The blind prophet Teiresias enters from Thebes, and is soon joined by
Cadmus from the palace. Old as they are they have put on the livery of
the god, and will join in the dance, for which supernatural strength
will be given: they alone of the city are wise.
The ancestral faith, coeval with our race,
No subtle reasoning, if it soar aloft
Ev'n to the height of wisdom, can o'erthrow.
They are stopped by the entrance of Pentheus, as from a far journey.
His opening words betray his anxiety as to the scandal in his
realm--the young women of his family, even his mother Agave, all gone
to join the impious revels.
In pretext, holy sacrificing Maenads,
But serving Aphrodite more than Bacchus.
Some he has imprisoned, the rest he will hunt from the mountains, and
put an end to the joyous movements of this fair stranger with golden
locks, who has come to guide their maidens to soft inebriate rites.
Suddenly he sees his hero ancestor and the prophet in Bacchic attire.
Bitter reproaches follow; the scene soon settling down into the
forensic contest. Teiresias elaborately puts the case for the god.
Man has two primal needs: one is the solid food of the boon mother, the
other has been discovered by the son of their Semele--the rich grape's
juice: this beguiles the miserable of their sorrow, this gives
all-healing sleep. The author of such blessings is recognized in
heaven as a god: yet Pentheus puts scorn upon him by the story of the
babe hidden in Jove's thigh. [This is explained away by a play upon
words, as between _ho meeros_, thigh, and _homeeros_, a hostage: Jove
hid the infant god in a cleft of air, a hostage from the wrath of
Heré.] Prophecy is ascribed to the wine-god, for phrensy is prophetic;
and he is an ally in war, sending panic on the foe ere lance crosses
lance. He will soon be a god celebrated through all Greece and hold
torchdance on the crags of Delphi. Let Thebes take her place among the
worshippers, fearing nought for the purity of its daughters, who will
be no less holy in the revel than at home.--The Chorus approve, and
Cadmus follows on the same side, urging policy: a splendid falsehood
making Semele the mother of a god will advance their household.
Pentheus shakes off Cadmus's clasp in disgust: bids some of his
servants go and overturn the prophet's place of divination, and others
seek out the stranger who leads the rebels. Exit to the palace, while
Teiresias and Cadmus depart, in horror at his impiety, in the direction
of Cithaeron. {379}