DIONYSUS
Myself will enter thy palace and robe thee.
PENTHEUS
What is the robe to be? a woman's? Nay, I am ashamed.
DIONYSUS
Thy eagerness to see the Maenads goes no further.
PENTHEUS
But what dress dost say thou wilt robe me in?
DIONYSUS
Upon thy head will I make thy hair grow long.
PENTHEUS
Describe my costume further.
DIONYSUS
Thou wilt wear a robe reaching to thy feet; and on thy head shall be a snood.
PENTHEUS
Wilt add aught else to my attire?
DIONYSUS
A thyrsus in thy hand, and a dappled fawnskin.
PENTHEUS
I can never put on woman's dress.
DIONYSUS
Then wilt thou cause bloodshed by coming to blows with the Bacchanals.
PENTHEUS
Thou art right.Best go spy upon them first.
DIONYSUS
Well, e'en that is wiser than by evil means to follow evil ends.
PENTHEUS
But how shall I pass through the city of the Cadmeans unseen?
DIONYSUS
We will go by unfrequented paths.I will lead the way.
PENTHEUS
Anything rather than that the Bacchantes should laugh at me.
DIONYSUS
We will enter the palace and consider the proper steps.
PENTHEUS
Thou hast my leave.I am all readiness.I will enter, prepared to set out either sword in hand or following thy advice.
Exit PENTHEUS.
DIONYSUS
Women! our prize is nearly in the net.Soon shall he reach the Bacchanals, and there pay forfeit with his life.O Dionysus! now 'tis thine to act, for thou art not far away; let us take vengeance on him.First drive him mad by fixing in his soul a wayward frenzy; for never, whilst his senses are his own, will he consent to don a woman's dress; but when his mind is gone astray he will put it on.And fain would I make him a laughing-stock to Thebes as he is led in woman's dress through the city, after those threats with which he menaced me before.But I will go to array Pentheus in those robes which he shall wear when he sets out for Hades' halls, a victim to his own mother's fury; so shall he recognize Dionysus, the son of Zeus, who proves himself at last a god most terrible, for all his gentleness to man.
Exit DIONYSUS.
CHORUS
Will this white foot e'er join the night-long dance? what time in Bacchic ecstasy I toss my neck to heaven's dewy breath, like a fawn, that gambols 'mid the meadow's green delights, when she hath escaped the fearful chase, clear of the watchers, o'er the woven nets;while the huntsman, with loud halloo, harks on his hounds' full cry, and she with laboured breath at lightning speed bounds o'er the level water-meadows, glad to be far from man amid the foliage of the bosky grove.What is true wisdom, or what fairer boon has heaven placed in mortals' reach, than to gain the mastery o'er a fallen foe? What is fair is dear for aye.Though slow be its advance, yet surely moves the power of the gods, correcting those mortal wights, that court a senseless pride, or, in the madness of their fancy, disregard the gods.Subtly they lie in wait, through the long march of time, and so hunt down the godless man.For it is never right in theory or in practice to o'erride the law of custom.This is a maxim cheaply bought: whatever comes of God, or in time's long annals, has grown into a law upon a natural basis, this is sovereign.What is true wisdom, or what fairer boon has heaven placed in mortals' reach, than to gain the mastery o'er a fallen foe? What is fair is dear for ave.Happy is he who hath escaped the wave from out the sea, and reached the haven; and happy he who hath triumphed o'er his troubles; though one surpasses another in wealth and power; yet there be myriad hopes for all the myriad minds; some end in happiness for man, and others come to naught; but him, whose life from day to day is blest, I deem a happy man.
Enter DIONYSUS.
DIONYSUS
Ho! Pentheus, thou that art so cager to see what is forbidden, and to show thy zeal in an unworthy cause, come forth before the palace, let me see thee clad as a woman in frenzied Bacchante's dress, to spy upon thy own mother and her company.
Enter PENTHEUS.
Yes, thou resemblest closely a daughter of Cadmus.
PENTHEUS
Of a truth I seem to see two suns, and two towns of Thebes, our seven-gated city; and thou, methinks, art a bull going before to guide me, and on thy head a pair of horns have grown.Wert thou really once a brute beast? Thon hast at any rate the appearance of a bull.
DIONYSUS
The god attends us, ungracious heretofore, but now our sworn friend; and now thine eyes behold the things they should.
PENTHEUS
Pray, what do I resemble? Is not mine the carriage of Ino, or Agave my own mother?
DIONYSUS
In seeing thee, I seem to see them in person.But this tress is straying from its place, no longer as I bound it 'neath the snood.
PENTHEUS
I disarranged it from its place as I tossed it to and fro within my chamber, in Bacchic ecstasy.
DIONYSUS
Well, I will rearrange it, since to tend thee is my care; hold up thy head.
PENTHEUS
Come, put it straight; for on thee do I depend.
DIONYSUS
Thy girdle is loose, and the folds of thy dress do not hang evenly below thy ankles.
PENTHEUS
I agree to that as regards the right side, but on the other my dress hangs straight with my foot.
DIONYSUS
Surely thou wilt rank me first among thy friends, when contrary to thy expectation thou findest the Bacchantes virtuous.
PENTHEUS
Shall I hold the thyrsus in the right or left hand to look most like a Bacchanal?
DIONYSUS
Hold it in thy right hand, and step out with thy right foot; thy change of mind compels thy praise.
PENTHEUS
Shall I be able to carry on my shoulders Cithaeron's glens, the Bacchanals and all?
DIONYSUS
Yes, if so thou wilt; for though thy mind was erst diseased, 'tis now just as it should be.
PENTHEUS
Shall we take levers, or with my hands can I uproot it, thrusting arm or shoulder 'neath its peaks?
DIONYSUS
No, no! destroy not the seats of the Nymphs and the haunts of Pan, the place of his piping.
PENTHEUS
Well said! Women must not be mastered by brute force; amid the pines will I conceal myself.
DIONYSUS
Thou shalt hide thee in the place that fate appoints, coming by stealth to spy upon the Bacchanals.
PENTHEUS
Why, methinks they are already caught in the pleasant snares of dalliance, like birds amid the brakes.