                                     410 BC
                                 THE BACCHANTES
                                  by Euripides
                  Characters in the Play
    Dionysus
    Cadmus
    Pentheus
    Agave
    Teiresias
    First Messenger
    Second Messenger
    Servant
    Chorus of Bacchantes



             Before the Palace of Pentheus at Thebes. Enter DIONYSUS.

  DIONYSUS
    Lo! I am come to this land of Thebes, Dionysus' the son of Zeus,
of whom on a day Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, was delivered by a
flash of lightning. I have put off the god and taken human shape,
and so present myself at Dirce's springs and the waters of Ismenus.
Yonder I see my mother's monument where the bolt slew her nigh her
house, and there are the ruins of her home smouldering with the
heavenly flame that blazeth still-Hera's deathless outrage on my
mother. To Cadmus all praise I offer, because he keeps this spot
hallowed, his daughter's precinct, which my own hands have shaded
round about with the vine's clustering foliage.
    Lydia's glebes, where gold abounds, and Phrygia have I left
behind; o'er Persia's sun-baked plains, by Bactria's walled towns
and Media's wintry clime have I advanced through Arabia, land of
promise; and Asia's length and breadth, outstretched along the
brackish sea, with many a fair walled town, peopled with mingled
race of Hellenes and barbarians; and this is the first city in
Hellas I have reached. There too have I ordained dances and
established my rites, that I might manifest my godhead to men; but
Thebes is the first city in the land of Hellas that I have made ring
with shouts of joy, girt in a fawn-skin, with a thyrsus, my
ivy-bound spear, in my hand; since my mother's sisters, who least of
all should have done it, denied that Dionysus was the son of Zeus,
saying that Semele, when she became a mother by some mortal lover,
tried to foist her sin on Zeus-a clever ruse of Cadmus, which, they
boldly asserted, caused Zeus to slay her for the falsehood about the
marriage. Wherefore these are they whom I have driven frenzied from
their homes, and they are dwelling on the hills with mind
distraught; and I have forced them to assume the dress worn in my
orgies, and all the women-folk of Cadmus' stock have I driven raving
from their homes, one and all alike; and there they sit upon the
roofless rocks beneath the green pine-trees, mingling amongst the sons
of Thebes. For this city must learn, however loth, seeing that it is
not initiated in my Bacchic rites, and I must take up my mother's
defence, by showing to mortals that the child she bore to Zeus is a
deity. Now Cadmus gave his sceptre and its privileges to Pentheus, his
daughter's child, who wages war 'gainst my divinity, thrusting me away
from his drink-offerings, and making no mention of me in his
prayers. Therefore will I prove to him and all the race of Cadmus that
I am a god. And when I have set all in order here, I will pass hence
to a fresh country, manifesting myself; but if the city of Thebes in
fury takes up arms and seeks to drive my votaries from the mountain, I
will meet them at the head of my frantic rout. This is why I have
assumed a mortal form, and put off my godhead to take man's nature.
    O ye who left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia, ye women, my revel
rout! whom I brought from your foreign homes to be ever by my side and
bear me company, uplift the cymbals native to your Phrygian home, that
were by me and the great mother Rhea first devised, and march around
the royal halls of Pentheus smiting them, that the city of Cadmus
may see you; while I will seek Cithaeron's glens, there with my
Bacchanals to join the dance.

                                                       Exit DIONYSUS.

                                                        Enter CHORUS.

  CHORUS
    From Asia o'er the holy ridge of Tmolus hasten to a pleasant task,
a toil that brings no weariness, for Bromius' sake, in honour of the
Bacchic god. Who loiters in the road? who lingers 'neath the roof?
Avaunt! I say, and let every lip be hushed in solemn silence; for I
will raise a hymn to Dionysus, as custom aye ordains. O happy he!
who to his joy is initiated in heavenly mysteries and leads a holy
life, joining heart and soul in Bacchic revelry upon the hills,
purified from every sin; observing the rites of Cybele, the mighty
mother, and brandishing the thyrsus, with ivy-wreathed head, he
worships Dionysus. Go forth, go forth, ye Bacchanals, bring home the
Bromian god Dionysus, child of a god, from the mountains of Phrygia to
the spacious streets of Hellas, bring home the Bromian god! whom on
a day his mother in her sore travail brought forth untimely,
yielding up her life beneath the lightning stroke of Zeus' winged
bolt; but forthwith Zeus, the son of Cronos, found for him another
womb wherein to rest, for he hid him in his thigh and fastened it with
golden pins to conceal him from Hera. And when the Fates had fully
formed the horned god, he brought him forth and crowned him with a
coronal of snakes, whence it is the thyrsus-bearing Maenads hunt the
snake to twine about their hair. O Thebes, nurse of Semele! crown
thyself with ivy; burst forth, burst forth with blossoms fair of green
convolvulus, and with the boughs of oak and pine join in the Bacchic
revelry; dor;-thy coat of dappled fawn-skin, decking it with tufts
of silvered hair; with reverent hand the sportive wand now wield. Anon
shall the whole land be dancing, when Bromius leads his revellers to
the hills, to the hills away! where wait him groups of maidens from
loom and shuttle roused in frantic haste by Dionysus. O hidden cave of
the Curetes! O hallowed haunts in Crete, that saw Zeus born, where
Corybantes with crested helms devised for me in their grotto the
rounded timbrel of ox-hide, mingling Bacchic minstrelsy with the
shrill sweet accents of the Phrygian flute, a gift bestowed by them on
mother Rhea, to add its crash of music to the Bacchantes' shouts of
joy; but frantic satyrs won it from the mother-goddess for their
own, and added it to their dances in festivals, which gladden the
heart of Dionysus, each third recurrent year. Oh! happy that votary,
when from the hurrying revel-rout he sinks to earth, in his holy
robe of fawnskin, chasing the goat to drink its blood, a banquet sweet
of flesh uncooked, as he hastes to Phrygia's or to Libya's hills;
while in the van the Bromian god exults with cries of Evoe. With
milk and wine and streams of luscious honey flows the earth, and
Syrian incense smokes. While the Bacchante holding in his hand a
blazing torch of pine uplifted on his wand waves it, as he speeds
along, rousing wandering votaries, and as he waves it cries aloud with
wanton tresses tossing in the breeze; and thus to crown the revelry,
he raises loud his voice, "On, on, ye Bacchanals, pride of Tmolus with
its rills of gold I to the sound of the booming drum, chanting in
joyous strains the praises of your joyous god with Phrygian accents
lifted high, what time the holy lute with sweet complaining note
invites you to your hallowed sport, according well with feet that
hurry wildly to the hills; like a colt that gambols at its mother's
side in the pasture, with gladsome heart each Bacchante bounds along."

                         Enter TEIRESIAS.

  TEIRESIAS
    What loiterer at the gates will call Cadmus from the house,
Agenor's son, who left the city of Sidon and founded here the town
of Thebes? Go one of you, announce to him that Teiresias is seeking
him; he knows himself the reason of my coming and the compact I and he
have made in our old age to bind the thyrsus with leaves and don the
fawnskin, crowning our heads the while with ivy-sprays.

                           Enter CADMUS.

  CADMUS
   Best of friends! I was in the house when I heard thy voice, wise as
its owner. I come prepared, dressed in the livery of the god. For 'tis
but right I should magnify with all my might my own daughter's son,
Dionysus, who hath shown his godhead unto men. Where are we to join
the dance? where plant the foot and shake the hoary head? Do thou,
Teiresias, be my guide, age leading age, for thou art wise. Never
shall I weary, night or day, of beating the earth with my thyrsus.
What joy to forget our years?

  TEIRESIAS
    Why, then thou art as I am. For I too am young again, and will
essay the dance.
  CADMUS
    We will drive then in our chariot to the hill.
  TEIRESIAS
    Nay, thus would the god not have an equal honour paid.
  CADMUS
    Well, I will lead thee, age leading age.
  TEIRESIAS
    The god will guide us both thither without toil.
  CADMUS
    Shall we alone of all the city dance in Bacchus' honour?
  TEIRESIAS
    Yea, for we alone are wise, the rest are mad.
  CADMUS
    We stay too long; come, take my hand.
  TEIRESIAS
    There link thy hand in my firm grip.
  CADMUS
    Mortal that I am, I scorn not the gods.
  TEIRESIAS
    No subtleties do I indulge about the powers of heaven. The faith
we inherited from our fathers, old as time itself, no reasoning
shall cast down; no! though it were the subtlest invention of wits
refined. Maybe some one will say, I have no respect for my grey hair
in going to dance with ivy round my head; not so, for the god did
not define whether old or young should dance, but from all alike he
claims a universal homage, and scorns nice calculations in his
worship.
  CADMUS
    Teiresias, since thou art blind, I must prompt thee what to say.
Pentheus is coming hither to the house in haste, Echion's son, to whom
I resign the government. How scared he looks I what strange tidings
will he tell?

                                                      Enter PENTHEUS.

  PENTHEUS
    I had left my kingdom for awhile, when tidings of strange mischief
in this city reached me; I hear that our women-folk have left their
homes on pretence of Bacchic rites, and on the wooded hills rush
wildly to and fro, honouring in the dance this new god Dionysus,
whoe'er he is; and in the midst of each revel-rout the brimming
wine-bowl stands, and one by one they steal away to lonely spots to
gratify their lust, pretending forsooth that they are Maenads bent
on sacrifice, though it is Aphrodite they are placing before the
Bacchic god. As many as I caught, my gaolers are keeping safe in the
public prison fast bound; and all who are gone forth, will I chase
from the hills, Ino and Agave too who bore me to Echion, and Actaeon's
mother Autonoe. In fetters of iron will I bind them and soon put an
end to these outrageous Bacchic rites. They say there came a
stranger hither, a trickster and a sorcerer, from Lydia's land, with
golden hair and perfumed locks, the flush of wine upon his face, and
in his eyes each grace that Aphrodite gives; by day and night he
lingers in our maidens' company on the plea of teaching Bacchic
mysteries. Once let me catch him within these walls, and I will put an
end to his thyrsus-beating and his waving of his tresses, for I will
cut his head from his body. This is the fellow who says that
Dionysus is a god, says that he was once stitched up in the thigh of
Zeus-that child who with his mother was blasted by the lightning
flash, because the woman falsely said her marriage was with Zeus. Is
not this enough to deserve the awful penalty of hanging, this
stranger's wanton insolence, whoe'er he be?
    But lo! another marvel. I see Teiresias, our diviner, dressed in
dappled fawn-skins, and my mother's father too, wildly waving the
Bacchic wand; droll sight enough! Father, it grieves me to see you two
old men so void of sense. Oh! shake that ivy from thee! Let fall the
thyrsus from thy hand, my mother's sire! Was it thou, Teiresias, urged
him on to this? Art bent on introducing this fellow as another new
deity amongst men, that thou mayst then observe the fowls of the air
and make a gain from fiery divination? Were it not that thy grey hairs
protected thee, thou shouldst sit in chains amid the Bacchanals, for
introducing knavish mysteries; for where the gladsome grape is found
at women's feasts, I deny that their rites have any longer good
results.
  CHORUS
    What impiety! Hast thou no reverence, sir stranger, for the gods
or for Cadmus who sowed the crop of earth-born warriors? Son of Echion
as thou art, thou dost shame thy birth.
  TEIRESIAS
    Whenso a man of wisdom finds a good topic for argument, it is no
difficult matter to speak well; but thou, though possessing a glib
tongue as if endowed with sense, art yet devoid thereof in all thou
sayest. A headstrong man, if he have influence and a capacity for
speaking, makes a bad citizen because he lacks sense. This new
deity, whom thou deridest, will rise to power I cannot say how
great, throughout Hellas. Two things there are, young prince, that
hold first rank among men, the goddess Demeter, that is, the earth,
calf her which name thou please; she it is that feedeth men with solid
food; and as her counterpart came this god, the son of Semele, who
discovered the juice of the grape and introduced it to mankind,
stilling thereby each grief that mortals suffer from, soon as e'er
they are filled with the juice of the vine; and sleep also he
giveth, sleep that brings forgetfulness of daily ills, the sovereign
charm for all our woe. God though he is, he serves all other gods
for libations, so that through him mankind is blest. He it is whom
thou dost mock, because he was sewn up in the thigh of Zeus. But I
will show thee this fair mystery. When Zeus had snatched him from
the lightning's blaze, and to Olympus borne the tender babe, Hera
would have cast him forth from heaven, but Zeus, as such a god well
might, devised a counterplot. He broke off a fragment of the ether
which surrounds the world, and made thereof a hostage against Hera's
bitterness, while he gave out Dionysus into other hands; hence, in
time, men said that he was reared in the thigh of Zeus, having changed
the word and invented a legend, because the god was once a hostage
to the goddess Hera. This god too hath prophetic power, for there is
no small prophecy inspired by Bacchic frenzy; for whenever the god
in his full might enters the human frame, he makes his frantic
votaries foretell the future. Likewise he hath some share in Ares'
rights; for oft, or ever a weapon is touched, a panic seizes an army
when it is marshalled in array; and this too is a frenzy sent by
Dionysus. Yet shalt thou behold him e'en on Delphi's rocks leaping
o'er the cloven height, torch in hand, waving and brandishing the
branch by Bacchus loved, yea, and through the length and breadth of
Hellas. Hearken to me, Pentheus; never boast that might alone doth
sway the world, nor if thou think so, unsound as thy opinion is,
credit thyself with any wisdom; but receive the god into thy realm,
pour out libations, join the revel rout, and crown thy head. It is not
Dionysus that will force chastity on women in their love; but this
is what we should consider, whether chastity is part of their nature
for good and all; for if it is, no really modest maid will ever fall
'mid Bacchic mysteries. Mark this: thou thyself art glad when
thousands throng thy gates, and citizens extol the name of Pentheus;
he too, I trow, delights in being honoured. Wherefore I and Cadmus,
whom thou jeerest so, will wreath our brows with ivy and join the
dance; pair of grey beards though we be, still must we take part
therein; never will I for any words of thine fight against heaven.
Most grievous is thy madness, nor canst thou find a charm to cure
thee, albeit charms have caused thy malady.
  CHORUS
    Old sir, thy words do not discredit Phoebus, and thou art wise
in honouring Bromius, potent deity.
  CADMUS
    My son, Teiresias hath given thee sound advice; dwell with us, but
o'erstep not the threshold of custom; for now thou art soaring
aloft, and thy wisdom is no wisdom. E'en though he be no god, as
thou assertest, still say he is; be guilty of a splendid fraud,
declaring him the son of Semele, that she may be thought the mother of
a god, and we and all our race gain honour. Dost thou mark the awful
fate of Actaeon? whom savage hounds of his own rearing rent in
pieces in the meadows, because he boasted himself a better hunter than
Artemis. Lest thy fate be the same, come let me crown thy head with
ivy; join us in rendering homage to the god.
  PENTHEUS
    Touch me not away to thy Bacchic rites thyself! never try to
infect me with thy foolery! Vengeance will I have on the fellow who
teaches thee such senselessness. Away one of you without delay! seek
yonder seat where he observes his birds, wrench it from its base
with levers, turn it upside down, o'erthrowing it in utter
confusion, and toss his garlands to the tempest's blast. For by so
doing shall I wound him most deeply. Others of you range the city
and hunt down this girl-faced stranger, who is introducing a new
complaint amongst our women, and doing outrage to the marriage tie.
And if haply ye catch him, bring him hither to me in chains, to be
stoned to death, a bitter ending to his revelry in Thebes.

                                                       Exit PENTHEUS.
  TEIRESIAS
    Unhappy wretch! thou little knowest what thou art saying. Now
art thou become a raving madman, even before unsound in mind. Let us
away, Cadmus, and pray earnestly for him, spite of his savage
temper, and likewise for the city, that the god inflict not a signal
vengeance. Come, follow me with thy ivy-wreathed staff; try to support
my tottering frame as I do thine, for it is unseemly that two old
men should fall; but let that-pass. For we must serve the Bacchic god,
the son of Zeus. Only, Cadmus, beware lest Pentheus' bring sorrow to
thy house; it is not my prophetic art, but circumstances that lead
me to say this; for the words of a fool are folly.

                                         Exeunt CADMUS and TEIRESIAS.

  CHORUS
    O holiness, queen amongst the gods, sweeping on golden pinion o'er
the earth! dost hear the words of Pentheus, dost hear his proud
blaspheming Bromius, the son of Semele; first of all the blessed
gods at every merry festival? His it is to rouse the revellers to
dance, to laugh away dull care, and wake the flute, whene'er at
banquets of the gods the luscious grape appears, or when the winecup
in the feast sheds sleep on men who wear the ivy-spray. The end of all
unbridled speech and lawless senselessness is misery; but the life
of calm repose and the rule of reason abide unshaken and support the
home; for far away in heaven though they dwell, the powers divine
behold man's state. Sophistry is not wisdom, and to indulge in
thoughts beyond man's ken is to shorten life; and if a man on such
poor terms should aim too high, he may miss the pleasures in his
reach. These, to my mind, are the ways of madmen and idiots. Oh! to
make my way to Cyprus, isle of Aphrodite, where dwell the love-gods
strong to soothe man's soul, or to Paphos, which that foreign river,
never fed by rain, enriches with its hundred mouths! Oh! lead me,
Bromian god, celestial guide of Bacchic pilgrims, to the hallowed
slopes of Olympus, where Pierian Muses have their haunt most fair.
There dwell the Graces; there is soft desire; there thy votaries may
hold their revels freely. The joy of our god, the son of Zeus, is in
banquets, his delight is in peace, that giver of riches and nurse
divine of youth. Both to rich and poor alike hath he granted the
delight of wine, that makes all pain to cease; hateful to him is every
one who careth not to live the life of bliss, that lasts through
days and nights of joy. True wisdom is to keep the heart and soul
aloof from over-subtle wits. That which the less enlightened crowd
approves and practises, will I accept.

         Re-enter PENTHEUS. Enter SERVANT bringing DIONYSUS bound.

  SERVANT
    We are come, Pentheus, having hunted down this prey, for which
thou didst send us forth; not in vain hath been our quest. We found
our quarry tame; he did not fly from us, but yielded himself without a
struggle; his cheek ne'er blanched, nor did his ruddy colour change,
but with a smile he bade me bind and lead him away, and he waited,
making my task an easy one. For very shame I said to him, "Against
my will, sir stranger, do I lead thee hence, but Pentheus ordered
it, who sent me hither." As for his votaries whom thou thyself didst
check, seizing and binding them hand and foot in the public gaol,
all these have loosed their bonds and fled into the meadows where they
now are sporting, calling aloud on the Bromian god. Their chains
fell off their feet of their own accord, and doors flew open without
man's hand to help. Many a marvel hath this stranger brought with
him to our city of Thebes; what yet remains must be thy care.
  PENTHEUS
    Loose his hands; for now that I have him in the net he is scarce
swift enough to elude me. So, sir stranger, thou art not
ill-favoured from a woman's point of view, which was thy real object
in coming to Thebes; thy hair is long because thou hast never been a
wrestler, flowing right down thy cheeks most wantonly; thy skin is
white to help thee gain thy end, not tanned by ray of sun, but kept
within the shade, as thou goest in quest of love with beauty's bait.
Come, tell me first of thy race.
  DIONYSUS
    That needs no braggart's tongue, 'tis easily told; maybe thou
knowest Tmolus by hearsay.
  PENTHEUS
    I know it, the range that rings the city of Sardis round.
  DIONYSUS
    Thence I come, Lydia is my native home.
  PENTHEUS
    What makes thee bring these mysteries to Hellas?
  DIONYSUS
    Dionysus, the son of Zeus, initiated me.
  PENTHEUS
    Is there a Zeus in Lydia, who begets new gods?
  DIONYSUS
    No, but Zeus who married Semele in Hellas.
  PENTHEUS
    Was it by night or in the face of day that he constrained thee?
  DIONYSUS
    'Twas face to face he intrusted his mysteries to me.
  PENTHEUS
    Pray, what special feature stamps thy rites?
  DIONYSUS
    That is a secret to be hidden from the uninitiated.
  PENTHEUS
    What profit bring they to their votaries?
  DIONYSUS
    Thou must not be told, though 'tis well worth knowing.
  PENTHEUS
    A pretty piece of trickery, to excite my curiosity!
  DIONYSUS
    A man of godless life is an abomination to the rites of the god.
  PENTHEUS
    Thou sayest thou didst see the god clearly; what was he like?
  DIONYSUS
    What his fancy chose; I was not there to order this.
  PENTHEUS
    Another clever twist and turn of thine, without a word of answer.
  DIONYSUS
    He were a fool, methinks, who would utter wisdom to a fool.
  PENTHEUS
    Hast thou come hither first with this deity?
  DIONYSUS
    All foreigners already celebrate these mysteries with dances.
  PENTHEUS
    The reason being, they are far behind Hellenes in wisdom.
  DIONYSUS
    In this at least far in advance, though their customs differ.
  PENTHEUS
    Is it by night or day thou performest these devotions?
  DIONYSUS
    By night mostly; darkness lends solemnity.
  PENTHEUS
    Calculated to entrap and corrupt women.
  DIONYSUS
    Day too for that matter may discover shame.
  PENTHEUS
    This vile quibbling settles thy punishment.
  DIONYSUS
    Brutish ignorance and godlessness will settle thine.
  PENTHEUS
    How bold our Bacchanal is growing! a very master in this wordy
strife!
  DIONYSUS
    Tell me what I am to suffer; what is the grievous doom thou wilt
inflict upon me?
  PENTHEUS
    First will I shear off thy dainty tresses.
  DIONYSUS
    My locks are sacred; for the god I let them grow.
  PENTHEUS
    Next surrender that thyrsus.
  DIONYSUS
    Take it from me thyself; 'tis the wand of Dionysus I am bearing.
  PENTHEUS
    In dungeon deep thy body will I guard.
  DIONYSUS
    The god himself will set me free, whene'er I list.
  PENTHEUS
    Perhaps he may, when thou standest amid thy Bacchanals and callest
on his name.
  DIONYSUS
    Even now he is near me and witnesses my treatment.
  PENTHEUS
    Why, where is he? To my eyes he is invisible.
  DIONYSUS
    He is by my side; thou art a godless man and therefore dost not
see him.
  PENTHEUS
    Seize him! the fellow scorns me and Thebes too.
  DIONYSUS
    I bid you bind me not, reason addressing madness.
  PENTHEUS
    But I say "bind!" with better right than thou.
  DIONYSUS
    Thou hast no knowledge of the life thou art leading; thy very
existence is now a mystery to thee.
  PENTHEUS
    I am Pentheus, son of Agave and Echion.
  DIONYSUS
    Well-named to be misfortune's mate!
  PENTHEUS
    Avaunt! Ho! shut him up within the horses' stalls hard by, that
for light he may have pitchy gloom. Do thy dancing there, and these
women whom thou bringest with thee to share thy villainies I will
either sell as slaves or make their hands cease from this noisy
beating of drums, and set them to work at the loom as servants of my
own.
  DIONYSUS
    I will go; for that which fate forbids, can never befall me. For
this thy mockery be sure Dionysus will exact a recompense of thee-even
the god whose existence thou deniest; for thou art injuring him by
haling me to prison.

                                Exit DIONYSUS, guarded, and PENTHEUS.

  CHORUS
    Hail to thee, Dirce, happy maid, daughter revered of Achelous!
within thy founts thou didst receive in days gone by the babe of Zeus,
what time his father caught him up into his thigh from out the
deathless flame, while thus he cried: "Go rest, my Dithyrambus,
there within thy father's womb; by this name, O Bacchic god, I now
proclaim thee to Thebes." But thou, blest Dirce, thrustest me aside,
when in thy midst I strive to hold my revels graced with crowns. Why
dost thou scorn me? Why avoid me? By the clustered charm that Dionysus
sheds o'er the vintage I vow there yet shall come a time when thou
wilt turn thy thoughts to Bromius. What furious rage the earth-born
race displays, even Pentheus sprung of a dragon of old, himself the
son of earth-born Echion, a savage monster in his very mien, not
made in human mould, but like some murderous giant pitted against
heaven; for he means to bind me, the handmaid of Bromius, in cords
forthwith, and e'en now he keeps my fellow-reveller pent within his
palace, plunged in a gloomy dungeon. Dost thou mark this, O
Dionysus, son of Zeus, thy prophets struggling 'gainst resistless
might? Come, O king, brandishing thy golden thyrsus along the slopes
of Olympus; restrain the pride of this bloodthirsty wretch! Oh!
where in Nysa, haunt of beasts, or on the peaks of Corycus art thou,
Dionysus, marshalling with thy wand the revellers? or haply in the
thick forest depths of Olympus, where erst Orpheus with his lute
gathered trees to his minstrelsy, and beasts that range the fields. Ah
blest Pieria! Evius honours thee, to thee will he come with his
Bacchic rites to lead the dance, and thither will he lead the circling
Maenads, crossing the swift current of Axius and the Lydias, that
giveth wealth and happiness to man, yea, and the father of rivers,
which, as I have heard, enriches with his waters fair a land of
steeds.
  DIONYSUS (Within)
    What ho! my Bacchantes, ho! hear my call, oh! hear.
  CHORUS I
    Who art thou? what Evian cry is this that calls me? whence comes
it?
  DIONYSUS
    What ho! once more I call, I the son of Semele, the child of Zeus.
  CHORUS II
    My master, O my master, hail!
  CHORUS III
    Come to our revel-band, O Bromian god.
  CHORUS IV
    Thou solid earth!
  CHORUS V
    Most awful shock!
  CHORUS VI
    O horror! soon will the palace of Pentheus totter and fall.
  CHORUS VII
    Dionysus is within this house.
  CHORUS VIII
    Do homage to him.
  CHORUS IX
    We do! I do!
  CHORUS X
    Did ye mark yon architrave of stone upon the columns start
asunder?
  CHORUS XI
    Within these walls the triumph-shout of Bromius himself will rise.
  DIONYSUS
    Kindle the blazing torch with lightning's fire, abandon to the
flames the halls of Pentheus.
  CHORUS XII
    Ha! dost not see the flame, dost not clearly mark it at the sacred
tomb of Semele, the lightning flame which long ago the hurler of the
bolt left there?
  CHORUS XIII
    Your trembling limbs prostrate, ye Maenads, low upon the ground.
  CHORUS XIV
    Yea, for our king, the son of Zeus, is assailing and utterly
confounding this house.

                                                      Enter DIONYSUS.

  DIONYSUS
    Are ye so stricken with terror that ye have fallen to the earth, O
foreign dames? Ye saw then, it would seem, how the Bacchic god made
Pentheus' halls to quake; but arise, be of good heart, compose your
trembling limbs.
  CHORUS
    O chiefest splendour of our gladsome Bacchic sport, with what
joy I see thee in my loneliness!
  DIONYSUS
    Were ye cast down when I was led into the house, to be plunged
into the gloomy dungeons of Pentheus?
  CHORUS
    Indeed I was. Who was to protect me, if thou shouldst meet with
mishap? But how wert thou set free from the clutches of this godless
wretch?
  DIONYSUS
    My own hands worked out my own salvation, easily and without
trouble.
  CHORUS
    But did he not lash fast thy hands with cords?
  DIONYSUS
    There too I mocked him; he thinks he bound me, whereas he never
touched or caught hold of me, but fed himself on fancy. For at the
stall, to which he brought me for a gaol, he found a bull, whose
legs and hoofs he straightly tied, breathing out fury the while, the
sweat trickling from his body, and he biting his lips; but I from near
at hand sat calmly looking on. Meantime came the Bacchic god and
made the house quake, and at his mother's tomb relit the fire; but
Pentheus, seeing this, thought his palace was ablaze, and hither and
thither he rushed, bidding his servants bring water; but all in vain
was every servant's busy toil. Thereon he let this labour be awhile,
and, thinking maybe that I had escaped, rushed into the palace with
his murderous sword unsheathed. Then did Bromius-so at least it seemed
to me; I only tell you what I thought-made a phantom in the hall,
and he rushed after it in headlong haste, and stabbed the lustrous
air, thinking he wounded me. Further the Bacchic god did other outrage
to him; he dashed the building to the ground, and there it lies a mass
of ruin, a sight to make him rue most bitterly my bonds. At last
from sheer fatigue he dropped his sword and fell fainting; for he a
mortal frail, dared to wage war upon a god; but I meantime quietly
left the house and am come to you, with never a thought of Pentheus.
But methinks he will soon appear before the house; at least there is a
sound of steps within. What will he say, I wonder, after this? Well,
be his fury never so great, I will lightly bear it; for 'tis a wise
man's way to school his temper into due control.

                                                      Enter PENTHEUS.

  PENTHEUS
    Shamefully have I been treated; that stranger, whom but now I made
so fast in prison, hath escaped me. Ha! there is the man! What means
this? How didst thou come forth, to appear thus in front of my palace?
  DIONYSUS
    Stay where thou art; and moderate thy fury.
  PENTHEUS
    How is it thou hast escaped thy fetters and art at large?
  DIONYSUS
    Did I not say, or didst thou not hear me, "There is one will loose
me."
  PENTHEUS
    Who was it? there is always something strange in what thou sayest.
  DIONYSUS
    He who makes the clustering vine to grow for man.
  PENTHEUS
    [I scorn him and his vines!]
  DIONYSUS
    A fine taunt indeed thou hurlest here at Dionysus!
  PENTHEUS (To his servants)
    Bar every tower that hems us in, I order you.
  DIONYSUS
    What use? Cannot gods pass even over walls?
  PENTHEUS
    How wise thou art, except where thy wisdom is needed!
  DIONYSUS
    Where most 'tis needed, there am I most wise. But first listen
to yonder messenger and hear what he says; he comes from the hills
with tidings for thee; and I will await thy pleasure, nor seek to fly.

                                                     Enter MESSENGER.

  Messenger.
    Pentheus, ruler of this realm of Thebes! I am come from Cithaeron,
where the dazzling flakes of pure white snow ne'er cease to fall.
  PENTHEUS
    What urgent news dost bring me?
  MESSENGER
    I have seen, O king, those frantic Bacchanals, who darted in
frenzy from this land with bare white feet, and I am come to tell thee
and the city the wondrous deeds they do, deeds passing strange. But
I fain would hear, whether I am freely to tell all I saw there, or
shorten my story; for I fear thy hasty temper, sire, thy sudden bursts
of wrath and more than princely rage.
  PENTHEUS
    Say on, for thou shalt go unpunished by me in all respects; for to
be angered with the upright is wrong. The direr thy tale about the
Bacchantes, the heavier punishment will I inflict on this fellow who
brought his secret arts amongst our women.
  MESSENGER
    I was just driving the herds of kine to a ridge of the hill as I
fed them, as the sun shot forth his rays and made the earth grow warm;
when lo! I see three revel-bands of women; Autonoe was chief of one,
thy mother Agave of the second, while Ino's was the third. There
they lay asleep, all tired out; some were resting on branches of the
pine, others had laid their heads in careless ease on oak-leaves piled
upon the ground, observing all modesty; not, as thou sayest, seeking
to gratify their lusts alone amid the woods, by wine and soft
flute-music maddened.
    Anon in their midst thy mother uprose and cried aloud to wake them
from their sleep, when she heard the lowing of my horned kine. And
up they started to their feet, brushing from their eyes sleep's
quickening dew, a wondrous sight of grace and modesty, young and old
and maidens yet unwed. First o'er their shoulders they let stream
their hair; then all did gird their fawn-skins up, who hitherto had
left the fastenings loose, girdling the dappled hides with snakes that
licked their cheeks. Others fondled in their arms gazelles or savage
whelps of wolves, and suckled them-young mothers these with babes at
home, whose breasts were still full of milk; crowns they wore of ivy
or of oak or blossoming convolvulus. And one took her thyrsus and
struck it into the earth, and forth there gushed a limpid spring;
and another plunged her wand into the lap of earth and there the god
sent up a fount of wine; and all who wished for draughts of milk had
but to scratch the soil with their finger-tips and there they had it
in abundance, while from every ivy-wreathed staff sweet rills of honey
trickled.
    Hadst thou been there and seen this, thou wouldst have turned to
pray to the god, whom now thou dost disparage. Anon we herdsmen and
shepherds met to discuss their strange and wondrous doings; then
one, who wandereth oft to town and hath a trick of speech, made
harangue in the midst, "O ye who dwell upon the hallowed
mountain-terraces! shall we chase Agave, mother of Pentheus, from
her Bacchic rites, and thereby do our prince a service?" We liked
his speech, and placed ourselves in hidden ambush among the leafy
thickets; they at the appointed time began to wave the thyrsus for
their Bacchic rites, calling on Iacchus, the Bromian god, the son of
Zeus, in united chorus, and the whole mount and the wild creatures
re-echoed their cry; all nature stirred as they rushed on. Now Agave
chanced to come springing near me, so up I leapt from out my ambush
where I lay concealed, meaning to seize her. But she cried out,
"What ho! my nimble hounds, here are men upon our track; but follow
me, ay, follow, with the thyrsus in your hand for weapon." Thereat
we fled, to escape being torn in pieces by the Bacchantes; but they,
with hands that bore no weapon of steel, attacked our cattle as they
browsed. Then wouldst thou have seen Agave mastering some sleek lowing
calf, while others rent the heifers limb from limb. Before thy eyes
there would have been hurling of ribs and hoofs this way and that; and
strips of flesh, all blood-bedabbled, dripped as they hung from the
pine-branches. Wild bulls, that glared but now with rage along their
horns, found themselves tripped up, dragged down to earth by countless
maidens' hands. The flesh upon their limbs was stripped therefrom
quicker than thou couldst have closed thy royal eye-lids. Then off
they sped, like birds that skim the air, to the plains beneath the
hills, which bear a fruitful harvest for Thebes beside the waters of
Asopus; to Hysiae and Erythrae, hamlets 'neath Cithaeron's peak,
with fell intent, swooping on everything and scattering all
pellmell; and they would snatch children from their homes; but all
that they placed upon their shoulders, abode there firmly without
being tied, and fell not to the dusky earth, not even brass or iron;
and on their hair they carried fire and it burnt them not; but the
country-folk rushed to arms, furious at being pillaged by
Bacchanals; whereon ensued, O king, this wondrous spectacle. For
though the ironshod dart would draw no blood from them, they with
the thyrsus, which they hurled, caused many a wound and put their foes
to utter rout, women chasing men, by some god's intervention. Then
they returned to the place whence they had started, even to the
springs the god had made to spout for them; and there washed off the
blood, while serpents with their tongues were licking clean each
gout from their cheeks. Wherefore, my lord and master, receive this
deity, whoe'er he be, within the city; for, great as he is in all
else, I have likewise heard men say, 'twas he that gave the vine to
man, sorrow's antidote. Take wine away and Cypris flies, and every
other human joy is dead.
  CHORUS
    Though I fear to speak my mind with freedom in the presence of
my king, still must I utter this; Dionysus yields to no deity in
might.
  PENTHEUS
    Already, look you! the presumption of these Bacchantes is upon us,
swift as fire, a sad disgrace in the eyes of all Hellas. No time for
hesitation now! away to the Electra gate! order a muster of all my
men-at-arms, of those that mount fleet steeds, of all who brandish
light bucklers, of archers too that make the bowstring twang; for I
will march against the Bacchanals. By Heaven I this passes all, if
we are to be thus treated by women.

                                                      Exit MESSENGER.

  DIONYSUS
    Still obdurate, O Pentheus, after hearing my words! In spite of
all the evil treatment I am enduring from thee, still I warn thee of
the sin of bearing arms against a god, and bid thee cease; for Bromius
will not endure thy driving his votaries from the mountains where they
revel.
  PENTHEUS
    A truce to thy preaching to me! thou hast escaped thy bonds,
preserve thy liberty; else will I renew thy punishment.
  DIONYSUS
    I would rather do him sacrifice than in a fury kick against the
pricks; thou a mortal, he a god.
  PENTHEUS
    Sacrifice! that will I, by setting afoot a wholesale slaughter
of women 'mid Cithaeron's glens, as they deserve.
  DIONYSUS
    Ye will all be put to flight-a shameful thing that they with the
Bacchic thyrsus should rout your mail-clad warriors.
  PENTHEUS
    I find this stranger a troublesome foe to encounter; doing or
suffering he is alike irrepressible.
  DIONYSUS
    Friend, there is still a way to compose this bitterness.
  PENTHEUS
    Say how; am I to serve my own servants?
  DIONYSUS
    I will bring the women hither without weapons.
  PENTHEUS
    Ha! ha! this is some crafty scheme of thine against me.
  DIONYSUS
    What kind of scheme, if by my craft I purpose to save thee?
  PENTHEUS
    You have combined with them to form this plot, that your revels
may on for ever.
  DIONYSUS
    Nay, but this is the compact I made with the god; be sure of that.
  PENTHEUS (Preparing to start forth)
    Bring forth my arms. Not another word from thee!
  DIONYSUS
    Ha! wouldst thou see them seated on the hills?
  PENTHEUS
    Of all things, yes! I would give untold sums for that.
  DIONYSUS
    Why this sudden, strong desire?
  PENTHEUS
    'Twill be a bitter sight, if I find them drunk with wine.
  DIONYSUS
    And would that be a pleasant sight which will prove bitter to
thee?
  PENTHEUS
    Believe me, yes! beneath the fir-trees as I sit in silence.
  DIONYSUS
    Nay, they will track thee, though thou come secretly.
  PENTHEUS
    Well, I will go openly; thou wert right to say so.
  DIONYSUS
    Am I to be thy guide? wilt thou essay the road?
  PENTHEUS
    Lead on with all speed, I grudge thee all delay.
  DIONYSUS
    Array thee then in robes of fine linen.
  PENTHEUS
    Why so? Am I to enlist among women after being a man?
  DIONYSUS
    They may kill thee, if thou show thy manhood there.
  PENTHEUS
    Well said! Thou hast given me a taste of thy wit already.
  DIONYSUS
    Dionysus schooled me in this lore.
  PENTHEUS
    How am I to carry out thy wholesome advice?
  DIONYSUS
    Myself will enter thy palace and robe thee.
  PENTHEUS
    What is the robe to be? a woman's? Nay, I am ashamed.
  DIONYSUS
    Thy eagerness to see the Maenads goes no further.
  PENTHEUS
    But what dress dost say thou wilt robe me in?
  DIONYSUS
    Upon thy head will I make thy hair grow long.
  PENTHEUS
    Describe my costume further.
  DIONYSUS
    Thou wilt wear a robe reaching to thy feet; and on thy head
shall be a snood.
  PENTHEUS
    Wilt add aught else to my attire?
  DIONYSUS
    A thyrsus in thy hand, and a dappled fawnskin.
  PENTHEUS
    I can never put on woman's dress.
  DIONYSUS
    Then wilt thou cause bloodshed by coming to blows with the
Bacchanals.
  PENTHEUS
    Thou art right. Best go spy upon them first.
  DIONYSUS
    Well, e'en that is wiser than by evil means to follow evil ends.
  PENTHEUS
    But how shall I pass through the city of the Cadmeans unseen?
  DIONYSUS
    We will go by unfrequented paths. I will lead the way.
  PENTHEUS
    Anything rather than that the Bacchantes should laugh at me.
  DIONYSUS
    We will enter the palace and consider the proper steps.
  PENTHEUS
    Thou hast my leave. I am all readiness. I will enter, prepared
to set out either sword in hand or following thy advice.
                                                       Exit PENTHEUS.
  DIONYSUS
    Women! our prize is nearly in the net. Soon shall he reach the
Bacchanals, and there pay forfeit with his life. O Dionysus! now
'tis thine to act, for thou art not far away; let us take vengeance on
him. First drive him mad by fixing in his soul a wayward frenzy; for
never, whilst his senses are his own, will he consent to don a woman's
dress; but when his mind is gone astray he will put it on. And fain
would I make him a laughing-stock to Thebes as he is led in woman's
dress through the city, after those threats with which he menaced me
before. But I will go to array Pentheus in those robes which he
shall wear when he sets out for Hades' halls, a victim to his own
mother's fury; so shall he recognize Dionysus, the son of Zeus, who
proves himself at last a god most terrible, for all his gentleness
to man.

                                                       Exit DIONYSUS.

  CHORUS
    Will this white foot e'er join the night-long dance? what time
in Bacchic ecstasy I toss my neck to heaven's dewy breath, like a
fawn, that gambols 'mid the meadow's green delights, when she hath
escaped the fearful chase, clear of the watchers, o'er the woven nets;
while the huntsman, with loud halloo, harks on his hounds' full cry,
and she with laboured breath at lightning speed bounds o'er the
level water-meadows, glad to be far from man amid the foliage of the
bosky grove. What is true wisdom, or what fairer boon has heaven
placed in mortals' reach, than to gain the mastery o'er a fallen
foe? What is fair is dear for aye. Though slow be its advance, yet
surely moves the power of the gods, correcting those mortal wights,
that court a senseless pride, or, in the madness of their fancy,
disregard the gods. Subtly they lie in wait, through the long march of
time, and so hunt down the godless man. For it is never right in
theory or in practice to o'erride the law of custom. This is a maxim
cheaply bought: whatever comes of God, or in time's long annals, has
grown into a law upon a natural basis, this is sovereign. What is true
wisdom, or what fairer boon has heaven placed in mortals' reach,
than to gain the mastery o'er a fallen foe? What is fair is dear for
ave. Happy is he who hath escaped the wave from out the sea, and
reached the haven; and happy he who hath triumphed o'er his
troubles; though one surpasses another in wealth and power; yet
there be myriad hopes for all the myriad minds; some end in
happiness for man, and others come to naught; but him, whose life from
day to day is blest, I deem a happy man.

                            Enter DIONYSUS.

  DIONYSUS
    Ho! Pentheus, thou that art so cager to see what is forbidden, and
to show thy zeal in an unworthy cause, come forth before the palace,
let me see thee clad as a woman in frenzied Bacchante's dress, to
spy upon thy own mother and her company.

                              Enter PENTHEUS.

    Yes, thou resemblest closely a daughter of Cadmus.
  PENTHEUS
    Of a truth I seem to see two suns, and two towns of Thebes, our
seven-gated city; and thou, methinks, art a bull going before to guide
me, and on thy head a pair of horns have grown. Wert thou really
once a brute beast? Thon hast at any rate the appearance of a bull.
  DIONYSUS
    The god attends us, ungracious heretofore, but now our sworn
friend; and now thine eyes behold the things they should.
  PENTHEUS
    Pray, what do I resemble? Is not mine the carriage of Ino, or
Agave my own mother?
  DIONYSUS
    In seeing thee, I seem to see them in person. But this tress is
straying from its place, no longer as I bound it 'neath the snood.
  PENTHEUS
    I disarranged it from its place as I tossed it to and fro within
my chamber, in Bacchic ecstasy.
  DIONYSUS
    Well, I will rearrange it, since to tend thee is my care; hold
up thy head.
  PENTHEUS
    Come, put it straight; for on thee do I depend.
  DIONYSUS
    Thy girdle is loose, and the folds of thy dress do not hang evenly
below thy ankles.
  PENTHEUS
    I agree to that as regards the right side, but on the other my
dress hangs straight with my foot.
  DIONYSUS
    Surely thou wilt rank me first among thy friends, when contrary to
thy expectation thou findest the Bacchantes virtuous.
  PENTHEUS
    Shall I hold the thyrsus in the right or left hand to look most
like a Bacchanal?
  DIONYSUS
    Hold it in thy right hand, and step out with thy right foot; thy
change of mind compels thy praise.
  PENTHEUS
    Shall I be able to carry on my shoulders Cithaeron's glens, the
Bacchanals and all?
  DIONYSUS
    Yes, if so thou wilt; for though thy mind was erst diseased,
'tis now just as it should be.
  PENTHEUS
    Shall we take levers, or with my hands can I uproot it,
thrusting arm or shoulder 'neath its peaks?
  DIONYSUS
    No, no! destroy not the seats of the Nymphs and the haunts of Pan,
the place of his piping.
  PENTHEUS
    Well said! Women must not be mastered by brute force; amid the
pines will I conceal myself.
  DIONYSUS
    Thou shalt hide thee in the place that fate appoints, coming by
stealth to spy upon the Bacchanals.
  PENTHEUS
    Why, methinks they are already caught in the pleasant snares of
dalliance, like birds amid the brakes.
  DIONYSUS
    Set out with watchful heed then for this very purpose; maybe
thou wilt catch them, if thou be not first caught thyself.
  PENTHEUS
    Conduct me through the very heart of Thebes, for I am the only man
among them bold enough to do this deed.
  DIONYSUS
    Thou alone bearest thy country's burden, thou and none other;
wherefore there await thee such struggles as needs must. Follow me,
for I will guide thee safely thither; another shall bring thee thence.
  PENTHEUS
    My mother maybe.
  DIONYSUS
    For every eye to see.
  PENTHEUS
    My very purpose in going.
  DIONYSUS
    Thou shalt be carried back,
  PENTHEUS
    What luxury
  DIONYSUS
    In thy mother's arms.
  PENTHEUS
    Thou wilt e'en force me into luxury.
  DIONYSUS
    Yes, to luxury such as this.
  PENTHEUS
    Truly, the task I am undertaking deserves it.

                                                       Exit PENTHEUS.

  DIONYSUS
    Strange, ah! strange is thy career, leading to scenes of woe so
strange, that thou shalt achieve a fame that towers to heaven. Stretch
forth thy hands, Agave, and ye her sisters, daughters of Cadmus;
mighty is the strife to which I am bringing the youthful king, and the
victory shall rest with me and Bromius; all else the event will show.

                                                       Exit DIONYSUS.

  CHORUS
    To the hills! to the hills! fleet hounds of madness, where the
daughters of Cadmus hold their revels, goad them into wild fury
against the man disguised in woman's dress, a frenzied spy upon the
Maenads. First shall his mother mark him as he peers from some
smooth rock or riven tree, and thus to the Maenads she will call, "Who
is this of Cadmus' sons comes hasting to the mount, to the mountain
away, to spy on us, my Bacchanals? Whose child can he be? For he was
never born of woman's blood; but from some lioness maybe or Libyan
Gorgon is he sprung." Let justice appear and show herself, sword in
hand, to plunge it through and through the throat of the godless,
lawless, impious son of Echion, earth's monstrous child! who with
wicked heart and lawless rage, with mad intent and frantic purpose,
sets out to meddle with thy holy rites, and with thy mother's, Bacchic
god, thinking with his weak arm to master might as masterless as
thine. This is the life that saves all pain, if a man confine his
thoughts to human themes, as is his mortal nature, making no
pretence where heaven is concerned. I envy not deep subtleties; far
other joys have I, in tracking out great truths writ clear from all
eternity, that a man should live his life by day and night in purity
and holiness, striving toward a noble goal, and should honour the gods
by casting from him each ordinance that lies outside the pale of
right. Let justice show herself, advancing sword in hand to plunge
it through and through the throat of Echion's son, that godless,
lawless, and abandoned child of earth! Appear, O Bacchus, to our
eyes as a bull or serpent with a hundred heads, or take the shape of a
lion breathing flame! Oh! come, and with a mocking smile cast the
deadly noose about the hunter of thy Bacchanals, e'en as he swoops
upon the Maenads gathered yonder.

                        Enter SECOND MESSENGER.

  SECOND MESSENGER
    O house, so prosperous once through Hellas long ago, home of the
old Sidonian prince, who sowed the serpent's crop of earth-born men,
how do I mourn thee! slave though I be, yet still the sorrows of his
master touch a good slave's heart.
  CHORUS
    How now? Hast thou fresh tidings of the Bacchantes?
  SECOND MESSENGER
    Pentheus, Echion's son is dead.
  CHORUS
    Bromius, my king! now art thou appearing in thy might divine.
  SECOND MESSENGER
    Ha! what is it thou sayest? art thou glad, woman, at my master's
misfortunes?
  CHORUS
    A stranger I, and in foreign tongue I express my joy, for now no
more do I cower in terror of the chain.
  SECOND MESSENGER
    Dost think Thebes so poor in men?[*]

[* Probably the whole of one iambic line with part of another is
here lost.]

  CHORUS
    'Tis Dionysus, Dionysus, not Thebes that lords it over me.
  SECOND MESSENGER
    All can I pardon thee save this; to exult o'er hopeless
suffering is sorry conduct, dames.
  CHORUS
    Tell me, oh! tell me how he died, that villain scheming villainy!
  SECOND MESSENGER
    Soon as we had left the homesteads of this Theban land and had
crossed the streams of Asopus, we began to breast Cithaeron's heights,
Pentheus and I, for I went with my master, and the stranger too, who
was to guide us to the scene. First then we sat us down in a grassy
glen, carefully silencing each footfall and whispered breath, to see
without being seen. Now there was a dell walled in by rocks, with
rills to water it, and shady pines o'erhead; there were the Maenads
seated, busied with joyous toils. Some were wreathing afresh the
drooping thyrsus with curling ivy-sprays; others, like colts let loose
from the carved chariot-yoke, were answering each other in hymns of
Bacchic rapture. But Pentheus, son of sorrow, seeing not the women
gathered there, exclaimed, "Sir stranger, from where I stand, I cannot
clearly see the mock Bacchantes; but I will climb a hillock or a
soaring pine whence to see clearly the shameful doings of the
Bacchanals." Then and there I saw the stranger work a miracle; for
catching a lofty fir-branch by the very end he drew it downward to the
dusky earth, lower yet and ever lower; and like a bow it bent, or
rounded wheel, whose curving circle grows complete, as chalk and
line describe it; e'en so the stranger drew down the mountain-branch
between his hands, bending it to earth, by more than human agency. And
when he had seated Pentheus aloft on the pine branches, he let them
slip through his hands gently, careful not to shake him from his seat.
Up soared the branch straight into the air above, with my master
perched thereon, seen by the Maenads better far than he saw them;
for scarce was he beheld upon his lofty throne, when the stranger
disappeared, while from the sky there came a voice, 'twould seem, by
Dionysus uttered-
        "Maidens, I bring the man who tried to mock you and me and
my mystic rites; take vengeance on him." And as he spake he raised
'twixt heaven and earth a dazzling column of awful flame. Hushed
grew the sky, and still hung each leaf throughout the grassy glen, nor
couldst thou have heard one creature cry. But they, not sure of the
voice they heard, sprang up and peered all round; then once again
his bidding came; and when the daughters of Cadmus knew it was the
Bacchic god in very truth that called, swift as doves they dirted
off in cager haste, his mother Agave and her sisters dear and all
the Bacchanals; through torrent glen, o'er boulders huge they
bounded on, inspired with madness by the god. Soon as they saw my
master perched upon the fir, they set to hurling stones at him with
all their might, mounting a commanding eminence, and with
pine-branches he was pelted as with darts; and others shot their wands
through the air at Pentheus, their hapless target, but all to no
purpose. For there he sat beyond the reach of their hot endeavours,
a helpless, hopeless victim. At last they rent off limbs from oaks and
were for prising up the roots with levers not of iron. But when they
still could make no end to all their toil, Agave cried: "Come stand
around, and grip the sapling trunk, my Bacchanals! that we may catch
the beast that sits thereon, lest he divulge the secrets of our
god's religion."
    Then were a thousand hands laid on the fir, and from the ground
they tore it up, while he from his seat aloft came tumbling to the
ground with lamentations long and loud, e'en Pentheus; for well he
knew his hour was come. His mother first, a priestess for the nonce,
began the bloody deed and fell upon him; whereon he tore the snood
from off his hair, that hapless Agave might recognize and spare him,
crying as he touched her cheek, "O mother! it is I, thy own son
Pentheus, the child thou didst bear in Echion's halls; have pity on
me, mother dear! oh! do not for any sin of mine slay thy own son."
    But she, the while, with foaming mouth and wildly rolling eyes,
bereft of reason as she was, heeded him not; for the god possessed
her. And she caught his left hand in her grip, and planting her foot
upon her victim's trunk she tore the shoulder from its socket, not
of her own strength, but the god made it an easy task to her hands;
and Ino set to work upon the other side, rending the flesh with
Autonoe and all the eager host of Bacchanals; and one united cry
arose, the victim's groans while yet he breathed, and their triumphant
shouts. One would make an arm her prey, another a foot with the sandal
on it; and his ribs were stripped of flesh by their rending nails; and
each one with blood-dabbled hands was tossing Pentheus' limbs about.
Scattered lies his corpse, part beneath the rugged rocks, and part
amid the deep dark woods, no easy task to find; but his poor head hath
his mother made her own, and fixing it upon the point of a thyrsus, as
it had been a mountain lion's, she bears it through the midst of
Cithaeron, having left her sisters with the Maenads at their rites.
And she is entering these walls exulting in her hunting fraught with
woe, calling on the Bacchic god her fellow-hunter who had helped her
to triumph in a chase, where her only prize was tears.
    But I will get me hence, away from this piteous scene, before
Agave reach the palace. To my mind self-restraint and reverence for
the things of God point alike the best and wisest course for all
mortals who pursue them.

                                               Exit SECOND MESSENGER.

  CHORUS
    Come, let us exalt our Bacchic god in choral strain, let us loudly
chant the fall of Pentheus from the serpent sprung, who assumed a
woman's dress and took the fair Bacchic wand, sure pledge of death,
with a bull to guide him to his doom. O ye Bacchanals of Thebes!
glorious is the triumph ye have achieved, ending in sorrow and
tears. 'Tis a noble enterprise to dabble the hand in the blood of a
son till it drips. But hist! I see Agave, the mother of Pentheus, with
wild rolling eye hasting to the house; welcome the revellers of the
Bacchic god.
                            Enter AGAVE.

  AGAVE
    Ye Bacchanals from Asia
  CHORUS
    Why dost thou rouse me? why?
  AGAVE
    From the hills I am bringing to my home a tendril
freshly-culled, glad guerdon-of the chase.
  CHORUS
    I see it, and I will welcome thee unto our revels. All hail!
  AGAVE
    I caught him with never a snare, this lion's whelp, as ye may see.
  CHORUS
    From what desert lair?
  AGAVE
    Cithaeron-
  CHORUS
    Yes, Cithaeron?
  AGAVE
    Was his death.
  CHORUS
    Who was it gave the first blow?
  AGAVE
    Mine that privilege; "Happy Agave!" they call me 'mid our
revellers.
  CHORUS
    Who did the rest?
  AGAVE
    Cadmus-
  CHORUS
    What of him?
  AGAVE
    His daughters struck the monster after me; yes, after me.
  CHORUS
    Fortune smiled upon thy hunting here.
  AGAVE
    Come, share the banquet.
  CHORUS
    Share? ah I what?
  AGAVE
    'Tis but a tender whelp, the down just sprouting on its cheek
beneath a crest of failing hair.
  CHORUS
    The hair is like some wild creature's.
  AGAVE
    The Bacchic god, a hunter skilled, roused his Maenads to pursue
this quarry skilfully.
  CHORUS
    Yea, our king is a hunter indeed.
  AGAVE
    Dost approve?
  CHORUS
    Of course I do.
  AGAVE
    Soon shall the race of Cadmus-
  CHORUS
    And Pentheus, her own son, shall to his mother-
  AGAVE
    Offer praise for this her quarry of the lion's brood.
  CHORUS
    Quarry strange!
  AGAVE
    And strangely caught.
  CHORUS
    Dost thou exult?
  AGAVE
    Right glad am I to have achieved a great and glorious triumph
for my land that all can see.
  CHORUS
    Alas for thee! show to the folk the booty thou hast won and art
bringing hither.
  AGAVE
    All ye who dwell in fair fenced Thebes, draw near that ye may
see the fierce wild beast that we daughters of Cadmus made our prey,
not with the thong-thrown darts of Thessaly, nor yet with snares,
but with our fingers fair. Ought men idly to boast and get them
armourers' weapons? when we with these our hands have caught this prey
and torn the monster limb from limb? Where is my aged sire? let him
approach. And where is Pentheus, my son? Let him bring a ladder and
raise it against the house to nail up on the gables this lion's
head, my booty from the chase.

                            Enter CADMUS.

  CADMUS
    Follow me, servants to the palace-front, with your sad burden in
your arms, ay, follow, with the corpse of Pentheus, which after long
weary search I found, as ye see it, torn to pieces amid Cithaeron's
glens, and am bringing hither; no two pieces did I find together, as
they lay scattered through the trackless wood. For I heard what
awful deeds one of my daughters had done, just as I entered the
city-walls with old Teiresias returning from the Bacchanals; so I
turned again unto the and bring from thence my son who was slain by
Maenads. There I saw Autonoe, that bare Actaeon on a day to Aristaeus,
and Ino with her, still ranging the oak-groves in their unhappy
frenzy; but one told me that that Agave, was rushing wildly hither,
nor was it idly said, for there I see her, sight of woe!
  AGAVE
    Father, loudly mayst thou boast, that the daughters thou hast
begotten are far the best of mortal race; of one and all I speak,
though chiefly of myself, who left my shuttle at the loom for nobler
enterprise, even to hunt savage beasts with my hands; and in my arms I
bring my prize, as thou seest, that it may be nailed up on thy
palace-wall; take it, father, in thy had and proud of my hunting, call
thy friends to a banquet; for blest art thou, ah! doubly blest in
these our gallant exploits.
  CADMUS
    O grief that has no bounds, too cruel for mortal eye! 'tis
murder ye have done with your hapless hands. Fair is the victim thou
hast offered to the gods, inviting me and my Thebans to the feast
Ah, woe is me first for thy sorrows, then for mine. What ruin the god,
the Bromian king, hath brought on us, just maybe, but too severe,
seeing he is our kinsman!
  AGAVE
    How peevish old age makes men! what sullen looks! Oh, may my son
follow in his mother's footsteps and be as lucky in his hunting,
when he goes quest of game in company with Theban youthsl But he can
do naught but wage war with gods. Father, 'tis thy duty to warn him.
Who will summon him hither to my sight to witness my happiness?
  CADMUS
    Alas for you! alas! Terrible will be your grief when ye are
conscious of your deeds; could ye re. for ever till life's close in
your present state, ye would not, spite of ruined bliss, appear so
cursed with woe.
  AGAVE
    Why? what is faulty bere? what here for sorrow?
  CADMUS
    First let thine eye look up to heaven.
  AGAVE
   See! I do so. Why dost thou suggest my looking thereupon?
  CADMUS
    Is it still the same, or dost think there's any change?
  AGAVE
    'Tis brighter than it was, and dearer too.
  CADMUS
    Is there still that wild unrest within thy soul?
  AGAVE
    I know not what thou sayest now; yet methinks my brain is
clearing, and my former frenzy passed away.
  CADMUS
    Canst understand, and give distinct replies?
  AGAVE
    Father, how completely I forget all we said before!
  CADMUS
    To what house wert thou brought with marriage-hymns?
  AGAVE
    Thou didst give me to earthborn Echion, as men call him.
  CADMUS
    What child was born thy husband in his halls?
  AGAVE
    Pentheus, of my union with his father.
  CADMUS
    What head is that thou barest in thy arms?
  AGAVE
    A lion's; at least they said so, who hunted it.
  CADMUS
    Consider it aright; 'tis no great task to look at it.
  AGAVE
    Ah! what do I see? what is this I am carrying in my hands?
  CADMUS
    Look closely at it; make thy knowledge more certain.
  AGAVE
    Ah, 'woe is me! O sight of awful sorrow!
  CADMUS
    Dost think it like a lion's head?
  AGAVE
    Ah no! 'tis Pentheus' head which I his unhappy mother hold.
  CADMUS
    Bemoaned by me, or ever thou didst recognize him.
  AGAVE
    Who slew him? How came he into my hands?
  CADMUS
    O piteous truth! how ill-timed thy presence here!
  AGAVE
    Speak; my bosom throbs at this suspense.
  CADMUS
    'Twas thou didst slay him, thou and thy sisters.
  AGAVE
    Where died he? in the house or where?
  CADMUS
    On the very spot where hounds of yore rent Actaeon in pieces.
  AGAVE
    Why went he, wretched youth! to Cithaeron?
  CADMUS
    He would go and mock the god and thy Bacchic rites.
  AGAVE
    But how was it we had journeyed thither?
  CADMUS
    Ye were distraught; the whole city had the Bacchic frenzy.
  AGAVE
    'Twas Dionysus proved our ruin; now I see it all.
  CADMUS
    Yes, for the slight he suffered; ye would not believe in his
godhead.
  AGAVE
    Father, where is my dear child's corpse?
  CADMUS
    With toil I searched it out and am bringing it myself.
  AGAVE
    Is it all fitted limb to limb in seemly wise?
  CADMUS [*]

[* One line, or maybe more, is missing]

  AGAVE
    But what had Pentheus to do with folly of mine?
  CADMUS
    He was like you in refusing homage to the god, who, therefore,
hath involved you all in one common ruin, you and him alike, to
destroy this house and me, forasmuch as I, that had no sons, behold
this youth, the fruit of thy womb, unhappy mother! foully and most
shamefully slain. To thee, my child, our house looked up, to thee my
daughter's son, the stay of my palace, inspiring the city with awe;
none caring to flout the old king when he saw thee by, for he would
get his deserts. But now shall I be cast out dishonoured from my
halls, Cadmus the great, who sowed the crop of Theban seed and
reaped that goodly harvest. O beloved child! dead though thou art,
thou still shalt be counted by me amongst my own dear children; no
more wilt thou lay thy hand upon my chin in fond embrace, my child,
and calling on thy mother's sire demand, "Who wrongs thee or
dishonours thee, old sire? who vexes thy heart, a thorn within thy
side? Speak, that I may punish thy oppressor, father mine!"
    But now am I in sorrow plunged, and woe is thee, and woe thy
mother and her suffering sisters too! Ah! if there be any man that
scorns the gods, let him well mark this prince's death and then
believe in them.
  CHORUS
    Cadmus, I am sorry for thy fate; for though thy daughter's child
hath met but his deserts, 'tis bitter grief to thee.
  AGAVE
    O father, thou seest how sadly my fortune is changed.[*]

[* After this a very large lacuna occurs in the MS.]


  DIONYSUS
  Thou shalt be changed into a serpent; and thy wife Harmonia, Ares'
child, whom thou in thy human life didst wed, shall change her
nature for a snake's, and take its form. With her shalt thou, as
leader of barbarian tribes, drive thy team of steers, so saith an
oracle of Zeus; and many a city shalt thou sack with an army
numberless; but in the day they plunder the oracle of Loxias, shall
they rue their homeward march; but thee and Harmonia will Ares rescue,
and set thee to live henceforth in the land of the blessed. This do
I declare, I Dionysus, son of no mortal father but of Zeus. Had ye
learnt wisdom when ye would not, ye would now be happy with the son of
Zeus for your ally.
  AGAVE
    O Dionysus! we have sinned; thy pardon we implore.
  DIONYSUS
    Too late have ye learnt to know me; ye knew me not at the proper
time.
  AGAVE
    We recognize our error; but thou art too revengeful.
  DIONYSUS
    Yea, for I, though a god, was slighted by you.
  AGAVE
    Gods should not let their passion sink to man's level.
  DIONYSUS
    Long ago my father Zeus ordained it thus.
  AGAVE
    Alas! my aged sire, our doom is fixed; 'tis woful exile.
  DIONYSUS
    Why then delay the inevitable? Exit.
  CADMUS
    Daughter, to what an awful pass are we now come, thou too, poor
child, and thy sisters, while I alas! in my old age must seek
barbarian shores, to sojourn there; but the oracle declares that I
shall yet lead an army, half-barbarian, half-Hellene, to Hellas; and
in serpent's shape shall I carry my wife Harmonia, the daughter of
Ares, transformed like me to a savage snake, against the altars and
tombs of Hellas at the head of my troops; nor shall I ever cease
from my woes, ah me! nor ever cross the downward stream of Acheron and
be at rest.
  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
