* * * *
Bacchus, the son of Jove by Semele, had made Thebes, his mother's
birth-place, his favorite place of abode and worship. Pentheus, the then
reigning king, who, as others say, preferred the worship of Minerva,
slighted the new God, and persecuted those who celebrated his revels. Upon
this, Bacchus excited his mother Agave, together with the sisters of
Semele, Autonoe and Ino, to madness, and visiting Pentheus in disguise of a
Bacchanal, was at first imprisoned, but, easily escaping from his bonds, he
persuaded Pentheus to intrude upon the rites of the Bacchants. While
surveying them from a lofty tree, the voice of Bacchus was heard inciting
the Bacchants to avenge themselves upon the intruder, and they tore the
miserable Pentheus piecemeal. The grief and banishment of Agave for her
unwitting offense conclude the play.
* * * * *