Works of Nonnus

by Nonnus

  ῥυσαμένη Λυκόοργον, ὅπως ἐναρίθμιος εἴη

  ἀθανάτοις: Ἄραβες δὲ πολυκνίσων ἐπὶ βωμῶν,

  ὡς θεόν, υἷα Δρύαντος ἐμειλίξαντο θυηλαῖς,

  160 ἀντὶ Διωνύσοιο μελιρραθάμιγγος ὀπώρης

  λύθρον ἐπισπένδοντες ἀβακχεύτῳ Λυκοόργῳ.

  [147] Now Hera came to Arabia, and saved the afflicted son of Enyalios from the leafy battle. She held the iron sword of Ares, and bared the flashing blade of the divine glaive over the Bacchants, scattering in flight the army of Cybelid women. She cut through Ambrosia’s leaves with that iron, and untied the bonds of the vine from Lycurgos. She soothed her brother, Seabluehair Earthshaker, and Zeus her husband and Rheia her mother, to save Lycurgos that he might be numbered with the immortals. For the Arabs on heavy-steaming altars propitiated Dryas’ son as a god with offerings, pouring to Lycurgos, who cared nought for Bacchos, libations of blood, instead of the honey dripping vintage of Dionysos.

  καὶ τὰ μὲν ὣς ἤμελλε γέρων χρόνος ὀψὲ τελέσσαι:

  Ζεὺς δὲ πατήρ, ἵνα μή τις ἀγηνορέων βροτὸς ἀνὴρ

  ἄλλος ἔχων μίμημα δοριθρασέος Λυκοόργου

  165 μῶμον ἀναστήσειεν ἀμωμήτῳ Διονύσῳ,

  αἰνομανῆ Λυκόοργον ἐθήκατο τυφλὸν ἀλήτην,

  ἄστεος ἀγνώστοιο παλινδίνητον ὁδίτην,

  πομπὸν ἀναγκαίης διζήμενον ἀτραπιτοῖο,

  πολλάκις αὐτοκέλευθα περιπταίοντα πεδίλοις.

  [162] All this Old Time was to accomplish in later days; but now, in order that no other mortal man should be proud like spearbold Lycurgos, and ridicule Dionysos whom none may ridicule, Father Zeus made mad Lycurgos a blind wanderer; to tramp round and round in the city which he no longer knew, to seek some guide for the path where he must tread, or often on lonely travels with stumbling feet.

  170 καὶ τὰ κὲν ἐν σκοπέλοισιν. Ἐρυθραίῳ δ᾽ ἐνὶ πόντῳ

  θυγατέρες Νηρῆος ἔσω βαθυκύμονος αὐλῆς

  εἰναλίῃ Διόνυσον ἐμειλίξαντο τραπέζῃ:

  καὶ Σεμέλης ῥίψασα Διιπετέος φθόνον εὐνῆς,

  οἰνοφύτῳ θρασὺν ὕμνον ἀνακρούουσα Λυαίῳ,

  175 μαῖα Διωνύσοιο μελίζετο, ποντιὰς Ἰνώ:

  καὶ Βρομίῳ γλυκὺ νέκταρ ἀπὸ κρητῆρος ἀφύσσων

  σύντροφος ἰσοέτηρος ἐῳνοχόει Μελικέρτης.

  [170] That is what was done on the mountains. But in the Erythraian sea, the daughters of Nereus cherished Dionysos at their table, in their halls deep down under the waves. Mermaid Ino threw off her jealousy of Semele’s bed divine, and struck up a brave hymn for winepouring Lyaios. Ino the nurse of Dionysos made music; and Melicertes his fosterbrother ladled out nectar from the bowl, and poured the sweet cups for his agemate.

  ὣς ὁ μὲν αὐτόθι μίμνεν ἔσω βαθυκύμονος αὐλῆς

  πόντον ἔχων πλατὺν οἶκον, ὑποβρύχιος μετανάστης:

  180 καὶ Θέτιδος βρυόεντι χυθεὶς ἐπεκέκλιτο κόλπῳ:

  Καδμείην δ᾽ ἀκόρητος ἑὴν εὔπαιδα τιθήνην

  αὐτοκασιγνήτην προσπτύξατο μητέρος Ἰνώ,

  καὶ φιλίῳ πήχυνε Παλαίμονα πολλάκι δεσμῷ

  σύντροφον ἰσοέτηρον. ἀδουπήτῳ δὲ πεδίλῳ

  185 οὐκέτι πουλυέλικτον ἀνακρούουσα χορείην,

  Βάκχου μὴ παρεόντος, ἀνεπτοίητο Μιμαλλὼν

  ἴχνια μαστεύουσα θαλασσοπόροιο Λυαίου:

  καὶ Σάτυρος φιλόμοχθος ἔχων ἀγέλαστον ὀπωπὴν

  ξείνῳ πένθεϊ κάμνεν, ὀριπλάγκτοισι δὲ χηλαῖς

  190 ἔτρεχον οἰστρήεντες ἀνὰ δρυμὰ Πᾶνες ἀλῆται,

  Πᾶνες, ἐρευνητῆρες ἀκηρύκτου Διονύσου:

  Σειληνὸς δ᾽ ἀχόρευτος, ἀκηδέα κύμβαλα ῥίψας,

  κεῖτο κατηφιόων: Κρονίη δ᾽ ἐλελίζετο Νύμφη

  Μάκρις ἀπενθήτοιο Διωνύσοιο τιθήνη,

  195 Βακχείης ὁμόδιφρος ἐυκνήμιδος ἀπήνης.

  ὣς οἱ μὲν δεδόνηντο κατηφέες: ἀχνυμένοις δὲ

  Σκέλμις ἀκυμάντοιο λιπὼν κευθμῶνα θαλάσσης

  πατρῴην ἀδίαντον ἑὴν ἤλαυνεν ἀπήνην,

  νόστον ἐπερχομένοιο προαγγέλλων Διονύσου.

  [178] So he remained in the hall deep down in the waves, with the broad main for his dwelling, a visitor under the waters, and he lay sprawled among the seaweed in Thetis’s bosom; he embraced never satisfied Cadmos’s daughter, Ino his nurse, mother of a noble son, sister of his own mother, and often he held in the loving prison of his arms Palaimon his yearsmate, his foster-brother. The Mimallon with quiet shoe no longer trod the noisy turns of the dance, for Bacchos was not there; she was hunting for tracks of Lyaios now under the sea. The Satyr so full of energy showed a face unsmiling, and languished in sorrow strange to him. The Pans wandered wild through the woods with hillranging hoof, Pans in search of Dionysos, and heard no word of him. Seilenos danced no more, threw away his cymbals unheeded, lay with downcast looks. Cronian Macris the nurse of nevermourning Dionysos trilled her lament, she who used to share the basket of the well-spoked car of Bacchos. So they were all restless and sad. But Scelmis left the caves of the waveless deep, and drove his father’s unwetted car, to tell them the tidings in their sorrow that Dionysos was coming back.

  200 ὄφρα μὲν ἄμφεπε Βάκχος ἁλίτροφα δεῖπνα τραπέζης,

  τόφρα δὲ Καυκασίοιο δι᾽ οὔρεος εἰς πόλιν Ἰνδῶν

  οἰνοφύτου Βρομίοιο ποδήνεμος ἵκετο κῆρυξ

  ταυροφυής, νόθον εἶδος ἔχων κεραελκέι μορφῇ,

  ἀντίτυπον μίμημα Σεληναίῃσι κεραίαις,

  205 αἰγὸς ὀρεσσινόμοιο περὶ χροῒ δέρμα συνάψας,

  αὐχενίῃ κληῖδι καθειμένον ἐξ ἑνὸς ὤμου,

  δεξιτεροῦ πλευροῖο κατήορον εἰς πτύχα μηροῦ,

  ἀμφοτέρης ἑκάτερθε παρηίδος οὔατα σείων,

  ὡς ὄνος οὐατόεις, λάσιος δέμας: ἐκ μεσάτης δὲ

  210 ἰξύος αὐτοέλικτος ἐσύρετο σύγγονος οὐρή.

  [200] While Bacchos enjoyed the hospitality of the sea, the windfoot courier of vineplanting Bromios traversed the Caucasos mountains to the Indian city. He had the shape of a bull, a borrowed form bearing horns, the very image of the horns of Selene; the skin of a mountain goat was thrown over his body, and hung over one shoulder from the collar-bone draping his right side down to the fork of the thigh; he shook a pair of long ears like the ears of an ass beside his two cheeks, and he was covered with hair, with a self-wagging tail that grew out from between his loins.

  ἀμφὶ δέ μιν γελόωντες ἐπέρρεον αἴθοπες Ἰνδοί,
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  εἰσόκεν ἐγγὺς ἵκανεν, ὅπῃ διδυμόζυγι δίφρῳ

  ἑζετο Δηριάδης περιμήκετος, ὄρχαμος ἀνδρῶν,

  ἠλιβάτων στατὸν ἴχνος ἀναστέλλων ἐλεφάντων.

  215 καὶ Σατύρῳ γελόων φιλοκέρτομον ἴαχε φωνήν:

  [211] The swarthy Indians crowded about him laughing, until he approached the place where huge Deriades, that king of men, sat in his chariot-and-pair. He checked the steps of his towering elephants, and laughing spoke to the Satyr in words of raillery:

  ‘οἵους Δηριάδῃ διδυμόχροας ἄνδρας ἰάλλει

  ταυροφυὴς Διόνυσος, ἀθύρματα δηιοτῆτος,

  ἀλλοφυεῖς, οὐ φῶτας ὅλην βροτοειδέα μορφήν,

  θηρῶν εἶδος ἔχοντας, ἐπεὶ διδυμάονι μορφῇ

  220 εἰσὶ νόθοι ταῦροί τε καὶ ἀνέρες: ἀμφότερον γὰρ

  καὶ βοὸς εἶδος ἔχουσι καὶ ἀνδρομέοιο προσώπου.’

  ἔννεπε, καὶ πολέμοιο προάγγελα σήματα φαίνων

  ἀσπίδα ποικιλόνωτον ἀφειδέι τύψε μαχαίρῃ

  μεσσοφανῆ περίκυκλον ἐς ὀμφαλόν: ἐκ δὲ βοείης

  225 χαλκὸς ἀρασσομένης ἐπεβόμβεε λοίγιον ἠχώ.

  καὶ βλοσυρῷ βασιλῆι τεθηπότα χείλεα λύσας

  [216] “What doubleshaped men bullform Dionysos sends to Deriades! what playthings for a soldier! Monsters, not creatures having a wholly human shape! They have the form of beasts! for with a double shape they are bastards, bulls and men at once — they have the bull’s body and the man’s face.”

  ἀγγελίην Βρομίοιο ταχύδρομος ἔννεπε κῆρυξ:

  ‘Δηριάδη, σκηπτοῦχε, θεὸς Διόνυσος ἀνώγει

  Ἰνδοὺς δεχνυμένους λαθικηδέος οἶνον ὀπώρης

  230 σπένδειν ἀθανάτοισι, δίχα πτολέμων, δίχα μόχθων:

  [227] So he spoke, and made the summoning signal for war, by striking a hearty blow with his sword upon the round boss which was seen in the middle of his richly-ornamented shield: the metal struck boomed out a sound of havoc from the oxhide.

  εἰ δέ κε μὴ δέξαιντο, κορύσσεται, εἰσόκε θύρσοις

  Βασσαρίδων γόνυ δοῦλον ὑποκλίνειεν Ὑδάσπης.

  [231] Then the swiftcoursing herald of Bromios opened his amazed lips, and gave his message to the grim king:

  ἀγγελίης ἤκουσας ἀληθέος: εἰπὲ καὶ αὐτὸς

  εἰρομένῳ τινὰ μῦθον, ἵν᾽ ἀγγείλω Διονύσῳ.’

  235 ὣς φαμένου σκηπτοῦχος ἀνήρυγε λυσσάδα φωνήν:

  ‘ὦ πόποι, οἷον ἔπος θρασὺς ἔννεπεν ἀνδρόμεος θήρ.

  αἰδέομαι κήρυκα μαχήμονι χειρὶ δαμάσσαι,

  οὐ δόρυ θοῦρον ἔχοντα καὶ οὐ ψαύοντα βοείης.

  ἔκλυον, ὅσσα μόγησε τεὸς πρόμος: ἔκλυε Γάγγης

  [233] “Deriades, sceptred king, the god Dionysos commands the Indians to accept the wine of his care-forgetting vintage, and to pour libations to the immortals, without war, without battle. If they refuse, he takes up arms, until Hydaspes bend a servile knee to the wands of the Bassarids. You have heard a truthful message: now give some answer to my address, which I may deliver to Dionysos.”

  240 ἀδρανίην Βρομίοιο καὶ ἠνορέην Λυκοόργου:

  οἶδα τεὸν βασιλῆα, νόθον θεόν, ὁππότε φεύγων

  εἰς βυθὸν ὠλίσθησεν ἀλεξικάκοιο θαλάσσης.

  καὶ πυρόεις σέο Βάκχος ἀκούεται, ὅττι τεκούσης

  ἐκ λαγόνων ἀνέτελλε Διοβλήτοιο Θυώνης:

  καὶ πυρός ἐστιν ὕδωρ πολὺ φέρτερον: ἣν ἐθελήσῃ,

  245 χεύματι παφλάζοντι πατὴρ ἐμός, Ἰνδὸς Ὑδάσπης,

  Ζηνὸς ἀποσβέσσειε πυρίπνοον ἄσθμα κεραυνοῦ.

  [240] When he had done, the monarch roared in a furious voice:

  “Ha, what a word the bold man-beast has spoken! It would be shameful to strike down a herald with violent hand, one who comes without valiant spear and holds no oxhide shield. I have heard the exploits of your chief: Ganges has heard the weakness of Bromios and the manly courage of Lycurgos. I know your king, the bastard god, when he fled and slipt into the deep for refuge from destruction. Yes, your Bacchos is called the fiery, because he rose from flanks of his mother Thyone struck by Zeus; and water is stronger far than fire. My father Indian Hydaspes, if it be his pleasure, could quench the fiery breath of the thunderbolt of Zeus with his bubbling flood.

  ἢν δ᾽ ἐθέλῃς, πόδα κάμψον ὁμούριον εἰς χθόνα Μήδων:

  κεῖθι μολὼν ἀγόρευε χοροστασίας Διονύσου.

  250 δύεο Βάκτριον οὖδας, ὅπῃ θεὸς ἔπλετο Μίθρης,

  Ἀσσύριος Φαέθων ἐνὶ Περσίδι: Δηριάδης γὰρ

  οὐ μάθεν οὐρανίων μακάρων χορόν, οὐδὲ γεραίρει

  ἠέλιον καὶ Ζῆνα καὶ εὐφαέων χορὸν ἄστρων.

  οὐ Κρόνον, οὐ Κρονίδην ἐδάην ὀλετῆρα τοκῆος,

  255 οὐ Κρόνον ἀγκυλόμητιν, ἑῶν θοινήτορα παίδων,

  αἰθέρος ἀμήσαντα φυτοσπόρον ἑσμὸν Ἐρώτων.

  ἀγνώσσω σέο δῶρα καὶ ἣν ὀνόμηνας ὀπώρην:

  οὐ δέχομαι ποτὸν ἄλλο μετὰ χρύσειον Ὑδάσπην:

  οἶνος ἐμὸς πέλεν ἔγχος, ὁ δ᾽ αὖ πότος ἐστὶ βοείη.

  260 οὐ Σεμέλη με λόχευσε πυριβλήτοις ὑμεναίοις

  δεξαμένη θαλάμοις φόνιον φλόγα, χαλκοχίτων δὲ

  ἡμέας ἠέξησε μόθων ἀκόρητος Ἐνυώ.

  οὐ μακάρων ἀλέγω τεκέων Διός: ἀμφότεροι γὰρ

  μοῦνοι ἐμοὶ γεγάασι θεοὶ καὶ Γαῖα καὶ Ὕδωρ.

  [248] “Turn your foot, if you please, to the marches of the Median land; go there and proclaim the dances of Dionysos. Pass into Bactrian soil, where Mithras is a god, the Assyrian Phaethon of Persia; for Deriades has learnt no dances of the eternal Blessed, he honours not Helios and Zeus or the company of shining stars. I know nothing of Cronos, or of Cronides who destroyed his father, nor Cronos the master-deceiver, who swallowed his own children, and shore away from Aither the hive of begetting love. I do not acknowledge your gifts, what you call your vintage; I accept no other drink than golden Hydaspes. My wine is the spear, my potion too the shield! No Semele brought me forth in firestruck bridal, or received the flames of death in her chamber; but my breeding came of Enyo in brazen armour, who never has surfeit of battles. I care nothing for the blessed offspring of Zeus; for me there are only two gods, Earth and Water.

  265 ταῦτα μολὼν ἀγόρευε φυγοπτολέμῳ Διονύσῳ:

  ἔρρε φυγὼν ἀκίχητος, ἕως ἔτι τόξον ἐρύκω,

  ἔρρε φυγὼν ἐμὸν ἔγχος: ἐς ὑσμίνην δὲ κορύσ
σας

  ἡμιτελεῖς σέο θῆρας ἀθωρήκτους τε γυναῖκας

  Δηριάδῆ πολέμιζε, καὶ Ἰνδῴην μετὰ νίκην

  270 σύνδρομον αὖ ἐρύσω σε δορικτήτῳ Διονύσῳ.

  οὐ μὲν ἐγὼ τελέσω σε διάκτορον: οὐ δύνασαι γὰρ

  λάτριον ἔργον ἔχειν οἰκοσσόον: ἀλλά σε μακροῖς

  οὔασι ῥιπίζοντα παρ᾽ εἰλαπίνῃσιν ἐάσω.’

  [265] “Go and give this answer to battleshy Dionysos. Go untouched, and evil go with you; go before I draw my bow, go with a curse if you would escape my spear! Arm for battle your half-and-half beasts and your uncorseleted women, and fight with Deriades! Then after our Indian victory I will drag you away along with Dionysos, the captive of my spear. But I will not make you my envoy. You cannot do such service in the house for me, but I will allow you to fan me at my table with your long ears.”

  ὣς εἰπὼν ἀπέπεμψεν ἀπειλείοντι προσώπῳ:

  275 καὶ πίνακος πτυκτοῖο μέσον κενεῶνα χαράξας

  τοῖον ἔπος ταχύμυθος ἐπέγραφε δίζυγι δέλτῳ:

  [274] This said, he dismissed him with threatening looks, after quickly scribbling this message within a tablet with two folding sides:

  ‘εἰ δύνασαι, Διόνυσε, κορύσσεο Δηριαδῆι.’

  [277] “Take arms against Deriades if you can, Dionysos.”

  τοῖα μὲν εἰσαΐων πάλιν ἔδραμεν ἠχέτα κῆρυξ.

  Σειληνοὺς δ᾽ ἐκίχησε γεγηθότας: ἐξανιὼν δὲ

  280 ἐκ ῥοθίων Διόνυσος Ὀρειάσι μίγνυτο Νύμφαις:

  καὶ Σάτυροι σκίρτησαν, ἐπωρχήσαντο δὲ Βάκχαι,

  γηραλέοις δὲ πόδεσσι Μάρων ἡγήσατο μολπῆς