ecce cruentati redeunt et, Bacchus ubi esset,
quaerenti domino Bacchum vidisse negarunt;
‘hunc’ dixere ‘tamen comitem famulumque sacrorum
cepimus’ et tradunt manibus post terga ligatis 575
sacra dei quendam Tyrrhena gente secutum.
adspicit hunc Pentheus oculis, quos ira tremendos
fecerat, et quamquam poenae vix tempora differt,
‘o periture tuaque aliis documenta dature
morte’, ait, ‘ede tuum nomen nomenque parentum 580
et patriam, morisque novi cur sacra frequentes!’
Study Questions
- Identify and explain the tense and mood of esset (572).
- Parse quaerenti (573).
- Parse negarunt (573). What construction does it introduce?
- Parse dixere (574).
- What is the accusative object of tradunt (575)? And what is the accusative object of the participle secutum (576)?
- What construction is manibus post terga legatis?
- What kind of ablative is Tyrrhena gente (576)?
- What does the et between fecerat and quamquam link (578)?
- Parse periture and dature (579).
- Scan lines 579–80. What noun does the attribute tua modify?
- Parse parentum (580).
- What does the -que after moris link?
- Identify and explain the mood of frequentes (581).
Stylistic Appreciation
Discuss the dramatic force of the geminations Bacchus (573) ~ Bacchum (574) and tuum nomen nomenque parentum (580), and of the polyptoton sacrorum (574), sacra dei (576), sacra (581).
Discussion Points
Comment on how Ovid handles the theme of sight in these lines. You may wish to focus on lexical items to do with seeing (ecce, vidisse, adspicit, oculis) and words that evoke graphic images (cruentati, tremendos). Who sees what?
| ecce (interjection) |
See! Behold! Look! Lo and behold! |
| cruento, -are, -avi, -atus |
to stain with blood; to pollute with blood-guiltiness |
| comes, -itis, m. (f.) |
companion |
| ligo, -are, -avi, -atum |
to fasten, bind, attach |
| quidam, quaedam, quiddam |
a certain (unspecified) person, someone |
| Tyrrhenus, -a, -um |
Tuscan, Etruscan |
| gens, -tis, f. |
race, nation, people; a (Roman) clan |
| tremendus, -a, -um |
such as to cause dread, awe-inspiring |
| differo, -rre, distuli, dilatum |
to scatter; to postpone, defer, put off |
| documentum, -i, n. |
an example (serving as a precedent, warning, instruction) |
| edo, -ere, -idi, -itum |
to emit; bring forth; utter; declare
to make known in words, disclose, tell |
| mos, moris, m |
established practice, custom |
| frequento, -are, -avi, -atum |
to populate, make crowded
to visit or attend (a person) constantly
to celebrate, observe |
