Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1898) v3.djvu/447

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THE BACCHANALS.
419

Chorus.

Bromius my King! thou hast made thy godhead plain!


Messenger.

How, what is this thou say'st? Dost thou exult,
Woman, upon my lord's calamities?


Chorus.

An alien I, I chant glad outland strain, 1035
Who cower no more in terror of the chain.


Messenger.

Deemest thou Thebes so void of men—[1]


Chorus.

Dionysus it is, 'tis the King of the Vine
That hath lordship o'er me, no Thebes of thine!


Messenger.

This might be pardoned, save that base it is,
Women, to joy o'er evils past recall. 1040


Chorus.

Tell to me, tell,—by what doom died he,
The villain devising villainy?

  1. To preserve the symmetry of the dialogue, the messenger should speak a distich: accordingly Paley suggests, to supply the lacuna—

    "that ills
    Have left her powerless all to punish thee?"