Then god-given fountains washed off the stains of their toil, and their
serpents licked them clean. Even the Messenger advises submission to
so mighty a god, dispensing such gifts.
Pentheus breathes nothing but defiance, and issues orders for the whole
military force of Thebes to assemble. He is bewildered by the
stranger, who doing or suffering still holds his peace. In long-drawn
parallel verses Dionysus gradually assumes the friend, and--still
warning the king that he is on the side of the god--insinuates into the
mind of Pentheus the idea of visiting the scene, disguised in the
feminine robes of the revellers. As the king retires to prepare,
Dionysus proclaims that he is fallen into the net, and vengeance shall
first deprive him of sense and then destroy him. {868}
CHORAL INTERLUDE III
As the crisis comes nearer the Chorus long for the moment of
escape--the sensation of the hart that has leaped the net and with
storm-wind haste escaped the hunter's pursuit and reached the silent
shadow of the old hospitable wood. VICTORY IS THE JOY OF JOYS.
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