{"id":30,"date":"2017-06-24T20:36:20","date_gmt":"2017-06-24T20:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-humanities1-1\/chapter\/the-bacchae-of-euripides-ii\/"},"modified":"2017-07-20T17:43:11","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T17:43:11","slug":"the-bacchae-of-euripides-ii","status":"web-only","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-geneseo-humanities1-1\/chapter\/the-bacchae-of-euripides-ii\/","title":{"raw":"The Bacchae of Euripides II","rendered":"The Bacchae of Euripides II"},"content":{"raw":"

Pentheus<\/h3>\r\n
Surely; the ridge that winds by Sardis' towers<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Thence am I; Lydia was my fatherland.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
And whence these revelations, that thy band\r\nSpreadeth in Hellas?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Their intent and use\r\nDionysus oped to me, the Child of Zeus.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

(brutally<\/i>)<\/p>\r\n

Is there a Zeus there, that can still beget\r\nYoung Gods?<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Nay, only He whose seal was set\r\nHere in thy Thebes on Semel\u00ea.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
What way\r\nDescended he upon thee? In full day\r\nOr vision of night?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Most clear he stood, and scanned\r\nMy soul, and gave his emblems to mine hand.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
What like be they, these emblems?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
That may none\r\nReveal, nor know, save his Elect alone.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
And what good bring they to the worshipper?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Good beyond price, but not for thee to hear.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Thou trickster! Thou wouldst prick me on the more\r\nTo seek them out!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
His mysteries abhor\r\nThe touch of sin-lovers.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
And so thine eyes\r\nSaw this God plain; what guise had he?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
What guise\r\nIt liked him. 'Twas not I ordained his shape.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Aye, deftly turned again. An idle jape,\r\nAnd nothing answered!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Wise words being brought\r\nTo blinded eyes will seem as things of nought.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
And comest thou first to Thebes, to have thy God\r\nEstablished?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Nay; all Barbary hath trod\r\nHis dance ere this.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
A low blind folk, I ween,\r\nBeside our Hellenes!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Higher and more keen\r\nIn this thing, though their ways are not thy way.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
How is thy worship held, by night or day?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Most oft by night; 'tis a majestic thing,\r\nThe darkness.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Ha! with women worshipping?\r\n'Tis craft and rottenness!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
By day no less,\r\nWhoso will seek may find unholiness.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Enough! Thy doom is fixed, for false pretence\r\nCorrupting Thebes.<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Not mine; but thine, for dense\r\nBlindness of heart, and for blaspheming God!<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
A ready knave it is, and brazen-browed,\r\nThis mystery-priest!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Come, say what it shall be,\r\nMy doom; what dire thing wilt thou do to me?<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
First, shear that delicate curl that dangles there.<\/div>\r\n

[He beckons to the soldiers, who approach Dionysus<\/span>.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
I have vowed it to my God; 'tis holy hair.<\/div>\r\n

[The soldiers cut off the tress.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Next, yield me up thy staff!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Raise thine own hand\r\nTo take it. This is Dionysus' wand.<\/div>\r\n

[Pentheus<\/span> takes the staff.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Last, I will hold thee prisoned here.<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
My Lord\r\nGod will unloose me, when I speak the word.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
He may, if e'er again amid his bands\r\nOf saints he hears thy voice!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Even now he stands\r\nClose here, and sees all that I suffer.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
What?\r\nWhere is he? For mine eyes discern him not.<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Where I am! 'Tis thine own impurity\r\nThat veils him from thee.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
The dog jeers at me!\r\nAt me and Thebes! Bind him!<\/div>\r\n

[The soldiers begin to bind him.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
I charge ye, bind\r\nMe not! I having vision and ye blind!<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
And I, with better right, say bind the more!<\/div>\r\n

[The soldiers obey.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Thou knowest not what end thou seekest, nor\r\nWhat deed thou doest, nor what man thou art!<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

(mocking)<\/em><\/p>\r\n

Ag\u00e2v\u00ea's son, and on the father's part\r\nEch\u00eeon's, hight Pentheus!<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
So let it be,\r\nA name fore-written to calamity!<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Away, and tie him where the steeds are tied;\r\nAye, let him lie in the manger!\u2014There abide\r\nAnd stare into the darkness!\u2014And this rout\r\nOf womankind that clusters thee about,\r\nThy ministers of worship, are my slaves!\r\nIt may be I will sell them o'er the waves,\r\nHither and thither; else they shall be set\r\nTo labour at my distaffs, and forget\r\nTheir timbrel and their songs of dawning day!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
I go; for that which may not be, I may\r\nNot suffer! Yet for this thy sin, lo, He\r\nWhom thou deniest cometh after thee\r\nFor recompense. Yea, in thy wrong to us,\r\nThou hast cast Him into thy prison-house!<\/div>\r\n

[Dionysus<\/span>, without his wand, his hair shorn,\u00a0<\/em>and his arms tightly bound, is led off by\u00a0<\/em>the guards to his dungeon. Pentheus<\/span> returns\u00a0<\/em>into the Palace.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Chorus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

Some Maidens<\/h4>\r\n
Achelo\u00fcs' roaming daughter,\r\nHoly Dirc\u00ea, virgin water,\r\nBathed he not of old in thee,\r\nThe Babe of God, the Mystery?\r\nWhen from out the fire immortal\r\nTo himself his God did take him,\r\nTo his own flesh, and bespake him:\r\n\"Enter now life's second portal,\r\nMotherless Mystery; lo, I break\r\nMine own body for thy sake,\r\nThou of the Twofold Door, and seal thee\r\nMine, O Bromios,\"\u2014thus he spake\u2014\r\n\"And to this thy land reveal thee.\"<\/div>\r\n

All<\/h4>\r\n
Still my prayer toward thee quivers,\r\nDirc\u00ea, still to thee I hie me;\r\nWhy, O Bless\u00e8d among Rivers,\r\nWilt thou fly me and deny me?\r\nBy His own joy I vow,\r\nBy the grape upon the bough,\r\nThou shalt seek Him in the midnight, thou shalt love\r\nHim, even now!<\/div>\r\n

Other Maidens<\/h4>\r\n

Dark and of the dark impassioned\r\nIs this Pentheus' blood; yea, fashioned\r\nOf the Dragon, and his birth\r\nFrom Ech\u00eeon, child of Earth.\r\nHe is no man, but a wonder;\r\nDid the Earth-Child not beget him,\r\nAs a red Giant, to set him\r\nAgainst God, against the Thunder?\r\nHe will bind me for his prize,\r\nMe, the Bride of Dionyse;\r\nAnd my priest, my friend, is taken\r\nEven now, and buried lies;\r\nIn the dark he lies forsaken!<\/p>\r\n\r\n

All<\/h4>\r\n
Lo, we race with death, we perish,\r\nDionysus, here before thee!\r\nDost thou mark us not, nor cherish,\r\nWho implore thee, and adore thee?\r\nHither down Olympus' side,\r\nCome, O Holy One defied,\r\nBe thy golden wand uplifted o'er the tyrant in his pride!<\/div>\r\n

A Maiden<\/h4>\r\n
Oh, where art thou? In thine own\r\nNysa, thou our help alone?\r\nO'er fierce beasts in orient lands\r\nDoth thy thronging thyrsus wave,\r\nBy the high Corycian Cave,\r\nOr where stern Olympus stands;\r\nIn the elm-woods and the oaken,\r\nThere where Orpheus harped of old,\r\nAnd the trees awoke and knew him,\r\nAnd the wild things gathered to him,\r\nAs he sang amid the broken\r\nGlens his music manifold?\r\nBlessed Land of Pi\u00ebrie,\r\nDionysus loveth thee;\r\nHe will come to thee with dancing,\r\nCome with joy and mystery;\r\nWith the Maenads at his hest\r\nWinding, winding to the West;\r\nCross the flood of swiftly glancing\r\nAxios in majesty;\r\nCross the Lydias, the giver\r\nOf good gifts and waving green;\r\nCross that Father-Stream of story,\r\nThrough a land of steeds and glory\r\nRolling, bravest, fairest River\r\nE'er of mortals seen!<\/div>\r\n

A Voice Within<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Io! Io!<\/div>\r\n
Awake, ye damsels; hear my cry,\r\nCalling my Chosen; hearken ye!<\/div>\r\n

A Maiden<\/span><\/h4>\r\n
Who speaketh? Oh, what echoes thus?<\/div>\r\n

Another<\/span><\/h4>\r\n
A Voice, a Voice, that calleth us!<\/div>\r\n

The Voice<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Be of good cheer! Lo, it is I,\r\nThe Child of Zeus and Semel\u00ea.<\/div>\r\n

A Maiden<\/span><\/h4>\r\n
O Master, Master, it is Thou!<\/div>\r\n

Another<\/span><\/h4>\r\n
O Holy Voice, be with us now!<\/div>\r\n

The Voice<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Spirit of the Chained Earthquake,\r\nHear my word; awake, awake!<\/div>\r\n

[An Earthquake suddenly shakes\u00a0<\/em>the pillars of the Castle.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A Maiden<\/span><\/h4>\r\n
Ha! what is coming? Shall the hall\r\nOf Pentheus racked in ruin fall?<\/div>\r\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Our God is in the house! Ye maids adore Him!<\/div>\r\n

Chorus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
We adore Him all!<\/div>\r\n

The Voice<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Unveil the Lightning's eye; arouse\r\nThe fire that sleeps, against this house!<\/div>\r\n

[Fire leaps up on the Tomb of Semel\u00ea.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A Maiden<\/span><\/h4>\r\n
Ah, saw ye, marked ye there the flame\r\nFrom Semel\u00ea's enhallowed sod\r\nAwakened? Yea, the Death that came\r\nAblaze from heaven of old, the same\r\nHot splendour of the shaft of God?<\/div>\r\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Oh, cast ye, cast ye, to the earth! The Lord\r\nCometh against this house! Oh, cast ye down,\r\nYe trembling damsels; He, our own adored,\r\nGod's Child hath come, and all is overthrown!<\/div>\r\n

[The Maidens cast themselves upon\u00a0<\/em>the ground, their eyes earthward. Dionysus<\/span>,\u00a0<\/em>alone and unbound, enters from the Castle.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Ye Damsels of the Morning Hills, why lie ye thus dismayed?\r\nYe marked him, then, our Master, and the mighty hand he laid\r\nOn tower and rock, shaking the house of Pentheus?\u2014But arise,\r\nAnd cast the trembling from your flesh, and lift untroubled eyes.<\/div>\r\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
O Light in Darkness, is it thou? O Priest, is this thy face?\r\nMy heart leaps out to greet thee from the deep of loneliness.<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Fell ye so quick despairing, when beneath the Gate I passed?\r\nShould the gates of Pentheus quell me, or his darkness make me fast?<\/div>\r\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Oh, what was left if thou wert gone? What could I but despair?\r\nHow hast thou 'scaped the man of sin? Who freed thee from the snare?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
I had no pain nor peril; 'twas mine own hand set me free.<\/div>\r\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Thine arms were gyv\u00e8d!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Nay, no gyve, no touch, was laid on me!\r\n'Twas there I mocked him, in his gyves, and gave him dreams for food.\r\nFor when he led me down, behold, before the stall there stood\r\nA Bull of Offering. And this King, he bit his lips, and straight\r\nFell on and bound it, hoof and limb, with gasping wrath and sweat.\r\nAnd I sat watching!\u2014Then a Voice; and lo, our Lord was come,\r\nAnd the house shook, and a great flame stood o'er his mother's tomb.\r\nAnd Pentheus hied this way and that, and called his thralls amain\r\nFor water, lest his roof-tree burn; and all toiled, all in vain.\r\nThen deemed a-sudden I was gone; and left his fire, and sped\r\nBack to the prison portals, and his lifted sword shone red.\r\nBut there, methinks, the God had wrought\u2014I speak but as I guess\u2014\r\nSome dream-shape in mine image; for he smote at emptiness,\r\nStabbed in the air, and strove in wrath, as though 'twere me he slew.\r\nThen 'mid his dreams God smote him yet again! He overthrew\r\nAll that high house. And there in wreck for evermore it lies,\r\nThat the day of this my bondage may be sore in Pentheus' eyes!\r\nAnd now his sword is fallen, and he lies outworn and wan\r\nWho dared to rise against his God in wrath, being but man.\r\nAnd I uprose and left him, and in all peace took my path\r\nForth to my Chosen, recking light of Pentheus and his wrath.\r\nBut soft, methinks a footstep sounds even now within the hall;\r\n'Tis he; how think ye he will stand, and what words speak withal?\r\nI will endure him gently, though he come in fury hot.\r\nFor still are the ways of Wisdom, and her temper trembleth not!<\/div>\r\n

[Enter Pentheus<\/span> in fury.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
It is too much! This Eastern knave hath slipped\r\nHis prison, whom I held but now, hard gripped\r\nIn bondage.\u2014Ha! 'Tis he!\u2014What, sirrah, how\r\nShow'st thou before my portals?<\/div>\r\n

[He advances furiously upon him.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Softly thou!\r\nAnd set a quiet carriage to thy rage.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
How comest thou here? How didst thou break thy cage?\r\nSpeak!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Said I not, or didst thou mark not me,\r\nThere was One living that should set me free?<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Who? Ever wilder are these tales of thine.<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
He who first made for man the clustered vine.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
I scorn him and his vines!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
For Dionyse\r\n'Tis well; for in thy scorn his glory lies.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

(to his guard<\/i>)<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Go swift to all the towers, and bar withal\r\nEach gate!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
What, cannot God o'erleap a wall?<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Oh, wit thou hast, save where thou needest it!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Whereso it most imports, there is my wit!\u2014\r\nNay, peace! Abide till he who hasteth from\r\nThe mountain side with news for thee, be come.\r\nWe will not fly, but wait on thy command.<\/div>\r\n

[Enter suddenly and in haste a Messenger\u00a0<\/em>from the Mountain<\/em>.]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Messenger<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Great Pentheus, Lord of all this Theban land,\r\nI come from high Kithaeron, where the frore\r\nSnow spangles gleam and cease not evermore. . .<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
And what of import may thy coming bring?<\/div>\r\n

Messenger<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
I have seen the Wild White Women there, O King,\r\nWhose fleet limbs darted arrow-like but now\r\nFrom Thebes away, and come to tell thee how\r\nThey work strange deeds and passing marvel. Yet\r\nI first would learn thy pleasure. Shall I set\r\nMy whole tale forth, or veil the stranger part?\r\nYea, Lord, I fear the swiftness of thy heart,\r\nThine edg\u00e8d wrath and more than royal soul.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Thy tale shall nothing scathe thee.\u2014Tell the whole.\r\nIt skills not to be wroth with honesty.\r\nNay, if thy news of them be dark, 'tis he\r\nShall pay it, who bewitched and led them on.<\/div>\r\n

Messenger<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Our herded kine were moving in the dawn\r\nUp to the peaks, the greyest, coldest time,\r\nWhen the first rays steal earthward, and the rime\r\nYields, when I saw three bands of them. The one\r\nAutono\u00eb led, one Ino, one thine own\r\nMother, Ag\u00e2v\u00ea. There beneath the trees\r\nSleeping they lay, like wild things flung at ease\r\nIn the forest; one half sinking on a bed\r\nOf deep pine greenery; one with careless head\r\nAmid the fallen oak leaves; all most cold\r\nIn purity\u2014not as thy tale was told\r\nOf wine-cups and wild music and the chase\r\nFor love amid the forest's loneliness.\r\nThen rose the Queen Ag\u00e2v\u00ea suddenly\r\nAmid her band, and gave the God's wild cry,\r\n\"Awake, ye Bacchanals! I hear the sound\r\nOf horn\u00e8d kine. Awake ye!\"\u2014Then, all round,\r\nAlert, the warm sleep fallen from their eyes,\r\nA marvel of swift ranks I saw them rise,\r\nDames young and old, and gentle maids unwed\r\nAmong them. O'er their shoulders first they shed\r\nTheir tresses, and caught up the fallen fold\r\nOf mantles where some clasp had loosened hold,\r\nAnd girt the dappled fawn-skins in with long\r\nQuick snakes that hissed and writhed with quivering tongue.\r\nAnd one a young fawn held, and one a wild\r\nWolf cub, and fed them with white milk, and smiled\r\nIn love, young mothers with a mother's breast\r\nAnd babes at home forgotten! Then they pressed\r\nWreathed ivy round their brows, and oaken sprays\r\nAnd flowering bryony. And one would raise\r\nHer wand and smite the rock, and straight a jet\r\nOf quick bright water came. Another set\r\nHer thyrsus in the bosomed earth, and there\r\nWas red wine that the God sent up to her,\r\nA darkling fountain. And if any lips\r\nSought whiter draughts, with dipping finger-tips\r\nThey pressed the sod, and gushing from the ground\r\nCame springs of milk. And reed-wands ivy-crowned\r\nRan with sweet honey, drop by drop.\u2014O King,\r\nHadst thou been there, as I, and seen this thing,\r\nWith prayer and most high wonder hadst thou gone\r\nTo adore this God whom now thou rail'st upon!\r\nHowbeit, the kine-wardens and shepherds straight\r\nCame to one place, amazed, and held debate;\r\nAnd one being there who walked the streets and scanned\r\nThe ways of speech, took lead of them whose hand\r\nKnew but the slow soil and the solemn hill,\r\nAnd flattering spoke, and asked: \"Is it your will,\r\nMasters, we stay the mother of the King,\r\nAg\u00e2v\u00ea, from her lawless worshipping,\r\nAnd win us royal thanks?\"\u2014And this seemed good\r\nTo all; and through the branching underwood\r\nWe hid us, cowering in the leaves. And there\r\nThrough the appointed hour they made their prayer\r\nAnd worship of the Wand, with one accord\r\nOf heart and cry\u2014\"Iacchos, Bromios, Lord,\r\nGod of God born!\"\u2014And all the mountain felt,\r\nAnd worshipped with them; and the wild things knelt\r\nAnd ramped and gloried, and the wilderness\r\nWas filled with moving voices and dim stress.\r\nSoon, as it chanced, beside my thicket-close\r\nThe Queen herself passed dancing, and I rose\r\nAnd sprang to seize her. But she turned her face\r\nUpon me: \"Ho, my rovers of the chase,\r\nMy wild White Hounds, we are hunted! Up, each rod\r\nAnd follow, follow, for our Lord and God!\"\r\nThereat, for fear they tear us, all we fled\r\nAmazed; and on, with hand unweapon\u00e8d\r\nThey swept toward our herds that browsed the green\r\nHill grass. Great uddered kine then hadst thou seen\r\nBellowing in sword-like hands that cleave and tear,\r\nA live steer riven asunder, and the air\r\nTossed with rent ribs or limbs of cloven tread,\r\nAnd flesh upon the branches, and a red\r\nRain from the deep green pines. Yea, bulls of pride,\r\nHorns swift to rage, were fronted and aside\r\nFlung stumbling, by those multitudinous hands\r\nDragged pitilessly. And swifter were the bands\r\nOf garb\u00e8d flesh and bone unbound withal\r\nThan on thy royal eyes the lids may fall.\r\nThen on like birds, by their own speed upborne,\r\nThey swept toward the plains of waving corn\r\nThat lie beside Asopus' banks, and bring\r\nTo Thebes the rich fruit of her harvesting.\r\nOn Hysiae and Erythrae that lie nursed\r\nAmid Kithaeron's bowering rocks, they burst\r\nDestroying, as a foeman's army comes.\r\nThey caught up little children from their homes,\r\nHigh on their shoulders, babes unheld, that swayed\r\nAnd laughed and fell not; all a wreck they made;\r\nYea, bronze and iron did shatter, and in play\r\nStruck hither and thither, yet no wound had they;\r\nCaught fire from out the hearths, yea, carried hot\r\nFlames in their tresses and were scorch\u00e8d not!\r\nThe village folk in wrath took spear and sword,\r\nAnd turned upon the Bacchae. Then, dread Lord,\r\nThe wonder was. For spear nor barb\u00e8d brand\r\nCould scathe nor touch the damsels; but the Wand,\r\nThe soft and wreath\u00e8d wand their white hands sped,\r\nBlasted those men and quelled them, and they fled\r\nDizzily. Sure some God was in these things!\r\nAnd the holy women back to those strange springs\r\nReturned, that God had sent them when the day\r\nDawned, on the upper heights; and washed away\r\nThe stain of battle. And those girdling snakes\r\nHissed out to lap the waterdrops from cheeks\r\nAnd hair and breast.\r\nTherefore I counsel thee,\r\nO King, receive this Spirit, whoe'er he be,\r\nTo Thebes in glory. Greatness manifold\r\nIs all about him; and the tale is told\r\nThat this is he who first to man did give\r\nThe grief-assuaging vine. Oh, let him live;\r\nFor if he die, then Love herself is slain,\r\nAnd nothing joyous in the world again!<\/div>\r\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Albeit I tremble, and scarce may speak my thought\r\nTo a king's face, yet will I hide it not.\r\nDionyse is God, no God more true nor higher!<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
It bursts hard by us, like a smothered fire,\r\nThis frenzy of Bacchic women! All my land\r\nIs made their mock.\u2014This needs an iron hand!\r\nHo, Captain! Quick to the Electran Gate;\r\nBid gather all my men-at-arms thereat;\r\nCall all that spur the charger, all who know\r\nTo wield the orb\u00e8d targe or bend the bow;\r\nWe march to war!\u2014'Fore God, shall women dare\r\nSuch deeds against us? 'Tis too much to bear!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Thou mark'st me not, O King, and holdest light\r\nMy solemn words; yet, in thine own despite,\r\nI warn thee still. Lift thou not up thy spear\r\nAgainst a God, but hold thy peace, and fear\r\nHis wrath! He will not brook it, if thou fright\r\nHis Chosen from the hills of their delight.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Peace, thou! And if for once thou hast slipped thy chain,\r\nGive thanks!\u2014Or shall I knot thine arms again?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Better to yield him prayer and sacrifice\r\nThan kick against the pricks, since Dionyse\r\nIs God, and thou but mortal.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
That will I!\r\nYea, sacrifice of women's blood, to cry\r\nHis name through all Kithaeron!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Ye shall fly,\r\nAll, and abase your shields of bronzen rim\r\nBefore their wands.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
There is no way with him,\r\nThis stranger that so dogs us! Well or ill\r\nI may entreat him, he must babble still!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Wait, good my friend! These crooked matters may\r\nEven yet be straightened.<\/div>\r\n

[Pentheus<\/span> has started as though to seek his\u00a0<\/em>army at the gate.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Aye, if I obey\r\nMine own slaves' will; how else?<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Myself will lead\r\nThe damsels hither, without sword or steed.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
How now?\u2014This is some plot against me!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
What\r\nDost fear? Only to save thee do I plot.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
It is some compact ye have made, whereby\r\nTo dance these hills for ever!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Verily,\r\nThat is my compact, plighted with my Lord!<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

(turning from him<\/i>)<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Ho, armourers! Bring forth my shield and sword!\u2014\r\nAnd thou, be silent!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

(after regarding him fixedly, speaks with resignation<\/i>)<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Ah!\u2014Have then thy will!<\/div>\r\n

[He fixes his eyes upon Pentheus<\/span> again, while the <\/em>armourers bring out his armour; then speaks in\u00a0<\/em>a tone of command.<\/em>]<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Man, thou wouldst fain behold them on the hill\r\nPraying!<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

(who during the rest of this scene, with a few exceptions, simply speaks the thoughts that<\/i> Dionysus<\/span> puts into him, losing power over his own mind<\/i>)<\/p>\r\n\r\n

That would I, though it cost me all\r\nThe gold of Thebes!<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
So much? Thou art quick to fall\r\nTo such great longing.<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n

(somewhat bewildered at what he has said<\/i>)<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Aye; 'twould grieve me much\r\nTo see them flown with wine.<\/div>\r\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Yet cravest thou such\r\nA sight as would much grieve thee?<\/div>\r\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\r\n
Yes; I fain\r\nWould watch, ambushed among the pines.<\/div>","rendered":"

Pentheus<\/h3>\n
Surely; the ridge that winds by Sardis’ towers<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Thence am I; Lydia was my fatherland.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
And whence these revelations, that thy band
\nSpreadeth in Hellas?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Their intent and use
\nDionysus oped to me, the Child of Zeus.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n

(brutally<\/i>)<\/p>\n

Is there a Zeus there, that can still beget
\nYoung Gods?<\/p>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Nay, only He whose seal was set
\nHere in thy Thebes on Semel\u00ea.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
What way
\nDescended he upon thee? In full day
\nOr vision of night?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Most clear he stood, and scanned
\nMy soul, and gave his emblems to mine hand.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
What like be they, these emblems?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
That may none
\nReveal, nor know, save his Elect alone.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
And what good bring they to the worshipper?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Good beyond price, but not for thee to hear.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Thou trickster! Thou wouldst prick me on the more
\nTo seek them out!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
His mysteries abhor
\nThe touch of sin-lovers.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
And so thine eyes
\nSaw this God plain; what guise had he?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
What guise
\nIt liked him. ‘Twas not I ordained his shape.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Aye, deftly turned again. An idle jape,
\nAnd nothing answered!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Wise words being brought
\nTo blinded eyes will seem as things of nought.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
And comest thou first to Thebes, to have thy God
\nEstablished?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Nay; all Barbary hath trod
\nHis dance ere this.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
A low blind folk, I ween,
\nBeside our Hellenes!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Higher and more keen
\nIn this thing, though their ways are not thy way.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
How is thy worship held, by night or day?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Most oft by night; ’tis a majestic thing,
\nThe darkness.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Ha! with women worshipping?
\n‘Tis craft and rottenness!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
By day no less,
\nWhoso will seek may find unholiness.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Enough! Thy doom is fixed, for false pretence
\nCorrupting Thebes.<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Not mine; but thine, for dense
\nBlindness of heart, and for blaspheming God!<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
A ready knave it is, and brazen-browed,
\nThis mystery-priest!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Come, say what it shall be,
\nMy doom; what dire thing wilt thou do to me?<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
First, shear that delicate curl that dangles there.<\/div>\n

[He beckons to the soldiers, who approach Dionysus<\/span>.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
I have vowed it to my God; ’tis holy hair.<\/div>\n

[The soldiers cut off the tress.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Next, yield me up thy staff!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Raise thine own hand
\nTo take it. This is Dionysus’ wand.<\/div>\n

[Pentheus<\/span> takes the staff.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Last, I will hold thee prisoned here.<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
My Lord
\nGod will unloose me, when I speak the word.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
He may, if e’er again amid his bands
\nOf saints he hears thy voice!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Even now he stands
\nClose here, and sees all that I suffer.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
What?
\nWhere is he? For mine eyes discern him not.<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Where I am! ‘Tis thine own impurity
\nThat veils him from thee.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
The dog jeers at me!
\nAt me and Thebes! Bind him!<\/div>\n

[The soldiers begin to bind him.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
I charge ye, bind
\nMe not! I having vision and ye blind!<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
And I, with better right, say bind the more!<\/div>\n

[The soldiers obey.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Thou knowest not what end thou seekest, nor
\nWhat deed thou doest, nor what man thou art!<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n

(mocking)<\/em><\/p>\n

Ag\u00e2v\u00ea’s son, and on the father’s part
\nEch\u00eeon’s, hight Pentheus!<\/p>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
So let it be,
\nA name fore-written to calamity!<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Away, and tie him where the steeds are tied;
\nAye, let him lie in the manger!\u2014There abide
\nAnd stare into the darkness!\u2014And this rout
\nOf womankind that clusters thee about,
\nThy ministers of worship, are my slaves!
\nIt may be I will sell them o’er the waves,
\nHither and thither; else they shall be set
\nTo labour at my distaffs, and forget
\nTheir timbrel and their songs of dawning day!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
I go; for that which may not be, I may
\nNot suffer! Yet for this thy sin, lo, He
\nWhom thou deniest cometh after thee
\nFor recompense. Yea, in thy wrong to us,
\nThou hast cast Him into thy prison-house!<\/div>\n

[Dionysus<\/span>, without his wand, his hair shorn,\u00a0<\/em>and his arms tightly bound, is led off by\u00a0<\/em>the guards to his dungeon. Pentheus<\/span> returns\u00a0<\/em>into the Palace.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Chorus<\/span><\/h3>\n

Some Maidens<\/h4>\n
Achelo\u00fcs’ roaming daughter,
\nHoly Dirc\u00ea, virgin water,
\nBathed he not of old in thee,
\nThe Babe of God, the Mystery?
\nWhen from out the fire immortal
\nTo himself his God did take him,
\nTo his own flesh, and bespake him:
\n“Enter now life’s second portal,
\nMotherless Mystery; lo, I break
\nMine own body for thy sake,
\nThou of the Twofold Door, and seal thee
\nMine, O Bromios,”\u2014thus he spake\u2014
\n“And to this thy land reveal thee.”<\/div>\n

All<\/h4>\n
Still my prayer toward thee quivers,
\nDirc\u00ea, still to thee I hie me;
\nWhy, O Bless\u00e8d among Rivers,
\nWilt thou fly me and deny me?
\nBy His own joy I vow,
\nBy the grape upon the bough,
\nThou shalt seek Him in the midnight, thou shalt love
\nHim, even now!<\/div>\n

Other Maidens<\/h4>\n

Dark and of the dark impassioned
\nIs this Pentheus’ blood; yea, fashioned
\nOf the Dragon, and his birth
\nFrom Ech\u00eeon, child of Earth.
\nHe is no man, but a wonder;
\nDid the Earth-Child not beget him,
\nAs a red Giant, to set him
\nAgainst God, against the Thunder?
\nHe will bind me for his prize,
\nMe, the Bride of Dionyse;
\nAnd my priest, my friend, is taken
\nEven now, and buried lies;
\nIn the dark he lies forsaken!<\/p>\n

All<\/h4>\n
Lo, we race with death, we perish,
\nDionysus, here before thee!
\nDost thou mark us not, nor cherish,
\nWho implore thee, and adore thee?
\nHither down Olympus’ side,
\nCome, O Holy One defied,
\nBe thy golden wand uplifted o’er the tyrant in his pride!<\/div>\n

A Maiden<\/h4>\n
Oh, where art thou? In thine own
\nNysa, thou our help alone?
\nO’er fierce beasts in orient lands
\nDoth thy thronging thyrsus wave,
\nBy the high Corycian Cave,
\nOr where stern Olympus stands;
\nIn the elm-woods and the oaken,
\nThere where Orpheus harped of old,
\nAnd the trees awoke and knew him,
\nAnd the wild things gathered to him,
\nAs he sang amid the broken
\nGlens his music manifold?
\nBlessed Land of Pi\u00ebrie,
\nDionysus loveth thee;
\nHe will come to thee with dancing,
\nCome with joy and mystery;
\nWith the Maenads at his hest
\nWinding, winding to the West;
\nCross the flood of swiftly glancing
\nAxios in majesty;
\nCross the Lydias, the giver
\nOf good gifts and waving green;
\nCross that Father-Stream of story,
\nThrough a land of steeds and glory
\nRolling, bravest, fairest River
\nE’er of mortals seen!<\/div>\n

A Voice Within<\/span><\/h3>\n
Io! Io!<\/div>\n
Awake, ye damsels; hear my cry,
\nCalling my Chosen; hearken ye!<\/div>\n

A Maiden<\/span><\/h4>\n
Who speaketh? Oh, what echoes thus?<\/div>\n

Another<\/span><\/h4>\n
A Voice, a Voice, that calleth us!<\/div>\n

The Voice<\/span><\/h3>\n
Be of good cheer! Lo, it is I,
\nThe Child of Zeus and Semel\u00ea.<\/div>\n

A Maiden<\/span><\/h4>\n
O Master, Master, it is Thou!<\/div>\n

Another<\/span><\/h4>\n
O Holy Voice, be with us now!<\/div>\n

The Voice<\/span><\/h3>\n
Spirit of the Chained Earthquake,
\nHear my word; awake, awake!<\/div>\n

[An Earthquake suddenly shakes\u00a0<\/em>the pillars of the Castle.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

A Maiden<\/span><\/h4>\n
Ha! what is coming? Shall the hall
\nOf Pentheus racked in ruin fall?<\/div>\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\n
Our God is in the house! Ye maids adore Him!<\/div>\n

Chorus<\/span><\/h3>\n
We adore Him all!<\/div>\n

The Voice<\/span><\/h3>\n
Unveil the Lightning’s eye; arouse
\nThe fire that sleeps, against this house!<\/div>\n

[Fire leaps up on the Tomb of Semel\u00ea.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

A Maiden<\/span><\/h4>\n
Ah, saw ye, marked ye there the flame
\nFrom Semel\u00ea’s enhallowed sod
\nAwakened? Yea, the Death that came
\nAblaze from heaven of old, the same
\nHot splendour of the shaft of God?<\/div>\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\n
Oh, cast ye, cast ye, to the earth! The Lord
\nCometh against this house! Oh, cast ye down,
\nYe trembling damsels; He, our own adored,
\nGod’s Child hath come, and all is overthrown!<\/div>\n

[The Maidens cast themselves upon\u00a0<\/em>the ground, their eyes earthward. Dionysus<\/span>,\u00a0<\/em>alone and unbound, enters from the Castle.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Ye Damsels of the Morning Hills, why lie ye thus dismayed?
\nYe marked him, then, our Master, and the mighty hand he laid
\nOn tower and rock, shaking the house of Pentheus?\u2014But arise,
\nAnd cast the trembling from your flesh, and lift untroubled eyes.<\/div>\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\n
O Light in Darkness, is it thou? O Priest, is this thy face?
\nMy heart leaps out to greet thee from the deep of loneliness.<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Fell ye so quick despairing, when beneath the Gate I passed?
\nShould the gates of Pentheus quell me, or his darkness make me fast?<\/div>\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\n
Oh, what was left if thou wert gone? What could I but despair?
\nHow hast thou ‘scaped the man of sin? Who freed thee from the snare?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
I had no pain nor peril; ’twas mine own hand set me free.<\/div>\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\n
Thine arms were gyv\u00e8d!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Nay, no gyve, no touch, was laid on me!
\n‘Twas there I mocked him, in his gyves, and gave him dreams for food.
\nFor when he led me down, behold, before the stall there stood
\nA Bull of Offering. And this King, he bit his lips, and straight
\nFell on and bound it, hoof and limb, with gasping wrath and sweat.
\nAnd I sat watching!\u2014Then a Voice; and lo, our Lord was come,
\nAnd the house shook, and a great flame stood o’er his mother’s tomb.
\nAnd Pentheus hied this way and that, and called his thralls amain
\nFor water, lest his roof-tree burn; and all toiled, all in vain.
\nThen deemed a-sudden I was gone; and left his fire, and sped
\nBack to the prison portals, and his lifted sword shone red.
\nBut there, methinks, the God had wrought\u2014I speak but as I guess\u2014
\nSome dream-shape in mine image; for he smote at emptiness,
\nStabbed in the air, and strove in wrath, as though ’twere me he slew.
\nThen ‘mid his dreams God smote him yet again! He overthrew
\nAll that high house. And there in wreck for evermore it lies,
\nThat the day of this my bondage may be sore in Pentheus’ eyes!
\nAnd now his sword is fallen, and he lies outworn and wan
\nWho dared to rise against his God in wrath, being but man.
\nAnd I uprose and left him, and in all peace took my path
\nForth to my Chosen, recking light of Pentheus and his wrath.
\nBut soft, methinks a footstep sounds even now within the hall;
\n‘Tis he; how think ye he will stand, and what words speak withal?
\nI will endure him gently, though he come in fury hot.
\nFor still are the ways of Wisdom, and her temper trembleth not!<\/div>\n

[Enter Pentheus<\/span> in fury.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
It is too much! This Eastern knave hath slipped
\nHis prison, whom I held but now, hard gripped
\nIn bondage.\u2014Ha! ‘Tis he!\u2014What, sirrah, how
\nShow’st thou before my portals?<\/div>\n

[He advances furiously upon him.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Softly thou!
\nAnd set a quiet carriage to thy rage.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
How comest thou here? How didst thou break thy cage?
\nSpeak!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Said I not, or didst thou mark not me,
\nThere was One living that should set me free?<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Who? Ever wilder are these tales of thine.<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
He who first made for man the clustered vine.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
I scorn him and his vines!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
For Dionyse
\n‘Tis well; for in thy scorn his glory lies.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n

(to his guard<\/i>)<\/p>\n

Go swift to all the towers, and bar withal
\nEach gate!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
What, cannot God o’erleap a wall?<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Oh, wit thou hast, save where thou needest it!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Whereso it most imports, there is my wit!\u2014
\nNay, peace! Abide till he who hasteth from
\nThe mountain side with news for thee, be come.
\nWe will not fly, but wait on thy command.<\/div>\n

[Enter suddenly and in haste a Messenger\u00a0<\/em>from the Mountain<\/em>.]<\/p>\n

Messenger<\/span><\/h3>\n
Great Pentheus, Lord of all this Theban land,
\nI come from high Kithaeron, where the frore
\nSnow spangles gleam and cease not evermore. . .<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
And what of import may thy coming bring?<\/div>\n

Messenger<\/span><\/h3>\n
I have seen the Wild White Women there, O King,
\nWhose fleet limbs darted arrow-like but now
\nFrom Thebes away, and come to tell thee how
\nThey work strange deeds and passing marvel. Yet
\nI first would learn thy pleasure. Shall I set
\nMy whole tale forth, or veil the stranger part?
\nYea, Lord, I fear the swiftness of thy heart,
\nThine edg\u00e8d wrath and more than royal soul.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Thy tale shall nothing scathe thee.\u2014Tell the whole.
\nIt skills not to be wroth with honesty.
\nNay, if thy news of them be dark, ’tis he
\nShall pay it, who bewitched and led them on.<\/div>\n

Messenger<\/span><\/h3>\n
Our herded kine were moving in the dawn
\nUp to the peaks, the greyest, coldest time,
\nWhen the first rays steal earthward, and the rime
\nYields, when I saw three bands of them. The one
\nAutono\u00eb led, one Ino, one thine own
\nMother, Ag\u00e2v\u00ea. There beneath the trees
\nSleeping they lay, like wild things flung at ease
\nIn the forest; one half sinking on a bed
\nOf deep pine greenery; one with careless head
\nAmid the fallen oak leaves; all most cold
\nIn purity\u2014not as thy tale was told
\nOf wine-cups and wild music and the chase
\nFor love amid the forest’s loneliness.
\nThen rose the Queen Ag\u00e2v\u00ea suddenly
\nAmid her band, and gave the God’s wild cry,
\n“Awake, ye Bacchanals! I hear the sound
\nOf horn\u00e8d kine. Awake ye!”\u2014Then, all round,
\nAlert, the warm sleep fallen from their eyes,
\nA marvel of swift ranks I saw them rise,
\nDames young and old, and gentle maids unwed
\nAmong them. O’er their shoulders first they shed
\nTheir tresses, and caught up the fallen fold
\nOf mantles where some clasp had loosened hold,
\nAnd girt the dappled fawn-skins in with long
\nQuick snakes that hissed and writhed with quivering tongue.
\nAnd one a young fawn held, and one a wild
\nWolf cub, and fed them with white milk, and smiled
\nIn love, young mothers with a mother’s breast
\nAnd babes at home forgotten! Then they pressed
\nWreathed ivy round their brows, and oaken sprays
\nAnd flowering bryony. And one would raise
\nHer wand and smite the rock, and straight a jet
\nOf quick bright water came. Another set
\nHer thyrsus in the bosomed earth, and there
\nWas red wine that the God sent up to her,
\nA darkling fountain. And if any lips
\nSought whiter draughts, with dipping finger-tips
\nThey pressed the sod, and gushing from the ground
\nCame springs of milk. And reed-wands ivy-crowned
\nRan with sweet honey, drop by drop.\u2014O King,
\nHadst thou been there, as I, and seen this thing,
\nWith prayer and most high wonder hadst thou gone
\nTo adore this God whom now thou rail’st upon!
\nHowbeit, the kine-wardens and shepherds straight
\nCame to one place, amazed, and held debate;
\nAnd one being there who walked the streets and scanned
\nThe ways of speech, took lead of them whose hand
\nKnew but the slow soil and the solemn hill,
\nAnd flattering spoke, and asked: “Is it your will,
\nMasters, we stay the mother of the King,
\nAg\u00e2v\u00ea, from her lawless worshipping,
\nAnd win us royal thanks?”\u2014And this seemed good
\nTo all; and through the branching underwood
\nWe hid us, cowering in the leaves. And there
\nThrough the appointed hour they made their prayer
\nAnd worship of the Wand, with one accord
\nOf heart and cry\u2014”Iacchos, Bromios, Lord,
\nGod of God born!”\u2014And all the mountain felt,
\nAnd worshipped with them; and the wild things knelt
\nAnd ramped and gloried, and the wilderness
\nWas filled with moving voices and dim stress.
\nSoon, as it chanced, beside my thicket-close
\nThe Queen herself passed dancing, and I rose
\nAnd sprang to seize her. But she turned her face
\nUpon me: “Ho, my rovers of the chase,
\nMy wild White Hounds, we are hunted! Up, each rod
\nAnd follow, follow, for our Lord and God!”
\nThereat, for fear they tear us, all we fled
\nAmazed; and on, with hand unweapon\u00e8d
\nThey swept toward our herds that browsed the green
\nHill grass. Great uddered kine then hadst thou seen
\nBellowing in sword-like hands that cleave and tear,
\nA live steer riven asunder, and the air
\nTossed with rent ribs or limbs of cloven tread,
\nAnd flesh upon the branches, and a red
\nRain from the deep green pines. Yea, bulls of pride,
\nHorns swift to rage, were fronted and aside
\nFlung stumbling, by those multitudinous hands
\nDragged pitilessly. And swifter were the bands
\nOf garb\u00e8d flesh and bone unbound withal
\nThan on thy royal eyes the lids may fall.
\nThen on like birds, by their own speed upborne,
\nThey swept toward the plains of waving corn
\nThat lie beside Asopus’ banks, and bring
\nTo Thebes the rich fruit of her harvesting.
\nOn Hysiae and Erythrae that lie nursed
\nAmid Kithaeron’s bowering rocks, they burst
\nDestroying, as a foeman’s army comes.
\nThey caught up little children from their homes,
\nHigh on their shoulders, babes unheld, that swayed
\nAnd laughed and fell not; all a wreck they made;
\nYea, bronze and iron did shatter, and in play
\nStruck hither and thither, yet no wound had they;
\nCaught fire from out the hearths, yea, carried hot
\nFlames in their tresses and were scorch\u00e8d not!
\nThe village folk in wrath took spear and sword,
\nAnd turned upon the Bacchae. Then, dread Lord,
\nThe wonder was. For spear nor barb\u00e8d brand
\nCould scathe nor touch the damsels; but the Wand,
\nThe soft and wreath\u00e8d wand their white hands sped,
\nBlasted those men and quelled them, and they fled
\nDizzily. Sure some God was in these things!
\nAnd the holy women back to those strange springs
\nReturned, that God had sent them when the day
\nDawned, on the upper heights; and washed away
\nThe stain of battle. And those girdling snakes
\nHissed out to lap the waterdrops from cheeks
\nAnd hair and breast.
\nTherefore I counsel thee,
\nO King, receive this Spirit, whoe’er he be,
\nTo Thebes in glory. Greatness manifold
\nIs all about him; and the tale is told
\nThat this is he who first to man did give
\nThe grief-assuaging vine. Oh, let him live;
\nFor if he die, then Love herself is slain,
\nAnd nothing joyous in the world again!<\/div>\n

Leader<\/span><\/h3>\n
Albeit I tremble, and scarce may speak my thought
\nTo a king’s face, yet will I hide it not.
\nDionyse is God, no God more true nor higher!<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
It bursts hard by us, like a smothered fire,
\nThis frenzy of Bacchic women! All my land
\nIs made their mock.\u2014This needs an iron hand!
\nHo, Captain! Quick to the Electran Gate;
\nBid gather all my men-at-arms thereat;
\nCall all that spur the charger, all who know
\nTo wield the orb\u00e8d targe or bend the bow;
\nWe march to war!\u2014’Fore God, shall women dare
\nSuch deeds against us? ‘Tis too much to bear!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Thou mark’st me not, O King, and holdest light
\nMy solemn words; yet, in thine own despite,
\nI warn thee still. Lift thou not up thy spear
\nAgainst a God, but hold thy peace, and fear
\nHis wrath! He will not brook it, if thou fright
\nHis Chosen from the hills of their delight.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Peace, thou! And if for once thou hast slipped thy chain,
\nGive thanks!\u2014Or shall I knot thine arms again?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Better to yield him prayer and sacrifice
\nThan kick against the pricks, since Dionyse
\nIs God, and thou but mortal.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
That will I!
\nYea, sacrifice of women’s blood, to cry
\nHis name through all Kithaeron!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Ye shall fly,
\nAll, and abase your shields of bronzen rim
\nBefore their wands.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
There is no way with him,
\nThis stranger that so dogs us! Well or ill
\nI may entreat him, he must babble still!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Wait, good my friend! These crooked matters may
\nEven yet be straightened.<\/div>\n

[Pentheus<\/span> has started as though to seek his\u00a0<\/em>army at the gate.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Aye, if I obey
\nMine own slaves’ will; how else?<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Myself will lead
\nThe damsels hither, without sword or steed.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
How now?\u2014This is some plot against me!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
What
\nDost fear? Only to save thee do I plot.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
It is some compact ye have made, whereby
\nTo dance these hills for ever!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Verily,
\nThat is my compact, plighted with my Lord!<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n

(turning from him<\/i>)<\/p>\n

Ho, armourers! Bring forth my shield and sword!\u2014
\nAnd thou, be silent!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n

(after regarding him fixedly, speaks with resignation<\/i>)<\/p>\n

Ah!\u2014Have then thy will!<\/div>\n

[He fixes his eyes upon Pentheus<\/span> again, while the <\/em>armourers bring out his armour; then speaks in\u00a0<\/em>a tone of command.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Man, thou wouldst fain behold them on the hill
\nPraying!<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n

(who during the rest of this scene, with a few exceptions, simply speaks the thoughts that<\/i> Dionysus<\/span> puts into him, losing power over his own mind<\/i>)<\/p>\n

That would I, though it cost me all
\nThe gold of Thebes!<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
So much? Thou art quick to fall
\nTo such great longing.<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n

(somewhat bewildered at what he has said<\/i>)<\/p>\n

Aye; ‘twould grieve me much
\nTo see them flown with wine.<\/div>\n

Dionysus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Yet cravest thou such
\nA sight as would much grieve thee?<\/div>\n

Pentheus<\/span><\/h3>\n
Yes; I fain
\nWould watch, ambushed among the pines.<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t
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Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t
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Public domain content<\/div>