by Nonnus
ἀγχονίῳ σφήκωσεν ὁμόζυγον αὐχένα δεσμῷ,
μαρναμένη μετά θύρσον ἀπειλητῆρι κορύμβῳ.
[17] He spoke, and seizing Ambrosia round the waist he held her fast in his limb-compressing hands; he wished to throw her into bonds and to drag her to his house like a captive foreigner, to drive off a nymph from the company of Bromios’s nurses, pricking her slave’s back with the doubleheaded poleaxe. But she stood, and he could not drag her away, nor could he smash her skull in a mess of blood. Saffronrobe Ambrosia fled the bold man and prayed to Mother Earth to save her from Lycurgos. And the Earth, mother of all fruits, opened a gulf, and received Ambrosia the nurse of Bromios alive in a loving embrace. The nymph disappeared and changed her shape to a plant — she became a vine-shoot, which of itself coiled its winding cord round the neck of Lycurgos and throttled him with a tight noose, battling now with threatening clusters as once with the thyrsus.
καὶ φυτόν αὐδῆεν ζαμενὴς ποιήσατο Ῥείη
ἡμερίδων βασιλῆι χαριζομένη Διονύσῳ:
35 ἀμβροσίη δ᾽ ὀλόλυξε καὶ ἔμπνοον ἴαχε φωνήν:
[33] Rheia indignant gave a voice to the plant, that she might show her favour to Dionysos king of gardenvines; so Ambrosia uttered a breathing voice and shrilled high and loud:
‘οὐδέ, φυτόν περ ἐοῦσα, τεήν ποτε δῆριν ἀλύξω,
σὸν δέμας οὐτήσω καὶ ὲν ἔρνεσιν, ἀντὶ δὲ σειρῆς
χαλκείης ἀλύτοις σε περισφίγξαιμι πετήλοις:
εἰς σὲ καὶ ἀμπελόεσσα κορύσσομαι, ὄφρά τις εἴπῃ:
40 ‘Βασσαρίδες κτείνουσι καὶ ἐν πετάλοισι φονῆας.’
φυταλιὰς πεφύλαξο μαχήμονας: ἀντιβίους γὰρ
ἡμερίδες βάλλουσι καὶ αἰχμάζουσιν ὀπῶραι.
σοὶ μαχόμην ζώουσα καὶ ὀλλυμένη σε δαμάσσω:
οὕτω ἀριστεύουσι Διωνύσοιο τιθῆναι.
45 ἔκλυες εἰναλίην ἐχενηίδα, πῶς ἐνὶ πόντῳ
ἰχθὺς βαιός ἄναλκις ἐπέχραε πολλάκι ναύταις
ἂψ ἀνασειράζων, ὀλίγῳ δ᾽ ὑπὸ χάσματι λαιμοῦ
μηκεδανὴν ἀνέκοψε κατάσχετον ὁλκάδα δεσμῷ;
δέξο με χερσαίην ἐχενηίδα, δέξο πετήλων
50 αὐτοπέδην ἀσίδηρον ἐρισταφύλοιο κυδοιμοῦ.
μίμνε μοι, αὐτόθι μίμνε δεδεγμένος υἷα Θυώνης,
εἰσόκε νοστήσειε θαλασσαίων ἀπὸ κόλπων.’
[36] “Never will I cease to fight with you, plant though I am! Even as one of the world of plants I will wound you! I have no brazen chain, but I will choke you with inextricable leaves! I will attack you although a vine, that people may say —
‘Bassarids kill murderers, even when they are part of the world of leaves!’ You have to fear even vegetable warriors, for vines can shoot their enemies, and grapes can stab them! I fought you alive, and dead I will vanquish you. See how the nurses of Dionysos play the heroes! Have you heard of the seafish called hold the ship, how in the sea a little weak creature has often attacked a crew, pulls back their vessels, and with a small gaping mouth holds up a long freightship firm and fast? Here I am, your hold the ship on land! Here are my leaves, with a selfacting fetter not made of steel, for the battle of the valiant vine! Stand, I say, stand and wait for the son of Thyone, when he shall return from the bosom of the sea!”
τοῖα μὲν ἀμπελόεσσα κορυμβοφόρῳ φάτο φωνῇ
ἀμβροσίη τανύφυλλος, ἀρασσομένοιο Λυκούργου:
55 καὶ ,χλοεροῖς δεσμοῖσι κατάσχετος ἄγριος ἀνὴρ
ἀρραγέων ἀτίνακτος ἀλυκτοπέδῃσι πετήλων
ἀμφιπαγὴς ἀλάλαζεν ἀπειλείων Διονύσῳ:
οὐδὲ φυγεῖν σθένος εἶχε, μάτην δ᾽ ἐτίνασσεν ἀνάγκῃ
οὐτιδαναῖς ἑλίκεσσι περίπλοκον ἀνθερεῶνα:
60 οὐδὲ δι᾽ ἀσφαράγοιο μέση πορθμεύετο φωνὴ
θλιβομένου στεφανηδόν: ἐκυκλώσαντο δὲ Βάκχαι
αὐχένα μιτρωθέντα μέσον πνικτῆρι κορύμβῳ.
[53] So cried Ambrosia out of the vine with her grapy voice, whipping Lycurgos with her long foliage; and the wild man caught in the fresh green bonds, immovable, smothered all round in the galling fetters of leaves which he could not tear, roared defiance against Dionysos. He had no strength to escape; in vain he shook his throat wound about with the tiny tendrils in strong constraint. His voice could find no ferry through the gullet throttled with wreathing growths. The Bacchant women thronged round him, his neck confined in the middle of the stifling clusters.
καὶ πέλεκυν δασπλῆτα δορυσσόος ἥρπασεν Ἄρης
παιδὸς ἑοῦ: Βρομίην γὰρ ἐδείδιε λυσσάδα Βάκχην,
65 μὴ φονίῳ βουπλῆγι δέμας πλήξειε Λυκούργου:
οὐδὲ Δρυαντιάδην χλοερῶν ἀπελύσατο δεσμῶν,
καὶ μάλα περ ποθέων, στεροπῇ δ᾽ ὑπόειξε τοκῆος
δοῦπον ἀπειλητῆρα Διὸς βρονταῖον ἀκούων.
[63] Spearmaster Ares caught up his son’s frightful axe; for he feared that the mad Bacchants might strike the body of Lycurgos with that bloody poleaxe; but he did not release Dryas’ son from the leafy bonds, much as he desired to do it — he gave way on hearing the threatening sound of Zeus’s thunder, and at the flash of his father’s lightning.
καὶ δολιχὴν προθέλυμνον ἐπιπροχυθεῖσα καρήνῳ
70 ἀνδρὸς ἀμαιμακέτοιο κόμην ὤλοψε Πολυξώ:
γαστέρι δ᾽ ἀντιβίου μανιώδεα χεῖρα βαλοῦσα,
ἁπτομένη θώρηκος, ἀνέσπασεν ἅρπαγι παλμῷ,
χωομένη δ᾽ ἔρρηξε — μαχήμονες, εἴπατε, Μοῦσαι,
οἷον ἔην τότε θαῦμα δαϊζομένοιο χιτῶνος
θηλυτέροις ὀνύχεσσι, σιδηρείου περ ἐόντος — :
καὶ ταναοῖς πλέξασα λύγοις ἑλικώδεα σειρὴν
Κλείτη λυσιέθειρα καὶ ἀμπελόεσσα Γιγαρτὼ
εὐπετάλῳ μάστιγι δέμας φοίνιξε Λυκούργου
αἱμαλέῃ σμώδιγγι χαρασσομένων ἐπὶ νώτων:
80 Φλειὼ δ᾽ εὐρυτέρῃσι κατέγραφε ταρσὸν ἀκάνθαις
αἰνομανής: Ἐρίφη δὲ συνέμπορος Εἰραφιώτῃ
δραξαμένη μέσσοιο δασύτριχος ἀνθερεῶνος
ἄνδρα βαλεῖν μενέαινεν ἐπὶ χθονί: μαρναμένη δὲ
Βακχείης Φασύλεια κυβερνήτειρα χορείης
85 δυσμενέος κενεῶνα κατέγραφεν ὀξέι κέντρῳ:
καὶ Θεόπη κεκόρυστο, τιθηνήτειρα Λυαίου,
ῥινοτόρῳ νάρθηκι: δέμας δ᾽ ἤρασσε Λυκούργου
καὶ Βρομίη
Βρομίοιο φερώνυμος: αἷς ἅμα Νύμφη
Κισσηὶς φιλόβοτρυς ἐμάστιεν ἀνέρα κισσῷ.
[69] Polyxo threw herself upon the head of the raving man, and tore out long locks of hair by the roots. She laid a furious hand on the belly of her foe, seized the corselet, wrenched it off with predatory force, burst it in her rage — declare, O warrior Muses! what a wonder that a woman’s nails should tear apart this gear, made of steel though it was! — Cleite with hair flowing free had plaited a twining rope of withies, and Gigarto of the vines, with the whip of twigs, scored the body of Lycurgos with red bleeding weals over the torn shoulders. Phleio scratched the sole of his foot with bunches of thorns, maddened dreadfully. Eriphe the companion of Eiraphiotes clutched at the man’s hairy throat, with a mind to throw him back on the ground. Phasyleia the leader of the Bacchanal dance, fought and scratched the enemy’s flank with a sharp spike. Theope Lyaios’s nurse armed herself with a skintearing fennel. Bromie, who bore the name of Bromios, also beat the body of Lycurgos; and with them Cisseis, that grapeloving nymph, flogged the man with ivy.
90 καὶ πολέμῳ δρυόεντι βιαζομένου Λυκοόργου
πῆμα φάνη πάλιν ἄλλο κακώτερον: Ἀρραβίῃ γὰρ
πόντιον ἐννοσίγαιον ὀρεστιὰς ὥπλισε Ῥείη,
σχιζομένων καναχηδὸν ἀκοντιστῆρα θεμέθλων:
καὶ δαπέδου βαθύκολπον ἀπεστυφέλιξεν ὀχῆα
95 αἰχμάζων τριόδοντι θαλασσομέδων ἐνοσίχθων,
ἐνδομύχοις ἀνέμοισιν ἱμασσομένων κενεώνων,
γειοπόνοις ἀνέμοισιν, ἐπεὶ νωμήτορι παλμῷ
χάσματα κοιλαίνουσι σεσηρότα φωλάδες αὖραι:
Ἀρραβίης δ᾽ ἀτίνακτος ἐσείετο κόλπος ἀρούρης,
100 ἀγχινεφῆ δὲ μέλαθρα τινάκτορι λύετο παλμῷ:
καὶ δρύες εἰς χθόνα πῖπτον, ἀρασσόμενος δὲ τριαίνῃ
Νύσιος ἀμφιέλικτος Ἄραψ ὠρχήσατο πυθμήν:
καὶ πτελέη χθονὶ κεῖτο, κόμην δ᾽ ἐκονίσσατο δάφνη,
καὶ πίτυς αὐτόρριζος ἐκέκλιτο γείτονι πεύκῃ.
[90] So Lycurgos was tormented by the warring plants; but now a trouble appeared worse than any. For Rheia of the mountains armed against Arabia the seagod, Earthshaker who splits the foundations of the earth with a crash, and hurls them about. Then Earthshaker the ruler of the sea struck with his trident, and knocked away the great bar which held up the wide floor of the land, while the caverns of the earth were beaten by internal winds, subterranean winds, for blasts in the hidden parts hollow out grinning chasms with moving shock. The unshakable soil of Arabia quaked, cloudcapt palaces were dissolved by the shattering shock; trees fell to the earth, and the firm ground about Arabian Nysa struck by the trident shook and danced. The elm lay on the ground, the laurel’s leaves were in the dust, the pine self-uprooted lay beside the fir.
105 ὄφρα μὲν ἐννοσίγαιος, ὑπὸ χθόνα λάβρος ἀήτης,
νερτερίων κευθμῶνα μετερρίζωσεν ἐναύλων,
τόφρα πέλεν κακὸν ἄλλο νεώτερον: ὑλονόμοι γὰρ
θεινόμεναι μάστιγι δρακοντοκόμοιο Μεγαίρης
Νυσιάδες ταυρηδὸν ἐμυκήσαντο γυναῖκες,
110 σφωιτέρων τεκέων δηλήμονες: ἐσσυμένη δὲ
ἡ μὲν ἀνηκόντιζεν ἐς ἠέρα κοῦρον ἀλήτην
ἠερόθεν προκάρηνον ὀλισθήσαντα κονίῃ,
ἡ δὲ φίλον βρέφος εἷλκε, καὶ οὐκ ἐμνήσατο μαζοῦ:
ἄλλη παιδοφόνῳ παλάμην φοίνιξε σιδήρῳ
115 υἱέα δαιτρεύσασα, καὶ ἔπλετο μαινὰς Ἀγαύη.
καὶ σφετέροις τεκέεσσιν ἐπέδραμον, ἀρτιτόκους δὲ
υἱέας, οὓς ἐλόχευσαν, ἐμιστύλλοντο μαχαίρῃ ...
ἄλλος ὑποπτήσσων μανιώδεα Πανὸς ἱμάσθλην
εἰς ἐνοπὴν ἄγραυλον Ἄραψ βακχεύετο ποιμήν.
[105] While Earthshaker with wild subterranean blasts shook the roots of the hollows and caverns below, a new calamity came: the woodranging Nysian women, lashed by the whip of dragonhair Megaira, bellowed like bulls and murdered their children. One would rush forward and throw her boy flying into the air, sliding headlong from the air into the dust. Another dragged her own baby along the ground, and forgot the breast. Another stained her hand with childslaying steel, and carved her son like another mad Agaue. So they rushed on their own children, the newborn sons whom they had brought forth, and cut them piecemeal with the knife. Beside them the Arabian shepherd crouching under Pan’s whip ran amok among the animals.
120 τοῖα μὲν οἰστρήεντι δόλῳ κυμαίνετο βούτης
δαιτρεύων ἑὰ τέκνα, καὶ υἱέας εἰλαπινάζων
παιδοβόροις γενύεσσι: νοοσφαλέων δὲ βοτήρων
ἄτροφον ἀρσενόπαιδα τόκον τυμβεύσατο γαστὴρ ...
νυμφάων παλάμῃσι: πολυγνάμπτοις δὲ πετήλοις
125 ἀμφιπαγὴς πεπέδητο, καὶ οὐ γόνυ κάμψε Λυαίῳ,
οὐ Διὶ χεῖρα τίταινεν, ἀλεξήτειραν ἀνάγκης,
οὐ βροντῆς φόβον εἶχεν: ἀπειλήσας δὲ προσώπῳ
χώετο Βασσαρίδεσσιν: ἐπεσσυμένην δὲ καρήνῳ
ἀστεροπὴν ἐνόησε, καὶ οὐχ ὑπόειξε Λυαίῳ.
130 βάλλετο δ᾽ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα, πολυσπερέων δὲ βολάων
τοσσατίην ἕστηκε μένων ἀντίξοον ὁρμήν,
Ἄρεα μοῦνον ἔχων χραισμήτορα, μοῦνος ἐρίζων
Ζηνί, Ποσειδάωνι, Ῥέῃ, Χθονί, Νηρέι, Βάκχῳ.
καὶ μογέων ἀχάλινον ἀπερροίβδησεν ἰωήν:
[120] So the oxherd, seething by the god’s maddening device, carved up his children, and feasted on his own sons with child-devouring jaws: the belly of delirious drovers was the tomb of their own boys, whom they should have cared for. All the while Lycurgos was beaten by the Nymphs’ hands. He was fast bound with many knots of leafage smothering him. Yet he bent not a knee before Lyaios, held not out a hand to Zeus for mercy in his extremity, feared not the thunder, but glared with fury at the Bassarids. He saw the lightning flash against his head, and would not yield to Lyaios. Blows fell on him from all sides, but he stood unmoved by all this impetuous onslaught of innumerable blows, facing alone Zeus, Poseidon, Rheia, Earth, Nereus, Bacchos, with only Ares to help him; and in his pain he shrieked out unbridled defiance:
135 ‘ἅψατε πῦρ, φλέξωμεν ὅλον φυτόν, ἐν πυρὶ κείσθω
βακχικὰ ταῦτα πέτηλα, καὶ αἰθομένας διὰ πόντου
ἡμερίδας ῥίψωμεν ὑποβρυχίῳ Διονύσῳ,
ἠνορέης Ἀράβων σημήιον: ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴ
δεξαμένη κατὰ κῦμα Θέτις πυρίκαυτον ὀπώρην
140 τέφρην ἀμπελόεσσαν ἀποσβέσσειε θ�
�λάσσῃ.
λύσατε φάσματα ταῦτα καὶ αἰόλα μάγγανα δεσμῶν:
μάγγανα Νηρεΐδων Ποσιδήια ταῦτα δοκεύω:
λύσατε, καὶ ῥοθίοις με πελάσσατε: μαντιπόλῳ γὰρ
Πρωτέι φαρμακόεντι κορύσσομαι: ἅψατε πεύκην,
145 ὄφρα μολὼν παρὰ πόντον ἐμῷ ποινήτορι θυμῷ
[135] “Make fire, let us burn all this stuff, let all these Bacchic leaves lie in the flames! Let us throw the blazing gardenvines into the sea for Dionysos in the deeps, to show the courage of Arabs! Let Thetis herself catch the scorched fruit in the waves, and quench the burning viny ashes in the sea! Loose these phantasms, this cunning witchery of bonds! I see here witchery of the Nereids and Poseidon. Loose me and bring me to the sea! I will take arms against this prophet-wizard Proteus. Light a torch, that I may go down to the sea in my avenging wrath, and set fire to Melicertes the entertainer of Bromios!”
ξεινοδόκον Βρομίοιο καταφλέξω Μελικέρτην.’
[146] So he spoke, threatening Nereus and Dionysos.
εἶπεν ἀπειλείων καὶ Νηρέι καὶ Διονύσῳ ...
Ἀρραβίης σχεδὸν ἦλθεν: Ἐνυαλίου δὲ καμόντα
υἱέα δενδρήεντος ἀνεζώγρησε κυδοιμοῦ
150 Αρεος ἆορ ἔχουσα σιδήρεον, ἀμφὶ δὲ Βάκχαις
δαιμονίης γύμνωσε σελασφόρα νῶτα μαχαίρης,
εἰς φόβον αἰθύσσουσα Κυβηλίδα θῆλυν Ἐνυώ:
ἀμβροσίης δὲ πέτηλα διατμήξασα σιδήρῳ
δεσμοὺς βοτρυόεντας ἀπεσφήκωσε Λυκούργου.
155 καὶ χθονὸς ἐπρήυνε τινάκτορα κυανοχαίτην
γνωτὸν ἑὸν καὶ Ζῆνα πόσιν καὶ μητέρα Ῥείην,
