Opening Dionysiaca — Nonnus in Plato Scroll…
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Nonnus · Claude AI
Tell, goddess, of the son of Cronus' messenger of blazing radiance, the birth-pang breath of the thunderbolt, with its bridal spark, and the lightning that served Semele's bridal chamber; tell also the birth of twice-born Bacchus, whom, still moist, he lifted from the fire, Zeus lifting the half-finished infant from a mother delivered without a midwife, and with careful hands cutting open the flesh of his thigh, he brought him to birth from a male womb, both father and lady mother, well acquainted with another birth, since from his generative head, bearing an unbelievable seedless swelling in his pregnant brow, he shot forth Athena flashing in her armor. Bring me the fennel-stalk; clash the cymbals, Muses, and place in my hand the thyrsus of Dionysus whom I sing. But from beside neighboring Pharos, touching the dance, set many-turning Proteus before me, so that he may appear wearing a …
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