by Euripides
New York Lottery
on the Fourth of July:
Mid-day 678
Evening 506
interpreted as references to a
current Lincoln Center play —
The Bacchae, by Euripides.
Line 678 of The Bacchae —
From a Brandeis class’s translation (2006):
Messenger:
[677] Our feeding herds of cattle were just climbing
[678] above the treeline when the sun
[679] sent forth its rays to warm the earth.
Related review by Charles Isherwood in today’s New York Times:
“A god deserves a great entrance. And Dionysus, the god of wine and party boy of Mount Olympus, whose celebratory rituals got the whole drama thing rolling in the first place, surely merits a spectacular one….”
Line 506 of The Bacchae —
From a 1988 translation (pdf) by Matthew A. Neuburg—
Dionysus:
[506] You don’t know what you’re saying, what you’re doing, who you are.
Translator’s note:
506 The state of this line in the MSS has driven editors to despair; in particular, the first of the things Pentheus is said not to know is, in Greek, “what you are living,” which seems doubtful Greek. Many emendations have been proposed; I accept here DODDS’s emendation, but I have a feeling we’re missing something.