Speaker 1: Yeah, oh hi, hello nerds. This is let's talk about
Speaker 1: miths baby, and I am your host, the biggest nerd
Speaker 1: of all live. And today I am here with these
Speaker 1: second half of book three of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Last time
Speaker 1: we heard some of the stories of Cadmus and harmonious
Speaker 1: children and grandchildren, tragic transformations like Acton, and really important
Speaker 1: ones like Semily, not to mention just the found thing
Speaker 1: of all of Thebes. But today we have even more
Speaker 1: of that house of Thebes, the line of Cadmus and Harmonia.
Speaker 1: Maybe Harmonia will be given a name. This time we
Speaker 1: have Echo and Narcisses. And then then we have a
Speaker 1: whole lot of Dionysian goodness called Bacchus here of course,
Speaker 1: and as always, this is a stuffy old translation that
Speaker 1: obviously uses Roman names because it was Roman. That's not
Speaker 1: the translation's fault. But all the same, we get to
Speaker 1: listen to more of this Ovidian goodness. So we just
Speaker 1: accept the old, timy translation and we google Roman names
Speaker 1: if we're confused. It's all worth it in the end
Speaker 1: because of it and today of it and Dionysius Baccus.
Speaker 1: Need I say more good I won't. This is Ovid's Metamorphoses,
Speaker 1: translated by brooks More, Book three, Part two. Tyreseus fame
Speaker 1: of prophecy was spread through all the cities of Aonia
Speaker 1: for his unerring answers, unto all who listened to his words.
Speaker 1: And first of those who hearkened to his fateful prophecies,
Speaker 1: a lovely nymph named Leiope came with her dear son, who,
Speaker 1: then fifteen, might seem a man or boy, he who
Speaker 1: was born to her upon the green merge of Capsis Stream,
Speaker 1: that mighty river god whom she declared the father of
Speaker 1: her boy. She questioned him, imploring him to tell her
Speaker 1: if her son, unequaled for his beauty, whom she called Narcissus,
Speaker 1: might attain a ripe old age, to which the blind
Speaker 1: seer answered in these words, if he but failed to
Speaker 1: recognize himself a long life, he may have beneath the sun.
Speaker 1: So frivolous the prophet's words appeared, and yet the event
Speaker 1: the manner of his death, the strange delusion of his
Speaker 1: frenzied love confirmed it three times five years. So were
Speaker 1: past another five years, and the lad might seem a
Speaker 1: young man or a boy, and many a youth and
Speaker 1: many a damsel sought to gain his love, but such
Speaker 1: his mood and spirit and his pride, none gained his favor. Once,
Speaker 1: a noisy nymph who never held her tongue when others spoke,
Speaker 1: who never spoke till others had begun mocking, Echo spied
Speaker 1: him as he drove in his delusive nets, some timid stags.
Speaker 1: For Echo was a nymph in olden time, and more
Speaker 1: than vapid sound possessed a form, And she was then
Speaker 1: deprived the use of speech, except to babble and repeat
Speaker 1: the words once spoken over and over. Juno confused her
Speaker 1: silly tongue because she often held that glorious goddess with
Speaker 1: her endless tales, Till many a hapless nymph from Jove's
Speaker 1: embrace had made escape a down a mountain. But for
Speaker 1: this the Goddess might have caught them. Thus the glorious Juno,
Speaker 1: when she knew her guile. Thus the glorious Juno said,
Speaker 1: when she knew her guile, your tongue so freely wagged
Speaker 1: at my expense, shall be of little use. Your endless
Speaker 1: voice much shorter than your tongue. At once the nymph
Speaker 1: was stricken as the goddess had decreed and or, since
Speaker 1: she only mocks the sounds of others voices, or perchance
Speaker 1: returns their final words. One day, when she observed Narcissus
Speaker 1: wandering in the pathless woods, she loved him, and she
Speaker 1: followed him with soft and stealthy tread. The more she
Speaker 1: followed him, the hotter did she burn, as when the
Speaker 1: flame flares upward from the sulfur on the torch. Oh,
Speaker 1: how she longed to make her passion known, to plead
Speaker 1: in soft entreaty to implore his love. But now till
Speaker 1: others have begun a mute of nature she must be.
Speaker 1: She cannot choose, but wait the moment when his voice
Speaker 1: may give her to an answer. Presently, the youth, by
Speaker 1: chance divided from his trusty friends, cries loudly, who is here?
Speaker 1: And Echo here replies. Amazed, he casts his eyes around
Speaker 1: and calls with outer voice, Come here, Come here, she
Speaker 1: calls the youth who calls. He turns to see who
Speaker 1: calls him, and beholding not exclaims avoid me, not avoid me,
Speaker 1: not returns He tries again again. It is deceived by
Speaker 1: this alternate voice, and calls aloud, Oh, let us come together,
Speaker 1: Echo cries, oh, let us come together. Never sound seemed
Speaker 1: sweeter to the nymph, and from the woods. She hastened
Speaker 1: in accordance with her words, and strives to wind her
Speaker 1: arms around his neck. He flies from her, and as
Speaker 1: he leaves her says, take off your hands. You shall
Speaker 1: not fold your arms around me. Better death than such
Speaker 1: a one could ever caress me. Not, she answers, save
Speaker 1: caress me. Thus rejected, she lies hid in the deep woods,
Speaker 1: hiding her blushing face with the green leaves, and ever
Speaker 1: after lives can sealed in lonely caverns in the hills.
Speaker 1: But her great love increases with neglect. Her miserable body
Speaker 1: wastes away, wakeful with sorrows, leanness, shrivels up. Her skin,
Speaker 1: and all her lovely features melt as if dissolved upon
Speaker 1: the wafting winds. Nothing remains except her bones and voice.
Speaker 1: Her voice continues in the wilderness. Her bones have turned
Speaker 1: to stone. She lies concealed in the wild woods. Nor
Speaker 1: is she ever seen on lonely mountain range. For though
Speaker 1: we hear her calling in the hills, tis but a voice,
Speaker 1: a voice that lives that lives among the hills. Thus
Speaker 1: he deceived the nymph, and many more sprung from the
Speaker 1: mountains or the sparkling waves. And thus he slighted many
Speaker 1: an amorous youth, and therefore someone whom he once despised.
Speaker 1: Lifting his hands to heaven, implored the gods, if he
Speaker 1: should love, deny him what he loves. And as the
Speaker 1: prayer was uttered, it was heard by Nemesis, who granted
Speaker 1: her ascent. There was a fountain, silver, clear and bright,
Speaker 1: which neither shepherds, nor the wild she goats that ranged
Speaker 1: the hills, nor any cattle's mouth had touched its waters,
Speaker 1: were unsullied birds disturbed it, not nor animals nor bows
Speaker 1: that fall so often from the trees. Around sweet grasses
Speaker 1: nourished by the stream, grew trees that shaded from the sun,
Speaker 1: let balmy airs temper its waves. Here Narcissus, tired of
Speaker 1: hunting and the heated noon, lay down, attracted by the
Speaker 1: peaceful solitudes and by the glassy spring. There As he
Speaker 1: stooped to quench his thirst, another thirst increased. While he
Speaker 1: is drinking, he beholds himself reflected in the mirrored pool,
Speaker 1: and loves loves and imagined body, which contains no substance,
Speaker 1: for he deems the mirrored shade, a thing of life
Speaker 1: to love, he cannot move, for so he marvels at himself,
Speaker 1: and lies with countenance unchanged, as if indeed a statue
Speaker 1: carved of parry and marble, long supine upon the bank.
Speaker 1: His gaze is fixed on his own eyes twin stars,
Speaker 1: his fingers shaped as Bacchus might desire, his flowing hair
Speaker 1: as glorious as Apollos, and his cheeks youthful and smooth,
Speaker 1: his ivory neck, his mouth dreaming in sweetness, his complexion
Speaker 1: fair and blushing as the rose in snow drift white.
Speaker 1: All that is lovely in himself he loves, and in
Speaker 1: his witless way he wants himself. He who approves this
Speaker 1: is equally approved. He seeks is sought. He burns, and
Speaker 1: he is burnt. And how he kisses the deceitful found,
Speaker 1: and how he thrusts his arms to catch the neck
Speaker 1: that's pictured in the middle of the stream. Yet never
Speaker 1: may he wreathe his arms around the image of himself.
Speaker 1: He knows not what he there beholds, but what he
Speaker 1: sees in flames. His longing, and the error that deceives
Speaker 1: allures his eyes. But why, oh, foolish boy, so vainly
Speaker 1: catching at this flitting form. The cheat that you are
Speaker 1: seeking has no place. Avert your gaze and you will
Speaker 1: lose your love. For this that holds your eyes is
Speaker 1: nothing save the image of yourself reflected back to you.
Speaker 1: It comes and waits with you. It has no life.
Speaker 1: It will depart if you will only go. Nor food
Speaker 1: nor rest can draw him. Thence outstretched upon the overshadowed green,
Speaker 1: his eyes fixed on the mirrored image, never may know
Speaker 1: their longings satisfied, And by their sight he is himself undone.
Speaker 1: Raising himself a moment, he extends his arms around, and
Speaker 1: beckoning to the murmuring forest. Oh, ye ild Wood was
Speaker 1: ever mad in love, more fatally than i. Your silent
Speaker 1: paths have sheltered many a one whose love was told,
Speaker 1: and you have heard their voices. Ages vast have rolled
Speaker 1: away since your forgotten birth. But who is he through
Speaker 1: all those weary years that ever pined away? As I
Speaker 1: alas this fatal image wins my love as I behold it,
Speaker 1: But I cannot press my arms around the form. I
Speaker 1: see the form that gives me. Boy, what strange mistake
Speaker 1: has intervened between us and our love? It grieves me
Speaker 1: more that neither lands, nor seas, nor mountains, no nor
Speaker 1: walls with closed gates deny our love. But only a
Speaker 1: little water keeps us far asunder. Surely he desires my love,
Speaker 1: and my embraces as oft. I strive to kiss him,
Speaker 1: bending to the limpid stream my lips. So often does
Speaker 1: he hold his face fondly to me, and vainly struggles up.
Speaker 1: It seems that I could touch him. Tis a strange
Speaker 1: delusion that is keeping us apart. Whoever art thou, come up?
Speaker 1: Deceive me? Not, Oh, where are you? Ah? Surely I
Speaker 1: am young and fair. The nymphs have loved me. And
Speaker 1: when I behold your smiles, I cannot tell you what
Speaker 1: sweet hopes arise. When I extend my loving arms to yours,
Speaker 1: they are also extended to me. Your smiles return earn
Speaker 1: my own. When I was weeping. I have seen your tears,
Speaker 1: and every sign I make you return, And often your
Speaker 1: sweet lips have seemed to move that peradventure words which
Speaker 1: I have never heard, you have returned. No more. My
Speaker 1: shade deceives me. I perceive it's you. I love myself.
Speaker 1: The flame arises in my breast and burns my heart.
Speaker 1: What shall I do? Shall I at once implore? Or
Speaker 1: should I linger till my love is sought? What is it?
Speaker 1: I implore? The thing that I desire is mine. Abundance
Speaker 1: makes me poor. Oh, I am tortured by a strange
Speaker 1: desire unknown to me before. For I would fain put
Speaker 1: off this mortal form, which only means I wish the
Speaker 1: object of my love away. Grief SAPs my strength. The
Speaker 1: sands of life are run, and in my early youth
Speaker 1: I am cut off. But death is not my bane.
Speaker 1: It ends my woe. I would not death, for this
Speaker 1: that is my love, as to united in a single soul,
Speaker 1: would die as one. He spoke, and, crazed with love,
Speaker 1: returned to view the same face in the pool. And
Speaker 1: as he grieved, his tears disturbed the stream, and ripples
Speaker 1: on the surface glassy clear defaced his mirrored form, and
Speaker 1: thus the youth when he beheld that lovely shadow, Go ah,
Speaker 1: where do you go? Oh? I must entreat you leave me, not, Oh,
Speaker 1: you cruel boy, You forsake your lover. Stay with me
Speaker 1: that I may see your lovely form. For though I
Speaker 1: may not touch you, I shall feed my eyes and
Speaker 1: soothe my wretched pains, And while he spoke, he rent
Speaker 1: his garments from the upper edge, and beating on his
Speaker 1: naked breast, all white as marble, every stroke produced a
Speaker 1: hint as lovely as the apple streaked with the red,
Speaker 1: or as the glowing grape, when purple bloom touches the
Speaker 1: ripening clusters, when as glass again the rippling water smoothed,
Speaker 1: And when such beauty in the stream the youth observed,
Speaker 1: no more could he endure. And in the flame the
Speaker 1: yellow wax, or as the hoar frost melts in the
Speaker 1: early morning beneath the genial sun, so did he pine
Speaker 1: away by love, consumed and slowly wasted by a hidden flame.
Speaker 1: No vermeil bloom, now mingled in the white of his
Speaker 1: complexion fair, no strength has he, no vigor, nor the
Speaker 1: comeliness that wrought for love so long alas that handsome
Speaker 1: form by echo, fondly loved, may please no more. But
Speaker 1: when she saw him in his hapless plight, though angry
Speaker 1: at his scorn, she only gree as often as the
Speaker 1: love lord boy complained, alas alas her echoing voice returned,
Speaker 1: And as he struck his hands against his arms, she
Speaker 1: ever answered with her echoing sounds, and as he gazed
Speaker 1: upon the mirrored pool, he said it last, Ah, youth,
Speaker 1: beloved in vain, in vain, in vain. The spot returned
Speaker 1: his words, and when he breathed a sad farewell, farewell
Speaker 1: side echo two, he laid his wearied head and rested
Speaker 1: on the verdant grass, and those bright eyes which had
Speaker 1: so loved to gaze entranced on their own master's beauty.
Speaker 1: Sad night closed. And now although among the nether shades
Speaker 1: his sad spright realms, he ever loves to gaze on
Speaker 1: his reflection in the Stigian wave. His Naiad sisters mourned, and,
Speaker 1: having clipped their shining tresses, laid them on his corpse.
Speaker 1: And all the dree Ads mourned and echo may lament
Speaker 1: a new And these would have upraised his funeral pyre
Speaker 1: and waved the flaming torch and made his beer. But
Speaker 1: as they turned their eyes where he had been alas
Speaker 1: he was not there, and in his body's place a
Speaker 1: sweet flower grew golden and white, the white around the gold.
Speaker 1: Narcissus's fate, when known throughout the land and cities of Achaia,
Speaker 1: added fame deserved to blind Tyresius, mighty sear, Yet Pentheus,
Speaker 1: bull old despise or of the gods, son of Echion,
Speaker 1: scoffed at all his praise, and soul of manned, riding
Speaker 1: the great seer upbraided him his hapless loss of sight
Speaker 1: and shaking his white temples whore with age. Tyreseus of
Speaker 1: Pentheus prophesied, oh, glad the day to you. If light
Speaker 1: denied your eyes, most fortunate should not behold the Bacchanalian rights.
Speaker 1: The day will come, and soon the light will dawn
Speaker 1: when Bacchus, born of Semile, shall make his advent known.
Speaker 1: All hail the new God Bacchus. Either you must build
Speaker 1: a temple to this deity, or shall be torn asunder
Speaker 1: your remains throughout the forest scattered, will pollute the wood
Speaker 1: with sanguinary streams, and your life blood bespatter with corrupting blots,
Speaker 1: your frenzied mother and her two sisters, and all shall
Speaker 1: come to pass as I have told, because you will
Speaker 1: not honor the new God. And you shall wail and
Speaker 1: marvel at the sight of blind Tyresius, though veiled in night,
Speaker 1: and as he spoke, Oh Pentheus drove the seer, But
Speaker 1: all his words prophetic were fulfilled, and confirmation followed in
Speaker 1: his steps. Bacchus at once appears, and all the fields
Speaker 1: resound with shouts of everybody there men, brides and matrons,
Speaker 1: and a howling route, nobles and commons, and the most refined,
Speaker 1: a motley multitude, resistless, born to join those rights of
Speaker 1: Bacchus there begun. Then Pentheus cries, what madness, Oh, you
Speaker 1: brave descendants of the dragon sons of Mars, what frenzy
Speaker 1: has confounded? You can sounds of clanging brass prevail, and
Speaker 1: pipes and horns, and magical delusions, drunkenness and yelling women,
Speaker 1: and obscene displays and hollow drums overcome you, whom the sword,
Speaker 1: no troops of war nor trumpet could have frightened. How
Speaker 1: shall I wonder at these ancient men, who, crossing boundless
Speaker 1: seas from distant tear here transferred their exiled household gods
Speaker 1: and founded a new tear. But now are shorn, and
Speaker 1: even as captives would be led away without appeal to Mars.
Speaker 1: And oh, young men of active prime, whose vigor equals mine,
Speaker 1: cast down your ivy scepters, take up arms put on
Speaker 1: your helmets, strip your brows of leaves, be mindful of
Speaker 1: the mighty stock you are, and let your souls be
Speaker 1: animated with the spirit of this dauntless dragon, which unaided,
Speaker 1: slew so many, and at last died to defend his
Speaker 1: fountain and his lake. So you may conquer in this
Speaker 1: hope of fame. He gave the brave to death, But
Speaker 1: with your arms you shall expel the worthless and enhance
Speaker 1: the glory of your land. If fate decrees the fall
Speaker 1: of thebes, Oh, let the engines of war and men
Speaker 1: pull down its walls, and let the clash of steel
Speaker 1: and roaring flames resound. Thus blameless and great misery, our
Speaker 1: woes would not be the theme of lamentations known to story,
Speaker 1: and our tears would shame us not. But now an
Speaker 1: unarmed boy will conquer Thebes, A lad whom neither weapons,
Speaker 1: wars nor steeds delight, whose ringlets reek with mir adorned
Speaker 1: with chaplets purple and embroidered robes of interwoven gold, make
Speaker 1: way for me, and I will soon compel him to
Speaker 1: confess his father is assumed, and all his rights are frauds.
Speaker 1: If in days gone a Christius so held this vain
Speaker 1: god in deserved contempt and shut the archive gates against
Speaker 1: his face. Why therefore should not Pentheus close the gates
Speaker 1: of thebes with equal courage. Hence, oh way fetch the
Speaker 1: vile leader of these rioters in chains, Let not my
Speaker 1: mandate be delayed him to restrain his grandsire, Cadmus, Strove
Speaker 1: and Athamas, and many of his trusted friends united in
Speaker 1: vain efforts to rebuke his reckless rage. But greater violence
Speaker 1: was gained from every admonition. His rage increased the more
Speaker 1: it was restrained. An injury resulted from his friends. So
Speaker 1: have I seen a stream in open course run gently
Speaker 1: on its way, with pleasant noise? But who, whensoever logs
Speaker 1: and rocks detained? It foamed with violence in christ against obstruction.
Speaker 1: Presently returning came his servants, stained with blood, to whom
Speaker 1: he said, what have you done with Bacchus? And to
Speaker 1: him they made reply, not Bacchus have we've seen, but
Speaker 1: we have taken his attendant, lad that chosen servant of
Speaker 1: his sacred rights. And they delivered to the noble king
Speaker 1: a youth whose hands were lashed behind his back. Then
Speaker 1: Pentheus terrible in anger turned his awful gaze upon the
Speaker 1: lad and though he scarce deferred his doom, addressed him thus,
Speaker 1: doomed to destruction, you are soon to give example to
Speaker 1: my people by your death. Tell me your name. What
Speaker 1: are your parents called? Where is this land? And where
Speaker 1: are the Bacchanalian rights? But fearless he replied, they call
Speaker 1: me a keaties and me Onia is the land from
Speaker 1: where I came. My parents were so poor. My father
Speaker 1: left me neither fruitful fields tilled by the lusty ox,
Speaker 1: nor fleecy sheep, nor lowing kind, for he himself was poor,
Speaker 1: and with his hook and line was wont to catch
Speaker 1: the leaping fishes landed by his rod. His skill was
Speaker 1: all his wealth. And when to me he gave his trade,
Speaker 1: he said, you are the heir of my employment. Therefore,
Speaker 1: unto you, all that is mine i'll give. And at
Speaker 1: his death he left me nothing but the running waves.
Speaker 1: They are the sum of my inheritance. And after a while,
Speaker 1: and I might not be bound forever to my father's
Speaker 1: rocky shores. I learned to steer the keel with dextrous hand,
Speaker 1: and marked with watchful gaze the guiding stars, the watery
Speaker 1: constellation of the goat, Olenian and the bear, and the hiadies,
Speaker 1: the pleades, the houses of the winds, and every harbor
Speaker 1: suitable for ships. So chanced it as I made for
Speaker 1: de loss. First I veered close to the shores of Hios.
Speaker 1: There I steered by plying on the starboard ore, and
Speaker 1: nimbly leaping, gained the sea wet strand. Now, when the
Speaker 1: night was passed and lovely dawn appeared, I rose from slumber,
Speaker 1: and I bade my men to fetch fresh water, and
Speaker 1: I showed the pathway to the stream. Then did I
Speaker 1: climb a promontory's height to learn from there the promise
Speaker 1: of the winds, which, having done, I called the men
Speaker 1: and sought once more my ship, Oh feltes. First of
Speaker 1: my companions cried, behold we come, and, thinking he had
Speaker 1: caught a worthy prize in that unfruitful land, he led
Speaker 1: a boy, a virgin beauty formed across the shore, heavy
Speaker 1: with wine and sleep. The lad appeared to stagger on
Speaker 1: his way, with difficulty moving. When I saw the manner
Speaker 1: of his dress, his countenance and grace, I knew it
Speaker 1: was not a mortal man, And being well assured, I
Speaker 1: said to them what deity appears in that form, I
Speaker 1: cannot say, but it's a god in truth. Oh, whoever
Speaker 1: you are vouchsafed to us propitious waters, ease our toils,
Speaker 1: and grant to us your grace. At this the one
Speaker 1: of all my mariners, who was the quickest hand, whoever
Speaker 1: was the nimblest on the yards, and first to slip
Speaker 1: the ropes, Dictus exclaimed, pray not for us, and all
Speaker 1: approved his words. The golden hair, the guardian of the prow, Melanthus,
Speaker 1: Libbys and Alcmedon approved it. And Opopius, who should urge
Speaker 1: the flagging spirits and with rhythmic chance, give time and
Speaker 1: measure to the beating oars, and all the others praised
Speaker 1: their leader's words so blind as greed of gain. Then
Speaker 1: I rejoined, Mine is the greatest share in this good ship,
Speaker 1: which I will not permit to be destroyed nor injured
Speaker 1: by this sacred freight. And I opposed them as they came. Then,
Speaker 1: like Kabas, the most audacious of that impious crew, began
Speaker 1: a rage. He was a criminal who, for a dreadful murder,
Speaker 1: had been sent in exile from a Tuscan city's gates.
Speaker 1: Whilst I opposed, He gripped me by the throat and
Speaker 1: shook me as would cast me in the deep. Had
Speaker 1: I not firmly held a rope half stunned, and all
Speaker 1: that wicked crew approved the deed, then Bacchus be assured
Speaker 1: it was the god, as though the noise disturbed his
Speaker 1: lethargy from wine and reason had regained its power. At
Speaker 1: last spoke to the men, what deeds are these? What
Speaker 1: noise assails my ears? What means decoyed my wandering footsteps?
Speaker 1: Where do you lead? Fear not, the steersman said, But
Speaker 1: tell us fair the haven of your hope, and you
Speaker 1: shall land wherever your heart desires. To Naxos, go, Baccas said,
Speaker 1: for it is indeed my home, and there the mariner
Speaker 1: finds welcome. Cheer him to deceive. They pledged themselves and
Speaker 1: swore by gods of seas and skies to do his will.
Speaker 1: And they commanded me to steer that way. The isle
Speaker 1: of Naxos was upon our right. And when they saw
Speaker 1: the sales were set that way, they all began to
Speaker 1: shout at once, what ho the madman? What insanity is this?
Speaker 1: A key? Ties make our passage to the left and
Speaker 1: all the while they made their meaning known by artful
Speaker 1: signs or whispers in my ears. I was amazed, and answered,
Speaker 1: take the helm, and I refused to execute their will atrocious,
Speaker 1: and at once resigned command. Then all began to murmur,
Speaker 1: and the crew reviled me. Up Athalion jumped and said,
Speaker 1: as if our only safety is in you. With this,
Speaker 1: he swaggered up and took command, and, leaving Naxos, steered
Speaker 1: for other shores. Then Bacchus, mocking them as if but
Speaker 1: then he had discovered their deceitful ways, looked on the
Speaker 1: ocean from the rounded stern and seemed to sob as
Speaker 1: he addressed the men mariners, What alien shores are these?
Speaker 1: It's not the land you promise, nor the port my
Speaker 1: heart desires. Or what have I deserved? This cruel wrong?
Speaker 1: What honor can accrue if strong men mock a boy,
Speaker 1: a lonely youth, if so many should deceive? And as
Speaker 1: he spoke, I also wept to see their wickedness. The
Speaker 1: impious gang made merry at our tears and lashed the
Speaker 1: billows with their quickening oars. By Bacchi, do I swear
Speaker 1: to you? And no god is more potent. All the
Speaker 1: things I tell you are true. As they surpassed the
Speaker 1: limit of belief, the ship stood still, as if a
Speaker 1: dry dock held it in the sea. The wondering sailors
Speaker 1: labored at the oars, and they unfurled the sails and
Speaker 1: hopes to game some headway with redoubled energies. But twisting
Speaker 1: ivy tangled in the oars and interlacing held them by
Speaker 1: its weight. And Bacchus, in the midst of all, stood
Speaker 1: crowned with chaplets of grape leaves, and shook a lance
Speaker 1: covered with twisty fronds of leafy vines. Around him crouched
Speaker 1: the visionary forms of tigers, lynxes, and the modeled shapes
Speaker 1: of panthers. Then the mariners leaped out, possessed by fear
Speaker 1: or madness. Meat on first began to turn a swarthy hue,
Speaker 1: and fins grew outward from his flattened trunk, and with
Speaker 1: a curving spine. His body bent then, like of us
Speaker 1: to him, what prodigy is this that I behold? Even
Speaker 1: as he spoke, his jaws were broadened, and his nose
Speaker 1: was bent. His heart and skin was covered with bright
Speaker 1: scales and libbies, as he tried to pull the oars,
Speaker 1: could see his own hands shrivel into fins. An other
Speaker 1: of the crew began to grasp the twisted ropes, but
Speaker 1: even as he strove to lift lift his arms, they
Speaker 1: fastened to his sides. With bending body in a crooked back,
Speaker 1: he plunged into the waves, and as he swam, displayed
Speaker 1: a tail as crescent as the moon. Now here Now
Speaker 1: there they flounce about the ship. They spray her decks
Speaker 1: with brine. They raise and sink, They rise again and
Speaker 1: dive beneath the waves. They seem in sportive dance upon
Speaker 1: the main. Out from their nostrils they spout sprays of brine.
Speaker 1: They toss their supple sides, And I alone, of twenty
Speaker 1: mariners that manned that ship, remained. A cold chill seized
Speaker 1: my limbs. I was so frightened. But the gracious God
Speaker 1: now spoke to me, fear not and steer for Naxos.
Speaker 1: And when we landed there, I ministered on smoking altars
Speaker 1: Bacchanalian rights, but Pentheus answered him a parlor tale. And
Speaker 1: we have listened to the dreary end, hoping our anger
Speaker 1: might consume its rage away with him. Hence drag him,
Speaker 1: hurl him out with dreadful torture into Stigian night. Quickly
Speaker 1: they seized and dragged a katy's forth, and cast him
Speaker 1: in a dungeon triple strong. And while they fixed the
Speaker 1: instruments of death, kindled the fires and wrought the cruel irons.
Speaker 1: The legend says, though no one aided him, the chains
Speaker 1: were loosened and slipped off his arms. The doors flew
Speaker 1: open of their own accord. But Pentheus, long persisting in
Speaker 1: his rage, not caring to command his men to go himself,
Speaker 1: went forth to Mount Kisseron, where resound with singing and
Speaker 1: with shrilly note, the votaries of Bacchus at their rights.
Speaker 1: And when, with sounding brass the trumpeter alarms of war,
Speaker 1: the metaled charger gnazs and scents the ball so the
Speaker 1: clamored skies, resounding with the dreadful outcries fret the wrath
Speaker 1: of Pentheus and his rage in flame. About the middle
Speaker 1: of the mount, with groves around its margin, was a
Speaker 1: treeless plane where nothing might conceal. Here. As he stood
Speaker 1: to view the sacred rights with impious eyes, his mother
Speaker 1: saw him first. She was so wrought with frenzy, that
Speaker 1: she failed to know her son and cast her thirstis
Speaker 1: that it wounded him and shouted, Hi, come here, oh,
Speaker 1: come here, my two sisters. A great boar has strayed
Speaker 1: into our field. Come see me. Strike and wound him.
Speaker 1: And as Pentheus flew from them in fright, the raging
Speaker 1: multitude rushed after him. And as they gathered round in cowardice,
Speaker 1: he cried for mercy and condemned himself, confessing he had
Speaker 1: sinned against a god. And as they wounded him, he
Speaker 1: called his aunt a ton of we have mercy, Let
Speaker 1: the shade of sad acting and move you to relent.
Speaker 1: No pity moved her. When she heard that name. In
Speaker 1: a wild frenzy, she forgot her son. While Pentheus was
Speaker 1: imploring her, she tore his right arm out her sister,
Speaker 1: I know, wrenched the other from his trunk. He could
Speaker 1: not stretch his arms out to his mother, but he cried,
Speaker 1: behold me mother. When a galway saw his bleeding limbs
Speaker 1: torn scattered on the ground, she howled and tossed her
Speaker 1: head and shook her hair that streamed upon the breeze.
Speaker 1: And when his head was wrenched out from his mangled corpse.
Speaker 1: She clutched it with her blood smeared fingers while she shouted, Oh,
Speaker 1: companion's victory, The victory is ours. So when the wind
Speaker 1: strips from a lofty tree, its leaves, what which touched
Speaker 1: by autumn's cold, are loosely held. They fall not quicker
Speaker 1: then the wretches, bleeding limbs were torn asunder by their
Speaker 1: cursed hands. Now frightened by this terrible event, the women
Speaker 1: of isthmain Has celebrate the new Bakantian rights, and they
Speaker 1: revere the sacred altars heaped with frankinsense. Oh, nerds, nerds,
Speaker 1: that was so much fun. That's like Dionysius and the
Speaker 1: pirates and Euripanes is fucking back eye all as told
Speaker 1: by Ovid who. I mean, what a wonderful thing to
Speaker 1: listen to. I love reading these aloud. It is so
Speaker 1: much fun for me, and I love hearing that you
Speaker 1: all love it too, and we all get to experience
Speaker 1: like as best possible. Given the old translation, these full
Speaker 1: ancient sources. Who again, if you want more of it,
Speaker 1: I do recommend the new translation by Stephanie McCarter. I
Speaker 1: haven't read it all yet, but I've spoken to Stephanie
Speaker 1: on the past in the past episode, and I've read
Speaker 1: just even my god, that Arackney bit, and I'm just
Speaker 1: thrilled with how she went about the translation, and even
Speaker 1: more thrilled with the bits that I have read. It's
Speaker 1: it's really readable. Like that's the main selling point I
Speaker 1: think for everyone listening to me. And add to that
Speaker 1: that she actually, you know, like translates women accurately and
Speaker 1: without like additional misogyny. What a dream find that wherever
Speaker 1: you get your books. Let's talk about myths Baby is
Speaker 1: written and produced by me Live Albert Michaelis Smith is
Speaker 1: the Hermes to my Olympians and handle so many podcasts
Speaker 1: related things. It's truly endless. I couldn't do it without
Speaker 1: her by this point. Oh my god, she's keeping me alive.
Speaker 1: Stephanie fully works to transcribe the podcast for YouTube captions
Speaker 1: and accessibility. The podcast is hosted and monetized by a cat.
Speaker 1: Help me continue bringing you the world of Greek myth
Speaker 1: and the ancient Mediterranean by becoming a patron, where you'll
Speaker 1: get bonus episodes and more. Visit patreon dot com slash
Speaker 1: myths Baby, or click the link in this episode's description.
Speaker 1: Thank you all, you're the best. I am live and
Speaker 1: I love this ship.