lxxix
Enter Dionysus from the Palace. He turns and calls back to Pentheus.
DIONYSUS
If you still want to see what you shouldn't see,
if you desire what shouldn't be desired, come out.
Pentheus, come out here, let me see you.
Maenad, Bacchant, woman: Show us your long dress,
show us how you'll scout your mother and her troop.
Enter Pentheus, dressed as a Bacchant.
Why, you look like one of the daughters of Cadmus.
PENTHEUS
Look! What I see! I think I see two suns
and Thebes, too, twice: the seven-gated fortress, twice.
And you, you seem to be a bull, out there before me,
the double horns sprouting on your forehead:
were you an animal before, the way now you're a bull?
DIONYSUS
The god is with us now. He's not angry now.
He's made peace. You see now what you ought to see.
PENTHEUS
What do I look like now?
Do I stand like Ino or my mother?
DIONYSUS
When I see you, I might be seeing them.
Wait, a curl has come loose.
I'll tick it in its net; it must have fallen.
PENTHEUS
It must have fallen. I was in there dancing
Bacchic dances, shaking my head backwards and forwards...
DIONYSUS
Hold your head still now. I'll be your maid.
I'll put the curl back, like this.
PENTHEUS
You'll put it back. Yes, I'm in your hands.
DIONYSUS
But wait, your sash has slipped. The pleats
are disarrayed; the hem is too low.
PENTHEUS
Not on the right too low; on the left, though...
Watch, when I lift my left leg, this way...
DIONYSUS
You're going to think that I'm your closest friend,
when you see how surprisingly chaste the Bacchae are.
PENTHEUS
Would a good Bacchant hold her thyrsus this way,
in her right hand, or like this, in her left?
DIONYSUS
The right hand, yes. Now the right leg, lift that.
I commend your change of mind.
PENTHEUS
Tell me, could I lift Cithaeron now -
Bacchae, cliffs, all of it: could I?
DIONYSUS
You could, if you wanted to. Your mind before
wasn't healthy, now you have the mind you should.
PENTHEUS
Will I need levers, or shall I tear the cliffs up
with my hands and put them on my shoulders?
DIONYSUS
Now wait, don't destroy the Nymph's groves,
the sacred places where Pan plays his flute.
PENTHEUS
You're right. One shouldn't need brute force
to conquer women. I'll stay out of sight in the pines.
DIONYSUS
You'll have the proper hiding place to hide;
then, when you're hidden, you'll spy on the Maenads.
PENTHEUS
Yes, I can see them now, in the bushes
little birds, trapped in the toils of love.
DIONYSUS
That's your mission, isn't it? To keep an eye on them?
You might catch them at it, unless they catch you...
PENTHEUS
Take me through Thebes now. Let all Thebes see
the single person man enough to dare all this.
DIONYSUS
You and only you will suffer for this city.
Ordeals await you, they are fated for you.
Come, I'll lead you there safely.
You'll return with someone else.
PENTHEUS
My mother...
DIONYSUS
.... a model for all men...
PENTHEUS
That's my purpose.
DIONYSUS
You'll be carried home...
PENTHEUS
You're spoiling me!
DIONYSUS
... in your mother's arms.
PENTHEUS
... No, you're spoiling me.
DIONYSUS
Yes, I want to spoil you, in my way.
PENTHEUS
I'll have what I deserve.
DIONYSUS
You'll have the outcome you deserve.
You are awe-inspiring.
Your outcome will inspire awe.
Your fame will reach the heavens.
Exit Pentheus towards Cithaeron.
Agave! Listen to me! Listen to me, daughters
of Cadmus! I am calling! Hold out your hands!
I lead this young man to his ordeal.
The victory will be for me, and for Bromius.
The rest will be revealed.
Exit Dionysus.
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