It seems even now his sandal Is sounding on its way;
Soon is he here before us, And what now will he say?
With ease will I confront him, Ire-breathing though he stand.
'Tis easy to a wise man To practice self-command. {651}
Blank verse is resumed as Pentheus enters, and meets his escaped
prisoner who calmly confronts him. As Pentheus begins to threaten,
Dionysus advises him first to hear the messenger even now entering from
Cithaeron. An elaborate _Messenger's Speech_ describes the miraculous
life of the Maenads as they lie on the mountains, careless but not
immodest. At the touch of their thyrsus the rock yields dew and the
soil wine; their fingers lightly scraping the soil draw streams of
exquisite milk, and honey distils from their ivied staffs. A city-bred
agitator stirred up the herdsmen to confront them, but the phrensied
women drove the men before them, and tore the herds to pieces; like a
flock of birds they skimmed along the land, and all gave way before
them.
And what they threw across their shoulders, clung
Unfastened, nor fell down to the black ground,
No brass, nor ponderous iron; on their locks
Was fire that burned them not.
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