1The scene
[The background represents the front of the Castle of PENTHEUS, King of Thebes. At one side is visible the sacred Tomb of Semele, a little enclosure overgrown with wild vines, with a cleft in the rocky floor of it from which there issues at times steam or smoke. The God DIONYSUS is discovered alone.]
2Dionysus
Behold, God's Son is come unto this landOf Thebes, even I, Dionysus, whom the brandOf heaven's hot splendour lit to life, when sheWho bore me, Cadmus' daughter Semele,Died here. So, changed in shape from God to man,I walk again by Dirce's streams and scanIsmenus' shore. There by the castle sideI see her place, the Tomb of the Lightning's Bride,The wreck of smouldering chambers, and the greatFaint wreaths of fire undying--as the hateDies not, that Hera held for Semele.Aye, Cadmus hath done well; in purityHe keeps this place apart, inviolate,His daughter's sanctuary; and I have setMy green and clustered vines to robe it round.Far now behind me lies the golden groundOf Lydian and of Phrygian; far awayThe wide hot plains where Persian sunbeams play,The Bactrian war-holds, and the storm-oppressedClime of the Mede, and Araby the Blest,And Asia all, that by the salt sea liesIn proud embattled cities, motley-wiseOf Hellene and Barbarian interwrought;And now I come to Hellas--having taughtAll the world else my dances and my riteOf mysteries, to show me in men's sightManifest God.And first of Hellene landsI cry thus Thebes to waken; set her handsTo clasp my wand, mine ivied javelin,And round her shoulders hang my wild fawn-skin.For they have scorned me whom it least beseemed,Semele's sisters; mocked my birth, nor deemedThat Dionysus sprang from Dian seed.My mother sinned, said they; and in her need,With Cadmus plotting, cloaked her human shameWith the dread name of Zeus; for that the flameFrom heaven consumed her, seeing she lied to God.Thus must they vaunt; and therefore hath my rodOn them first fallen, and stung them forth wild-eyedFrom empty chambers; the bare mountain sideIs made their home, and all their hearts are flame.Yea, I have bound upon the necks of themThe harness of my rites. And with them allThe seed of womankind from hut and hallOf Thebes, hath this my magic goaded out.And there, with the old King's daughters, in a routConfused, they make their dwelling-place betweenThe roofless rocks and shadowy pine trees green.Thus shall this Thebes, how sore soe'er it smart,Learn and forget not, till she crave her partIn mine adoring; thus must I speak clearTo save my mother's fame, and crown me hereAs true God, born by Semele to Zeus.
Now Cadmus yieldeth up his throne and useOf royal honour to his daughter's sonPentheus; who on my body hath begunA war with God. He thrusteth me awayFrom due drink-offering, and, when men pray,My name entreats not. Therefore on his ownHead and his people's shall my power be shown.Then to another land, when all things hereAre well, must I fare onward, making clearMy godhead's might. But should this Theban townEssay with wrath and battle to drag downMy maids, lo, in their path myself shall be,And maniac armies battled after me!For this I veil my godhead with the wanForm of the things that die, and walk as Man.
O Brood of Tmolus o'er the wide world flown,O Lydian band, my chosen and mine own,Damsels uplifted o'er the orient deepTo wander where I wander, and to sleepWhere I sleep; up, and wake the old sweet sound,The clang that I and mystic Rhea found,The Timbrel of the Mountain! Gather allThebes to your song round Pentheus' royal hall.I seek my new-made worshippers, to guideTheir dances up Kithaeron's pine-clad side.
[As he departs, there comes stealing in from the left a band of fifteen Eastern Women, the light of the sunrise streaming upon their long white robes and ivy-bound hair. They wear fawn-skins over the robes, and carry some of them timbrels, some pipes and other instruments. Many bear the thyrsus, or sacred Wand, made of reed ringed with ivy. They enter stealthily till they see that the place is empty, and then begin their mystic song of worship.
3Chorus
[A Maiden.]
From Asia, from the dayspring that uprises,To Bromios ever glorying we came.We laboured for our Lord in many guises;We toiled, but the toil is as the prize is;Thou Mystery, we hail thee by thy name!
[Another.]
Who lingers in the road? Who espies us?He shall hide him in his house nor be bold.Let the heart keep silence that defies us;For I sing this day to DionysusThe song that is appointed from of old.
[All the Maidens.]
Oh, blessed he in all wise,Who hath drunk the Living Fountain,Whose life no folly staineth,And his soul is near to God;Whose sins are lifted, pall-wise,As he worships on the Mountain,And where Cybele ordaineth,Our Mother, he has trod:
His head with ivy ladenAnd his thyrsus tossing high,For our God he lifts his cry;"Up, O Bacchae, wife and maiden,Come, O ye Bacchae, come;Oh, bring the Joy-bestower,God-seed of God the Sower,Bring Bromios in his powerFrom Phrygia's mountain dome;To street and town and tower,Oh, bring ye Bromios home!"
Whom erst in anguish lyingFor an unborn life's desire,As a dead thing in the ThunderHis mother cast to earth;For her heart was dying, dying,In the white heart of the fire;Till Zeus, the Lord of Wonder,Devised new lairs of birth;
Yea, his own flesh tore to hide him,And with clasps of bitter goldDid a secret son enfold,And the Queen knew not beside him;Till the perfect hour was there;Then a horned God was found,And a God with serpents crowned;And for that are serpents woundIn the wands his maidens bear,And the songs of serpents soundIn the mazes of their hair.
[Some Maidens.]
All hail, O Thebes, thou nurse of Semele!With Semele's wild ivy crown thy towers;Oh, burst in bloom of wreathing bryony,Berries and leaves and flowers;Uplift the dark divine wand,The oak-wand and the pine-wand,And don thy fawn-skin, fringed in purityWith fleecy white, like ours.
Oh, cleanse thee in the wands' waving pride!Yea, all men shall dance with us and pray,When Bromios his companies shall guideHillward, ever hillward, where they stay,The flock of the Believing,The maids from loom and weavingBy the magic of his breath borne away.
[Others.]
Hail thou, O Nurse of Zeus, O Caverned HauntWhere fierce arms clanged to guard God's cradle rare,For thee of old some crested CorybantFirst woke in Cretan airThe wild orb of our orgies,Our Timbrel; and thy gorgesRang with this strain; and blended Phrygian chantAnd sweet keen pipes were there.
But the Timbrel, the Timbrel was another's,And away to Mother Rhea it must wend;And to our holy singing from the Mother'sThe mad Satyrs carried it, to blendIn the dancing and the cheerOf our third and perfect Year;And it serves Dionysus in the end!
[A Maiden.]
O glad, glad on the mountainsTo swoon in the race outworn,When the holy fawn-skin clings,And all else sweeps away,To the joy of the red quick fountains,The blood of the hill-goat torn,The glory of wild-beast ravenings,Where the hill-tops catch the day;To the Phrygian, Lydian, mountains!'Tis Bromios leads the way.
[Another Maiden.]
Then streams the earth with milk, yea, streamsWith wine and nectar of the bee,And through the air dim perfume steamsOf Syrian frankincense; and He,Our leader, from his thyrsus sprayA torchlight tosses high and higher,A torchlight like a beacon-fire,To waken all that faint and stray;And sets them leaping as he sings,His tresses rippling to the sky,And deep beneath the Maenad cryHis proud voice rings:"Come, O ye Bacchae, come!"
[All the Maidens.]
Hither, O fragrant of Tmolus the Golden,Come with the voice of timbrel and drum;Let the cry of your joyance uplift and emboldenThe God of the joy-cry; O Bacchanals, come!With pealing of pipes and with Phrygian clamour,On, where the vision of holiness thrills,And the music climbs and the maddening glamour,With the wild White Maids, to the hills, to the hills!Oh, then, like a colt as he runs by a river,A colt by his dam, when the heart of him sings,With the keen limbs drawn and the fleet foot a-quiver,Away the Bacchanal springs!
[Enter TEIRESIAS. He is an old man and blind, leaning upon a staff and moving with slow stateliness, though wearing the Ivy and the Bacchic fawn-skin.]
4Teiresias
Ho, there, who keeps the gate?--Go, summon meCadmus, Agenor's son, who crossed the seaFrom Sidon and upreared this Theban hold.Go, whosoe'er thou art. See he be toldTeiresias seeketh him. Himself will gaugeMine errand, and the compact, age with age,I vowed with him, grey hair with snow-white hair,To deck the new God's thyrsus, and to wearHis fawn-skin, and with ivy crown our brows.
[Enter CADMUS from the Castle. He is even older than TEIRESIAS, and wears the same attire.]
5Cadmus
True friend! I knew that voice of thine, that flowsLike mellow wisdom from a fountain wise.And, lo, I come prepared, in all the guiseAnd harness of this God. Are we not toldHis is the soul of that dead life of oldThat sprang from mine own daughter? Surely thenMust thou and I with all the strength of menExalt him.Where then shall I stand, where treadThe dance and toss this bowed and hoary head?O friend, in thee is wisdom; guide my greyAnd eld-worn steps, eld-worn Teiresias.--Nay;I am not weak.
[At the first movement of worship his manner begins to change; a mysterious strength and exaltation enter into him.
Surely this arm could smiteThe wild earth with its thyrsus, day and night,And faint not! Sweetly and forgetfullyThe dim years fall from off me!
6Teiresias
As with thee,With me 'tis likewise. Light am I and young,And will essay the dancing and the song.
7Cadmus
Quick, then, our chariots to the mountain road.
8Teiresias
Nay; to take steeds were to mistrust the God.
9Cadmus
So be it. Mine old arm shall guide thee there.
10Teiresias
The God himself shall guide! Have thou no care.
11Cadmus
And in all Thebes shall no man dance but we?
12Teiresias
Aye, Thebes is blinded. Thou and I can see.
13Cadmus
'Tis weary waiting; hold my hand, friend; so.
14Teiresias
Lo, there is mine. So linked let us go.
15Cadmus
Shall things of dust the Gods' dark ways despise?
16Teiresias
Or prove our wit on Heaven's high mysteries?Not thou and I! That heritage sublimeOur sires have left us, wisdom old as time,No word of man, how deep soe'er his thoughtAnd won of subtlest toil, may bring to naught.Aye, men will rail that I forget my years,To dance and wreathe with ivy these white hairs;What recks it? Seeing the God no line hath toldTo mark what man shall dance, or young or old;But craves his honours from mortalityAll, no man marked apart; and great shall be!
17Cadmus (after looking away toward the Mountain)
Teiresias, since this light thou canst not read,I must be seer for thee. Here comes in speedPentheus, Echion's son, whom I have raisedTo rule my people in my stead.--AmazedHe seems. Stand close, and mark what we shall hear.
[The two stand back, partially concealed, while there enters in hot haste PENTHEUS, followed by a bodyguard. He is speaking to the SOLDIER in command.
18Pentheus
Scarce had I crossed our borders, when mine earWas caught by this strange rumour, that our ownWives, our own sisters, from their hearths are flownTo wild and secret rites; and cluster thereHigh on the shadowy hills, with dance and prayerTo adore this new-made God, this Dionyse,Whate'er he be!--And in their companiesDeep wine-jars stand, and ever and anonAway into the loneliness now oneSteals forth, and now a second, maid or dame,Where love lies waiting, not of God! The flame,They say, of Bacchios wraps them. Bacchios! Nay,'Tis more to Aphrodite that they pray.Howbeit, all that I have found, my menHold bound and shackled in our dungeon den;The rest, I will go hunt them! Aye, and snareMy birds with nets of iron, to quell their prayerAnd mountain song and rites of rascaldom!They tell me, too, there is a stranger come,A man of charm and spell, from Lydian seas,A head all gold and cloudy fragrancies,A wine-red cheek, and eyes that hold the lightOf the very Cyprian. Day and livelong nightHe haunts amid the damsels, o'er each lipDangling his cup of joyance!--Let me gripHim once, but once, within these walls, right swiftThat wand shall cease its music, and that driftOf tossing curls lie still--when my rude swordFalls between neck and trunk! 'Tis all his word,This tale of Dionysus; how that sameBabe that was blasted by the lightning flameWith his dead mother, for that mother's lie,Was re-conceived, born perfect from the thighOf Zeus, and now is God! What call ye these?Dreams? Gibes of the unknown wanderer? BlasphemiesThat crave the very gibbet?Stay! God wot,Here is another marvel! See I notIn motley fawn-skins robed the vision-seerTeiresias? And my mother's father here--O depth of scorn!--adoring with the wandOf Bacchios?--Father!--Nay, mine eyes are fond;It is not your white heads so fancy-flown!It cannot be! Cast off that ivy crown,O mine own mother's sire! Set free that handThat cowers about its staff.'Tis thou hast plannedThis work, Teiresias! 'Tis thou must setAnother altar and another yetAmongst us, watch new birds, and win more hireOf gold, interpreting new signs of fire!But for thy silver hairs, I tell thee true,Thou now wert sitting chained amid thy crewOf raving damsels, for this evil dreamThou hast brought us, of new Gods! When once the gleamOf grapes hath lit a Woman's Festival,In all their prayers is no more health at all!
LEADER OF THE CHORUS(the words are not heard by PENTHEUS).
Injurious King, hast thou no care for God,Nor Cadmus, sower of the Giants' Sod,Life-spring to great Echion and to thee?
19Teiresias
Good words, my son, come easily, when heThat speaks is wise, and speaks but for the right.Else come they never! Swift are thine, and brightAs though with thought, yet have no thought at all.Lo, this new God, whom thou dost flout withal,I cannot speak the greatness wherewith HeIn Hellas shall be great! Two spirits there be,Young Prince, that in man's world are first of worth.Demeter one is named; she is the Earth--Call her which name thou will!--who feeds man's frameWith sustenance of things dry. And that which cameHer work to perfect, second, is the PowerFrom Semele born. He found the liquid showerHid in the grape. He rests man's spirit dimFrom grieving, when the vine exalteth him.He giveth sleep to sink the fretful dayIn cool forgetting. Is there any wayWith man's sore heart, save only to forget?Yea, being God, the blood of him is setBefore the Gods in sacrifice, that weFor his sake may be blest.--And so, to thee,That fable shames him, how this God was knitInto God's flesh? Nay, learn the truth of it,Cleared from the false.--When from that deadly lightZeus saved the babe, and up to Olympus' heightRaised him, and Hera's wrath would cast him thence,Then Zeus devised him a divine defence.A fragment of the world-encircling fireHe rent apart, and wrought to his desireOf shape and hue, in the image of the child,And gave to Hera's rage. And so, beguiledBy change and passing time, this tale was born,How the babe-god was hidden in the tornFlesh of his sire. He hath no shame thereby.A prophet is he likewise. ProphecyCleaves to all frenzy, but beyond all elseTo frenzy of prayer. Then in us verily dwellsThe God himself, and speaks the thing to be.Yea, and of Ares' realm a part hath he.When mortal armies, mailed and arrayed,Have in strange fear, or ever blade met blade,Fled maddened, 'tis this God hath palsied them.Aye, over Delphi's rock-built diademThou yet shalt see him leaping with his trainOf fire across the twin-peaked mountain-plain,Flaming the darkness with his mystic wand,And great in Hellas.--List and understand,King Pentheus! Dream not thou that force is power;Nor, if thou hast a thought, and that thought sourAnd sick, oh, dream not thought is wisdom!--Up,Receive this God to Thebes; pour forth the cupOf sacrifice, and pray, and wreathe thy brow.Thou fearest for the damsels? Think thee now;How toucheth this the part of DionyseTo hold maids pure perforce? In them it lies,And their own hearts; and in the wildest riteCometh no stain to her whose heart is white.Nay, mark me! Thou hast thy joy, when the GateStands thronged, and Pentheus' name is lifted greatAnd high by Thebes in clamour; shall not HeRejoice in his due meed of majesty?Howbeit, this Cadmus whom thou scorn'st and IWill wear His crown, and tread His dances! Aye,Our hairs are white, yet shall that dance be trod!I will not lift mine arm to war with GodFor thee nor all thy words. Madness most fellIs on thee, madness wrought by some dread spell,But not by spell nor leechcraft to be cured!
20Chorus
Grey prophet, worthy of Phoebus is thy word,And wise in honouring Bromios, our great God.
21Cadmus
My son, right well Teiresias points thy road.Oh, make thine habitation here with us,Not lonely, against men's uses. HazardousIs this quick bird-like beating of thy thoughtWhere no thought dwells.--Grant that this God be naught,Yet let that Naught be Somewhat in thy mouth;Lie boldly, and say He Is! So north and southShall marvel, how there sprang a thing divineFrom Semele's flesh, and honour all our line.[Drawing nearer to PENTHEUS.Is there not blood before thine eyes even now?Our lost Actaeon's blood, whom long agoHis own red hounds through yonder forest dimTore unto death, because he vaunted himAgainst most holy Artemis? Oh, beware,And let me wreathe thy temples. Make thy prayerWith us, and walk thee humbly in God's sight.[He makes as if to set the wreath on PENTHEUS' head.
22Pentheus
Down with that hand! Aroint thee to thy rite,Nor smear on me thy foul contagion!
[Turning upon TEIRESIAS.
ThisThy folly's head and prompter shall not missThe justice that he needs!--Go, half my guard,Forth to the rock-seat where he dwells in wardO'er birds and wonders; rend the stone with crowAnd trident; make one wreck of high and low,And toss his bands to all the winds of air!Ha, have I found the way to sting thee, there?The rest, forth through the town! And seek amainThis girl-faced stranger, that hath wrought such baneTo all Thebes, preying on our maids and wives.Seek till ye find; and lead him here in gyves,Till he be judged and stoned, and weep in bloodThe day he troubled Pentheus with his God!
[The guards set forth in two bodies; PENTHEUS goes into the Castle.
23Teiresias
Hard heart, how little dost thou know what seedThou sowest! Blind before, and now indeedMost mad!--Come, Cadmus, let us go our way,And pray for this our persecutor, prayFor this poor city, that the righteous GodMove not in anger.--Take thine ivy rodAnd help my steps, as I help thine. 'Twere ill,If two old men should fall by the roadway. Still,Come what come may, our service shall be doneTo Bacchios, the All-Father's mystic son.O Pentheus, named of sorrow! Shall he claimFrom all thy house fulfilment of his name,Old Cadmus?--Nay, I speak not from mine art,But as I see--blind words and a blind heart!
[The two Old Men go off towards the Mountain.
24Chorus
[Some Maidens.]
Thou Immaculate on high;Thou Recording Purity;Thou that stoopest, Golden Wing,Earthward, manward, pitying,Hearest thou this angry King?Hearest thou the rage and scorn'Gainst the Lord of Many Voices,Him of mortal mother born,Him in whom man's heart rejoices,Girt with garlands and with glee,First in Heaven's sovranty?For his kingdom, it is there,In the dancing and the prayer,In the music and the laughter,In the vanishing of care,And of all before and after;In the Gods' high banquet, whenGleams the grape-blood, flashed to heaven;Yea, and in the feasts of menComes his crowned slumber; thenPain is dead and hate forgiven!
[Others.]
Loose thy lips from out the rein;Lift thy wisdom to disdain;Whatso law thou canst not see,Scorning; so the end shall beUttermost calamity!'Tis the life of quiet breath,'Tis the simple and the true,Storm nor earthquake shattereth,Nor shall aught the house undoWhere they dwell. For, far away,Hidden from the eyes of day,Watchers are there in the skies,That can see man's life, and prizeDeeds well done by things of clay.But the world's Wise are not wise,Claiming more than mortal may.Life is such a little thing;Lo, their present is departed,And the dreams to which they clingCome not. Mad imaginingTheirs, I ween, and empty-hearted!
[Divers Maidens.]
Where is the Home for me?O Cyprus, set in the sea,Aphrodite's home In the soft sea-foam,Would I could wend to thee;Where the wings of the Loves are furled,And faint the heart of the world.
Aye, unto Paphos' isle,Where the rainless meadows smileWith riches rolled From the hundred-foldMouths of the far-off Nile,Streaming beneath the wavesTo the roots of the seaward caves.
But a better land is thereWhere Olympus cleaves the air,The high still dell Where the Muses dwell,Fairest of all things fair!O there is Grace, and there is the Heart's Desire.And peace to adore thee, thou Spirit of Guiding Fire!
* * * * *
A God of Heaven is he,And born in majesty;Yet hath he mirth In the joy of the Earth,And he loveth constantlyHer who brings increase,The Feeder of Children, Peace.
No grudge hath he of the great;No scorn of the mean estate;But to all that liveth His wine he giveth,Griefless, immaculate;Only on them that spurnJoy, may his anger burn.
Love thou the Day and the Night;Be glad of the Dark and the Light;And avert thine eyes From the lore of the wise,That have honour in proud men's sight.The simple nameless herd of HumanityHath deeds and faith that are truth enough for me!
[As the Chorus ceases, a party of the guards return, leading in the midst of them DIONYSUS, bound. The SOLDIER in command stands forth, as PENTHEUS, hearing the tramp of feet, comes out from the Castle.
25Soldier
Our quest is finished, and thy prey, O King,Caught; for the chase was swift, and this wild thingMost tame; yet never flinched, nor thought to flee,But held both hands out unresistingly--No change, no blanching of the wine-red cheek.He waited while we came, and bade us wreakAll thy decree; yea, laughed, and made my hestEasy, till I for very shame confessedAnd said: 'O stranger, not of mine own willI bind thee, but his bidding to fulfilWho sent me.'And those prisoned Maids withalWhom thou didst seize and bind within the wallOf thy great dungeon, they are fled, O King,Free in the woods, a-dance and gloryingTo Bromios. Of their own impulse fellTo earth, men say, fetter and manacle,And bars slid back untouched of mortal hand.Yea, full of many wonders to thy landIs this man come. . . . Howbeit, it lies with thee!
26Pentheus
Ye are mad!--Unhand him. Howso swift he be,My toils are round him and he shall not fly.
[The guards loose the arms of DIONYSUS; PENTHEUS studies him for a while in silence, then speaks jeeringly. DIONYSUS remains gentle and unafraid.
Marry, a fair shape for a woman's eye,Sir stranger! And thou seek'st no more, I ween!Long curls, withal! That shows thou ne'er hast beenA wrestler!--down both cheeks so softly tossedAnd winsome! And a white skin! It hath costThee pains, to please thy damsels with this whiteAnd red of cheeks that never face the light![DIONYSUS is silent.Speak, sirrah; tell me first thy name and race.
27Dionysus
No glory is therein, nor yet disgrace.Thou hast heard of Tmolus, the bright hill of flowers?
28Pentheus
Surely; the ridge that winds by Sardis' towers
29Dionysus
Thence am I; Lydia was my fatherland.
30Pentheus
And whence these revelations, that thy bandSpreadeth in Hellas?
31Dionysus
Their intent and useDionysus oped to me, the Child of Zeus.
32Pentheus (brutally)
Is there a Zeus there, that can still begetYoung Gods?
33Dionysus
Nay, only He whose seal was setHere in thy Thebes on Semele.
34Pentheus
What wayDescended he upon thee? In full dayOr vision of night?
35Dionysus
Most clear he stood, and scannedMy soul, and gave his emblems to mine hand.
36Pentheus
What like be they, these emblems?
37Dionysus
That may noneReveal, nor know, save his Elect alone.
38Pentheus
And what good bring they to the worshipper?
39Dionysus
Good beyond price, but not for thee to hear.
40Pentheus
Thou trickster! Thou wouldst prick me on the moreTo seek them out!
41Dionysus
His mysteries abhorThe touch of sin-lovers.
42Pentheus
And so thine eyesSaw this God plain; what guise had he?
43Dionysus
What guiseIt liked him. 'Twas not I ordained his shape.
44Pentheus
Aye, deftly turned again. An idle jape,And nothing answered!
45Dionysus
Wise words being broughtTo blinded eyes will seem as things of nought.
46Pentheus
And comest thou first to Thebes, to have thy GodEstablished?
47Dionysus
Nay; all Barbary hath trodHis dance ere this.
48Pentheus
A low blind folk, I ween,Beside our Hellenes!
49Dionysus
Higher and more keenIn this thing, though their ways are not thy way.
50Pentheus
How is thy worship held, by night or day?
51Dionysus
Most oft by night; 'tis a majestic thing,The darkness.
52Pentheus
Ha! with women worshipping?'Tis craft and rottenness!
53Dionysus
By day no less,Whoso will seek may find unholiness.
54Pentheus
Enough! Thy doom is fixed, for false pretenceCorrupting Thebes.
55Dionysus
Not mine; but thine, for denseBlindness of heart, and for blaspheming God!
56Pentheus
A ready knave it is, and brazen-browed,This mystery-priest!
57Dionysus
Come, say what it shall be,My doom; what dire thing wilt thou do to me?
58Pentheus
First, shear that delicate curl that dangles there.
[He beckons to the soldiers, who approach DIONYSUS.
59Dionysus
I have vowed it to my God; 'tis holy hair.
[The soldiers cut off the tress.
60Pentheus
Next, yield me up thy staff!
61Dionysus
Raise thine own handTo take it. This is Dionysus' wand.
[PENTHEUS takes the staff.
62Pentheus
Last, I will hold thee prisoned here.
63Dionysus
My LordGod will unloose me, when I speak the word.
64Pentheus
He may, if e'er again amid his bandsOf saints he hears thy voice!
65Dionysus
Even now he standsClose here, and sees all that I suffer.
66Pentheus
What?Where is he? For mine eyes discern him not.
67Dionysus
Where I am! 'Tis thine own impurityThat veils him from thee.
68Pentheus
The dog jeers at me!At me and Thebes! Bind him!
[The soldiers begin to bind him.
69Dionysus
I charge ye, bindMe not! I having vision and ye blind!
70Pentheus
And I, with better right, say bind the more!
[The soldiers obey.
71Dionysus
Thou knowest not what end thou seekest, norWhat deed thou doest, nor what man thou art!
PENTHEUS. (mocking).
Agave's son, and on the father's partEchion's, hight Pentheus!
72Dionysus
So let it be,A name fore-written to calamity!
73Pentheus
Away, and tie him where the steeds are tied;Aye, let him lie in the manger!--There abideAnd stare into the darkness!--And this routOf womankind that clusters thee about,Thy ministers of worship, are my slaves!It may be I will sell them o'er the waves,Hither and thither; else they shall be setTo labour at my distaffs, and forgetTheir timbrel and their songs of dawning day!
74Dionysus
I go; for that which may not be, I mayNot suffer! Yet for this thy sin, lo, HeWhom thou deniest cometh after theeFor recompense. Yea, in thy wrong to us,Thou hast cast Him into thy prison-house!
[DIONYSUS, without his wand, his hair shorn, and his arms tightly bound, is led off by the guards to his dungeon. PENTHEUS returns into the Palace.
75Chorus
[Some Maidens.]
Acheloues' roaming daughter,Holy Dirce, virgin water,Bathed he not of old in thee,The Babe of God, the Mystery?When from out the fire immortalTo himself his God did take him,To his own flesh, and bespake him:"Enter now life's second portal,Motherless Mystery; lo, I breakMine own body for thy sake,Thou of the Twofold Door, and seal theeMine, O Bromios,"--thus he spake--"And to this thy land reveal thee."
[All.]
Still my prayer toward thee quivers,Dirce, still to thee I hie me;Why, O Blessed among Rivers,Wilt thou fly me and deny me?By His own joy I vow,By the grape upon the bough,Thou shalt seek Him in the midnight, thou shalt loveHim, even now!
[Other Maidens.]
Dark and of the dark impassionedIs this Pentheus' blood; yea, fashionedOf the Dragon, and his birthFrom Echion, child of Earth.He is no man, but a wonder;Did the Earth-Child not beget him,As a red Giant, to set himAgainst God, against the Thunder?He will bind me for his prize,Me, the Bride of Dionyse;And my priest, my friend, is takenEven now, and buried lies;In the dark he lies forsaken!
[All.]
Lo, we race with death, we perish,Dionysus, here before thee!Dost thou mark us not, nor cherish,Who implore thee, and adore thee?Hither down Olympus' side,Come, O Holy One defied,Be thy golden wand uplifted o'er the tyrant in his pride!
[A Maiden.]
Oh, where art thou? In thine ownNysa, thou our help alone?O'er fierce beasts in orient landsDoth thy thronging thyrsus wave,By the high Corycian Cave,Or where stern Olympus stands;In the elm-woods and the oaken,There where Orpheus harped of old,And the trees awoke and knew him,And the wild things gathered to him,As he sang amid the brokenGlens his music manifold?Blessed Land of Pierie,Dionysus loveth thee;He will come to thee with dancing,Come with joy and mystery;With the Maenads at his hestWinding, winding to the West;Cross the flood of swiftly glancingAxios in majesty;Cross the Lydias, the giverOf good gifts and waving green;Cross that Father-Stream of story,Through a land of steeds and gloryRolling, bravest, fairest RiverE'er of mortals seen!
76A Voice Within
Io! Io!Awake, ye damsels; hear my cry,Calling my Chosen; hearken ye!
77A Maiden
Who speaketh? Oh, what echoes thus?
78Another
A Voice, a Voice, that calleth us!
79The Voice
Be of good cheer! Lo, it is I,The Child of Zeus and Semele.
80A Maiden
O Master, Master, it is Thou!
81Another
O Holy Voice, be with us now!
82The Voice
Spirit of the Chained Earthquake,Hear my word; awake, awake!
[An Earthquake suddenly shakes the pillars of the Castle.
83A Maiden
Ha! what is coming? Shall the hallOf Pentheus racked in ruin fall?
84Leader
Our God is in the house! Ye maids adore Him!
85Chorus
We adore Him all!
86The Voice
Unveil the Lightning's eye; arouseThe fire that sleeps, against this house!
[Fire leaps up on the Tomb of Semele.
87A Maiden
Ah, saw ye, marked ye there the flameFrom Semele's enhallowed sodAwakened? Yea, the Death that cameAblaze from heaven of old, the sameHot splendour of the shaft of God?
88Leader
Oh, cast ye, cast ye, to the earth! The LordCometh against this house! Oh, cast ye down,Ye trembling damsels; He, our own adored,God's Child hath come, and all is overthrown!
[The Maidens cast themselves upon the ground, their eyes earthward. DIONYSUS, alone and unbound, enters from the Castle.
89Dionysus
Ye Damsels of the Morning Hills, why lie ye thus dismayed?Ye marked him, then, our Master, and the mighty hand he laidOn tower and rock, shaking the house of Pentheus?--But arise,And cast the trembling from your flesh, and lift untroubled eyes.
90Leader
O Light in Darkness, is it thou? O Priest, is this thy face?My heart leaps out to greet thee from the deep of loneliness.
91Dionysus
Fell ye so quick despairing, when beneath the Gate I passed?Should the gates of Pentheus quell me, or his darkness make me fast?
92Leader
Oh, what was left if thou wert gone? What could I but despair?How hast thou 'scaped the man of sin? Who freed thee from the snare?
93Dionysus
I had no pain nor peril; 'twas mine own hand set me free.
94Leader
Thine arms were gyved!
95Dionysus
Nay, no gyve, no touch, was laid on me!'Twas there I mocked him, in his gyves, and gave him dreams for food.For when he led me down, behold, before the stall there stoodA Bull of Offering. And this King, he bit his lips, and straightFell on and bound it, hoof and limb, with gasping wrath and sweat.And I sat watching!--Then a Voice; and lo, our Lord was come,And the house shook, and a great flame stood o'er his mother's tomb.And Pentheus hied this way and that, and called his thralls amainFor water, lest his roof-tree burn; and all toiled, all in vain.Then deemed a-sudden I was gone; and left his fire, and spedBack to the prison portals, and his lifted sword shone red.But there, methinks, the God had wrought--I speak but as I guess--Some dream-shape in mine image; for he smote at emptiness,Stabbed in the air, and strove in wrath, as though 'twere me he slew.Then 'mid his dreams God smote him yet again! He overthrewAll that high house. And there in wreck for evermore it lies,That the day of this my bondage may be sore in Pentheus' eyes!And now his sword is fallen, and he lies outworn and wanWho dared to rise against his God in wrath, being but man.And I uprose and left him, and in all peace took my pathForth to my Chosen, recking light of Pentheus and his wrath.But soft, methinks a footstep sounds even now within the hall;'Tis he; how think ye he will stand, and what words speak withal?I will endure him gently, though he come in fury hot.For still are the ways of Wisdom, and her temper trembleth not!
[Enter PENTHEUS in fury.]
96Pentheus
It is too much! This Eastern knave hath slippedHis prison, whom I held but now, hard grippedIn bondage.--Ha! 'Tis he!--What, sirrah, howShow'st thou before my portals?
[He advances furiously upon him.
97Dionysus
Softly thou!And set a quiet carriage to thy rage.
98Pentheus
How comest thou here? How didst thou break thy cage?Speak!
99Dionysus
Said I not, or didst thou mark not me,There was One living that should set me free?
100Pentheus
Who? Ever wilder are these tales of thine.
101Dionysus
He who first made for man the clustered vine.
102Pentheus
I scorn him and his vines!
103Dionysus
For Dionyse'Tis well; for in thy scorn his glory lies.
104Pentheus (to his guard)
Go swift to all the towers, and bar withalEach gate!
105Dionysus
What, cannot God o'erleap a wall?
106Pentheus
Oh, wit thou hast, save where thou needest it!
107Dionysus
Whereso it most imports, there is my wit!--Nay, peace! Abide till he who hasteth fromThe mountain side with news for thee, be come.We will not fly, but wait on thy command.
[Enter suddenly and in haste a Messenger from the Mountain.
108Messenger
Great Pentheus, Lord of all this Theban land,I come from high Kithaeron, where the froreSnow spangles gleam and cease not evermore. . .
109Pentheus
And what of import may thy coming bring?
110Messenger
I have seen the Wild White Women there, O King,Whose fleet limbs darted arrow-like but nowFrom Thebes away, and come to tell thee howThey work strange deeds and passing marvel. YetI first would learn thy pleasure. Shall I setMy whole tale forth, or veil the stranger part?Yea, Lord, I fear the swiftness of thy heart,Thine edged wrath and more than royal soul.
111Pentheus
Thy tale shall nothing scathe thee.--Tell the whole.It skills not to be wroth with honesty.Nay, if thy news of them be dark, 'tis heShall pay it, who bewitched and led them on.
112Messenger
Our herded kine were moving in the dawnUp to the peaks, the greyest, coldest time,When the first rays steal earthward, and the rimeYields, when I saw three bands of them. The oneAutonoe led, one Ino, one thine ownMother, Agave. There beneath the treesSleeping they lay, like wild things flung at easeIn the forest; one half sinking on a bedOf deep pine greenery; one with careless headAmid the fallen oak leaves; all most coldIn purity--not as thy tale was toldOf wine-cups and wild music and the chaseFor love amid the forest's loneliness.Then rose the Queen Agave suddenlyAmid her band, and gave the God's wild cry,"Awake, ye Bacchanals! I hear the soundOf horned kine. Awake ye!"--Then, all round,Alert, the warm sleep fallen from their eyes,A marvel of swift ranks I saw them rise,Dames young and old, and gentle maids unwedAmong them. O'er their shoulders first they shedTheir tresses, and caught up the fallen foldOf mantles where some clasp had loosened hold,And girt the dappled fawn-skins in with longQuick snakes that hissed and writhed with quivering tongue.And one a young fawn held, and one a wildWolf cub, and fed them with white milk, and smiledIn love, young mothers with a mother's breastAnd babes at home forgotten! Then they pressedWreathed ivy round their brows, and oaken spraysAnd flowering bryony. And one would raiseHer wand and smite the rock, and straight a jetOf quick bright water came. Another setHer thyrsus in the bosomed earth, and thereWas red wine that the God sent up to her,A darkling fountain. And if any lipsSought whiter draughts, with dipping finger-tipsThey pressed the sod, and gushing from the groundCame springs of milk. And reed-wands ivy-crownedRan with sweet honey, drop by drop.--O King,Hadst thou been there, as I, and seen this thing,With prayer and most high wonder hadst thou goneTo adore this God whom now thou rail'st upon!Howbeit, the kine-wardens and shepherds straightCame to one place, amazed, and held debate;And one being there who walked the streets and scannedThe ways of speech, took lead of them whose handKnew but the slow soil and the solemn hill,And flattering spoke, and asked: "Is it your will,Masters, we stay the mother of the King,Agave, from her lawless worshipping,And win us royal thanks?"--And this seemed goodTo all; and through the branching underwoodWe hid us, cowering in the leaves. And thereThrough the appointed hour they made their prayerAnd worship of the Wand, with one accordOf heart and cry--"Iacchos, Bromios, Lord,God of God born!"--And all the mountain felt,And worshipped with them; and the wild things kneltAnd ramped and gloried, and the wildernessWas filled with moving voices and dim stress.Soon, as it chanced, beside my thicket-closeThe Queen herself passed dancing, and I roseAnd sprang to seize her. But she turned her faceUpon me: "Ho, my rovers of the chase,My wild White Hounds, we are hunted! Up, each rodAnd follow, follow, for our Lord and God!"Thereat, for fear they tear us, all we fledAmazed; and on, with hand unweaponedThey swept toward our herds that browsed the greenHill grass. Great uddered kine then hadst thou seenBellowing in sword-like hands that cleave and tear,A live steer riven asunder, and the airTossed with rent ribs or limbs of cloven tread,And flesh upon the branches, and a redRain from the deep green pines. Yea, bulls of pride,Horns swift to rage, were fronted and asideFlung stumbling, by those multitudinous handsDragged pitilessly. And swifter were the bandsOf garbed flesh and bone unbound withalThan on thy royal eyes the lids may fall.Then on like birds, by their own speed upborne,They swept toward the plains of waving cornThat lie beside Asopus' banks, and bringTo Thebes the rich fruit of her harvesting.On Hysiae and Erythrae that lie nursedAmid Kithaeron's bowering rocks, they burstDestroying, as a foeman's army comes.They caught up little children from their homes,High on their shoulders, babes unheld, that swayedAnd laughed and fell not; all a wreck they made;Yea, bronze and iron did shatter, and in playStruck hither and thither, yet no wound had they;Caught fire from out the hearths, yea, carried hotFlames in their tresses and were scorched not!The village folk in wrath took spear and sword,And turned upon the Bacchae. Then, dread Lord,The wonder was. For spear nor barbed brandCould scathe nor touch the damsels; but the Wand,The soft and wreathed wand their white hands sped,Blasted those men and quelled them, and they fledDizzily. Sure some God was in these things!And the holy women back to those strange springsReturned, that God had sent them when the dayDawned, on the upper heights; and washed awayThe stain of battle. And those girdling snakesHissed out to lap the waterdrops from cheeksAnd hair and breast.Therefore I counsel thee,O King, receive this Spirit, whoe'er he be,To Thebes in glory. Greatness manifoldIs all about him; and the tale is toldThat this is he who first to man did giveThe grief-assuaging vine. Oh, let him live;For if he die, then Love herself is slain,And nothing joyous in the world again!
113Leader
Albeit I tremble, and scarce may speak my thoughtTo a king's face, yet will I hide it not.Dionyse is God, no God more true nor higher!
114Pentheus
It bursts hard by us, like a smothered fire,This frenzy of Bacchic women! All my landIs made their mock.--This needs an iron hand!Ho, Captain! Quick to the Electran Gate;Bid gather all my men-at-arms thereat;Call all that spur the charger, all who knowTo wield the orbed targe or bend the bow;We march to war!--'Fore God, shall women dareSuch deeds against us? 'Tis too much to bear!
115Dionysus
Thou mark'st me not, O King, and holdest lightMy solemn words; yet, in thine own despite,I warn thee still. Lift thou not up thy spearAgainst a God, but hold thy peace, and fearHis wrath! He will not brook it, if thou frightHis Chosen from the hills of their delight.
116Pentheus
Peace, thou! And if for once thou hast slipped thy chain,Give thanks!--Or shall I knot thine arms again?
117Dionysus
Better to yield him prayer and sacrificeThan kick against the pricks, since DionyseIs God, and thou but mortal.
118Pentheus
That will I!Yea, sacrifice of women's blood, to cryHis name through all Kithaeron!
119Dionysus
Ye shall fly,All, and abase your shields of bronzen rimBefore their wands.
120Pentheus
There is no way with him,This stranger that so dogs us! Well or illI may entreat him, he must babble still!
121Dionysus
Wait, good my friend! These crooked matters mayEven yet be straightened.
[PENTHEUS has started as though to seek his army at the gate.
122Pentheus
Aye, if I obeyMine own slaves' will; how else?
123Dionysus
Myself will leadThe damsels hither, without sword or steed.
124Pentheus
How now?--This is some plot against me!
125Dionysus
WhatDost fear? Only to save thee do I plot.
126Pentheus
It is some compact ye have made, wherebyTo dance these hills for ever!
127Dionysus
Verily,That is my compact, plighted with my Lord!
128Pentheus (turning from him)
Ho, armourers! Bring forth my shield and sword!--And thou, be silent!
DIONYSUS(after regarding him fixedly, speaks with resignation).
Ah!--Have then thy will!
[He fixes his eyes upon PENTHEUS again, while the armourers bring out his armour; then speaks in a tone of command.
Man, thou wouldst fain behold them on the hillPraying!
PENTHEUS(who during the rest of this scene, with a few exceptions, simplyspeaks the thoughts that DIONYSUS puts into him, losing power overhis own mind).
That would I, though it cost me allThe gold of Thebes!
129Dionysus
So much? Thou art quick to fallTo such great longing.
PENTHEUS(somewhat bewildered at what he has said).
Aye; 'twould grieve me muchTo see them flown with wine.
130Dionysus
Yet cravest thou suchA sight as would much grieve thee?
131Pentheus
Yes; I fainWould watch, ambushed among the pines.
132Dionysus
'Twere vainTo hide. They soon will track thee out.
133Pentheus
Well said!'Twere best done openly.
134Dionysus
Wilt thou be ledBy me, and try the venture?
135Pentheus
Aye, indeed!Lead on. Why should we tarry?
136Dionysus
First we needA rich and trailing robe of fine-linenTo gird thee.
137Pentheus
Nay; am I a woman, then,And no man more?
138Dionysus
Wouldst have them slay thee dead?No man may see their mysteries.
139Pentheus
Well said!--I marked thy subtle temper long ere now.
140Dionysus
'Tis Dionyse that prompteth me.
141Pentheus
And howMean'st thou the further plan?
142Dionysus
First take thy wayWithin. I will array thee.
143Pentheus
What array?The woman's? Nay, I will not.
144Dionysus
Doth it changeSo soon, all thy desire to see this strangeAdoring?
145Pentheus
Wait! What garb wilt thou bestowAbout me?
146Dionysus
First a long tress dangling lowBeneath thy shoulders.
147Pentheus
Aye, and next?
148Dionysus
The saidRobe, falling to thy feet; and on thine headA snood.
149Pentheus
And after? Hast thou aught beyond?
150Dionysus
Surely; the dappled fawn-skin and the wand.
151Pentheus (after a struggle with himself)
Enough! I cannot wear a robe and snood.
152Dionysus
Wouldst liefer draw the sword and spill men's blood?
153Pentheus (again doubting)
True, that were evil.--Aye; 'tis best to goFirst to some place of watch.
154Dionysus
Far wiser so,Than seek by wrath wrath's bitter recompense.
155Pentheus
What of the city streets? Canst lead me henceUnseen of any?
156Dionysus
Lonely and untriedThy path from hence shall be, and I thy guide!
157Pentheus
I care for nothing, so these BacchanalsTriumph not against me! . . . Forward to my hallsWithin!--I will ordain what seemeth best.
158Dionysus
So be it, O King! 'Tis mine to obey thine hest,Whate'er it be.
PENTHEUS(after hesitating once more and waiting).
Well, I will go--perchanceTo march and scatter them with serried lance,Perchance to take thy plan. . . . I know not yet.
[Exit PENTHEUS into the Castle.
159Dionysus
Damsels, the lion walketh to the net!He finds his Bacchae now, and sees and dies,And pays for all his sin!--O Dionyse,This is thine hour and thou not far away.Grant us our vengeance!--First, O Master, stayThe course of reason in him, and instilA foam of madness. Let his seeing will,Which ne'er had stooped to put thy vesture on,Be darkened, till the deed is lightly done.Grant likewise that he find through all his streetsLoud scorn, this man of wrath and bitter threatsThat made Thebes tremble, led in woman's guise.I go to fold that robe of sacrificeOn Pentheus, that shall deck him to the dark,His mother's gift!--So shall he learn and markGod's true Son, Dionyse, in fulness God,Most fearful, yet to man most soft of mood.
[Exit DIONYSUS, following PENTHEUS into the Castle.
160Chorus
[Some Maidens.]
Will they ever come to me, ever again,The long long dances,On through the dark till the dim stars wane?Shall I feel the dew on my throat, and the streamOf wind in my hair? Shall our white feet gleamIn the dim expanses?Oh, feet of a fawn to the greenwood fled,Alone in the grass and the loveliness;Leap of the hunted, no more in dread,Beyond the snares and the deadly press:Yet a voice still in the distance sounds,A voice and a fear and a haste of hounds;O wildly labouring, fiercely fleet,Onward yet by river and glen . . .Is it joy or terror, ye storm-swift feet? . . .To the dear lone lands untroubled of men,Where no voice sounds, and amid the shadowy greenThe little things of the woodland live unseen.
What else is Wisdom? What of man's endeavourOr God's high grace, so lovely and so great?To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait;To hold a hand uplifted over Hate;And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever?
[Others.]
O Strength of God, slow art thou and still,Yet failest never!On them that worship the Ruthless Will,On them that dream, doth His judgment wait.Dreams of the proud man, making greatAnd greater ever,Things which are not of God. In wideAnd devious coverts, hunter-wise,He coucheth Time's unhasting stride,Following, following, him whose eyesLook not to Heaven. For all is vain,The pulse of the heart, the plot of the brain,That striveth beyond the laws that live.And is thy Faith so much to give,Is it so hard a thing to see,That the Spirit of God, whate'er it be,The Law that abides and changes not, ages long,The Eternal and Nature-born--these things be strong?
What else is Wisdom? What of man's endeavourOr God's high grace so lovely and so great?To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait;To hold a hand uplifted over Hate;And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever?
161Leader
Happy he, on the weary seaWho hath fled the tempest and won the haven.Happy whoso hath risen, free,Above his striving. For strangely gravenIs the orb of life, that one and anotherIn gold and power may outpass his brother.And men in their millions float and flowAnd seethe with a million hopes as leaven;And they win their Will, or they miss their Will,And the hopes are dead or are pined for still;But whoe'er can know,As the long days go,That To Live is happy, hath found his Heaven!
[Re-enter DIONYSUS from the Castle.]
162Dionysus
O eye that cravest sights thou must not see,O heart athirst for that which slakes not! Thee,Pentheus, I call; forth and be seen, in guiseOf woman, Maenad, saint of Dionyse,To spy upon His Chosen and thine ownMother!
[Enter PENTHEUS, clad like a Bacchanal, and strangely excited, a spirit of Bacchic madness overshadowing him.
Thy shape, methinks, is like to oneOf Cadmus' royal maids!
163Pentheus
Yea; and mine eyeIs bright! Yon sun shines twofold in the sky,Thebes twofold and the Wall of Seven Gates. . . .And is it a Wild Bull this, that walks and waitsBefore me? There are horns upon thy brow!What art thou, man or beast? For surely nowThe Bull is on thee!
164Dionysus
He who erst was wrath,Goes with us now in gentleness. He hathUnsealed thine eyes to see what thou shouldst see.
165Pentheus
Say; stand I not as Ino stands, or sheWho bore me?
166Dionysus
When I look on thee, it seemsI see their very selves!--But stay; why streamsThat lock abroad, not where I laid it, crossedUnder the coif?
167Pentheus
I did it, as I tossedMy head in dancing, to and fro, and criedHis holy music!
168Dionysus (tending him)
It shall soon be tiedAright. 'Tis mine to tend thee. . . . Nay, but standWith head straight.
169Pentheus
In the hollow of thy handI lay me. Deck me as thou wilt.
170Dionysus
Thy zoneIs loosened likewise; and the folded gownNot evenly falling to the feet.
171Pentheus
'Tis so,By the right foot. But here, methinks, they flowIn one straight line to the heel.
172Dionysus (while tending him)
And if thou proveTheir madness true, aye, more than true, what loveAnd thanks hast thou for me?
173Pentheus (not listening to him)
In my right handIs it, or thus, that I should bear the wand,To be most like to them?
174Dionysus
Up let it swingIn the right hand, timed with the right foot's spring. . . .'Tis well thy heart is changed!
175Pentheus (more wildly)
What strength is this!Kithaeron's steeps and all that in them is--How say'st thou?--Could my shoulders lift the whole?
176Dionysus
Surely thou canst, and if thou wilt! Thy soul,Being once so sick, now stands as it should stand.
177Pentheus
Shall it be bars of iron? Or this bare handAnd shoulder to the crags, to wrench them down?
178Dionysus
Wouldst wreck the Nymphs' wild temples, and the brownRocks, where Pan pipes at noonday?
179Pentheus
Nay; not I!Force is not well with women. I will lieHid in the pine-brake.
180Dionysus
Even as fits a spyOn holy and fearful things, so shalt thou lie!
181Pentheus (with a laugh)
They lie there now, methinks--the wild birds, caughtBy love among the leaves, and fluttering not!
182Dionysus
It may be. That is what thou goest to see,Aye, and to trap them--so they trap not thee!
183Pentheus
Forth through the Thebans' town! I am their king,Aye, their one Man, seeing I dare this thing!
184Dionysus
Yea, thou shalt bear their burden, thou alone;Therefore thy trial awaiteth thee!--But on;With me into thine ambush shalt thou comeUnscathed; then let another bear thee home!
185Pentheus
The Queen, my mother.
186Dionysus
Marked of every eye.
187Pentheus
For that I go!
188Dionysus
Thou shalt be borne on high!
189Pentheus
That were like pride!
190Dionysus
Thy mother's hands shall shareThy carrying.
191Pentheus
Nay; I need not such soft care!
192Dionysus
So soft?
193Pentheus
Whate'er it be, I have earned it well!
[Exit PENTHEUS towards the Mountain.
194Dionysus
Fell, fell art thou; and to a doom so fellThou walkest, that thy name from South to NorthShall shine, a sign for ever!--Reach thou forthThine arms, Agave, now, and ye dark-browedCadmeian sisters! Greet this prince so proudTo the high ordeal, where save God and me,None walks unscathed!--The rest this day shall see.
[Exit DIONYSUS following PENTHEUS.
195Chorus
[Some Maidens.]
O hounds raging and blind,Up by the mountain road,Sprites of the maddened mind,To the wild Maids of God;Fill with your rage their eyes,Rage at the rage unblest,Watching in woman's guise,The spy upon God's Possessed.
[A Bacchanal.]
Who shall be first, to markEyes in the rock that spy,Eyes in the pine-tree dark--Is it his mother?--and cry:"Lo, what is this that comes,Haunting, troubling still,Even in our heights, our homes,The wild Maids of the Hill?What flesh bare this child?Never on woman's breastChangeling so evil smiled;Man is he not, but Beast!Lion-shape of the wild,Gorgon-breed of the waste!"
[All the Chorus.]
Hither, for doom and deed!Hither with lifted sword,Justice, Wrath of the Lord,Come in our visible need!Smite till the throat shall bleed,Smite till the heart shall bleed,Him the tyrannous, lawless, Godless, Echion's earth-born seed!
[Other Maidens.]
Tyrannously hath he trod;Marched him, in Law's despite,Against thy Light, O God,Yea, and thy Mother's Light;Girded him, falsely bold,Blinded in craft, to quellAnd by man's violence holdThings unconquerable.
[A Bacchanal.]
A strait pitiless mindIs death unto godliness;And to feel in human kindLife, and a pain the less.Knowledge, we are not foes!I seek thee diligently;But the world with a great wind blows,Shining, and not from thee;Blowing to beautiful things,On, amid dark and light,Till Life, through the trammellingsOf Laws that are not the Right,Breaks, clean and pure, and singsGlorying to God in the height!
[All the Chorus.]
Hither for doom and deed!Hither with lifted sword,Justice, Wrath of the Lord,Come in our visible need!Smite till the throat shall bleed,Smite till the heart shall bleed,Him the tyrannous, lawless, Godless, Echion's earth-born seed!
196Leader
Appear, appear, whatso thy shape or nameO Mountain Bull, Snake of the Hundred Heads,Lion of Burning Flame!O God, Beast, Mystery, come! Thy mystic maidsAre hunted!--Blast their hunter with thy breath,Cast o'er his head thy snare;And laugh aloud and drag him to his death,Who stalks thy herded madness in its lair!
[Enter hastily a MESSENGER from the Mountain, pale and distraught.]
197Messenger
Woe to the house once blest in Hellas! WoeTo thee, old King Sidonian, who didst sowThe dragon-seed on Ares' bloody lea!Alas, even thy slaves must weep for thee!
198Leader
News from the mountain?--Speak! How hath it sped?
199Messenger
Pentheus, my king, Echion's son, is dead!
200Leader
All hail, God of the Voice,Manifest ever more!
201Messenger
What say'st thou?--And how strange thy tone, as thoughIn joy at this my master's overthrow!
202Leader
With fierce joy I rejoice,Child of a savage shore;For the chains of my prison are broken, and the dread where I coweredof yore!
203Messenger
And deem'st thou Thebes so beggared, so forlornOf manhood, as to sit beneath thy scorn?
204Leader
Thebes hath o'er me no sway!None save Him I obey,Dionysus, Child of the Highest, Him I obey and adore!
205Messenger
One can forgive thee!--Yet 'tis no fair thing,Maids, to rejoice in a man's suffering.
206Leader
Speak of the mountain side!Tell us the doom he died,The sinner smitten to death, even where his sin was sore!
207Messenger
We climbed beyond the utmost habitingsOf Theban shepherds, passed Asopus' springs,And struck into the land of rock on dimKithaeron--Pentheus, and, attending him,I, and the Stranger who should guide our way.Then first in a green dell we stopped, and lay,Lips dumb and feet unmoving, warilyWatching, to be unseen and yet to see.A narrow glen it was, by crags o'ertowered,Torn through by tossing waters, and there loweredA shadow of great pines over it. And thereThe Maenad maidens sate; in toil they were,Busily glad. Some with an ivy chainTracked a worn wand to toss its locks again;Some, wild in joyance, like young steeds set free,Made answering songs of mystic melody.But my poor master saw not the great bandBefore him. "Stranger," cried he, "where we standMine eyes can reach not these false saints of thine.Mount we the bank, or some high-shouldered pine,And I shall see their follies clear!" At thatThere came a marvel. For the Stranger straightTouched a great pine-tree's high and heavenward crown,And lower, lower, lower, urged it downTo the herbless floor. Round like a bending bow,Or slow wheel's rim a joiner forces to,So in those hands that tough and mountain stemBowed slow--oh, strength not mortal dwelt in them!--To the very earth. And there he set the King,And slowly, lest it cast him in its spring,Let back the young and straining tree, till highIt towered again amid the towering sky;And Pentheus in the branches! Well, I ween,He saw the Maenads then, and well was seen!For scarce was he aloft, when suddenlyThere was no Stranger any more with me,But out of Heaven a Voice--oh, what voice else?--'Twas He that called! "Behold, O damosels,I bring ye him who turneth to despiteBoth me and ye, and darkeneth my great Light.'Tis yours to avenge!" So spake he, and there came'Twixt earth and sky a pillar of high flame.And silence took the air, and no leaf stirredIn all the forest dell. Thou hadst not heardIn that vast silence any wild thing's cry.And up they sprang; but with bewildered eye,Agaze and listening, scarce yet hearing true.Then came the Voice again. And when they knewTheir God's clear call, old Cadmus' royal brood,Up, like wild pigeons startled in a wood,On flying feet they came, his mother blind,Agave, and her sisters, and behindAll the wild crowd, more deeply maddened then,Through the angry rocks and torrent-tossing glen,Until they spied him in the dark pine-tree:Then climbed a crag hard by and furiouslySome sought to stone him, some their wands would flingLance-wise aloft, in cruel targeting.But none could strike. The height o'ertopped their rage,And there he clung, unscathed, as in a cageCaught. And of all their strife no end was found.Then, "Hither," cried Agave; "stand we roundAnd grip the stem, my Wild Ones, till we takeThis climbing cat-o'-the-mount! He shall not makeA tale of God's high dances!" Out then shoneArm upon arm, past count, and closed uponThe pine, and gripped; and the ground gave, and downIt reeled. And that high sitter from the crownOf the green pine-top, with a shrieking cryFell, as his mind grew clear, and there hard byWas horror visible. 'Twas his mother stoodO'er him, first priestess of those rites of blood.He tore the coif, and from his head awayFlung it, that she might know him, and not slayTo her own misery. He touched the wildCheek, crying: "Mother, it is I, thy child,Thy Pentheus, born thee in Echion's hall!Have mercy, Mother! Let it not befallThrough sin of mine, that thou shouldst slay thy son!"But she, with lips a-foam and eyes that runLike leaping fire, with thoughts that ne'er should beOn earth, possessed by Bacchios utterly,Stays not nor hears. Round his left arm she putBoth hands, set hard against his side her foot,Drew . . . and the shoulder severed!--Not by mightOf arm, but easily, as the God made lightHer hand's essay. And at the other sideWas Ino rending; and the torn flesh cried,And on Autonoe pressed, and all the crowdOf ravening arms. Yea, all the air was loudWith groans that faded into sobbing breath,Dim shrieks, and joy, and triumph-cries of death.And here was borne a severed arm, and thereA hunter's booted foot; white bones lay bareWith rending; and swift hands ensanguinedTossed as in sport the flesh of Pentheus dead.His body lies afar. The precipiceHath part, and parts in many an intersticeLurk of the tangled woodland--no light questTo find. And, ah, the head! Of all the rest,His mother hath it, pierced upon a wand,As one might pierce a lion's, and through the land,Leaving her sisters in their dancing place,Bears it on high! Yea, to these walls her faceWas set, exulting in her deed of blood,Calling upon her Bromios, her God,Her Comrade, Fellow-Render of the Prey,Her All-Victorious, to whom this dayShe bears in triumph . . . her own broken heart!For me, after that sight, I will departBefore Agave comes.--Oh, to fulfilGod's laws, and have no thought beyond His will,Is man's best treasure. Aye, and wisdom true,Methinks, for things of dust to cleave unto!
[The MESSENGER departs into the Castle.
208Chorus
[Some Maidens.]
Weave ye the dance, and callPraise to God!Bless ye the Tyrant's fall!Down is trodPentheus, the Dragon's Seed!Wore he the woman's weed?Clasped he his death indeed,Clasped the rod?
[A Bacchanal.]
Yea, the wild ivy lapt him, and the doomedWild Bull of Sacrifice before him loomed!
[Others.]
Ye who did Bromios scorn,Praise Him the more,Bacchanals, Cadmus-born;Praise with soreAgony, yea, with tears!Great are the gifts he bears!Hands that a mother rearsRed with gore!
209Leader
But stay, Agave cometh! And her eyesMake fire around her, reeling! Ho, the prizeCometh! All hail, O Rout of Dionyse!
[Enter from the Mountain AGAVE, mad, and to all seeming wondrously happy, bearing the head of PENTHEUS in her hand. The CHORUS MAIDENS stand horror-struck at the sight; the LEADER, also horror-struck, strives to accept it and rejoice in it as the God's deed.
210Agave
Ye from the lands of Morn!
211Leader
Call me not; I give praise!
212Agave
Lo, from the trunk new-shornHither a Mountain ThornBear we! O Asia-bornBacchanals, bless this chase!
213Leader
I see. Yea; I see.Have I not welcomed thee?
214Agave (very calmly and peacefully)
He was young in the wildwood:Without nets I caught him!Nay; look without fear onThe Lion; I have ta'en him!
215Leader
Where in the wildwood?Whence have ye brought him?
216Agave
Kithaeron. . . .
217Leader
Kithaeron?
218Agave
The Mountain hath slain him!
219Leader
Who first came nigh him?
220Agave
I, I, 'tis confessed!And they named me there by himAgave the Blessed!
221Leader
Who was next in the band on him?
222Agave
The daughters. . .
223Leader
The daughters?
224Agave
Of Cadmus laid hand on him.But the swift hand that slaughtersIs mine; mine is the praise!Bless ye this day of days!
[The LEADER tries to speak, but is not able; AGAVE begins gently stroking the head.
225Agave
Gather ye now to the feast!
226Leader
Feast!--O miserable!
227Agave
See, it falls to his breast,Curling and gently tressed,The hair of the Wild Bull's crest--The young steer of the fell!
228Leader
Most like a beast of the wildThat head, those locks defiled.
229Agave (lifting up the head, more excitedly)
He wakened his Mad Ones,A Chase-God, a wise God!He sprang them to seize this!He preys where his band preys.
230Leader (brooding, with horror)
In the trail of thy Mad OnesThou tearest thy prize, God!
231Agave
Dost praise it?
232Leader
I praise this?
233Agave
Ah, soon shall the land praise!
234Leader
And Pentheus, O Mother,Thy child?
235Agave
He shall cry onMy name as none other,Bless the spoils of the Lion!
236Leader
Aye, strange is thy treasure!
237Agave
And strange was the taking!
238Leader
Thou art glad?
239Agave
Beyond measure;Yea, glad in the breakingOf dawn upon all this land,By the prize, the prize of my hand!
240Leader
Show then to all the land, unhappy one,The trophy of this deed that thou hast done!
241Agave
Ho, all ye men that round the citadelAnd shining towers of ancient Thebe dwell,Come! Look upon this prize, this lion's spoil,That we have taken--yea, with our own toil,We, Cadmus' daughters! Not with leathern-setThessalian javelins, not with hunter's net,Only white arms and swift hands' bladed fall.Why make ye much ado, and boast withalYour armourers' engines? See, these palms were bareThat caught the angry beast, and held, and tareThe limbs of him! . . . Father! . . . Go, bring to meMy father! . . . Aye, and Pentheus, where is he,My son? He shall set up a ladder-stairAgainst this house, and in the triglyphs thereNail me this lion's head, that gloriouslyI bring ye, having slain him--I, even I!
[She goes through the crowd towards the Castle, showing the head and looking for a place to hang it. Enter from the Mountain CADMUS, with attendants, bearing the body of PENTHEUS on a bier.
242Cadmus
On, with your awful burden. Follow me,Thralls, to his house, whose body grievouslyWith many a weary search at last in dimKithaeron's glens I found, torn limb from limb,And through the interweaving forest weedScattered.--Men told me of my daughters' deed,When I was just returned within these walls,With grey Teiresias, from the Bacchanals.And back I hied me to the hills againTo seek my murdered son. There saw I plainActaeon's mother, ranging where he died,Autonoe; and Ino by her side,Wandering ghastly in the pine-copses.Agave was not there. The rumour isShe cometh fleet-foot hither.--Ah! 'Tis true;A sight I scarce can bend mine eyes unto.
AGAVE(turning from the Palace and seeing him).
My father, a great boast is thine this hour.Thou hast begotten daughters, high in powerAnd valiant above all mankind--yea, allValiant, though none like me! I have let fallThe shuttle by the loom, and raised my handFor higher things, to slay from out thy landWild beasts! See, in mine arms I bear the prize,That nailed above these portals it may riseTo show what things thy daughters did! Do thouTake it, and call a feast. Proud art thou nowAnd highly favoured in our valiancy!
243Cadmus
O depth of grief, how can I fathom theeOr look upon thee!--Poor, poor, bloodstained hand!Poor sisters!--A fair sacrifice to standBefore God's altars, daughter; yea, and callMe and my citizens to feast withal!Nay, let me weep--for thine affliction most,Then for mine own. All, all of us are lost,Not wrongfully, yet is it hard, from oneWho might have loved--our Bromios, our own!
244Agave
How crabbed and how scowling in the eyesIs man's old age!--Would that my son likewiseWere happy of his hunting, in my way,When with his warrior bands he will essayThe wild beast!--Nay, his valiance is to fightWith God's will! Father, thou shouldst set him right. . . .Will no one bring him hither, that mine eyesMay look on his, and show him this my prize!
245Cadmus
Alas, if ever ye can know againThe truth of what ye did, what pain of painThat truth shall bring! Or were it best to waitDarkened for evermore, and deem your stateNot misery, though ye know no happiness?
246Agave
What seest thou here to chide, or not to bless?
247Cadmus (after hesitation, resolving himself)
Raise me thine eyes to yon blue dome of air!
248Agave
'Tis done. What dost thou bid me seek for there?
249Cadmus
Is it the same, or changed in thy sight?
250Agave
More shining than before, more heavenly bright!
251Cadmus
And that wild tremor, is it with thee still?
252Agave (troubled)
I know not what thou sayest; but my willClears, and some change cometh, I know not how.
253Cadmus
Canst hearken then, being changed, and answer, now?
254Agave
I have forgotten something; else I could.
255Cadmus
What husband led thee of old from mine abode?
256Agave
Echion, whom men named the Child of Earth.
257Cadmus
And what child in Echion's house had birth?
258Agave
Pentheus, of my love and his father's bred.
259Cadmus
Thou bearest in thine arms an head--what head?
AGAVE(beginning to tremble, and not looking at what she carries).
A lion's--so they all said in the chase.
260Cadmus
Turn to it now--'tis no long toil--and gaze.
261Agave
Ah! But what is it? What am I carrying here?
262Cadmus
Look once upon it full, till all be clear!
263Agave
I see . . . most deadly pain! Oh, woe is me!
264Cadmus
Wears it the likeness of a lion to thee?
265Agave
No; 'tis the head--O God!--of Pentheus, this!
266Cadmus
Blood-drenched ere thou wouldst know him! Aye, 'tis his.
267Agave
Who slew him?--How came I to hold this thing?
268Cadmus
O cruel Truth, is this thine home-coming?
269Agave
Answer! My heart is hanging on thy breath!
270Cadmus
'Twas thou.--Thou and thy sisters wrought his death.
271Agave
In what place was it? His own house, or where?
272Cadmus
Where the dogs tore Actaeon, even there.
273Agave
Why went he to Kithaeron? What sought he?
274Cadmus
To mock the God and thine own ecstasy.
275Agave
But how should we be on the hills this day?
276Cadmus
Being mad! A spirit drove all the land that way.
277Agave
'Tis Dionyse hath done it! Now I see.
278Cadmus (earnestly)
Ye wronged Him! Ye denied his deity!
279Agave (turning from him)
Show me the body of the son I love!
280Cadmus (leading her to the bier)
'Tis here, my child. Hard was the quest thereof.
281Agave
Laid in due state?
[As there is no answer, she lifts the veil of the bier, and sees.
Oh, if I wrought a sin,'Twas mine! What portion had my child therein?
282Cadmus
He made him like to you, adoring notThe God; who therefore to one bane hath broughtYou and this body, wrecking all our line,And me. Aye, no man-child was ever mine;And now this first-fruit of the flesh of thee,Sad woman, foully here and frightfullyLies murdered! Whom the house looked up unto,[Kneeling by the body.O Child, my daughter's child! who heldest trueMy castle walls; and to the folk a nameOf fear thou wast; and no man sought to shameMy grey beard, when they knew that thou wast there,Else had they swift reward!--And now I fareForth in dishonour, outcast, I, the greatCadmus, who sowed the seed-rows of this stateOf Thebes, and reaped the harvest wonderful.O my beloved, though thy heart is dullIn death, O still beloved, and alwayBeloved! Never more, then, shalt thou layThine hand to this white beard, and speak to meThy "Mother's Father"; ask "Who wrongeth thee?Who stints thine honour, or with malice stirsThine heart? Speak, and I smite thine injurers!"But now--woe, woe, to me and thee also,Woe to thy mother and her sisters, woeAlway! Oh, whoso walketh not in dreadOf Gods, let him but look on this man dead!
283Leader
Lo, I weep with thee. 'Twas but due rewardGod sent on Pentheus; but for thee . . . 'Tis hard.
284Agave
My father, thou canst see the change in me,
* * * * ** * * * *
[A page or more has here been torn out of the MS. from which all our copies of "The Bacchae" are derived. It evidently contained a speech of Agave (followed presumably by some words of the Chorus), and an appearance of DIONYSUS upon a cloud. He must have pronounced judgment upon the Thebans in general, and especially upon the daughters of CADMUS, have justified his own action, and declared his determination to establish his godhead. Where the MS. begins again, we find him addressing CADMUS.]
* * * * *
285Dionysus
* * * * ** * * * *And tell of Time, what gifts for thee he bears,What griefs and wonders in the winding years.For thou must change and be a Serpent ThingStrange, and beside thee she whom thou didst bringOf old to be thy bride from Heaven afar,Harmonia, daughter of the Lord of War.Yea, and a chariot of kine--so spakeThe word of Zeus--thee and thy Queen shall takeThrough many lands, Lord of a wild arrayOf orient spears. And many towns shall theyDestroy beneath thee, that vast horde, untilThey touch Apollo's dwelling, and fulfilTheir doom, back driven on stormy ways and steep.Thee only and thy spouse shall Ares keep,And save alive to the Islands of the Blest.Thus speaketh Dionysus, Son confessedOf no man but of Zeus!--Ah, had ye seenTruth in the hour ye would not, all had beenWell with ye, and the Child of God your friend!
286Agave
Dionysus, we beseech thee! We have sinned!
287Dionysus
Too late! When there was time, ye knew me not!
288Agave
We have confessed. Yet is thine hand too hot.
289Dionysus
Ye mocked me, being God; this is your wage.
290Agave
Should God be like a proud man in his rage?
291Dionysus
'Tis as my sire, Zeus, willed it long ago.
292Agave (turning from him almost with disdain)
Old Man, the word is spoken; we must go.
293Dionysus
And seeing ye must, what is it that ye wait?
294Cadmus
Child, we are come into a deadly strait,All; thou, poor sufferer, and thy sisters twain,And my sad self. Far off to barbarous men,A grey-haired wanderer, I must take my road.And then the oracle, the doom of God,That I must lead a raging horde far-flownTo prey on Hellas; lead my spouse, mine ownHarmonia, Ares' child, discorporateAnd haunting forms, dragon and dragon-mate.Against the tombs and altar-stones of Greece,Lance upon lance behind us; and not ceaseFrom toils, like other men, nor dream, nor pastThe foam of Acheron find my peace at last.
295Agave
Father! And I must wander far from thee!
296Cadmus
O Child, why wilt thou reach thine arms to me,As yearns the milk-white swan, when old swans die?
297Agave
Where shall I turn me else? No home have I.
298Cadmus
I know not; I can help thee not.
299Agave
Farewell, O home, O ancient tower!Lo, I am outcast from my bower,And leave ye for a worser lot.
300Cadmus
Go forth, go forth to misery,The way Actaeon's father went!
301Agave
Father, for thee my tears are spent.
302Cadmus
Nay, Child, 'tis I must weep for thee;
For thee and for thy sisters twain!
303Agave
On all this house, in bitter wise,Our Lord and Master, Dionyse,Hath poured the utter dregs of pain!
304Dionysus
In bitter wise, for bitter was the shameYe did me, when Thebes honoured not my name.
305Agave
Then lead me where my sisters be;Together let our tears be shed,Our ways be wandered; where no redKithaeron waits to gaze on me;Nor I gaze back; no thyrsus stem,Nor song, nor memory in the air.Oh, other Bacchanals be there,Not I, not I, to dream of them!
[AGAVE with her group of attendants goes out on the side away from the Mountain. DIONYSUS rises upon the Cloud and disappears.
306Chorus
There be many shapes of mystery.And many things God makes to be,Past hope or fear.And the end men looked for cometh not,And a path is there where no man thought.So hath it fallen here. [Exeunt.