AGAVE
Father, I shall be parted from thee and exiled.
CADMUS
Alas! my child, why fling thy arms around me, as a snowy cygnet folds its wings about the frail old swan?
AGAVE
Whither can I turn, an exile from my country?
CADMUS
I know not, my daughter; small help is thy father now.
AGAVE
Farewell, my home! farewell, my native city! with sorrow I am leaving thee, an exile from my bridal bower.
CADMUS
Go, daughter, to the house of Aristaeus,[*]
[* Another large lacuna follows.]
AGAVE
Father, I mourn for thee.
CADMUS
And I for thee, my child; for thy sisters too I shed a tear.
AGAVE
Ah! terribly was king Dionysus bringing this outrage on thy house.
CADMUS
Yea, for he suffered insults dire from you, his name receiving no meed of honour in Thebes.
AGAVE
Farewell, father mine!
CADMUS
Farewell, my hapless daughter and yet thou scarce canst reach that bourn.
AGAVE
Oh! lead me, guide me to the place where I shall find my sisters, sharers in my exile to their sorrow! Oh! to reach a spot where cursed Cithaeron ne'er shall see me more nor I Cithaeron with mine eyes; where no memorial of the thyrsus is set up! Be they to other Bacchantes dear!
CHORUS
Many are the forms the heavenly will assumes, and many a thing the gods fulfil contrary to all hope; that which was expected is not brought to pass, while for the unlooked-for Heaven finds out a way.
E'en such hath been the issue here.
Exeunt OMNES.
THE END
.