Bacchante with an ape

A friend of mine brought me this as a postcard and says it looks like me, having almost as much fun as I do at a party…

Bacchante with an ape Hendrick Ter Brugghen

When sweet sacred pipes
play out their rhythmic holy song,
in time to the dancing wanderers,
then to the mountains,
on, on to the mountains.”
Then the bacchanalian woman
is filled with total joy—
like a foal in pasture
right beside her mother—
her swift feet skip in playful dance.

Euripedes, The Bacchae

Oh, yes, I’ve been a bacchante at times.

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