[Enter Dionysus from the palace. He calls back through the open doors]
DIONYSUS: You who are so desperately eager 1120
to see those things you should not look upon,
so keen to chase what you should not pursue—
I mean you, Pentheus, come out here now,
outside the palace, where I can see you
dressed up as a raving Bacchic female,
to spy upon your mother's company.
[Enter Pentheus dressed in women's clothing. He moves in a deliberately over-stated female way, enjoying the role]
DIONYSUS: [admiringly, as he escorts Pentheus from the doors]
You look just like one of Cadmus' daughters.
PENTHEUS: Fancy that! I seem to see two suns,
two images of seven-gated Thebes.
And you look like a bull leading me out here, 1130 [920]
with those horns growing from your head.
Were you once upon a time a beast?
It's certain now you've changed into a bull.
DIONYSUS: The god walks here. He's made a pact with us.
Before his attitude was not so kind.
Now you're seeing just what you ought to see.
PENTHEUS: How do I look? Am I holding myself
just like Ino or my mother, Agave?
DIONYSUS: When I look at you, I think I see them.
But here, this strand of hair is out of place. 1140
It's not under the headband where I fixed it.
PENTHEUS: [demonstrating his dancing steps]
I must have worked it loose inside the house, [930]
shaking my head when I moved here and there,
practising my Bacchan*lian dance.
DIONYSUS: I'll rearrange it for you. It's only right
that I should serve you. Straighten up your head.
[Dionysus begins adjusting Pentheus' hair and clothing]
PENTHEUS: All right then. You can be my dresser,
now that I've transformed myself for you.
DIONYSUS: Your girdle's loose. And these pleats in your dress
are crooked, too, down at your ankle here. 1150
PENTHEUS: [examining the back of his legs]
Yes, that seems to be true for my right leg,
but on this side the dress hangs perfectly,
down the full length of my limb.
DIONYSUS: Once you see
those Bacchic women acting modestly,
once you confront something you don't expect, [940]
you'll consider me your dearest friend.
PENTHEUS: This thyrsus—should I hold it in my right hand,
or in my left? Which is more suitable
in Bacchic celebrations?
DIONYSUS: In your right.
You must lift your right foot in time with it. 1160
[Dionysus observes Pentheus trying out the dance step]
DIONYSUS: Your mind has changed. I applaud you for it.
PENTHEUS: Will I be powerful enough to carry
the forests of Cithaeron on my shoulders,
along with all those Bacchic females?
DIONYSUS: If you have desire, you'll have the power.
Before this your mind was not well adjusted.
But now it's working in you as it should.
PENTHEUS: Are we going to take some levers with us?
Or shall I rip the forests up by hand,
putting arm and shoulder under mountain peaks? 1170 [950]
DIONYSUS: As long as you don't do away with
those places where the nymphs all congregate,
where Pan plays his music on his pipes.
PENTHEUS: You mention a good point. I'll use no force
to get the better of these women.
I'll conceal myself there in the pine trees.
DIONYSUS: You'll find just the sort of hiding place
a spy should find who wants to hide himself,
so he can gaze upon the Maenads.
PENTHEUS: That's good. I can picture them right now, 1180
in the woods, going at it like rutting birds,
clutching each other as they make sweet love.
DIONYSUS: Perhaps. That's why you're going—as a guard
to stop all that. Maybe you'll capture them, [960]
unless you're captured first.
PENTHEUS: Lead on—
through the centre of our land of Thebes.
I'm the only man in all the city
who dares to undertake this enterprise.
DIONYSUS: You bear the city's burden by yourself,
all by yourself. So your work is waiting there, 1190
the tasks that have been specially set for you.
Follow me. I'm the guide who'll rescue you.
When you return someone else will bring you back.
PENTHEUS: That will be my mother.
DIONYSUS: For everyone
you'll have become someone to celebrate.
PENTHEUS: That's why I'm going.
DIONYSUS: You'll be carried back . . .
PENTHEUS: [interrupting] You're pampering me!
DIONYSUS: [continuing] . . . in your mother's arms.
PENTHEUS: You've really made up your mind to spoil me.
DIONYSUS: To spoil you? That's true, but in my own way.
PENTHEUS: Then I'll be off to get what I deserve. 1200 [970]
[Exit Pentheus]
DIONYSUS: [speaking in the direction Pentheus has gone, but not speaking to him]
You fearful, terrifying man—on your way
to horrific suffering. Well, you'll win
a towering fame, as high as heaven.
Hold out your hand to him, Agave,
you, too, her sisters, Cadmus' daughters.
I'm leading this young man in your direction,
for the great confrontation, where I'll triumph—
I and Bromius. What else will happen
events will show, as they occur.
[Exit Dionysus]
CHORUS 1: Up now, you hounds of madness, 1210
go up now into the mountains,
go where Cadmus' daughters
keep their company of worshippers, [980]
goad them into furious revenge
against that man, that raving spy,
all dressed up in his women's clothes,
so keen to glimpse the Maenads.
His mother will see him first,
as he spies on them in secret
from some level rock or crag. 1220
She'll scream out to her Maenads,
"Who's the man who's come here,
to the mountains, to these mountains,
tracking Cadmean mountain dancers?
Oh my Bacchae, who has come?
From whom was this man born?
He's not born of woman's blood—
he must be some lioness' whelp
or spawned from Libyan gorgons." [990]
CHORUS: Let justice manifest itself— 1230
let justice march, sword in hand,
to stab him in the throat,
that godless, lawless man,
unjust earthborn seed of Echion.
CHORUS 2: Any man intent on wickedness,
turning his unlawful rage
against your rites, O Bacchus,
against the worship of your mother,
a man who sets out with an insane mind, [1000]
his courage founded on a falsehood, 1240
who seeks to overcome by force
what simply can't be overcome—
let d**h set his intentions straight.
For a life devoid of grief is one
which receives without complaint
whatever comes down from the gods—
that's how mortals ought to live.
Wisdom is something I don't envy.
My joy comes hunting other things
lofty and plain to everyone. 1250
They lead man's life to good
in purity and reverence,
honouring gods day and night,
eradicating from our lives
customs lying beyond what's right. [1010]
CHORUS: Let justice manifest itself—
Let justice march, sword in hand,
to stab him in the throat,
that godless, lawless man,
unjust earthborn seed of Echion. 1260
CHORUS 3: Appear now to our sight, O Bacchus—
come as a bull or many-headed serpent
or else some fire-breathing lion.
Go now, Bacchus, with your smiling face [1020]
cast your deadly noose upon
that hunter of the Bacchae,
as the group of Maenads brings him down.