The Bacchae or Bacchantes By Euripides - Dionysus Wineskin God

It is symptomatic of structures that have lost their elasticity, becoming too rigid to accommodate further development, to intensify the semantics of self-reference as a sort of final act of self-reassurance.

The Greek legends connect to the Jews fall into Musical Idolatry at Mount Sinai for which God "turned them over to worship the starry host." Therefore, when modern religionists use the Old Testament as legalistic patternism they are identified by Jude as the "wandering stars" who deliberately mislead using the Lucifer Principle which is based on religious profiteering.  Thereforee, this page will be annotated with links to parallel Jewish and pseudo-christian or Gnostic christianism.

To see how this connects to Paul's "pointers" to the LOCKS and the HAIR and voice of angels, search these words.


When the clergy tried to get Jesus involved in choral dance and song they were testing to determine whether He was Dionysus whom many Jews worshipped in song with instrument, dance and drama. When you worship the new wineskin gods you are praised but when you refuse to worship Dionysus he gets you ripped apart by the men-girls of the musical worship and dance teams. Because of His miracles and prophetic teaching, the way to test Jesus' suitability as the "new David" or even Dionysus was to play the flute and He would strip off His clothes, fling his hands and tresses and do the effeminate choral dance.

See Psalm "41" as translated in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This explains why Judas failed to MUSICALLY TRIUMPH OVER JESUS.

See more details of how the Levitical Warrior Musicians momentarily TRIUMPHED over Jesus after dismissing Him as Beel-zebul (Dung God in Hebrew and therefore Lord of the Flies). In the end, God in Christ would make "music" as the fruit of His lips.

When "performers" put on the persona of the Dionysus female ACTORS with any form of "body" performance they are trying to "worship with men's hands" and insult the Incarnate God of the universe Who was never a performer and Who demanded that you can only find Him in quiet places, outside the gates in solitary communion.

Many churches having lost their elasticicity demand a "new wineskin" to allow the wine-like exhilaration of "worship" to move the group into drama in an effort to "move the worshippers into the presence of the gods." This urge for "play" or drama is the evidence of lostness which can be somewhat relieved by pretending a form of worship to replace the never-realized goals of a few minor gods.

When the Wineskins Won't Stretch!

"It is symptomatic of structures that have lost their elasticity, becoming too rigid to accommodate further development, to intensify the semantics of self-reference as a sort of final act of self-reassurance.

The patterns of self-reference by drama to drama as we see them in The Bacchae of Euripides reflect a crisis in the very genre of tragedy, in the context of drastic changes in Athenian society toward the end of the fifth century; the prospect is one of abrupt confrontation and loss." -- Nagy, Pindar's Homer p. 388

This was the Y-.5K hysteria and the signs was a hysterical effort to assure themselves when they really had nothing to say. The pretend people substituted the performance of their own bodies having lost all of their clothing of righteousness and justice.

All SPEAKING words EXCLUDE meter or music.  ALL music or poetic words EXCLUDE and are the opposite of SPEAK or of the rational mind.

-Mania (A), Ion. -iê, hê, ( [mainomai] ) madness, Hdt.6.112, Hp.Aph. 7.5, S.Ant.958 (lyr.), etc.; pollên katagnônai m. tinôn Isoc.4.133 ; mechri manias hê sphodra hêdonê katechousa Pl.Phlb.45e ; maniê nousos Hdt.6.75 : freq. in pl., Lex Solonis ap.D.46.14, Thgn.1231, A.Pr. 879, 1057 (both anap.), etc.

Paul outlawed SELF-pleasure which is hedonistic in order to conduct the church, ekklesia or school of the Bible.  Jesus died to put down the burden LADERS and laden burden which is 'creating spiritual anxiety through religious rituals."

II. enthusiasm, inspired frenzy, m. Dionusou para E.Ba.305 ; apo Mousôn katokôchê te kai m. Pl.Phdr. 245a; theia m., opposite  anthrôpinê, ib.256b, cf. Prt.323b, X. Mem.1.1.16; tês philosophou m. te kai bakcheias Pl.Smp.218b .

-Plato Phaedrus. he who has this madness is made safe for the present and the after time, and for him who is rightly possessed of madness a release from present [245a] ills is found. And a third kind of possession and madness comes from the Muses. This takes hold upon a gentle and pure soul, arouses it and inspires it to songs and other poetry, and thus by adorning countless deeds of the ancients educates later generations. But he who without the divine madness comes to the doors of the Muses, confident that he will be a good poet by art, meets with no success, and the poetry of the sane man vanishes into nothingness before that of the inspired madmen.

Pindar Olympian 9 [1] The resounding strain of Archilochus, the swelling thrice-repeated song of triumph, sufficed to lead Epharmostus to the hill of Cronus, in victory-procession with his dear companions. [5] But now, from the bow of the Muses who, shooting from afar, send a shower of such arrows of song as these on Zeus of the red lightning-bolt and on the sacred height of Elis, which once the Lydian hero Pelops [10] won as the very fine dowry of Hippodameia. [11] And shoot a winged sweet arrow to Pytho; for your words will not fall to the ground, short of the mark, when you trill the lyre in honor of the wrestling of the man from renowned Opus .... and Phoebus pressed him hard, attacking with his silver bow; nor did Hades keep his staff unmoved, with which he leads mortal bodies down to the hollow path [35] of the dead. My mouth, fling this story away from me! Since to speak evil of the gods is a hateful skill, and untimely boasting [39] is in harmony with madness
Erôt-ikos  A.of or caused by love, orgê
The Muses along with the instrument players and all religious functionaries work for Apollo or Abaddon. In Revelation 17 Paul identifies the ALL-times Mother of Harlot religion where the are called SORCERERS intending to deceive the whole world:

Mousôn katokôchê
-Mousa
1 [*maô] I. the Muse, in pl. the Muses, goddesses of song, music, poetry, dancing, the drama, and all fine arts, Hom.: the names of the nine were Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia or Polyhymnia, Urania, and Calliope, Hes.,
II.
mousa, as appellat., music, song, Pind., Trag.:--also eloquence, Eur.:--in pl. arts, accomplishments, Ar., Plat.
Melôid-ia , hê, singing, chanting, E.Rh.923, etc.
II. chant,
choral song, melôidias poiêtês Pl.Lg.935e , cf. 812d; lullaby, ib.790e: generally, music, Phld.Mus.p.12 K.
-katokōkh-ē , h(,
A. = katokhē, possession, “tēs khōrasAnon. ap. Suid.; mental grasp, “tōn eirēmenōnZeno Stoic.1.58.
II. being possessed, inspiration, “theia moira kai katokōkhēPl.Ion536c; “apo Mousōn k.Id.Phdr.245a, cf. Ph.1.174, al., Dam.Isid.32:—the forms katakōkhē, -imos are late and incorrect; cf. anokōkhē, sunokōkhē.

OPPOSITE: sôphrosunê anthrôpinê [mankind]

Sôphrôn 1 [sôs, phrên]
I. of sound mind, Lat.
sanae mentis:-- hence sensible, discreet, wise, Hom., Hdt., Xen.
2. of things, sôphrona eipein Eur.; allo ti sôphronesteron gignôskein Thuc.:-- sôphron

II.
having control over the sensual desires, temperate, self-controlled, moderate, chaste, sober
2. to sôphron sôphrosunê,

Sophron (g4988) so'-frone; from the base of 4982 and that of 5424; safe (sound) in mind, i.e. self- controlled (moderate as to opinion or passion): - discreet, sober, temperate.

Anthrôpinos [anthrôpos] mankind defined as the only being capable of controlling their emotions.

Tatian reminds the sophisticated urbans who disparage rural songs and worship that song, instruments, dance and vocal competition (who will get out the biggest crowd), that these are always a reaching back for the "archaic, in Joseph Campbell's mind, when the food supply runs out:

"The wonders of the god Dionysus pull people together to celebrate these wonders by competing with each other in song and dance. The speech of the herdsman says it all: "once upon a time, we humble herdsmen came together in the countryside, drawn by the wonders of the god to sing and dance in competition."

Even in Corinth the unbelievers might have visited the urban church just to see the "huper" or super apostles fling their hands and listen to the women (men don't often do that) sing in the charismatic style of self-invention pretending to be true prophest and speaking for God. However, when "the best show in town" was over and the jubilators returned home, the modern music from voodoo and hillbilly roots makes them hold the "children playing musical games looking like madmen" (mild or extreme) in contempt:

"I have often seen a man (actor)-- and have been amazed to see, and the amazement has ended in contempt, to think how he is one thing internally, but outwardly counterfeits what he is not--

giving himself excessive airs of daintiness and indulging in all sorts of effeminacy;
somethines
darting his eyes about;
sometimes
throwing his hands hither and thither,

and raving with his face smeared with mud (sweat, spit and dust); sometimes personating Aphrodite (female), sometimes Apollo (male); a solitary accuser of all the gods, an epitome of superstition, a vituperator of heroic deeds, an actor of murders, a chronicler of adultery,

a storehouse of madness, a teacher of cynaedi, an instigator of capital sentences;-- and yet such a man is praised by all. But I have rejected all his falsehoods, his impiety, his practices,--in short, the man althogether.

But you are led captive by such men,
while you revile those who do not take a part in your pursuits
.

I have no mind to stand agape at a number of singers, nor do I desire to be affected in sympathy with

a man when he is winking and gesticulating in an unnatural manner."...
"Why should I admire the
mythic piper... We leave you to these worthless things; and do you believe our doctrines,
or, like us, give up yours."
(Tatian to the Greeks, Ante-Nicene, Vol. II, p. 75).
History of Dionysus
Text from Classics Archive
The Greek Text
Images
A complex retelling

The Biblical text is fairly explicit but men like Plutarch identified the "god" of the Jews (not true Israelites) as Dionysus, the new wineskin god.  He, with Zeus and others constituted the Abomination of Desolation in the Temple and they never cease. That is why Jesus refused to speak to them except in parables.

As you read the play you will understand why the jubilating Jews who had adopted Dionysus forms of worship tested Jesus, discovered that He was not a Dancing God and therefore had Him destroyed. Jesus, however, refused to sing, dance, get in the effeminate dance and identify Himself as -- like they hoped John would be -- a "man" Who wore soft clothing. When He refused they literally tried to tear Him limb from limb as His "bones were out of joint." He is still mocked by boy-girls trying to force you into the dance---

Cast
Dionysus
Cadmus
Pentheus
Agave
Teiresias
First Messenger
Second Messenger
Servant

Scene
Before the Palace of Pentheus at Thebes. Enter DIONYSUS.
Written 410 B.C.


DIONYSUS [Annotating note: The Bacchae will always be in BLACK text.]

-[1] Lo! I am come to this land of Thebes, Dionysus' the son of Zeus,

of whom on a day Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, was delivered by a flash of lightning.
I have
put off the god and taken human shape, and so present myself at Dirce's springs and the waters of Ismenus.

Yonder I see my mother's monument where the
bolt slew her nigh her house, and there are the ruins of her home smouldering with the heavenly flame that blazeth still-

Hera's deathless outrage on my mother. To Cadmus all praise I offer, because he keeps this spot hallowed, his daughter's precinct, which my own hands have shaded round about with the vine's clustering foliage.

Lydia's glebes, where gold abounds, and Phrygia have I left behind; o'er Persia's sun-baked plains, by Bactria's walled towns and Media's wintry clime

have I advanced through Arabia, land of promise; and Asia's length and breadth, outstretched along the brackish sea, with many a fair walled town, peopled with mingled race of Hellenes and barbarians; and  this is the first city in Hellas I have reached.
There too have I ordained dances and established my rites, that I might manifest my godhead to men; but Thebes is the first city in the land of Hellas that I have made ring with shouts of joy, girt in a fawn-skin, with a thyrsus, my ivy-bound spear, in my hand;
Choreia 1 [choreuô] I. a dance, esp. the choral or round dance with its music, Eur., Ar. II. a dance tune, Ar
Paizô ,( [pais] ):--prop., play like a child, sport, têi de th' hama Numphai. 4. play on a musical instrument, h.Ap.206: c. acc., Pan ho kalamophthonga paizôn Ar.Ra.230 ; dance and sing, Pi. O.1.16.

Homer, Pythian Apollo 3. O Lord, Lycia is yours and lovely Maeonia [180] and Miletus, charming city by the sea, but over wave-girt Delos you greatly reign your own self.
Leto's all-glorious son goes to rocky Pytho, playing upon his hollow lyre, clad in divine, perfumed garments; and his lyre, [185] at the touch of the golden key, sings sweet.
Thence, swift as thought, he speeds from earth to Olympus, to the house of Zeus, to join the gathering of the other gods: then straightway the undying gods think only of the lyre and song,and all the Muses together, voice sweetly answering voice,
[190] hymn the unending gifts the gods enjoy and the sufferings of men,  all that they endure at the hands of the deathless gods, and how they live witless and helpless and cannot find healing for death or defence against old age.  
Meanwhile the rich-tressed Graces and cheerful Seasons dance with [195] Harmonia and Hebe and Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, holding each other by the wrist. And among them sings one, not mean nor puny, but tall to look upon and enviable in mien,
 
Artemis who delights in arrows, sister of Apollo. [200] Among them sport Ares and the keen-eyed Slayer of Argus,while Apollo plays his lyre stepping high and featly and a radiance shines around him, the gleaming of his feet and close-woven vest. And they, [205] even gold-tressed Leto and wise Zeus, rejoice in their great hearts as they watch their dear son playing among the undying gods
See Strabo 10.3.7
"The
'sounding gong and tinkling cymbal' used in such worship are mentioned in a derogatory sense in 1 Corinthians 13:1; but the religious outcry itself is dealt with more directly.  It is essential that we understand that much of the shouting involved in the rite was the specific function of women.  Euripides describes the advent of Dionysiac religion to Thebes thus:  'This city, first in Hellas, now shrills and echoes to my women's cries, their ecstasy of joy'

since my mother's sisters, who least of all should have done it,

denied that Dionysus was the son of Zeus,
saying that Semele, when she became a mother by some mortal lover,
tried to foist her sin
on Zeus-a clever ruse of Cadmus, which, they boldly asserted,
caused Zeus to slay her for the falsehood about the marriage.

Wherefore these are they whom I have driven frenzied from their homes,

and they are dwelling on the hills with mind distraught; and I have forced them to assume the dress worn in my orgies, and all the women-folk of Cadmus' stock have I driven raving from their homes, one and all alike; and there they sit upon the roofless rocks beneath the green pine-trees, mingling amongst the sons of Thebes.

For this city must learn, however loth, seeing that it is not initiated in my Bacchic rites,
and I must take up my mother's defence,
by showing to mortals that the child she bore to Zeus is a
deity.

-[43] Now Cadmus gave his sceptre and its privileges to Pentheus, his daughter's child, (the mortal brother)

who wages war 'gainst my divinity, thrusting me away from his drink-offerings, and making no mention of me in his prayers.

Therefore will I prove to him and all the race of Cadmus that I am a god. And when I have set all in order here, I will pass hence to a fresh country, manifesting myself; but if the city of Thebes in fury takes up arms and seeks to drive my votaries from the mountain, I will meet them at the head of my frantic rout.
This is why I have assumed a
mortal form, and put off my godhead to take man's nature.

O ye who left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia, ye women, my revel rout! whom I brought

from your foreign homes to be ever by my side and bear me company, uplift the cymbals native to your Phrygian home, that were by me and the great mother Rhea first devised, and march around the royal halls of Pentheus smiting them, that the city of Cadmus may see you;
while I will seek
Cithaeron's glens, there with my Bacchanals to join the dance.

Tumpanon
A. kettledrum, such as was used esp. in the worship of the Mother Goddess and Dionysus, n Corybantic rites, 2. metaph., tumpanon phusan, of inflated eloquence,
Heredotus, 4.76 hidden there, Anacharsis celebrated the goddess' ritual with exactness, carrying a small drum and hanging images about himself. [5] Then some Scythian saw him doing this and told the king, Saulius; who, coming to the place himself and seeing Anacharsis performing these rites, shot an arrow at him and killed him.

Exit DIONYSUS.

Enter CHORUS.

CHORUS

Dionysus or Bacchus was the NEW WINESKIN god. The Jews hoped that Jesus was that god. The test for both John the Baptist and Jesus was that they hoped that John wore soft clothing of the catamite of male prostitute which plagued the Jewish and all priesthoods. They "piped" as Jesus accused them of thinking that He would join the feminine of effeminate singing and dancing.

-[64] From Asia o'er the holy ridge of Tmolus hasten to a pleasant task, a toil that brings no weariness, for Bromius' (son of Egyptus, husband of Erato:) sake, in honour of the Bacchic god. Who loiters in the road? who lingers 'neath the roof? Avaunt!

I say, and let every lip be hushed in solemn silence;
for I will
raise a hymn to Dionysus, as custom aye ordains.
-[73] O happy he! who to his joy is initiated in heavenly mysteries and leads a holy life, joining heart and soul in Bacchic revelry upon the hills,
purified from every sin; observing the rites of Cybele, the mighty mother, and brandishing the thyrsus, with ivy-wreathed head, he worshis Dionysus.

Ku^belē , , Cybele, E.Ba.79 (lyr.), Ar.Av.877, etc.:—from Kubelon , to, or Kubela , ta, mountain in Phrygia, D.S.3.58, Str.12.5.3:— hence Adj. Ku^belēgenēs , St.Byz.:—also Ku^bēbē , Hippon.120 (dub.), Hdt.5.102, Anacreont.11.1; equated with Aphrodite by Charon Hist. (FHGiv p.627):—fem.Adj. Ku^bēlis , idos, , Cybelian,
A. Kubēlidos organa RheiēsNonn.D.10.387, 14.214, cf. Hippon.121, prob.in St.Byz. s.v. Kubeleia:—also Ku^belēis , Nonn.D.14.10, al.

Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Revelation 17.5 kai epi to metōpon autēs onoma gegrammenon, mustērion, BABULŌN Ē MEGALĒ, Ē MĒTĒR TŌN PORNŌN KAI TŌN BDELUGMATŌN TĒS GĒS.

Mega^s  II. of quality or degree, great, mighty, freq. epith. of gods, “ho m. ZeusA. Supp.1052 (lyr.), etc.; megala thea, of Demeter and Persephone, S. OC683 (lyr.); theoi megaloi, of the Cabiri, IG12(8).71 (Imbros), etc.; Mētēr m., of Cybele, SIG1014.83 (Erythrae, iii B. C.), 1138.3 (Delos, ii B. C.); “Mētēr theōn m.OGI540.6 (Pessinus), etc.; “Isidos m. mētros theōnPStrassb.81.14 (ii B.C.); “m. Artemis EphesiōnAct.Ap.19.28; tis theos m. hōs ho theos hēmōn; LXX Ps.76(77).13; “ho m. theosEp.Tit.2.13; of men, “m. ēde krataiosOd.18.382; “oligos kai m.

Mētēr
freq. of Earth, “ pantōn m.Hes.Op.563; “par meson omphalon eudendroio . . materosPi.P.4.74; “ mētērA.Th.16, etc.; “ō gaia mēterE.Hipp.601; Mētēr, = Dēmētēr, Mētri kai Kourē hortēn agousi Hdt.8.65; also of Rhea, Pi.P.3.78; “ō Pan . . , Matros megalas opadeId.Fr.95, cf. E.Hel.1355 (lyr.); “m. oreiaAr.Av.746 (lyr.); “Gallai mētros oreiēs philothursoi dromadesLyr.Adesp.121; M. “theōnSIG1044.8 (Halic., iv B.C.); as title of Isis,
Aphrodite of the Loves, Id.Fr.122.4; phatis ō mater aiskhunas emas,
Thi^a^s-euō ,
A. initiate into the thiasos, Epic.Alex.Adesp. 9i2; “hos me . . korais ethiaseus'E.Ion552; “th. khoroisId.Ba.379 (lyr.):— Pass., -euetai psukhan ib.75.
II.  celebrate Bacchic rites, Str.12.4.3.
-Thia^s-os (proparox.), ho,
2. religious guild, confraternity, IG2.986,1663,22.1177, SIG1044.45 (Halic.), etc.
II. generally, company, troop, used by Trag. in lyr., “KentaurōnE.IA1059; “hēlikōnId.IT1146; “MousōnAr.Th.41; enoplios th., of warriors, E.Ph.796; “Kentaurikos kai SaturikosPl.Plt.303d; tou sou th. of your company, X.Mem.2.1.31; Asianōn akroamatōn th. Plu.Ant.24.
III. feast, banquet
-Sa^tu^r-ikos , ē, on,
A. suiting a Satyr, like a Satyr, “Sōkratēs . . s. kai hubristēs phainomenosPlu.Cat.Ma.7, cf. Pl.Smp.221e; “ephēmeroi kai s. tois bioisPlu.Galb. 16, cf. Per.13.
2.  of or resembling the Satyric drama, Pl.Smp. 222d; “poiēsisArist.Po.1449a22; “orkhēsisD.H.7.72; “dramaId.Rh.9.6, etc.: abs., saturikon, to, Satyric drama, X.Smp.4.19, Arist.Po.1449a20, IG22.2320.16; also “saturikēTz.Proll.Com.p.21 K., cf. “Saturos11.

Beast

Go forth, go forth, ye Bacchanals, bring home the Bromian god Dionysus, child of a god, from the mountains of Phrygia to the spacious streets of Hellas, bring home the Bromian god!

Bakkhē , ,
A.  Bacchante, A.Eu.25, S.Ant.1122 (lyr.), Ar.Nu.605, Pl. Ion534a, etc.: generally, Bakkhē Haidou frantic handmaid of Hades, E.Hec.1077; “b. nekuōnId.Ph.1489 (lyr.).
[88] whom on a day his mother in her sore travail brought forth untimely, yielding up her life beneath the lightning stroke of Zeus' winged bolt; but forthwith Zeus, the son of Cronos, found for him another womb wherein to rest, for he hid him in his thigh and fastened it with golden pins to conceal him from Hera. And when the

Fates had fully formed the
horned god, he brought him forth and crowned him with a coronal of snakes, whence it is the thyrsus-bearing Maenads hunt the snake to twine about their hair.

[105] O Thebes, nurse of Semele! crown thyself with ivy;
burst forth, burst forth with blossoms fair of green convolvulus, and with the boughs of oak and pine join in the Bacchic revelry; don thy coat of dappled fawn-skin, decking it with tufts of silvered hair; with reverent hand the sportive wand now wield.
The thyrsos is a staff that is crowned with ivy and that is sacred to Dionysus and an emblem of his worship.

Rhea was a name for EVE. In the Greek version, Eve is named ZOE or the MOTHER GODDESS. Long before the time of Paul most people worshiped the MOTHER OF THE GODS. The dove resting on the goddess whose DAUGHTER was the "female teaching principle" identified this goddess under various names. When the dove rested on the head of Jesus it was the FATHER speaking and identifying Jesus as the SON who spoke His words exactly as He heard them.

Inanna or Ishtar worshiped by the men in Jerusalem as the women lamented with instruments in the temple for Tammuz (Bacchus, Saturn or Satan whose number is 666) became EVE in the Classical period and ZOE in the early post-Christian period. In Babylonia, Inanna got father or grandfather drunk and stole the MES of the trees. Ea was the patron god of music and Inanna had the magical power of MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Sophia (wisdom) was identified as the SERPENT and her daughter ZOE was identified as the BEAST. She was identified as the FEMALE INSTRUCTING PRINCIPLE.

People worshiped EVE because she had SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE because Satan (Saturn 666) taught her both good and evil. Paul being educated in Greek literature understood that Christianity had to be different for two reasons:

1. It was a fact that EVE was wholly seduced by Lucifer. She is called the harp playing prostitute as king/queen of Tyre.

Lucifer was in the garden and used music as the pleasure of the angelic host to seduce the worship from God. He is credited with introducing string instruments, wind instruments and percussions.

The prophecy that Lucifer as the end time Babylon Harlot "mother" of all RELIGIONS would again go back into hell with her musicians and musical instruments.

2. In the world view at that time, Sophia-Zoe had forced the "minor jehovahs" into forming MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAMS in order to worship the FEMININE Goddesses.

3. God had declared for a PATRIARCHIAL "school of the Bible" as opposed to a pagan worship center with music by identifying Himself as the FATHER.

4. Women and effeminate men always formed RELIGIONS but Christianity continued the synagogue. This was not a worship center but a school of the Bible.

5. Women and strange males were always identified as the singers and musicians in all pagan religions usually practiced at festivals.

6. The "authority" Paul outlawed was the Greek authentia. This was known to be exercised by women as both EROTIC and MURDEROUS. Musicologists identify today's praise songs as EROTIC.

Anon shall the whole land be dancing, when Bromius leads his revellers to the hills, to the hills away! where wait him groups of maidens from loom and shuttle roused in frantic haste by Dionysus. O hidden cave of the Curetes!

-[120] O hallowed haunts in Crete, that saw Zeus born, where Corybantes with crested helms devised for me in their grotto the rounded timbrel of ox-hide (lifeless instrument), mingling Bacchic minstrelsy with the shrill sweet accents of the Phrygian flute, a gift bestowed by them on mother Rhea, to add its crash of music to the Bacchantes' shouts of joy;

Auleô, of tunes, to be played on the flute, ho Bakcheios rhuthmos êuleito X. Smp.9.3 KERAS Horn, bow, musical instrument, horn for blowing.

Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

kat-auleô
A. charm by flute-playing, tinos Pl.Lg.790e, cf. R.411a; tina Alciphr.2.1: metaph., se . . -êsô phobôi I will
flute to you on a ghastly flute, E.HF871 (troch.):--Pass., of persons, methuôn kai katauloumenos drinking wine to the strains of the flute, Pl.R.561c; k. pros chelônidos psophon to be played to on the flute with lyre accompaniment, Posidon.10 J., cf. Call.Fr.10.3 P., Phld.Mus.p.49 K.
but frantic satyrs (homosexual priests) won it from the mother-goddess for their own, and added it to their dances in festivals, which gladden the heart of Dionysus, each third recurrent year.
mainas , ados, , ( [mainomai] )
A.raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4; bakchê E.Ba.915 .
luss-a, Att. lutta, hê,
A. rage, fury, in Hom. always of martial rage, kraterê de he [A spirit OF madness.]

2. after Hom., raging madness, frenzy, such as was CAUSED BY the gods, as that of 10, lussês pneumati margôi A.Pr.883 (anap.); of Orestes, Id.Ch.287, E.Or.254, etc.; of the Proetides, B.10.102; of Bacchic (Dionysus, wineskin) frenzy, elaphra l. E. Ba.851 ; thoai Lussas kunes, of the Furies, ib.977 (lyr.); lussêi parakopos Ar.Th.680 : strengthd., l. manias S.Fr.941.4 ; lutta EROTIKE 3. personified, Lussa the goddess of madness, E.HF823.

Pneuma 
I. a blowing, pneumata anemôn Hdt., Aesch.: alone, a wind, blast, Methieme letting loose. 2. metaph., thalerôterôi pn. with more genial breeze or influence, Aesch.; lussês pn. margôi
Margos: raging mad,
A.mad, margemadman, of the Furies,

See 852 below

Bakchê , ,
A.
Bacchante,A.Eu.25, S.Ant.1122 (lyr.), Ar.Nu.605, Pl. Ion534a, etc.: generally, Bakchê Haidou frantic handmaid of Hades, E.Hec.1077; b. nekuônId.Ph.1489 (lyr.).
2. as Subst., mad woman, esp. Bacchante,
3.
= pornê, Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.
        porn-ê , , A.harlot, prostitute, Archil.142, Ar.Ach.527, etc. (Prob.from pernêmi,
        because Greek prostitutes were commonly bought slaves.)
Haidês  
I.Hades or Pluto (cf. Ploutôn), the god of the nether world, 

[135] Oh! happy that votary, when from the hurrying revel-rout he sinks to earth, in his holy robe of fawnskin, chasing the goat to drink its blood, a banquet sweet of flesh uncooked, as he hastes to Phrygia's or to Libya's hills; while in the van the Bromian god exults with cries of Evoe (Eve, Zoe and now Mary).

With milk and wine and streams of luscious honey flows the earth, and Syrian incense smokes.

Paul warned about "uncovered prophesying" in Corinth:

While the Bacchante holding in his hand a blazing torch of pine uplifted on his wand waves it, as he speeds along, rousing wandering votaries, and as he waves it cries aloud with wanton tresses tossing in the breeze; and thus to crown the revelry, he raises loud his voice,

"On, on, ye Bacchanals, pride of Tmolus (a gold-producing mountain in Lydia, near Sardis:)
with its rills of gold to the sound of the
booming drum, chanting in joyous strains the praises of your joyous god with Phrygian accents lifted high, what time the holy lute with sweet complaining note invites you to your hallowed sport,

melpete ton Dionuson
barubromôn hupo tumpanôn,
euia ton euion agallomenai theon
Melpô [melos]
I. to sing of, celebrate with song and dance, Il., Eur.; m. tina kata chelun Eur.

2. intr. to sing, Aesch., Eur.;-- c. acc. cogn., m. thanasimon goon 
II. also as Dep. melpomai to sing to the lyre or harp, Od.; to dance and sing, as a chorus, meta melpomenêisin en chorôi Il.; melpesthai Arêi to dance a war-dance in honour of Ares, i. e. to fight, id=Il.

Barubromos:
Drum
Pindar, Nagy 21: On the basis of these self-references, it becomes clear that there were in fact other such harmoniai, besides the ones listed en passant by Plato in Republic 398e-399a. Most notably missing from Plato's list is the harmoniâ named as the Aeolian harmoniâ described as Aeolian in Lasus of Hermione PMG 702.3, where it is described as barubromostessitura of the Aeolian was marked by its frequency of lower notes. in the Archaic diction of lyric poetry. I cite the specific reference to a 'deep-roaring', suggesting that the

Agallomenai Ar. Th.128 Agallô [Pass., mostly in pres. and imperf.] to make glorious, glorify, exalt, c. acc. : esp. to pay honour to a god, ag. tina thusiaisi Ar.; to adorn, deck, gamêlious eunas Eur.; Pass. to glory, take delight, exult in a thing, a. strut in borrowed plumes,
Gamelios. Nuptial of divinities presiding over a marriage. koitêId.Supp.805
Koite: the marriage Bed. IV. of sexual connexion, to become pregnant by a man, Ep.Rom.9.10; in bad sense, lasciviousness, ib. 13.13 (pl.).
Phrygian accents lifted high: enopê ,3. of things, sound, aulôn suringôn t'enopênIl.10.13; iachênt'enopênte, of thunder, Hes.Th.708; kitharas e. E.Ion882 (anap.); sarkônêd'osteôn crushing, Pi.Fr.168 .--Ep. and Lyr. word, used by E. in lyr. e.

Bombus , i, m., = bombos,

I. a hollow, deep sound, a booming, humming, buzzing: Ennius sonum pedum bombum pedum dixit, Fortun. Dial. (v. Enn. p. 183 fin. Vahl.); of bees; of a horn; of the clapping of hands: si (apes) intus faciunt bombum, Varr. R. R. 3, 16, 32 : cum tuba... mugit, Et reboat raucum regio cita barbara bombum, Lucr. 4, 546 : raucisonos efflabant cornua bombos, Cat. 64, 263 : torva mimalloneis inplerunt cornua bombis, Pers. 1, 99 Coningt. ad loc.; Mart. Cap. 1, § 67; 2, § 197: organorum, Serv. ad Verg. A. 7, 23 : qui plausuum genera condiscerent (bombos et imbrices et testas vocabant), Suet. Ner. 20 Casaub.

Barbaria Bombum is why Paul compared INSTRUMENTS to SPEAKING IN TONGUES. Surely, humming or clapping would be speaking in tongues.

according well with feet that hurry wildly to the hills; like a colt that gambols at its mother's side in the pasture, with gladsome heart each Bacchante bounds along."

Enter TEIRESIAS.

TEIRESIAS

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

Enter CADMUS.

CADMUS

Best of friends! I was in the house when I heard thy voice, wise as its owner. I come prepared, dressed in the livery of the god. For 'tis but right

I should magnify with all my might my own daughter's son, Dionysus, who hath shown his godhead unto men. Where are we to join the dance? where plant the foot and shake the hoary head? Do thou, Teiresias, be my guide, age leading age, for thou art wise. Never shall I weary, night or day, of beating the earth with my thyrsus. What joy to forget our years?

TEIRESIAS

Why, then thou art as I am. For I too am young again, and will essay the dance.

CADMUS

We will drive then in our chariot to the hill.

TEIRESIAS

Nay, thus would the god not have an equal honour paid.

CADMUS

Well, I will lead thee, age leading age.

TEIRESIAS

The god will guide us both thither without toil.

CADMUS

Shall we alone of all the city dance in Bacchus' honour?

TEIRESIAS

Yea, for we alone are wise, the rest are mad.

CADMUS

We stay too long; come, take my hand.

TEIRESIAS

There link thy hand in my firm grip.

CADMUS

Mortal that I am, I scorn not the gods.

TEIRESIAS

No subtleties do I indulge about the powers of heaven. The faith we inherited from our fathers, old as time itself, no reasoning shall cast down; no! though it were the subtlest invention of wits refined.

Maybe some one will say, I have no respect for my grey hair in going to dance with ivy round my head; not so, for the god did not define whether old or young should dance, but from all alike he claims a universal homage,

and scorns nice calculations in his worship.

CADMUS

Teiresias, since thou art blind, I must prompt thee what to say. Pentheus is coming hither to the house in haste, Echion's son, to whom I resign the government. How scared he looks I what strange tidings will he tell?

Here is something on Echion:
THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2

Enter PENTHEUS.

PENTHEUS

[215] I had left my kingdom for awhile, when tidings of strange mischief in this city reached me;

I hear that our women-folk have left their homes on pretence of Bacchic rites, and on the wooded hills rush wildly to and fro, honouring in the dance this new god Dionysus, whoe'er he is; and in the midst of each revel-rout the brimming wine-bowl stands, and one by one they steal away to lonely spots to gratify their lust, pretending forsooth that they are Maenads bent on sacrifice, though it is Aphrodite they are placing before the Bacchic god. As many as I caught, my gaolers are keeping safe in the public prison fast bound; and all who are gone forth, will I chase from the hills, Ino and Agave too who bore me to Echion, and Actaeon's mother Autonoe. In fetters of iron will I bind them and soon put an end to these outrageous Bacchic rites.

They say there came a stranger hither, a trickster and a sorcerer, from Lydia's land, with golden hair and perfumed locks,

the flush of wine upon his face, and in his eyes each grace that Aphrodite gives; by day and night he lingers in our maidens' company

on the plea of teaching Bacchic mysteries.

Here is something on Echion:

THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2

Echeo (g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.

Lu.21:25

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

Echos (g2279) ay'-khos; of uncert. affin.; a loud or confused noise ("echo"), i.e. roar: fig. a rumor: - fame, sound.

Heb.12:19

And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

êch-eô , I. intr., sound, ring, peal, êchei de karê . . Olumpou Hes.Th.42 ; hotan achêsêi polios buthos Mosch.Fr.1.4 ; achousi prospolôn cheres E.Supp.72 (lyr.); of metal, êcheeske ho chalkos tês aspidos (round brass shield) Hdt.4.200 ; ta chalkia plêgenta makron êchei Pl.Prt.329a , cf. Men.66.4; of the grasshopper, chirp, Alc.39, Theoc.16.96; of the ears, tingle, êchêsei ta ôta LXX 1 Ki.3.11 ; dia ti êchei ê dia ti emphainetai; impers., of anecho, Arist.AP0.98a27.

2. suffer from noises in the ears, Herod.Med. ap. Orib.10.40.3.

II. c. acc. cogn., achein (iachein codd.) humnon to let it sound, A.Th.869 (lyr.); kôkuton S.Tr.866 ; goous Id.Fr.523 ; humnous E.Ion883 (lyr.); chalkeon achei sound the cymbal! Theoc.2.36; ephexês êchounta auta (sc. ta phônêenta) Demetr.Eloc.71: --Med., acheisthai tina to sound his praises, dub. in Pi.Fr.75.19:-- Pass., êcheitai ktupos a sound is made, S.OC1500. (Cf. sq.)

êchetês , ou, ho, Ep. êcheta^ , Dor. achetas , acheta^ , ( [êcheô] )

A. clear-sounding, musical, shrill, donax achetas A.Pr.575 (lyr.); kuknos E.El.151 (lyr.); epith. of the cicada [locusts], chirping, êcheta tettix Hes.Op.582 , AP 7.201 (Pamphil.); achetat. ib.213 (Arch.): abs., achetas, ho, the chirper, i.e. the male cicada, Anan.5.6, Ar.Pax1159 (lyr.), Av.1095 (lyr.), cf. Arist.HA532b16,556a20: Orph.A.1250 has Ep.acc. êcheta porthmon the sounding strait.

Once let me catch him within these walls, and I will put an end to his thyrsus-beating and his waving of his tresses, for I will cut his head from his body.

This is the fellow who says that Dionysus is a god, says that he was once stitched up in the thigh of Zeus-that child who with his mother was blasted by the lightning flash, because the woman falsely said her marriage was with Zeus. Is not this enough to deserve the awful penalty of hanging, this stranger's wanton insolence, whoe'er he be?  But lo! another marvel.

I see Teiresias, our diviner, dressed in dappled fawn-skins, and my mother's father too, wildly waving the Bacchic wand; droll sight enough! Father, it grieves me to see you two old men so void of sense.

Oh! shake that ivy from thee! Let fall the thyrsus from thy hand, my mother's sire! Was it thou, Teiresias, urged him on to this? Art bent on introducing this fellow as another new deity amongst men, that thou mayst then observe the fowls of the air and make a gain from fiery [lewd] divination?

Divination: orgi-a A. secret rites, secret worship, practised by the initiated, of the rites of the Cabeiri and Demeter cogn. with erdô, rhezô, cf. ergon, orgeôn.)
Organon , to, ( [ergon, erdô] ) I. an implement, instrumentA. instrument, implement, tool, for making or doing a thing 3.musical instrumen
Ergon  [Ergô] I.work, 1. in Il. mostly of deeds of war, polemêïaerga, 3.a hard piece of work, a hard task, Il.: also, a shocking deed or act,

"Candidates for initiation into the KABIRI were crowned with a garland of olive and wore a purple band round their loins. The dancing was then begun.

In fact, homosexuality was part of the ritual, what the historians in their scholarly dungeons called their "most immoral tendencies." The purpose was to evoke a passage beyond earth to a higher life. That is, "to lead the worshipers into the presence of the gods."

That is, in their mystical dances, continued leaping into the air achieves a shamanic state of trance, a transfer of consciousness analogous to the transformation of the

magician into a bird whereby the apprentice masters his powers to join a gay brotherhood "who, by nature, are superior to other men." 14

"Smiths and shamans are from the same nest," also declares a Yakut proverb from early North America, cited by the mythologist Mircea Eliade. 15

According to Herodotus, they surfaced some 2,000 years after that as an effeminate priesthood in what is now southern Russia and present-day Ukraine. They were called the ENAREE, "endowed by the goddess Venus with the gift of prophecy." Source

Hislop: Hence the "Horned bull" signified "The Mighty Prince,

and constant friction (minemployment) between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 1 Timothy 6:5

Were it not that thy grey hairs protected thee, thou shouldst sit in chains amid the Bacchanals,

for introducing knavish mysteries;
for where the
gladsome grape is found at women's feasts,
I deny that their
rites have any longer good results.

CHORUS

What impiety! Hast thou no reverence, sir stranger, for the gods or for Cadmus who sowed the crop of earth-born warriors? Son of Echion as thou art, thou dost shame thy birth.

Sounding brass is:
Echeo
(g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.

TEIRESIAS

[266] Whenso a man of wisdom finds a good topic for argument, it is no difficult matter to speak well; but thou,

though possessing a glib tongue as if endowed with sense,
art yet devoid thereof in all thou sayest.

[a proper prophets with the true "voice of the angels" would by nature be insane and therefore speak in gibberish or tongues because they believed that dod always used the emotionally or sexual abnormal to make people trust the gods.]

A headstrong man, if he have influence and a capacity for speaking, makes a bad citizen because he lacks sense.

This new deity, whom thou deridest, will rise to power I cannot say how great, throughout Hellas. Two things there are, young prince, that hold first rank among men,

the goddess Demeter, that is, the earth, call her which name thou please; she it is that feedeth men with solid food; and as her counterpart came this god, (Dionysus) the son of Semele, who discovered the juice of the grape and introduced it to mankind, stilling thereby each grief that mortals suffer from, soon as e'er they are filled with the juice of the vine; and sleep also he giveth, sleep that brings forgetfulness of daily ills, the sovereign charm for all our woe.

God though he is, he serves all other gods for libations, so that through him mankind is blest.

He it is whom thou dost mock, because he was sewn up in the thigh of Zeus. But I will show thee this fair mystery. When Zeus had snatched him from the lightning's blaze, and to Olympus borne the tender babe, Hera would have cast him forth from heaven, but Zeus, as such a god well might, devised a counterplot.

He broke off a fragment of the ether which surrounds the world, and made thereof a hostage against Hera's bitterness, while he gave out Dionysus into other hands; hence, in time, men said that he was reared in the thigh of Zeus, having changed the word and invented a legend, because the god was once a hostage to the goddess Hera.

[298] This god too hath prophetic power, [Bakcheusimos]

for there is no small prophecy inspired by Bacchic frenzy;
for whenever the god in his full might enters the human frame,

he makes his
frantic votaries foretell the future.

Maniôdês
A. like
madness, noseumata Hp. Aër.7, cf. Coac.475.
2. like a
madman, crazy, Kunas,    
II. causing madness, Dsc. 1.68, 4.68; himasthlê Panos Nonn.D.10.4 .Pan is horn footed

Kunas: Kuôn II. as a word of reproach, freq. in Hom. of women, to denote shamelessness or audacity; applied by Helen to herself rhapsôidos of the Bakchai, Lussas k. E.Ba.977  Lussao rave, be mad, erotic. also of offensive persons, compared to yapping dogs

[977] To the hills! to the hills! fleet hounds of madness, where the daughters of Cadmus hold their revels,

goad them into wild fury
against the
man disguised in woman's dress, a frenzied spy upon the Maenads.
Rhapsoidos stitching songs together. Reciter of poems, of Aoide
Used with "hypokrites" 5. = eppsdê, spell, incantation

3. of the Cynics, areskei toutois kunôn metamphiennusthai bion. Catamites.

Epôidos 
A.
singing to or over, using songs or charms to heal wounds, epôidoi muthoi
b. Subst.,
enchanter, e. kai goês E.Hipp. 1038 (but goês e. Ba.234): c. gen., a charm for or against,
c. c. dat.,
assisting, profitable,

2. Pass., sung to music, phônai Plu.2.622d ; fit for singing, poiêtikên e. parechein S.E.M.6.16 .
2. epôidos, ho, verse or passage returning at intervals, in Alcaics and Sapphics, D.H.Comp.19 ;
chorus, burden,

Psalm 22: [14]  I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. [15]  My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death. [16]  For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evil-doers have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. [17]  I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me. [18]  They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing. [19]  But don't be far off, Yahweh. You are my help: hurry to help me. [20]  Deliver my soul from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog.

Rhapsôid-os , ho,

A. reciter of Epic poems, sts. applied to the bard who recited his own poem, as to Hesiod, Nicocl. ap. Sch.Pi.N.2.2 (v. infr.); but usu., professional reciters, esp. of the poems of Homer, Hdt.5.67, Pl.Ion 530c, etc.: also rh. kuôn, ironically, of the Sphinx who chanted her riddle, S.OT391. (Prob. from rhaptô, aoidê; Hes.Fr. 265 speaks of himself and Homer as en nearois humnois rhapsantes aoidên, and Pi.N.2.2 calls Epic poets rhaptôn epeôn aoidoi: not from rhabdos (cf. rhabdos 1.6 ) as if rhabdôidos (Eust.6.24, rhabdôidia ib.16).)

Pindar Ode 2

[1] Just as the Homeridae, the singers [rhapton] of woven verses [epos], most often begin with Zeus as their prelude, so this man has received a first down-payment of victory [nike] in the sacred games by winning [5] in the grove of Nemean Zeus, which is celebrated in many hymns.

Likewise he hath some share in Ares' rights; for oft, or ever a weapon is touched, a panic seizes an army when it is marshalled in array; and this too is a frenzy sent by Dionysus. Yet shalt thou behold him e'en on Delphi's rocks leaping o'er the cloven height, torch in hand, waving and brandishing the branch by Bacchus loved, yea, and through the length and breadth of Hellas.

Pallô II. Pass., swing, dash oneself, vibrate, of strings, Pl.Phd.94c psalloito
Plato, Phaedo 94c. “Did we not agree in our previous discussion that it could never, if it be a harmony, give forth a sound at variance with the tensions and relaxations and vibrations and other conditions of the elements which compose it, but that it would follow them and never lead them?”
94d Homer has shown in the Odyssey when he says of Odysseus: Hom. Od 20.17-18
        He smote his breast, and thus he chid his heart:
        “Endure it, heart, you have born worse than this.”
Pallo and Seio or shaking: one dancing, E.Ba. 185; 2. of earthquakes, which were attributed to Poseidon, 3. metaph., agitate, disturb, II. Pass., shake, heave, quake, of the earth, earthquake.
We call her Pallas, you know.[406e] who think this name is derived from armed dances, for lifting oneself or anything else from the ground or
[407a] in the hands is called shaking (pallein) and being shaken, or dancing and being danced.

Hearken to me, Pentheus; never boast that might alone doth sway the world,

nor if thou think so, unsound as thy opinion is, credit thyself with any wisdom;
but receive the god into thy realm, pour out libations, join the
revel rout, and crown thy head.

It is not Dionysus that will force chastity on women in their love;

but this is what we should consider, whether chastity is part of their nature for good and all; for if it is,
no really modest maid will ever fall 'mid Bacchic mysteries.
Mark this: thou thyself art glad when thousands throng thy gates, and citizens extol the name of
Pentheus;
he too, I trow, delights in being honoured. Wherefore I and Cadmus, whom thou jeerest so,
will wreath our brows with ivy and
join the dance;

pair of grey beards though we be, still must we take part therein; never will I for any words of thine fight against heaven.

Most grievous is thy madness, nor canst thou find a charm to cure thee,
albeit charms have caused thy malady.

CHORUS

Old sir, thy words do not discredit Phoebus, and thou art wise in honouring Bromius, potent deity.

CADMUS

My son, Teiresias hath given thee sound advice; dwell with us, but o'erstep not the threshold of custom;

for now thou art soaring aloft, and thy wisdom is no wisdom. E'en though he be no god, as thou assertest, still say he is; be guilty of a splendid fraud, declaring him the son of Semele, that she may be thought the mother of a god, and we and all our race gain honour.

Dost thou mark the awful fate of Actaeon? whom savage hounds of his own rearing rent in pieces in the meadows,

because he boasted himself a better hunter than Artemis.
Lest thy fate be the same, come let me crown thy head with ivy;
join us in rendering homage to the god.

PENTHEUS

[343] Touch me not, away to thy Bacchic rites thyself! never try to infect me with thy foolery!

Vengeance will I have on the fellow who teaches thee such senselessness. Away one of you without delay! seek yonder seat where he observes his birds, wrench it from its base with levers, turn it upside down, o'erthrowing it in utter confusion, and toss his garlands to the tempest's blast. For by so doing shall I wound him most deeply.  Others of you, range the city and hunt down this girl-faced [effeminate] stranger, who is introducing a new complaint amongst our women, and doing outrage to the marriage tie.

And if haply ye catch him, bring him hither to me in chains, to be stoned to death, a bitter ending to his revelry in Thebes.

Exit PENTHEUS.

TEIRESIAS

Unhappy wretch! thou little knowest what thou art saying. Now art thou become a raving madman, even before unsound in mind. Let us away, Cadmus, and pray earnestly for him, spite of his savage temper, and likewise for the city, that the god inflict not a signal vengeance.

Come, follow me with thy ivy-wreathed staff; try to support my tottering frame as I do thine, for it is unseemly that two old men should fall; but let that-pass.

For we must serve the Bacchic god, the son of Zeus.
Only, Cadmus, beware lest Pentheus' bring sorrow to thy house;
it is
not my prophetic art, but circumstances that lead me to say this; for the words of a fool are folly.

Exeunt CADMUS and TEIRESIAS.

CHORUS

[370] O holiness, queen amongst the gods, sweeping on golden pinion o'er the earth! dost hear the words of Pentheus, dost hear his proud blaspheming Bromius, the son of Semele;

first of all the blessed gods at every merry festival?
His it is to rouse the revellers to dance, to laugh away dull care,
.......and wake the flute, [Gelaô laugh to, mock, deride]
.......whene'er at banquets of the gods the luscious grape appears,
.......or when the winecup in the feast sheds sleep on men who wear the ivy-spray. [ivy-bearing]

Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae [985] Let us form fresh measures that keep good time, and may our songs resound to the very heavens. Do thou, oh divine Bacchus, who art crowned with ivy, direct our chorus; 'tis to thee that both my hymns and my dances are dedicated.

Chorus
[995] Echo, the nymph of Cithaeron, returns thy words, which resound beneath the dark vaults of the thick foliage and in the midst of the rocks of the forest; the ivy [1000] enlaces thy brow with its tendrils charged with flowers.

kuklos
A. kukla Il. , etc., v. infr.11.1, 3,9, 111.1:--ring, circle, hoppote min dolion peri kuklon agôsin, of the circle which hunters draw round their game, Od.4.792; k. deka chalkeoi (concentric) circles of brass on a round shield,

3. place of assembly, of the agora, hieros  [filled divine power, mystical marriage k. Il.18.504 ; ho k. tou Zênos tôgoraiou Schwyzer 701 B6 (Erythrae, v B.C.); agoras k. (cf. kukloeis) E.Or.919; of the amphitheatre, D.C.72.19.

Agoarios A. in, of, or belonging to the agora, Zeus A. as guardian of popular assemblies, Hermês A. as patron of traffic, the common sort, low fellows, 2. of things, vulgar, III. generally, proper to the agora, skilled in, suited for forensic speaking, skilled in poetry, emporias kai kapêleias diatribon, Agitators Acts 17:5
 Acts 17:5 But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
E.Or.919 Euripides, Orestes Another then stood up and said the opposite; he was not handsome in appearance, but a brave man, rarely coming in contact with the town or the circle in the market-place
b. crowd of people standing round, ring or circle of people, k. turannikos S.Aj.749 ; kukla chalkeôn hoplôn, i.e. of armed men,

chalkeos [chalkos]

I. of copper or bronze, brasen, Lat. aeneus, aheneus, Hom., etc.; ch. Zeus a bronze statue of Zeus, Hdt.; hê chalkê Athêna Dem.; chalkeon histanai tina (v. histêmi A. III).
b. ch. agôn a
contest for a shield of brass, Pind.<>
2. metaph. brasen, i. e. stout, strong, chalkeon êtor, a heart of brass, Il.; ops ch. id=Il.; ch.
hupnos, i. e. the sleep of death, Virg. ferreus somnus, id=Il.

Il.18.504 Homer, Iliad

[490] Therein fashioned he also two cities of mortal men exceeding fair.

In the one there were marriages and feastings, and by the light of the blazing torches they were leading the brides from their bowers through the city, and loud rose the bridal song. And young men were whirling in the dance, and in their midst

[495] flutes and lyres sounded continually; and there the women stood each before her door and marvelled.

But the folk were gathered in the place of assembly; for there a strife had arisen, and two men were striving about the blood-price of a man slain; the one avowed that he had paid all,

[500] declaring his cause to the people, but the other refused to accept aught; and each was fain to win the issue on the word of a daysman. Moreover, the folk were cheering both, shewing favour to this side and to that. And heralds held back the folk, and the elders were sitting upon polished stones in the sacred circle,

But around the other city lay in leaguer two hosts of warriors

[510] gleaming in armour.
And twofold plans found favour with them,

either to lay waste the town
or to
divide in portions twain all the substance that the lovely city contained within.2

Howbeit the besieged would nowise hearken thereto, but were arming to meet the foe in an ambush. The wall were their dear wives and little children guarding,

[515] as they stood thereon, and there withal the men that were holden of old age; but the rest were faring forth, led of Ares and Pallas Athene, both fashioned in gold, and of gold was the raiment wherewith they were clad. Goodly were they and tall in their harness, as beseemeth gods, clear to view amid the rest, and the folk at their feet were smaller.

[520] But when they were come to the place where it seemed good unto them to set their ambush, in a river-bed where was a watering-place for all herds alike, there they sate them down, clothed about with flaming bronze. Thereafter were two scouts set by them apart from the host, waiting till they should have sight of the sheep and sleek cattle.

[525] And these came presently, and two herdsmen followed with them playing upon pipes; and of the guile wist they not at all.

surinx 2.cat-call, whistle, hiss, as in theatres, Id.Lg.700c; cf. surizô11.2 , surigmos:--the last part of the nomosPuthikos was called suringes, prob. because it imitated the dying hisses of the serpent Pytho, Str.9.3.10.

18.527 But the liers-in-wait, when they saw these coming on, rushed forth against them and speedily cut off the herds of cattle and fair flocks of white-fleeced sheep, and slew the herdsmen withal.[530] But the besiegers, as they sat before the places of gathering and heard much tumult among the kine, mounted forthwith behind their high-stepping horses, and set out thitherward, and speedily came upon them. Then set they their battle in array and fought beside the river banks, and were ever smiting one another with bronze-tipped spears.

The end of all unbridled speech and lawless senselessness is misery;
Blaspheming. [Hubris] A. wanton violence, arising from the pride of strength or from passion, insolence
but the life of calm repose and the rule of reason abide unshaken and support the home;
for far away in heaven though they dwell,
....... the powers divine behold man's state.

Stop the:
apo-pauô, A. stop or hinder from, make to cease from
Stop the:  Erôt-aô Stop the questioning 2. in Dialectic, opp. demonstration, question an opponent in order to refute him from his answers,
Stop the: Logos: Stop the speaking III. explanation, 1. plea, pretext, ground b. plea, case, in Law or argument 2. statement of a theory, argument, c. in Logic, proposition, whether as premiss or conclusion, d. rule, principle, law, as embodying the result of logismos
Stop the: Aoide. 2. act of singing, song, 5. = eppsdê, spell, incantation,
ôkus quick, swift, fleet, 2. of sound, shrill, aoidai
anathrôiskontesaoidaisA.R.4.42 , cf. 59. Cf. ôidê. [Dissyll. in Hes.Th.48 (unless lêgousit'aoidês be read) and in Pi. l.c. (unless melizen be read).].

Hesoid, Theo (ll. 36-52) Come thou, let us begin with the Muses who gladden the great spirit of their father Zeus in Olympus with their songs, telling of things that are and that shall be and that were aforetime with consenting voice.

Unwearying flows the sweet sound from their lips, and the house of their father Zeus the loud-thunderer is glad at the lily-like voice of the goddesses as it spread abroad, and the peaks of snowy Olympus resound, and the homes of the immortals.

Stop the: Merimn-a  A. care, thought, solicitude
2. concrete, object of care or thought, 3. pursuit, ambition,
5. anxious mind, A.Ag. 460
Aeschylus, Agamemnon. Dangerous is a people's voice charged with wrath--it acts as a curse of publicly ratified doom. [460] In anxious fear I wait to hear something shrouded still in gloom. The gods are not blind to men with blood upon their hands. In the end the black Spirits of Vengeance bring to obscurity that one who has prospered in unrighteousness and [465] wear down his fortunes by reverse. Once a man is among the unseen, there is no more help for him. Glory in excess is fraught with peril; [470] the lofty peak is struck by Zeus' thunderbolt. I choose prosperity unassailed by envy. May I not be a sacker of cities, and may I not myself be despoiled and live to see my own life in another's power!

Pindar, Olympian, 1.[105] whom we shall adorn with the glorious folds of song. A god is set over your ambitions as a guardian, Hieron, and he devises with this as his concern. If he does not desert you soon, I hope that I will celebrate an even greater sweetness, [110][110] sped by a swift chariot, finding a helpful path of song when I come to the sunny hill of Cronus. For me the Muse tends her mightiest shaft of courage. Some men are great in one thing, others in another; but the peak of the farthest limit is for kings. Do not look beyond that! [115] May it be yours to walk on high throughout your life, and mine to associate with victors as long as I live, distinguished for my skill among Greeks everywhere.
melos , eos, to,
melê, ta, lyric poetry, choral songs opposite Epic or Dramatic verse,

2. music to which a song is set, tune, Arist.Po.1450a14; opp. rhuthmos, metron, Pl.Grg. 502c; opp. rhuthmos, rhêma, Id.Lg.656c; Krêtikon, Karikon, Iônikon m logou te kai harmonias kai rhuthmou ib.398d.
Stop the: Burden laded.
Dangerous: Barus. 2. heavy to bear, grievous, burdensome, grievous, oppressive, orge. 1. of sound, strong, deep, bass

Orge  3. c. gen., Panos orgai visitations of Pan's wrath
[395] Sophistry is not wisdom, and to indulge in thoughts beyond man's ken is to shorten life; and if a man on such poor terms should aim too high, he may miss the pleasures in his reach.

These, to my mind, are the ways of madmen and idiots. Oh! to make my way to Cyprus, isle of Aphrodite, where dwell the love-gods strong to soothe man's soul, or to Paphos, which that foreign river, never fed by rain, enriches with its hundred mouths!

[402] Oh! lead me, Bromian [Dionysus "to roar"] god, celestial guide of Bacchic pilgrims, to the hallowed slopes of Olympus, where Pierian Muses have their haunt most fair.

Bromian also of music, lura bremetai kai aoida Pi.N.11.7
Pindar Nemean 11. [6] often they worship you, first of the gods, with libations, and often with the savor of burnt sacrifice. Lyres and songs peal among them, and Themis, who belongs to Zeus the god of hospitality,

There dwell the Graces; there is soft desire; there thy votaries may hold their revels freely.
The joy [417] of our god, the son of Zeus, is in
banquets, his delight is in peace, that giver of riches and nurse divine of youth. Both to rich and poor alike hath he granted the delight of wine, that makes all pain to cease;

Grace is CHARA or CHARIS which is the "goddess" of Charismatic which involves pederasty among the "priesthood."

hateful to him is every one who careth not to live the life of bliss, that lasts through days and nights of joy.

True wisdom is to keep the heart and soul aloof from over-subtle wits. That which the less enlightened crowd approves and practises, will I accept.

Re-enter PENTHEUS. Enter SERVANT bringing DIONYSUS bound.

SERVANT

[434] We are come, Pentheus, having hunted down this prey, for which thou didst send us forth; not in vain hath been our quest. We found our quarry tame; he did not fly from us, but yielded himself without a struggle; his cheek ne'er blanched, nor did his ruddy colour change, but with a smile he bade me bind and lead him away, and he waited, making my task an easy one.

For very shame I said to him, "Against my will, sir stranger, do I lead thee hence, but Pentheus ordered it, who sent me hither." As for his votaries whom thou thyself didst check, seizing and binding them hand and foot in the public gaol,

all these have loosed their bonds and fled into the meadows where they now are sporting, See the meaning of PLAY or SPORTING at Mount Sinai.

calling aloud on the Bromian god. Their chains fell off their feet of their own accord, and doors flew open without man's hand to help. Many a marvel hath this stranger brought with him to our city of Thebes; what yet remains must be thy care.

PENTHEUS

Loose his hands; for now that I have him in the net he is scarce swift enough to elude me. So, sir stranger,

thou art not ill-favoured from a woman's point of view,
which was thy real object in coming to Thebes;
thy
hair is long because thou hast never been a wrestler, flowing right down thy cheeks most wantonly; thy skin is white to help thee gain thy end, not tanned by ray of sun, but kept within the shade, as thou goest in quest of love with beauty's bait. Come, tell me first of thy race.

DIONYSUS

That needs no braggart's tongue, 'tis easily told; maybe thou knowest Tmolus by hearsay.

PENTHEUS

I know it, the range that rings the city of Sardis round.

DIONYSUS

Thence I come, Lydia is my native home.

PENTHEUS

What makes thee bring these mysteries to Hellas?

DIONYSUS

Dionysus, the son of Zeus, initiated me.

PENTHEUS

Is there a Zeus in Lydia, who begets new gods?

DIONYSUS

No, but Zeus who married Semele in Hellas.

PENTHEUS

Was it by night or in the face of day that he constrained thee?

DIONYSUS

'Twas face to face he intrusted his mysteries to me.

PENTHEUS

Pray, what special feature stamps thy rites?

DIONYSUS

That is a secret to be hidden from the uninitiated.

Jesus refused to BOW when the Jews (Not Israelites) piped.

See From Strabo

THE SATYROI were rustic fertility Daimones (Spirits) of the wilderness and countryside. They were usually associated with the gods Dionysos, Rheia, Gaia, Hermes and Hephaistos; and were said to mate with the Nymphai in the mountains.

Satyroi were depicted as animal-like men with the tail of a horse, the ears of an ass, upturned pug noses, reclining hair-lines, and erect members.

As companions of Dionysos, they were depicted draped in animal skins, drinking, dancing, playing tambourines and flutes (the instruments of the Dionysian orgy) and sporting with the Nymphai Bakkhai.

They were also frequently shown in vase paintings, dancing around the goddess Gaia (Earth), rising up from the fertile earth.

Other closely related Daimones included: the Panes (goat-legged satyroi), and the Seilenoi (elderly satyroi). Child satyrs were known as Satyriskoi.

Orgi-a , iôn, ta,

A. secret rites, secret worship, practised by the initiated, a post-Hom. word ; used of the worship of Demeter at Eleusis, h.Cer.273,476. Ar.Ra.386, Th.948 ; of the rites of the Cabeiri and Demeter Achaia, Hdt.2.51,5.61; of Orpheus, Id.2.81; of Eumolpus, App.Anth.1.318 ; of Cybele, E.Ba.78 (lyr.): most freq. of the rites of Dionysus, Hdt.2.81, E.Ba.34, al., Theoc.26.13.

II. generally, rites, sacrifices, SIG57.4 (Milet., v B. C.), A.Th.179 (lyr.), S.Tr.765, Ant.1013 ; orgia Mousôn Ar.Ra.356 

2. metaph., mysteries, without reference to religion, epistêmês Hp.Lex5 ; tois tês Aphroditês o. eilêmmenon Ar.Lys.832 , cf. Ach.Tat.4.1; ta Epikourou theophanta o. Metrod.38 .--The sg. orgion is rare, Jahresh.13Beibl.29 No.3 (Erythrae, iv B. C.), Luc.Syr.D.16, Orph.H.52.5. (Prob. cogn. with erdô, rhezô, cf. ergon, orgeôn.)

Mousa , ês, hê, Aeol. Moisa Sapph.84, IG42(1).130.16, etc.; Dor. Môsa Alcm. 1, etc.; Lacon. Môha (for Môsa) Ar.Lys.1298, cf. An. Ox.1.277:--Muse,

A. Olumpiades M., Dios aigiochoio thugateres Il.2.491 , cf. Hes.Th.25, etc.; nine in number, first in Od.24.60; named in Hes.Th.75 sqq.

II. mousa, as Appellat., music, song, m. stugera A.Eu.308 (anap.); euphamos Id.Supp.695 (lyr.); kanachan . . theias antiluron mousas S.Tr.643 (lyr.); Aiakôi moisan pherein Pi.N.3.28 ; tis hêde mousa; what strain is this ? E.Ion757; aluros m. Id.Ph.1028 (lyr.); dia mousas êixa Id.Alc.962 (lyr.): in Prose, aidein adokimon m. Pl.Lg. 829d : in pl., mousai Sphingos, of the Sphinx's riddle, E.Ph.50; esp. liberal arts, accomplishments, tas mousas aphanizôn Ar.Nu.972 ; apaideuton tôn peri tas numphikas m. Pl.Lg.775b : also in sg., tês alêthinês m. êmelêkenai Id.R.548b ; koinônein mousês ib.411c.

2. hautê hê Sôkratous m. that was Socrates's way, Gal.UP1.9.

But all educated men, and especially the musicians, are ministers of the Muses;

and both these and those who have to do with divination are ministers of Apollo;
and the
initiated and torch-bearers and hierophants, of Demeter; and the Sileni and Satyri and Bacchae, and also the Lenae and Thyiae and Mimallones and Naïdes and Nymphae and the beings called Tityri, of Dionysus.

PENTHEUS

What profit bring they to their votaries?

DIONYSUS

Thou must not be told, though 'tis well worth knowing.

PENTHEUS

A pretty piece of trickery, to excite my curiosity!

DIONYSUS

[476] A man of godless life is an abomination to the rites of the god.

PENTHEUS

Thou sayest thou didst see the god clearly; what was he like?

DIONYSUS

What his fancy chose; I was not there to order this.

PENTHEUS

Another clever twist and turn of thine, without a word of answer.

DIONYSUS

He were a fool, methinks, who would utter wisdom to a fool.

PENTHEUS

Hast thou come hither first with this deity?

DIONYSUS

All foreigners already celebrate these mysteries with dances.

PENTHEUS

The reason being, they are far behind Hellenes in wisdom.

DIONYSUS

In this at least far in advance, though their customs differ.

PENTHEUS

Is it by night or day thou performest these devotions?

DIONYSUS

By night mostly; darkness lends solemnity.

PENTHEUS

Calculated to entrap and corrupt women.

DIONYSUS

Day too for that matter may discover shame.

PENTHEUS

This vile quibbling settles thy punishment.

DIONYSUS

Brutish ignorance and godlessness will settle thine.

PENTHEUS

How bold our Bacchanal is growing! a very master in this wordy strife!

DIONYSUS

Tell me what I am to suffer; what is the grievous doom thou wilt inflict upon me?

PENTHEUS

First will I shear off thy dainty tresses.

DIONYSUS

My locks are sacred; for the god I let them grow. [It is a shame for a man to have long hair 1Co.11:14 ]

PENTHEUS

Next surrender that thyrsus.

DIONYSUS

Take it from me thyself; 'tis the wand of Dionysus I am bearing.

PENTHEUS

In dungeon deep thy body will I guard.

DIONYSUS

The god himself will set me free, whene'er I list.

PENTHEUS

Perhaps he may, when thou standest amid thy Bacchanals and callest on his name.

DIONYSUS

Even now he is near me and witnesses my treatment.

PENTHEUS

Why, where is he? To my eyes he is invisible.

DIONYSUS

He is by my side; thou art a godless man and therefore dost not see him.

PENTHEUS

Seize him! the fellow scorns me and Thebes too.

DIONYSUS

I bid you bind me not, reason addressing madness.

PENTHEUS

But I say "bind!" with better right than thou.

DIONYSUS

Thou hast no knowledge of the life thou art leading; thy very existence is now a mystery to thee.

PENTHEUS

I am Pentheus, son of Agave and Echion.

DIONYSUS

Well-named to be misfortune's mate!

PENTHEUS

Avaunt! Ho! shut him up within the horses' stalls hard by, that for light he may have pitchy gloom. Do thy dancing there,
and these
women whom thou bringest with thee to share thy villainies
I will either
sell as slaves or make their hands cease from this noisy beating of drums,
and
set them to work at the loom as servants of my own.

DIONYSUS

I will go; for that which fate forbids, can never befall me.

For this thy mockery be sure Dionysus will exact a recompense of thee-even the god whose existence thou deniest; for thou art injuring him by haling me to prison.

Exit DIONYSUS, guarded, and PENTHEUS.

CHORUS

[519] Hail to thee, Dirce, happy maid, daughter revered of Achelous! within thy founts thou didst receive in days gone by the babe of Zeus, what time his father caught him up into his thigh from out the deathless flame,

while thus he cried: "Go rest, my Dithyrambus, there within thy father's womb; by this name, O Bacchic god, I now proclaim thee to Thebes." But thou, blest Dirce, thrustest me aside, when in thy midst I strive to hold my revels graced with crowns. Why dost thou scorn me? Why avoid me?

[6] Dithurambos Harmatideô. Dithyrambos, son of Harmatides, was not the captain, or general of the Thespians (cp. c. 222 supra). Dithyrambos, as a proper name, is a little startling: it is primarily (like Marôn) a title of Bakchos, cp. Eurip. Bakch. 526; it is secondarily a kind of poetry or melody (of which Arion was inventor, cp. 1. 23). This Thespian is the only human person to whom the name is given. His father ('Wagoner') may have been a musician --of the Dionysiac order (the dithyramb was always in the 'Phrygian' mode, and decidedly orgiastic: Aristot. Pol. 5 (8). 7. 9 f.=1342 A-B).

The dionysus infleunced clergy hoped that John wore soft clothing of a king's catamite and that Jesus would lament and dance the choral to prove that He was also a homosexual:

They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. Lu.7:32

The lament is derived from the Greek base:

Thriambeuo ((g2358) three-am-byoo'-o; from a prol. comp. of the base of 2360 and a der. of 680 (mean. a noisy iambus, sung in honor of Bacchus); to make an acclamatory procession, i.e. (fig.) to conquer or (by Hebr.) to give victory: - (cause) to triumph (over).

Thriambos  A. hymn to Dionysus, sung in festal processions to his honour, Cratin.36. 2. epith. of Dionysus,

Because Jesus DRANK they accused Him of being a winedrinker. Of course in His own way He called them liars.

By the clustered charm that Dionysus sheds o'er the vintage I vow there yet shall come a time when thou wilt turn thy thoughts to Bromius.

[537] What furious rage the earth-born race displays,

even Pentheus sprung of a dragon (serpent) of old, himself the son of earth-born Echion, a savage monster in his very mien, not made in human mould,

THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Cor13:1

Sounding in Greek is: 1 Corinthians chapter 13:, 1 Corinthians chapter 13:,

Echeo (g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.
Echos
(g2279) ay'-khos; of uncert. affin.; a loud or confused noise ("echo"), i.e. roar: fig. a rumor: - fame, sound.

Hebrew Dictionary linked to Strong Numbers Chalal (h2490) an instructor/ of distance/space, start, commence; to redeem, to desecrate, make void, to create a cavity, vacuum, hollow, an empty space; a hollow/vacuum as a means to trap or bring together, nature; a vault, to make hollow: to wound, pierce, define, violate, make vulgar, wounded, slain, dead, the action of resisting: to break, disregard; violating instruction, to arrange/ an order of instruction; to assign, to pipe, play pipes

Echo 1 Corinthians chapter 13:,

in Greek mythology, a mountain nymph, or oread. Ovid's Metamorphoses relates that Echo offended the goddess Hera by keeping her in conversation, thus preventing her from spying on one of Zeus' amours. To punish Echo, Hera deprived her of speech, except for the ability to repeat the last words of another. Echo's hopeless love for Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image, made her fade away until all that was left of her was her voice.

According to the Greek writer Longus, Echo rejected the advances of the god Pan; he thereupon drove the shepherds mad, and they tore her to pieces. Gaea (Earth) buried her limbs but allowed her to retain the power of song. (Britannica Members

Ovid Metamorphoses 7.346. 1 Corinthians chapter 13:,

against the magic-making sound of gongs
........O wonder-working Moon,
I draw you down
against the magic-making sound of
gongs
........and brazen vessels of Temesa's ore;
I cast my spells and veil the jeweled raysof Phoebus' wain,
........and quench Aurora's fires.
At my command you
tamed the flaming bulls

but like some murderous giant pitted against heaven; for he means to bind me, the handmaid of Bromius, in cords forthwith, and e'en now he keeps my fellow-reveller pent within his palace, plunged in a gloomy dungeon. Dost thou mark this, O Dionysus, son of Zeus, thy prophets struggling 'gainst resistless might? Come, O king, brandishing thy golden thyrsus along the slopes of Olympus; restrain the pride of this bloodthirsty wretch!

[556] Oh! where in Nysa, haunt of beasts, or on the peaks of Corycus art thou, Dionysus, marshalling with thy wand the revellers?

or haply in the thick forest depths of Olympus,
where erst
Orpheus with his lute gathered trees to his minstrelsy,
and
beasts that range the fields.

Ah blest Pieria! Evius honours thee, to thee will he come with his Bacchic rites to lead the dance, and thither will he lead the circling Maenads, crossing the swift current of Axius and the Lydias, that giveth wealth and happiness to man, yea, and the father of rivers, which, as I have heard, enriches with his waters fair a land of steeds.

mainas , ados, hê, ( [mainomai] )
A. raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4; bakchê E.Ba.915 .
2. as Subst., mad woman, esp. Bacchante, Maenad, mainadi isê Il.22.460 , cf. h.Cer.386, A.Fr.382, S.OT212 (lyr.), etc.; of the Furies, A.Eu.500 (lyr.); of Cassandra, E.Tr. 173 (lyr.).
3. = pornê, Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.
II. Act., causing madness, esp. of love, mainas ornis Pi.P.4.216 .

Chor-euô : hence, take part in the chorus, regarded as a matter of religion
Paizô play like a child, sport. 4. play on a musical instrument, h.Ap.206: c. acc., Pan ho kalamophthonga paizôn Ar.Ra.230 ; dance and sing, Pi. O.1.16.
5. play amorously, pros allêlous X.Smp.9.2 ; meta tinos LXX Ge.26.8 ; of mares, Arist.HA572a30.

Pindar, Olympian 1 [1] Water is best, and gold, like a blazing fire in the night, stands out supreme of all lordly wealth. But if, my heart, you wish to sing of contests, [5] look no further for any star warmer than the sun, shining by day through the lonely sky, and let us not proclaim any contest greater than Olympia. From there glorious song enfolds the wisdom of poets,1 so that they loudly sing [10] the son of Cronus, when they arrive at the rich and blessed hearth of Hieron, [12] who wields the scepter of law in Sicily of many flocks, reaping every excellence at its peak, and is glorified [15] by the choicest music, which we men often play around his hospitable table. Come, take the Dorian lyre down from its peg, if the splendor of Pisa and of Pherenicus placed your mind under the influence of sweetest thoughts

DIONYSUS Within

[576] What ho! my Bacchantes, ho! hear my call, oh! hear.

CHORUS

Who art thou? what Evian cry is this that calls me? whence comes it?

DIONYSUS

What ho! once more I call, I the son of Semele, the child of Zeus.

CHORUS II

My master, O my master, hail!

CHORUS III

Come to our revel-band, O Bromian god.

CHORUS IV

Thou solid earth!

CHORUS

Most awful shock!

CHORUS VI

O horror! soon will the palace of Pentheus totter and fall.

CHORUS VII

Dionysus is within this house.

CHORUS VIII

Do homage to him.

CHORUS IX

We do! I do!

CHORUS

Did ye mark yon architrave of stone upon the columns start asunder?

CHORUS XI

Within these walls the triumph-shout of Bromius himself will rise.

DIONYSUS

Kindle the blazing torch with lightning's fire, abandon to the flames the halls of Pentheus.

CHORUS XII

Ha! dost not see the flame, dost not clearly mark it at the sacred tomb of Semele, the lightning flame which long ago the hurler of the bolt left there?

CHORUS XIII

Your trembling limbs prostrate, ye Maenads, low upon the ground.

CHORUS XIV

Yea, for our king, the son of Zeus, is assailing and utterly confounding this house.

Enter DIONYSUS.

DIONYSUS

[604] Are ye so stricken with terror that ye have fallen to the earth, O foreign dames? Ye saw then, it would seem, how the Bacchic god made Pentheus' halls to quake; but arise, be of good heart, compose your trembling limbs.

CHORUS

O chiefest splendour of our gladsome Bacchic sport, with what joy I see thee in my loneliness!

DIONYSUS

Were ye cast down when I was led into the house, to be plunged into the gloomy dungeons of Pentheus?

CHORUS

Indeed I was. Who was to protect me, if thou shouldst meet with mishap? But how wert thou set free from the clutches of this godless wretch?

DIONYSUS

My own hands worked out my own salvation, easily and without trouble.

CHORUS

But did he not lash fast thy hands with cords?

DIONYSUS

There too I mocked him; he thinks he bound me, whereas he never touched or caught hold of me, but fed himself on fancy. For at the stall, to which he brought me for a gaol, he found a bull, whose legs and hoofs he straightly tied, breathing out fury the while, the sweat trickling from his body, and he biting his lips; but I from near at hand sat calmly looking on.

katorcheomai ,
A. dance in triumph over one, treat despitefully, Hdt.3.151, LXX Za.12.10, Phld.Piet.52, Ael.NA5.54; tês anaisthêsias Plu. 2.57a .
II. subdue or enchant by dancing, Luc.Salt.22.
III. intr., dance vehemently, Str.17.1.17.

Meantime came the Bacchic god and made the house quake, and at his mother's tomb relit the fire; but Pentheus, seeing this, thought his palace was ablaze, and hither and thither he rushed, bidding his servants bring water; but all in vain was every servant's busy toil.

Thereon he let this labour be awhile, and, thinking maybe that I had escaped, rushed into the palace with his murderous sword unsheathed.

Then did Bromius-so at least it seemed to me; I only tell you what I thought-made a phantom in the hall, and he rushed after it in headlong haste, and stabbed the lustrous air, thinking he wounded me.

Further the Bacchic god did other outrage to him; he dashed the building to the ground, and there it lies a mass of ruin, a sight to make him rue most bitterly my bonds. At last from sheer fatigue he dropped his sword and fell fainting; for he a mortal frail,

dared to wage war upon a god;

but I meantime quietly left the house and am come to you, with never a thought of Pentheus. But methinks he will soon appear before the house; at least there is a sound of steps within. What will he say, I wonder, after this? Well, be his fury never so great, I will lightly bear it; for 'tis a wise man's way to school his temper into due control.

Enter PENTHEUS.

PENTHEUS

[642] Shamefully have I been treated; that stranger, whom but now I made so fast in prison, hath escaped me. Ha! there is the man! What means this? How didst thou come forth, to appear thus in front of my palace?

DIONYSUS

Stay where thou art; and moderate thy fury.

PENTHEUS

How is it thou hast escaped thy fetters and art at large?

DIONYSUS

Did I not say, or didst thou not hear me, "There is one will loose me."

PENTHEUS

Who was it? there is always something strange in what thou sayest.

DIONYSUS

He who makes the clustering vine to grow for man.

PENTHEUS

(I scorn him and his vines!)

DIONYSUS

A fine taunt indeed thou hurlest here at Dionysus!

PENTHEUS To his servants

Bar every tower that hems us in, I order you.

DIONYSUS

What use? Cannot gods pass even over walls?

PENTHEUS

How wise thou art, except where thy wisdom is needed!

DIONYSUS

Where most 'tis needed, there am I most wise. But first listen to yonder messenger and hear what he says; he comes from the hills with tidings for thee; and I will await thy pleasure, nor seek to fly.

Enter MESSENGER.

Messenger.
Pentheus, ruler of this realm of Thebes! I am come from
Cithaeron, where the dazzling flakes of pure white snow ne'er cease to fall.

PENTHEUS

What urgent news dost bring me?

MESSENGER

I have seen, O king, those frantic Bacchanals, who darted in frenzy from this land with bare white feet, and I am come to tell thee and the city the wondrous deeds they do, deeds passing strange. But I fain would hear, whether I am freely to tell all I saw there, or shorten my story; for I fear thy hasty temper, sire, thy sudden bursts of wrath and more than princely rage.

PENTHEUS

Say on, for thou shalt go unpunished by me in all respects; for to be angered with the upright is wrong. The direr thy tale about the Bacchantes, the heavier punishment will I inflict on

this fellow who brought his secret arts amongst our women.

MESSENGER (lying?)

[677] I was just driving the herds of kine to a ridge of the hill as I fed them, as the sun shot forth his rays and made the earth grow warm; when lo!

I see three revel-bands of women;

Autonoe was chief of one,
thy mother
Agave of the second,
while
Ino's was the third.

There they lay asleep, all tired out; some were resting on branches of the pine, others had laid their heads in careless ease on oak-leaves piled upon the ground,

observing all modesty; not, as thou sayest,
seeking to
gratify their lusts alone amid the woods,
by
wine and soft flute-music maddened.

Anon in their midst thy mother uprose and cried aloud to wake them from their sleep, when she heard the lowing of my horned kine. And up they started to their feet, brushing from their eyes sleep's quickening dew, a wondrous sight of grace and modesty, young and old and maidens yet unwed.

First o'er their shoulders they let stream their hair; then all did gird their fawn-skins up, who hitherto had left the fastenings loose, girdling the dappled hides with snakes that licked their cheeks.

Others fondled in their arms gazelles or savage whelps of wolves, and suckled them-young mothers these with babes at home, whose breasts were still full of milk; crowns they wore of ivy or of oak or blossoming convolvulus. And one took her thyrsus and struck it into the earth,

and forth there gushed a limpid spring; and another plunged her wand into the lap of earth
and there the god sent up a
fount of wine; and all who wished for draughts of milk had but to scratch the soil with their finger-tips and there they had it in abundance, while from every ivy-wreathed staff sweet rills of honey trickled.

Hadst thou been there and seen this, thou wouldst have turned to pray to the god, whom now thou dost disparage. Anon we herdsmen and shepherds met to discuss their strange and wondrous doings;

then one, who wandereth oft to town and hath a trick of speech, made harangue in the midst,

"O ye who dwell upon the hallowed mountain-terraces! shall we chase Agave, mother of Pentheus, from her Bacchic rites, and thereby do our prince a service?"

We liked his speech, and placed ourselves in hidden ambush among the leafy thickets; they at the appointed time began to wave the thyrsus for their Bacchic rites, calling on Iacchus (Iacchus or Bacchus, honored by all, deviser of our festal song and dance the Bromian god, the son of Zeus, in united chorus, and the whole mount and the wild creatures re-echoed their cry; all nature stirred as they rushed on.

[728] Now Agave chanced to come springing near me, so up I leapt from out my ambush where I lay concealed, meaning to seize her.

But she cried out, "What ho! my nimble hounds (homosexual priests), here are men upon our track; but follow me, ay, follow, with the thyrsus in your hand for weapon."

Jesus IDENTIFIED them as the Crooked Generation and as NIMBLE HOUNDS

And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? Lu.7:24

But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft (clothes of a Catamite=male prostitute) raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately (effeminate), are in kings courts. Luke 7:25

Malakos , d. = pathêtikos e. of music, soft, effeminate, m. harmoniai Pl.R.398e , 411a, cf. Arist.Pol.1290a28; tuned to a low pitch, opp. suntonos, chrôma m. Cleonid.Harm.7 , etc.
And the Lord said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? Luke 7:31

They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. Luke 7:32

Latin: [17] dicunt cecinimus vobis et non saltastis lamentavimus et non planxistis

CANO , to produce melodious sounds, whether of men or animals, of the crowing of a cock, (the crowing of a hen being considered as an auspicium malum),

[IN ROMANS 14] In the lang. of the Pythagoreans, of the heavenly bodies (considered as living beings), the music of the spheres,C. Since the responses of oracles were given in verse, to prophesy, foretell, predict. In poetry: Sibylla,

Canto III. In the lang. of religion, as v. n. or a., to use enchantments, charms, incantations, to enchant, to charm,

Arnobius speaking of the Parasites: Was it for this He sent souls, that in men they should become IMPURE,

in women harlots, players on the triangle and psaltery; that they should prostitute their bodies for hire, should abandon themselves to the lust of all ready in the brothels, to be met with in the stews, ready to submit to anything, prepared to do violence to their mouth even?

Psaltes , ae, m., = psaltês, a player on the cithara, a musician, minstrel, Quint. 1, 10, 18; Mart. Cap. 9, § 924; Sid. Ep. 8, 9; Inscr. Grut. 331, 2; Vulg. 2 Reg. 23, 1.

Thrêneô sing a dirge, wail, Mousai

Thriambeuo (g2358) three-am-byoo'-o; from a prol. comp. of the base of 2360 and a der. of 680 (mean. a noisy iambus, sung in honor of Bacchus); to make an acclamatory procession, i.e. (fig.) to conquer or (by Hebr.) to give victory: - (cause) to triumph (over). 

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. Luke 7:33
The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners Luke 7:34

But wisdom is justified of all her children. Luke 7:35

Thereat we fled, to escape being torn in pieces by the Bacchantes; but they, with hands that bore no weapon of steel, attacked our cattle as they browsed. Then wouldst thou have seen Agave mastering some sleek lowing calf, while others rent the heifers limb from limb. Before thy eyes there would have been hurling of ribs and hoofs this way and that; and strips of flesh, all blood-bedabbled, dripped as they hung from the pine-branches.

Wild bulls, that glared but now with rage along their horns, found themselves tripped up, dragged down to earth by countless maidens' hands.

The flesh upon their limbs was stripped therefrom quicker than thou couldst have closed thy royal eye-lids.

Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. Psalm 22:12
They
gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. Psalm 22:13
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. Psalm 22:14

See Gilgamesh and The Bull of Heaven

Then off they sped, like birds that skim the air, to the plains beneath the hills, which bear a fruitful harvest for Thebes beside the waters of Asopus; to Hysiae and Erythrae, hamlets 'neath Cithaeron's peak, with fell intent, swooping on everything and scattering all pellmell; and they would snatch children from their homes; but all that they placed upon their shoulders, abode there firmly without being tied, and fell not to the dusky earth, not even brass or iron; and on their hair they carried fire and it burnt them not; but the country-folk rushed to arms, furious at being pillaged by Bacchanals;

[760]  whereon ensued, O king, this wondrous spectacle. For though the ironshod dart would draw no blood from them, they with the thyrsus, which they hurled, caused many a wound and put their foes to utter rout, women chasing men, by some god's intervention. Then they returned to the place whence they had started, even to the springs the god had made to spout for them; and there washed off the blood, while serpents with their tongues were licking clean each gout from their cheeks.

thursos A.thursaAP6.158 (Sabin.): --wand wreathed in ivy and vine-leaves with a pine-cone at the top, carried by the devotees of Dionysus, E.Ba.80 (lyr.), SIG1109.138, Hero Spir.2.9, etc.; also of the devotees themselves, Sch.E.Hec. 261.
II.
= klados, rhabdos, Hsch. (Prob. a loan-word.)

Rhabdos
, , A.rod, wand, Hom. (v. infr.), etc.; lighter than the baktêria or walking-stick, X.Eq.11.4 (but = baktêria, Ev.Matt.10.10, al.) 1.magic wand, as that of Circe, Od.10.238, 319,
6. wand borne by the rhapsôidos, tonepirhabdôimuthonhuphainomenon

[770] Wherefore, my lord and master, receive this deity, whoe'er he be, within the city; for, great as he is in all else, I have likewise heard men say, 'twas he that gave the vine to man, sorrow's antidote. Take wine away and Cypris flies, and every other human joy is dead.

daimôn [Perh. from daiô B, to divide or distribute destinies.] I. a god, goddess, like theos, thea, Hom., Trag., etc.:--in Hom. also deity or divine power (theos denotes a god in person), manes

Kupris, Cypris:

Demoteros
III. = dêmosios 1.2, common, vulgar, Kupris ib.415.2 (Antiphil.).
Kupris 1
I.
Cypris, a name of Aphrodite, from the island of Cyprus, where she was most worshipped, Il., Trag., etc. 2. metaph., of a beautiful girl, a Venus, II. as appellat. love, passion, Eur., etc.

CHORUS

[775] Though I fear to speak my mind with freedom in the presence of my king, still must I utter this; Dionysus yields to no deity in might.

PENTHEUS

Already, look you! the presumption of these Bacchantes is upon us, swift as fire, a sad disgrace in the eyes of all Hellas. No time for hesitation now! away to the Electra gate! order a muster of all my men-at-arms, of those that mount fleet steeds, of all who brandish light bucklers,

of archers too that make the bowstring twang; for I will march against the Bacchanals. By Heaven this passes all, if we are to be thus treated by women.

Pentheus
êdê tod' engus hôste pur huphaptetai
hubrisma bakchôn, psogos es Hellênas megas.
all' ouk oknein dei: steich' ep' Êlektras iôn

pulas: keleue pantas aspidêphorous
hippôn t' apantan tachupodôn epembatas
peltas th' hosoi pallousi kai toxôn cheri
psallousi neuras, hôs epistrateusomen
785
bakchaisin: ou gar all' huperballei tade,
ei pros gunaikôn peisomesth' ha paschomen.

Psallous to touch sharply, to pluck, pull, twitch
Neura, A.string or cord of sinew, in Ep. usu. bowstring,

Bakchê , A.Bacchante, A.Eu.25, S.Ant.1122 (lyr.), Ar.Nu.605, Pl. Ion534a, etc.: generally, BakchêHaidoufrantic handmaid of Hades, E.Hec.1077; b. nekuônId.Ph.1489 (lyr.).

mainas , ados, , ( [mainomai] )
A.
raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4; bakchêE.Ba.915 .
2.
as Subst., mad woman, esp. Bacchante, Maenad, mainadiisêIl.22.460 , cf. h.Cer.386, A.Fr.382, S.OT212 (lyr.), etc.; of the Furies, A.Eu.500 (lyr.); of Cassandra, E.Tr. 173 (lyr.).
          3.
= pornê, Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.
II.
Act., causing madness, esp. of love, mainasornisPi.P.4.216 .

huperballô E.Ba.785 exceed all bounds, excess

Click for: The Twanging Bowstring is the background to external melody or the Greek PSALLO in Paul's writings.

Click For: Of the song to Deborah:

This was a warrior's song which was a boasting song. Here, the NIV supports the "musical" position without authority:

the voice of the singers [e] at the watering places. They recite the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts of his warriors [f] in Israel. "Then the people of the LORD went down to the city gates. Judges 5:11NIV

e11 Or 'archers'; the meaning of the Hebrew
for this word is uncertain. f11 Or 'villagers'

Exit MESSENGER.

DIONYSUS (Don't question God's annointed!)

Still obdurate, O Pentheus, after hearing my words!

In spite of all the evil treatment I am enduring from thee,
still I
warn thee of the sin of bearing arms against a god, and bid thee cease;
for Bromius will not endure thy driving his votaries from the mountains where they
revel.

PENTHEUS

A truce to thy preaching to me! thou hast escaped thy bonds, preserve thy liberty; else will I renew thy punishment.

DIONYSUS

I would rather do him sacrifice than in a fury kick against the pricks; thou a mortal, he a god.

PENTHEUS

Sacrifice! that will I, by setting afoot a wholesale slaughter of women 'mid Cithaeron's glens, as they deserve.

DIONYSUS

Ye will all be put to flight-a shameful thing that they with the Bacchic thyrsus should rout your mail-clad warriors.

PENTHEUS

I find this stranger a troublesome foe to encounter; doing or suffering he is alike irrepressible.

DIONYSUS (Let's compromise)

Friend, there is still a way to compose this bitterness.

PENTHEUS

Say how; am I to serve my own servants?

DIONYSUS

I will bring the women hither without weapons.

PENTHEUS

Ha! ha! this is some crafty scheme of thine against me.

DIONYSUS

What kind of scheme, if by my craft I purpose to save thee?

PENTHEUS

You have combined with them to form this plot, that your revels may on for ever.

DIONYSUS

Nay, but this is the compact I made with the god; be sure of that.

PENTHEUS Preparing to start forth

Bring forth my arms. Not another word from thee!

DIONYSUS

[810] Ha! wouldst thou see them seated on the hills?

PENTHEUS

Of all things, yes! I would give untold sums for that.

DIONYSUS

Why this sudden, strong desire?

PENTHEUS

'Twill be a bitter sight, if I find them drunk with wine.

DIONYSUS

And would that be a pleasant sight which will prove bitter to thee?

PENTHEUS

Believe me, yes! beneath the fir-trees as I sit in silence.

DIONYSUS

Nay, they will track thee, though thou come secretly.

PENTHEUS

Well, I will go openly; thou wert right to say so.

DIONYSUS

Am I to be thy guide? wilt thou essay the road?

PENTHEUS

Lead on with all speed, I grudge thee all delay.

(Dionysus, by getting Pentheus involved in the effeminate practices will discredit him, emasculate him and weaken him so that he will be destroyed by his own charismatic mother)

DIONYSUS

Array thee then in robes of fine linen.

PENTHEUS

Why so? Am I to enlist among women after being a man?

DIONYSUS

They may kill thee, if thou show thy manhood there.

PENTHEUS

Well said! Thou hast given me a taste of thy wit already.

DIONYSUS

Dionysus schooled me in this lore.

PENTHEUS

How am I to carry out thy wholesome advice?

DIONYSUS

Myself will enter thy palace and robe thee.

PENTHEUS

What is the robe to be? a woman's? Nay, I am ashamed.

DIONYSUS

Thy eagerness to see the Maenads goes no further.

PENTHEUS

But what dress dost say thou wilt robe me in?

DIONYSUS

Upon thy head will I make thy hair grow long.

PENTHEUS

Describe my costume further.

DIONYSUS

Thou wilt wear a robe reaching to thy feet; and on thy head shall be a snood. (a ribbon for unwed girls)

PENTHEUS

Wilt add aught else to my attire?

DIONYSUS

A thyrsus in thy hand, and a dappled fawnskin.

Here is the Judas bag attached to the dappled fawnskin flute case. The little box is derived from two Greek words: "speaking in tongues" and "of the world." Of course, when the pipers are both drunk and naked they used the thyrus or crooked stick to prop themselves up. This is a picture of the KOMO.

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

[862] 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?

[902] What is fair is dear for wave. 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.

The archaic sound of the English “happy is he...”, with its implicit echo of the beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, is appropriate here, for the chorus is describing beatitudes of a kind (though not strictly religious beatitudes) as appear at 73ff.

Enter DIONYSUS.

[912] DIONYSUS

Ho! Pentheus, thou that art so eager 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.

Mainas , ados, hê, ( [mainomai] )
A. raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4; bakchê E.Ba.915 .
2. as Subst., mad woman, esp. Bacchante, Maenad, mainadi isê Il.22.460 , cf. h.Cer.386, A.Fr.382, S.OT212 (lyr.), etc.; of the Furies, A.Eu.500 (lyr.); of Cassandra, E.Tr. 173 (lyr.).
3. = pornê, Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.
II. Act., causing madness, esp. of love, mainas ornis Pi.P.4.216 .

Enter PENTHEUS.

Yes, thou resemblest closely a daughter of Cadmus.

PENTHEUS (already frenzied)

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.

mainas , ados, , ( [mainomai] )
A.
raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4; bakchêE.Ba.915 .
        3. = pornê, Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.
II. Act., causing madness, esp. of love, mainasornisPi.P.4.216 .

DIONYSUS

The god attends us, ungracious heretofore, but now our sworn friend; and now thine eyes behold the things they should.

PENTHEUS

Pray, what do I resemble? Is not mine the carriage of Ino, or Agave my own mother?

DIONYSUS

In seeing thee, I seem to see them in person. But this tress is straying from its place, no longer as I bound it 'neath the snood.

PENTHEUS

I disarranged it from its place as I tossed it to and fro within my chamber, in Bacchic ecstasy.

DIONYSUS

Well, I will rearrange it, since to tend thee is my care; hold up thy head.

PENTHEUS

Come, put it straight; for on thee do I depend.

DIONYSUS

Thy girdle is loose, and the folds of thy dress do not hang evenly below thy ankles.

PENTHEUS

I agree to that as regards the right side, but on the other my dress hangs straight with my foot.

DIONYSUS

Surely thou wilt rank me first among thy friends,
when contrary to thy expectation thou findest the Bacchantes virtuous.

PENTHEUS

Shall I hold the thyrsus in the right or left hand to look most like a Bacchanal?
DIONYSUS

Hold it in thy right hand, and step out with thy right foot;
thy change of mind compels thy praise.

PENTHEUS

Shall I be able to carry on my shoulders Cithaeron's glens, the Bacchanals and all?

DIONYSUS

Yes, if so thou wilt; for though thy mind was erst diseased,
'tis now just as it
should be.

PENTHEUS

Shall we take levers, or with my hands can I uproot it, thrusting arm or shoulder 'neath its peaks?

DIONYSUS

No, no! destroy not the seats of the Nymphs and the haunts of Pan, the place of his piping.

PENTHEUS

Well said! Women must not be mastered by brute force; amid the pines will I conceal myself.

DIONYSUS

Thou shalt hide thee in the place that fate appoints, coming by stealth to spy upon the Bacchanals.

PENTHEUS

Why, methinks they are already caught in the pleasant snares of dalliance, like birds amid the brakes.

DIONYSUS

Set out with watchful heed then for this very purpose; maybe thou wilt catch them, if thou be not first caught thyself.

PENTHEUS

Conduct me through the very heart of Thebes, for I am the only man among them bold enough to do this deed.

DIONYSUS

Thou alone bearest thy country's burden, thou and none other; wherefore there await thee such struggles as needs must. Follow me, for I will guide thee safely thither; another shall bring thee thence.

PENTHEUS

My mother maybe.

DIONYSUS

For every eye to see.

PENTHEUS

My very purpose in going.

DIONYSUS

Thou shalt be carried back,

PENTHEUS

What luxury

DIONYSUS

In thy mother's arms.

PENTHEUS

Thou wilt e'en force me into luxury.

DIONYSUS

Yes, to luxury such as this.

PENTHEUS

Truly, the task I am undertaking deserves it.

Exit PENTHEUS.

DIONYSUS

Strange, ah! strange is thy career, leading to scenes of woe so strange, that thou shalt achieve a fame that towers to heaven. Stretch forth thy hands, Agave, and ye her sisters, daughters of Cadmus;

mighty is the strife to which I am bringing the youthful king, and the victory shall rest with me and Bromius; all else the event will show.

Exit DIONYSUS.

[977] CHORUS [See the modern Zoe Look to the Hills effort to pervert churches]

To the hills! to the hills! fleet hounds of madness, where the daughters of Cadmus hold their revels,

goad them into wild fury
against the
man disguised in woman's dress, a frenzied spy upon the Maenads.

First shall his mother mark him as he peers from some smooth rock or riven tree, and thus to the Maenads she will call, "Who is this of Cadmus' sons comes hasting to the mount, to the mountain away, to spy on us, my Bacchanals? Whose child can he be? For he was never born of woman's blood; but from some lioness maybe or Libyan Gorgon is he sprung." Let justice appear and show herself, sword in hand, to plunge it through and through the throat of the godless, lawless, impious son of Echion, earth's monstrous child!

977 Go to the mountain, go, fleet hounds of Madness, where the daughters of Kadmos hold their company, and drive them raving [980]  against the mad spy on the Maenads, the one dressed in women's attire. His mother will be the first to see him from a smooth rock or crag, as he lies in ambush, and she will cry out to the maenads: [985] “Who is this seeker of the mountain-going Kadmeans who has come to the mountain, to the mountain, Bacchae? Who bore him? For he was not born from a woman's blood, but is the offspring of some lioness [990]  or of Libyan Gorgons.

Let manifest justice go forth, let it go with sword in hand, slaying through the throat [995]  this godless, lawless, unjust, earth-born offspring of Echion.

[997] who with wicked heart and lawless rage, with mad intent and frantic purpose,
sets out to meddle with thy
holy rites, and with thy mother's, Bacchic god,
thinking with his weak arm to master might as masterless as thine.

This is the life that saves all pain, if a man confine his thoughts to human themes, as is his mortal nature, making no pretence where heaven is concerned.

I envy not deep subtleties; far other joys have I, in tracking out great truths writ clear from all eternity, that a man should live his life by day and night in purity and holiness, striving toward a noble goal, and should honour the gods by casting from him each ordinance that lies outside the pale of right.

Let justice show herself, advancing sword in hand to plunge it through and through the throat of Echion's son, that godless, lawless, and abandoned child of earth!

[1017] Appear, O Bacchus, to our eyes as a bull or serpent with a hundred heads, or take the shape of a lion breathing flame! Oh! come, and with a mocking smile cast the deadly noose about the hunter of thy Bacchanals, e'en as he swoops upon the Maenads gathered yonder.

Enter SECOND MESSENGER.

SECOND MESSENGER

[1024] O house, so prosperous once through Hellas long ago, home of the old Sidonian prince,
who sowed the
serpent's crop of earth-born men, how do I mourn thee! slave though I be, yet still the sorrows of his master touch a good slave's heart.

Angelos B
ô dôm' ho prin pot' eutucheis an' Hellada,

1025
Sidôniou gerontos, hos to gêgenes
drakontos espeir' Opheos en gaiai theros,
hôs se stenazô, doulos ôn men, all' homôs
[chrêstoisi doulois sumphora ta despotôn].

Bakchê , hê,

A. Bacchante, A.Eu.25, S.Ant.1122 (lyr.), Ar.Nu.605, Pl. Ion534a, etc.: generally, Bakchê Haidou frantic handmaid of Hades, E.Hec.1077; b. nekuôn Id.Ph.1489 (lyr.).

mainas , ados, hê, ( [mainomai] )

A. raving, frantic, lussa v. l. in S.Fr.941.4; bakchê E.Ba.915 .

2. as Subst., mad woman, esp. Bacchante, Maenad, mainadi isê Il.22.460 , cf. h.Cer.386, A.Fr.382, S.OT212 (lyr.), etc.; of the Furies, A.Eu.500 (lyr.); of Cassandra, E.Tr. 173 (lyr.).

3. = pornê, Poll.7.203 cod. A, Hdn.Epim.83.

porn-ê , hê, A. harlot, prostitute, Archil.142, Ar.Ach.527, etc. (Prob.from pernêmi, because Greek prostitutes were commonly bought slaves.)

II. Act., causing madness, esp. of love, mainas ornis Pi.P.4.216 .

If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 1 Cor 14:23

Mainomai (g3105) mah'ee-nom-ahee; mid. from a prim. mao, (to long for; through the idea of insensate craving); to rave as a "maniac": - be beside self (mad

Jn.10:20

And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

drakontos espeir' Opheos

drakôn [a^], ontos, o(: (prob. from derkomai, dra^kein, cf. Porph.Abst. 3.8):--

A. dragon, serpent, Il.11.39, al.; interchangeable with ophis, 12.202, 208, cf. Hes. Th.322, 825, Pi.N.1.40, A.Th.292 (lyr.); aetos kai d. polemia Arist.HA609a4 ; perh. a water-snake, ib.602b25.

II. the constellation Draco, Arat.46, al., Man.2.69.

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Matt 23:33

Jesus: Ophis gennema Echidna

Euripides: drakontos espeir [sow] Opheos

CHORUS

How now? Hast thou fresh tidings of the Bacchantes?

SECOND MESSENGER

Pentheus, Echion's son is dead.

CHORUS

Bromius, my king! now art thou appearing in thy might divine.

SECOND MESSENGER

Ha! what is it thou sayest? art thou glad, woman, at my master's misfortunes?

CHORUS

A stranger I, and in foreign tongue I express my joy, for now no more do I cower in terror of the chain.

SECOND MESSENGER

Dost think Thebes so poor in men?(*) (* Probably the whole of one iambic line with part of another is here lost.)

CHORUS

'Tis Dionysus, Dionysus, not Thebes that lords it over me.

SECOND MESSENGER

All can I pardon thee save this; to exult o'er hopeless suffering is sorry conduct, dames.

CHORUS

Tell me, oh! tell me how he died, that villain scheming villainy!

SECOND MESSENGER

[1043] Soon as we had left the homesteads of this Theban land and had crossed the streams of Asopus, we began to breast Cithaeron's (the guitar) heights,

Pentheus and I, for I went with my master, and the stranger too, who was to guide us to the scene. First then we sat us down in a grassy glen, carefully silencing each footfall and whispered breath, to see without being seen. Now there was a dell walled in by rocks, with rills to water it, and shady pines o'erhead;

there were the Maenads seated, busied with joyous toils. Some were wreathing afresh the drooping thyrsus with curling ivy-sprays; others, like colts let loose from the carved chariot-yoke, were answering each other in hymns of Bacchic rapture.

Or: Some of them were crowning again the worn thyrsos, making it leafy with ivy, while some, like colts freed from the painted yoke, were singing a Bacchic melody to one another.

But Pentheus, son of sorrow, seeing not the women gathered there, exclaimed, "Sir stranger, from where I stand, I cannot clearly see the mock Bacchantes;

but I will climb a hillock or a soaring pine whence to see clearly the shameful doings of the Bacchanals."

Then and there I saw the stranger work a miracle; for catching a lofty fir-branch by the very end he drew it downward to the dusky earth, lower yet and ever lower; and like a bow it bent, or rounded wheel, whose curving circle grows complete, as chalk and line describe it; e'en so the stranger drew down the mountain-branch between his hands, bending it to earth, by more than human agency.

And when he had seated Pentheus aloft on the pine branches, he let them slip through his hands gently, careful not to shake him from his seat. Up soared the branch straight into the air above, with my master perched thereon, seen by the Maenads better far than he saw them; for scarce was he beheld upon his lofty throne, when the stranger disappeared, while from the sky there came a voice, 'twould seem, by Dionysus uttered-

"Maidens, I bring the man who tried to mock you and me and my mystic rites; take vengeance on him."

And as he spake he raised 'twixt heaven and earth a dazzling column of awful flame.

-[1084] Hushed grew the sky, and still hung each leaf throughout the grassy glen, nor couldst thou have heard one creature cry. But they, not sure of the voice they heard, sprang up and peered all round; then once again his bidding came; and when the daughters of Cadmus knew it was the Bacchic god in very truth that called, swift as doves they dirted off in cager haste,

his mother Agave and her sisters dear and all the Bacchanals; through torrent glen, o'er boulders huge they bounded on, inspired with madness by the god.

Soon as they saw my master perched upon the fir, they set to hurling stones at him with all their might, mounting a commanding eminence, and with pine-branches he was pelted as with darts; and others shot their wands through the air at Pentheus, their hapless target, but all to no purpose. For there he sat beyond the reach of their hot endeavours, a helpless, hopeless victim. At last they rent off limbs from oaks and were for prising up the roots with levers not of iron. But when they still could make no end to all their toil,

Agave cried: "Come stand around, and grip the sapling trunk, my Bacchanals! that we may catch the beast that sits thereon, lest he divulge the secrets of our god's religion."

Then were a thousand hands laid on the fir, and from the ground they tore it up, while he from his seat aloft came tumbling to the ground with lamentations long and loud, e'en Pentheus; for well he knew his hour was come.

-[1114] His mother first, a priestess for the nonce, began the bloody deed and fell upon him; whereon he tore the snood from off his hair, that hapless Agave might recognize and spare him, crying as he touched her cheek,

"O mother! it is I, thy own son Pentheus, the child thou didst bear in Echion's halls; have pity on me, mother dear! oh! do not for any sin of mine slay thy own son."

But she, the while, with foaming mouth and wildly rolling eyes, bereft of reason as she was, heeded him not; for the god possessed her.

And she caught his left hand in her grip, and planting her foot upon her victim's trunk she tore the shoulder from its socket, not of her own strength, but the god made it an easy task to her hands; and Ino set to work upon the other side, rending the flesh with Autonoe and all the eager host of Bacchanals; and one united cry arose, the victim's groans while yet he breathed, and their triumphant shouts.

One would make an arm her prey, another a foot with the sandal on it; and his ribs were stripped of flesh by their rending nails; and each one with blood-dabbled hands was tossing Pentheus' limbs about. Scattered lies his corpse, part beneath the rugged rocks, and part amid the deep dark woods, no easy task to find;

but his poor head hath his mother made her own, and fixing it upon the point of a thyrsus, as it had been a mountain lion's, she bears it through the midst of Cithaeron, having left her sisters with the Maenads at their rites. And she is entering these walls exulting in her hunting fraught with woe, calling on the Bacchic god her fellow-hunter who had helped her to triumph in a chase, where her only prize was tears.

But I will get me hence, away from this piteous scene, before Agave reach the palace. To my mind self-restraint and reverence for the things of God point alike the best and wisest course for all mortals who pursue them.

Exit SECOND MESSENGER.

CHORUS

-[1153] Come, let us exalt our Bacchic god in choral strain, let us loudly chant the fall of Pentheus from the serpent sprung, who assumed a woman's dress and took the fair Bacchic wand, sure pledge of death, with a bull to guide him to his doom.

O ye Bacchanals of Thebes! glorious is the triumph ye have achieved, ending in sorrow and tears. 'Tis a noble enterprise to dabble the hand in the blood of a son till it drips. But hist! I see Agave, the mother of Pentheus, with wild rolling eye hasting to the house; welcome the revellers of the Bacchic god.

Enter AGAVE.

AGAVE

[1168] Ye Bacchanals from Asia

CHORUS

Why dost thou rouse me? why?

AGAVE

From the hills I am bringing to my home a tendril freshly-culled, glad guerdon-of the chase.

CHORUS

I see it, and I will welcome thee unto our revels. All hail!

AGAVE

I caught him with never a snare, this lion's whelp, as ye may see.

CHORUS

From what desert lair?

AGAVE

Cithaeron-
CHORUS

Yes, Cithaeron?

AGAVE

Was his death.
CHORUS

Who was it gave the first blow?

AGAVE

Mine that privilege; "Happy Agave!" they call me 'mid our revellers.

CHORUS

Who did the rest?

AGAVE

Cadmus-

CHORUS

What of him?

AGAVE

His daughters struck the monster after me; yes, after me.

CHORUS

Fortune smiled upon thy hunting here.

AGAVE

[1184] Come, share the banquet.

CHORUS

Share? ah I what?

AGAVE

'Tis but a tender whelp, the down just sprouting on its cheek beneath a crest of failing hair.

CHORUS

The hair is like some wild creature's.

AGAVE

The Bacchic god, a hunter skilled, roused his Maenads to pursue this quarry skilfully.

CHORUS

Yea, our king is a hunter indeed.

AGAVE

Dost approve?

CHORUS

Of course I do.

AGAVE

Soon shall the race of Cadmus-

CHORUS

And Pentheus, her own son, shall to his mother-

AGAVE

Offer praise for this her quarry of the lion's brood.

CHORUS

Quarry strange!

AGAVE

And strangely caught.

CHORUS

Dost thou exult?

AGAVE

Right glad am I to have achieved a great and glorious triumph for my land that all can see.

CHORUS

[1200] Alas for thee! show to the folk the booty thou hast won and art bringing hither.

AGAVE

All ye who dwell in fair fenced Thebes, draw near that ye may see the fierce wild beast that we daughters of Cadmus made our prey, not with the thong-thrown darts of Thessaly, nor yet with snares, but with our fingers fair.

Ought men idly to boast and get them armourers' weapons? when we with these our hands have caught this prey and torn the monster limb from limb?

Where is my aged sire? let him approach. And where is Pentheus, my son? Let him bring a ladder and raise it against the house to nail up on the gables this lion's head, my booty from the chase.

Enter CADMUS.

CADMUS

Follow me, servants to the palace-front, with your sad burden in your arms, ay, follow, with the corpse of Pentheus, which after long weary search I found, as ye see it, torn to pieces amid Cithaeron's glens, and am bringing hither; no two pieces did I find together, as they lay scattered through the trackless wood. For I heard what awful deeds one of my daughters had done, just as I entered the city-walls with old Teiresias returning from the Bacchanals; so I turned again unto the and bring from thence my son who was slain by Maenads. There I saw Autonoe, that bare Actaeon on a day to Aristaeus, and Ino with her, still ranging the oak-groves in their unhappy frenzy; but one told me that that Agave, was rushing wildly hither, nor was it idly said, for there I see her, sight of woe!

AGAVE

Father, loudly mayst thou boast, that the daughters thou hast begotten are far the best of mortal race; of one and all I speak, though chiefly of myself, who left my shuttle at the loom for nobler enterprise, even to hunt savage beasts with my hands; and in my arms I bring my prize, as thou seest, that it may be nailed up on thy palace-wall; take it, father, in thy had and proud of my hunting, call thy friends to a banquet; for blest art thou, ah! doubly blest in these our gallant exploits.

CADMUS

[1244] O grief that has no bounds, too cruel for mortal eye! 'tis murder ye have done with your hapless hands. Fair is the victim thou hast offered to the gods, inviting me and my Thebans to the feast Ah, woe is me first for thy sorrows, then for mine. What ruin the god, the Bromian king, hath brought on us, just maybe, but too severe, seeing he is our kinsman!

AGAVE

How peevish old age makes men! what sullen looks! Oh, may my son follow in his mother's footsteps and be as lucky in his hunting, when he goes quest of game in company with Theban youthsl But he can do naught but wage war with gods. Father, 'tis thy duty to warn him. Who will summon him hither to my sight to witness my happiness?

CADMUS

Alas for you! alas! Terrible will be your grief when ye are conscious of your deeds; could ye re. for ever till life's close in your present state, ye would not, spite of ruined bliss, appear so cursed with woe.

AGAVE

Why? what is faulty here? what here for sorrow?

CADMUS

First let thine eye look up to heaven.

AGAVE

See! I do so. Why dost thou suggest my looking thereupon?

CADMUS

Is it still the same, or dost think there's any change?

AGAVE

'Tis brighter than it was, and dearer too.

CADMUS

Is there still that wild unrest within thy soul?

AGAVE

I know not what thou sayest now; yet methinks my brain is clearing, and my former frenzy passed away.

CADMUS

Canst understand, and give distinct replies?

AGAVE

Father, how completely I forget all we said before!

CADMUS

To what house wert thou brought with marriage-hymns?

AGAVE

Thou didst give me to earthborn Echion, as men call him.

CADMUS

What child was born thy husband in his halls?

AGAVE

Pentheus, of my union with his father.

CADMUS

What head is that thou barest in thy arms?

AGAVE

A lion's; at least they said so, who hunted it.

CADMUS

Consider it aright; 'tis no great task to look at it.

AGAVE

[1280] Ah! what do I see? what is this I am carrying in my hands?

CADMUS

Look closely at it; make thy knowledge more certain.

AGAVE

Ah, 'woe is me! O sight of awful sorrow!

CADMUS

Dost think it like a lion's head?

AGAVE

Ah no! 'tis Pentheus' head which I his unhappy mother hold.

CADMUS

Bemoaned by me, or ever thou didst recognize him.

AGAVE

Who slew him? How came he into my hands?

CADMUS

O piteous truth! how ill-timed thy presence here!

AGAVE

Speak; my bosom throbs at this suspense.

CADMUS

'Twas thou didst slay him, thou and thy sisters.

AGAVE

Where died he? in the house or where?

CADMUS

On the very spot where hounds of yore rent Actaeon in pieces.

AGAVE

Why went he, wretched youth! to Cithaeron?

CADMUS

He would go and mock the god and thy Bacchic rites.

AGAVE

But how was it we had journeyed thither?

CADMUS

Ye were distraught; the whole city had the Bacchic frenzy.

AGAVE

'Twas Dionysus proved our ruin; now I see it all.

CADMUS

Yes, for the slight he suffered; ye would not believe in his godhead.

AGAVE

Father, where is my dear child's corpse?

CADMUS

With toil I searched it out and am bringing it myself.

AGAVE

Is it all fitted limb to limb in seemly wise?
CADMUS (*) (* One line, or maybe more, is missing)

AGAVE

But what had Pentheus to do with folly of mine?

CADMUS

He was like you in refusing homage to the god, who, therefore,

hath involved you all in one common ruin, you and him alike, to destroy this house and me, forasmuch as I, that had no sons, behold this youth, the fruit of thy womb, unhappy mother! foully and most shamefully slain.

To thee, my child, our house looked up, to thee my daughter's son, the stay of my palace, inspiring the city with awe; none caring to flout the old king when he saw thee by, for he would get his deserts.

But now shall I be cast out dishonoured from my halls, Cadmus the great, who sowed the crop of Theban seed and reaped that goodly harvest. O beloved child! dead though thou art, thou still shalt be counted by me amongst my own dear children; no more wilt thou lay thy hand upon my chin in fond embrace, my child, and calling on thy mother's sire demand, "Who wrongs thee or dishonours thee, old sire? who vexes thy heart, a thorn within thy side? Speak, that I may punish thy oppressor, father mine!"

But now am I in sorrow plunged, and woe is thee, and woe thy mother and her suffering sisters too! Ah! if there be any man that scorns the gods, let him well mark this prince's death and then believe in them.

CHORUS

Cadmus, I am sorry for thy fate; for though thy daughter's child hath met but his deserts, 'tis bitter grief to thee.

AGAVE

O father, thou seest how sadly my fortune is changed.(*) (* After this a very large lacuna occurs in the MS.)

DIONYSUS

[1330] Thou shalt be changed into a serpent;
and thy wife
Harmonia, Ares' child, whom thou in thy human life didst wed,
shall
change her nature for a snake's, and take its form.
Harmonia (mythology), the Greek goddess of harmony and concord.  Serpent temples with standing stones populate the world. Malakos, III. of persons or modes of life, soft, mild, gentle, malakôteros amphaphaasthai easier to handle, of a fallen hero. c. morally weak, lacking in self-control, d. = pathêtikos, e. of music, soft, effeminate, m. harmoniai, g. of reasoning, weak, loose, logos.

Hymn to Apollo: (ll. 182-206) Leto's all-glorious son goes to rocky Pytho, playing upon his hollow lyre, clad in divine, perfumed garments; and at the touch of the golden key his lyre sings sweet.

Thence, swift as thought, he speeds from earth to Olympus, to the house of Zeus, to join the gathering of the other gods:
then straightway the undying gods think only of the lyre and song, and all the Muses together, voice sweetly answering voice,
hymn the unending gifts the gods enjoy and the sufferings of men,
all that they endure at the hands of the deathless gods,
and how they live witless and helpless and
cannot find healing for death or defence against old age.

Meanwhile the rich-tressed Graces and cheerful Seasons dance with Harmonia and Hebe and Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, holding each other by the wrist. And among them sings one, not mean nor puny, but tall to look upon and enviable in mien, Artemis who delights in arrows, sister of Apollo. Among them sport Ares and the keen-eyed Slayer of Argus,

while Apollo plays his lyre stepping high and featly and a radiance shines around him, the gleaming of his feet and close-woven vest.And they, even gold-tressed Leto and wise Zeus, rejoice in their great hearts as they watch their dear son playing among the undying gods.

With her shalt thou, as leader of barbarian tribes, drive thy team of steers, so saith an oracle of Zeus; and many a city shalt thou sack with an army numberless; but in the day they plunder the oracle of Loxias, shall they rue their homeward march; but thee and Harmonia will Ares rescue, and set thee to live henceforth in the land of the blessed.

This do I declare, I Dionysus, son of no mortal father but of Zeus. Had ye learnt wisdom when ye would not, ye would now be happy with the son of Zeus for your ally.

AGAVE

O Dionysus! we have sinned; thy pardon we implore.

DIONYSUS

Too late have ye learnt to know me; ye knew me not at the proper time.

AGAVE

We recognize our error; but thou art too revengeful.

DIONYSUS

Yea, for I, though a god, was slighted by you.

AGAVE

Gods should not let their passion sink to man's level.

DIONYSUS

Long ago my father Zeus ordained it thus.

AGAVE

Alas! my aged sire, our doom is fixed; 'tis woful exile.

DIONYSUS

Why then delay the inevitable? Exit.

CADMUS

Daughter, to what an awful pass are we now come, thou too, poor child, and thy sisters, while I alas! in my old age must seek barbarian shores, to sojourn there; but the oracle declares that I shall yet lead an army, half-barbarian, half-Hellene, to Hellas;

and in serpent's shape shall I carry my wife Harmonia, the daughter of Ares, transformed like me to a savage snake, against the altars and tombs of Hellas at the head of my troops; nor shall I ever cease from my woes, ah me! nor ever cross the downward stream of Acheron and be at rest.

AGAVE

Father, I shall be parted from thee and exiled.

CADMUS

Alas! my child, why fling thy arms around me, as a snowy cygnet folds its wings about the frail old swan?

AGAVE

Whither can I turn, an exile from my country?

CADMUS

I know not, my daughter; small help is thy father now.

AGAVE

[1368] Farewell, my home! farewell, my native city! with sorrow I am leaving thee, an exile from my bridal bower.

CADMUS

Go, daughter, to the house of Aristaeus,(*) (* Another large lacuna follows.)

AGAVE

Father, I mourn for thee.

CADMUS

And I for thee, my child; for thy sisters too I shed a tear.

AGAVE

Ah! terribly was king Dionysus bringing this outrage on thy house.

CADMUS

Yea, for he suffered insults dire from you, his name receiving no meed of honour in Thebes.

AGAVE

Farewell, father mine!

CADMUS

Farewell, my hapless daughter and yet thou scarce canst reach that bourn.

AGAVE

Oh! lead me, guide me to the place where I shall find my sisters, sharers in my exile to their sorrow! Oh! to reach a spot where cursed Cithaeron ne'er shall see me more nor Cithaeron with mine eyes; where no memorial of the thyrsus is set up! Be they to other Bacchantes dear!

CHORUS

Many are the forms the heavenly will assumes, and many a thing the gods fulfil contrary to all hope; that which was expected is not brought to pass, while for the unlooked-for Heaven finds out a way. E'en such hath been the issue here.

Exeunt OMNES.

THE END

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