Met. 4.1At nōn Alcithoē Minyēias orgia cēnset
accipienda deī, sed adhūc temerāria Bacchum
prōgeniem negat esse Iovis, sociāsque sorōrēs
inpietātis habet.But Alcithoe, daughter of Minyas, does not think that the god's rites should be accepted; still rash, she denies that Bacchus is the offspring of Jupiter, and she has her sisters as partners in her impiety. Met. 4.4Fēstum celebrāre sacerdōs
5inmūnēsque operum famulās domināsque suōrum
pectora pelle tegī, crīnālēs solvere vittās,
serta comā, manibus frondentēs sūmere thyrsōs
iusserat, et saevam laesī fore nūminis īram
vāticinātus erat.The priest had ordered them to celebrate the festival, maidservants and their mistresses freed from their tasks, to cover their breasts with skins, to loosen the ribbons from their hair, to take garlands on their locks and leafy thyrsi in their hands, and he had prophesied that the anger of the slighted deity would be savage. Met. 4.9Pārent mātrēsque nurūsque
10tēlāsque calathōsque īnfectaque pēnsa repōnunt,
tūraque dant Bacchumque vocant Bromiumque Lyaeumque
ignigenamque satumque iterum sōlumque bimātrem:
additur hīs Nȳsēus indētōnsusque Thyōneus,
et cum Lēnaeō geniālis cōnsitor ūvae,
15Nycteliusque Eleleusque parēns et Iacchus et Euhan,
et quae praetereā per Grāiās plūrima gentēs
nōmina, Līber, habēs.They obey, mothers and young wives alike, and lay aside their webs and work-baskets and unfinished spinning, and offer incense, and call on Bacchus, Bromius and Lyaeus, the fire-born, the twice-begotten, the only one with two mothers: to these are added Nyseus and unshorn Thyoneus, and with Lenaeus the genial planter of the grape, and Nyctelius and father Eleleus and Iacchus and Euhan, and the very many other names besides that you bear, Liber, among the Greek peoples.
Met. 4.17Tibi enim incōnsūmpta iuventa est,
tū puer aeternus, tū fōrmōsissimus altō
cōnspiceris caelō, tibi, cum sine cornibus adstās,
20virgineum caput est.For yours is youth unwasted, you are the eternal boy, you are seen as the loveliest in high heaven; when you stand without your horns, yours is a girlish head. Met. 4.20Oriēns tibi victus, adūsque
dēcolor extrēmō quā tingitur India Gange:
Penthea tū, venerande, bipenniferumque Lycurgum
sacrilegōs mactās, Tyrrhēnaque mittis in aequor
corpora, tū biiugum pictīs īnsignia frēnīs
25colla premis lyncum;The East is conquered by you, as far as where dusky India is washed by the remote Ganges: you, venerable one, slaughter the sacrilegious Pentheus and axe-bearing Lycurgus, you send the Tyrrhenian bodies into the sea, you press down the necks of your yoked lynxes, splendid with painted reins; Met. 4.25bacchae satyrīque sequuntur,
quīque senex ferulā titubantēs ēbrius artūs
sustinet et pandō nōn fortiter haeret asellō.Bacchants and satyrs follow, and the old man who, drunk, props his tottering limbs on a fennel staff and clings none too firmly to his sway-backed little donkey. Met. 4.28Quācumque ingrederis, clamor iuvenālis et ūnā
fēmineae vōcēs inpulsaque tympana palmīs
30concavaque aera sonant longōque forāmine buxus.Wherever you go, the shouts of young men ring out, and with them women's voices, and drums struck by palms, and hollow bronze, and the boxwood flute with its long bore.
Met. 4.31"Plācātus mītisque" rogant Ismēnidēs "adsīs,"
iussaque sacra colunt.'Be with us, appeased and gentle,' the Theban women pray, and they observe the rites as ordered. Met. 4.32Sōlae Minyēidēs intus
intempestīva turbantēs fēsta Minervā
aut dūcunt lānās, aut stāmina pollice versant,
35aut haerent tēlae famulāsque labōribus urgent.Only the daughters of Minyas, indoors, disturbing the festival with untimely Minerva, either draw out wool, or twirl the threads with their thumbs, or keep close to the loom and press their maids with work. Met. 4.36Ē quibus ūna levī dēdūcēns pollice fīlum
"dum cessant aliae commentaque sacra frequentant,
nōs quoque, quās Pallas, melior dea, dētinet" inquit,
"ūtile opus manuum variō sermōne levēmus:
40perque vices aliquid, quod tempora longa vidērī
nōn sinat, in medium vacuās referāmus ad aurēs."One of them, drawing out the thread with nimble thumb, says: 'While the others are idle and throng to these invented rites, let us too, whom Pallas, a better goddess, keeps here, lighten the useful work of our hands with varied talk, and by turns let us tell something for all to share to our idle ears, which will not let the time seem long.' Met. 4.42Dicta probant prīmamque iubent narrāre sorōrēs.The sisters approve what she says and bid her tell her tale first.
Met. 4.43Illa, quid ē multīs referat (nam plūrima nōrat),
cōgitat et dubiā est, dē tē, Babylōnia, narret,She ponders what to tell out of many (for she knew a great many), and is undecided whether to tell of you, Babylonian,