From atop Mount Olympus, they scrutinized and meddled with mortals like himself.

在奧林匹斯山頂，他們仔細檢查並干涉著像他這樣的凡人。

Cadmus was a skilled warrior and heir to the Phoenician throne, but he wouldn't stay in the gods' favor for long.

卡德摩斯是一位技藝高超的戰士，也是腓尼基王位的繼承人，但他並沒有得到諸神的長久青睞。

First, Zeus coveted Cadmus' sister Europa.

首先，宙斯覬覦卡德摩斯的妹妹歐羅巴。

So he snuck into the palace garden in the form of a bull and stole her away.

於是，他扮成一頭公牛潛入王宮花園，把她偷走了。

Their father tasked Cadmus and his men with the impossible duty of bringing Europa back.

他們的父親交給卡德摩斯和他的手下一個不可能完成的任務：把歐羅巴帶回來。

Cadmus journeyed to the sacred Oracle of Delphi to plead for help, where he was told to find and follow a sacred wild cow.

卡德摩斯前往神聖的德爾斐神諭求助，神諭告訴他要找到並追隨一頭神聖的野牛。

At the spot where the cow rested, he was to found a new city.

他要在牛休息的地方建立一座新城。

Cadmus and his men did as the Oracle said, then ventured into the nearby forest for supplies.

卡德摩斯和他的部下按照神諭所說的去做，然後冒險進入附近的森林尋找補給。

But a giant serpent soon appeared.

但是，一條巨蛇很快就出現了。

It choked some of Cadmus' men and blasted others with venom.

它讓卡德摩斯的一些手下窒息，用毒液噴射其他人。

Cadmus leapt into action, hurled his javelin and pinned the snake to a tree.

卡德摩斯一躍而起，擲出標槍，將蛇釘在樹上。

Without knowing it, he had just slain Ares, the god of war's precious serpent, and sealed tragedy into his own fate along with it.

不知不覺中，他剛剛殺死了戰神的寶蛇阿瑞斯，並將悲劇與自己的命運緊緊聯繫在一起。

Suddenly, a disembodied voice boomed.

突然，一個模糊的聲音響起。

You too shall be a serpent to be gazed on.

你也將成為被凝視的毒蛇。

Taking pity on the prince, the goddess Athena instructed Cadmus to till the earth using the serpent's teeth.

雅典娜女神憐憫王子，訓示卡德摩斯用蛇牙耕種大地。

As he nestled its fangs into the soil, a band of warriors sprouted from the ground.

當它把獠牙插入泥土時，一隊戰士從地下冒了出來。

Together, they built the magnificent city of Thebes.

他們共同建造了宏偉的底比斯城。

And eventually, Cadmus fell in love with Harmonia, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, and the two married.

最終，卡德摩斯愛上了阿瑞斯和阿佛洛狄忒的女兒哈夢妮亞，兩人結為夫妻。

As years passed and his city and family grew, hope that all strife might be forgotten between Cadmus and the gods glimmered briefly.

隨著歲月的流逝，他的城市和家庭不斷壯大，卡德摩斯和眾神之間的紛爭也曇花一現。

But soon enough, his family's luck began souring once more.

但很快，他家的運氣又開始變差。

Tragedy struck when Cadmus' grandson, Actaeon, was tracking a stag in the forest with his hunting hounds.

卡德摩斯的孫子阿克泰翁帶著獵狗在森林裡追蹤一頭雄鹿時，悲劇發生了。

The young man unwittingly infringed on the sacred grove of Artemis, goddess of the hunt, as she was bathing.

年輕人無意中闖入了狩獵女神阿爾忒彌斯的聖林，當時她正在沐浴。

Artemis punished Actaeon, transforming him into a skittish stag.

阿耳忒彌斯懲罰了阿克泰翁，把他變成了一隻膽小的雄鹿。

And in this form, Actaeon's own hounds could no longer distinguish him from the object of the hunt, and they went in for the kill.

阿克泰翁自己的獵狗也無法將他與狩獵對象區分開來，於是它們就開始獵殺。

Then Zeus visited again, this time taking advantage of Semele, one of Cadmus' four daughters.

後來，宙斯再次造訪，這次他利用了卡德摩斯的四個女兒之一塞墨勒。

When Zeus' wife, Hera, learned that he'd been unfaithful yet again, and that Semele was pregnant, she tricked Zeus into revealing himself to Semele in his divine form.

當宙斯的妻子赫拉得知宙斯又一次對她不忠，而且塞墨勒已經懷孕時，她欺騙宙斯，讓他以神形出現在塞墨勒面前。

But even the feeblest of his thunderstorms was too much for a mortal to witness, and Semele perished.

但是，即使是最微弱的雷暴，凡人也無法目睹，塞米勒是以喪生。

Zeus managed to save their unborn child, who grew into Dionysus, god of wine.

宙斯設法保住了他們未出生的孩子，這個孩子後來長成了酒神狄俄尼索斯。

His wild, revelrous rituals drew devoted followers, but they eventually got out of hand.

他狂野、狂歡的儀式吸引了眾多忠實的追隨者，但最終還是一發不可收拾。

On one occasion, two of Cadmus' four daughters, Agave and Ortonoye, Dionysus' own aunts, had a hallucinatory fit and killed Agave's own son, believing he was a lion.

有一次，卡德摩斯的四個女兒中的兩個，也就是狄俄尼索斯的姨媽阿加維和奧托諾耶，產生了幻覺，殺死了阿加維的兒子，認為他是一頭獅子。

Next, Hera targeted the family again.

接下來，赫拉又盯上了這個家庭。

Alongside the Furies, the goddesses of vengeance, she cursed Cadmus' fourth daughter, Aena, with an intolerable madness that drove her into the sea.

她與復仇女神復仇女神（Furies）一起，詛咒卡德摩斯的四女兒艾娜（Aena）患上無法忍受的瘋病，並將她趕入大海。

Besieged by bad luck and overcome with grief, Cadmus and Harmonia wandered the wilderness.

卡德摩斯和哈莫尼亞被厄運所困，悲痛欲絕，在荒野中流浪。

They considered the many tragic turns their lives had taken, which Cadmus traced back to the time he killed the serpent.

卡德摩斯追溯到他殺死大蛇的那次。

Realizing that the animal could have been sacred and that his act might have incited the unabating wrath of the gods, Cadmus prayed to recompense his error.

卡德摩斯意識到這隻動物可能是神聖的，他的行為可能會激起眾神無盡的憤怒，於是他祈求彌補自己的過失。

Suddenly, he felt his body change and he embraced Harmonia.

突然，他感覺自己的身體發生了變化，他擁抱了哈莫尼亞。

The two melted to the ground and shed their human skins until finally, two snakes were left coiled in the field.

兩人融化在地上，褪去人皮，最後只剩下兩條蛇盤踞在田野裡。

Cadmus' debt was at last repaid, to the snake he slayed in a desperate moment and to the gods, who guarded their grudges and dispensed of their punishments liberally.

卡德摩斯欠下的債終於還清了，還清了他在絕望時刻殺死的蛇，還清了諸神的恩怨，諸神對卡德摩斯的懲罰是寬容的。

But Cadmus was far from the only mortal to get on the gods' bad side.

但卡德摩斯並不是唯一一個與眾神過不去的凡人。

See what happened to earn Arachne and Sisyphus their divine punishments with these videos.

通過這些視頻，看看是什麼讓阿拉克涅和西西弗斯受到了神的懲罰。