TEIRESIAS

Is anybody here? Call Kadmus out

The old man from Siden who, when young and king,

Built this city.

Go on somebody. Tell him.

Tiresias wants him - he knows what for.

Tell him I hold my thyrsus and wear my fawnskin

My head is crowned with sprays of ivy - 

To keep the agreement between two very old men.

He is even older.

KADMUS

Sweet friend,
I knew your voice, while still inside the palace.
Wise voice of a wise man, I thought.
Well, here I am, in the apparel the god demands,
Ready to serve him. We must do all we can
To build him up into a very great God indeed,
This Dionysus, born into mortality,
Because he was the son of my own daughter.
Where shall we dance? Where shall we shake a leg,
And stamp, and toss our venerable heads!
Explain it all to me, Teiresias, guide me?
None but the old can lead the old, and you are
The expert. I shall not tire banging the rhythm
With my thyrsus day and night on the dark earth.
Ah, it is sweet to forget we are old.

TEIRESIAS

I feel I suffered the same transformation.

I'm full of sap; I must attempt the dance.

KADMUS

Could we not take a carriage to the mountain?

TEIRESIAS

That would not show equal reverence to the god.

KADMUS

Must I then guide you by the hand -

Like an old nurse a very old baby?

TEIRESIAS

The god will guide us there, without an effort.

KADMUS

We cross the town then? Dancing? We, alone?

TEIRESIAS

We alone are sensible; the rest are foolish.

KADMUS

We are wasting time. Here, take my hand.

TEIRESIAS

Here's mine. Get hold of it. Go on, grip tight.

KADMUS

Be all witness I do not scorn the god.

TEIRESIAS

We do not try to understand the gods.

No, not through mortal cleverness.

And the traditions we have inherited

From our fathers, myths coeval with time,

No argument can spoil no subtlety

From even the most ingenious brains.

You think it's ludicrous at my age

To frisk about with a crown of ivy?

The god makes no distinction between young

And old, who should dance and who should not.

He wants from all equal honor.

KADMUS

Teiresias,

As second sight is the only sight you have,

Let me play seer to you: Pentheus,

My grandson, is coming towards the palace -

King Pentheus, now that I have given him 

All power over the state.

He looks upset.

Something is going to happen.