The Bacchae
CHARACTERS
DIONYSIUS (also called Bromius, Evius, and Bacchus)
Chorus of Asian Bacchae (followers of Dionysius)
Teiresias
Cadmus
Pentheus
Attendant
First Messenger
Second Messenger
Agave
Coryphaeus (chorus leader)
Before the royal palace at Thebes. On the left is the way to Cithaeron; on
the right,
to the city. In the center of the orchestra stands, still smoking, the
vine-covered
tomb of Semele, mother of Dionysius. Enter Dionysius. He is of soft, even
effeminate, appearance. His face is beardless; he is dressed in a fawn-skin and
carries a thyrsus (i.e., a stalk of fennel tipped with ivy leaves). On his
head he
wears a wreath of ivy, and his long blond curls ripple down over his shoulders.
Throughout the play he wears a smiling mask.
DIONYSIUS
I am Dionysius, the son of Zeus,
come back to Thebes, this land where I was born.
My mother was Cadmus' daughter, Semele by name,
midwived by fire, delivered by the lightning's blast.
And here I stand, a god incognito,
disguised as man, beside the stream of Dirce 5
and the waters of Ismenus. There before the palace
I see my lightning-married mother's grave,
and there upon the ruins of her shattered house
the living fire of Zeus still smolders on
in deathless witness of Hera's violence and rage
against my mother. But Cadmus wins my praise: 10
he has made this tomb a shrine, sacred to my mother.
It was I who screened her grave with the green
of the clustering vine.
Far behind me lie
those golden rivered lands, Lydia and Phrygia,
where my journeying began. Overland 1 went,
across the steppes of Persia where the sun strikes hotly
down, through Bactrian vastness and the grim waste I5
of Media. Thence to rich Arabia I came;
and so, along all Asia's swarming littoral
of towered cities where Greeks and foreign nations,
mingling, live, my progress made. There
I taught my dances to the feet of living men,
establishing my mysteries and rites
that I might be revealed on earth for what I am:
a god. And thence to Thebes.
This city, first 20
in Hellas, now shrills and echoes to my women's cries,
their ecstasy of joy. Here in Thebes
I bound the fawn-skin to the women's flesh and armed
their hands with shafts of ivy. For I have come 25
to refute that slander spoken by my mother's sisters-
those who least had right to slander her.
They said that Dionysius was no son of Zeus,
but Semele had slept beside a man in love
and fathered off her shame on Zeus-a fraud, they sneered, 30
contrived by Cadmus to protect his daughter's name.
They said she lied, and Zeus in anger at that lie
blasted her with lightning.
Because of that offense
I have stung them with frenzy, hounded them from home
up to the mountains where they wander, crazed of mind,
and compelled to wear my orgies' livery.
Every woman in Thebes-but the women only- 35
I drove from home, mad. There they sit,
rich and poor alike, even the daughters of Cadmus,
beneath the silver firs on the roofless rocks.
Like it or not, this city must learn its lesson:
it lacks initiation in my mysteries; 40
that I shall vindicate my mother Semele
and stand revealed to mortal eyes as the god
she bore to Zeus.
Cadmus the king has abdicated,
leaving his throne and power to his grandson Pentheus;
who now revolts against divinity, in me; 45
thrusts me from his offerings; forgets my name
in his prayers. Therefore I shall prove to him
and every man in Thebes that I am god indeed.
And when my worship is established here,
and all is well, then I shall go my way
and be revealed to other men in other lands. 50
But if the men of Thebes attempt to force
my Bacchae from the mountainside by threat of arms,
I shall marshal my Maenads and take the field.
To these ends I have laid my deity aside
and go disguised as man.
He wheels and calls offstage.
On, my women, 55
women who worship me, women whom I led
out of Asia where Tmolus heaves its rampart
over Lydia!
On, comrades of my progress here!
Come, and with your native Phrygian drum-
Rhea's drum and mine-pound at the palace doors 60
of Pentheus! Let the city of Thebes behold you,
while I return among Cithaeron's forest glens
where my Bacchae wait and join their whirling dances.
Exit Dionysius as the Chorus of Asian Bacchae comes dancing in from the right.
They are dressed in fawn-skins, crowned with ivy, and carry thyrsi,
timbrels, and
flutes.
CHORUS
Out of the land of Asia,
down from holy Tmolus, 65
speeding the service of god,
for Bromius we come!
Hard are the labors of god;
hard, but his service is sweet.
Sweet to serve, sweet to cry:
Bacchus! Evohe'!
-You on the streets!
-You on the roads!
-Make way!
-Let every mouth be hushed. Let no ill-omened words 70
profane your tongues.
-Make way! Fall back!
-Hush.
-For now I raise the old, old hymn to Dionysius.
-Blessed, blessed are those who know the mysteries of god.
-Blessed is he who hallows his lie in the worship of god,
he whom the spirit of god possesseth, who is one
with those who belong to the holy body of god. 75
-Blessed are the dancers and those who are purified,
who dance on the hill in the holy dance of god.
-Blessed are they who keep the rite of Cybele the Mother.
-Blessed are the thyrsus-bearers, those who wield in their hands
the holy wand of god. 80
-Blessed are those who wear the crown of the ivy of god.
-Blessed, blessed are they: Dionysius is their god!
-On, Bacchae, on, you Bacchae,
bear your god in triumph home!
Bear on the god, son of god,
escort your Dionysius home! 85
Bear him down from Phrygian hill,
attend him through the streets of Hellas!
-So his mother bore him once
in labor bitter; lightning-struck,
forced by fire that flared from Zeus, 90
consumed, she died, untimely torn,
in childbed dead by blow of light!
Of light the son was born!
-Zeus it was who saved his son; 95
with speed outrunning mortal eye,
bore him to a private place,
bound the boy with clasps of gold;
in his thigh as in a womb,
concealed his son from Hera's eyes.
-And when the weaving Fates fulfilled the time, 100
the bull-horned god was born of Zeus. In joy
he crowned his son, set serpents on his head-
wherefrom, in piety, descends to us
the Maenad's writhing crown, her chevelure of snakes.
-O Thebes, nurse of Semele,
crown your hair with ivy! 105
Grow green with bryony!
Redden with berries! 0 city,
with boughs of oak and fir,
come dance the dance of god!
Fringe your skins of dappled fawn
with tufts of twisted wool!
Handle with holy care
the violent wand of god!
And let the dance begin!
He is Bromius who runs 115
to the mountain!
to the mountain!
where the throng of women waits,
driven from shuttle and loom,
possessed by Dionysius!
-And I praise the holies of Crete, 120
the caves of the dancing Curetes,
there where Zeus was born,
where helmed in triple tier
around the primal drum
the Corybantes danced. They, 125
they were the first of all
whose whirling feet kept time
to the strict beat of the taut hide
and the squeal of the wailing flute.
Then from them to Rhea's hands
the holy drum was handed down;
but, stolen by the raving Satyrs, 130
fell at last to me and now
accompanies the dance
which every other year
celebrates your name:
Dionysius!
-He is sweet upon the mountains. He drops to the earth 135
from the running packs.
He wears the holy fawn-skin. He hunts the wild goat
and kills it.
He delights in the raw flesh.
He runs to the mountains of Phrygia, to the mountains
of Lydia he runs! 140
He is Bromius who leads us! Evohe!
-With milk the earth flows! It flows with wine!
It runs with the nectar of bees!
-Like frankincense in its fragrance
is the blaze of the torch he bears. '45
Flames float out from his trailing wand
as he runs, as he dances,
kindling the stragglers,
spurring with cries,
and his long curls stream to the wind! 150
-And he cries, as they cry, EvohÈ !-
On, Bacchae!
On, Bacchae! Follow, glory of golden Tmolus,
hymning god 155
with a rumble of drums,
with a cry, Evohe'! to the Evian god,
with a cry of Phrygian cries,
when the holy flute like honey plays 160
the sacred song of those who go
to the mountain!
to the mountain! 165
-Then, in ecstasy, like a colt by its grazing mother,
the Bacchante runs with flying feet, she leaps!
The Chorus remains grouped in two semicircles about the orchestra as Teiresias
makes his entrance. He is incongruously dressed in the bacchante's
fawn-skin and is
crowned with ivy. old and blind, he uses his thyrsus to tap his way.
TEIRESIAS
Ho there, who keeps the gates?
Summon Cadmus- 170
Cadmus, Agenor's son, the stranger from Sidon
who built the towers of our Thebes.
Go, someone.
Say Teiresias wants him. He will know what errand
brings me, that agreement, age with age, we made 175
to deck our wands, to dress in skins of fawn
and crown our heads with ivy.
Enter Cadmus from the palace. Dressed in Dionysian costume and bent almost
double with age, he is an incongruous and pathetic figure.
CADMUS
My old friend, I knew it must be you when I heard your summons.
For there's a wisdom in his voice that makes
the man of wisdom known.
But here I am,
dressed in the costume of the god, prepared to go. 180
Insofar as we are able, Teiresias, we must
do honor to this god, for he was born
my daughter's son, who has been revealed to men,
the god, Dionysius.
Where shall we go, where
shall we tread the dance, tossing our white heads
in the dances of god?
Expound to me, Teiresias. 185
For in such matters you are wise.
Surely
I could dance night and day, untiringly
beating the earth with my thyrsus! And how sweet it is
to forget my old age.
TEIRESIAS
It is the same with me.
I, too, feel young, young enough to dance. 190
CADMUS
Good. Shall we take our chariots to the mountain?
TEIRESIAS
Walking would be better. It shows more honor
to the god.
CADMUS
So be it. I shall lead, my old age
conducting yours.
TEIRESIAS
The god will guide us there
with no effort on our part.
CADMUS
Are we the only men 195
who will dance for Bacchus?
TEIRESIAS
They are all blind.
Only we can see.
But we delay too long.
Here, take my arm.
TEIRESIAS
Link my hand in yours.
CADMUS
I am a man, nothing more. I do not scoff
at heaven.
TEIRESIAS
We do not trifle with divinity. 200
No, we are the heirs of customs and traditions
hallowed by age and handed down to us
by our fathers. No quibbling logic can topple them,
whatever subtleties this clever age invents.
People may say: "Aren't you ashamed? At your age,
going dancing, wreathing your head with ivy?" 205
Well, I am not ashamed. Did the god declare
that just the young or just the old should dance?
No, he desires his honour from all mankind.
He wants no one excluded from his worship.
CADMUS
Because you cannot see, Teiresias, let me be 210
interpreter for You this once. Here comes
the man to whom I left my throne, Echions son,
Pentheus, hastening toward the palace. He seems
excited and disturbed. Yes, listen to him.
Enter Pentheus from the right. He is a young man of athletic build, dressed in
traditional Greek dress; like Dionysius, he is beardless. He enters
excitedly, talking
to the attendants who accompany him.
PENTHEUS
I happened to be away, out of the city, 215
but reports reached me of some strange mischief here,
stories of our women leaving home to frisk
in mock ecstasies among the thickets on the mountain,
dancing in honor of the latest divinity,
a certain Dionysius, whoever he may he! 220
In their midst stand bowls brimming with wine.
And then, one by one, the women wander off
to hidden nooks where they serve the lusts of men.
Priestesses of Bacchus they claim they are,
but it's really Aphrodite they adore. 225
I have captured some of them; my jailers
have locked them away in the safety of our prison.
Those who run at large shall be hunted down
out of the mountains like the animals they are-
yes, my own mother Agave, and Ino
and Autonoe, the mother of Actaeon. 230
In no time at all I shall have them trapped
in iron nets and stop this obscene disorder.
I am also told a foreigner has come to Thebes
from Lydia, one of those charlatan magicians,
with long yellow curls smelling of perfumes, 235
with flushed cheeks and the spells of Aphrodite
in his eyes. His days and nights he spends
with women and girls, dangling before them the joys
of initiation in his mysteries.
But let me bring him underneath that roof
and I'll stop his pounding with his wand and tossing 240
his head. By god, I'll have his head cut off!
And this is the man who claims that Dionysius
is a god and was sewn into the thigh of Zeus,
when, in point of fact, that same blast of lightning
consumed him and his mother both for her lie 245
that she had lain with Zeus in love. Whoever
this stranger is, aren't such impostures, such unruliness, worthy of hanging?
For the first time he sees Teiresias and Cadmus in their Dionysian costumes.
What!
But this is incredible! Teiresias the seer
tricked out in a dappled fawn-skin!
And you,
you, my own grandfather, playing at the bacchant 250
with a wand!
Sir, I shrink to see your old age
so foolish. Shake that ivy off; grandfather!
Now drop that wand. Drop it, I say.
He wheels on Teiresias.
Aha,
I see: this is your doing, Teiresias. 255
Yes, you want still another god revealed to men
so you can pocket the profits from burnt offerings
and bird-watching. By heaven, only your age
restrains me now from sending you to prison
with those Bacchic women for importing here to Thebes
these filthy mysteries. When once you see 260
the glint of wine shining at the feasts of women,
then you may be sure the festival is rotten.
CORYPHAEUS
What blasphemy! Stranger, have you no respect
for heaven? For Cadmus who sowed the dragon teeth?
Will the son of Echion disgrace his house? 265
TEIRESIAS
Give a wise man an honest brief to plead
and his eloquence is no remarkable achievement.
But you are glib; your phrases come rolling out
smoothly on the tongue, as though your words were wise
instead of foolish. The man whose glibness flows
from his conceit of speech declares the thing he is: 270
a worthless and a stupid citizen.
I tell you,
this god whom you ridicule shall someday have
enormous power and prestige throughout Hellas.
Mankind, young man, possesses two supreme blessings.
First of these is the goddess Demeter, or Earth- 275
whichever name you choose to call her by.
It was she who gave to man his nourishment of grain.
But after her there came the son of Semele,
who matched her present by inventing liquid wine
as his gift to man. For filled with that good gift,
suffering mankind forgets its grief; from it 280
comes sleep; with it oblivion of the troubles
of the day. There is no other medicine
for misery. And when we pour libations
to the gods, we pour the god of wine himself
that through his intercession man may win 285
the favor of heaven
You sneer, do you, at that story
that Dionysius was sewed into the thigh of Zeus?
Let me teach you what that really means. When Zeus
rescued from the thunderbolt his infant son,
he brought him to Olympus. Hera, however,
plotted at heart to hurl the child from heaven. 290
Like the god he is, Zeus countered her. Breaking off
a tiny fragment of the ether which surrounds the world,
he molded from it a dummy Dionysius.
This he showed to Hera, but with time men garbled
the word and said that Dionysius had been sewed 295
into the thigh of Zeus. This was their story,
whereas, in fact, Zeus showed the dummy to Hera
and gave it as a hostage for his son.
Moreover,
this is a god of prophecy. His worshippers,
like madmen, are endowed with mantic powers.
For when the god enters the body of a man 300
he fills him with the breath of prophecy.
Besides,
he has usurped even the functions of warlike Ares.
Thus, at times, you see an army mustered under arms
stricken with panic before it lifts a spear.
This panic comes from Dionysius.
Someday 305
you shall even see him bounding with his torches
among the crags at Delphi, leaping the pastures
that stretch between the peaks, whirling and waving
his thyrsus: great throughout Hellas.
Mark my words,
Pentheus: Do not be so certain that power 310
is what matters in the life of man; do not mistake
for wisdom the fantasies of your sick mind.
Welcome the god to Thebes; crown your head;
pour him libations and join his revels.
Dionysius does not, I admit, compel a woman
to be chaste. Always and in every case 315
it is her character and nature that keeps
a woman chaste. But even in the rites of Dionysius,
the chaste woman will not be corrupted.
Think:
you are pleased when men stand outside your doors
and the city glorifies the name of Pentheus. 320
And so the god: he too delights in glory.
But Cadmus and I, whom you ridicule, will crown
our heads with ivy and join the dances of the god-
an ancient foolish pair perhaps, but dance
we must. Nothing you have said would make me
change my mind or flout the will of heaven. 325
You are mad, grievously mad, beyond the power
of any drugs to cure, for you are drugged
with madness.
CORYPHAEUS
Apollo would approve your words. Wisely you honor Bromius: a great god.
CADMUS
My boy,
Teiresias advises well. Your home is here 330
with us, with our customs and traditions, not
outside, alone. Your mind is distracted now,
and what you think is sheer delirium.
Even if this Dionysius is no god,
as you assert, persuade yourself that he is.
The fiction is a noble one, for Semele will seem 335
to be the mother of a god, and this confers
no small distinction on our family.
You saw
that dreadful death your cousin Actaeon died
when those hunting hounds he had raised himself
savaged him and tore his body limb from limb
because he boasted that his prowess in the hunt surpassed 340
the skill of Artemis.
Do not let his fate be yours.
Here, let me wreathe your head with leaves of ivy.
Then come with us and glorify the god.
PENTHEUS
Take your hands off me! Go worship your Bacchus,
but do not wipe your madness off on me.
By god, I'll make him pay, the man who taught you 345
this folly of yours.
He turns to his attendants.
Go, someone, this instant,
to the place where this prophet prophesies.
Pry it up with crowbars, heave it over,
upside down; demolish everything you see.
Throw his fillets out to wind and weather. 350
That will provoke him more than anything.
As for the rest of you, go and scour the city
for that effeminate stranger, the man who infects our women with this strange
disease and pollutes our beds.
And when you take him, clap him in chains 355
and march him here. He shall die as he deserves-
by being stoned to death. He shall come to rue
his merrymaking here in Thebes.
Exeunt attendants.
TEIRESIAS
Reckless fool,
you do not know the consequences of your words.
You talked madness before, but this is raving
lunacy!
Cadmus, let us go and pray 360
for this raving fool and for this city too,
pray to the god that no awful vengeance strike
from heaven.
Take your staff and follow me.
Support me with your hands, and I shall help you too
lest we stumble and fall, a sight of shame,
two old men together.
But go we must, 365
acknowledging the service that we owe to god,
Bacchus, the son of Zeus.
And yet take care
lest someday your house repent of Pentheus
in its sufferings. I speak not prophecy
but fact. The words of fools finish in folly.
Exeunt Teiresias and Cadmus. Pentheus retires into the palace.
CHORUS
-Holiness, queen of heaven, 370
Holiness on golden wing
who hover over earth,
do you hear what Pentheus says?
Do you hear his blasphemy
against the prince of the blessed, 375
the god of garlands and banquets,
Bromius, Semele's son?
These blessings he gave:
laughter to the flute 380
and the loosing of cares
when the shining wine is spilled
at the feast of the gods,
and the wine-bowl casts its sleep 385
on feasters crowned with ivy.
-A tongue without reins,
defiance, unwisdom-
their end is disaster.
But the life of quiet good,
the wisdom that accepts- 390
these abide unshaken,
preserving, sustaining
the houses of men.
Far in the air of heaven,
the sons of heaven live.
But they watch the lives of men.
And what passes for wisdom is not; 395
unwise are those who aspire,
who outrange the limits of man.
Briefly, we live. Briefly,
then die. Wherefore, I say,
he who hunts a glory, he who tracks
some boundless, superhuman dream,
may lose his harvest here and now
and garner death. Such men are mad, 400
their counsels evil.
-O let me come to Cyprus,
island of Aphrodite,
homes of the loves that cast
their spells on the hearts of men! 405
Or Paphos where the hundred-
mouthed barbarian river
brings ripeness without rain!
To Pieria, haunt of the Muses, 410
and the holy hill of Olympus!
O Bromius, leader, god of joy,
Bromius, take me there!
There the lovely Graces go,
and there Desire, and there
the right is mine to worship 415
as I please.
-The deity, the son of Zeus,
in feast, in festival, delights.
He loves the goddess Peace,
generous of good,
preserver of the young. 420
To rich and poor he gives
the simple gift of wine,
the gladness of the grape.
But him who scoffs he hates,
and him who mocks his life,
the happiness of those
for whom the day is blessed 425
but doubly blessed the night;
whose simple wisdom shuns the thoughts
of proud, uncommon men and all
their god-encroaching dreams.
But what the common people do, 430
the things that simple men believe,
I too believe and do.
As Pentheus reappears from the palace, enter from the left several attendants
leading Dionysius captive.
ATTENDANT
Pentheus, here we are; not empty-handed either.
We captured the quarry you sent us out to catch. 435
But our prey here was tame: refused to run
or hide, held out his hands as willing as you please,
completely unafraid. his ruddy cheeks were flushed
as though with wine, and he stood there smiling,
making no objection when we roped his hands 440
and marched him here. It made me feel ashamed.
"Listen, stranger," I said, "I am not to blame.
We act under orders from Pentheus He ordered
your arrest.
As for those women you clapped in chains
and sent to the dungeon, they're gone, clean away, 445
went skipping off to the fields crying on their god
Bromius. The chains on their legs snapped apart
by themselves. Untouched by any human hand,
the doors swung wide, opening of their own accord.
Sir, this stranger who has come to Thebes is full 450
of many miracles. I know no more than that.
The rest is your affair.
Click here to see Changes from here to Exit Pentheus, Just past line 510
PENTHEUS
Untie his hands.
We have him in our net. He may be quick,
but he cannot escape us now, I think.
While the servants untie Dionysius' hands Pentheus attentively scrutinizes his
prisoner. Then the servants step back, leaving Pentheus and Dionysius face
to face.
So,
you are attractive, stranger, at least to women-
which explains, I think, your presence here in Thebes.
Your curls are long. You do not wrestle, I take it. 455
And what fair skin you have-you must take care of it-
no daylight complexion; no, it comes from the night
when you hunt Aphrodite with your beauty.
Now then, who are you and from where?
DIONYSIUS
It is nothing 460
to boast of and easily told. You have heard, I suppose,
of Mount Tmolus and her flowers?
PENTHEUS
I know the place.
It rings the city of Sardis.
DIONYSIUS
I come from there.
My country is Lydia.
PENTHEUS
Who is this god whose worship
you have imported into Hellas?
DIONYSIUS
Dionysius, the son of Zeus. 465
He initiated me.
PENTHEUS
You have some local Zeus
who spawns new gods?
DIONYSIUS
He is the same as yours-
the Zeus who married Semele.
PENTHEUS
How did you see him?
In a dream or face to face?
DIONYSIUS
Face to face.
He gave me his rites.
PENTHEUS
What form do they take, 470
these mysteries of yours?
DIONYSIUS
It is forbidden
to tell the uninitiate.
PENTHEUS
Tell me the benefits that
those who know your mysteries enjoy.
DIONYSIUS
I am forbidden to say. But they are worth knowing.
PENTHEUS
Your answers are designed to make me curious.
DIONYSIUS
No: 475
our mysteries abhor an unbelieving man.
PENTHEUS
You say you saw the god. What form did he assume?
DIONYSIUS
Whatever form he wished. The choice was his, not mine.
PENTHEUS
You evade the question.
DIONYSIUS
Talk sense to a fool
and lie calls you foolish.
PENTHEUS
Have you introduced your rites 480
in other cities too? Or is Thebes the first?
DIONYSIUS
Foreigners everywhere now dance for Dionysius.
PENTHEUS
They are more ignorant than Greeks.
DIONYSIUS
In this matter they are not.
Customs differ.
PENTHEUS
Do you hold your rites
during the day or night?
DIONYSIUS
Mostly by night. 485
The darkness is well suited to devotion.
PENTHEUS
Better suited to lechery and seducing women.
DIONYSIUS
You can find debauchery by daylight too.
PENTHEUS
You shall regret these clever answers.
DIONYSIUS
And you,
your stupid blasphemies.
PENTHEUS
What a bold bacchant! 490
You wrestle well-when it comes to words.
DIONYSIUS
Tell me, what punishment do you propose?
PENTHEUS
First of all,
I shall cut off your girlish curls.
DIONYSIUS
My hair is holy.
My curls belong to god.
Pentheus shears away the god's curls.
PENTHEUS
Second, you will surrender
your wand.
DIONYSIUS
You take it. It belongs to Dionysius. 495
Pentheus takes the thyrsus.
PENTHEUS
Last, I shall place you under guard and confine you
in the palace.
DIONYSIUS
The god himself will set me free
whenever I wish.
PENTHEUS
You will be with your women in prison
when you call on him for help.
DIONYSIUS
He is here now
and sees what I endure from you.
PENTHEUS
Where is he? 500
I cannot see him.
DIONYSIUS
With me. Your blasphemies
have made you blind.
PENTHEUS (to attendants)
Seize him. He is mocking me
and Thebes.
DIONYSIUS
I give you sober warning, fools:
place no chains on me.
PENTHEUS
But I say: chain him.
And I am the stronger here.
DIONYSIUS
You do not know 505
the limits of your strength. You do not know
what you do. You do not know who you are.
PENTHEUS
I am Pentheus, the son of Echion and Agave
DIONYSIUS
Pentheus you shall repent that name.
PENTHEUS
Off with him.
Chain his hands; lock him in the stables by the palace.
Since he desires the darkness, give him what he wants. 510
Let him dance down there in the dark.
As the attendants bind Dionysius' hands the Chorus beats on its drums with
increasing agitations though to emphasize the sacrilege.
As for these women,
your accomplices in making trouble here,
I shall have them sold as slaves or put to work at my looms.
That will silence their drums.
Exit Pentheus.
DIONYSIUS
I go, 515
though not to suffer, since that cannot be.
But Dionysius whom you outrage by your acts,
who you deny is god, will call you to account.
When you set chains on me, you manacle the god.
Exeunt attendants with Dionysius captive.
CHORUS
-O Dirce, holy river, 520
child of Achelous' water,
yours the springs that welcomed once
divinity, the son of Zeus!
For Zeus the father snatched his son
from deathless flame, crying: 525
Dithyrambus, come!
Enter my male womb.
I name you Bacchus and to Thebes
proclaim you by that name.
But now, O blessÈd Dirce, 530
you banish me when to your banks I come,
crowned with ivy, bringing revels.
O Dirce, why am I rejected?
By the clustered grapes I swear,
by Dionysius' wine, 535
someday you shall come to know
the name of Bromius!
-With fury, with fury, he rages,
Pentheus, son of Echion, 540
born of the breed of Earth,
spawned by the dragon, whelped by Earth!
Inhuman, a rabid beast,
a giant in wildness raging,
storming, defying the children of heaven.
He has threatened me with bonds 545
though my body is bound to god.
He cages my comrades with chains;
he has cast them in prison darkness.
0 lord, son of Zeus, do you see? 550
O Dionysius, do you see
how in shackles we are held
unbreakably, in the bonds of oppressors?
Descend from Olympus, lord!
Come, whirl your wand of gold
and quell with death this beast of blood
whose violence abuses man and god
outrageously.
-O lord, where do you wave your wand
among the running companies of god?
There on Nysa, mother of beasts?
There on the ridges of Corycia?
Or there among the forests of Olympus 560
where Orpheus fingered his lyre
and mustered with music the trees,
mustered the wilderness beasts?
O Pieria, you are blessed! 565
Evius honors you. He comes to dance,
bringing his Bacchae, fording the race
where Axios runs, bringing his Maenads 570
whirling over Lydias,
generous father of rivers
and famed for his lovely waters
that fatten a land of good horses. 575
Thunder and lightning. The earth trembles. The Chorus is crazed with fear.
DIONYSIUS from within
Ho!
Hear me! Ho, Bacchae!
Ho, Bacchae! Hear my cry!
CHORUS
Who cries?
Who calls me with that cry of Evius? Where are you, lord?
DIONYSIUS
Ho! Again I cry- 580
the son of Zeus and Semele!
CHORUS
O lord, lord Bromius!
Bromius, come to us now!
DIONYSIUS
Let the earthquake come! Shatter the floor of the world! 585
CHORUS
-Look there, how the palace of Pentheus totters.
-Look, the palace is collapsing!
- Dionysius is within. Adore him!
-We adore him! 590
-Look there!
-Above the pillars, how the great stones
gape and crack!
- Listen. Bromius cries his victory!
DIONYSIUS
Launch the blazing thunderbolt of god! 0 lightnings,
come! Consume with flame the palace of Pentheus! 595
A burst of lightning flares across the facade of the palace and tongues of
flame
spurt up from the tomb of Semele. Then a great crash of thunder.
CHORUS
Ah,
look how the fire leaps up
on the holy tomb of Semele,
the flame of Zeus of Thunders,
his lightnings, still alive,
blazing where they fell!
Down, Maenads, 600
Fall to the ground in awe!
He walks among the ruins he has made!
He has brought the high house low!
He comes, our god, the son of Zeus!
The Chorus falls to the ground in oriental fashion, bowing their heads in the
direction of the palace. A hush; then Dionysius appears, lightly picking
his way
among the rubble. Calm and smiling still,he speaks to the Chorus with a
solicitude
approaching banter.
DIONYSIUS
What, women of Asia? Were you so overcome with fright
you fell to the ground? I think then you must have seen 605
how Bacchus jostled the palace of Pentheus But come, rise.
Do not be afraid.
CORYPHAEUS
0 greatest light of our holy revels,
how glad I am to see your face! Without you I was lost.
DIONYSIUS
Did you despair when they led me away to cast me down 610
in the darkness of Pentheus' prison?
CORYPHAEUS
What else could I do?
Where would I turn for help if something happened to you?
But how did you escape that godless man?
DIONYSIUS
With ease.
No effort was required.
CORYPHAEUS
But the manacles on your wrists? 615
DIONYSIUS
There I, in turn, humiliated him, outrage for outrage.
He seemed to think that he was chaining me but never once
so much as touched my hands. He fed on his desires.
Inside the stable he intended as my jail, instead of me,
he found a bull and tried to rope its knees and hooves.
He was panting desperately, biting his lips with his teeth, 620
his whole body drenched with sweat, while I sat nearby,
quietly watching. But at that moment Bacchus came,
shook the palace and touched his mother's grave with tongues
of fire. Imagining the palace was in flames,
Pentheus went rushing here and there, shouting to his slaves 625
to bring him water. Every hand was put to work: in vain.
Then, afraid I might escape, he suddenly stopped short,
drew his sword and rushed to the palace. There, it seems,
Bromius had made a shape, a phantom which resembled me, 630
within the court. Bursting in, Pentheus thrust and stabbed
at that thing of gleaming air as though he thought it me.
And then, once again, the god humiliated him.
He razed the palace to the ground where it lies, shattered
in utter ruin-his reward for my imprisonment.
At that bitter sight, Pentheus dropped his sword, exhausted 635
by the struggle. A man, a man, and nothing more,
yet he presumed to wage a war with god.
For my part,
I left the palace quietly and made my way outside.
For Pentheus I care nothing.
But judging from the sound of tramping feet inside the
court, I think our man
will soon be here. What, I wonder, will he have to say? 640
But let him bluster. I shall not be touched to rage.
Wise men know constraint: our passions are controlled.
Enter Pentheus, stamping heavily, from the ruined palace.
PENTHEUS
But this is mortifying. That stranger, that man
I clapped in irons, has escaped.
He catches sight of Dionysius.
What! You? 645
Well, what do you have to say for yourself?
How did you escape? Answer me.
DIONYSIUS
Your anger
walks too heavily. Tread lightly here.
PENTHEUS
How did you escape?
DIONYSIUS
Don't you remember?
Someone, I said, would set me free.
PENTHEUS
Someone? 650
But who? Who is this mysterious someone?
DIONYSIUS
He who makes the grape grow its clusters
for mankind.
PENTHEUS
A splendid contribution, that.
DIONYSIUS
You disparage the gift that is his chiefest glory.
PENTHEUS
If I catch him here, he will not escape my anger.
I shall order every gate in every tower
to be bolted tight.
DIONYSUS
And so? Could not a god
hurdle your city walls?
PENTHEUS
You are clever-very- 655
but not where it counts.
DIONYSIUS
Where it counts the most,
there I am clever.
Enter a messenger, a herdsman from Mount Cithaeron.
But hear this messenger
who brings you news from the mountain of Cithaeron.
We shall remain where we are. Do not fear:
we will not run away.
MESSENGER
Pentheus, king of Thebes, 660
I come from Cithaeron where the gleaming flakes of snow
fall on and on forever-
PENTHEUS
Get to the point.
What is your message, man?
MESSENGER
Sir, I have seen
the holy Maenads, the women who ran barefoot 665
and crazy from the city, and I wanted to report
to you and Thebes what weird fantastic things,
what miracles and more than miracles,
these women do. But may I speak freely
in my own way and words, or make it short?
I fear the harsh impatience of your nature, sire, 670
too kingly and too quick to anger.
PENTHEUS
Speak freely.
You have my promise: I shall not punish you.
Displeasure with a man who speaks the truth is wrong.
However, the more terrible this tale of yours,
that much more terrible will be the punishment 675
I impose upon that man who taught our womenfolk
this strange new magic.
MESSENGER
About that hour
when the sun lets loose its light to warm the earth,
our grazing herds of cows had just begun to climb
the path along the mountain ridge. Suddenly
I saw three companies of dancing women, 680
one led by Autonoe, the second captained
by your mother Agave, while Ino led the third.
There they lay in the deep sleep of exhaustion,
some resting on boughs of fir, others sleeping
where they fell, here and there among the oak leaves- 685
but all modestly and soberly, not, as you think,
drunk with wine, nor wandering, led astray
by the music of the flute, to hunt their Aphrodite
through the woods.
But your mother heard the lowing
of our horned herds, and springing to her feet, 690
gave a great cry to waken them from sleep.
And they too, rubbing the bloom of soft sleep
from their eyes, rose up lightly and straight-
a lovely sight to see: all as one,
the old women and the young and the unmarried girls.
First they let their hair fall loose, down 695
over their shoulders, and those whose straps had slipped
fastened their skins of fawn with writhing snakes
that licked their cheeks. Breasts swollen with milk,
new mothers who had left their babies behind at home
nestled gazelles and young wolves in their arms, 700
suckling them. Then they crowned their hair with leaves,
ivy and oak and flowering bryony. One woman
struck her thyrsus against a rock and a fountain
of cool water came bubbling up. Another drove 705
her fennel in the ground, and where it struck the earth,
at the touch of god, a spring of wine poured out.
Those who wanted milk scratched at the soil
with bare fingers and the white milk came welling up. 710
Pure honey spurted, streaming, from their wands.
If you had been there and seen these wonders for yourself,
you would have gone down on your knees and prayed
to the god you now deny.
We cowherds and shepherds
gathered in small groups, wondering and arguing 715
among ourselves at these fantastic things,
the awful miracles those women did.
But then a city fellow with the knack of words
rose to his feet and said: "All you who live
upon the pastures of the mountain, what do you say?
Shall we earn a little favor with King Pentheus 720
by hunting his mother Agave out of the revels?"
Falling in with his suggestion, we withdrew
and set ourselves in ambush, hidden by the leaves
among the undergrowth. Then at a signal
all the Bacchae whirled their wands for the revels
to begin. With one voice they cried aloud:
"O Bacchus! Son of Zeus!" "O Bromius!" they cried 725
until the beasts and all the mountain seemed
wild with divinity. And when they ran,
everything ran with them.
It happened, however,
that Agave ran near the ambush where I lay
concealed. Leaping up, I tried to seize her, 730
but she gave a cry: "Hounds who run with me,
men are hunting us down! Follow, follow me!
Use your wands for weapons.
At this we fled
and barely missed being torn to pieces by the women.
Unarmed, they swooped down upon the herds of cattle 735
grazing there on the green of the meadow. And then
you could have seen a single woman with bare hands
tear a fat calf, still bellowing with fright,
in two, while others clawed the heifers to pieces.
There were ribs and cloven hooves scattered everywhere, 740
and scraps smeared with blood hung from the fir trees.
And bulls, their raging fury gathered in their horns,
lowered their heads to charge, then fell, stumbling
to the earth, pulled down by hordes of women 745
and stripped of flesh and skin more quickly, sire,
than you could blink your royal eyes. Then,
carried up by their own speed, they flew like birds
across the spreading fields along Asopus' stream
where most of all the ground is good for harvesting. 750
Like invaders they swooped on Hysiae
and on Erythrae in the foothills of Cithaeron.
Everything in sight they pillaged and destroyed.
They snatched the children from their homes, And when
they piled their plunder on their backs, it stayed in place, 755
untied. Nothing, neither bronze nor iron,
fell to the dark earth. Flames flickered
in their curls and did not burn them. Then the villagers,
furious at what the women did, took to arms.
And there, sire, was something terrible to see. 760
For the men's spears were pointed and sharp, and yet
drew no blood, whereas the wands the women threw
inflicted wounds. And then the men ran,
routed by women! Some god, I say, was with them.
The Bacchae then returned where they had started, 765
by the springs the god had made, and washed their hands
while the snakes licked away the drops of blood
that dabbled their cheeks.
Whoever this god may be,
sire, welcome him to Thebes. For he is great
in many other ways as well. It was he, 770
or so they say, who gave to mortal men
the gift of lovely wine by which our suffering
is stopped. And if there is no god of wine,
there is no love, no Aphrodite either,
nor other pleasure left to men.
Exit messenger.
CORYPHAEUS
I tremble 775
to speak the words of freedom before the tyrant.
But let the truth be told: there is no god
greater than Dionysius.
PENTHEUS
Like a blazing fire
this Bacchic violence spreads. It comes too close.
We are disgraced, humiliated in the eyes
of Hellas. This is no time for hesitation. 780
He turns to an attendant.
You there. Go down quickly to the Electran gates
and order out all heavy-armored infantry;
call up the fastest troops among our cavalry,
the mobile squadrons and the archers. We march
against the Bacchae! Affairs are out of hand 785
when we tamely endure such conduct in our women.
Exit attendant.
DIONYSIUS
Pentheus, you do not hear, or else you disregard
my words of warning.You have done me wrong,
and yet, in spite of that, I warn you once again:
do not take arms against a god.
Stay quiet here. Bromius will not let you 790
drive his women from their revels on the mountain.
PENTHEUS
Don't you lecture me. You escaped from prison.
Or shall I punish you again?
DIONYSIUS
If I were you,
I would offer him a sacrifice, not rage
and kick against necessity, a man defying 795
god.
PENTHEUS
I shall give your god the sacrifice
that he deserves. His victims will be his women.
I shall make a great slaughter in the woods of Cithaeron.
DIONYSIUS
You will all be routed, shamefully defeated,
when their wands of ivy turn back your shields
of bronze.
PENTHEUS
It is hopeless to wrestle with this man. 800
Nothing on earth will make him hold his tongue.
DIONYSIUS
Friend,
you can still save the situation.
PENTHEUS
How?
By accepting orders from my own slaves?
DIONYSIUS
No.
I undertake to lead the women back to Thebes.
Without bloodshed.
PENTHEUS
This is some trap.
DIONYSIUS
A trap? 805
How so, if I save you by my own devices?
PENTHEUS
I know.
You and they have conspired to establish your rites
forever.
DIONYSIUS
True, I have conspired-with god.
PENTHEUS
Bring my armor, someone. And you stop talking. 810
Pentheus strides toward the left, but when he is almost offstage, Dionysius
calls
imperiously to him.
DIONYSIUS
Wait!
Would you like to see their revels on the mountain?
PENTHEUS
I would pay a great sum to see that sight.
DIONYSIUS
Why are you so passionately curious?
PENTHEUS
Of course
I'd be sorry to see them drunk-
DIONYSIUS
But for all your sorrow, 815
you'd like very much to see them?
PENTHEUS
Yes, very much.
I could crouch beneath the fir trees, out of sight.
DIONYSIUS
But if you try to hide, they may track you down.
PENTHEUS
Your point is well taken. I will go openly.
DIONYSIUS
Shall I lead you there now? Are you ready to go?
PENTHEUS
The sooner the better. The loss of even a moment 820
would be disappointing now.
DIONYSIUS
First, however,
you must dress yourself in women's clothes.
PENTHEUS
What?
You want me, a man, to wear a woman's dress. But why?
DIONYSIUS
If they knew you were a man, they would kill you instantly.
PENTHEUS
True. You are an old hand at cunning, I see.
DIONYSIUS
Dionysius taught me everything I know. 825
PENTHEUS
Your advice is to the point. What I fail to see
is what we do.
DIONYSIUS
I shall go inside with you
and help you dress.
PENTHEUS
Dress? In a woman's dress,
you mean? I would die of shame.
DIONYSIUS
Very well.
Then you no longer hanker to see the Maenads?
PENTHEUS
What is this costume I must wear?
DIONYSIUS
On your head 830
I shall set a wig with long curls.
PENTHEUS
And then?
DIONYSIUS
Next, robes to your feet and a net for your hair.
PENTHEUS
Yes? Go on.
DIONYSIUS
Then a thyrsus for your hand
and a skin of dappled fawn.
PENTHEUS
I could not bear it. 835
I cannot bring myself to dress in women's clothes.
DIONYSIUS
Then you must fight the Bacchae. That means bloodshed
PENTHEUS
Right. First we must go and reconnoiter.
DIONYSIUS
Surely a wiser course than that of hunting bad
with worse.
PENTHEUS
But how can we pass through the city
without being seen?
DIONYSIUS
We shall take deserted streets. 840
I will lead the way.
PENTHEUS
Any way you like,
provided those women of Bacchus don't jeer at me.
First, however, I shall ponder your advice,
whether to go or not.
DIONYSIUS
Do as you please.
I am ready, whatever you decide.
PENTHEUS
Yes.
Either I shall march with my army to the mountain 845
or act on your advice.
Exit Pentheus into the palace.
DIONYSIUS
Women, our prey now thrashes
in the net we threw. He shall see the Bacchae
and pay the price with death.
0 Dionysius,
now action rests with you. And you are near.
Punish this man. But first distract his wits; 850
bewilder him with madness. For sane of mind
this man would never wear a woman's dress;
but obsess his soul and he will not refuse.
After those threats with which he was so fierce,
I want him made the laughingstock of Thebes,
paraded through the streets, a woman.
Now 855
I shall go and costume Pentheus in the clothes
which he must wear to Hades when he dies, butchered
by the hands of his mother. He shall come to know
Dionysius, son of Zeus, consummate god, 800
most terrible, and yet most gentle, to mankind.
Exit Dionysius into the palace.
CHORUS
-When shall I dance once more
with bare feet the all-night dances,
tossing my head for joy
in the damp air, in the dew, 865
as a running fawn might frisk
for the green joy of the wide fields,
free from fear of the hunt,
free from the circling beaters 870
and the nets of woven mesh
and the hunters halloing on
their yelping packs? And then, hard pressed,
she sprints with the quickness of wind,
bounding over the marsh, leaping
to frisk, leaping for joy, 875
gay with the green of the leaves,
to dance for joy in the forest,
to dance where the darkness is deepest,
where no man is.
-What is wisdom? What gift of the gods
is held in honor like this:
to hold your hand victorious
over the heads of those you hate? 880
Honor is precious forever.
-Slow but unmistakable
the might of the gods moves on.
It punishes that man,
infatuate of soul
and hardened in his pride, 885
who disregards the gods.
The gods are crafty:
they lie in ambush
a long step of time
to hunt the unholy.
Beyond the old belie,
no thought, no act shall go.
Small, small is the cost
to believe in this:
whatever is god is strong;
whatever long time has sanctioned,
that is a law forever;
the law tradition makes 895
is the law of nature.
-What is wisdom? What gift of the gods
is held in honor like this:
to hold your hand victorious
over the heads of those you hate? 900
Honor is precious forever.
-Blesse'd is he who escapes a storm at sea,
who comes home to his harbor.
-Blesse'd is he who emerges from under affliction.
-In various ways one man outraces another in the
race for wealth and power. 905
-Ten thousand men possess ten thousand hopes.
-A few bear fruit in happiness; the others go awry.
-But he who garners day by day the good of life, 910
he is happiest. Blesse'd is he.
Re-enter Dionysius from the palace. At the threshold he turns and calls
back to
Pentheus.
DIONYSIUS
Pentheus if you are still so curious to see
forbidden sights, so bent on evil still,
come out. Let us see you in your woman's dress,
disguised in Maenad clothes so you may go and spy 915
upon your mother and her company.
Enter Pentheus from the palace. He wears a long linen dress which partially
conceals his fawn-skin. He carries a thyrsus in his hand; on his head he
wears a wig
with long blond curls bound by a snood. He is dazed and completely in the
power of
the god who has now possessed him.
Why,
you look exactly like one of the daughters of Cadmus.
PENTHEUS
I seem to see two suns blazing in the heavens.
And now two Thebes, two cities, and each
with seven gates. And you-you are a bull 920
who walks before me there. Horns have sprouted
from your head. Have you always been a beast?
But now I see a bull.
DIONYSIUS
It is the god you see.
Though hostile formerly, he now declares a truce
and goes with us. You see what you could not
when you were blind.
PENTHEUS coyly primping
Do I look like anyone? 925
Like Ino or my mother Agave?
DIONYSIUS
So much alike
I almost might be seeing one of them. But look:
one of your curls has come loose from under the snood
where I tucked it.
PENTHEUS
It must have worked loose
when I was dancing for joy and shaking my head. 930
DIONYSIUS
Then let me be your maid and tuck it back.
Hold still.
PENTHEUS
Arrange it. I am in your hands
completely.
Dionysius tucks the curl back under the snood.
DIONYSIUS
And now your strap has slipped. Yes, 935
and your robe hangs askew at the ankles.
PENTHEUS bending backward to look
I think so.
At least on my right leg. But on the left the hem
lies straight.
DIONYSIUS
You will think me the best of friends
when you see to your surprise how chaste the Bacchae are. 940
PENTHEUS
But to be a real Bacchante, should I hold
the wand in my right hand? Or this way?
DIONYSIUS
No.
In your right hand. And raise it as you raise
your right foot. I commend your change of heart.
PENTHEUS
Could I lift Cithaeron up, do you think? 945
Shoulder the cliffs, Bacchae and all?
DIONYSIUS
If you wanted.
Your mind was once unsound, but now you think
as sane men do.
PENTHEUS
Should we take crowbars with us?
Or should I put my shoulder to the cliffs 950
and heave them up?
DIONYSIUS
What? And destroy the haunts
of the nymphs, the holy groves where Pan plays
his woodland pipe?
PENTHEUS
You are right. In any case,
women should not be mastered by brute strength.
I will hide myself beneath the firs instead.
DIONYSIUS
You will find all the ambush you deserve, 955
creeping up to spy on the Maenads.
PENTHEUS
Think.
I can see them already, there among the bushes,
mating like birds, caught in the toils of love.
DIONYSIUS
Exactly. This is your mission: you go to watch.
You may surprise them-or they may surprise you. 960
PENTHEUS
Then lead me through the very heart of Thebes,
since I, alone of all this city, dare to go.
DIONYSIUS
You and you alone will suffer for your city.
A great ordeal awaits you. But you are worthy
of your fate. I shall lead you safely there; 965
someone else shall bring you back.
PENTHEUS
Yes, my mother.
DIONYSIUS
An example to all men.
PENTHEUS
It is for that I go.
DIONYSIUS
You will be carried home-
PENTHEUS
O luxury!
DIONYSIUS
cradled in your mother's arms.
PENTHEUS
You will spoil me.
DIONYSIUS
I mean to spoil you.
PENTHEUS
I go to my reward. 970
DIONYSIUS
You are an extraordinary young man, and you go
to an extraordinary experience. You shall win
a glory towering to heaven and usurping
god's.
Exit Pentheus.
Agave and you daughters of Cadmus,
reach out your hands! I bring this young man
to a great ordeal. The victor? Bromius. 975
Bromius-and I. The rest the event shall show.
Exit Dionysius.
CHORUS
-Run to the mountain, fleet hounds of madness!
Run, run to the revels of Cadmus' daughters!
Sting them against the man in women's clothes, 980
the madman who spies on the Maenads, who peers
from behind the rocks, who spies from a vantage!
His mother shall see him first. She will cry 985
to the Maenads: "Who is this spy who has come
to the mountains to peer at the mountain-revels
of the women of Thebes? What bore him, Bacchae?
This man was born of no woman. Some lioness
gave him birth, some one of the Libyan gorgons!" 990
-0 Justice, principle of order, spirit of custom, come!
Be manifest; reveal yourself with a sword!
Stab through the throat that godless man,
the mocker who goes, flouting custom and outraging god!
0 Justice, stab the evil earth-born spawn of Echion! 995
-Uncontrollable, the unbeliever goes,
in spitting rage, rebellious and amok,
madly assaulting the mysteries of god,
profaning the rites of the mother of god.
Against the unassailable he runs, with rage
obsessed. Headlong he runs to death.
For death the gods exact, curbing by that bit
of men. They humble us with death
remember what we are who are not god,
but men. We run to death. Wherefore, I say,
accept, accept:
humility is wise; humility is blest.
But what the world calls wise I do not want. 1005
Elsewhere the chase. I hunt another game,
those great, those manifest, those certain goals,
achieving which, our mortal lives are blest.
Let these things be the quarry of my chase:
purity; humility; an unrebellious soul,
accepting all. Let me go the customary way,
the timeless, honored, beaten path of those who walk
with reverence and awe beneath the sons of heaven. 1010
-O Justice, principle of order, spirit of custom,
come! Be manifest; reveal yourself with a sword!
Stab through the throat that godless man,
the mocker who goes, flouting custom and outraging god!
O Justice, destroy the evil earth-born sprawn of Echion! 1015
-O Dionysius, reveal yourself a bull! Be manifest,
a snake with darting heads, a lion breathing fire!
O Bacchus, come! Come with your smile!
Cast your noose about this man who hunts
your Bacchae! Bring him down, trampled 1020
underfoot by the murderous herd of your Maenads!
Enter a messenger from Cithaeron.
MESSENGER
How prosperous in Hellas these halls once were,
this house founded by Cadmus, the stranger from Sidon 1025
who sowed the dragon seed in the land of the snake!
I am a slave and nothing more, yet even so
I mourn the fortunes of this fallen house.
CORYPHAEUS
What is it?
Is there news of the Bacchae?
MESSENGER
This is my news:
Click here to see changes from here to just past 1150
Pentheus, the son of Echion, is dead. 1030
CORYPHAEUS
All hail to Bromius! Our god is a great god!
MESSENGER
What is this you say, women? You dare to rejoice
at these disasters which destroy this house?
CORYPHAEUS
I am no Greek. I hail my god
in my own way. No longer need I
shrink with fear of prison. 1035
MESSENGER
If you suppose this city is so short of men-
CORYPHAEUS
Dionysius, Dionysius, not Thebes,
has power over me.
MESSENGER
Your feelings might be forgiven, then. But this,
this exultation in disaster-it is not right. 1040
CORYPHAEUS
Tell us how the mocker died.
How was he killed?
MESSENGER
There were three of us in all: Pentheus and I,
attending my master, and that stranger who volunteered
his services as guide. Leaving behind us
the last outlying farms of Thebes, we forded
the Asopus and struck into the barren scrubland 1045
of Cithaeron.
There in a grassy glen we halted,
unmoving, silent, without a word,
so we might see but not be seen. From that vantage, 1050
in a hollow cut from the sheer rock of the cliffs,
a place where water ran and the pines grew dense
with shade, we saw the Maenads sitting, their hands
busily moving at their happy tasks. Some
wound the stalks of their tattered wands with tendrils 1055
of fresh ivy; others, frisking like fillies
newly freed from the painted bridles, chanted
in Bacchic songs, responsively.
But Pentheus-unhappy man-could not quite see the companies
of women. "Stranger," he said, "from where I stand,
I cannot see these counterfeited Maenads. 1060
But if I climbed that towering fir that overhangs
the banks, then I could see their shameless orgies
better."
And now the stranger worked a miracle.
Reaching for the highest branch of a great fir,
he bent it down, down, down to the dark earth, 1065
till it was curved the way a taut bow bends
or like a rim of wood when forced about the circle
of a wheel. Like that he forced that mountain fir
down to the ground. No mortal could have done it.
Then he seated Pentheus at the highest tip 1070
and with his hands let the trunk rise straightly up,
slowly and gently, lest it throw its rider.
And the tree rose, towering to heaven, with my master
huddled at the top. And now the Maenads saw him
more clearly than he saw them. -But barely had they seen, .1075
when the stranger vanished and there came a great voice
out of heaven-Dionysius', it must have been-
crying: "Women, I bring you the man who has mocked
at you and me and at our holy mysteries. 1080
Take vengeance upon him." And as he spoke
a flash of awful fire bound earth and heaven.
The high air hushed, and along the forest glen
the leaves hung still; you could hear no cry of beasts. 1085
The Bacchae heard that voice but missed its words,
and leaping up, they stared, peering everywhere.
Again that voice. And now they knew his cry,
the clear command of god. And breaking loose
like startled doves, through grove and torrent, 1090
over jagged rocks, they flew, their feet maddened
by the breath of god. And when they saw my master
perching in his tree, they climbed a great stone 1095
that towered opposite his perch and showered him
with stones and javelins of fir, while the others
hurled their wands. And yet they missed their target,
poor Pentheus in his perch, barely out of reach 1100
of their eager hands, treed, unable to escape.
Finally they splintered branches from the oaks
and with those bars of wood tried to lever up the tree
by prying at the roots. But every effort failed. 1105
Then Agave cried out: "Maenads, make a circle
about the trunk and grip it with your hands.
Unless we take this climbing beast, he will reveal
the secrets of the god." With that, thousands of hands
tore the fir tree from the earth, and down, down 1110
from his high perch fell Pentheus, tumbling
to the ground, sobbing and screaming as he fell,
for he knew his end was near. His own mother,
like a priestess with her victim, fell upon him
first. But snatching off his wig and snood 1115
So she would recognize his face, he touched her cheeks,
screaming "No, no, Mother! I am Pentheus,
your own son, the child you bore to Echion!
Pity me, spare me, Mother! I have done a wrong, 1120
but do not kill your own son for my offense."
But she was foaming at the mouth, and her crazed eyes
rolling with frenzy. She was mad, stark mad,
possessed by Bacchus. Ignoring his cries of pity,
she seized his left arm at the wrist; then, planting 1125
her foot upon his chest, she pulled, wrenching away
the arm at the shoulder-not by her own strength,
for the god had put inhuman power in her hands.
Ino, meanwhile, on the other side, was scratching off
his flesh. Then Autonoe and the whole horde 1130
of Bacchae swarmed upon him. Shouts everywhere,
he screaming with what little breath was left,
they shrieking in triumph. One tore off an arm,
another a foot still warm in its shoe. His ribs
were clawed clean of flesh and every hand 1135
was smeared with blood as they played ball with scraps
of Pentheus' body.
The pitiful remains lie scattered,
one piece among the sharp rocks, others
lying lost among the leaves in the depths
of the forest. His mother, picking up his head, 1140
impaled it on her wand. She seems to think it is
some mountain lion's head which she carries in triumph
through the thick of Cithaeron. Leaving her sisters
at the Maenad dances, she is coming here, gloating
over her grisly prize. She calls upon Bacchus: 1145
he is her "fellow-huntsman," "comrade of the chase,
crowned with victory." But all the victory
she carries home is her own grief
Now,
before Agave returns, let me leave
this scene of sorrow. Humility,
a sense of reverence before the sons of heaven- 1150
of all the prizes that a mortal man might win,
these, I say, are wisest; these are best.
Exit Messenger.
CHORUS
-We dance to the glory of Bacchus!
We dance to the death of Pentheus,
the death of the spawn of the dragon! 1155
He dressed in woman's dress;
he took the lovely thyrsus;
it waved him down to death,
led by a bull to Hades.
Hail, Bacchae! Hail, women of Thebes! 1160
Your victory is fair, fair the prize,
this famous prize of grief!
Glorious the game! To fold your child
in your arms, streaming with his blood!
CORYPHAEUS
But look: there comes Pentheus' mother, Agave, 1165
running wild-eyed toward the palace.
-Welcome,
welcome to the reveling band of the god of joy!
Enter Agave with other Bacchantes. She is covered with blood and carries
the head
of Pentheus impaled upon her thyrsus.
AGAVE
Bacchae of Asia
CHORUS
Speak, speak.
AGAVE
We bring this branch to the palace,
this fresh-cut spray from the mountains. 1170
Happy was the hunting.
CHORUS
I see.
I welcome our fellow-reveler of god.
AGAVE
The whelp of a wild mountain lion,
and snared by me without a noose.
Look, look at the prize I bring. 1175
CHORUS
Where was he caught?
AGAVE
On Cithaeron-
CHORUS
On Cithaeron?
AGAVE
Our prize was killed.
CHORUS
Who killed him?
AGAVE
I struck him first.
The Maenads call me "Agave the blest." 1180
CHORUS
And then?
AGAVE
Cadmus'-
CHORUS
Cadmus'?
AGAVE
Daughters.
After me, they reached the prey.
After me. Happy was the hunting.
CHORUS
Happy indeed.
AGAVE
Then share my glory, share the feast.
CHORUS
Share, unhappy woman?
AGAVE
See, the whelp is young and tender. 1185
Beneath the soft mane of its hair,
the down is blooming on the cheeks.
CHORUS
With that mane he looks a beast.
AGAVE
Our god is wise. Cunningly, cleverly, 1190
Bacchus the hunter lashed the Maenads
against his prey.
CHORUS
Our king is a hunter.
AGAVE
You praise me now?
CHORUS
I praise you.
AGAVE
The men of Thebes-
CHORUS
And Pentheus, your son?
AGAVE
Will praise his mother. She caught 1195
a great quarry, this lion's cub.
CHORUS
Extraordinary catch.
AGAVE
Extraordinary skill.
CHORUS
You are proud?
AGAVE
Proud and happy.
I have won the trophy of the chase,
a great prize, manifest to all.
CORYPHAEUS
Then, poor woman, show the citizens of Thebes 1200
this great prize, this trophy you have won
in the hunt.
Agave proudly exhibits her thyrsus with the head of Pentheus impaled upon the
point.
AGAVE
You citizens of this towered city,
men of Thebes, behold the trophy of your. womens
hunting! This is the quarry of our chase, taken
not with nets nor spears of bronze but by the white 1205
and delicate hands of women. What are they worth,
your boastings now and all that uselessness
your armor is, since we, with our bare hands,
captured this quarry and tore its bleeding body
limb from limb?
-But where is my father Cadmus? 1210
He should come. And my son. Where is Pentheus?
Fetch him. I will have him set his ladder up
against the wall and, there upon the beam,
nail the head of this wild lion I have killed
as a trophy of my hunt.
Enter Cadmus, followed by attendants who bear upon a bier the dismembered body
of Pentheus.
CADMUS
Follow me, attendants. 1215
Bear your dreadful burden in and set it down,
there before the palace.
The attendants set down the bier.
This was Pentheus
whose body, after long and weary searchings
I painfully assembled from Cithaeron's glens
where it lay, scattered in shreds, dismembered
throughout the forest, no two pieces 1220
in a single place.
Old Teiresias and I
had returned to Thebes from the orgies on the mountain
before I learned of this atrocious crime
my daughters did. And so I hurried back
to the mountain to recover the body of this boy 1225
murdered by the Maenads. There among the oaks
I found Aristacus' wife, the mother of Actaeon,
Autonoe", and with her Ino, both
still stung with madness. But Agave, they said,
was on her way to Thebes, still possessed. 1230
And what they said was true, for there she is,
and not a happy sight.
AGAVE
Now, Father,
yours can be the proudest boast of living men.
For you are now the father of the bravest daughters
in the world. All of your daughters are brave, 1235
but I above the rest. I have left my shuttle
at the loom; I raised my sight to higher things-
to hunting animals with my bare hands.
You see?
Here in my hands I hold the quarry of my chase,
a trophy for our house. Take it, Father, take it. 1240
Glory in my kill and invite your friends to share
the feast of triumph. For you are blest, Father,
by this great deed I have done.
CADMUS
This is a grief
so great it knows no size. I cannot look.
This is the awful murder your hands have done. 1245
This, this is the noble victim you have slaughtered
to the gods. And to share a feast like this
you now invite all Thebes and me?
0 gods,
how terribly I pity you and then myself
Justly-too, too justly-has lord Bromius,
this god of our own blood, destroyed us all, 1250
every one.
AGAVE
How scowling and crabbed is old age
in men. I hope my son takes after his mother
and wins, as she has done, the laurels of the chase
when he goes hunting with the younger men of Thebes.
But all my son can do is quarrel with god. 1255
He should be scolded, Father, and you are the one
who should scold him. Yes, someone call him out
so he can see his mother's triumph.
CADMUS
Enough. No more.
When you realize the horror you have done,
you shall suffer terribly. But if with luck 1260
your present madness lasts until you die,
you will seem to have, not having, happiness.
AGAVE
Why do you reproach me? Is there something wrong?
CADMUS
First raise your eyes to the heavens.
AGAVE
There. 1265
But why?
CADMUS
Does it look the same as it did before?
Or has it changed?
AGAVE
It seems- somehow- clearer,
brighter than it was before.
CADMUS
Do you still feel
the same flurry inside you?
AGAVE
The same flurry?
No, I feel-somehow-calmer. I feel as though- 1270
my mind were somehow-changing.
CADMUS
Can you still hear me?
Can you answer clearly?
AGAVE
No.I have forgotten
what we were saying, Father.
CADMUS
Who was your husband?
AGAVE
Echion- a man, they said, born of the dragon seed.
CADMUS
What was the name of the child you bore your husband? 1275
AGAVE
Pentheus.
CADMUS
And whose head do you hold in your hands?
AGAVE averting her eyes
A lion's head- or so the hunters told me.
CADMUS
Look directly at it. Just a quick glance.
AGAVE
What is it? What am I holding in my hands? 1280
CADMUS
Look more closely still. Study it carefully.
AGAVE
No! 0 gods, I see the greatest grief there is.
CADMUS
Does it look like a lion now?
AGAVE
No, no. It is
Pentheus' head I hold-
CADMUS
And mourned by me 1285
before you ever knew.
AGAVE
But who killed him?
Why am I holding him?
CADMUS
O savage truth,
what a time to come!
AGAVE
For god's sake, speak.
My heart is beating with terror.
CADMUS
You killed him.
You and your sisters.
AGAVE
But where was he killed?
Here at home? Where?
CADMUS
He was killed on Cithaeron,
there where the hounds tore Actaeon to pieces.
AGAVE
But why? Why had Pentheus gone to Cithaeron?
CADMUS
He went to your revels to mock the god.
AGAVE
But we
what were we doing on the mountain?
CADMUS
You were mad.
The whole city was possessed.
AGAVE
Now, now I see:
Dionysius has destroyed us all.
CADMUS
You outraged him.
You denied that he was truly god.
AGAVE
Father,
where is my poor boy's body now?
CADMUS
There it is.
I gathered the pieces with great difficulty.
AGAVE
Is his body entire? Has he been laid out well? 1300
CADMUS
[All but the head. The rest is mutilated horribly.]
AGAVE
But why should Pentheus suffer for my crime?
CADMUS
He, like you, blasphemed the god. And so
the god has brought us all to ruin at one blow,
you, your sisters, and this boy. All our house
the god as utterly destroyed and, with it, me.
For I have no sons left, no male heir; 1305
and I have lived only to see this boy,
this branch of your own body, most horribly
and foully killed.
He turns and addresses the corpse.
To you my house looked up.
Child, you were the stay of my house; you were
my daughter's son. Of you this city stood in awe; 1310
No one who once had seen your once dared outrage
the old man, or if he did, you punished him.
Now I must go, a banished and dishonored man-
I, Cadmus the great, who sowed the soldiery
of Thebes and harvested a great harvest. My son, 1315
dearest to me of all men-for even dead,
I count you still the man I love the most-
never again will your hand touch my chin;
no more, child, will you hug me and call me "Grandfather"
and say, "Who is wronging you? 1320
Does anyone trouble you or vex your heart, old man?
Tell me, Grandfather, and I will punish him."
No, now there is grief for me; the mourning
for you; pity for your mother; and for her sisters,
sorrow.
If there is still any mortal man 1325
who despises or defies the gods, let him look
on this boy's death and believe in the gods.
CORYPHAEUS
Cadmus, I pity you. Your daughter's son has
died as he deserved, and yet his death
bears hard on you.
At this point there is a break in the manuscript of nearly fifty lines. The
following
speeches of Agave and Coryphaeus and the first part of Dionysius' speech
have been
conjecturally reconstructed from fragments and later material which made
use of the
Bacchae. Lines which can plausibly be assigned to the lacuna are otherwise not
indicated. My own inventions are designed, not to complete the speeches, but to
effect a transition between the fragments, and are bracketed.
AGAVE
O Father, now you can see
how everything has changed. I am in anguish now,
tormented, who walked in triumph minutes past,
exulting in my kill. And that prize I carried home
with such pride was my own curse. Upon these hands
I bear the curse of my son's blood. How then
with these accursed hands may I touch his body?
How can I, accursed with such a curse, hold him
to my breast? 0 gods, what dirge can I sing
[that there might be] a dirge [for every] broken limb?
Where is a shroud to cover up his corpse?
O my child, what hands will give you proper care
unless with my own hands I lift my curse?
She lifts up one of Pentheus' limbs and asks the help of Cadmus in piecing
the body
together. She mourns each piece separately before replacing it on the bier.
Come, Father. We must restore his head
to this unhappy boy. As best we can, we shall make
him whole again.
O dearest, dearest face!
Pretty boyish mouth! Now with this veil
I shroud your head, gathering with loving care
these mangled bloody limbs, this flesh I brought
to birth
CORYPHAEUS
Let this scene teach those [who see these things:
Dionysius is the son] of Zeus.
Above the palace Dionysius appears in epiphany.
DIONYSIUS
[I am Dionysius, the son of Zeus, returned to Thebes, revealed,
a god to men.] But the men [of Thebes] blasphemed me.
They slandered me; they said I came of mortal man,
and not content with speaking blasphemies,
[they dared to threaten my person with violence.]
These crimes this people whom I cherished well
did from malice to their benefactor. Therefore,
I now disclose the sufferings in store for them.
Like [enemies], they shall be driven from this city
to other lands; there, submitting to the yoke
of slavery, they shall wear out wretched lives,
captives of war, enduring much indignity.
He turns to the corpse of Pentheus.
This man has found the death which he deserved,
torn to pieces among the jagged rocks.
You are my witnesses: he came with outrage;
he attempted to chain my hands, abusing me
[and doing what he should least of all have done.]
And therefore he has rightly perished by the hands
of those who should the least of all have murdered him.
What he suffers, he suffers justly.
Upon you,
Agave, and on your sisters I pronounce this doom:
you shall leave this city in expiation
of the murder you have done. You are unclean,
and it would be a sacrilege that murderers
should remain at peace beside the graves [of those
whom they have killed].
He turns to Cadmus.
Next I shall disclose the trials
which await this man. You, Cadmus, shall be changed 1330
to a serpent, and your wife, the child of Ares,
immortal Harmonia, shall undergo your doom,
a serpent too. With her, it is your fate
to go a journey in a car drawn on by oxen,
leading behind you a great barbarian host.
For thus decrees the oracle of Zeus.
With a host so huge its numbers cannot be counted, 1335
you shall ravage many cities; but when your army
plunders the shrine of Apollo, its homecoming
shall be perilous and hard. Yet in the end
the god Ares shall save Harmonia and you
and bring you both to live among the blest.
So say I, born of no mortal father, 1340
Dionysius, true son of Zeus. If then,
when you would not, you had muzzled your madness,
you should have an ally now in the son of Zeus.
CADMUS
We implore you, Dionysius. We have done wrong.
DIONYSIUS
Too late. When there was time, you did not know me. 1345
CADMUS
We have learned. But your sentence is too harsh.
DIONYSIUS
I am a god. I was blasphemed by you.
CADMUS
Gods should be exempt from human passions.
DIONYSIUS
Long ago my father Zeus ordained these things.
AGAVE
It is fated, Father. We must go.
DIONYSIUS
Why then delay? 1350
For you must go.
CADMUS
Child, to what a dreadful end
have we all come, you and your wretched sisters
and my unhappy self An old man, I must go
to live a stranger among barbarian peoples, doomed 1355
to lead against Hellas a motley foreign army.
Transformed to serpents, I and my wife,
Harmonia, the child of Ares, we must captain
spearsmen against the tombs and shrines of Hellas.
Never shall my sufferings end; not even 1360
over Acheron shall I have peace.
AGAVE embracing Cadmus
O Father,
to be banished, to live without you!
CADMUS
Poor child,
like a white swan warding its weak old father, 1365
why do you clasp those white arms about my neck?
AGAVE
But banished! Where shall I go?
CADMUS
I do not know,
my child. Your father can no longer help you.
AGAVE
Farewell, my home! City, farewell.
O bridal bed, banished I go, 1370
in misery, I leave you now.
CADMUS
Go, poor child, seek shelter in Aristaeus' house.
AGAVE
I pity you, Father.
CADMUS
And I pity you, my child,
and I grieve for your poor sisters. I pity them.
AGAVE
Terribly has Dionysius brought
disaster down upon this house.
DIONYSIUS
I was terribly blasphemed,
my name dishonored in Thebes.
AGAVE
Farewell, Father.
CADMUS
Farewell to you, unhappy child.
Fare well. But you shall find your faring hard. 1380
Exit Cadmus.
AGAVE
Lead me, guides, where my sisters wait,
poor sisters of my exile. Let me go
where I shall never see Cithaeron more, 1385
where that accursed hill may not see me,
where I shall find no trace of thyrsus!
That I leave to other Bacchae.
Exit Agave with attendants.
CHORUS
The gods have many shapes.
The gods bring many things
to their accomplishment.
And what was most expected 1390
has not been accomplished.
But god has found his way
for what no man expected.
So ends the play.