I will tell of Dionysus, the son of glorious Semele, how
he appeared on a jutting headland by the shore of the fruitless sea,
seeming like a stripling in the first flush of manhood: his rich, dark
hair was waving about him, and on his strong shoulders he wore a purple
robe. Presently there came swiftly over the sparkling sea Tyrsenian
pirates on a well-decked ship--a miserable doom led them on. When
they saw him they made signs to one another and sprang out quickly, and
seizing him straightway, put him on board their ship exultingly; for
they thought him the son of heaven-nurtured kings. They sought to bind
him with rude bonds, but the bonds would not hold him, and the withes
fell far away from his hands and feet: and he sat with a smile in his
dark eyes. Then the helmsman understood all and cried out at once to his
fellows and said:
'Madmen! What god is this whom you have taken and bind,
strong that he is? Not even the well-built ship can carry him. Surely
this is either Zeus or Apollo who has the silver bow, or Poseidon, for
he looks not like mortal men but like the gods who dwell on Olympus.
Come, then, let us set him free upon the dark shore at once: do not lay
hands on him, lest he grow angry and stir up dangerous winds and heavy
squalls.'
So said he: but the master chid him with taunting words:
'Madman, mark the wind and help hoist sail on the ship: catch all the
sheets. As for this fellow we men will see to him: I reckon he is bound
for Egypt or for Cyprus or to the Hyperboreans or further still. But in
the end he will speak out and tell us his friends and all his wealth and
his brothers, now that providence has thrown him in our way.'
When he had said this, he had mast and sail hoisted on the
ship, and the wind filled the sail and the crew hauled taut the sheets
on either side. But soon strange things were seen among them. First of
all sweet, fragrant wine ran streaming throughout all the black ship
and a heavenly smell arose, so that all the seamen were seized with
amazement when they saw it. And all at once a vine spread out both ways
along the top of the sail with many clusters hanging down from it, and a
dark ivy-plant twined about the mast, blossoming with flowers, and with
rich berries growing on it; and all the thole-pins were covered with
garlands. When the pirates saw all this, then at last they bade the
helmsman to put the ship to land. But the god changed into a dreadful
lion there on the ship, in the bows, and roared loudly: amidships also
he showed his wonders and created a shaggy bear which stood up ravening,
while on the forepeak was the lion glaring fiercely with scowling brows.
And so the sailors fled into the stern and crowded bemused about the
right-minded helmsman, until suddenly the lion sprang upon the master
and seized him; and when the sailors saw it they leapt out overboard one
and all into the bright sea, escaping from a miserable fate, and were
changed into dolphins. But on the helmsman Dionysus had mercy and held
him back and made him altogether happy, saying to him:
'Take courage, good...; you have found favour with my heart.
I am loud-crying Dionysus whom Cadmus' daughter Semele bare of union
with Zeus.'
Hail, child of fair-faced Semele! He who forgets you can in
no wise order sweet song.
Back to: The Homeric Hymns