Saturday, October 20, 2018

 

The Religion of Peace

Euripides, Bacchae 417-433 (on Dionysus; tr. David Kovacs):
The god, Zeus's son,
rejoices in the feast,
he loves wealth-giving
Peace, the goddess who rears boys to manhood.
Equally both to the rich
and to the lowly he has given
the painless joy of wine.
He hates the man who does not make this his aim,
by day and through the sweetness of night
to live a life of bliss,
and to keep his heart and his thoughts wise,
far from men of excess.
What the simple folk believe and practice
that shall I accept.

ὁ δαίμων ὁ Διὸς παῖς
χαίρει μὲν θαλίαισιν,
φιλεῖ δ᾿ ὀλβοδότειραν Εἰρήναν,
κουροτρόφον θεάν.        420
ἴσαν δ᾿ ἔς τε τὸν ὄλβιον
τόν τε χείρονα δῶκ᾿ ἔχειν
οἴνου τέρψιν ἄλυπον·
μισεῖ δ᾿ ᾧ μὴ ταῦτα μέλει,
κατὰ φάος νύκτας τε φίλας        425
εὐαίωνα διαζῆν,
σοφὰν δ᾿ ἀπέχειν πραπίδα φρένα τε
περισσῶν παρὰ φωτῶν·
τὸ πλῆθος ὅ τι τὸ φαυλότερον ἐνόμισε χρῆ-        430
ταί τε, τόδ᾿ ἂν δεχοίμαν.
Diodorus Siculus 3.64.7 (on Dionysus; tr. C.H. Oldfather):
He also instructed all men who were pious and cultivated a life of justice in the knowledge of his rites and initiated them into his mysteries, and, furthermore, in every place he held great festive assemblages and celebrated musical contests; and, in a word, he composed the quarrels between the nations and cities and created concord and deep peace where there had existed civil strifes and wars.

καταδεῖξαι δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὰς τελετὰς καὶ μεταδοῦναι τῶν μυστηρίων τοῖς εὐσεβέσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ δίκαιον βίον ἀσκοῦσι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις πανταχοῦ πανηγύρεις ἄγειν καὶ μουσικοὺς ἀγῶνας συντελεῖν, καὶ τὸ σύνολον συλλύοντα τὰ νείκη τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων ἀντὶ τῶν στάσεων καὶ τῶν πολέμων ὁμόνοιαν καὶ πολλὴν εἰρήνην κατασκευάζειν.
Roman copy of Cephisodotus' statue of Peace holding the infant Wealth (Munich, Glyptothek 219):




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