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.
Pages:
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182