THE DAUGHTERS Of MINYAS

NOT SO in the judgement of Alcithoe,
Minyas' child: to her the god's wild rites
Were inadmissible. She still denied,
Rash girl, that Bacchus was the son of Jove,
And had her sisters too as allies in
That blasphemy. The priest had now ordained
A feast day: servant girls must be excused
From work, and with their mistresses must swathe
Their breasts in skins, let down their braided hair,
Garland their heads, and carry in their hands
The leafy staves; and fierce, he prophesied,
Would be his wrath if Bacchus were defied.
The women, old and young alike, obeyed.
Weaving, work-boxes and unfinished work
They put away, and, burning incense, called
On Bacchus by his many noble names:^*
Lyaeus, Bromius; child of flaming fire;
Alone twice mothered and alone twice born;
Great lord and planter of the genial grape;
Nyseus too, and Lenaeus and Thyoneus,
Whose locks are never shorn; Nyctilius,
Iacchus, Euhan, father Eleleus;
And all the countless titles^* that are yours,
Liber, throughout the lands of Greece. For you^*
Have youth unfading; you're a boy for ever;
You shine the fairest in the firmament.
When you lay by your horns, your countenance
Is like a lovely girl's.^* You hold in thrall
The Orient, even those remotest lands
Where Ganges waters dusky India.
You, most worshipful, sent to their doom
Lycurgus^* with his two-edged battleaxe,
And Pentheus, both blasphemers; you consigned
The Tuscan sailors to the sea: you drive
Your pair of lynxes with bright coloured reins.

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