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THE BACCHAI: 
 
 THE DRAMA OF THE WINE GOD, 
 
 THE LIQUOR POWER, 
 
 AS DEPICTED BY EURIPIDES, B. C. 4OO. 
 BY 
 
 R. E. McBride, a. M. 
 
THE SOUL: 
 
 The Third Book of Lucretius' De Rerum 
 
 Natura. 
 
 Translated Into English Verse: 
 
 By 
 
 Rev. R. E. McBride, A. M. 
 
THE REVELLERS 
 
 The Choruses of the 
 Bacchai of Euripides 
 
 AND 
 
 The Third Book 
 of Lucretius 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE 
 BY 
 
 Rev. R. E. McBRIDE, A. M. 
 
 BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 
 
 835 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 
 

 Copyright, 1909 
 
 by 
 R. E. McBRIDE 
 
 
 Ci-<.J 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Translations of two very interest- 
 ing portions of ancient literature are 
 here presented. The first gives a 
 metrical version of the Choruses of 
 the Bacchai of Euripides, with an 
 outline of the connecting narrative 
 of this remarkable drama. A care- 
 ful study of the play will convince 
 the reader that it is a drama directed 
 against the Wine God, under cover 
 of presenting a performance in his 
 honor. The liquor controversy was 
 on in that fifth century before the 
 Christian Era. The venerable poet 
 employs his latest effort in striking 
 a blow at the traFHc, and, inciden- 
 tally, settling a few scores with his 
 former critics and persecutors. 
 
 The second part is a metrical trans- 
 lation of the third Book of the cele- 
 brated poem of Lucretius, De Rerum 
 Natura. It is an answer to that 
 question of old: "If a man die, 
 shall he live again?" Here you 
 have the answer of an earnest, in- 
 telligent, pagan philosopher, who 
 lived and wrote nearly two thousand 
 years ago. 
 
"Who hath woe, who hath sorrow. 
 Who hath redness of eyes, who hath 
 Wounds without a cause? 
 
 They that tarry long at the 
 Wine, they that go to seek 
 Mixed wine." 
 
THE REVELLERS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 EURIPIDES. 
 
 EURIPIDES was born in the island of 
 Salamis, B. C. 480, on the day of the 
 celebrated naval victory of the Greeks 
 over the Persian fleet near that island. Of 
 the three great Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, 
 Sophocles, and Euripides, the lattej- enjoyed 
 at least equal popularity with the other two. 
 He was cotemporary with both of his rivals. 
 His first drama, the Peliades, was presented 
 one year after the death of Aeschylus, B. C. 
 456, and while Sophocles was the popular 
 favorite. [This tragedy obtained the third 
 prize. 
 
 The criticism has been made that his wri- 
 tings do not reach the high religious level of 
 Aeschylus and Sophocles. Under the stim- 
 ulus of competition, there would be a tempta- 
 tion to cater to popular taste; and in some 
 5 
 
6 THE REVELLERS 
 
 of his plays he treated the popular religion 
 with little reverence. This would be accept- 
 able to a class of the Athenians, and, perhaps, 
 really offensive to but few; yet it furnished 
 occasion for such a degree of opposition from 
 rivals and enemies that he found it conven- 
 ient to withdraw to the court of Archelaus, 
 King of Macedon. Here he remained until 
 his death, B. C. 406. 
 
 After his death the Athenians craved in 
 vain for the honor of providing a resting- 
 place for his ashes. He was buried at Pella, 
 and the Athenians were obliged to express 
 their tardy recognition of their own fault and 
 of the poet's merit by erecting a cenotaph in 
 his memory. 
 
 Of his ninety-two dramas, only nineteen 
 have survived. These are regarded as of un- 
 equal merit, yet they entitle him to a place 
 among the great writers of antiquity. The 
 "Bacchai" is considered among the best of 
 his plays. In this, as in his other dramas, 
 the lyrical portions are of superior excellence. 
 
 THE GREEK TRAGEDIES. 
 
 All the Greek tragedies had a religious 
 significance, and their presentation was some- 
 what in the nature of a religious service. In 
 
THE REVELLERS 7 
 
 all the works of the three great Greek dram- 
 atists there can scarcely be found a single in- 
 delicate expression or a word that can offend 
 the most refined sensibilities. In this they 
 stand in splendid contrast with some modern 
 plays. The tone is always serious, and the 
 moral teaching is in the right direction. A 
 pitiless Nemesis pursues the evildoer "to the 
 third and fourth generation" ; and if virtue is 
 not always victorious, at least the good "die 
 well." 
 
 This admirable moral tone is the more no- 
 ticeable in view of the character ascribed to 
 the gods worshiped by the Greeks, such as 
 Zeus, Mars, Venus, and Bacchus. All of 
 these were alleged to have been guilty of the 
 crimes held up to execration in the tragedies. 
 But if any good might be expected from the 
 presentation of these dramas on the stage, 
 their influence was fully counteracted by the 
 coarse vulgarity of the comedies, usually pre- 
 sented alternately with the tragedies. They 
 were indescribably filthy, and they could only 
 be tolerated by a people morally depraved. 
 
 THE DIONYSIAN MYTH. 
 
 The mjrth on which this play is based is 
 as follows: Dionysus, called also Bacchus, 
 
8 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Liber, and Bromius, was the son of Zeus and 
 Semele, daughter of Cadmus, who was the 
 founder of Thebes and its first king. Before 
 the child was born, Semele, misled by Hera, 
 the jealous wife of Zeus, prayed the god to 
 show himself to her in his full glory. He 
 consented, and revealed himself in a fearful 
 burst of lightning, and Semele perished, either 
 smitten by the deadly bolt or overcome with 
 terror. The child, however, was rescued by 
 Zeus, who placed him in his thigh, from 
 which he was born a second time. 
 ) He was then sent by the hands of Hermes 
 to the nymphs of Nysa, by whom the infant 
 god was reared. According to Euripides, 
 Dionysus was reared in Lydia and Phrygia, 
 on the banks of the Pactolos, and in the moun- 
 tain tracts of Tmolus. 
 
 After establishing his rites in many parts 
 of the world, he came to Greece, and first of 
 all to Thebes, at the head of a throng of 
 attendants, equipped with the symbols and 
 instruments of hi^ worship. Here Semele's 
 sisters. Agave, Ino, and Autonoe, at first de- 
 nied his descent from Zeus, and regarded him 
 as an impostor; but the god inspired them 
 and many other women of Thebes with bac- 
 chic madness, and drove them to Mount Cith- 
 
THE REVELLERS 9 
 
 airon to celebrate his rites there in wild rev- 
 elries. 
 
 But at this time Cadmus had resigned the 
 sovereignty of Thebes to his grandson, Pen- 
 theus, son of Agave and Echion. Pentheus 
 opposed the introduction of this worship 
 among his people. He imprisoned some of 
 the bacchantes, and attempted to lay violent 
 hands on the god himself. The god punished 
 him by driving him insane and leading him 
 to the mountains, where he was torn to pieces 
 by his mother and her associates. 
 
 The origin of this, as of other myths, is 
 not easily determined. In Dionysus, drunken- 
 ness with its attendant crime, debasement, and 
 cruelty, is personified, and under this name it 
 is worshiped with wild orgies and obscene 
 rites. To trace such a result back to its 
 source, to show how a drinking-bout could be 
 transformed into a religious service, would 
 be a thankless task. In modern times the 
 beer-garden and the church are sometimes 
 found in close proximity, for the convenience 
 of the worshipers. After long usage, when 
 one place has become quite as sacred as the 
 other, it would be a most natural thing to 
 invent a congenial god for the beer-garden, 
 sing hymns in his praise, and pour out liba- 
 
lo THE REVELLERS 
 
 tions to him. The habit of drinkers, still to 
 be observed in liquor saloons, to clink the 
 glasses together and pour out a little of the 
 liquor before drinking, is a survival of this 
 worship. 
 
 The proposition that Dionysus is the deifi- 
 cation of the vital forces of nature is an af- 
 terthought of later times. It is a poetic fancy 
 which was very far from the thought of the 
 bacchantes as they joined in drunken orgies 
 and made both the day and the night hideous 
 with their noisy din and with their shameless 
 debaucheries. 
 
 The myth reaches back to remote antiquity* 
 The story that the god was born from the 
 thigh of Zeus connects the legend with the 
 most ancient traditions of India. In the Hin- 
 du story of the primitive home of man, at 
 the centre of the world, that is, at the North 
 Pole, was a lofty mountain called Meru, the 
 abode of the gods, while around the moun- 
 tain dwelt men. From the name of the moun- 
 tain the country was called Meropia, and the 
 people were called Meropes, "Men sprui^ 
 from Meru." , 
 
 As to the connection of this tradition with 
 the story of Dionysus, or Bacchus, we quote 
 from J. D. Patterson, "Origin of the Hindu 
 
THE REVELLERS ii 
 
 Religion," in Asiatic Researches, London, 
 1808, Vol. VIII, page 51: 
 
 "It was a common practice with the Greeks 
 to disguise their own ignorance of the pur- 
 port of a foreign word by supplying a word 
 of similar sound and inventing a story to 
 agree with it: thus Meru, or the North Pole, 
 the supposed abode of the devates, being con- 
 sidered the birthplace of the god, gave rise 
 to the fable that Bacchus' second birth was 
 from the thigh of Jupiter, because Meros, a 
 Qreek word approaching Meru in sound, sig- 
 nifies thigh in that language." 
 
 After this second birth, Dionysus was sent 
 to Nysa to be nourished by the nymphs, un- 
 til the proper time came for him to appear in 
 his divine character and claim the worship of 
 men. But this was not the Nysa known to 
 the Greeks, but the Nysa, or Paradise, of the 
 Hindu legend. Many places in Europe and 
 Western Asia were called by this name; but 
 all these point backward to the older Nysa, 
 the Paradise of song and story, the Eden 
 world, the primitive home of the human race. 
 This Eden legend is a variation of the narra- 
 tive given in Genesis, that "the Lord God 
 planted a garden eastward in Eden." In that 
 good land men lived in innocence and happi- 
 
la THE REVELLERS 
 
 ness through "the age of gold." Hence they 
 were free from care and in communion with 
 the inhabitants of heaven. Such a memory 
 as this has followed men in all their wander- 
 ings from that homeland. Names of places 
 and shadows of events have been brought to 
 other lands and to men of other tongue, who 
 knew not whence the names had come, and 
 who wrought the shadows into strange and 
 fantastic forms. 
 
 The primitive form of religion was the 
 worship of one God and the belief that man 
 began existence pure and sinless and in con- 
 scious and intelligent communion with the 
 Deity. It is also a tradition as widespread as 
 the race itself, that mankind lost this holy 
 and blessed estate of divine communion 
 through sin. Such was the tradition, al- 
 though the boastful science and philosophy of 
 the past traced man back to the beast, — and 
 left him there. 
 
 In these traditions, or rather in the truth 
 which underlies them, we may discover the 
 elements of all worship and of all religions. 
 The descent to polytheism with its strange 
 perversions is adequately explained by Paul in 
 his letter to the Romans. "Because that, when 
 they knew God, they glorified him not as God, 
 
THE REVELLERS 13 
 
 neither were they thankful; but became vain 
 in their imaginations, and their foolish heart 
 was darkened. Professing themselves to be 
 wise, they became fools, and changed the 
 glory of the uncorruptible God into an image 
 made like to corruptible man, and to birds, 
 and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 
 Wherefore, God also gave them up to un- 
 cleanness through the lusts of their own 
 hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between 
 themselves; who changed the truth of God 
 into a lie, and worshiped and served the crea- 
 ture more than the Creator, who is blessed 
 forever." 
 
 THE ANCIENT THEATRE. 
 
 The ancient theatre was built in the form 
 of a circle or of an ellipse, with rows of seats 
 divided by suitable aisles, rising one behind 
 the other, and facing so as to give a view of 
 the stage from all parts of the building. 
 Where the natural slope of the ground was 
 suited to the purpose, such a location was 
 selected. Otherwise the same result was at- 
 tained by artificial means. 
 
 The place for the players was at one side, 
 at the lowest part, and of about the same 
 form as the building itself, the stage proper 
 
14 THE REVELLERS 
 
 being near the front seats and a little below 
 them. Back of this and still lower was the 
 space occupied by the chorus. Behind these 
 was an altar sometimes used for sacrifice, and 
 again utilized for the exigencies of the play. 
 The remaining space was available for the 
 movements of the players. A wall here of- 
 fered facilities for background, and was prob- 
 ably used for that purpose. The structure 
 was without roof, was of immense size, and 
 was arranged so as to secure the best accoustic 
 results. 
 
 There was no acting, in the modem sense 
 of the word. The most that could be ex- 
 pected would be to make the great audience 
 hear the words. In fact, for this reason a 
 mask was usually worn, fitted with a speak- 
 ing-trumpet arrangement, to increase the car- 
 rying-power of the voice. 
 
 In the earlier history of the stage, women 
 were not allowed to take part in the plays. 
 Female parts were taken by men. One reason 
 for this, among others, was that a bad player 
 was liable to be rewarded with a beating. 
 Doubtless this rule had a happy effect in re- 
 straining the ardor of those who were unduly 
 anxious for a career. 
 
 Later there were female players who took 
 
THE REVELLERS 15 
 
 suitable parts in the tr^edies. It is not 
 proved that this had any effect in hastening 
 the decay of morals, which was a great fac- 
 tor in the ruin of the Greek Republics. 
 
 The Roman theatre was a copy of the 
 Greek. There the theatre became, if not a 
 cause of moral deterioration, at least an in- 
 dex of the deplorable morals of the times. 
 A careful reading of Gibbon's "Decline and 
 Fall of the Roman Empire" will illustrate 
 this. The information referred to is only 
 slightly touched on in the body of the text, 
 but is found in the footnotes, untranslated. 
 
 Throughout the performance the chorus 
 usually retained its place back of the stage, 
 but in the "Bacchai" the chorus in one or 
 two passages seems to have a leading part, as, 
 for instance, in verses 1 153-1200, where 
 Agave enters bearing the head of her son. 
 
 THE BACCHAI. 
 
 The Bacchai is believed to be the last play 
 written by Euripides. It was not presented 
 during the life of the poet, but was exhibited 
 by his son after his death. In poetic power 
 it is fully equal to any of his earlier plays. 
 The plot is simple, but skilfully constructed; 
 the choral odes are splendid; the narrative 
 
i6 THE REVELLERS 
 
 pieces are brilliant, and the situation in every 
 scene is striking. 
 
 The theme is the honor of Bacchus, the god 
 of wine. It differs in some respects from 
 other similar productions. In other plays the 
 sins of men against men are visited with 
 judgment; here a god comes into the arena 
 of human actions, and brings destruction upon 
 the king who opposes his worship and disre- 
 gards his divinity. 
 
 In the Prologue of the play, Baccflus him- 
 selfj disguised as a Bacchic devotee, comes 
 forward and reveals himself to the audience 
 in his true character. He is the leader of a 
 company of Asiatic bacchantes, who consti- 
 tute the chorus. He states the situation and 
 indicates the aim of the action. (Verses 
 
 1-63) 
 Then the chorus, imitating the bacchic 
 
 revel in their dress and movements, celebrate 
 the blessedness of the sacred rites and the 
 happiness of those who piously observe them. 
 (64-169) 
 
 An attempt is made to influence favorably 
 the mind of Pentheus. The venerable old 
 men, Teirasias, the blind prophet, and Cad- 
 mus, founder of Thebes and grandfather of 
 Pentheus, acknowledge the new god, and de- 
 
THE REVELLERS 17 
 
 termine to join the dancers on Mount Cith- 
 aeron. Pentheus enters and vainly remon- 
 strates with these men. He determines to 
 arrest this stranger who is the leader in the 
 introduction of this new worship. (170-369) 
 
 The chorus invokes the insulted goddess, 
 Sanctity, praises the god Bacchus, extols a 
 life of submission to the gods. (370-433) 
 
 A servant enters bringing Bacchus a pris- 
 oner before Pentheus. The servant warns 
 the King that this stranger is no ordinary 
 person, and informs him that the Phrygian 
 bacchantes whom Pentheus had imprisoned 
 are now dancing in the revels. Their chains 
 fell off, the doors of the prison opened, with- 
 out human hands. The king is unmoved by 
 these reports, and persists in his purpose. 
 (434-518) 
 
 The women of the chorus reproach the 
 Nymph Dirke for rejecting Bacchus at 
 Thebes. They are horrified at the temerity 
 of Pentheus, and call upon the god to check 
 his insolence. (519-575) 
 
 At the close of this song is heard the voice 
 of Bacchus; he incites them to violence, calls 
 on them to burn the palace. He tells how 
 he escaped from confinement, Pentheus en- 
 
i8 THE REVELLERS 
 
 ters, and after all his protests, is persuaded 
 to witness the rites of this worship, in dis- 
 guise. (576-861) 
 
 The chorus sings a song of triumph in an- 
 ticipation of the destruction of their enemy. 
 (862-911) 
 
 Pentheus comes out from his palace dressed 
 as a bacchante, exhibiting the usual symptoms 
 of intoxication, is conducted toward Cithairon 
 by Bacchus. (912-976) 
 
 The song of the chorus breathes a spirit of 
 savage vengeance, as they gloat over the com- 
 ing fate of Pentheus and foretell the part 
 his mother will have in his destructioa (977- 
 1023) 
 
 A messenger arrives who tells of the awful 
 fate which has overtaken the king at the 
 hands of the bacchantes. (1024-1152) 
 
 The chorus begins a strain of wild exulta- 
 tion, but they are interrupted by the entrance 
 of Agave, bearing the head of her son, held 
 aloft on the thyrsus, which she supposes to 
 be the head of a young lion. Cadmus comes 
 with his attendants bringing the fragments 
 of the body of Pentheus. Agave, slowly re- 
 covering from her madness, realizes the na- 
 ture of her deed. In the midst of their 
 piteous grief, Bacchus appears, lays the blame 
 
THE REVELLERS 19 
 
 of all this woe on the victims themselves, and 
 announces the punishment. (1153-1392) 
 
 THE CHORUS. 
 
 The chorus of the Greek plays was divided 
 into Strophe and AntistrOphe, followed in 
 some cases by an Epode. The Antistrophe 
 corresponded exactly with the number and 
 kind of feet in each verse of the Strophe. 
 Each foot in one must answer to a corre- 
 sponding foot in the other. In sentiment the 
 chorus may, or may not, be connected with 
 the theme of the play. Sometimes it serves 
 to introduce the scene which follows. 
 
 But little is known of the music to which 
 these choral passages were sung. Only one 
 specimen of Greek music earlier than the 
 Christian Era is known to exist. Quite re- 
 cently, in the ancient treasure-house at Del- 
 phi, a hymn was found inscribed in marble 
 on the inner wall. It is a hymn to Apollo 
 and the Muses, and dates from the third cen- 
 tury before Christ. The music is written in 
 5-8 time, and has only the air. There are 
 blank spaces in the measure which are sup- 
 posed to be filled in by an instrument. How 
 the instrumental accompaniment was directed 
 does not appear. 
 
20 THE REVELLERS 
 
 The musical possibilities of the Greek 
 drama were necessarily rather limited. The 
 theatre was without roof, and was arranged 
 so as to accommodate an immense audience, 
 in some cases, it is estimated, as many as 
 70,000 people. The number of persons in the 
 chorus was quite small, and no very intricate 
 musical effect could be expected, even if the 
 musical science of the day would have per- 
 mitted the attempt. 
 
 This may account for the fact that the 
 choruses of the Greek plays, with all the 
 beauty and variety of their metrical arrange- 
 ment, have a quality of sameness in their 
 structure. 
 
 In the following translation of the chor- 
 uses, no heavier task is assumed than to give 
 an adequate expression of the sense of the 
 original and to make the number of lines in 
 the translation correspond to the number in 
 the text. In one case an attempt is made to 
 imitate the movement of the Greek verse. 
 This is found in the chorus beginning "But 
 through all the night long," etc. What suc- 
 cess has been attained may be judged by those 
 who have the patience to carry through a sim- 
 ilar experiment. 
 
THE REVELLERS 21 
 
 PERSONS REPRESENTED. 
 
 BacchuSj son of Zeus and Semele, the god 
 of wine, called also Dionysus and 
 Bromius. 
 
 Chorus, of Prygian women, whom Bacchus 
 brought with him to aid in establish- 
 ing his worship in Thebes and in 
 Greece. 
 
 Teiresias, a blind prophet greatly celebrated 
 in Greek legend for his knowledge 
 of divine things. 
 
 Cadmus, the reputed founder of Thebes; 
 father of Semele, Agave, Ino, and 
 Autonoe. 
 
 Pentheus, son of Agave and Echion; at this 
 time the King of Thebes. 
 
 Servant. 
 
 Messenger. 
 
 Second Messenger. 
 
 Agave, daughter of Cadmus, mother of Pen- 
 theus. 
 
 The first character is Bacchus himself, who 
 announces whence and why he has come. He 
 has brought with him a company of Lydian 
 women, who constitute the chorus of the play. 
 He commands them to take their drums and 
 |)eat them around the palace of Pentheusj but 
 
22 THE REVELLERS 
 
 he himself will depart to the dells of Cith- 
 airon, to share in the dances. This is the Pro- 
 logue. 
 
 The play then opens with the chorus. This 
 choral portion extends, with alternating 
 Strophe and Antistrophe, to verse 134, and 
 closes with an Epode, 135-165. 
 
 Throughout the play the god is disguised 
 as a Bacchic devotee, and pretends to be 
 merely a friend and advocate of the new re- 
 ligion. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 STROPHE A. 
 
 Coming from the Asian land. 
 Leaving Tmolus' sacred stream. 
 Joyously I dance to Bacchus, 
 Shout Evoi to Bromius. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE A. 
 
 Tell me who stands in the way? 
 Who delays within the gates? 
 Hence depart: let all be silent. 
 I will sing Dionysus. 
 
 STROPHE B. 
 
 Blest and happy is the man 
 Who the rites divine observes, 
 Keeps his way of living pure. 
 Freely consecrates his soul, 
 
THE REVELLERS 23 
 
 On the mountains reveling 
 To the god in holy service; 
 Celebrating fitting orgies 
 To the mighty mother, Cybel : 
 
 Brandishing aloft the thyrsus, 
 Crowned with wreathes of sacred ivy, 
 He reveres Dionysus. 
 Go, ye Bacchai! Bacchai, go, 
 
 Bring the god-descended god, 
 Welcoming Dionysus 
 From the distant Phrygian mountains 
 To the spacious streets of Hellas; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE B. 
 
 Whom his mother bore in grief 
 And in bitter travail pains. 
 Smitten by the bolt of Zeus. 
 And his mother cast him forth, 
 
 With him yielding up her life 
 In the blazing flash of lightning, 
 Kronian Zeus received the infant; 
 Placed him in a safe birth-chamber; 
 
 Hid him in his thigh securely; 
 Bound him fast with golden circlets, 
 
24 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Hiding him from Juno's wrath. 
 But again the god was born, 
 
 When the fates had perfected, 
 And with hissing serpents crowned: 
 Whence the thyrsus-bearing Maenads 
 Cover with their locks their victims. 
 
 STROPHE c. 
 
 Thebai, nurse of Semele, 
 Crown you with the ivy green ; 
 With the twining bind-weed bloom; 
 Deck you with its bright red berries; 
 Celebrate the Bacchic dances. 
 
 Crowned with oak and olive branches, 
 Don your spotted fawn-skin robes. 
 With white tufts of wool adorned. 
 Round the wanton thyrsi dance. 
 All the land will join the song. 
 
 When the bands shall follow Bacchus 
 To the mountain, to the mountain. 
 Where the female crowd abides 
 From the distaff and the shuttle, 
 Maddened by Dionysus, 
 
THE REVELLERS 25 
 
 ANTISTROPHE C. 
 
 Cavern where Curetes dwell, 
 O ye sacred caves of Crete, 
 Halls where Zeus divine was bom. 
 Where the Corbyantes frenzied 
 Reveling with triple helmets. 
 
 This loud-sounding drum invented; 
 Joined the sound of Bacchic numbers 
 With the sweet-voiced Phrygian flute. 
 Placed in mother Rhea's hand. 
 To the Bacchai's shouts attuned. 
 
 And hardby the insane Satyrs 
 Supplicate the goddess mother: 
 And they add the choral dance 
 Of the trieteric feastings. 
 Which delight Dionysus. 
 
 ERODE. 
 
 Glad is he when on the mountain 
 One of the swift-running dancers 
 Falls on the plain, 
 In his garment of deerskin, 
 Seeking the goat, a raw-eaten delight; 
 Bound for the Phrygian mountain. 
 Bacchus is leader, Evoi ! 
 See, the plain flowing with milk, 
 
26 THE REVELLERS 
 
 With wine and with nectar of honey! 
 Rises a smoke hke the incense of Lybia. 
 The Bacchant with pine torch 
 Upraised on the thyrsus, 
 Rushes along-. 
 Rousing the wandering choruses. 
 Summoning them to the dance, 
 Tossing his locks to the air, 
 Shouting to them in his song: — 
 Bacchai, go forth! 
 Bacchai, arouse you! 
 Joy of the gold-flowing Tmolus, 
 Sing- ye Dionysus: 
 Under the loud-sounding drums. 
 Sing ye "Evoi" to the Evian god. 
 With Phrygian shoutings and cries: 
 When the flute sweetly sounding, 
 Breathes sacred music. 
 Dear to the wanderers. 
 Haste to the mount — to the mount! 
 Glad, like the foal by its mother rejoicing. 
 The Bacchant then moves her white foot in 
 the dance. 
 Two old men, Teiresias, the celebrated 
 prophet, and Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, 
 now come on the stage. They have been car- 
 ried away by the prevailing fad. They pur- 
 
THE REVELLERS 27 
 
 pcse to crown themselves with ivy, to "twine 
 the Thyrsi," and join the revelers. They ar- 
 ray themselves for the dance. 
 
 The poet here allows himself a covert fling 
 at his former enemies and persecutors. These 
 two men, infirm now in both mind and body 
 with extreme age, congratulate each other 
 that they accept the current religious teach- 
 ings without question. 
 
 Cadmus — A mortal, I do not despise the 
 gods. 
 
 Teiresias — And we are not too wise con^ 
 cerning them. 
 
 He adds that no argument can overturn 
 the ancestral traditions. 
 
 Pentheus now enters. He remonstrates 
 with them earnestly and deplores the corrup- 
 tion of morals which, he warns them, will 
 certainly result from this craze. Teiresias re- 
 plies, praising wine which "frees wretched 
 mortals from sorrows." He brings forward 
 as argument one of the reasons of the prev- 
 alence of the drink habit, viz. : men of de^ 
 fective physical development and of unre- 
 sourceful mind are wont to seek the aid of in- 
 toxicants. He admits that wine will not 
 "compel a woman to be modest"; but if a 
 woman is immodest when heated with wine, 
 
28 THE REVELLERS 
 
 this is sure evidence that she is naturally im- 
 modest. Hence Bacchus is not to blame. 
 
 Cadmus takes it up. He urges that ai'- 
 though he, Pentheus, may consider this Bac- 
 chus an impostor and not the son of Semele, 
 as claimed, yet he should "tell a glorious 
 falsehood," since it will bring honor to their 
 family. Pentheus departs, declaring that he 
 will have Bacchus arrested and punished. 
 
 The two old men go tottering on their way 
 to join the drunken revel, piously resolving 
 that they will pray for Pentheus, that the god 
 will deal gently with the foolish king. 
 
 STROPHE A. 
 
 Holy, venerable goddess. 
 
 Holy one who o'er the earth. 
 
 On thy golden pinions flyest. 
 
 Dost thou hear the words of Pentheus? 
 
 Dost thou hear his idle boasting. 
 Wicked insolence to Bacchus, 
 
 Son of Semele, the foremost 
 Of the guests at bright-crowned ban- 
 quets 
 
 Of the blessed ? His the office 
 To lead out the choral dances, 
 
 iTo the flute to laugh in answer. 
 And to banish recollection, 
 
THE REVELLERS 2gi 
 
 When the juice of purple clusters 
 Floweth free at festal tables, 
 
 At the ivy-bearing banquets; 
 And the goblet giveth sleep. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE A. 
 
 Of the reckless tongue unbridled. 
 
 And of folly unrestrained 
 The result will be misfortune. 
 
 But the life of restful q'uiet 
 
 And the way of prudent thinking 
 
 Will be evermore unshaken, 
 And will guard our homes securely. 
 
 For the gods, though far in heaven, 
 
 Still behold the deeds of mortals: 
 And our cunning is not wisdom, 
 
 Nor to seek for curious knowledge. 
 Life is fleeting : in its passing. 
 
 While pursuing great endeavor. 
 We may fail to grasp the present. 
 
 This were witness of our folly. 
 Or the course of evil men. 
 
 STROPHE B. 
 
 Would that I might go to Cyprus, 
 Aphrodite's island home. 
 
30 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Where the blessed loves inhabit, 
 Gently soothing mortal minds: 
 
 Or to Paphos, where the flowing 
 Of a river hundred-mouthed 
 
 Makes a rainless land productive; 
 
 Or might go to Pieria, 
 
 Where the muses have their seat, 
 And the holy hill of heaven, — 
 
 Lead me there, O Bromius, 
 Master of the Bacchic revels. 
 
 There the Graces are and Love; 
 There the Bacchai hold their revels. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE B. 
 
 And this god from Zeus descended 
 Finds delight in joyous feasts; 
 
 Loves the goddess, Peace, wealth-giver, 
 And the nourisher of youth. 
 
 To the rich and to the needy. 
 He has given to enjoy 
 
 Wine's forgetfulness of sorrow. 
 
 He to whom these things are hateful 
 Cares not for a happy life, 
 
 Through the day and friendly darkness. 
 It is best to keep the mind 
 
 Free from discontented searchings. 
 What the common sort of men 
 
 Count the better I will follow. 
 
THE REVELLERS 31 
 
 Pentheus comes again on the stage. Imme- 
 diately a servant enters leading in Bacchus 
 securely bound before the king. The god has 
 now the appearance of a young man, a dude 
 of the period. His hair is long, his cheeks are 
 "full of desire," he is smiling and suave. The 
 servant reports that the stranger made no re- 
 sistance, but came willingly. He also reports 
 that the Bacchai, whom Pentheus had impris- 
 oned, are dancing in the meadows, invoking 
 Bacchus as their god. Their fetters had 
 fallen from their feet of their own accord; 
 th^ keys had opened the prison doors without 
 mortal hands. 
 
 Pentheus closely questions the prisoner, and 
 finally, ordering him into close confinement, 
 leaves the stage. Bacchus, flinging a threat 
 after the king, departs in charge of the serv- 
 ant. 
 
 The first line of the Strophe in the follow- 
 ing Strophe has been lost. There should be a 
 verse corresponding to the first of the Anti- 
 strophe, 
 
 "Fearful, fearful is the raging." 
 
32 THE REVELLERS 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 Achdoos' daughter fair 
 Holy Dirke, happy virgin 
 
 In thy founts thou didst receive 
 On a time Zeus' new-bom offspring. 
 When from flames of fire immortal 
 In his thigh Zeus gave him refuge, 
 
 Speaking with a mighty voice: — 
 Go, Dythyrambus, go, enter! 
 
 Here find now a shelter safe: 
 1 will show the Theban people 
 Thus to name thy name, O Bacchus. 
 Me thou dost refuse, O Dirke, 
 
 When I lead my revel bands. 
 Decked with garland-crowns before thee. 
 
 Why reject me? Why abhor? 
 
 By the wine's sweet-odored grace, 
 Which Dionysus has given. 
 You shall yet delight in Bacchus. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 Fearful, fearful is the raging 
 Of the earth-engendered king, 
 
 From the dragon race descended, — 
 Fentheus, fierce Echion's son, 
 
 Fierce Echion, savage monster; 
 
 Not begotten of a mortal, 
 
THE REVELLERS 33 
 
 But a dire and bloo^dy giant, 
 
 Making war against the gods: 
 Who will soon in fetters bind me, 
 
 Me the handmaid of the god: 
 Who already in his palace 
 Hath shut up my fellow Bacchant. 
 Dost thou not behold these insults, 
 
 Son of Zeus, Dionysus, 
 How thy heralds are in danger? 
 
 Come! Arise, thou gold-faced god! 
 
 From the far Olympian heights 
 Brandishing on high thy thyrsus. 
 Check this bloody man from insult. 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 Where upon beast-haunted Nysa, 
 
 Tell me, O Dionysus, 
 Or on Korykian summits, 
 
 Leadest thou thy revelers! 
 Or in deep Olympian forests. 
 
 Where once Orpheus with his lyre 
 Caused the trees to gather round him. 
 
 And the beasts to dance in glee. 
 Happy, happy Pieria, 
 
 By the Evian god beloved: 
 He will come and lead the chorus 
 
 In the Bacchic mysteries. 
 
34 THE REVELLERS 
 
 He will bring the dancing Maenads; 
 
 He will cross the Axios, 
 To the stream to men delightful: 
 
 He will come to Lydius, 
 To the stream they call the father. 
 
 Giving wealth to mortal men, 
 Laving with its sparkling waters 
 Fields which nourish gallant steeds. 
 At the close of the Epode, Bacchus draws 
 near and joins with the chorus in the opening 
 of the next scene. It may be supposed that 
 the chorus remains in its place beyond the 
 stage, or, if it comes forward during the first 
 part of the performance, it retires at the 
 proper time. 
 
 The shout of Bacchus is heard, but he is 
 not visible until near the close of the choral 
 performance, when he enters and exclaims, 
 "Barbarous women," etc. This would fur- 
 nish a very animated scene, with the noise 
 of drums, the clash of cjTnbals, the sound of 
 wind instruments, and the excited voices of 
 the performers. 
 
 The fierce and lawless spirit of the wine 
 god is here displayed more clearly. He de- 
 nounces vengeance on the man who dares to 
 oppose him; he incites his followers to the 
 torch and to murder. 
 
THE REVELLERS 35 
 
 In Chicago a few years ago, when a cru- 
 sade was on against the saloon and other 
 vicious resorts, warning was issued to the 
 friends of decency that this activity must 
 cease, or "We will burn your churches and 
 cut the throats of your praying women." 
 
 dionysus. 
 Id! 
 
 Hear ye, hear ye my song! 
 lo! Bacchai! lo! Bacchai! 
 
 SEMICHORUS. 
 
 Who — who is here? Whence did the 
 shout 
 Of Evius call me? 
 
 DIONYSUS. 
 
 lo! lo! again I cry, 
 Son of Zeus and Semele. 
 
 SEMICHORUS. 
 
 lo! lo! Master,— Master! 
 Come and join our revelry, 
 Bromius, O Bromius! 
 
 LEADER OF THE CHORUS. 
 
 How the earth before him trembles! 
 O! O! 
 Soon shall Pentheus' palace walls 
 
36 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Reel and crash in ruins. 
 Dionsyus is in the halls! 
 Worship him! 
 
 FULL CHORUS. 
 
 We worship him! 
 
 SEMICHORUS. 
 
 See the stone buttresses shake. 
 
 And the pillars! 
 Bacchus will shout in the halls. 
 
 DIONYSUS. 
 
 Light the blazing, fiery torch! 
 Burn — ^burn the home of Pentheus. 
 
 SEMICHORUS. 
 
 Ah! Ha! 
 See ye not the fire which glares 
 
 Round the tomb of Semele, 
 Where the blazing thunderbolt 
 
 Left the deadly lightning's flame? 
 
 LEADER. 
 
 Cast to the ground your quivering bodies! 
 Cast them down, maenads! 
 Now the king, spreading confusion, 
 Comes to the palace, offspring of Zeus. 
 
THE REVELLERS 37 
 
 DIONYSUS (entering). 
 
 Barbarous women, why lie ye fear-stricken 
 Prone on the ground? Ye have heard, as it 
 
 seems, 
 Bacchus shaking the palace. But rise now, 
 Take courage, and tremble no longer. 
 
 FULL CHORUS. 
 
 O brightest light of Evian worship. 
 Gladly I see you, once lonely and sad. 
 
 The god then boastfully explains to the 
 chorus how he had escaped from confinement. 
 He had been taken to a stable, and the king, 
 stricken with madness, "breathing out fury," 
 securely bound a bullock, while the god, after 
 complacently watching the performance, fin- 
 ally walked away unmolested. Before depart- 
 ing, however, he mocked the king with empty 
 delusions. He caused the appearance of fire, 
 and had Pentheus rushing to and fro calling 
 on the servants to extinguish the flames. He 
 caused him to see an appearance of the god; 
 and the king seized his sword, and, rushing 
 against the phantom, "he stabbed the bright 
 air." 
 
 Then Pentheus enters, crying out that the 
 stranger has escaped. Seeing the stranger, 
 
38 THE REVELLERS 
 
 he inquires of the means of his escape. He 
 is told that Bacchus is the deliverer. They 
 have only conversed a few moments, when a 
 messenger enters and tells of the marvelous 
 things that are occurring on Mount Cithaeron. 
 The rock, stricken with a thyrsus in the hands 
 of one of the Bacchai, pours out a stream of 
 water; another placed her wand upon the 
 ground, and forth gushed a spring of wine; 
 streams of honey dropped from the ivy thyrsi. 
 The messenger reports the whole mountain in 
 a joyous revel. He also relates how badly 
 fared some men who attempted to interfere 
 with the actions of the women, who were 
 plundering the surrounding country. The 
 men were driven in headlong flight, fortunate 
 if they only suffered wounds. He urges Pen- 
 theus to cease to oppose the god and his dev- 
 otees. 
 
 The god finally proposes to Pentheus to 
 disguise himself and witness the orgies of the 
 Bacchai. To this he finally assents, and de- 
 parts to prepare himself for the adventure. 
 Bacchus congratulates the women of the 
 chorus over the success of his plans. Pen- 
 theus will go to his death, but first he will 
 be made an object of ridicule to the people 
 of Thebes, led along the street, dressed in 
 
THE REVELLERS 39 
 
 the manner of a female dancer. Bacchus 
 leaves the stage, to array Pentheus in his un- 
 becoming garb. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 But through all the night long I dance: 
 
 In time do my white feet 
 Trip to the Bacchic measure: my neck, 
 
 Bare, is wet with the dew : 
 Like the fawn which sports in the mead. 
 And finds sweet delight in the verdure deep. 
 
 When she flies in the fearful chase, 
 
 And escapes, shunning the nets 
 
 Wrought of well-woven cords: 
 And the hunter cheers on his hounds 
 
 With a shout and cry, and she flies 
 Fast and far like the summer wind: 
 
 And she crosses the plain. 
 The plain which borders the river, and hides 
 
 Safe in the solitudes, 
 Shielded secure in the shadowy forest. 
 What gift of the gods is so dear a boon 
 
 Or as good as this, to lay 
 
 A heavy hand on the head 
 
 Of a foe conquered and prone? 
 That which is good is ever fair. 
 
40 THE REVELLERS 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 Slowly moves divine strength, but sure, 
 
 And quickly avenges 
 Wrong; when in blind insanity men 
 
 Mad with folly, refuse 
 
 To the gods the reverence due. 
 Misled by a wicked conceit and pride. 
 
 But in manifold ways the gods 
 
 Conceal the long foot of time 
 
 And the impious man pursue. 
 
 But for us to know or attempt 
 
 What the law forbids is denied. 
 
 For but little it costs to deem 
 
 That to be of great strength 
 Which, due to the gods, is binding on men : 
 
 Or that which long has stood 
 Sanctioned by law, is rooted in nature. 
 What gift of the gods is so dear a boon 
 
 Or as good as this, to lay 
 
 A heavy hand on the head 
 
 Of a foe conquered and prone? 
 That which is good is ever fair. 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 Happy the man who escapes from the sea. 
 
 Who in safety rests in the sheltering port: 
 Happy the man who has finished his toils. 
 But to all men fate is not equally kind. 
 
THE REVELLERS 41 
 
 And to one gives wealth, to another gives 
 might : 
 
 Myriad hopes are to myriad men. 
 
 Some reach fruition, 
 
 Some are in vain. 
 Happy I deem the man 
 Who as the days go by 
 Lives in contentment. 
 
 The scene is now in front of the royal resi- 
 dence at Thebes. Bacchus calls on Pentheus 
 to come out before the palace, assuring him 
 that he looks like a daughter of Cadmus. 
 Pentheus joins him dressed as a Bacchant, 
 and in a very bewildered state of mind. He 
 sees "two suns and twin Thebes." Bacchus 
 seems to him to be a bull with horns. He 
 fancies he presents a very grand appearance, 
 and suggests that he can bear up on his shoul- 
 ders the dells of Cithaeron, Bacchai and all. 
 He sets forth on his mission, affected by the 
 usual symptoms of intoxication. Bacchus 
 darkly hints at the coming tragedy. He says 
 that he will guide him to the place where the 
 Bacchai are assembled, but another will g^ide 
 him away from thence: — 
 
 PENTHEUS. 
 
 Yes, my mother. 
 
42 THE REVELLERS 
 
 BACCHUS. 
 
 Yes, the most illustrious of them all. 
 
 PENTHEUS. 
 
 For this I come. 
 
 BACCHUS. 
 
 You will be carried back. 
 
 PENTHEUS. 
 
 You speak of my delicacy. 
 
 BACCHUS. 
 
 In thy mother's hands. 
 
 PENTHEUS. 
 
 Wilt thou compel to luxury? 
 
 BACCHUS. 
 
 Luxury of this kind. 
 
 PENTHEUS. 
 
 Worthy of it are my deeds. 
 
 BACCHUS. 
 
 Dreadful, dreadful — and to dread woes 
 
 thou goest, 
 So shalt thou see thy glory rise to heaven. 
 
 They then pass from view on their way to 
 Cithairon. 
 
THE REVELLERS 43 
 
 The chorus breaks forth in a strain of 
 fierce rejoicing over the impending fate of 
 the unfortunate king. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 Haste to the mountain, ye swift dogs of mad- 
 ness, 
 Go where the daughters of Cadmus resort : 
 Drive them in frenzy 
 Raging against the daft spy of the Maenads, 
 
 Lurking disguised in a woman's attire. 
 First shall his mother from some white cliff 
 peering, 
 See him in hiding. 
 She shall cry out to the Maenads: — 
 Who of the Cadmeans, 
 Lurking and spying, comes to the mountain, 
 The mountain, O Bacchai? Who was it bore 
 him? 
 He was not born of the blood of a woman. 
 Whelp of a lion, or Gorgon of Libya! 
 Manifest justice, go thou with sword in hand : 
 
 Smite with a deadly wound. 
 Slaying the atheist, lawless and wicked, the 
 earth-born 
 Son of Echion, 
 
44 THE REVELLERS 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 Who with unjust mind and lawless wrath, 
 Bacchus, 
 Hates all thy orgies, thy mother's and 
 thine : 
 Who in his madness, 
 Raving and threatening, foolishly venturing, 
 
 Hopes for a victory not to be won. 
 Prudence becoming the conduct of mortals, 
 Reverent piety, — 
 This is a life free from sorrow. 
 Wisdom unenvied 
 Gladly I welcome, seeking in all things 
 ,The safe and the better way, making life 
 brighter : 
 Daily and nightly to worship devoutly, 
 Shunning the ways of the froward and im- 
 pious. 
 Manifest justice, go thou with sword in 
 hand. 
 Smite with a deadly wound. 
 Slaying the atheist, lawless and wicked, the 
 earth-born 
 Son of Echion. 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 Appear as a bull, or a dragon 
 Of multiform head. 
 
THE REVELLERS 45 
 
 Or a fire-breathing lion 
 Make thyself visible. 
 Go, Bacchus, snare me the hunter of Bacchai, 
 Who fares lightly forth to assail 
 The death-bearing Maenad bands. 
 
 A servant arrives, one who had accom- 
 panied Pentheus, who was a witness of his 
 death, and can tell of his wretched fate. He 
 is questioned by the chorus, and relates the 
 whole sad and terrible story. 
 
 They came at length to the vicinity of the 
 dances, where the Maenads gathered in a val- 
 ley surrounded by abrupt precipices, watered 
 by murmuring brooks, shaded with lofty 
 pines. They were not now engaged in their 
 wild rites. Some of them were decking anew 
 the emblematic implement of their worship, 
 the thyrsus, decking it afresh with ivy leaves. 
 Some would raise the voice in Bacchanalian 
 song, and this would be answered back with 
 a like responsive melody. 
 
 Pentheus requested that they might seek 
 some place of clearer outlook, or might ascend 
 one of the pine trees, from which to get a 
 better view of the service for which the wom- 
 en were making ready. On this the stranger 
 reached out from the point on which thej^ 
 
46 THE REVELLERS 
 
 stood, seized a branch of a pine tree, drew it 
 until the tree was bent lilce a bow, helped the 
 king to a secure seat in its branches, and care- 
 fully eased the tree back to its upright posi- 
 tion. 
 
 This completed the plot for the vengeance 
 of the god. The rising tree bore the king in- 
 to full view of the Maenads. There was now 
 no more concealment and no escape. At the 
 same time the god raised a cry, and flashed 
 over earth and sky a holy light. For a mo- 
 ment there was unearthly silence. Not a 
 sound broke upon the air. The grove was 
 hushed, nor was there sound of rustling leaf 
 or song of bird. The Bacchai rose up and 
 stood motionless gazing around, uncertain of 
 the meaning of the cry. Then the god called 
 out again, commanding them to punish the 
 one who had heaped contempt on them and 
 on their orgies. 
 
 There is no delay. The frantic band, led 
 by Agave, Pentheus' mother, and by her sis- 
 ters, rush to seize their prey as "swift as the 
 flight of doves." They hurl at Pentheus with 
 stones and clubs; but he is so high that their 
 missiles fail to dislodge him. Then they as- 
 sail the tree with branches and chance pieces 
 
THE REVELLERS 47 
 
 of wood for implements. They dig it up by 
 the roots and bring it to the ground. 
 
 The first to rush upon him is his mother. 
 She does not recognize him. To her he is 
 simply a monster worthy of death, who has 
 intruded on their sacred mysteries. Pentheus 
 in despair and horror flings the turban from 
 his hair, hoping that his mother may recog- 
 nize him and spare him. He appeals to her 
 for mercy. "O, mother, I am thy child, Pen- 
 theus. Pity me, O mother, and do not slay 
 me, thy child, for my sins." 
 
 But the god had possessed her. The foam 
 of madness was on her lips: her eyes were 
 rolling with frenzy. She seized the hand 
 reached out to her in supplication. Planting 
 her foot on his breast, she tore the arm from 
 the body. Ino and Autonoe and the whole 
 company of Bacchai crowd upon him and tear 
 his body to pieces with their hands and scatter 
 the fragments far and near upon the moun- 
 tain. The servant announces that the women 
 are now drawing near bearing the head of 
 their victim. He then hastens away. 
 
 The chorus now breaks forth in a song of 
 savage exultation and dances with glee, gloat- 
 ing over the death of their enemy. 
 
48 THE REVELLERS 
 
 In this picture of the debasing, demonizing 
 influence of the drink habit, we have the last 
 word of the Greek poet, uttered from the 
 grave, in reply to those who criticized him 
 and drove him from his home, because he 
 did not accept the popular religion, which in- 
 cluded the worship of a god like this. He 
 does not apologize for his unbelief : he shows 
 them a picture : that is all : that is enough. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Let us dance to Bacchus! 
 Shout for the downfall 
 
 Of dragon-born Pentheus, 
 Who, garbed as a woman, 
 iTook the fair thyrsus, — 
 
 Death — sure death — 
 A bull was his conductor. 
 
 Cadmeian Bacchai, 
 Ye have won a great contest, 
 For woe and tears! 
 Noble is the contest, — dipping the hand 
 In a son's streaming blood. 
 
 LEADER OF CHORUS. 
 
 i 
 
 But I see Agave coming to the house, 
 Pentheus' mother, with eyes wildly staring. 
 Greet the Evian revel! 
 
THE REVELLERS 49 
 
 Agave now approaches, bearing the head of 
 her son, and followed by her associates in the 
 revels on Mount Cithairon. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 Agave. Bacchai of Asia! 
 Chorus. Why do you call me? 
 Ag, We bring from the mountain 
 
 A wreath neVvly cut to the palace, 
 
 A fortunate capture. 
 Ch. I see, and I hail you a fellow Bacchante. 
 Ag. I caught him without any snare. 
 
 As you see, 
 
 A sturdy young whelp. 
 Ch. And where in the desert? 
 
 Ag. Cithairon 
 
 Ch. Cithairon did what? 
 
 Ag. Cithairon destroyed 
 
 Ch. Who struck the first blow? 
 
 Ag. The honor was mine. 
 
 Ch. Happy Agave! 
 
 Ag. We are renowned in our bands. 
 
 Ch. What other? 
 
 Ag. Of Cadmus — 
 
 Ch. Of Cadmus? 
 
 Ag. The daughters 
 
 With me — with me 
 
50 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Subdued the beast. 
 Ch. Rejoice in this. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 Agave. Join in our feasting. 
 
 Chorus. To what feast do you call me? 
 Ag. The whelp is a young one. 
 
 The chin and the head only lately 
 
 Wore downy adornment. 
 Ch. It seems like the mane of a beast of the 
 
 forest. 
 Ag. The wise hunter, Bacchus, against 
 This wild beast 
 
 The Maenads sent forth. 
 Ch. The king is a hunter, — 
 
 Ag. You praise this? 
 
 Ch. Why ask? Yes, I praise. 
 
 Ag. The Cadmeans soon — 
 
 Ch. And Pentheus, the son, his mother-^ 
 Ag. Will praise, 
 
 Ch. Taking this prey — 
 
 Ag. Taking this lion-bom prey, — 
 
 Ch. a splendid — 
 
 Ag. And splendid — 
 
 Ch. Rejoicest? 
 
 Ag. Achievement, 
 
 Of great renown 
 Through all the land. 
 Ch, a deed well done! 
 
THE REVELLERS 51 
 
 The chorus then requests Agave to show 
 the head to the citizens, and this she does, 
 telling them of the great deed of the women. 
 While thus engaged, Cadmus appears with a 
 company of his servants, bearing with them 
 the fragments of the body of Pentheus, which 
 he has collected with much difficulty. He says 
 that he saw Antonoe and Ino together, raving 
 maniacs, and it was reported to him that 
 Agave was returning to the city, "with Bac- 
 chic foot." 
 
 He now sees her among the company on 
 the stage. She recognizes him, and congratu- 
 lates him that he may now "boast a great 
 boast," because he has by far the best daugh- 
 ters. They have taken a great prey with their 
 hands. Here is the head of the lion : he must 
 suspend it as a trophy on the wall of his 
 house, and call his friends to a feast. 
 
 The sorrowful reply of Cadmus seems to 
 be totally uncomprehended by the unfortunate 
 woman. She thinks that he is morose and 
 unappreciative. She hopes that her son will 
 not be of like disposition, but eager to mea- 
 sure his prowess with that of the young The- 
 bans in games and in the chase — and yet, he 
 is fit to contend only with Gods! 
 
 Cadmus bewails the unhappy mental state 
 
52 THE REVELLERS 
 
 of his daughter, but expresses the reflection 
 that this may be better, after all, because a 
 return to sanity would involve the memory 
 of her murderous deed. 
 
 But something in the words of Cadmiis 
 seems to catch her attention. Her quf*>tion 
 indicates that reason may yet be recalled. 
 Agave. But which of these things makes 
 
 for joy or grief? 
 Cadmus. First upward to the sky now turn 
 
 your gaze. 
 A. 'Tis done : but why dost bid me look 
 
 on this? 
 C. Is it the same, or think you it has 
 
 changed ? 
 A. Bright as in other years, and more 
 
 divine. 
 C. Is there some wavering still within 
 
 your mind? 
 A. I do not understand: and yet some 
 
 change 
 Seems to come over me within my 
 
 breast. 
 C. Can you attend my words, and an- 
 
 swer give? 
 A. O father ! I forget our latest words ! 
 
 C. To what house came you on your 
 
 wedding day? 
 
THE REVELLERS 53 
 
 A. You gave me to the earth-born one, 
 
 Echion. 
 
 C. And can you tell who was your first- 
 
 born son? 
 
 A. Yes, that I know: Yes, — Pentheus 
 
 was his name. 
 
 C. What head, then, is this held within 
 
 your arms? 
 
 A. This! 'Tis a lion's head, — the hun- 
 
 ters say. 
 
 C. Look closely now: brief is the toil 
 
 to see! 
 
 A. Alas! Ah, me! What hold I in my 
 
 hands ! 
 
 C. Look at it closer still: more clearly 
 
 learn. 
 
 A. I see the greatest grief ! O wretched 
 
 I! 
 
 C. Seems it to you a lion's shaggy 
 
 front? 
 
 A. No — no! But in my hands is Pen- 
 
 theus' head! 
 
 She inquires where and how he died, and 
 is informed of the circumstances of the trag- 
 edy. 
 
 Finally Bacchus appears and closes the case. 
 In the most heartless manner he announces 
 
54 THE REVELLERS 
 
 punishment and added suffering for those 
 who have suffered so much already. To their 
 appeal for mercy he answers that they have 
 discovered their error too late. He lays the 
 blame for all this misery on themselves, espe- 
 cially on Pentheus. In opposing the wine 
 god he forfeited all rights: he merely got 
 what he deserved. Agave, banished from 
 Thebes with her father and sisters, goes forth 
 praying that she may never again see Cith- 
 airon or any place that may recall her error 
 and its painful consequences. 
 
 So ends the Bacchai, a terrible play, well 
 suited to do honor to Bacchus, the god of 
 wine, who has brought more horrors on the 
 human race than war or pestilence. 
 
THE REVELLERS 55 
 
 LIFE OF LUCRETIUS. 
 
 OF the life of Lucretius but little in- 
 formation of a personal character has 
 reached us. He was born nearly a 
 century before the birth of Christ, and died 
 about B. C. 54. As to the exact date of his 
 birth, authorities differ, some assigning B. C. 
 ^9 as the date, and others as late as B. C. 94. 
 Hence his lot was cast in troublous times. 
 He witnessed the horrors of the civil war, the 
 careers of Marius, Sulla, Cinna, and Catiline, 
 and died at a time when the condition of his 
 country was far from tranquil. He was of 
 a noble and distinguished Roman family, and, 
 it may well be conjectured from the social 
 regard in which he was evidently held, he 
 might have been a prominent figure in the 
 times in which he lived: but instead of this 
 he devoted himself to study and retirement. 
 He was a friend of Mommius, who was Prae- 
 tor B. C. 58, but for himself he seems to have 
 had no desire for political preferment. It is 
 not certain that he took any part in the tur- 
 moils which made that period of Roman his- 
 tory both notable and terrible ; yet various ref- 
 
56 THE REVELLERS 
 
 erences in his poem indicate that, as a hu- 
 mane and enlightened patriot, he deplored the 
 woes of his country. The opinion is most 
 probable that from all this strife and jarring 
 he stood aloof, just as in literature he stands 
 alone, a great but melancholy character. 
 
 There is a tradition mentioned by Jerome 
 that Lucretius was made insane by a love- 
 potion administered by his wife, that he wrote 
 several books during lucid intervals, and fi- 
 nally died by his own hand. This tradition 
 is doubtless without foundation in fact, yet it 
 is true that he died when he had not more 
 than reached the maturity of his powers, and 
 that there is some mystery about his death. 
 Those who carefully peruse his Third Book, 
 will not be at a loss to account for the origin 
 of this tradition. In some time of distress 
 he might seek the profound quiet of "the 
 pause of life," as a relief from all his troubles ; 
 yet there is no reliable evidence that he 
 thus ended his life. This tradition, however, 
 is of interest to us from the fact that Tenny- 
 son has made it the basis of a beautiful poem. 
 
 The Memmius to whom the poem is ad- 
 dressed is described by Cicero as "a learned 
 man, well read in Greek, but disdainful of 
 Latin literature; a clever orator, and of an 
 
THE REVELLERS 57 
 
 agreeable style; but shrinking from the labor, 
 not only of speaking, but even of thinking; 
 and doing injustice to his ability by his want 
 of industry." With such defects of character 
 we are not surprised at his subsequent history. 
 After his Praetorship he was made Governor 
 of Bithynia; stood for the Consulship unsuc- 
 cessfully; was placed on trial for bribery, de- 
 fended in the trial by Cicero; was convicted, 
 went into exile at Patrae, where he died. The 
 apparent regard in which he was held by the 
 poet is noticeable, because of the difference 
 of character in the two men. It is not likely 
 that Lucretius either expected or received any 
 enhancement of reputation from this source. 
 
 THE POEM, DE RERUM NATURA. 
 
 The reputation of Lucretius rests on the 
 one literary production, De Rerum Natura. 
 It is divided into six books, containing in all 
 7415 hexameter verses. The work presents 
 an exposition of the philosophical system of 
 Epicurus. Lucretius does not pretend to be 
 an original investigator in this field : he is con- 
 fessedly a pupil of the great Greek philoso- 
 pher, whose doctrines he sets forth illumi- 
 nated and adorned by the splendor of his own 
 native genius. The task to which he ad- 
 
58 THE REVELLERS 
 
 dressed himself is one of great difficulty. 
 That he succeeded so as to elicit the admira- 
 tion of judicious critics of his own and of 
 succeeding generations down to the present 
 time, is a great accomplishment. 
 
 Ovid ^predicted that his poem is destined 
 to be immortal. Pliny the younger ranks 
 him among the most eminent poets. He is 
 recognized in a similar way by Tacitus and 
 many other ancient writers. 
 
 The moderns have not been less willing to 
 praise Lucretius. Dr. Watson in his Essay 
 on Pope pronounces "The Nature of Things" 
 the noblest descriptive poem extant. Lord 
 Byron says: "If Lucretius had not been 
 spoiled by the Epicurian system, we should 
 have had a far superior poem to any now in 
 existence." There are traces of his influence 
 in the works of the best English poets. 
 Spencer in his "Faerie Queene" imitates the 
 invocation to Venus found in the beginning 
 of the first Book of this poem. Immanuel 
 Kant, along with many others, was influenced 
 by it. In fact, it may be regarded as one 
 of the text-books of rationalism to the present 
 day. 
 
 The poem is an attempt to set forth in 
 verse a complete system of philosophy. This 
 
THE REVELLERS 59 
 
 system includes both Ethics and Physics, the 
 science of right action, and the science of na- 
 ture. The latter occupies the main body of 
 the poem, while the ethical teaching is found 
 mainly in digressions and parentheses. He 
 not only presents the Epicurean system, but 
 establishes it by arguments and vigorously 
 assails competing and antagonistic systems. 
 In the ethical parts the highest level of poetic 
 excellence is reached, but portions which deal 
 with physical science are illuminated by a 
 brilliant and vigorous fancy, while from the 
 beginning to the close of this noble poem the 
 words go onward in their course like the 
 waters of a great river, rugged, perhaps, but 
 majestic. If we could transport ourselves 
 back to the poet's own time and view the sub- 
 ject from the standpoint of the thought and 
 knowledge of that age, we would no doubt 
 pronounce that there is not a dull line in the 
 entire poem. 
 
 As to religious views, Lucretius is a thor- 
 ough materialist. He deals only with matter, 
 and ignores the existence of anything except 
 matter. It cannot be afifirmed that he accred- 
 ited the existence of any god or gods. If 
 they exist, they are not concerned with us, 
 nor we with them; and this he would have 
 
6o THE REVELLERS 
 
 men believe for their comfort in life and in 
 death. "For the whole nature of the gods 
 must necessarily, of itself, enjoy immortality 
 in absolute repose, separated and far removed 
 from our affairs; for, exempt from all pain 
 and perils, sufficient in its own resources, 
 needing nothing from us, it is neither pro- 
 pitiated by services nor affected by anger." 
 
 There is no need of any god to account for 
 creation. Nature, the vast atomic machine, 
 mighty, pitiless, irresistible, brought into 
 their present forms the worlds and all that 
 they contain. We need not look for any in- 
 telligent agent outside of Nature. 
 
 The Third Book is devoted entirely to the 
 consideration of the soul, its nature and des- 
 tiny. He does not believe in immortality. 
 He argues against it. The atomic theory ex- 
 plains everything. v-The soul and mind, acting 
 together as one composite organism, atomic 
 in structure, when acted on by other atoms, 
 originate motions which produce sensus. 
 What it is which is the basis of the effects 
 produced by these "sense-bearing motions," in 
 which this sensus comes under observation, 
 is not clearly explained. He does as well as 
 modern materialists. But in some way this 
 material soul is so adjusted to the material 
 
THE REVELLERS 6i 
 
 body that tinder proper conditions vital phe- 
 nomena become manifest. Neither soul nor 
 body can retain organic existence apart from 
 the other. Separated, they both quickly dis- 
 integrate, and they return to the world of 
 atoms, to be used again in Nature's opera- 
 tions, y 
 
 Therefore, men should free themselves 
 from the fear of death, of the gods, and from 
 the dread of future woe, and should lead a 
 quiet and orderly life. He thinks that he is 
 doing men a .great service, if he can show 
 them "The Nature of Affairs," so that they 
 will not grasp madly after pleasure, fearing 
 there may be only pain after death. This was 
 his purpose, although his expectation was not 
 well grounded. He enumerates among the 
 ills of life remorse of conscience because of 
 offenses, but does not clearly show how his 
 materialistic philosophy can account for this, 
 or cure it. The modems have done no better. 
 
 To show the evils of religion, he cites the 
 story of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, that the 
 Greek fleet might secure a favorable wind, in 
 their expedition against Troy. Perhaps he 
 believed, or perhaps he did not believe, that 
 the story had a real historic foundation; but 
 it would serve his purpose to illustrate the 
 
62 THE REVELLERS 
 
 power of superstition, from which he desired 
 to free the minds of men. 
 
 Before we condemn Lucretius too severely 
 for his practical atheism and for his denial 
 of immortality, we should look at the question 
 from his viewpoint. Taking into account the 
 character of the gods of popular belief, it 
 was an opinion worthy of piety, which de- 
 nied them part in the creation or govern- 
 ment of the world, but rather remanded them 
 to their "absolute repose": religion was a 
 round of dull and meaningless ceremony, ex- 
 cept when transformed into wild orgies and 
 reckless debaucheries; immortality, if believed 
 at all, was for heroes and demigods and 
 choice spirits. Caesar argued against putting 
 Catiline to death, because "after death there 
 is room for neither pain nor pleasure." Cicero 
 while disapproving the views held by Lucre- 
 tius, himself speaks doubtfully. Tacitus says 
 that if there is a place where noble souls find 
 rest, Agricola will have his abode there. He 
 expresses himself with uncertainty. 
 
 Lucretius has this merit, that he has con- 
 victions, and the courage of them. He speaks 
 on this and on other subjects with no doubt- 
 ful words. Death is the extinction of being. 
 
" THE REVELLERS 63 
 
 iThe soul is material and mortal, and death 
 is an end of pain and pleasure, hope arid fear. 
 "He is not wretched who does not exist; 
 Nor knows nor cares that he was born at all. 
 When death immortal conquers mortal life." 
 
 It is unbecoming to shrink from death and 
 complain that life must end. It is ^a vain 
 thing to regret the brevity of life. Added 
 years would not bring satisfaction. 
 "Our life pursues its course in beaten paths, 
 And no new joy in living can be found." 
 
 A few years more or less taken from that 
 eternal sleep will make no difference to us. 
 It is the part of wisdom to accept its undis- 
 turbed repose without any weak repinings. 
 "However many ages you may live, 
 Eternal death not less will overtake. 
 Nor briefer will his nonexistence be 
 Who made to-day the end of life than his 
 Who perished many months and years ago." 
 
 Thus the great poet, following the lead of 
 the philosophic system which he had adopted, 
 comes to what seems to us a "lame and im- 
 potent conclusion." To him it seemed the best 
 that was within the reach of his vision. Evi- 
 dently he believed it. He is honest. He is 
 the voice of one crying in the wilderness of 
 doubt and despair, sending a strong and 
 
64 THE REVELLERS 
 
 manly cry through the night; not announcing 
 any dawning, but summoning men to meet the 
 inevitable with dignified courage. 
 
 In its treatment of the science of nature 
 this poem is equally interesting. Lucretius 
 is an evolutionist, and he presents that theory 
 as clearly as any who have come after him in 
 this line of investigation. He encounters the 
 same difficulties, he meets them quite as suc- 
 cessfully. He announces scientific proposi- 
 tions which are still undisputed, some that are 
 popularly supposed to be modern discoveries. 
 He makes bald assumptions in order to get 
 standing ground for his theories; but there 
 are some philosophers of our own times who 
 find this method very necessary. 
 
 Lucretius announces as the first law of na- 
 ture that "Nothing is made of nothing." 
 
 Nullam rem e nilo gigni divinitus unquani. 
 
 Perhaps divinitus is inserted here to guard 
 against the possible error that the gods ma/ 
 have power to make something out of noili- 
 ing. It is intended as a total and empha'.i: 
 denial of creation, and it is the assumption 
 of the eternity of matter. 
 
 The second law is, "Nothing is reduced to 
 nothing." Matter is indestructible. Here the 
 atomic theory is introduced, and also the na- 
 
THE REVELLERS 65 
 
 ture of the Void. There are two real exist- 
 ences, atoms and void. All things else are 
 properties or accidents of these two. There 
 is no third thing. The atom, whether divisi- 
 ble or not, is undivided; and it is impenetra- 
 ble, containing no void; but outside of the 
 atoms is void and only void. 
 
 Given atoms and void, how was the uni- 
 verse formed- with its order and beauty? 
 
 The atoms" were in motion. They moved 
 downward. Why did they move, and'Vlrhy 
 "downward"? What would be "downward" 
 and what "upward" in the infinite void? He 
 does not answer. His silence is worthy of 
 more respect than is the answer of those who 
 introduce a very unobtrusive god at this point, 
 and after he has served their purpose, assign 
 him to dignified obscurity, as no longer nec- 
 essary to the system. Lucretius is consistent. 
 He assumes the existence of the atoms and 
 their motions. The gods of whom he had 
 any knowledge were manifestly incapable of 
 creating atoms or of originating their motion. 
 
 But atoms moving in a straight line would, 
 never get together, and all their motion would 
 result in nothing. But they did come to- 
 gether, and worlds and systems were formed. 
 How is this explained? Some of the atoms 
 
66 THE REVELLERS 
 
 "swerved" from the direct course. Why? 
 He does not answer. 
 
 Then, after the atoms had "swerved," col- 
 lided and rebounded for ages, the world is 
 formed and its inhabitants. Atoms vary in 
 forms, and forms adapted to each other cling 
 together, and thus come into being the' various 
 kinds of animate and inanimate things. The 
 number of different kinds of atoms, varying 
 in size, shape, weight, and in other respects, 
 is comparatively limited, but the number of 
 atoms of each kind is infinite. Every differ- 
 ent thing represents a kind of atoms. Some 
 of his suggestions seem a prophecy of mod- 
 ern chemistry. 
 
 In the fifth book he treats of the origin 
 of animals, including man. How did they 
 originate? They are here; whence came 
 they? "Where any suitable region offered it- 
 self, wombs sprang up, fastened to the earth 
 by fibers." From these came all living things. 
 
 "Crescebant uteri terrae radicibus apti." 
 
 His imperfect tense of the verb in this verse 
 suggests the repeated and long-continued ef- 
 forts of nature before the final result was 
 attained. It is the modern theory stated in 
 plain language. 
 
 Men were literally born of the earth. They 
 
THE REVELLERS 67 
 
 were born infants, and Mother Earth had 
 provided for their nourishment, just as later, 
 when Earth had grown more parsimonious, 
 the newborn infant is nourished by its hu- 
 man mother. Of course, his theory has diffi- 
 culties, but not more than the modern theory 
 of development. In fact, it is the same theory. 
 Men were at first ruder, but mightier, and 
 not worse," than modern man. Because of 
 greater strength, they lived "many lustres of 
 the sun." Sometimes the primitive man ig- 
 norantly took poison and died: "Now some 
 of their own accord give it craftily to others." 
 Occasionally one of our primitive forefathers 
 perished in conflict with beasts of prey; but 
 not then, as now, did "one day consign to 
 destruction thousands of men under military 
 banners." Then scarcity of food destroyed 
 some; now abundance of luxuries causes de- 
 struction. These points are noted by Lucre- 
 tius with possibly a little of cynical contempt 
 for the luxuriousness and laxness of his own 
 time. 
 
 As you study his verses you are impressed 
 that there is "nothing new under the sun." 
 Here we find a clear teaching about the 
 "stone age," and all the others so dear to the 
 heart of some modern philosophers, and the 
 
68 THE REVELLERS ' 
 
 teaching is just as full, as clear, and as con- 
 vincing. Here is the text-book of the whole 
 school, and it has not been improved on by- 
 later teachers. He also notes the law of "the 
 survival of the fittest." Many kinds of living 
 things perished, unable to survive under 
 changed environment. The lion survived be- 
 cause of superior courage, the fox by cun- 
 ning, the stag by flight, the domestic animals 
 because they have been protected by man. 
 But why does not nature still exert her pro- 
 ductive power and produce new kinds of 
 plants and animals? Here sounds out some- 
 thing of that minor tone which runs through 
 all this stately poem. Nature grew weary 
 and ceased to be productive. "For age 
 changes the nature of the whole world, and 
 as to all things one state must succeed an- 
 other, and not anything remains like itself: 
 all things change." 
 
 Mutat enim mundi naturam totius aetas 
 Ex alioque alius status excipere omnia debet, 
 Nee manet ulla sui similis res : omnia migrant. 
 
 The whole world came from the void, and 
 to the void it returns. 
 
 The sixth book closes with a description of 
 the plague which formerly devastated Athens. 
 His material is drawn mainly from the second 
 
THE REVELLERS 69 
 
 book of Thucydides. It is believed that this 
 passage afforded matter for imitation to both 
 Virgil and Ovid. Later writers have paid to 
 Lucretius a similar compliment. The poem 
 here breaks off abruptly, and it has been quite 
 generally supposed that it was left incomplete, 
 or at least that it had not been subjected to 
 final revision. 
 
 A number of English translations of Lucre- 
 tius have been published. The first complete 
 version of the poet was by Creech, in 1682. 
 In 1743 appeared a prose translation by an 
 unknown hand. In 1805 Dr. Good brought 
 out a version in blank verse, in two volumes, 
 with copious notes. In 181 3 was published 
 in two quarto volumes the rhymed version 
 of Thomas Busby. A literal prose translation 
 by Dr. Watson is published in Bohn's Clas- 
 sical Library. Translations of parts of the 
 poem have been made by several different 
 authors. Translations have been made in 
 French, Italian, German, and Dutch. 
 
 Many scholars, both ancient and modern, 
 from Lactantius and Arnobius downward, 
 have written in refutation of the tenets of 
 Lucretius. These refutations may have served 
 a useful purpose in their day, but they will 
 always be of less interest than the writings 
 
70 THE REVELLERS 
 
 against which they are directed. The poem 
 of Lucretius will always remain a veritable 
 depository and monument of the scientific 
 knowledge and the moral and religious tenets 
 of the century before the Christian Era, as 
 represented by a great and earnest man who 
 speaks for many of his times. 
 
 THE THIRD BOOK. 
 
 The third Book, of which a translation is 
 here presented, is of peculiar interest, because 
 of its subject. It treats of the soul and its 
 destiny. It asks and answers that old ques- 
 tion: "If a man die, shall he live again?" It 
 gives the answer of a man who has thought 
 profoundly on the subject, who can discover 
 no light in the darkness, save the assurance 
 that death is only a dreamless sleep "a pause 
 of life," in which there is nothing which con- 
 cerns us, nor anything to make us afraid. 
 
 The plan of this translation is to make the 
 version as literal as possible, and to make the 
 translation correspond line for line to the 
 original. This method has some advantages 
 and some disadvantages. A metrical trans- 
 lation presents peculiar temptation to pad out 
 the ideas of the author with additions and 
 adornments which make it more a commen- 
 
THE REVELLERS 71 
 
 tary than a translation. The "line for line" 
 requirement serves to check this tendency. It 
 is the business of the translator to translate 
 the work in hand, not to amend or rewrite 
 it. If a faithful translation is obscure, it is 
 to be assumed that the fault is with the orig- 
 inal, and all attempts at improvement are out 
 of place. 
 
 Lucretius employed the dactylic hexameter, 
 the heroic measure of Latin poetry, and an 
 attempt is made to render his verses in the 
 same form. This is not a favorite measure 
 in English verse, but for this undertaking it 
 is convenient, because of the variety allowed. 
 In every line, the object has been to make a 
 correct rendering of the Latin, and the verse 
 has been allowed to be subordinate to this 
 end, where clearness demands this. 
 
 A few lines are missing from the text. 
 They are hopelessly lost, unless some manu- 
 script may yet be found containing them. 
 In some editions of the text, in 806-818, lines 
 are given which are found in Book Five, 351- 
 363. They are evidently out of place here, 
 and are omitted in the translation. 
 
72 THE REVELLERS 
 
 LUCRETIUS, BOOK III. 
 
 THE SOUL. 
 
 Thou who from darkness so deep a light so 
 
 lucid uplifted, 
 Who wert the first to show us the gain and 
 
 object of living, ' 
 
 Thee I follow, pride of all Greeks; my feet 
 
 in the footprints 
 Marked by thy feet 1 place, and follow thy 
 
 manifest leading, 
 [5] Eager, not to compete, but moved by a 
 
 loving affection. 
 Seeking only to imitate. How in strife may 
 
 the swallow 
 Swans overmatch; or how may kids, their 
 
 feeble limbs trembling. 
 Run in equal race with the mighty force of 
 
 the war-horse? 
 Father, thou art the inventor of science, and 
 
 percepts paternal 
 [10] Thou dost supply us, illustrious master, 
 
 out of thy writings. 
 As bees gather the nectar sweet from odorous 
 
 meadows, 
 Likewise do we feed on thy percepts, thy 
 
 sayings all golden, — 
 
THE^ REVELLERS 73 
 
 Golden, worthy of endless remembrance, 
 
 honor enduring. 
 For when, out of thy godlike mind upspring- 
 
 ing, thy doctrine 
 [15] Clearly began to declare the innermost 
 
 secrets of nature. 
 Fly then the fears of the mind, the bounds 
 
 of the woHd then vanish: 
 All through the spaces inane I see an orderly 
 
 movement ; 
 Beings divine appear; to view come the calm 
 
 habitations 
 Never by harsh winds shaken; never the 
 
 storm-cloud with showers 
 [20] Sprinkles them; neither does snow con- 
 gealed by the sharp-biting hoarfrost 
 Falling in white flakes invade; and ever the 
 
 sky stands unclouded, 
 Bending over these lands in far-shining light 
 
 ever smiling. 
 All that is needful for happiiaess nature un- 
 aided supplies them: 
 Neither do cares of the mind disturb their 
 
 quiet forever. 
 [25] Never before them rise the dread Ache- 
 
 rusian temples; 
 Earth never veils from their sight the secrets 
 
 hid in her caverns 
 
74 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Under their feet, whatever exists in the 
 spaces unfruitful. 
 
 These things contemplating, seizes me now 
 a heavenly pleasure, 
 
 Filling my mind with awe; for I see the 
 wonders of nature 
 
 [30] Standing uncovered before me, clearly 
 disclosed by thy power. 
 Having already considered the first begin- 
 nings of Nature, 
 
 What they are, and how, by different forms 
 distinguished. 
 
 Freely they fly on their course, borne for- 
 ward by motion eternal: 
 
 And how from these may spring all things 
 that have been created: 
 
 [35] Next after these it is fitting the nature 
 of mind to consider. 
 
 And the nature of soul to unfold in these my 
 verses. 
 
 But first from your mind the fear of Ache- 
 ron banish, 
 
 Fear which disturbs to its very foundation 
 the life of mortals, 
 
 Pouring the murky blackness of death over 
 all its sweetness, 
 
 [40] Never allowing pleasure to flourish 
 pure and unmingled. 
 
THE REVELLERS 75 
 
 Often men rashly say that death to them is 
 
 less fearful, 
 Tartarus less to be dreaded, than lingering 
 
 pain and dishonor. 
 The soul is merely a thing of the blood, they 
 
 blandly assure us; 
 Or, a question of breath, if so the fancy may 
 
 please 
 [45]~Cittie they need, then, any instruction 
 
 from these my verses. 
 This you may note: their teaching partakes 
 
 of the nature of boasting: 
 Nor does their facile reasoning bring to their 
 
 minds satisfaction. 
 Verily, these men, banished, driven away into 
 
 . exile. 
 Flying far from the sight of men, with crimes 
 
 attainted, 
 [50] Plunged into multiplied sorrows, love 
 
 life as fondly as ever! 
 No matter where these wretched ones hap- 
 pen to come as they wander. 
 There to the dead they offer their victims, 
 
 slaying black cattle : 
 There to the deified shades of dead heroes 
 
 they make their oblations : 
 In their misfortunes, piously turn their minds 
 
 to religion! 
 
76 THE REVELLERS 
 
 [55] Wherefore, to know a man's heart, to 
 
 read his character truly, 
 See him in evil case, beset with doubtful 
 
 dangers. 
 Voices then that are true will speak from 
 
 his innermost being; 
 Quickly the mask is torn from his life, his 
 
 true self revealing. 
 Avarice, also, and blind cupidity grasping for 
 
 honors, — 
 [60] Evils which drive wretched men to 
 
 transcend the limits of justice. 
 Sometimes even joining their hands with the 
 
 doers of evil. 
 Force them to strive by night and by day 
 
 with urgent labor 
 Toward the summit of wealth — the wounds 
 
 of life deep and rankling — 
 These are nourished in no small part by the 
 
 fear of dying. 
 [65] Truly contempt inglorious, poverty 
 
 grinding and narrow. 
 Seem far removed from the way of a life 
 
 that is sweet and stable; 
 Seem to abide hardby the very gates of de- 
 struction. 
 Wherefore, men impelled to crime by terror 
 
 unfounded ; 
 
THE REVELLERS 77 
 
 [Wish to escape these, wish to remove them 
 
 farther and farther; 
 [70] Add to their goods by the blood of their 
 
 people in civil commotions; 
 Greedily double their wealth by heaping 
 
 slaughter on slaughter: 
 Hear with cruel delight of the sorrowful 
 
 death of a brother: 
 Only with fear and hate they sit at the feasts 
 
 of their kinsmen. 
 Often for similar reason, through this same 
 
 fear of dying, 
 [75] M^ii ^^^ destroyed by envy, to see some 
 
 one mighty in power. 
 Held in respect, who walks before them in 
 
 shining honor, 
 While themselves are tossed to and fro in 
 
 dirt and shadows! 
 Perish some for statues and die for a name 
 
 far sounding. 
 Often because of this fear of death, such 
 
 hatred of living, 
 [80] Hate of seeing the light, distracts the 
 
 minds of mortals. 
 That they turn their own hands against 
 
 themselves in self-murder, 
 Even forgetting that this same fear is the 
 
 fount of their troubles; 
 
78 THE REVELLERS 
 
 That this violates modesty, breaks the bonds 
 
 of friendship; 
 Hurls from its very foundation piety's firm- 
 est bulwark. 
 [85] For men ere now have basely betrayed 
 
 their country and parents, 
 Seeking thus to evade the Acherusian temples. 
 Just as children tremble with dread in the 
 
 night's blind shadows ; 
 All things they fear: so we in the light are 
 
 frightened by fancies, 
 Fictions as utterly vain and baseless, as 
 
 empty of terror, 
 [90] As are the shadowy fears that scare a 
 
 child in the darkness. 
 Hence we need, to banish this terror, to 
 
 lighten the darkness, 
 Not the rays of the sun, the lucid darts of 
 
 the noon-day, 
 But a clear look at Nature and reason's po- 
 tent revealings. 
 First, then, I say, the mind — the intellect 
 
 often we call it — 
 [95] Wherein is posited practical wisdom and 
 
 life's direction, 
 Is a part of the man, as much as the foot or 
 
 the hand is; 
 
THE REVELLERS 79 
 
 As the eye of a living thing is a part of its 
 body. 
 
 Some say the sense of the mind pertains not 
 to any location, 
 
 But is only a vital habit affecting the body, 
 
 [100] Called by the Greeks a Harmony: 
 something which thus affects us 
 
 So that we live in sense, while mind inheres 
 in no part. 
 
 Just as health is affirmed to be something of 
 the body, 
 
 Yet the health of the man that is well is no 
 part of the body. 
 
 So it is with this sense of the mind, these 
 philosophers tell us. 
 
 [105] In this, to me it seems evident, far 
 from the truth they wander. 
 
 Sometimes the body, the visible man, is sick 
 and feeble, 
 
 While we rejoice in the health of the un- 
 seen spirit within us. 
 
 But, conversely, how often quite the con- 
 trary happens: 
 
 He that is wretched in mind may be free 
 from all bodily sickness. 
 
 [no] Just as, for instance, pain may tor- 
 ture the foot of a sick man, 
 
6o THE REVELLERS 
 
 While at the same time, perhaps, his head is 
 
 free from all trouble. 
 Likewise, when all our limbs are yielded to 
 
 gentle slumber, 
 When the body, heavy with sleep, lies prone 
 
 and senseless. 
 Then a something other within us is stirred 
 
 into action 
 [115] Wondrously; then it receives to itself 
 
 all joyful emotions; 
 Feels all the weight of the heart's solicitudes 
 
 empty and fruitless. 
 Certainly you may know that the soul is one 
 
 of the members. 
 Neither the body is wont to have sense by 
 
 means of a Harmony. 
 First observe: when much of the body by 
 
 some means is severed, 
 [120] Yet the life undiminished still remains 
 
 in the body: 
 But if only a few of the atoms of heat be 
 
 scattered. 
 And if only the unseen air, exhaled from the 
 
 nostrils, 
 Ceases, then this life ft-om the veins and the 
 
 bones is parted. 
 Hence conclude that not all parts have equal 
 
 office, 
 
THE REVELLERS 8i 
 
 [125] Neither are equally potent to fortify 
 
 life within us. 
 Rather to this end serve the seeds of air and 
 
 warm vapor. 
 Rather by these can the spark of life be re- 
 tained in our members: 
 Therefore heat and vital breath belong to 
 
 the body; 
 These which depart from our failing limbs 
 
 when we are dying. 
 [130] So, since the essence of mind and. soul 
 
 is part of our nature, 
 Both the soul and the spirit constituent parts 
 
 of the person, 
 Give these musicians their name, from lofty 
 
 Helicon borrowed, 
 Or perhaps they brought it from some other 
 
 place for the purpose. 
 Needing a name for this which before had 
 
 always been nameless, — 
 [135] Willingly let them have it, and hear 
 
 thou the reasons I offer. 
 Now, I affirm that the mind and the soul are 
 
 held in union 
 One with the other, so that they constitute 
 
 only one nature. 
 But head, as it were, of all, to rule the whole 
 
 of the body, 
 
82 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Reason dominates, mind we call it, or under- 
 standing. 
 [140] This in the middle part of the bosom 
 
 seated, remains there. 
 Here throb terror and fear; around these 
 
 middle regions, 
 Joys soothe: therefore mind and understand- 
 ing are present. 
 The other part of the soul, diffused through 
 
 all the body. 
 Yields obedience unto the mind's volition and 
 
 impulse. 
 [145] This by itself has knowledge, alone of 
 
 itself it rejoices. 
 While at the same time this never moves the 
 
 soul or the body: 
 Just as when head or eye by racking pain 
 
 is tortured. 
 Yet we may not throughout the whole body 
 
 partake of the anguish 
 So the mind itself may be moved by pain or 
 
 gladness 
 [150] While the other part of the soul, the 
 
 part of our being 
 Situate in our members, is wholly unaffected. 
 But when in greater measure the mind is 
 
 stricken with terror, 
 
THE REVELLERS 83 
 
 Then do we see that the soul is shaken in 
 
 sympathy with it: 
 See the sweat and the pallor manifest in the 
 
 whole body: 
 [155] Fails the tongue of its office; then the 
 
 voice is silent: 
 Dim grow the eyes; sounds throb in the 
 
 ears; the trembling limbs falter. 
 Furthermore, sometimes men even faint from 
 
 mental terror. 
 Plainly, therefore, from these facts one must 
 
 draw these conclusions: — 
 Soul to mind is conjoined: that soul, when 
 
 the mind's force moves it, 
 [160] Sets the body in motion and causes the 
 
 body's action. 
 Reasoning further, the nature of mind and 
 
 of soul is corporeal. 
 Otherwise how is it possible it should propel 
 
 the members ; 
 Snatch the body from slumber; change in a 
 
 moment the countenance? 
 Rule the whole man, directing, changing, con- 
 trolling his movements? 
 [165] Which results could never be wrought 
 
 except by contact: 
 Neither can contact be made without body: 
 
 must we not reason 
 
84 THE REVELLERS 
 
 That mind and soul are each and both of 
 
 corporeal nature? 
 Also equally suffers the mind with the pain 
 
 of the body, 
 Entering into sympathy for us through the 
 
 body. 
 [170] For, if the dart's rude force, not ma- 
 king a wound that is fatal. 
 Drives deep into the body, bones and nerves 
 
 torn asunder. 
 Languor follows: the weakening frame to 
 
 the ground droops downward : 
 Fallen to earth, the mind is tossed like the 
 
 waves of the ocean : 
 Then the will irresolute prompts to rise to 
 
 the conflict. 
 [175] Therefore it must be concluded that 
 
 mind is of nature corporeal. 
 Since with corporeal weapons and smiting it 
 
 may be wounded, 
 Next with arguments I will establish what 
 
 the mind is, 
 What is the manner in which its several parts 
 
 are compounded. 
 First of all, I say, the mind is subtle in 
 
 nature, 
 [180} Formed of atoms exceedingly small, 
 
 And now, attentive, 
 
THE REVELLERS 85 
 
 Hearing my arguments, carefully weigh the 
 reasons I offer. 
 
 Nothing of all that is seen to be done is done 
 more quickly 
 
 Than when the mind, itself proposing, accom- 
 plishes promptly. 
 
 Therefore the mind impels itself more quickly 
 to action 
 
 [185] Than any substance of which the na- 
 ture is manifest to us. 
 
 But, it is plainly evident, what has such 
 quickness of motion, 
 
 Must be composed of atoms round and ex- 
 ceedingly little. 
 
 Such that easily they may be moved by 
 slightest impulse. 
 
 Water is moved and flows, affected by gentle 
 forces, 
 
 [190] Since its constituent parts are so small 
 and easily moving. 
 
 Honey, however, is made up of particles 
 coarser by nature. 
 
 Heavy and sluggish, each atoni cleaves to 
 each other atom, 
 
 For each separate portion closely clings to 
 each other. 
 
 Why? Because its atoms, measured by 
 others, are heavy, 
 
86 THE REVELLERS 
 
 [195] Neither are like them in size, neither 
 in smoothness nor roundness. 
 
 Only a gentle breeze is sufficient to scatter 
 before you 
 
 Poppy-seeds heaped together; quickly the 
 mound is wasted: 
 
 But a like heap of pebbles defies the blasts of 
 Eurus. 
 
 Hence we conclude, according as particles 
 have in their structure 
 
 [200] Atoms smallest and lightest, so is their 
 aptness to motion. 
 
 So, on the other hand, particles greater in 
 weight than others. 
 
 Cruder and harsher in form, are found more 
 stable in firmness. 
 
 Therefore, since mind in its nature excds in 
 swiftness of action. 
 
 Reason compels us to this one conclusion re- 
 garding its atoms, 
 
 [205] Namely: that they must be little, 
 smooth and round in surface. 
 
 This fact, thus known to you, excellent friend, 
 some time will be useful. 
 
 When you are bent on solving other similar 
 problems. 
 
 The real nature of mind, also, this fact indi- 
 cates clearly, 
 
THE REVELLERS 87 
 
 Showing its fineness of texture, showing how 
 
 narrow a compass 
 [210] Easily might contain it, if only com- 
 pressed together: 
 For when, haply, on some one death's quiet 
 
 rest has fallen. 
 When, issuing forth, the substance of mind 
 
 and of soul has departed, 
 You may not discern that aught has gone 
 
 from the body: 
 Nothing of form or of weight is subtracted: 
 
 death spares all these, 
 [215] All except the vital sense and the 
 
 breath that quickens. 
 Hence the soul is composed wholly of seminal 
 
 atoms 
 Very minute, connected with veins and 
 
 nerves and viscera. 
 Since when all the soul has gone from all of 
 
 the body. 
 To the minutest point remains the form of 
 
 the members 
 [220] Unchanged, not even a single atom of 
 
 weight is wanting. 
 Like this is it when the wine's sweet aroma 
 
 vanishes ; 
 When to the air has fled the agreeable odor 
 of ointment; 
 
88 THE REVELLERS ' 
 
 Or when any savory substance has lost its 
 
 flavor ; 
 As far as the eye can perceive, the substance 
 
 seems not diminished. 
 [225] Neither, moreover, does anything seem 
 
 from its weight to be lacking. 
 Why? Because so many and small are the 
 
 seeds elemental 
 Which compose the odor and flavor through- 
 out the whole body. 
 Wherefore, you may believe that the mind 
 
 and the soul in essence 
 Stand composed of seminal atoms of exquisite 
 
 fineness, 
 [230] Since, when that essence departs, it 
 
 bears no weight away with it. 
 Nor must we think of this essence as simple 
 
 and uncompounded. 
 For a certain subtle Aura with heat inter- 
 mingled 
 Leaves the dying, and the heat bears Air 
 
 forth with it: 
 Nor, indeed, do we ever find heat with air 
 
 unmingled. 
 [235] For, because heat consists of a nature 
 
 rare, it follows 
 That in it and through it are many atoms of 
 
 air intermingled. 
 
THE REVELLERS 89 
 
 Therefore, the nature of mind and of soul is 
 
 found to be triple: 
 Yet all these are not enough to account for 
 
 sensation, 
 Since not any of these is able to call into 
 
 being 
 [240] Sensible motions and thoughts which 
 
 arise in the mind at the moving. 
 Hence in addition to this triple nature we 
 
 find still another, 
 A certain fourth part, a factor of life distinct 
 
 but Unnamed; 
 Something excelling in quickness of motion 
 
 and also in fineness; 
 Neither is anything known of elements 
 
 smaller or lighter. 
 [245] This it is which first through the limbs 
 
 gives sensible motions. 
 For, composed of atoms so small, it first of 
 
 all is excited: 
 Heat next feels the impulse; then the secret 
 
 power of Aura; 
 Then the air; then all parts are quickened to 
 
 action. 
 Stirs then the blood, then all the flesh par- 
 takes of the motion, 
 [250] All are affected : and last of all to the 
 
 bones and the marrow 
 
go THE REVELLERS 
 
 Sensation is given, whether of joy or a con- 
 trary ardor. 
 Neither harmlessly grief may penetrate unto 
 
 such limit, 
 Neither some violent evil, without so affecting 
 
 our being 
 That no place will be found for life; the soul, 
 
 disparted, 
 [255] Quickly flies from its place through 
 
 the avenues of the body. 
 Yet mostly the body's surface marks the 
 
 limit of motions: 
 Only for this are we able to hold our life in 
 
 being. 
 Now, in what manner these several parts of 
 
 the soul are united. 
 How joined together they flourish, I would 
 
 explain to you gladly, 
 [260] Save that my native tongue, because 
 
 of its poverty, hinders. 
 Nevertheless, I will aim to touch on this ques- 
 tion briefly. 
 These primordial elements so interact in their 
 
 motions 
 That in no way you may separate one from 
 
 another, 
 Nor may the force of one by space from the 
 
 other be severed. 
 
THE REVELLERS 91 
 
 [265] They are, as it were, the many powers 
 
 of a single body. 
 As when, perchance, you inspect some one of 
 
 a herd of cattle. 
 Odor is there, and heat and also taste: — and 
 
 yet, 
 All these must be referred to a single mass 
 
 of body: 
 So do Heat and Air and the secret power 
 
 of Aura 
 [270] Joined, create one nature: joined, too, 
 
 with that Other, 
 That Unnamed, which gives the first begin- 
 nings of motion, 
 Whence sensation first arises throughout the 
 
 body, 
 For this nameless element lies deeply hid in 
 
 our being: 
 Neither is anything seated more deeply within 
 
 our body. 
 [275] Verily this, in fact, of the soul itself 
 
 IS THE SOUL. 
 
 As concealed within the whole body and in 
 
 our members 
 Lurks the force of the mind and the power 
 
 of the soul deep hidden, 
 — Since these are formed of atoms small and 
 
 few in number,—^ 
 
92 THE REVELLERS 
 
 So this nameless force, composed of more 
 
 delicate atoms, 
 [280] Lies concealed within, the soul's own 
 
 soul and center. 
 Hence, moreover, this soul is dominant 
 
 through the whole nature. 
 For a similar reason, Heat and Air and 
 
 Aura 
 Throughout all the body possess their vigor 
 
 together. 
 One may yield to another, and that, in turn, 
 
 may be stronger, 
 [285] Yet so are they conjoined, they seem 
 
 but one in action, 
 So that neither the Heat nor Aura alone, 
 
 being severed, 
 Neither the Air by itself, may destroy and 
 
 frustrate sensation. 
 That is Heat in the mind, when the mind 
 
 flames up in anger. 
 When from the eye forth flashes the wrath- 
 ful light of fierce ardor. 
 [290] Sometimes, also, cold Aura prevails, 
 
 the companion of terror. 
 Which in the members arouses chill horror 
 
 and makes the limbs tremble. 
 Also there is, again, that state of Air un- 
 troubled, 
 
THE REVELLERS 93 
 
 Known when the breast is placid, seen" when 
 
 the face is tranquil. 
 But there is more of Heat in those whose 
 
 hearts are bitter, 
 [295] Whose minds easily break forth into 
 
 a turmoil of passion. 
 Such kind as this we reckon the violent force 
 
 of lions. 
 Which in their raging seem to burst their 
 
 breasts with roaring, 
 Nor are they able to hold within them the 
 
 floods pi anger. 
 But the cold mind of the deer has in it more 
 
 of Aura. 
 [300] This more quickly darts through the 
 
 flesh and arouses chill terror. 
 Causes a tremulous motion to run through 
 
 the members. 
 But the nature of oxen by placid Air is de- 
 termined. 
 Nor does the torch of wrath brought near 
 
 him greatly excite him, 
 Wreathing around him with its blinding 
 
 shadow of darkness. 
 [305] Yet not stupid are they, transfixed by 
 
 the chilly arrows. 
 But in nature they stand between the deer 
 
 and the lion. 
 
94 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Thus is the race of men. Though instruc- 
 tion may give refinement, 
 
 Yet after all the varied change and improve- 
 ment of culture, 
 
 Native traits of the mind will not be changed 
 by learning. 
 
 [310] Nor must we think that vice can be 
 quickly and surely uprooted. 
 
 So that one shall not be prone to violent pas- 
 sion: 
 
 So that another may not be too soon affected 
 by terror: 
 
 So that a third one may not be overindulgent 
 to vices. 
 
 Likewise in many other respects, of neces- 
 sity, men will diflfer, 
 
 [315] Differ in nature, in varying customs 
 and changing manners. 
 
 Nor can I now of these point out the secret 
 causes. 
 
 Neither find names for the numerous figures 
 which spring from the atoms. 
 
 Whence arises all the variety seen in nature. 
 
 Still, despite these facts, I hold it true be- 
 yond question, 
 
 [320] That these hindering traits of our na- 
 ture so may be moulded, 
 
THE REVELLERS 95 
 
 Even though reason may fail to deliver us 
 
 from them wholly, 
 Nothing is able to keep us from living a 
 
 life that is godlike. 
 Therefore, this nature of ours abides in all 
 
 the body. 
 Is itself the guard of the body, the cause of 
 
 its safety. 
 [325] For they both by common roots co- 
 here together: 
 Neither can one from the other be sundered 
 
 without destruction. 
 As if we take away the odor from frankin- 
 
 sense, 
 We at the same time destroy its very nature 
 
 and essence: 
 So the essence of mind may not be withdrawn 
 
 from the body, 
 [330] Leaving them both imharmed: but 
 
 both will utterly perish. 
 Thus, their elements woven together from 
 
 their first beginnings, 
 Soul and body depend for life on a common 
 
 center ; 
 Neither can one without the force of the 
 
 other have vigor. 
 Nor apart can body or mind have sense per- 
 ception : 
 
96 THE REVELLERS 
 
 [335] But sensation flings out its light 
 
 throughout our whole nature, 
 Kindled by motions conjoined and acting each 
 
 with the other. 
 By itself, moreover, the body comes not into 
 
 being. 
 Neither increases, nor after death retains its 
 
 existence. 
 Liquid water, when warmed, may give forth 
 
 the heat that is in it, 
 [340] While it may not thereby incur any 
 
 loss of its substance: 
 Not so with us, I affirm. The limbs, in 
 
 death deserted. 
 Cannot bear their sundering from the soul 
 
 without damage; 
 But they utterly perish, dissolve, and become 
 
 putrescent. 
 From life's very beginning so are the soul 
 
 and the body 
 [345] Joined the one with the other, they 
 
 know only common motions. 
 Even while yet concealed in the secret womb 
 
 of the mother. 
 They are unable to bear separation without 
 
 destruction. 
 Hence, you see, conjoined in cause and man- 
 ner of living, 
 
THE REVELLERS 97 
 
 They must also exist as one single nature 
 
 conjoined. 
 [350] Finally, if one deny to the body the 
 
 power of feeling, 
 Holding to this, that the soul, permixed 
 
 throughout the whole body. 
 Causes, itself alone, the motion we call sen- 
 sation, 
 'Evident truth and manifest facts stand over 
 
 against him. 
 For, can any one ever explain how the body 
 
 has feeling, 
 [355] If he depends not on what observation 
 
 shows and teaches? 
 Set the soul free: then the body of sense is 
 
 totally vacant. 
 Losing that which at no time truly belonged 
 
 to its nature. 
 Also, it loses this more and more as old age 
 
 advances. 
 Likewise, to make it appear that the eyes can 
 
 see nothing whatever, 
 [350] But that the mind looks out through 
 
 the eyes as through open windows, 
 That is a difficult task, when the sense of 
 
 these contradict us. 
 For their sense calls up the mind and thrusts 
 
 it forth to the pupils. 
 
98 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Often, for instance, we cannot directly gaze 
 
 at an object. 
 Why? Because our eyes by its glittering 
 
 light are prevented. 
 [365] This happens not to windows: for 
 
 not, because we look through them. 
 Would mere open windows suffer such in- 
 convenience. 
 Also, if our eyes serve only as doors to the 
 
 spirit. 
 Surely after the eyes are removed the mind 
 
 should see better; 
 Better after the taking away of even the 
 
 door-posts ! 
 [370] But in these discussions you may not 
 
 assume as settled 
 What the divine opinion of Democritus has 
 
 propounded, 
 Namely: that single primordial atoms 
 
 of mind and body, 
 Placed alternately one to the other, 
 
 CONNECT the MEMBERS. 
 
 For, not only are these, the soul atoms, very 
 much smaller 
 
 [375] Than are those which are found to 
 compose the bodily structure. 
 
 But they are fewer, through the body dis- 
 tributed thinly. 
 
THE REVELLERS 99 
 
 Hence with confidence you may accept as a 
 safe proposition: — 
 
 At what distance apart are placed corporeal 
 atoms 
 
 So that objects touching us may awaken sen- 
 sation, 
 
 [380] Single atoms of soul are posited at 
 that distance. 
 
 For, we do not notice the dust that falls upon 
 us. 
 
 Nor when powdered chalk is sifted over our 
 members : 
 
 Neither a mist in the night: nor the delicate 
 thrt\ds of the spider. 
 
 If in passing along by chance we encounter 
 their streamers: 
 
 [385] Nor if this spider casts on us his out- 
 worn garment: 
 
 Neither the feather of birds; nor the flying 
 down of the thistle : 
 
 Since these, because of their lightness, usu- 
 ally fall but lightly. 
 
 Nor do we note the going of little living 
 creatures ; 
 
 Nor do we feel the steps of their feet as 
 they place them upon us; 
 
 [390] Nor when gnats or similar insects in- 
 vade the body. 
 
100 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Thus must be stirred within us so many cor- 
 poreal atoms, 
 
 Ere the Soul's primordial atoms, mixed 
 through the body, 
 
 Shaken and roused by the impulse, begin to 
 feel sensation. 
 
 And, affecting each the other across these 
 spaces, 
 
 [395] Meet together, collide, and again re- 
 bound in succession. 
 
 More than all other defenders, the Mind 
 stands guard on life's ramparts. 
 
 Mightier, too, than the force of the Soul for 
 life's direction. 
 
 Not for a small space of time the Soul in the 
 body continues 
 
 After intelligence ceases, after the Mind has 
 departed. 
 
 [400] But, a ready companion, it follows the 
 Mind in its going. 
 
 Leaves the stiffening body cold and still in 
 death's rigor. 
 
 He has life to whom remains mind and un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 Though he be mangled, although from his 
 body his limbs may be severed. 
 
 Still the trunk, though soul has gone with 
 the severed members, 
 
THE REVELLERS loi 
 
 [405] Lives on, clinging to life, still breath- 
 ing the air of heaven, 
 Reft of the soul, not wholly, indeed, but in 
 
 large measure; 
 Nevertheless, in life it delays, — the life still 
 
 lingers. 
 So, if the pupil escape, though the eye about 
 
 it be injured. 
 Yet there will still remain the vivid power 
 
 of seeing, — 
 [410] Only providing, you injure not the 
 
 eye's total orbit. 
 And cut only around it, wholly avoiding the 
 
 pupil. 
 Otherwise both the eye and the pupil suffer 
 
 destruction. 
 But if the smallest part of the middle eye 
 
 be punctured. 
 Suddenly light fails, quickly the shadows of 
 
 blindness follow, 
 [415] Even though the splendid orb of light 
 
 be uninjured. 
 Ever by such, a bond the soul and the mind 
 
 are united. 
 Come now. That you may know that minds 
 
 are to animate beings. 
 That they have subtle souls also, born like 
 
 their bodies and mortal. 
 
loa THE REVELLERS 
 
 Verses long since carefully wrought and 
 
 prepared with sweet labor, 
 [420] I will strive to set forth in a manner 
 
 worthy thy study. 
 Now, you may give to each of the terms. 
 
 Mind and Soul, the same import, 
 So that when I discourse concerning the Soul 
 
 and its nature, 
 When I affirm its mortality, Mind is also 
 
 included, 
 Since they are one in action and joined in 
 
 mutual being. 
 [425] First, since I have sho#n that the 
 
 Soul is of fragile structure. 
 Formed of elements small, of atoms by far 
 
 much smaller 
 Than are those which form the liquid sub- 
 stance of water, 
 Qouds or of smoke; — for mind excels in 
 
 mobility greatly. ' 
 
 Touched by a slighter cause, it quicker feels 
 
 the impulse, 
 [430] Since by phantasms of cloud and of 
 
 smoke it may be affected; 
 When, for example, we see on high, while 
 
 lulled in deep slumber. 
 Altars sending up smoke and breathing forth 
 
 odorous vapor : 
 
THE REVELLERS 103 
 
 For, beyond all doubt, such dreams are pro- 
 duced within us: — 
 Therefore, since when vessels are shattered 
 
 and broken to pieces, 
 [435] You may see the liquid flowing forth 
 
 and escaping. 
 And since, also, vapor and smoke in the air 
 
 dissolve quickly. 
 So must the soul of a man be scattered 
 
 abroad and perish; 
 Only more surely and quickly dissolve its pri- 
 mary atoms. 
 If once from the body drawn forth, it takes 
 1 its departure. 
 
 [440] When the body itself which is, as it 
 
 were, the soul's vessel. 
 Cannot contain that soul when shattered in 
 
 any manner; 
 Or when rendered less firm by blood from 
 
 the veins extracted; 
 How, then, by the air can this soul be held 
 
 together, 
 Air which is rarer far than the body the soul 
 
 now inhabits? 
 [445] Also, the soul is a product of birth, 
 
 as well as the body. 
 This we perceive, that together they grow, 
 
 wax old together. 
 
104 THE REVELLERS 
 
 For as children wander with weak and 
 
 tender body, 
 So the slender sense of the mind shows like 
 
 immatureness. 
 Then when their age has advanced to robust- 
 ness of vigor, 
 [450] Intellect grows with the body, and 
 
 force of mind increases. 
 Later, when now the body by time's strong 
 
 hand is shaken, 
 When, with failing strength, the limbs have 
 
 sunk into weakness. 
 Genius fails, the tongue utters folly, the mind 
 
 is clouded; 
 All things pass to decay; together they hasten 
 
 to ruin. 
 [455] Therefore, it must be the soul and all 
 
 that is of it will perish, 
 Vanish as smoke, when up to the lofty air 
 
 it rises: 
 Since we see that the soul is born and grows 
 
 with the body. 
 With it wearies with age, and both decay 
 
 together. 
 Add this, moreover, that as the body itself, 
 
 as we notice, 
 [460] Suffers dolorous pain and is subject to 
 
 grievous diseases: 
 
THE REVELLERS , 105 
 
 So does the mind endure sharp cares and 
 
 fear and sorrow. 
 Hence, it follows, the soul partakes with the 
 
 body in dying. 
 Often the mind, when the body is stricken 
 
 with sickness, wanders. 
 Loses command of itself, it utters the words 
 
 of delirium: 
 [465] Sinks, oppressed by de^p lethargy, into 
 
 a slumber eternal. 
 Sleep that is dreamless and deep, the eyes 
 
 and the helpless head falling. 
 Nor can the soul hear the voices, neither can 
 
 see the faces, 
 Of the loved ones calling it back with use- 
 less entreaty. 
 Standing beside it bedewing their cheeks and 
 
 their faces with weeping. 
 [470] Therefore, the mind is dissolved: we 
 
 cannot avoid the conclusion. 
 Inasmuch as morbid contagions penetrate 
 
 to it. 
 Pain and disease are both and each a worker 
 
 of death. 
 This we long since learned, by multiplied 
 
 deaths instructed. 
 
to6 THE REVELLERS 
 
 [475] 
 
 Then, why when the force of wine has en- 
 tered the body, 
 
 And, its sharp heat spreading, into the veins 
 has been carried. 
 
 Heaviness comes on the limbs, the shaking 
 legs are impeded; 
 
 Stammers and halts the tongue, the mind is 
 in confusion; 
 
 [480] Eyes swim, clamor, hiccups and 
 wranglings spring into being; 
 
 Many other manifest tokens of drunkenness 
 follow. 
 
 Why is it thus, unless the vehement force of 
 the liquor. 
 
 In the body itself, may reach the mind with 
 
 disturbance ? 
 . But, whatever can thus be disturbed and im- 
 peded in action, 
 
 [485] Signify that, if only a stronger force 
 were intruded. 
 
 They would certainly perish, deprived of fu- 
 ture existence. 
 
 Then, also, often it happens that under the 
 force of disorder. 
 
 Some one before our eyes falls down, as if 
 smitten by lightning. 
 
THE REVELLERS 107 
 
 Then he foams at the mouth, he groans, and 
 
 all his joints tremble; 
 [490] Loses his senses; stretches his nerves; 
 
 his face is distorted: 
 Breathes with irregular gaspings; wearies 
 
 himself with tossing: 
 Why? The violent force of disease, dis- 
 persed through the body. 
 Driving the mind, perturbs it; as on the briny 
 
 ocean 
 The waves are beaten under the mighty fprce 
 
 of the tempest. 
 [495] Groans are compelled, because the 
 
 limbs are racked with anguish. 
 And, especially, since the seeds of voca,l ut- 
 terance ' . 
 Are drawn forth, and, gathered, through the 
 
 mouth are borne outward 
 By their accustomed channel, already paved 
 
 for their going. 
 Unconsciousness comes, because the power of 
 
 the mind and the soul 
 [500] Is unbalanced, and, as I have shown 
 
 already. 
 Divided, is rent asunder, distracted by this 
 
 same poison. 
 Then when the cause of disease is removed, 
 
 when back to its hiding 
 
io8 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Turns again the harsh humour which wrought 
 
 this disorder of body, 
 Then uncertainly rises the patient: little by 
 i little 
 
 [505] His senses return: again he receives 
 
 the soul to its office. 
 Hence, since these in the body itself by dis- 
 ease are shaken. 
 And, in such pitiful manner distracted, 
 
 wretchedly suffer. 
 How can you credit this same soul, apart 
 
 from the body. 
 In open air, exposed to strong winds, can 
 
 support an existence? 
 [510] And since we see that a mind may be 
 
 cured, as a sick body, 
 And we see it yield like the body to medical 
 
 treatment. 
 This fact points to the truth that mind is a 
 
 mortal substance. 
 For, to add any parts or to change to a dif- 
 ferent order. 
 Or from the whole of a thing to take away 
 
 somewhat or something, — 
 [515] This he must do who attempts to 
 
 change the mind's condition, — 
 Or to change the nature of any substance 
 
 whatever ; 
 
THE REVELLERS 109 
 
 But no transfer of parts by taking away or 
 
 adding, . 
 Nor by diminishing, may be allowed to a 
 
 thing immortal. 
 For, whatever is changed, goes out from its 
 
 first condition: 
 [520] This change is the death of it, as to 
 
 its former nature. 
 Plainly thus does the mind reveal that its 
 
 nature is mortal. 
 Whether it languish with sickness, or yield 
 
 to medication. 
 So does the true stand over against the false 
 
 in reason: 
 Closing up every refuge to him who would 
 
 fly its conclusion, 
 [525] Plainly convincing the false by a 
 
 double refutation. 
 Often we see a man go from us, dying little 
 
 by little, 
 Losing the vital sense from one limb after 
 
 another. 
 First we see on his feet the toes and the nails 
 
 grow livid: 
 Next we see that the feet and then the legs 
 
 are dying: 
 [530] Over the other limbs then pass slowly 
 
 death's chill traces. 
 
no THE REVELLERS 
 
 Since the substance of soul is divided and 
 
 does not go forth 
 At one time complete, it must be considered 
 
 mortal. 
 But if perchance you think the passir^ soul 
 
 is able 
 Through the limbs to withdraw, to bring its 
 
 parts to one place, 
 [535] Bringing the sense from these dying 
 
 portions one after another, 
 Then this place into which so much of soul 
 
 has been gathered, 
 Ought to exhibit a higher degree of sensa- 
 tion than others. 
 But, since such place cannot be found, we 
 
 urge the conclusion: — 
 Dissolved, the soul is scattered abroad, and 
 
 therefore must perish. 
 [540] But if we even consent to grant, for 
 
 the time, a false premise. 
 Grant that the soul may be gathered together, 
 
 as claimed, in their bodies. 
 Who thus leave the light of life by gradual 
 
 dying. 
 It must still be allowed that the soul of man 
 
 is mortal: 
 For it matters not whether, dispersed through 
 
 the air, it perish, 
 
THE REVELLERS . iii 
 
 [545] Or whether, gathered from all into 
 
 one, it sinks unconscious, 
 When, after all, the senses fail the whole 
 
 man completely, 
 Leaving less and less of life throughout the 
 
 whole being. 
 Since the mind is part of the man, is one of 
 
 his members, 
 Having a fixed place, as do the ears or the 
 
 organs of vision, 
 [550] As all the other faculties have which 
 
 give us direction; 
 And as hand, or eye, or nose, when severed 
 
 from us 
 Are not able to have sensation, or even 
 
 existence, 
 Rather dissolving and wasting away in putre- 
 faction : 
 So by itself the mind lives not without the 
 
 body, — 
 [555] That which seems to be only the mind's 
 
 containing vessel. 
 Or whatever may seem to you to express it 
 
 more aptly. 
 Since the body adheres to the soul in the 
 
 closest manner. 
 Further, the animate force of soul and of 
 
 body is potent, 
 
112 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Only fruitful of life, when they are united 
 together. 
 
 [560] Nor can the soul of itself originate 
 vital motions, 
 
 Acting by its own substance without the aid 
 of the body: 
 
 Nor, apart from the body, live on and use 
 the senses. 
 
 Just as the eye, when torn from its roots, no 
 longer has vision, 
 
 Neither perceives any object, apart from the 
 whole of the body: 
 
 [565] Thus the mind and soul alone, as it 
 seems, are able for nothing : 
 
 Since, while intermixed throughout the veins 
 and members. 
 
 Nerves and bony structure, they are re- 
 strained by the body; 
 
 Nor can their atoms rebound to great dis- 
 tances, closely confined. 
 
 Thus enclosed and restrained, their move- 
 ments produce sensation, 
 
 [570] Which they may not accomplish out- 
 side the body, thrust forth 
 
 Unto the air of heaven, when in death they 
 are parted. 
 
 Truly, the air must needs be a living thing, a 
 body, 
 
THE REVELLERS 113 
 
 If the soul within it is able to perfect sensible 
 
 motion 
 [575] Such as before it made in the nerves 
 
 and in the body. 
 Therefore, — again and again, — dissolved the 
 
 body's protection. 
 When the vital breath is cast forth to the 
 
 air of heaven. 
 Also must be dissolved the sentient life of 
 
 the spirit: 
 Also the soul must die, since both have a 
 
 common basis. 
 [580] Nor can the body survive the soul's 
 
 departing from it. 
 Soon it begins to decay with dire and offens- 
 ive odor. 
 Why, then, doubt that the soul, from the 
 
 depths of the body rising, 
 Passes away like smoke dissolved in the air 
 
 of heaven: 
 And the body, changed by decay, falls into 
 
 such ruin, 
 [585] For that deep within from their place 
 
 have been moved the foundations: 
 And that the soul passes forth through the 
 
 limbs to the outer spaces. 
 And through all the windings and ducts which 
 
 are in the body? 
 
114 THE REVELLERS 
 
 So by many considerations this you may 
 
 gather, 
 How that the soul, disparted, takes its way 
 
 through the members; 
 [590] But first it was dissolved, while yet 
 
 within the body, * 
 
 Ere, gliding forth, it outward passed to the 
 
 ether. 
 Also, even while life holds still its place 
 
 within us. 
 Often by some cause shaken, the soul appears 
 
 to pass forth. 
 Seems to be loosed from its place through- 
 out the extent of the body. 
 [595] Languishes then the face as if in the 
 
 dying moment: 
 And to the pallid body sink down the 
 
 strengthless members. 
 Then it is said that the mind has suffered 
 
 some evil, 
 Or that the soul has departed: then there is 
 
 fear and trembling: 
 All are eager to grasp the last link of life's 
 
 chain now passing. 
 [600] Yields then the strength of the soul, 
 
 the power of the mind is shaken : 
 These within the body itself are sinking to- 
 gether. 
 
THE REVELLERS 115 
 
 Only a slightly stronger cause would bring 
 
 dissolution. 
 How, then, doubt that the soul, away from 
 
 the body driven. 
 Helpless out in the open, deprived of its 
 
 wonted shelter, 
 [605] Will not only not endure through end- 
 
 - less ages. 
 Or that it will be unable to live for the brief- 
 est moment? 
 Neither does any one dying ever seem to be 
 
 conscious 
 That the soul complete goes forth out of the 
 
 body. 
 Nor does it come to the throat, and then to 
 
 the jaws above it; 
 [610] But the life fixed in a part, in that 
 
 part ceases. 
 Well we know that, each in its place, the 
 
 senses perish. 
 But if this claim were true, that our mind is 
 
 a thing immortal. 
 Not so would it complain of dissolution in 
 
 dying. 
 Rather would it rejoice to go forth and re- 
 linquish its vestment. 
 [615] Then, why are the mental powers and 
 
 the force of understanding 
 
ii6 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Born, not in the head of one, in the hands 
 
 or the feet of another. 
 But are found in definite seats and in the 
 
 same quarters, 
 If to each is not assigned a fixed place to be 
 
 bom in. 
 Where, whatever it be, each may preserve its 
 
 existence ? 
 [620] Why is it always thus, with all the 
 
 various members. 
 So that of these there may not exist a pre- 
 posterous order? 
 So does one thing follow another in orderly 
 
 manner : 
 Flame is not born of rivers, nor cold from 
 
 glowing embers. 
 And,* moreover, if by its nature mind is im- 
 mortal — 
 [625] If, apart from the body, the soul has 
 
 a sentient existence. 
 It must be granted, I think, that the soul is 
 
 endowed with five senses. 
 For in no other way are we able at all to 
 
 picture 
 Souls departed wandering on the banks of 
 
 Acheron. 
 Therefore it is that painters and writers of 
 
 former ages 
 
THE REVELLERS 117 
 
 [630] In their works introduce to us souls 
 
 endowed with senses. 
 But neither eyes nor nostrils, neither the hand 
 
 itself. 
 Separate from the soul, is able to hold exist- 
 ence : 
 Neither the tongue; nor can the ears perceive 
 
 by hearing. 
 Since we know that the vital sense is in the 
 
 whole body, 
 [635] Since we see that this whole body is 
 
 animate with it, 
 If with a swift blow suddenly some force 
 
 should strike upon it, 
 So that the blow should sever one part from 
 
 another completely, 
 Doubtless also the soul itself, at the same 
 
 time severed. 
 Being divided, along with the body will scat- 
 ter and perish. 
 [640] But what divides and separates into its 
 
 several parts, 
 Shows thereby that it lacks an ever-enduring 
 
 nature. 
 They say that scythe-bearing chariots red 
 
 with promiscuous slaughter, 
 Often have cut off limbs from the body with 
 
 stroke so sudden. 
 
ii8 THE REVELLERS 
 
 That on the ground the severed member is 
 
 seen to quiver, 
 [645] While, nevertheless, the wounded man 
 
 in mind and spirit 
 Is all unconscious of pain, because of the sud- 
 den wounding. 
 Also because the mind is absorbed by zeal for 
 
 the battle, 
 Still the rest of the body wages battle and 
 
 slaughter : 
 One recks not that his left hand with its shield 
 
 is severed, 
 [650] Mid the trampling steeds, the wheels, ' 
 
 and the hungry scythes: 
 This one, scaling the walls, knows not that his 
 
 right hand has fallen. 
 Strives a third one to rise, when his leg has 
 
 been lopped from his body, 
 While his dying foot moves its toes on the 
 
 ground beside him. 
 The severed head of another, the trunk still 
 
 warm and living, 
 [655] Still has a look of life in the face; the 
 
 eyes are open. 
 Till at length the last remains of the soul has 
 
 been yielded. 
 And if you with your sword should cut off 
 
 the tail of a serpent 
 
THE REVELLERS 119 
 
 From his long body, when he is threatening 
 
 with his swift tongue, — 
 If it should please you to cut each part into 
 
 many sections, — 
 [660] Then you may see the fragments cut 
 
 off by the recent wounding 
 Writhing and twisting about, and sprinkling 
 
 the ground with the blood ; 
 The fore part turning backward, and seeking 
 
 itself with its mouth. 
 Striving to help the torturing pain of the 
 
 wound by biting. 
 Then, shall we say that in all the parts, and 
 
 in each one separate, 
 [665] Lives a soul complete? Then this 
 
 conclusion will follow: 
 Namely, that one living thing had many souls 
 
 in its body! 
 Hence, this soul was divided, this which was 
 
 one with the body. 
 Wherefore, both of these, body and soul, 
 
 must be reckoned as mortal, 
 Since one as well as the other in many parts 
 
 is divided. 
 [670] If it be true that the mind exists a 
 
 deathless substance. 
 If it is given at birth, introduced at life's be- 
 ginning. 
 
120 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Why can we not remember somewhat of that 
 
 former living? 
 Why do we hold no trace of the deeds of the 
 
 years that have vanished-? 
 For, if the force of the soul has been so 
 
 exceedingly weakened 
 [675] That all remembrance of things gone 
 
 by has totally faded, 
 Such change as this, I think, is not far re- 
 moved from dying. 
 Wherefore, it must be confessed that the 
 
 soul which before existed, 
 Perished, and that which is now, for our 
 
 present life was created. 
 Also, if just at the moment our body has 
 
 been completed 
 [680] This life-power of the soul is then 
 
 committed to us, 
 When we are born and as we are just pass- 
 ing over life's threshold. 
 That fact would not accord with this: — that 
 
 along with the body 
 Grows the soul : along with the limbs and the 
 
 blood it increases. 
 Rather alone it should live for itself, like one 
 
 imprisoned, 
 [685] Yet so living that all the body with 
 
 sense is flooded! 
 
THE REVELLERS 121 
 
 But this IS wholly opposed to what experi- 
 ence teaches. 
 
 For the soul through bones, flesh, veins, and 
 nerves is connected. 
 
 Joined so closely that even the teeth partake 
 of feeling. 
 
 Witness their aching; the sharp, stinging pain 
 produced by cold water: 
 
 [690] The harsh grating of a pebble bitten 
 while eating. 
 
 Wherefore, — again and again, — believe that 
 souls have beginning; 
 
 Neither believe that they are exempt from 
 death's dominion. 
 
 For, we cannot believe it, that souls can be 
 so interwoven. 
 
 Introduced from without in this manner, into 
 our bodies: 
 
 [695] And when so woven together, their 
 going out from the body 
 
 Safely seems impossible: and unharmed to be 
 severed 
 
 From all the nerves and bones and joints, ac- 
 cords not with reason. 
 
 But, perchance you propose, the soul intro- 
 duced from without us. 
 
 Then may expand, extending itself through- 
 out our members: 
 
122 THE REVELLERS 
 
 [700] Yet, diffused through the body, all the 
 more it will perish. 
 
 What is diffused through the frame is dis- 
 solved, and hence dies with it. 
 
 For, dispersed through all the passages of 
 the body, — 
 
 Just as food, distributed through all the parts 
 and the members, 
 
 Changes, and out of itself it makes a different 
 nature, — 
 
 [705] Thus the mind and the soul, suppose 
 entire they enter 
 
 Into the body, yet are they changed and dis- 
 solved in diffusing. 
 
 While through tubes, as it were, unto all the 
 limbs are carried 
 
 Particles out of which is created this mind 
 and its substance 
 
 Which now, having been born, is dominant in 
 our body; — 
 
 [710] Born from that which perished when 
 through the limbs it expanded. 
 
 Therefore, the nature of mind seems not de- 
 prived of a birthday. 
 
 Nor can we think that its substance has been 
 exempted from dying. 
 
 But, does there still remain of the soul any 
 seed or portion, 
 
THE REVELLERS 123 
 
 After theibody is lifeless? For, if not wholly 
 departed, 
 
 [715I Justly enough the soul may not be 
 considered immortal, 
 
 Since it has passed away diminished by these 
 lost portions. 
 
 But if the soul when removed fled forth in 
 all parts so perfect 
 
 That it left in the body not any part of its 
 substance. 
 
 Why do dead bodies throb with worms in the 
 putrid carcas? 
 
 [720] Why do living creatures, things both 
 boneless and bloodless, 
 
 Swarm in so great multitude over the swol- 
 len body? 
 
 Perchance you hold that the source of the 
 souls of the worms is external; 
 
 And each soul is able to enter its own appro- 
 priate body: 
 
 You do not consider why souls in so many 
 thousands 
 
 [725] Congregate where only one soul came 
 out: yet this is a question 
 
 Worthy of careful inquiry and close consid- 
 eration. 
 
 Whether souls hunt out the seminal atoms of 
 maggots 
 
124 THE REVELLERS 
 
 And themselves construct for themselves such 
 bodies to dwell in; 
 
 Whether they make their way into bodies 
 made ready for them! 
 
 [730] Why these souls should make bodies, 
 and why at all they should labor. 
 
 Is a difficult problem; for, when without any 
 body, 
 
 They fly without any care for diseases or cold 
 or hunger. 
 
 For it is mostly the body that suffers such 
 direful evils: 
 
 And many other ills has the mind from con- 
 tact with it. 
 
 [735] But however useful for souls to fash- 
 ion a body 
 
 Into which to enter, they seem to be wholly 
 unable. 
 
 Therefore, souls do not make for themselves 
 limbs and bodies. 
 
 Nor can souls enter into bodies already fash- 
 ioned : 
 
 For they could not be joined with sufficient 
 exactness together: 
 
 [740] Neither could ever exist together in 
 mutual feeling. 
 
 Then, why does violence follow the sullen 
 breed of lions? 
 
THE REVELLERS 125 
 
 Whence comes craft to the fox, and flight to 
 the timid stag swift- footed ? 
 
 Why do all other traits distinctive of body 
 
 and genius 
 [745] From the first beginning of life spring 
 
 into being. 
 If not because from its own proper seed and 
 
 germinal pattern. 
 Certain trends of mind keep pace with the 
 
 body in growing? 
 For if the soul is immortal and changes from 
 
 body to body, 
 Then would animate creatures become of 
 
 mixed disposition. 
 [750] Often the dog of Hyrcanian breeding 
 
 would fly the attack 
 Of the horn-bearing stag; and the falcon, now 
 
 become timid. 
 Trembling would fly through the air of 
 
 heaven, when the dove approaches: 
 Men would lose reason, and savage brutes 
 
 would get understanding. 
 This is without good reason, which some 
 
 philosophers argue, 
 [755] That the soul immortal is changed with 
 
 the change of body. 
 
126 THE REVELLERS 
 
 For whatever is changed, is dissolved, and 
 
 therefore has perished: 
 Since the parts are transposed, and since they 
 
 depart from their order. 
 Therefore these parts of the soul are dis- 
 solved throughout our members. 
 So that they finally perish, all of them, with 
 
 the body. 
 [760] But, it is said, human souls pass only 
 
 to human bodies. 
 Nevertheless, I may ask you, why does a 
 
 soul once prudent 
 Sometimes change to folly? Why is a boy 
 
 uninstructed? 
 
 3t: 4: * He * * !|c 
 
 Why is the foal of a mare less skilled than 
 the well-trained charger? 
 
 [765] Then, they fly to this, that the mind in 
 a tender body. 
 
 Tender grows. If so, our former conclusion 
 will follow, 
 
 Namely: the mind is mortal. Changed from 
 what it has beeii, 
 
 It has certainly lost its former sense and con- 
 dition. 
 
 How can a soul to each body adjusted with 
 equal vigor 
 
THE REVELLERS 127 
 
 [[770] Possibly reach with it maturity's 
 
 longed-for completeness, 
 If in their first origin they are not joined to- 
 gether ? 
 Does the soul wish to go out from limbs by 
 
 years made feeble? 
 Does it fear to remain shut up in a perishing 
 
 body ? 
 Does it fear lest its tenement, worn with the 
 
 years and tottering, 
 [775] Tumble upon it? Things immortal 
 
 have no such dangers. 
 Also, to think that souls at the birth of beasts 
 
 stand waiting. 
 Waiting to enter a body, seems ridiculous 
 
 folly. 
 Souls, souls immortal, stand waiting for mor- 
 tal bodies! 
 Countless in numbers they strive together in 
 
 emulation, 
 [780] Which shall be foremost, which more 
 
 potent to enter! 
 Dr, perhaps these emulous souls have come 
 
 to agreement, 
 [That the soul which first comes flying, first 
 
 shall enter, 
 So that they may not clash together in strife 
 
 and contention. 
 
128 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Trees do not grow in the air, nor are clouds 
 
 in the depths of the ocean; 
 [785] Neither are fishes able to live in the 
 
 verdant meadows; 
 Nor is there blood in wood, nor in the rocks 
 
 are there juices. 
 It is fixed and ordained where each thing 
 
 shall grow and flourish : 
 So the soul comes not into being without the 
 
 body. 
 Nor can exist apart from the blood and the 
 
 nervous system. 
 [790] Ratlier then this power of the mind, if 
 
 this could happen, 
 Might be born in the head, the soles of the 
 
 feet, the shoulders. 
 Any part of the body, whereas it is always 
 
 locate 
 In a fixed part of the frame, and found in 
 
 the same place always.* 
 But since the place of the soul in the body 
 
 is fixed and determined, 
 [795] And it seems able there, and not else- 
 where, to be and to flourish. 
 All the more it must be denied that the soul 
 
 and the mind 
 *He refers to what he has said in verses 140-143, 
 about the mind being situated "in the middle region 
 of the breast." 
 
THE REVELLERS 129 
 
 !Can be born and continue its life outside of 
 
 the body. 
 Wherefore, when the body is dead, it must 
 
 be admitted, 
 Also the soul dies, torn asunder throughout 
 
 the body. 
 [800] Further: to think of joining mortal 
 
 and immortal natures. 
 So that they sympathize one with the other 
 
 in mutual action, — 
 This is absurd : for what can be more adverse 
 
 to reason, 
 What idea more disjoined and inconsistent. 
 Than that this which is mortal should join 
 
 with a nature immortal, 
 |[8o5] Deathless forever, in concert to bear 
 
 together fierce tempests? 
 But if the soul on this accovmt is reckoned 
 
 immortal, 
 i'[82o] That it is fortified safely against all 
 
 death-bearing forces; 
 Or that nothing averse to its safety ever comes 
 
 near it; 
 Or that those which come near, for some rea- 
 son turn back from it. 
 Warded before we are able to know the harm 
 
 they would do us; 
 
130 THE REVELLERS 
 
 lYet many evils touch the soul, and many 
 dangers : 
 
 [825] For, besides that with the body's dis- 
 eases it sickens, 
 
 Often trouble comes on it regarding the 
 things of the future. 
 
 With fear it is sore disquieted, while with 
 cares it grows weary: 
 
 Sins, because of offenses committed, torture 
 the conscience: 
 
 Add the peculiar fury of madness, and mem- 
 ory vacant: 
 
 Add that into the dark waves of lethargy 
 often the mind sinks. 
 
 I830] Therefore, death is nothing to us, nor 
 at all concerns us, 
 
 Since the mind in its nature is proved to be 
 mortal. 
 
 As in the time overpast we were conscious 
 ©f no disturbance. 
 
 When the Poeni hosts were gathered on all 
 sides to battle. 
 
 When all lands beneath the lofty vault of 
 heaven, 
 
 [835] Shaken by war's fearful tumult, trem- 
 bled with dread together: 
 
 When there was doubt to which of the pow- 
 ers would fall the dominion 
 
THE REVELLERS 131 
 
 Over all things human, over the land and the 
 
 ocean : 
 So, when we shall not be, when soul and 
 
 body are parted, 
 When shall be sundered these, in union of 
 
 which is our being, 
 ,[840] Nothing whatever can happen to us 
 
 who have passed from existence; 
 Nothing will ever be able to move us to pain 
 
 or pleasure. 
 Not though the land and the sea and the sky 
 
 should be mingled together. 
 Even suppose that after being withdrawn 
 
 from our body. 
 Mind and soul can both retain a conscious ex- 
 istence, 
 i[845] This will be nothing to us who owe 
 
 our mode of being 
 iTo the union and right' combination of soul 
 
 and body. 
 Neither, should time collect again our bodily 
 
 substance 
 After death, reconstruct them exactly as now 
 
 they are modeled. 
 If the light of life might again be given to us, 
 [850] Yet not at all would it interest us that 
 \ this is accomplished, 
 
133 THE REVELLERS 
 
 When once all remembrance of that other life 
 has vanished. 
 
 Nothing it is to us now what was our former 
 station, 
 
 Nor can distress affect us now for those for- 
 gotten, 
 
 For when you look backward over the former 
 ages, 
 
 [855] Over the measureless past, the move- 
 ments of atoms of matter 
 
 Are so countless that this very easily you may 
 accredit, — 
 
 Often our atoms have had the same order 
 which now they exhibit : 
 
 What we are now, the same we have been in 
 earlier ages. 
 
 But of this past we recall not any remem- 
 brance whatever. 
 
 [860] For between has been cast a pause of 
 life, and widely 
 
 All the motions have wandered, far away 
 from sense-feeling. 
 
 For he to whom the future looms up heavy 
 with trouble. 
 
 Must exist in that future in which the evil 
 may happen: 
 
 Death shuts this out, forbids that he should 
 remain in being. 
 
THE REVELLERS 133 
 
 [865] For whom the future holds ready such 
 
 heavy and hindering burdens. 
 Hence we may know that for us in death there 
 
 is naught to be dreaded: 
 That he who does not exist is not subject to 
 
 any misfortunes: 
 That we ever were born at all will concern us 
 
 but little, 
 After deathless death hg-s ended this life which 
 
 is mortal. 
 [870] Therefore when you may see some 
 
 man bemoaning his fortune, 
 That after death his buried body is going to 
 
 moulder. 
 Or, because it will perish in flames, or torn 
 
 by beasts or vultures 
 You may know he has not the true ring, but 
 
 there arises 
 Secretly in his breast a torturing doubt, a 
 
 question, 
 [875] Whether conscious existence continues 
 
 after his dying. 
 For, to me it appears, he does not make good 
 
 his profession. 
 Nor does he in his thought withdraw and 
 
 remove from life wholly. 
 But unconsciously thinks that somewhat of 
 
 self will survive him. 
 
134 THE REVELLERS 
 
 For, when such a one, yet ahve, imagines the 
 
 future, 
 [880] How that, when dead, the birds and 
 
 beasts will tear his body, 
 Pities himself, nor does he distinguish him- 
 self from this dead one. 
 Nor remove himself, in thought, from his own 
 
 dead body; 
 Standing near, he attributes to it his own 
 
 morbid feeling. 
 Hence it causes regret, that he was created 
 
 mortal, 
 [885] Nor does he see that in death there 
 
 will not be his own proper person 
 Who, alive, may be able to mourn for his own 
 
 self departed. 
 By the prostrate self standing, to grieve for 
 
 its tearing or burning. 
 If it is evil in death by the jaws of wild 
 
 beasts to be mangled, 
 I do not see that the prospect can be other 
 
 than bitter, 
 [890] Laid on a funereal pyre, to bum in the 
 
 fire and hot flames : 
 Placed in honey to smother: to stiffen with 
 
 rigorous hoar-frost. 
 Lying reclined on the level surface of some 
 
 rocky chamber: 
 
THE REVELLERS 135 
 
 Or to be pressed down by a weight of earth 
 
 heaped on us. 
 "Now," men say, "your joyous home shall 
 
 no more receive you: 
 [895] Wife and children no more will haste 
 
 to greet you with kisses, 
 Never again will touch your breast with quiet 
 
 gladness : 
 Nor wilt thou be able to lead in the world's 
 
 busy strivings. 
 Helping thy friends. O wretched one, wretch- 
 edly hath this sad day 
 Taken from thee all the prizes of life"; but 
 
 notice, 
 [900] This, in these reflections, they add not: 
 
 "Nor now, moreover. 
 Does regret for these lost joys remain to 
 
 grieve you." 
 Which if men clearly would see, and in their 
 
 words steadfastly follow, 
 Then would they find relief from much of 
 
 fear and anguish. 
 "Thou, asleep in the sleep of death, shalt 
 
 rest forever, 
 [905] Rescued, , safely from all life's bitter 
 
 pains and sorrows: 
 But we, standing near thee, as on the dread 
 
 pyre thou liest. 
 
136 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Turned to ashes, shall weep with unappeasable 
 
 weeping : 
 Neither shall any day from our breast take 
 
 endless sorrow." 
 But of this mourning one we fain would ask 
 
 this question: 
 [910] "Why is death so sad, if it means but 
 
 sleep and quiet? 
 Why, then, should anyone waste away in eter- 
 nal grieving?" 
 This also men do when at a feast they have 
 
 taken their places; 
 They hold the bowl in their hands, and crown 
 
 their faces with chaplets, 
 Saying sincerely: "Brief is joy to us puny 
 
 mortals. 
 [915] Soon it will pass away, and we never- 
 more can recall it." 
 As if after death this evil were most to be 
 
 dreaded. 
 That a consuming thirst should parch and 
 
 burn up the wretches; 
 Or that desire for some other thing should 
 
 settle upon them. 
 Yet no one feels concern for himself nor for 
 
 his welfare, 
 [920] When both body and mind are at rest 
 
 in quiet slumber. 
 
THE REVELLERS 137 
 
 But, for our part, this might as well be sleep 
 
 eternal : 
 Neither does any desire or care for ourselves 
 
 affect us. 
 Nevertheless, while sleeping, the atoms 
 
 throughout our members 
 Do not wander far away from sensible mo- 
 tions, 
 [925] Since the sleeper, suddenly wakened, 
 
 regains his senses. 
 Therefore, death must be counted something 
 
 less than sleeping, 
 If aught can be less than that which is plainly 
 
 nothing. 
 For in death a greater dispersion of atoms 
 
 follows ; 
 Nor does anyone ever awake from death's 
 
 deep slumber, 
 [930] Whom this chilly pause of life has 
 
 once overtaken. 
 Then, suppose that Nature should suddenly 
 
 break her silence, 
 Justly upbraiding some one of us for our com- 
 plainings : — 
 "Why, O mortal, dost thou indulge in grief 
 
 so heavy? 
 Why in prospect of death dost thou bitterly 
 
 weep and murmur? 
 
138 THE REVELLERS 
 
 [935] If to th^ t^^t former life overpast 
 
 was pleasant; 
 If all good did not vanish as from a broken 
 
 vessel ; 
 Passing on and leaving no sense of pleasure 
 
 remaining : 
 Why dost thou not like a banqueter rise from 
 
 life's table, 
 And with a tranquil mind, O fool, depart to 
 
 death's quiet? 
 [940] And if what thou hast used have been 
 
 but loss and wasting, ^ 
 And if life is offensive, why seek to add to it 
 
 further 
 What again will evilly perish and leave thy 
 
 soul hungry? 
 Why not rather at once make an end of life 
 
 and of labor? 
 Nothing better for thee can I construct or 
 
 discover, 
 [945] That may please thee: all things re- 
 main the same forever. 
 If thy body has not been wasted by years, and 
 
 thy members. 
 Strong, do not languish, still all things con- 
 tinue as ever. 
 Even shouldst thou go on to conquer all ages 
 
 in living. 
 
THE REVELLERS 139 
 
 Only the more wouldst thou see this, if thou 
 shouldst live forever." 
 
 [950] What response shall we make save 
 this, that the charge is a just one. 
 
 And that nature sets forth in her words a 
 true contention? 
 But if some one complains, one greater than 
 others and older, 
 
 And bemoans his departure, wretched beyond 
 what is equal. 
 
 Why may not Nature justly reprove and re- 
 proach with harsh answer: 
 
 [955] "Hence, O wretch with thy tears: for- 
 bear thy fretful complainings! 
 
 After enjoying all life's benefits, now thou art 
 wasting. 
 
 But because of thy lust for the absent, de- 
 spising the present. 
 
 Life imperfect has glided away to thee, thank- 
 less and useless. 
 
 Death has taken his stand at thy head, to thee 
 unwelcome, 
 
 [960] Ere thou, satisfied, full of affairs, 
 canst take thy departure. 
 
 Yield now all things not becoming thy age 
 and condition: 
 
 Go thy way with an equal mind: for so it 
 must be." 
 
140 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Rightly she speaks, I think; reproves and 
 
 reproaches justly. 
 Ever the old must yield, thrust out by the 
 
 things that are newer: 
 [965] And it needs be that one thing must be 
 
 repaired from another. 
 Nor is anyone unto the gulf or unto dark 
 
 Tartarus given: 
 Thy substance is needed that later ages may 
 
 come into being. 
 All these in turn will follow thee, after life 
 
 is completed : 
 So all before thee have fallen: so will fall 
 
 all that come after. 
 [970] Thus shall one thing never cease to 
 
 spring from another : 
 Life is given to all men to use, but not for 
 
 possession. 
 Think how as nothing to us is the vast pro- 
 cession of ages. 
 Of the time eternal, which vanished before we 
 
 had being: 
 This is the truthfid mirror which Nature holds 
 
 up before us, 
 [975] Mirror of the future which lies beyond 
 
 our dying. 
 What is there here to affright us, to burden 
 
 our mind with sadness? 
 
THE REVELLERS 141 
 
 Does it not stand forth more peaceful than 
 nights of dreamless slumber? 
 And those ills, whatever they may be, said 
 to be suffered 
 
 In deep Acheron, these belong to us here in 
 the present. 
 
 [980] Wretched Tantalus fears not the 
 mighty rock impending, 
 
 As is the story, torpid with unavailing terror. 
 
 Rather in this life fear of the gods oppresses 
 mortals, 
 
 And they fear the fortune which chance may 
 bring to each one. 
 Nor do vultures rend Tityon lying stretched 
 out in Acheron. 
 
 [985] No matter how they might search un- 
 der his mighty bosom. 
 
 Nor find anything, though they search for 
 infinite ages. 
 
 Of however vast extent he may be of body : 
 
 Though with limbs outspread it may cover not 
 merely nine acres. 
 
 But though over the orb of the world it may 
 be extended. 
 
 [990] Nor could he possibly bear this ever- 
 enduring torture. 
 
 Endlessly furnishing food for the vultures 
 from his own body. 
 
I4a THE REVELLERS 
 
 This one to us is Tityus, whom, by love laid 
 
 prostrate, 
 Vultures tear and anxious disquietude eats and 
 
 tortures. 
 Or is distracted with any unworthy passion 
 
 whatever. 
 Sisyphus lives before our very eyes in that 
 
 one 
 Who is athirst to obtain from the populace 
 
 fasces and axes. 
 But retires from the race defeated and disap- 
 pointed. 
 For to seek for power, empty and never 
 
 granted, 
 
 And in this pursuit to undergo hard labor; ^ 
 
 [looo] This is to push the stone up the side, 
 
 of the adverse mountain, 
 
 1 
 Which yet again from the hard- won summit] 
 
 downward comes rolling. 
 
 Plunging with headlong rush to the level of 
 the valley. 
 To be always feeding a mind by nature un- 
 grateful, 
 
 Fill to the full with good things, and yet to 
 satisfy never, — 
 
 [1005] Which the seasons do for us when 
 in their course returning. 
 
THE REVELLERS 143 
 
 Bringing with them their fruits and all their 
 
 various pleasures; 
 Yet, none the less, we are never filled with 
 
 the gifts of their bounty: — 
 iThis, I think, is what they relate, that fair 
 
 young damsels. 
 Pour out water into a vessel that has been 
 
 punctured, 
 [loio] Which yet cannot by any means ever 
 
 be filled to fulness. 
 
 Cerberus and the Furies and hungering 
 
 after light, 
 ******* 
 
 Tartarus belching out from his wide jaws hor- 
 rible boilings, 
 Never were, and never possibly could have 
 
 existed. 
 [1015] But in life there is fear, because of 
 
 crime and offenses: 
 Prison, and horrible casting down from the 
 
 precipice headlong. 
 Blows, executioners, wood, pitch, branding, 
 
 and painful tortures: 
 And, although these are absent, the mind of 
 
 its guiltiness conscious, 
 Fearing beforehand, goads itself, tortures 
 
 itself and scourges: 
 
144 THE REVELLERS 
 
 [1020] Nor in the meantime discovers any 
 
 end of its evils, 
 Nor sees what termination may come to the 
 
 penalty suffered. 
 Rather it fears that these in death may be- 
 come more grievous. 
 Verily this is the Acherusian life of the 
 
 foolish. 
 This reflection you may also consider with 
 
 profit : — 
 [1025] Angxis deserted the light of life with 
 
 his eyes, a good man; 
 Better was he than thou, in many respects, O 
 
 worthless. 
 Also many others, kings and mighty rulers, 
 Died, who wielded wide dominion over the 
 
 nations. 
 Even he himself who once paved a road 
 
 through the waters, 
 [1030] Who provided a passage over the deep 
 
 for his legions, 
 Taught them how with their feet to conquer 
 
 the brackish marshes, 
 Mocked at the ocean's murmurs, insulting 
 
 with his horses. 
 Reft of the light, poured out his soul from 
 
 his dying body. 
 
THE REVELLERS 145 
 
 Scipio, war's fierce thunderbolt, the terror 
 
 of Carthage, 
 [1035] Gave to the earth his bones, as if he 
 
 had been a servant. 
 Add to these the inventors of sciences, and 
 
 the graces: 
 Add the favored friends of the Muses, of 
 
 whom first Homer, 
 Holding the sceptre, went to the same quiet 
 
 sleep with the others. 
 Democritus also, after mature old age gave 
 
 warning, 
 [1040] Memory failing, that his powers of 
 
 mind were shaken. 
 Himself, of his own accord, offered his head 
 
 to death. 
 Epicurus died, his life having run through 
 
 the course appointed, 
 He who excelled the human race in gifts of 
 
 genius. 
 Obscuring all, as the sun obscures the stars 
 
 when risen. 
 [1045] Wilt thou then hesitate, wilt thou 
 
 backward shrink from dying? 
 While you live and see, your life is dead with- 
 in you. 
 You who wear out the greater part of your 
 . life in sleeping; 
 
146 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Even while wakingf you snore, and you do not 
 
 cease to see visions : 
 Bearing a mind that is always distracted by 
 
 empty terror. 
 [1050] Often you cannot discover what evil 
 
 it is which affects you, 
 Weighed down with many cares about you, 
 
 drunk and wretched: 
 And you blindly wander in the dim mazes of 
 
 error. 
 Could men really feel, as indeed they seem 
 
 to be conscious, 
 (That on the mind is a weight, which wearies 
 
 them with its burden, 
 [1055] Could they but know its source, and 
 
 know its manifold causes. 
 Why such a mass of evil springs up in our 
 
 own inner nature. 
 They would not live as now for the most part 
 
 we see them living. 
 They know not what they want, and always 
 
 are seeking for something. 
 Always changing place, as if this would free 
 
 them from burdens. 
 [1060] Often one goes forth abroad, goes out 
 
 from his stately mansions. 
 Who has grown weary of home: but quickly 
 
 we see him returning, 
 
THE REVELLERS 147 
 
 ^Because, by being abroad, he finds himself 
 
 nothing the better. 
 With headlong haste he drives to his villa, 
 
 urging his horses, 
 As if eagerly bringing aid to burning houses: 
 [1065] Then he yawns, before he has scarce- 
 ly crossed his own threshold ! 
 Sinks he down into deep slumber, and seeks 
 
 to forget his troubles: 
 Or, still hastening, takes his way back and 
 
 revisits the city. 
 Thus each one flies from himself, — whom 
 
 he cannot escape, as it happens. 
 Clinging to him, though unwelcome, himself 
 
 whom he holds in aversion, — 
 [1070] Since this sick man does not know 
 
 the cause of his sickness: 
 Which if only he knew, he would turn from 
 
 all other studies. 
 First of all, he would strive to perceive the 
 
 NATURE OF THINGS, 
 
 Since in this is concerned the status of time 
 
 eternal. 
 Not of an hour: the state in which the age 
 
 of mortals, 
 [1075] Whatever after death that age may 
 
 be, will continue. 
 
148 THE REVELLERS 
 
 Why should so great and harmful a love 
 of life compel us 
 
 Mid such dubious perils to bear a lot un- 
 certain ? 
 
 Life's certain ending, fixed and sure, awaits 
 us mortals: 
 
 Nor can death be evaded, but that we all must 
 meet it. 
 
 [1080] Yes, we are all hedged about in the 
 same round of occupation : 
 
 Nor by prolonging our years is any new pleas- 
 ure discovered. 
 
 What we desire, when absent, seems of su- 
 perlative value: 
 
 Afterward, when we possess it, we covet some 
 other object. 
 
 Always a thirst of life holds us ever eagerly 
 longing: 
 
 [1085] While what fate the last age may 
 bring us is left uncertain, — 
 
 Doubtful what chance may befall, and what 
 manner of death awaits us. 
 
 Neither can we by clinging to life recover a 
 moment 
 
 From the long time of death, nor anywise 
 make it briefer. 
 
 So that a shorter time we may lie under 
 death's dominion. ., 
 
THE REVELLERS 149 
 
 [1090] However many ages you may spend 
 
 in living, 
 Death eternal, diminished in naught, will still 
 
 await you : 
 Neither will that long time of life's full pause 
 
 be shorter 
 For him who reaches life's border line with 
 
 this day's closing 
 Than for the man who in death many months 
 
 and years has rested. 
 
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Sam S. & Lee Shubert 
 
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 attractions in America : 
 
 Hippodrome, Lyric, Casino, 
 Dalys, Le-w Fields, Herald 
 Square and Princess Thea- 
 tres, New York. 
 
 Garrick Theatre, Chicago. 
 
 Lyric Theatre, Philadelphia. 
 
 Shnbert Theatre, Brooklyn. 
 
 Belaaco Theatre, Washing- 
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 Shubert Theatre, Utica. 
 
 Grand Opera House, Syra- 
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 Opera Houee, Providence. 
 
 Worcester Theatre, Worces- 
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 Hyperion Theatre, New 
 Haven. 
 
 Lyceum Theatre, Buffalo. 
 
 Colonial Theatre, Cleveland. 
 
 Rand's Opera House, Troy. 
 
 Garrick Theatre, St. Louis. 
 
 Sam S. Shubert Theatre, 
 Norfolk, Va. 
 
 Shubert Theatre, Columbus. 
 
 Lyric, Cincinnati. 
 
 Mary Anderson Theatre, 
 Louisville. 
 
 New Theatre, Richmond, 
 Va. 
 
 New Theatre, Lexington, Ky. 
 
 New Theatre, Mobile. 
 
 New Theatre, Atlanta. 
 
 Shubert Theatre, Milwau- 
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 Lyric Theatre, New Orleans. 
 
 New Marlowe Theatre, 
 Chattanooga. 
 
 New Theatre, Detroit. 
 
 Grand Opera House, Dav- 
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 New Theatre, Toronto.; 
 
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 Sam S. Shubert Theatre, 
 Kansas City. 
 
 Majestic Theatre, Los An- 
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 Belasco Theatre, Portland. 
 
 Shubert Theatre, Seattle. 
 
 Majestic Theatre, San Fran- 
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 £. H. Sothern & Julia Mar- 
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Margaret Anglin and Henry 
 Miller. 
 
 Virginia Hamed. 
 
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 Mme. Alia Nazimova. 
 
 Tho8. W. Ross in "The 
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 Cecelia Loftus. 
 
 Clara Bloodgood. 
 
 Blanche Ring. 
 
 Alexander Carr. 
 
 Digby Bell. 
 
 "The Girl Behind the 
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 " The Rose of the Rancho," 
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 •Shore Acres." 
 
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 "The Secret Orchard," by 
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 De Wolf Hopper in " Hap- i 
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 id." ^ 
 
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 Marguerite Clark, in a new 
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 James T. Powers in "The 
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 Bertha Ralich. 
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 "The Man on the Box." 
 
 Cyril Scott in " The Prince 
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 " Mrs. Temple's Telegram." 
 
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