lxxx
CHORUS
Run, swift hounds
Of Madness,
Run, to the mount'n
Where Kadmus'
Daughters
Dance, swift hounds
go to them,
Of Madness,
Goad them,
To hunt, to track down
The young man
Spying on them
Hiding
Dressed as a woman
The madman
Run, swift hounds.
His own mother will spy him first, perhaps,
Lurking behind a jagged rock, perhaps,
Or behind the stump of a tree, perhaps,
And she will cry;
"What man stalks the mountain,
Maenads,
What Kadmeian has come to the mount'n
Mount'n
Mount'n
Maenads?
Who bore him, Bacchae, what brood
What mother?
He did not spring of woman's blood.
A Libyan lioness, perhaps,
Or Gorgons that breed in the desert."
Justice, now reveal thyself!
Visible Justice,
Your visible sword,
Thrust through the throat
- Through and through -
Of the lawless,
Godless,
Unjust son
Of Echion,
Earthborn,
Earthbound!
Justice is balance
In his unbalanced state
An impious anger rages
Against the almighty wind.
His mind is stark vacant
And his will, unhinged,
Flaps unavailingly
Against the almighty wind.
Death is the only corrective.
But he, who without question
Accepts his share of the possible,
To him a griefless life.
I do not envy knowledge.
I rejoice in hunting it.
But with the other, open, staring
Ways that lead into good
I follow, night and day,
Respecting the hidden gods,
And not straying beyond
The pale of Justice.
Justice, now reveal yourself!
Visible justice,
Your visible sword
Thrust through the throat,
- Through and through -
Of the lawless,
Godless
Unjust son
of Echion
Earthborn,
Earthbound.
Come, Dionysus, show yourself.
Come like a bull
- Hunt the hunter -
Or like
A myriad-headed snake,
Or like a flaming lion
- Hunt the hunter -
Turn round my god, and show your face,
And smiling, always smiling
Throw death on him like a net.
He's down,
- Hunt the hunter -
The herd of maenads closing like a noose!
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