Minos
[. . .] She alone dared this crime
Chorus
My Lord, you must think:
how can you hide it,
cover up these horrors
Pasiphaë
There is nothing to gain now by deceiving you;
what has happened is already too well known. But consider:
If I had sold the gifts of Kypris,
given my body in secret to some man,
you would have every right to condemn me
as a whore. But this was no act of the will;
I am suffering from some madness brought on
by a god.
It’s not plausible!
What could I have seen in a bull
to assault my heart with this shameful passion?
Did he look too handsome in his robe?
Did a sea of fire smoulder in his eyes?
Was it the red tint of his hair, his dark beard?
His body, so [different] from my husband’s? [. . .]
Are these the things that drew me to lie
in his bed, in my cowskin [. . .]?
I did not imagine that my lover
could give me children [. . .]
What diseased my mind?
Minos’ god afflicted me,
and Minos is more [guilty in this affair than I am.]
He prayed to his god of the sea, and swore
to sacrifice that portentous bull
and then he spared it from the slaughter.
[to Minos]
No wonder Poseidon sought you out:
to punish you through this sick passion
in my heart.
And you would testify before the gods,
when your misdeeds have led to my disgrace.
As the innocent mother of this monster,
I tried to conceal the god’s assault;
but in your cruelty you put
your wife’s humiliation on display,
as if you’d have no share in it.
It is your fault, and my sickness,
my destruction, the result of your sin.
If you intend me to be killed at sea,
kill me now: you are an expert
in human sacrifice and acts of blood.
Do you crave the taste of my flesh?
Then prepare the feast, you cannibal!
Though I am free from all wrongdoing,
let my death pay your penances.
Chorus
Surely this was brought about by the gods;
[do not indulge] your anger, my lord.
Minos
Is she muzzled yet? She bellows [. . .]
Come, [. . . weapons . . .]
Seize that thing — let her die miserably [. . . ]
Bring her accomplice as well — take them both
into the palace, cage them in the cells below
where they’ll never see the light of day again.
Chorus
My lord, please reconsider this judgment;
mercilessness is never admirable.
Minos
My justice is resolved and cannot be postponed.
[...]
Leader of the Chorus
Lord of Europa’s Tyrian line,
Zeus-born, who boldest at thy feet
The hundred citadels of Crete,
I seek to thee from that dim shrine,
Hoofed by the quick and carven beam,
By Chalyb steel and wild bull’s blood
In flawless joints of cypress wood
Made steadfast. There in one pure stream
My days have run, the servant I,
Initiate, of Idaean Jove;
Where midnight Zagreus roves, I rove;
I have endured his thunder-cry:
Fulfilled his red and bleeding feasts;
Held the Great Mother’s mountain flame;
I am set free and named by name
A Bacchos of the Mailed Priests.
Robed in pure white I have borne me clean
From man’s vile birth and coffined clay,
And exiled from my lips alway
Touch of all flesh full of soul.
Minos
To you ruling over all I bring a mixed offering, whether you are
pleased to be called Zeus or Hades; accept from me a sacrifice
without fire, poured forth, full of all sorts of fruit.
Tagged: dionysos, poseidon, zeus
