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The Bacchae

Madeleine Guy, Author
The Bacchae, page 39 of 127
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xxxix


Enter Dionysus.
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Discussion of "xxxix"

39.1



DIONYSUS

Ah, my Oriental women: did you fall?
Why? Was it fear that made you fall?
You saw the house of Pentheus, when Dionysus
made it shake, and you were shaken too, by fear.
Come, no fear now, no fall: rise.


CHORUS LEADER

O light, without you there was no dance.
I was lost without you, Light.


DIONYSUS

Were you lost when I was locked in there?
In the dark there, in the net of Pentheus?
Did you think that I was lost?


CHORUS LEADER

I was lost. What else, without you, but lost?
The man who has no god had you. How are your free?


DIONYSUS

I saved myself. It took no effort.


CHORUS LEADER

But he'd bound your hands in knots!


DIONYSUS

That was how I took my vengeance on him,
how I humiliated him: he tried to bind me,
his hands, though, never touched me;
he fed on his desires. A bull was in there,
by its stall - my jail, he thought. He took his ropes
and bent to wind them on its knees and hooves.
He was panting: rage! He was sweating, dripping,
biting at his lips. I was quiet. Then Bromius
revealed himself. The house shook! The grave
of Semele shot flames! Pentheus cried out.
He thought the palace was in flames.
Where are all my slaves? He cried. He ran.
The slaves ran. Water! he shouted, from the river,
from Achelous, but all their work was futile. 
Then he stopped. He thought of me: I might escape.
He drew a pitch-black sword and ran into the palace.
But it seems Bromius must have made a shape,
in the courtyard: Pentheus stabbed at it,
at the gleaming air, as though it were me.
Bacchus wasn't finished, though, humiliating him.
The palace crashed down, everything is shattered.
Now Pentheus can see the bitterness my chains
have brought him. His sword falls. He's exhausted.
A man, a mortal, dares to struggle with a god!
I left him there. I walked out quietly to you.
Pentheus! What is he to me? I imagine he'll be coming.
Listen to him tramping through the courtyard.
I'll be patient: let him rage. Wise men
know how to practice self-control.


Enter Pentheus and guards.


PENTHEUS

Terrible: that stranger, that man I had in chains...
he's escaped... You!
What are you doing here, at the gate? 
How did you get out?


DIONYSUS

Step calmly with your anger.


PENTHEUS

How did you escape your bonds?


DIONYSUS

Weren't you listening when I told you
someone would be here to free me?


PENTHEUS

Someone? You keep making riddles.


DIONYSUS

Someone who makes grapevines grow for human beings.


PENTHEUS

The gift of wine! You reproach this god yourself!
I want the tower gates all closed.


DIONYSUS

Can't gods leap over walls?


PENTHEUS

You're very wise. Except when you should be wise.


DIONYSUS

Wisest of all when I have to be.
Wait, though, someone's running towards us.
He's coming from the mountain with a message.
We'll wait, we won't try to run away.


Enter messenger.


MESSENGER

Pentheus. King of Thebes.
I come for Cithaeron,
where the white snow gleams
and falls and never falters...


PENTHEUS

Is this news urgent?


MESSENGER

I've seen the holy Bacchae, the women from Thebes,
who shot bare-legged out of the city like arrows.
I want to tell it to you, lord
to the entire city. It's astonishing,
a miracle... May I speak freely, though?
You have a temper, lord. I'm afraid
of you, of your royal rage.


PENTHEUS

Speak, I won't hurt you. Tell me everything.
Being angry with an honest man is wrong.
The more scandalous the things you tell about
the Bacchae, though, the more the man who gave
the women those ideas is going to suffer.

Posted on 23 March 2015, 10:59 pm by Madeleine Guy  |  Permalink

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Misogyny    Masks    Homoeroticism    C.K. Williams

Related:  xci,  v,  i,  xxxv,  cxiii,  xxxvi,  cx,  cix,  cv,  cviii,  viii,  xxxvii,  cxviii,  ciii,  lxxxvix,  xlii,  lxxxi,  xcvii,  cii,  lxxxvii,  cvii,  cxxii,  xcvi,  xxxiv,  cxxv,  l,  vii,  lxxx,  xciii,  xciv,  lxxix,  xcv,  cxiv,  xl,  xcii,  ci,  lxxxvi,  cxxi,  c,  cxvii,  xv,  xli,  cxxvii,  cxix,  xliv,  ix,  81.5,  cvi,  cxvi,  cxxiii,  xc,  lxxxviii,  xxxviii,  xcviii,  xcix,  cxv,  cxii,  lxxxv,  ii,  cxi,  civ