Laudator Temporis Acti

Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 986-1000 (tr. Jeffrey Henderson):

This way, Lord Bacchus crowned with ivy,
do personally be our leader:
and with revels I will hymn you,
who love the dance!
Euius, you Noisemaker,
son of Zeus and Semele,
who enjoy the dances
of Nymphs at their charming songs
as you ramble over the mountains—
Euius, Euius, euoi!—
striking up the dances all night long;
and all around you their cries
echo on Cithaeron,
and the mountains shady
with dark leaves and the rocky
valleys reverberate.
And all around you ivy tendrils
twine in lovely bloom.

ἡγοῦ δέ γ᾽ ὧδ᾽ αὐτὸς σὺ
κισσοφόρε Βάκχειε
δέσποτ᾽· ἐγὼ δὲ κώμοις
σὲ φιλοχόροισι μέλψω.
Εὔιε, ὦ Διὸς σὺ        990
Βρόμιε, καὶ Σεμέλας παῖ,
χοροῖς τερπόμενος
κατ᾽ ὄρεα Νυμ-
φᾶν ἐρατοῖς ἐν ὕμνοις,
ὦ Εὔι᾿ Εὔι᾿, εὐοῖ,
<παννύχιος> ἀναχορεύων.
ἀμφὶ δὲ σοὶ κτυπεῖται        995
Κιθαιρώνιος ἠχώ,
μελάμφυλλά τ᾽ ὄρη
δάσκια πετρώ-
δεις τε νάπαι βρέμονται·
κύκλῳ δὲ περὶ σε κισσὸς
εὐπέταλος ἕλικι θάλλει.        1000

990 Εὔιε, ὦ Διὸς σὺ Enger: εὔιον ὦ Διόνυσε R
994 ὦ Εὔι᾿ Εὔι᾿ Hermann: εὔιον εὔιον R
παννύχιος suppl. Coulon: ἡδόμενος Austin
995 σοὶ Divus: συὶ R
998 τε νάπαι hic Enger: καὶ νάπαι ante πετρώδεις R
999 σε Blaydes: σὲ R

The text is a mess, but the beauty shines through. See:

• L.P.E. Parker, The Songs of Aristophanes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 434-437
• Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae. Edited with Introduction and Commentary by Colin Austin and S. Douglas Olson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 305-308
• N.G. Wilson, Aristophanea: Studies on the Text of Aristophanes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 159-160
• Anton Bierl, Ritual and Performativity: The Chorus in Old Comedy, tr. Alexander Hollmann (Washington: Center for Hellenic Studies, 2009 = Hellenic Studies Series, 20), chapter 1 (The Comic Chorus in the Thesmophoriazusae of Aristophanes), passage on "Second, Hymnodic Section (Thesmophoriazusae 969–1000)—Danced Praise of the Gods," page numbers unknown