Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 36.96–197: Book 36: Hermes ends the gods' quarrel; the armies close

Then Zeus of the underworld rumbled hearing the noise of the heavenly fray above ; he feared that the Earthshaker, beating and lashing the solid ground with the earthquake-shock of his waves, might lever out of gear the whole universe with his trident, might move the foundations of the abysm below and show the forbidden sight of the earth’s bottom, might burst all the veins of the subterranean channels and pour his water away into the pit of Tartaros, to flood the mouldering gates of the lower world.

So great was the din of the gods in conflict, and the trumpets of the underworld added their noise. But Hermes lifted his rod as peacemaker and checked both parties, and addressed one speech to three of the immortals :

“Brother of Zeus, and you his son — you, famous Archer, throw to the winds your bow and your brand, and you, your pronged trident : lest the Titans laugh to see a battle among the gods. Let there not be intestine war in heaven once again, after that conflict with Cronos which threatened Olympos : let me not see another war after the affray with Iapetos. Let not Zeus be angry again for lateborn Bacchos as for Zagreus, and set the whole earth ablaze with his fire a second time, and pour down showers of rain through the air to flood the circuit of the eternal universe. I hope I may not behold the sea in the sky and Selene’s car soaking ; may Phaethon never again have his fiery radiance cooled !

“You then yield to your elder, the ruler of the sea ; do this grace to your father’s brother, because Earthshaker the ruler of the brine honours your seagirt Delos : cease not to love your palmtree, to remember your olive. And Earthshaker, what second Cecrops will be judge here ? What second Inachos has awarded her city to Hera that you take arms against Apollo as well as Athena, and seek a second quarrel after your quarrel with Hera ? — And you, horned one, father of great Deriades, beware of the fire of Hephaistos after the torch of Bacchos, or he may consume you with his firepronged thunderbolt.”

This appeal put an end to the gods’ intestine strife. Then Deriades, mad and furious, when he saw the Bacchants unharmed, began the battle again ; when he saw Bacchos whole on the field he goaded his fugitive captains to rally, and to footmen and horsemen alike he roared his barbaric threats in a loud voice :

“This day either I shall drag Dionysos by the hair, or his assault shall destroy the Indian nation ! You, fall on the Satyrs and check them by main force : let Deriades confront Dionysos. Burn the vine plants and all the various gear of Bacchos and set fire to their camp ; bring the Mainalids as slaves to triumphant Deriades ; consume with fire every thyrsus of the enemy ; as for the oxhorned Seilenoi and the crowds of Satyrs, shear off like a crop all their heads with devastating steel, and hang the oxhorned skulls in strings round all our houses. May Phaethon not turn his fireblazing horses to his setting before I bring in the Satyrs, and Bacchos bound with galling fetters, with his spotted cloak torn to rags on his chest by my spear and his thyrsus thrown away. Burn to ashes with my brand the long flowing hair of the women and their wreaths of vine ! Courage all ! After the Indian battle you may sing the glorious victory of Deriades, that even in many generations to come people may shiver to face the unconquerable Indians born of the Earth !

He spoke, and passing from one to another of his chieftains he goaded on the drivers of the elephants, those creatures of endless life, and set the chiefs in their places to lead the army of footsoldiers to the battle in close columns. With equal passion for the fight, Bacchos thyrsusmad drove to the combat his line of wild beasts from the wilderness. These mountainbred warriors roaring under the divine whip rushed madly on. Many wild beasts were there with their weapons in their mouths. There were serpents spitting from their ravening teeth fountains of poison, which they sent farshot into the air with hissing gape and rattling throat. Leaping sideways and darting at their foes, the snaky arrows found a mark which offered itself ; the bodies of the Indians were surrounded and imprisoned by the coils, the feet of men starting to run were entangled in a rope. The war-maddened women imitated the attack of Phidaleia the snakethrower, who once was stung to show what a woman could do in battle, and conquered her enemies with clusters of snakes.

One shooting a spike of poison from his mouth like a longshafted spear bespattered Deriades, and his corselet of steel was wetted by the deadly drops. Dead on the ground lay a body struck by a living missile, lifeless with a living shot in him. A panther leapt through the air with his feet upon the curved neck of a straightleg elephant, and stuck close to the monster’s head delaying the course of all the longlegged elephants. A great swarm fell, when they heard the lions from the wilderness and the terrible loud roar resounding from their throats. One was conquered trembling at the bellow of a bull, and seeing the point of his formidable horn stabbing sideways into the air ; another leaped into flight shuddering at the jaws of a bear ; the hounds of an invincible Pan gave tongue one after another, in concert with the roars of the wild beasts, and the swarthy Indians feared their loudbarking attack.