The Bacchae, like many, if not a majority of texts from the ancient world, does not survive to the present day in its entirety. This has not been apparent to this point in the play, but some later sections have been mangled, and only chance will determine if the missing sections will be recovered. Our situation is reliant on the manuscript tradition - only two parallel editions of Euripides have been traced to the pre-medieval period: one only has the first half of the play, and the other has a badly damaged ending. For a more complete manuscript history of the play, see Dodds.
This section introduces a new character, Pentheus. His name means "grief" in Greek, which foreshadows his eventual fate. He exemplifies a variety of a common character trait in early Greek literature, which is the hubristic man. Hubris can be translated in a variety of ways (although it probably shouldn't): the most common, perhaps, to a modern audience would be "willful ignorance", where the force of a character's personality takes them in directions which they know will lead to their own destruction (see Oedipus Rex); the version we encounter in the Bacchae corresponds better to the legalistic definition of "illegal violence", as Pentheus seeks to use force not just against a man, but against a god, thus breaking some conception of divine law as opposed to human law. In Greek mythology in general, mortals who attempt to break the barrier between men and gods wind up in unfortunate situations. Note also that Pentheus, much like Oedipus, willfully ignores the advice given by Tiresias.
What is the source of Pentheus' anger towards Dionysus?
There are multiple elements to the antipathy he expresses. The first is that the women have abandoned their stations inside the homes of Thebes to take part in ritual celebration; this fits in well with typical Greek fears about allowing license to women. Pentheus is concerned not just with the displacement of women, but also about their sexual fidelity - that they're having adulterious sex in the forest - and their consumption of alcohol, which was frowned upon in the Greek household. This even applies to his older female relatives.
Pentheus also consistently insists on the falsehood of the mysterious stranger Dionysus. This is not necessarily unrealistic (later Greek historial literature shows that the country could be overrun by dubious holy men), but the conviction with which he pursues this point is excessive, especially in the absence of evidence. Dodds remarks that some scholars have seen inferences in this episode to legal and rhetorical themes, in which Pentheus is either a sophist or a bad speaker or both. Also, he seeks horrible punishments for a foreigner, a bizarre deformation of typical practice in a society that was very keen on hospitality.
The other, more tenuous possibility is that Pentheus fears a weakening of his own personal power in the city of Thebes. He has already lost control of the assumedly weakest portion of his populace (the women), and he refuses to undermine his power further by giving personal submission to the god. However, in Euripides' world, mortal power, even exercised with authority and might, cannot compete with the pitiless irrationality of the divine. Tiresias attempts to convince him so as he references the death of the hunter Actaeon - Actaeon, Pentheus' own cousin, was transformed into a deer and killed by his own dogs after seeing the goddess Artemis bathing nude in the forest - but his plea falls on deaf ears.
At this point in the play, both divine and mortal characters in opposition have announced their plans re: the coming of Dionysus and the Bacchae. After the next choral interlude, we will see what happens when the two come into contact.
215-369
(Enter Pentheus)
PENTHEUS: Having been on a journey, just returned to this land,
I’m hearing that some new evil has come upon the city
that the women, being in assembled Bacchic revelry,
have left our houses behind and are running around
the bushy mountains, paying honor to
this new god Dionysus, whoever he is, by dancing,
and they set up many cups of wine in the middle
of their bands, and at different times they crawl off
to solitary places to do service in the beds of men,
and although they seem to be Maenad priests of sacrifice,
they serve Aphrodite more so than Bacchus.
As for the ones I seized, right now civil servants
keep their bound hands under the jailhouse roof;
the ones that have left, I’ll hunt them out of the mountains,
Ino and Agave, she who bore me to Echion,
and the mother of Actaion, Autonoë, that is.
When I’ve gathered them in iron nets,
I’ll quickly put a stop to this evil Bacchic rite.
They say that some foreigner came by,
a sorcerer, an enchanter from the land of Lydia
who has yellow locks of sweet-smelling hair,
holding the dark graces of Aphrodite in his eyes,
and that he keeps company with young girls day and night
offering his mysteries of “euoe” to them.
If I caught him under this roof, I’d put a stop
to the crashing thyrsus and the shaking hair,
and I’d cut his head off of his body.
This man says that he is the god Dionysus,
he says that he was once stitched up in Zeus' thigh
and was burned up by the fires of lightning along with
his mother, because she lied about a marriage to Zeus.
Isn’t this worthy of a terrible hanging, whoever
this stranger is, that he commits acts of violence?
But this is some other marvel, that I see
the prophet Tiresias in a spotted fawnskin,
and my maternal grandfather, who’s very old,
doing the Bacchic dance with a wand? I’m disgusted,
father, looking upon your mindless old age.
Grandfather, won’t you shake off the ivy
and release the thyrsus from your hand?
You convinced him of this, Tiresias.
By bringing a new god to men, do you want to
examine birds and earn wages from sacrifices once more?
If grey old age wasn’t protecting you, I’d place you
in chains in the middle of the other Bacchae,
for introducing insane rituals. For whenever
the joy of the grape-cluster is present at a womens’ feast,
I say there is no longer anything healthy about those rites.
CHORUS: Such impiety! Stranger, aren’t you ashamed of deriding the gods
and Cadmus, who sowed his offspring into the earth?
Child of Echion, why dishonor your people?
TIRESIAS: Whenever a wise man seizes upon
a good occasion for speech, it’s no challenge to speak well.
You have a quick tongue as if you were thoughtful,
but there is no thought in your words.
A man who has ability, and the ability to speak,
but has no wisdom, is a bad citizen indeed.
As for this new god, whom you’re laughing at,
I cannot express how great his power will be
throughout the land of Greece
who are foremost among men. The goddess Demeter-
she is the earth, call her whichever name you want;
she nourishes mortals with dry sustenance.
When he arrived, the spawn of Semele introduced
its counterpart to mortals, the moist drink of the grape,
which stops the pains of mortal sufferings,
whenever they’re filled with the stream of the vine:
it gives them sleep and forgetfulness from the daily evils;
there is no other medicine for man’s labors.
He, being a god, is poured out for the other gods,
so that, through him, men experience what is good.
And you laugh at him, because he was sewn up inside
Zeus’ thigh? I will instruct you how this is for the best.
When Zeus snatched him away from the thunderbolt’s fire,
he carried the infant god up to Olympus , but
Hera wanted to wanted to throw him out of the heavens.
The divine Zeus contrived against such things.
Breaking off a part of the ether that surrounds
the earth, he produced and gave a hostage
[--- here a line has been lost --- ]
saving Dionysus from the quarrels of Hera. In time
mortals said that he’d been stitched into the thigh of Zeus,
and by changing the name, since as a god he had
served as a hostage for Hera, they wrote the story.
The deity can see the future. For Bacchantry
and Maenadism possess much prophetic power.
Whenever the god comes to a body in full force,
he makes the maddened ones speak of what will be.
He lays claims to and holds some portion of Ares’ power;
For, when there’s an army in their gear and in formation,
fear scares them away before their grab their spears.
This is madness that comes from Dionysus.
Still, you will see him both upon the Delphine rocks,
bounding over the two-peaked plain, carrying pine torches,
and swaying and shaking the Bacchic branch,
powerful over Greece
Do not boast that force holds power over mortals,
nor, if you have a thought, if it is a sick thought,
should you mistake that thought for wisdom. Accept the god
upon the earth, pour libations, dance, and crown your head!
Dionysus does not force women to be chaste
as regards Aphrodite; you must look for that
in human nature. Also, in the Bacchic rites,
prudence itself is not corrupted.
Don’t you see, you rejoice when many people crowd
around the gates, and the city extols the name of Pentheus.
I think he, also, delights in being honored.
Now I and Cadmus, whom you ridicule,
will wreathe ourselves with ivy and dance;
a gray-haired pair, but we must dance all the same.
I will not fight against the gods or be persuaded by your words.
For you are mad most painfully, in that drugs will not
provide you a cure, even though they have caused your illness.
CHORUS: O elder, you aren’t dishonoring Apollo by your words –
you are prudent in honoring Bromios, a powerful god.
CADMUS: My child, Tiresias gave you good advice.
Dwell among us – don’t go outside the laws!
For now you’re fluttering about and aren’t using your wits.
If this one isn’t a god, like you’re saying,
speak to him like he is one and pretend well
that he is, so it seems like Semele gave birth to a god,
and honor might be paid to you and your people.
Do you see the wretched fate of Actaeon,
who was torn apart in the meadows by
the flesh-eating dogs he himself raised, he who
boasted that he was better than Artemis at hunting?
Don’t make yourself suffer! Now crown your head
with ivy! Come with us and pay honor to the god!
PENTHEUS: Don’t hold out your hand to go and play Bacchant,
don’t rub your foolishness off on me!
I’m pursuing justice against this teacher
of mindlessness. Someone, go as fast as you can,
go to the seat where he takes the auguries,
overturn it with crowbars, knock it over backwards,
throw the garlands to the winds and the stormblasts!
If I do this, I’ll really hurt him then.
Some of you – go up to the city, track down
this stranger who looks like a woman, the one that brought in
this new illness for women and who degrades our beds.
Anyway, get him, then carry him here in chains,
so he might be sentenced to death by stoning
and die – he’ll have a bad Theban revelry then!
TIRESIAS: Cruel man, you don’t know what you’re saying.
You’re insane now, and even before, you were out of your mind.
Let’s go, Cadmus, and pray that the god
will do nothing terrible to him, even though
he’s gone wild, and nothing to the city as well.
But now, follow me with your ivy staff,
try and guide my body straight; I’ll do the same for you.
It’s shameful for two old men to fall down.
Come what may, we must serve Dionysus son of Zeus.
Pentheus! I hope he doesn’t bring grief to your house,
Cadmus. I’m not speaking as a prophet now, just
about what’ll happen. A fool, he speaks foolish things.
(Exeunt)
Notes:
Ino (EE-noh), Agave, and Autonoë (auto-no-way) are the daughters of Cadmus. Agave is Pentheus' mother.
They "joy of the grape-cluster" is one of the play's many descriptions of wine.
Demeter is the goddess of agriculture, most often associated with the growing cycle of grain, and to some degree human fertility as well.
Ares is the god of war, a relatively minor deity among the Olympians.
The Delphine rocks refers to Delphi, the site of the most famous oracle of Apollo in the Greek world, where many people went to receive prophecies.
The "two-peaked plain" is probably the plateau of Livadi near Delphi.
Auguries refers to augury - the process of telling the future by plotting the movement of birds through the sky.
Aphrodite is the relatively minor Olympian goddess of sex.
Apollo is the god of wisdom, music, and healing, among various other functions.
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