 What citizen or stranger when he sees us will not greet us with praises such as these: Behold these two sisters, my friends! They saved their father’s house, and at a time when their foes were firmly established, they took their lives in their hands and administered bloodshed! Worthy of love is this pair, worthy of reverence from all. At festivals, and wherever the citizenry is assembled, let these two be honored by all men for their manly courage. Thus will every one speak of us, 985 o that in life and in death our glory shall not fail. Come, dear sister, be persuaded! Toil with our father, share the burden of your brother, put an end to my troubles and an end to yours, keeping in mind that a shameful life brings shame upon the noble-born. Choru
1354 O joyous day! O sole preserver of Agamemnon’s house, ' None |
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27. Sophocles, Oedipus At Colonus, 111-112, 122-125, 145, 171, 814-886, 911-923, 1338 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Oedipus Rex, chorus • Oedipus at Colonus, chorus and large group • arrival, of the chorus • chorus, Antigone, cultural context • chorus, Antigone, flexible • chorus, Antigone, in danger and safe • chorus, Antigone, oedipus tyrannus • chorus, Antigone, part of 'the large group' • chorus, the, and the stage • chorus, the, and versification • chorus, the, arrival of • chorus, the, function of • spectators, and choruses
Found in books: Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 201, 202, 203, 212, 218; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 217, 252, 712, 715
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111 Hush! Here come some aged men to spy out your resting-place. Oedipu'112 Hush! Here come some aged men to spy out your resting-place. Oedipu
122 man most insatiate of all who live? Scan the ground, look well, press the search everywhere. A wanderer that old man must have been, 125 a wanderer, not a dweller in the land; otherwise he never would have advanced into this untrodden grove of the maidens with whom none may strive.
145 that you would call him fortunate, guardians of this land! It is plain; otherwise I would not be creeping, as you see, by the eyes of others, and buoying my strength upon weakness. Choru
171 My father, we must behave just as the townspeople do, listening and giving way where it is necessary. Oedipu
814 I call these men, and not you, to witness the tenor of your words to your friends. And if I ever catch you— Oedipu 815 And who could catch me against the will of these allies? Creon 816 I promise you, soon you will be pained even without that. Oedipu 817 Where is the deed which backs that threatening word? Creon 818 One of your two daughters I have myself just seized and sent away. The other I will drag off immediately. Oedipu 822 Oh! Strangers, what will you do? Will you betray me? Will you not drive the godless man from this land? Choru 824 Depart, stranger! Quick! 825 Your present deed is not just, nor the deed which you have done. Creon To his attendants. 826 It is time for you to drag this girl off against her will, if she will not go freely. Antigone 828 Wretched that I am! Where can I flee? Where find help from gods or men? Choru 830 I will not touch this man, but her who is mine. Oedipu 833 Oh, city ! Choru 834 What are you doing, stranger? Release her! 835 Your strength and ours will soon come to the test. Creon 837 There will be war with Thebes for you, if you harm me. Oedipu 839 Do not make commands where you are not the master. Choru 841 Help, men of Colonus , bring help! The city, our city, is attacked by force! Come to our aid! Antigone 844 I am being dragged away in misery. Strangers, strangers! Oedipu 848 So those two staffs will never again support your path. 850 But since you wish to overcome your country and your friends, whose will I, though tyrant as well, am here discharging, then I wish you victory. For in time, I am sure, you will come to recognize all this, that now too as in time past, it is you who have done yourself no good, by indulging your anger despite your friends. 855 This has always been your ruin. Choru 857 I will not let go, unless you give back the maidens. Creon 858 Then you will soon give the city a more valuable prize, for I will lay hands on more than those two girls. Choru 862 Indeed, unless the ruler of this realm prevents you. Oedipu 863 Voice of shamelessness! Will you really lay hands on me? Creon 870 grant in time an old age such as mine! Creon 871 Do you see this, people of the land? Oedipu 872 They see both you and me. They know that I have suffered in deeds, and my defense is mere words. Creon 874 I will not check my anger. Though I am alone 875 and slow with age, I will take this man by force. Oedipu 876 Ah, my wretchedness! Choru 877 What arrogance you have come with, stranger, if you think you will achieve this! Creon 878 I will. Choru 879 Then I think this city no longer exists. Creon 880 For men who are just, you see, the weak vanquishes the strong. Oedipu 884 Hear people, hear rulers of the land! Come quickly, come! 885 These men are on their way to cross our borders! Enter Theseus. Theseu
911 until you bring those maidens and produce them in my sight. For your action is a disgrace to me, and to your own ancestors, and to your country. You have come to a city that practices justice and sanctions nothing without law, 915 yet you have spurned her lawful authorities and made this violent assault. You are taking captives at will and subjugating them by force, as if you believed that my city was void of men, or manned by slaves, and that I counted for nothing. Yet it was not Thebes that trained you to be evil. Thebes is not accustomed to rearing unjust men;— 920 nor would she praise you, if she learned that you are despoiling me, and despoiling the gods, when by force you drive off their unfortunate suppliants. If my foot were upon your land, never would I drag off or lead away someone
1338 I am a beggar and a stranger, as you are yourself; by paying court to others both you and I have a home, obtaining by lot the same fortune. But he is tyrant at home—wretched me!—and in his pride laughs at you and me alike. ' None |
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28. Sophocles, Oedipus The King, 101, 154, 331, 337-341, 374-375, 380-381, 383-384, 390-400, 437, 443, 535, 541-542, 647, 653, 656-664, 669-670, 863-872, 882-883, 895-897 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aeschylus, and the chorus • Chorus,oaths sworn by • Euripides, and the chorus • Oedipus Rex, chorus • Oedipus the King (Sophocles), the chorus in • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, Antigone, flexible • chorus, Antigone, in danger and safe • chorus, Antigone, oedipus tyrannus • chorus, Antigone, part of 'the large group' • chorus, the, and Creon • chorus, the, dialogue with • chorus, the, movements of • dialogue, with the chorus • dithyramb/dithyrambic choruses/contests • entrance, of the chorus • prayer, chorus in Oedipus Tyrannus • spectators, and choruses
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 47, 316; Budelmann (1999), The Language of Sophocles: Communality, Communication, and Involvement, 206, 207, 208, 210, 211, 212, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 194, 439; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 257; Petrovic and Petrovic (2016), Inner Purity and Pollution in Greek Religion, 180, 181, 182; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 31, 89, 387
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101 By banishing the man, or by paying back bloodshed with bloodshed, since it is this blood which brings the tempest on our city. Oedipu154 O sweetly-speaking message of Zeus, in what spirit have you come to glorious Thebes from golden Pytho ? I am on the rack, terror shakes my soul, O Delian healer to whom wild cries rise,
331 What are you saying? Do you know the secret and refuse to tell it? Will you betray and destroy the state? Teiresia
337 You blame my anger, but do not perceive your own: no, you blame me. Oedipu 339 Who would not be angry hearing such words, 340 with which you now are slighting the city? Teiresia 341 The future will come of itself, though I shroud it in silence. Oedipu
374 Night, endless night has you in her keeping, so that you can never hurt me, 375 or any man that sees the light of the sun. Teiresia
380 O wealth, and empire, and skill surpassing skill in life’s keen rivalries, how great is the envy in your keeping, if for the sake of this office which the city has entrusted to me, a gift unsought,
390 Come, tell me, where have you proved yourself a seer? Why, when the watchful dog who wove dark song was here, did you say nothing to free the people? Yet the riddle, at least, was not for the first comer to read: there was need of a seer’s help, 395 and you were discovered not to have this art, either from birds, or known from some god. But rather I, Oedipus the ignorant, stopped her, having attained the answer through my wit alone, untaught by birds. It is I whom you are trying to oust, assuming that 400 you will have great influence in Creon’s court. But I think that you and the one who plotted these things will rue your zeal to purge the land: if you did not seem to be an old man, you would have learned to your cost how haughty you are. Choru
437 What parents? Wait. What man is my father? Teiresia
443 But if it saved this city I care not. Teiresia
535 the palpable thief of its crown? Come, tell me, in the name of the gods, was it cowardice or folly which you saw in me and which led you to plot this thing? Did you think that I would not notice this deed of yours creeping upon me by stealth, or that if I became aware of it I would not ward it off?
541 Is your attempt not foolish, to seek the throne without followers or friends—a prize which followers and wealth must win? Creon
647 In the name of the gods, believe it, Oedipus, first for the sake of this awful oath to the gods, then for my sake and for the sake of those who stand before you. Choru
653 Do you understand what you crave? Choru
656 That you should never use an unproved rumor to cast a dishonoring charge on the friend who has bound himself with a curse. Oedipu 658 Then be quite aware that when you seek this you are seeking death or exile from this land for me. Choru 660 No, by the god that stands at the head of all the host of the gods, no, by the sun. Unblest, unbefriended, may I die the worst possible death, if I have this thought!
669 Then let him go, though I am surely doomed to be killed 670 or thrust dishonored from the land. Your words, not his, move me to compassion. Creon
863 May destiny still find me winning the praise of reverent purity in all words and 865 deeds sanctioned by those laws of sublime range, called into life through the high clear aether, whose father is Olympus alone. Their parent was no race of mortal men, 870 no, nor shall oblivion ever lay them to sleep: the god is mighty in them, and he does not grow old. Choru
882 quell such rivalry as benefits the state. I will always hold the god as our protector. Choru
895 No. For if such deeds are held in honor, why should we join in the sacred dance? Choru 897 No longer will I go reverently to the earth’s central and inviolate shrine, no more to Abae’s temple or to Olympia , ' None |
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29. Sophocles, Women of Trachis, 216-221, 1039-1040, 1189, 1193-1201, 1220-1221 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chorus,oaths sworn by • Euripides, and the chorus • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, the, and stasima • chorus, the, and the hero(ine) • chorus, the, dialogue with • chorus, the, function of • dance, and the chorus • dithyramb/dithyrambic choruses/contests
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 289; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 444, 712, 713; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 257; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 25
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216 and to the nymphs her neighbors! I am uplifted, I will not spurn the flute—O you master of my heart! Behold, his ivy stirs me! Euoe! 220 Quickly it wheels me round in Bacchus’s race! Oh, oh, Paean! Look, dear lady! All is taking shape, plain to see, before your gaze. Deianeira:
1039 Heal this pain with which your godless mother has enraged me! So may I see her fall to ruin, exactly, just exactly, as she has destroyed me! '1040 Sweet Hades, brother of Zeus, give me sleep, give me sleep. Kill me in my misery by a swift-flying doom! Chorus:
1189 And pray that, if you break this oath, you may suffer. Hyllus:
1193 Then, you must carry my body there after raising it up in your own hands, aided by as many of our friends as you require; 1195 and when you have cut many a branch from the deep-rooted oak and chopped down many a sturdy wild-olive, you must lay my body on them and with a flaming pine-torch burn it. And let no tear of mourning show itself there. 1200 No, do this without laments or tears, if you are indeed my son. But if you fail to do this, even from the world below my curse and my wrath shall await you for ever. Hyllus:
1220 You mean Iole, I would guess. Heracles: 1221 You know her. Just this is the command that I impose upon you, my son: when I am dead, if you wish to show your piety by remembrance of your oath to your father, make this woman your wife and do not disobey your father. ' None |
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30. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aristophanes, Acharnian chorus in • chorus • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, the, competition of
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 42, 273, 375; Bowie (2023), Essays on Ancient Greek Literature and Culture, Volume 2: Comedy, Herodotus, Hellenistic and Imperial Greek Poetry, the Novels. 57; Hesk (2000), Deception and Democracy in Classical Athens, 266; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 181; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 258, 277, 280
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31. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, in drama • chorus, the, competition of • choruses, festivals
Found in books: Cosgrove (2022), Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustine, 242; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 181; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 96, 106; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 276, 298
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32. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aristophanes, Acharnian chorus in • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, in drama • chorus, khoros, Athenian empire as • chorus, khoros, flexible metaphor • chorus, khoros, of islands
Found in books: Hesk (2000), Deception and Democracy in Classical Athens, 265; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 113; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 133; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 238, 257
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33. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 41; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 361
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34. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, in drama • chorus, khoros, Athenian empire as • chorus, khoros, flexible metaphor • chorus, khoros, of islands
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 41, 48; Bowie (2023), Essays on Ancient Greek Literature and Culture, Volume 2: Comedy, Herodotus, Hellenistic and Imperial Greek Poetry, the Novels. 89; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 113, 115; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 86, 106, 123; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 303
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35. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus, ancient, Greek, comic • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, in drama • chorus, khoros, Athenian empire as • chorus, khoros, flexible metaphor • chorus, khoros, of islands • chorus, the, requests for
Found in books: Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 45, 46; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 84; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 113, 115, 116; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 79; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 256, 282
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36. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, in drama
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 379; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 123
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37. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus • chorus / choral lyric • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, ancient, Greek, comic • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, in drama • chorus, the, numbers of • dithyramb/dithyrambic choruses/contests • leader, chorus-leader
Found in books: Athanassaki and Titchener (2022), Plutarch's Cities, 88; Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 42, 48, 109, 175, 273, 281, 373; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 45; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 695; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 229; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 86; Papadodima (2022), Ancient Greek Literature and the Foreign: Athenian Dialogues II, 66; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 255; de Jáuregui (2010), Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, 187, 293
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38. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, ancient, Greek, comic • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, in drama • chorus, khoros, of islands
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 42, 47, 273, 289, 381; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 44, 45; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 122; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 112; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 262
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39. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus (ballet) • chorus, ancient, Roman • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, in drama • choruses, festivals • choruses, private parties
Found in books: Cosgrove (2022), Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustine, 230, 242; Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 242, 334; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 86; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 312
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40. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Chorus,oaths sworn by • chorus χορός, choral
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 41; Sommerstein and Torrance (2014), Oaths and Swearing in Ancient Greece, 241
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41. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • Aristotle, and the tragic chorus in the fourth century • Euripides, and the chorus • Sophocles, and the chorus/choral song • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, in drama • choruses, and cosmic imagery
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 47; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 245; Lipka (2021), Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and 'Reality' from Homer to Heliodorus, 121; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 171
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42. None, None, nan (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus • choruses/choreuts • choruses/choreuts, in parades • choruses/choreuts, tragic
Found in books: Bowie (2023), Essays on Ancient Greek Literature and Culture, Volume 2: Comedy, Herodotus, Hellenistic and Imperial Greek Poetry, the Novels. 61; Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 18
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43. None, None, nan (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus, cf. choregia, choregos • chorus, the, and women
Found in books: Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 183; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 362
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44. Polybius, Histories, 4.20.8 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus, khoros, and civic identity • chorus, khoros, and social integration • chorus, khoros, and socialization • chorus, khoros, image of community • chorus, khoros, integral to sacrificial rituals • choruses/choreuts • choruses/choreuts, comic • choruses/choreuts, in satyrplay • choruses/choreuts, professional • choruses/choreuts, recruited from local communities • choruses/choreuts, supposed decline/disappearance of • choruses/choreuts, tragic • choruses/choreuts, trainers of (chorodidaskaloi/hypodidaskaloi) • comedy, choruses of • satyrplay/satyr drama, choruses of • tragedy, choruses of
Found in books: Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 11; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 4, 5
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4.20.8 ταῦτα γὰρ πᾶσίν ἐστι γνώριμα καὶ συνήθη, διότι σχεδὸν παρὰ μόνοις Ἀρκάσι πρῶτον μὲν οἱ παῖδες ἐκ νηπίων ᾄδειν ἐθίζονται κατὰ νόμους τοὺς ὕμνους καὶ παιᾶνας, οἷς ἕκαστοι κατὰ τὰ πάτρια τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους ἥρωας καὶ θεοὺς ὑμνοῦσι·'' None | sup>
4.20.8 \xa0For it is a well-known fact, familiar to all, that it is hardly known except in Arcadia, that in the first place the boys from their earliest childhood are trained to sing in measure the hymns and paeans in which by traditional usage they celebrated the heroes and gods of each particular place: later they learn the measures of Philoxenus and Timotheus, and every year in the theatre they compete keenly in choral singing to the accompaniment of professional flute-players, the boys in the contest proper to them and the young men in what is called the men's contest. <"" None |
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45. Philo of Alexandria, On Husbandry, 79-82 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Exodus, choirs • On the Contemplative Life, allegorical interpretation of choirs by Red sea • Philo Judaeus, Agriculture, choirs • Philo Judaeus, Life of Moses II, choirs • Philo of Alexandria, choirs, characterization of • Therapeutae,choir • choruses, Therapeutae
Found in books: Cosgrove (2022), Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustine, 279, 280; Kraemer (2010), Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender, and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, 84, 91, 94, 95, 96, 98, 101, 103, 106, 107, 108, 109
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79 But the divine army is the body of virtues, the champions of the souls that love God, whom it becomes, when they see the adversary defeated, to sing a most beautiful and becoming hymn to the God who giveth the victory and the glorious triumph; and two choruses, the one proceeding from the conclave of the men, and the other from the company of the women, will stand up and sing in alternate songs a melody responsive to one another's voices. "80 And the chorus of men will have Moses for their leader; and that of the women will be under the guidance of Miriam, "the purified outward Sense." For it is just that hymns and praises should be uttered in honour of God without any delay, both in accordance with the suggestions of the intellect and the perceptions of the outward senses, and that each instrument should be struck in harmony, I mean those both of the mind and of the outward sense, in gratitude and honour to the holy Saviour. 81 Accordingly, all the men sing the song on the sea-shore, not indeed with a blind mind, but seeing sharply, Moses being the leader of the song; and women sing, who are in good truth the most excellent of their sex, having been enrolled in the lists of the republic of virtue, Miriam being their leader. XVIII. 82 And the same hymn is sung by both the choruses, having a most admirable burden of the song which is beautiful to be sung. And it is as follows: "Let us sing unto the Lord, for he has been glorified gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the Sea." ' "' None |
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46. Philo of Alexandria, On The Contemplative Life, 65-67, 69, 72, 75, 80, 83-89 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Exodus, choirs • On the Contemplative Life, allegorical interpretation of choirs by Red sea • Philo of Alexandria, choirs, characterization of • Therapeutae,choir • choruses, Therapeutae
Found in books: Cosgrove (2022), Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustine, 276, 277, 278; Kraemer (2010), Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender, and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, 59, 61, 94, 95, 96, 98, 106, 108
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65 In the first place, these men assemble at the end of seven weeks, venerating not only the simple week of seven days, but also its multiplied power, for they know it to be pure and always virgin; and it is a prelude and a kind of forefeast of the greatest feast, which is assigned to the number fifty, the most holy and natural of numbers, being compounded of the power of the right-angled triangle, which is the principle of the origination and condition of the whole. '66 Therefore when they come together clothed in white garments, and joyful with the most exceeding gravity, when some one of the ephemereutae (for that is the appellation which they are accustomed to give to those who are employed in such ministrations), before they sit down to meat standing in order in a row, and raising their eyes and their hands to heaven, the one because they have learnt to fix their attention on what is worthy looking at, and the other because they are free from the reproach of all impure gain, being never polluted under any pretence whatever by any description of criminality which can arise from any means taken to procure advantage, they pray to God that the entertainment may be acceptable, and welcome, and pleasing; 67 and after having offered up these prayers the elders sit down to meat, still observing the order in which they were previously arranged, for they do not look on those as elders who are advanced in years and very ancient, but in some cases they esteem those as very young men, if they have attached themselves to this sect only lately, but those whom they call elders are those who from their earliest infancy have grown up and arrived at maturity in the speculative portion of philosophy, which is the most beautiful and most divine part of it.
69 And the order in which they sit down to meat is a divided one, the men sitting on the right hand and the women apart from them on the left; and in case any one by chance suspects that cushions, if not very costly ones, still at all events of a tolerably soft substance, are prepared for men who are well born and well bred, and contemplators of philosophy, he must know that they have nothing but rugs of the coarsest materials, cheap mats of the most ordinary kind of the papyrus of the land, piled up on the ground and projecting a little near the elbow, so that the feasters may lean upon them, for they relax in a slight degree the Lacedaemonian rigour of life, and at all times and in all places they practise a liberal, gentlemanlike kind of frugality, hating the allurements of pleasure with all their might.
72 for they are not any chance free men who are appointed to perform these duties, but young men who are selected from their order with all possible care on account of their excellence, acting as virtuous and wellborn youths ought to act who are eager to attain to the perfection of virtue, and who, like legitimate sons, with affectionate rivalry minister to their fathers and mothers, thinking their common parents more closely connected with them than those who are related by blood, since in truth to men of right principles there is nothing more nearly akin than virtue; and they come in to perform their service ungirdled, and with their tunics let down, in order that nothing which bears any resemblance to a slavish appearance may be introduced into this festival.
75 These, then, are the first circumstances of the feast; but after the guests have sat down to the table in the order which I have been describing, and when those who minister to them are all standing around in order, ready to wait upon them, and when there is nothing to drink, some one will say ... but even more so than before, so that no one ventures to mutter, or even to breathe at all hard, and then some one looks out some passage in the sacred scriptures, or explains some difficulty which is proposed by some one else, without any thoughts of display on his own part, for he is not aiming at reputation for cleverness and eloquence, but is only desirous to see some points more accurately, and is content when he has thus seen them himself not to bear ill will to others, who, even if they did not perceive the truth with equal acuteness, have at all events an equal desire of learning.
80 and then some one rising up sings a hymn which has been made in honour of God, either such as he has composed himself, or some ancient one of some old poet, for they have left behind them many poems and songs in trimetre iambics, and in psalms of thanksgiving and in hymns, and songs at the time of libation, and at the altar, and in regular order, and in choruses, admirably measured out in various and well diversified strophes. And after him then others also arise in their ranks, in becoming order, while every one else listens in decent silence, except when it is proper for them to take up the burden of the song, and to join in at the end; for then they all, both men and women, join in the hymn.
83 And after the feast they celebrate the sacred festival during the whole night; and this nocturnal festival is celebrated in the following manner: they all stand up together, and in the middle of the entertainment two choruses are formed at first, the one of men and the other of women, and for each chorus there is a leader and chief selected, who is the most honourable and most excellent of the band. 84 Then they sing hymns which have been composed in honour of God in many metres and tunes, at one time all singing together, and at another moving their hands and dancing in corresponding harmony, and uttering in an inspired manner songs of thanksgiving, and at another time regular odes, and performing all necessary strophes and antistrophes. 85 Then, when each chorus of the men and each chorus of the women has feasted separately by itself, like persons in the bacchanalian revels, drinking the pure wine of the love of God, they join together, and the two become one chorus, an imitation of that one which, in old time, was established by the Red Sea, on account of the wondrous works which were displayed there; 86 for, by the commandment of God, the sea became to one party the cause of safety, and to the other that of utter destruction; for it being burst asunder, and dragged back by a violent reflux, and being built up on each side as if there were a solid wall, the space in the midst was widened, and cut into a level and dry road, along which the people passed over to the opposite land, being conducted onwards to higher ground; then, when the sea returned and ran back to its former channel, and was poured out from both sides, on what had just before been dry ground, those of the enemy who pursued were overwhelmed and perished. 87 When the Israelites saw and experienced this great miracle, which was an event beyond all description, beyond all imagination, and beyond all hope, both men and women together, under the influence of divine inspiration, becoming all one chorus, sang hymns of thanksgiving to God the Saviour, Moses the prophet leading the men, and Miriam the prophetess leading the women. 88 Now the chorus of male and female worshippers being formed, as far as possible on this model, makes a most humorous concert, and a truly musical symphony, the shrill voices of the women mingling with the deep-toned voices of the men. The ideas were beautiful, the expressions beautiful, and the chorus-singers were beautiful; and the end of ideas, and expressions, and chorussingers, was piety; 89 therefore, being intoxicated all night till the morning with this beautiful intoxication, without feeling their heads heavy or closing their eyes for sleep, but being even more awake than when they came to the feast, as to their eyes and their whole bodies, and standing there till morning, when they saw the sun rising they raised their hands to heaven, imploring tranquillity and truth, and acuteness of understanding. And after their prayers they each retired to their own separate abodes, with the intention of again practising the usual philosophy to which they had been wont to devote themselves. ' None |
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47. Philo of Alexandria, On The Life of Moses, 2.256 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • Exodus, choirs • On the Contemplative Life, allegorical interpretation of choirs by Red sea • Philo Judaeus, Agriculture, choirs • Philo Judaeus, Life of Moses II, choirs • choruses, Therapeutae
Found in books: Cosgrove (2022), Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustine, 279; Kraemer (2010), Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender, and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, 84, 95, 96, 98
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2.256 For this mercy Moses very naturally honoured his Benefactor with hymns of gratitude. For having divided the host into two choruses, one of men and one of women, he himself became the leader of that of the men, and appointed his sister to be the chief of that of the women, that they might sing hymns to their father and Creator, joining in harmonies responsive to one another, by a combination of dispositions and melody, the former being eager to offer the same requital for the mercies which they had received, and the latter consisting of a symphony of the deep male with the high female voices, for the tones of men are deep and those of women are high; and when there is a perfect and harmonious combination of the two a most delightful and thoroughly harmonious melody is effected. '' None |
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48. Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3.5.2 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, khoros, and civic identity • chorus, khoros, mystery cult and • defending Greeks and democracies, democracy, in 5th cent. Greece, and the chorus • polis, civic integration in the chorus
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 49; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 169
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3.5.2 διελθὼν δὲ Θρᾴκην καὶ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν ἅπασαν, στήλας ἐκεῖ στήσας 1 -- ἧκεν εἰς Θήβας, καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ἠνάγκασε καταλιπούσας τὰς οἰκίας βακχεύειν ἐν τῷ Κιθαιρῶνι. Πενθεὺς δὲ γεννηθεὶς ἐξ Ἀγαυῆς Ἐχίονι, παρὰ Κάδμου εἰληφὼς τὴν βασιλείαν, διεκώλυε ταῦτα γίνεσθαι, καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς Κιθαιρῶνα τῶν Βακχῶν κατάσκοπος ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς Ἀγαυῆς κατὰ μανίαν ἐμελίσθη· ἐνόμισε γὰρ αὐτὸν θηρίον εἶναι. δείξας δὲ Θηβαίοις ὅτι θεός ἐστιν, ἧκεν εἰς Ἄργος, κἀκεῖ 2 -- πάλιν οὐ τιμώντων αὐτὸν ἐξέμηνε τὰς γυναῖκας. αἱ δὲ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι τοὺς ἐπιμαστιδίους ἔχουσαι 3 -- παῖδας τὰς σάρκας αὐτῶν ἐσιτοῦντο.'' None | sup>
3.5.2 Having traversed Thrace and the whole of India and set up pillars there, he came to Thebes, and forced the women to abandon their houses and rave in Bacchic frenzy on Cithaeron. But Pentheus, whom Agave bore to Echion, had succeeded Cadmus in the kingdom, and he attempted to put a stop to these proceedings. And coming to Cithaeron to spy on the Bacchanals, he was torn limb from limb by his mother Agave in a fit of madness; for she thought he was a wild beast. And having shown the Thebans that he was a god, Dionysus came to Argos, and there again, because they did not honor him, he drove the women mad, and they on the mountains devoured the flesh of the infants whom they carried at their breasts.'' None |
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49. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.31.2, 2.22.1 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus • chorus, khoros, and civic identity • chorus, khoros, mystery cult and • chorus, khoros, of islands • defending Greeks and democracies, democracy, in 5th cent. Greece, and the chorus • polis, civic integration in the chorus
Found in books: Gagne (2021), Cosmography and the Idea of Hyperborea in Ancient Greece, 126; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 84, 85, 122, 168, 169; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti (2022), The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse, 109
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1.31.2 ἐν δὲ Πρασιεῦσιν Ἀπόλλωνός ἐστι ναός· ἐνταῦθα τὰς Ὑπερβορέων ἀπαρχὰς ἰέναι λέγεται, παραδιδόναι δὲ αὐτὰς Ὑπερβορέους μὲν Ἀριμασποῖς, Ἀριμασποὺς δʼ Ἰσσηδόσι, παρὰ δὲ τούτων Σκύθας ἐς Σινώπην κομίζειν, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ φέρεσθαι διὰ Ἑλλήνων ἐς Πρασιάς, Ἀθηναίους δὲ εἶναι τοὺς ἐς Δῆλον ἄγοντας· τὰς δὲ ἀπαρχὰς κεκρύφθαι μὲν ἐν καλάμῃ πυρῶν, γινώσκεσθαι δὲ ὑπʼ οὐδένων. ἔστι δὲ μνῆμα ἐπὶ Πρασιαῖς Ἐρυσίχθονος, ὡς ἐκομίζετο ὀπίσω μετὰ τὴν θεωρίαν ἐκ Δήλου, γενομένης οἱ κατὰ τὸν πλοῦν τῆς τελευτῆς.
2.22.1 τῆς δὲ Ἥρας ὁ ναὸς τῆς Ἀνθείας ἐστὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τῆς Λητοῦς ἐν δεξιᾷ καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ γυναικῶν τάφος. ἀπέθανον δὲ αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν μάχῃ πρὸς Ἀργείους τε καὶ Περσέα, ἀπὸ νήσων τῶν ἐν Αἰγαίῳ Διονύσῳ συνεστρατευμέναι· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο Ἁλίας αὐτὰς ἐπονομάζουσιν. ἀντικρὺ δὲ τοῦ μνήματος τῶν γυναικῶν Δήμητρός ἐστιν ἱερὸν ἐπίκλησιν Πελασγίδος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱδρυσαμένου Πελασγοῦ τοῦ Τριόπα, καὶ οὐ πόρρω τοῦ ἱεροῦ τάφος Πελασγοῦ.'' None | sup>
1.31.2 At Prasiae is a temple of Apollo. Hither they say are sent the first-fruits of the Hyperboreans, and the Hyperboreans are said to hand them over to the Arimaspi, the Arimaspi to the Issedones, from these the Scythians bring them to Sinope, thence they are carried by Greeks to Prasiae, and the Athenians take them to Delos . The first-fruits are hidden in wheat straw, and they are known of none. There is at Prasiae a monument to Erysichthon, who died on the voyage home from Delos, after the sacred mission thither.
2.22.1 The temple of Hera Anthea (Flowery) is on the right of the sanctuary of Leto, and before it is a grave of women. They were killed in a battle against the Argives under Perseus, having come from the Aegean Islands to help Dionysus in war; for which reason they are surnamed Haliae (Women of the Sea). Facing the tomb of the women is a sanctuary of Demeter, surnamed Pelasgian from Pelasgus, son of Triopas, its founder, and not far from the sanctuary is the grave of Pelasgus.'' None |
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50. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus
Found in books: Borg (2008), Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic, 288; Bowie (2023), Essays on Ancient Greek Literature and Culture, Volume 2: Comedy, Herodotus, Hellenistic and Imperial Greek Poetry, the Novels. 222, 223, 313, 735
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51. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus, ancient • chorus, the, numbers of
Found in books: Gianvittorio-Ungar and Schlapbach (2021), Choreonarratives: Dancing Stories in Greek and Roman Antiquity and Beyond, 40; Jouanna (2018), Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context, 695
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52. None, None, nan (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • choruses, and the Cowherds of Pergamon • choruses, in mystery cult
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 175; Cosgrove (2022), Music at Social Meals in Greek and Roman Antiquity: From the Archaic Period to the Age of Augustine, 193; Seaford (2018), Tragedy, Ritual and Money in Ancient Greece: Selected Essays, 169
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53. Demosthenes, Orations, 21.58-21.60, 21.226
Tagged with subjects: • choregia, choregos, cf. chorus • dramatic festivals, choruses
Found in books: Barbato (2020), The Ideology of Democratic Athens: Institutions, Orators and the Mythical Past, 79; Riess (2012), Performing interpersonal violence: court, curse, and comedy in fourth-century BCE Athens, 118, 133
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21.58 And now I solemnly call your attention to another point. I shall beg you not to be offended if I mention by name some persons who have fallen into misfortune; for I swear to you that in doing so I have no intention of casting reproach upon any man; I only want to show you how carefully all the rest of you avoid anything like violent or insulting behavior. There is, for instance, Sannio, the trainer of the tragic choruses, who was convicted of shirking military service and so found himself in trouble. 21.59 After that misfortune he was hired by a chorus-master—Theozotides, if I am not mistaken—who was keen to win a victory in the tragedies. Well, at first the rival masters were indigt and threatened to debar him, but when they saw that the theater was full and the crowd assembled for the contest, they hesitated, they gave way, and no one laid a finger on him. One can see that the forbearance which piety inspires in every one of you is such that Sannio has been training choruses ever since, not hindered even by his private enemies, much less by any of the chorus-masters. 21.60 Then again there is Aristeides of the tribe of Oeneis, who has had a similar misfortune. He is now an old man and perhaps less useful in a chorus, but he was once chorus-leader for his tribe. You know, of course, that if the leader is withdrawn, the rest of the chorus is done for. But in spite of the keen rivalry of many of the chorus-masters, not one of them looked at the possible advantage or ventured to remove him or prevent him from performing. Since this involved laying hands on him, and since he could not be cited before the Archon as if he were an alien whom it was desired to eject, every man shrank from being seen as the personal author of such an outrage.
21.226 Those of you who were spectators at the Dionysia hissed and hooted Meidias when he entered the theater; you gave every indication of your abhorrence, though you had not yet heard what I had to say about him. Were you so indigt before the case was investigated, that you urged me to demand vengeance for my wrongs and applauded me when I brought my plaint before the Assembly? '' None |
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54. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • chorus χορός, choral • chorus, khoros, Athenian empire as • chorus, khoros, flexible metaphor • chorus, khoros, of islands
Found in books: Bernabe et al. (2013), Redefining Dionysos, 103; Kowalzig (2007), Singing for the Gods: Performances of Myth and Ritual in Archaic and Classical Greece, 114
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55. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • chorus
Found in books: Borg (2008), Paideia: the World of the Second Sophistic: The World of the Second Sophistic, 393; Pirenne-Delforge and Pironti (2022), The Hera of Zeus: Intimate Enemy, Ultimate Spouse, 196
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56. None, None, nan
Tagged with subjects: • choruses/choreuts, comic • choruses/choreuts, in parades • choruses/choreuts, tragic • choruses/choreuts, trainers of (chorodidaskaloi/hypodidaskaloi) • dithyramb/dithyrambic choruses/contests
Found in books: Csapo et al. (2022), Theatre and Autocracy in the Ancient World, 45; Liapis and Petrides (2019), Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century: A Survey from ca, 166
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