Coming to Thebes

Welcome to my ongoing translation of Euripides' Bacchae.

I've started this blog as the external face of a new project, which, like any project of mine, has a bit of a story behind it. Some years ago, I was in a relatively grueling Greek class at my undergrad university in which my overworked self (and two other dear friends and compatriots) translated the entirety of the Bacchae, as well as portions of the Hippolytus, into a very rough English version. Part of the course, which was quickly abandoned when our attention as well as our working hours were expended elsewhere, was to blog our translations and comment upon each others' in order to arrive at some polished final product.

Now, in 2010, I'm attempting to realize some portion of that initial intent and create a version of the Bacchae- not one intended for publication, because I lack the time and perhaps the ingenuity - which is definitely mine and both more accurate and more incisive than my original, crude transcription. After all, this is a work which affected me in my own later thoughts about human nature and divining meaning out of existence, so it deserves a good deal of care. I also, if it strikes me, might give additional musings about Greek literature, tragedy specifically, and the social context of the play, as well as reviews of some scholarly literature about the play.

My goal (which is perhaps unrealistic), is to finish this undertaking by the end of my university's Winter Break - Sunday, January 3rd. If that does not result, then perhaps in the unspecified future.

Also, I may not always proceed in direct order through the play's 1392 lines - some of the choral odes, especially, cut too deep and will perhaps be the targets of my first concentration. This first post will be updated with what portions of the play have been completed:

1-63
63-169
170-214
215-369
370-518
519-616
617-676
677-774
775-861
862-976
977-1042
1043-1152
1153-1215
1216-1329
1330-1392

So to start with, I'll leave you with one of my favorite passages, lines 902-911, the ending portion of the fourth choral interlude, before Pentheus is sent to his demise:

Happy is he who has escaped a storm upon the sea,
and reached a harbor;
happy is he who has overcome his labors:
each man outdoes another man in another way
in terms of wealth and power.
Millions upon millions are the hopes of man:
some end in happiness for mortals, and others pass away
but he who lives in happiness every day of his life,
I consider that man blessed.

-Mik