by Nonnus
οἶδα μόθου Μίνωος, ὃν ὤπασε θῆλυς Ἐνυὼ
κεστὸν ἐλαφρίζουσα καὶ οὐ τελαμῶνα βοείης,
150 ὁππότε Κύπρις ἕην κορυθαιόλος, ὁππότε Πειθὼ
χάλκεον ἔγχος ἔπαλλε καὶ ἔπλετο Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη,
μαρναμένῳ Μίνωι συνέμπορος, ἐν δὲ κυδοιμοῖς
ἀπτολέμων τόξευε γαμοστόλος ἑσμὸς Ἐρώτων,
καὶ Πόθος ἱμερόεις πτολιπόρθιος, ἡνίκα λαῷ
155 Νισαίῳ Μεγαρῆι Κυδωνιὰς ἔβρεμε σάλπιγξ,
εὖτε Φόβον καὶ Δεῖμον ἰδὼν συνάεθλον Ἐρώτων
ἴχνεσιν αἰδομένοισιν ἐχάζετο χάλκεος Ἄρης,
ἀσπίδα κουφίζουσαν ὀπιπεύων Ἀφροδίτην
καὶ Πόθον αἰχμάζοντα, καὶ εὐθώρηκι μαχητῇ
160 ἁβροχίτων ἐτέλεσσεν Ἔρως καλλίτριχα νίκην:
Σκύλλα γὰρ ὑπνώοντος ἀκερσικόμοιο τοκῆος
ἥλικα πορφυρέης ἀπεκείρατο βότρυν ἐθείρης,
καὶ πόλιν ἔπραθε πᾶσαν ἕνα τμητῆρι σιδήρῳ
βόστρυχον ἀμήσασα πολισσούχοιο καρήνου.
[148] I know also the war of Minos, which a woman’s battle accomplished, handling the lovegirdle instead of the shieldstrap, when Cypris wore a gleaming helmet, when Peitho shook a brazen spear and turned into Pallas Athena to stand by Minos in the fray, when the bridal swarm of unwarlike Loves shot their arrows in battle; I know how tender Desire sacked a city, when the Cydonian trumpet blared against Nisos of Megara and his people, when brazen Ares shrank back for very shame, when he saw his Rout and his Terror supporting the Loves, when he beheld Aphrodite holding a buckler and Desire casting a lance, while daintyrobe Eros wrought a fairhair victory against the fighting men in arms. For Scylla, while her uncropt father was lying asleep, had cut off from his hair the purple cluster which had grown there from his birth, and by severing one tress from the sceptred head with her iron shears, sacked a whole city.
165 Μίνως μὲν πτολίπορθος ἑῷ ποτε κάλλεϊ γυμνῷ
ὑσμίνης τέλος εὗρε, καὶ νίκησε σιδήρῳ,
ἀλλὰ πόθῳ καὶ ἔρωτι: κορυσσομένου δὲ Λυαίου
οὐ Πόθος ἐπρήυνεν ἀκοντοφόρων μόθον Ἰνδῶν,
οὐ Παφίη κεκόρυστο συναιχμάζουσα Λυαίῳ,
170 κάλλεϊ νικήσασα, μόθου τέλος οὐ μία κούρη
οἰστρομανὴς χραίσμησεν ἐρασσαμένη Διονύσου,
οὐ δόλος ἱμερόεις, οὐ βόστρυχα Δηριαδῆος,
ἀλλὰ πολυσπερέων πολέμων ἑτερότροπος Ἰνδὸς
[165] So Minos citysacker by his own bare beauty won the prize of the battle; he conquered not by steel, but by love and desire. But when Lyaios armed for battle, no Desire tamed the fray of Indian spearmen, no Paphian armed to support Lyaios, or conquered by beauty, no girl mad with passion gave by herself the prize of battle to Dionysos, no lover’s trick, no curls of Deriades’ hair, but the changes and chances of Indian wars far-scattered gave him the glory of victory ever renewed.
νίκης εὖχος ἔχων παλιναυξέος. εἰ δὲ γεραίρεις
175 Ἴναχον Ἡρακλῆος, ὅλον πόνον αὐτὸς ἐλέγξω.
[174] If you boast of Heracles and the Inachos, I will examine all his labours.
οἶδα μέν, ὅττι λέοντι βραχίονα λοξὸν ἑλίξας
εὐπαλάμῳ πήχυνε περίπλοκον αὐχένα δεσμῷ,
πότμον ἄγων ἀσίδηρον, ὅπῃ ζωαρκέι λαιμῷ
ἔμπνοος ἀσφαράγοιο μέσος πορθμεύεται ἀήρ:
180 οὐκ ἄγαμαι καὶ τοῦτο: παρ᾽ εὐπετάλῳ ποτὲ λόχμῃ
χερσὶ λεοντοφόνοισιν ἀριστεύουσα Κυρήνη
παρθένος ἔργον ἔτευξεν ὁμοίιον, ὅττι καὶ αὐτὴ
ἄρσενα θῆρα δάμασσεν ἀκαμπέι θήλεϊ δεσμῷ:
ἀρτιθαλὴς δ᾽ ἔτι κοῦρος ἐν οὔρεσι Βάκχος ἀθύρων
185 χειρὶ μιῇ λασίου δεδραγμένος ἀνθερεῶνος
φοίνιον εἷλκε λέοντα, καὶ ὤρεγε μητέρι Ῥείῃ
αὐχενίου πλοκάμοιο κεχηνότα θῆρα πιέζων:
εἷλκεν ἔτι ζώοντα, περισφίγξας δὲ λεπάδνῳ
θῆρα κυβερνητῆρι διεσφήκωσε χαλινῷ
190 ζεύξας δοῦλα γένεια, καὶ ἥμενος ὑψόθι, δίφρου
ἄγρια ταρβαλέων ἐπεμάστιε νῶτα λεόντων.
πορδαλίων δὲ γένεθλα καὶ ὠμοβόρων γένος ἄρκτων
νηπιάχοις παλάμῃσιν ἐδουλώθη Διονύσου.
[176] I know he threw his arm from one side and circled the lion’s neck entangled in mighty grip, and so without weapon brought death, in that spot where the breath passes through the gullet of the lifesufficing throat. I see nothing surprising in that. There was Cyrene, a champion in the leafy forest with her lionslaying hands, that girl did an exploit quite as good, when she also mastered a male lion with a woman’s grip which he could not shake off. Bacchos too when still a young lad, while playing in the mountains, grasped a deadly lion by the shaggy throat with one hand, dragged him away and presented him to his mother Rheia, pressing down the maned neck of the gaping beast — dragged him still alive, and fastened him under the yokestrap, put on the guiding bridle over slavish cheeks, then seated high in the car whipt the back of the frightful creatures. Troops of panthers also and the ravening tribe of bears were slaves to the baby hands of Dionysos.
οἶδα καὶ Ἀρκάδα κάπρον ὀρίδρομον: ἀλλὰ Λυαίῳ
195 παίγνια κουρίζοντι σύες καὶ φῦλα λεόντων.
[194] I know also the boar of the Arcadian mountains; but for Lyaios, boars and the brood of lions were the playthings of childhood.
τί πλέον Ἡρακλέης θρασὺς ἥνυσεν, εἴ τινα πηγὴν
πολλὰ καμὼν ὀλίγην ὀφιώδεα λύσατο Λέρνην,
τέμνων αὐτοτέλεστα θαλύσια φωλάδος ὕδρης
φυταλίην πολύδειρον ἀνασταχύοντα δρακόντων;
200 αἴθε δὲ μοῦνος ἔπεφνε, καὶ οὐκ ἐκάλεσσε μογήσας
ἀρτιφύτων Ἰόλαον ἀλοιητῆρα καρήνων,
δαλὸν ἀερτάζοντα σελασφόρον, εἰσόκεν ἄμφω
θῆλυν ὄφιν πρήνιξαν, ἐγὼ δ᾽ οὐκ οἶδα γεραίρειν
οὐτιδανῇ δύο φῶτας ἐριδμαίνοντας ἐχίδνῃ:
205 εἷς πόνος ἀμφοτέροισι μερίζετο: θυρσοφόρος δὲ
μοῦνος ἀποτμήξας ὀφιώδεας υἷας Ἀρούρης
Εὔιος ἔχραε πᾶσι, Διὸς πρόμος, ὧν ὑπὲρ ὥμων
ἀμφιλαφεῖς ἑκάτερθεν ἀμοιβάδες ἔρρεον ὕδραι,
ὕδρης Ἰνα�
�ίης πολὺ μείζονες, ἀντὶ δὲ Λέρνης
210 ἀσταθέες σύριζον ἐν αἰθέρι γείτονες ἄστρων.
ἱλήκοις, Ἰόλαε: σὺ γὰρ δέμας ἔφλεγες ὕδρης,
καὶ μόνος Ἡρακλέης, μόνος ἥρπασεν οὕνομα νίκης.
[196] What good did bold Heracles do, if he took all that trouble to liberate some little snaky brook like Lerna, by cutting down the selfgrowing firstfruits of the lurking serpent, as that plentiful crop of snake-heads grew spiking up? If only he had done the killing alone! instead of calling in his distress for Iolaos, to destroy the heads as they grew afresh, by lifting a burning torch, until the two together managed to get the better of one female serpent. I do not see how to praise two fellows fighting with a miserable viper, and one job divided between two. But Euios wand in hand cut down the snaky sons of Earth alone — that champion of Zeus! attacked them all, with huge serpents flowing over their shoulders equally on both sides much bigger than the Inachian snake, while they went hissing restlessly about among the stars of heaven, not in the pool of Lerna. Forgive me Iolaos, for you burnt the hydra’s body, and Heracles, only Heracles, grabbed the name of victory.
οὐ Νεμέην ἐλάχειαν ἐμὸς πρόμος, οὕ τινα Λέρνην
Βάκχος ἀνεζώγρησε πολυσφαράγων ἀπὸ λαιμῶν,
215 θάμνον ἐχιδνήεντα ταμὼν παλιναυξέος ὕδρης,
ἀλλὰ Νότον καὶ ταρσὰ Βορήια καὶ πτερὸν Εὕρου
καὶ Ζέφυρον κήρυκα φέρων τετράζυγι νίκῃ
ὠκεανόν, χθόνα, πόντον ἑῶν ἔπλησεν ἀέθλων.
εἰ κλέος ἀνδρὶ φέρουσι δράκων, εἰ φωλάδες ὕδραι,
220 Βάκχου στέμματα ταῦτα λεχώια, ταῦτα Λυαίου
φρικτὰ δρακοντείων ὀφιώδεα δεσμὰ κομάων,
ἐξ ὅτε πατρὸς ἔλειπε τελεσσιγόνου πτύχα μηροῦ.
[213] No humble Nemea Bacchos my champion saved from loud-roaring throats, no paltry Lerna, by cutting down a bush of heads which ever grew again on so many necks; he took for heralds of his fourfold victory West Wind and South Wind, the feet of the North and the wing of the East, and filled Ocean, land and sea with his exploits. If a serpent brings fame to a man, if lurking snakes, these are the birthday garlands of Bacchos, these are the terrible serpentine fillets of his snaky hair, ever since he left the teeming fold of his father’s thigh.
Σιγήσω κεμάδος χρύσεον κέρας, οὕ τι χαλέψω
τηλίκον Ἡρακλῆα μιῆς ἐλάφοιο φονῆα:
225 μὴ τρομερῆς ἐλάφου μιμνήσκεο: νεβροφόνῳ γὰρ
θυιάδι βαιὸν ἄθυρμα πέλει κεμαδοσσόος ἄγρη.
[223] I will say nothing of the pricket with golden horns; I will not disparage great Heracles as the slayer of a single deer. Forget the timid deer: for killing of fawns and hunting of prickets is a only little play for the Bacchant woman.
Κνώσσιον Ἡρακλῆος ἔα πόνον: οἰστρομανῆ γὰρ
οὐκ ἄγαμαί τινα ταῦρον, ὃν ἤλασεν, ὅττι τινάσσων
τοσσατίην κορύνην ὀλίγην ἔτμηξε κεραίην:
230 πολλάκι τοῦτο τέλεσσε γυνὴ μία, πολλάκι Βάκχη
ἄσπετον εὐκεράων ἀγέλην δαιτρεύσατο ταύρων,
οὐτιδανὴ θεράπαινα βοοκραίρου Διονύσου:
θηγαλέην δ᾽ ἐπίκυρτον ἀνειρύσσασα κεραίην
πολλάκις, εἰ κεράεσσιν ἐμάρνατο μαινόμενος βοῦς,
235 εἰς γόνυ ταῦρον ἔκαμψεν, ἀκοντιστῆρα λεόντων.
[227] Let pass the Cnossian labour of Heracles. I cannot admire just a mad bull which he chased, and how shaking that great club he knocked off a little horn. One woman alone has often done as much; and a Bacchant woman, the least of the servants of oxhorn Dionysos, has often butchered a vast herd of horned bulls. Often if a mad ox showed fight with his horns, she has pulled back the sharp curved horns and brought down to his knees a bull that has lightly tossed lions.
κάλλιπε καὶ τριλόφοιο καρήατα Γηρυονῆος:
καὶ γὰρ ἐμὸς Διόνυσος ἑῷ ταμεσίχροϊ κισσῷ
Ἄλπον ἀπηλοίησε, θεημάχον υἱὸν Ἀρούρης,
Ἄλπον ἐχιδναίοις ἑκατὸν κομόωντα καρήνοις,
240 ἠελίου ψαύοντα καὶ αὖ ἐρύοντα Σελήνην,
ἀστραίην πλοκάμοισι περιθλίβοντα χορείην.
[236] Leave aside also the heads of threecrested Geryones; for my Dionysos with his fleshcutting ivy shore through Alpos, that godfighting son of Earth, Alpos with a hundred vipers on his head for hair, who touched the Sun, and pulled back the Moon, and tormented the company of stars with his tresses.
ἆθλα μὲν Ἡρακλῆος, ὃν ἤροσεν ἀθάνατος Ζεὺς
Ἀλκμήνης τρισέληνον ἔχων παιδοσπόρον εὐνήν,
οὐτιδανὸς πόνος ἦεν ὀρίτροφος: ἔργα δὲ Βάκχου
245 ἠὲ Γίγας πολύπηχυς ἢ ὑψιλόφων πρόμος Ἰνδῶν,
οὐ κεμάς, οὐ βοέης ἀγέλης στίχες, οὐ λάσιος σῦς,
οὐδὲ κύων, ἣ ταῦρος, ἢ αὐτόπρεμνος ὀπώρη
χρυσοφαής, ἣ κόπρος, ἢ ἄστατος ὄρνις ἀλήτης
οὐτιδανὴν ἀσίδηρον ἔχων πτερόεσσαν ἀκωκήν,
250 ἢ γένυς ἱππείη ξεινοκτόνος, οὐ μία μίτρη
Ἱππολύτης ἐλάχεια: Διωνύσοιο δὲ νίκη
Δηριάδης ἀπέλεθρος ἢ εἰκοσίπηχυς Ὀρόντης.
[242] The Labours of Heracles, who was son of immortal Zeus, when for three moonlights he possessed the fruitful bed of Alcmene, were a petty job in the mountains: but the exploits of Bacchos, whether Giant of many arms or chief of the highcrested Indians, were not a deer, no herds of oxen, no shaggy boar, no dog or bull, no goldglinting fruit and its roots, no dung, no random wandering bird with silly wing-shafts not made of steel, no horse’s man-eating teeth, no little belt of Hippolyta. The victory of Dionysos was huge Deriades and twenty-cubit Orontes.
παμφαὲς υἱὲ Μέλητος, Ἀχαιίδος ἄφθιτε κῆρυξ,
ἱλήκοι σέο βίβλος ὁμόχρονος ἠριγενείῃ:
255 Τρῳάδος ὑσμίνης οὐ μνήσομαι: οὐ γὰρ ἐίσκω
Αἰακίδῃ Διόνυσον ἢ Ἕκτορι Δηριαδῆα.
ὑμαήσειν μὲν ὄφελλε τόσον καὶ τοῖον ἀγῶνα
Μοῦσα τεὴ καὶ Βάκχον ἀκοντιστῆρα Γιγάντων,
ἄλλοις δ᾽ ὑμνοπόλοισι πόνους Ἀχιλῆος ἐᾶσαι,
260 εἰ μὴ τοῦτο Θέτις γέρας ἥρπασεν. ἀλλὰ λιγαίνειν
πνεῦσον ἐμοὶ τεὸν ἄσθμα θεόσσυτον: ὑμετέρης γὰρ
δεύομαι εὐεπίης, ὅτι τηλίκον Ἄρεα μέλπων
Ἰνδοφόνους ἱδρῶτας ἀμαλδύνω Διονύσου.
[253] O brilliant son of Meles, deathless herald of Achaia, may your book pardon me, immortal as the
Dawn! I will not speak of the Trojan War; for I do not compare Dionysos to Aiacides, or Deriades to Hector. Your Muse ought to have hymned so great and mighty a struggle, how Bacchos brought low the Giants, and ought to have left the labours of Achilles to other bards, had not Thetis stolen that glory from you. But breathe into me your inspired breath to sing my lay; for I need your lovely speech, since I make nothing of the sweat of Dionysos, the fatal foe of India, when I hymn so great a war.
ἀλλά, θεά, με κόμιζε τὸ δεύτερον εἰς μέσον Ἰνδῶν,
265 ἔμπνοον ἔγχος ἔχοντα καὶ ἀσπίδα πατρὸς Ὁμήρου,
μαρνάμενον Μορρῆι καὶ ἄφρονι Δηριαδῆι
σὺν Διὶ καὶ Βρομίῳ κεκορυθμένον: ἐν δὲ κυδοιμοῖς
Βακχιάδος σύριγγος ἀγέστρατον ῾̣̣̓χν ἀκούσω
καὶ κτύπον οὐ λήγοντα σοφῆς σάλπιγγος Ὁμήρου,
270 ὄφρα κατακτείνω νοερῷ δορὶ λείψανον Ἰνδῶν.
[264] Then bring me, O goddess, into the midst of the Indians again, holding the inspired spear and shield of Father Homer, while I attack Morrheus and the folly of Deriades, armed by the side of Zeus and Bromios! Let me hear the syrinx of Bacchos summon the host to battle, and the ceaseless call of the trumpet in Homer’s verse, that I may destroy what is left of the Indians with my spear of the spirit.
ὣς ὁ μὲν Ἰνδῴοιο περὶ ῥάχιν εὔβοτον ὕλης
ἕζετο Βάκχος ὅμιλος ἐρημάδος ἀστὸς ἐρίπνης,