Chapter 6

_Other Maidens_ Dark and of the dark impassioned Is this Pentheus' blood; yea, fashioned Of the Dragon, and his birth From Echion, child of Earth. He is no man, but a wonder; Did the Earth-Child not beget him, As a red Giant, to set him Against God, against the Thunder? He will bind me for his prize, Me, the Bride of Dionyse; And my priest, my friend, is taken Even now, and buried lies; In the dark he lies forsaken!

_All_ Lo, we race with death, we perish, Dionysus, here before thee! Dost thou mark us not, nor cherish, Who implore thee, and adore thee? Hither down Olympus' side, Come, O Holy One defied, Be thy golden wand uplifted o'er the tyrant in his pride!

_A Maiden_ Oh, where art thou? In thine own Nysa, thou our help alone? O'er fierce beasts in orient lands Doth thy thronging thyrsus wave, By the high Corycian Cave, Or where stern Olympus stands; In the elm-woods and the oaken, There where Orpheus harped of old, And the trees awoke and knew him, And the wild things gathered to him, As he sang amid the broken Glens his music manifold? Dionysus loveth thee; Blessed Land of Piërie, He will come to thee with dancing, Come with joy and mystery; With the Maenads at his hest Winding, winding to the West; Cross the flood of swiftly glancing Axios in majesty; Cross the Lydias, the giver Of good gifts and waving green; Cross that Father-Stream of story, Through a land of steeds and glory Rolling, bravest, fairest River E'er of mortals seen!

A VOICE WITHIN Io! Io! Awake, ye damsels; hear my cry, Calling my Chosen; hearken ye!

A MAIDEN Who speaketh? Oh, what echoes thus?

ANOTHER A Voice, a Voice, that calleth us!

THE VOICE Be of good cheer! Lo, it is I, The Child of Zeus and Semelê.

A MAIDEN O Master, Master, it is Thou!

ANOTHER O Holy Voice, be with us now!

THE VOICE Spirit of the Chained Earthquake, Hear my word; awake, awake! [_An Earthquake suddenly shakes the pillars of the Castle._]

A MAIDEN Ha! what is coming? Shall the hall Of Pentheus racked in ruin fall?

LEADER Our God is in the house! Ye maids adore Him!

CHORUS We adore Him all!

THE VOICE Unveil the Lightning's eye; arouse The fire that sleeps, against this house! [_Fire leaps upon the Tomb of Semelê._]

A MAIDEN Ah, saw ye, marked ye there the flame From Semelê's enhallowed sod Awakened? Yea, the Death that came Ablaze from heaven of old, the same Hot splendour of the shaft of God?

LEADER Oh cast ye, cast ye, to the earth! The Lord Cometh against this house! Oh, cast ye down, Ye trembling damsels; He, our own adored, God's Child hath come, and all is overthrown!

[_The Maidens cast themselves upon the ground, their eyes earthward._ DIONYSUS, _alone and unbound, enters from the Castle._]

DIONYSUS Ye Damsels of the Morning Hills, why lie ye thus dismayed? Ye marked him, then, our Master, and the mighty hand he laid On tower and rock, shaking the house of Pentheus?--But arise, And cast the trembling from your flesh, and lift untroubled eyes.

LEADER O Light in Darkness, is it thou? O Priest, is this thy face? My heart leaps out to greet thee from the deep of loneliness.

DIONYSUS Fell ye so quick despairing, when beneath the Gate I passed? Should the gates of Pentheus quell me, or his darkness make me fast?

LEADER Oh, what was left if thou wert gone? What could I but despair? How hast thou 'scaped the man of sin? Who freed thee from the snare?

DIONYSUS I had no pain nor peril; 'twas mine own hand set me free.

LEADER Thine arms were gyvèd!

DIONYSUS Nay, no gyve, no touch, was laid on me! 'Twas there I mocked him, in his gyves, and gave him dreams for food. For when he laid me down, behold, before the stall there stood A Bull of Offering. And this King, he bit his lips and straight Fell on and bound it, hoof and limb, with gasping wrath and sweat. And I sat watching!--Then a Voice; and lo, our Lord was come, And the house shook, and a great flame stood o'er his mother's tomb. And Pentheus hied this way and that, and called his thralls amain For water, lest his roof-tree burn; and all toiled, all in vain. Then deemed a-sudden I was gone; and left his fire, and sped Back to the prison portals, and his lifted sword shone red. But there, methinks, the God had wrought--I speak but as I guess-- Some dream-shape in mine image; for he smote at emptiness, Stabbed in the air, and strove in wrath, as though 'twere me he slew. Then 'mid his dreams God smote him yet again! He overthrew All that high house. And there in wreck for evermore it lies, That the day of this my bondage may be sore in Pentheus' eyes! And now his sword is fallen, and he lies outworn and wan Who dared to rise against his God in wrath, being but man. And I uprose and left him, and in all peace took my path Force to my Chosen, recking light of Pentheus and his wrath. But soft, methinks a footstep sounds even now within the hall; 'Tis he; how think ye he will stand, and what words speak withal? I will endure him gently, though he come in fury hot. For still are the ways of Wisdom, and her temper trembleth not! [_Enter_ PENTHEUS _in fury_]

PENTHEUS It is too much! This Eastern knave hath slipped His prison, whom I held but now, hard gripped In bondage.--Ha! 'Tis he!--What, sirrah, how Show'st thou before my portals? [_He advances furiously upon him._]

DIONYSUS And set a quiet carriage to thy rage.

PENTHEUS How comest thou here? How didst thou break thy cage? Speak!

DIONYSUS Said I not, or didst thou mark not me, There was One living that should set me free?

PENTHEUS Who? Ever wilder are these tales of thine.

DIONYSUS He who first made for man the clustered vine.

PENTHEUS I scorn him and his vines.

DIONYSUS For Dionyse 'Tis well; for in thy scorn his glory lies.

PENTHEUS (_to his guard_) Go swift to all the towers, and bar withal Each gate!

DIONYSUS What, cannot God o'erleap a wall?

PENTHEUS Oh, wit thou hast, save where thou needest it!

DIONYSUS Whereso it most imports, there is my wit!-- Nay, peace! Abide till he who hasteth from The mountain side with news for thee, be come. We will not fly, but wait on thy command. [_Enter suddenly and in haste a Messenger from the Mountain._]

MESSENGER Great Pentheus, Lord of all this Theban land, I come from high Kithaeron, where the frore Snow spangles gleam and cease not evermore....

PENTHEUS And what of import may thy coming bring?

MESSENGER I have seen the Wild White Women there, O King, Whose fleet limbs darted arrow-like but now From Thebes away, and come to tell thee how They work strange deeds and passing marvel. Yet I first would learn thy pleasure. Shall I set My whole tale forth, or veil the stranger part? Yea Lord, I fear the swiftness of thy heart, Thine edgèd wrath and more than royal soul.

PENTHEUS Thy tale shall nothing scathe thee.--Tell the whole. It skills not to be wroth with honesty. Nay, if thy news of them be dark, 'tis he Shall pay it, who bewitched and led them on.

MESSENGER Our herded kine were moving in the dawn Up to the peaks, the greyest, coldest time, When the first rays steal earthward, and the rime Yields, when I saw three bands of them. The one Autonoë led, one Ino, one thine own Mother, Agâvê. There beneath the trees Sleeping they lay, like wild things flung at ease In the forest; one half sinking on a bed Of deep pine greenery; one with careless head Amid the fallen oak leaves; all most cold In purity--not as thy tale was told Of wine-cups and wild music and the chase For love amid the forest's loneliness. Then rose the Queen Agâvê suddenly Amid her band, and gave the God's wild cry, "Awake, ye Bacchanals! I hear the sound Of hornèd kine. Awake ye!"--Then, all round, Alert, the warm sleep fallen from their eyes, A marvel of swift ranks I saw them rise, Dames young and old, and gentle maids unwed Among them. O'er their shoulders first they shed Their tresses, and caught up the fallen fold Of mantles where some clasp had loosened hold, And girt the dappled fawn-skins in with long Quick snakes that hissed and writhed with quivering tongue. And one a young fawn held, and one a wild Wolf cub, and fed them with white milk, and smiled In love, young mothers with a mother's breast And babes at home forgotten! Then they pressed Wreathed ivy round their brows, and oaken sprays And flowering bryony. And one would raise Her wand and smite the rock, and straight a jet Of quick bright water came. Another set Her thyrsus in the bosomed earth, and there Was red wine that the God sent up to her, A darkling fountain. And if any lips Sought whiter draughts, with dipping finger-tips They pressed the sod, and gushing from the ground Came springs of milk. And reed-wands ivy-crowned Ran with sweet honey, drop by drop.--O King, Hadst thou been there, as I, and seen this thing, With prayer and most high wonder hadst thou gone To adore this God whom now thou rail'st upon! Howbeit, the kine-wardens and shepherds straight Came to one place, amazed, and held debate; And one being there who walked the streets and scanned The ways of speech, took lead of them whose hand Knew but the slow soil and the solemn hill, And flattering spoke, and asked: "Is it your will, Masters, we stay the mother of the King, Agâvê, from her lawless worshipping, And win us royal thanks?"--And this seemed good To all; and through the branching underwood We hid us, cowering in the leaves. And there Through the appointed hour they made their prayer And worship of the Wand, with one accord Of heart and cry--"Iacchos, Bromios, Lord, God of God born!"--And all the mountain felt, And worshipped with them; and the wild things knelt And ramped and gloried, and the wilderness Was filled with moving voices and dim stress. Soon, as it chanced, beside my thicket-close The Queen herself passed dancing, and I rose And sprang to seize her. But she turned her face Upon me: "Ho, my rovers of the chase, My wild White Hounds, we are hunted! Up, each rod And follow, follow, for our Lord and God!" Thereat, for fear they tear us, all we fled Amazed; and on, with hand unweaponèd They swept toward our herds that browsed the green Hill grass. Great uddered kine then hadst thou seen Bellowing in sword-like hands that cleave and tear, A live steer riven asunder, and the air Tossed with rent ribs or limbs of cloven tread, And flesh upon the branches, and a red Rain from the deep green pines. Yea, bulls of pride, Horns swift to rage, were fronted and aside Flung stumbling, by those multitudinous hands Dragged pitilessly. And swifter were the bands Of garbèd flesh and bone unbound withal Than on thy royal eyes the lids may fall. Then on like birds, by their own speed upborne, They swept toward the plains of waving corn That lie beside Asopus' banks, and bring To Thebes the rich fruit of her harvesting. On Hysiae and Erythrae that lie nursed Amid Kithaeron's bowering rocks, they burst Destroying, as a foeman's army comes. They caught up little children from their homes, High on their shoulders, babes unheld, that swayed And laughed and fell not; all a wreck they made; Yea, bronze and iron did shatter, and in play Struck hither and thither, yet no wound had they; Caught fire from out the hearths, yea, carried hot Flames in their tresses and were scorchèd not! The village folk in wrath took spear and sword, And turned upon the Bacchae. Then, dread Lord, The wonder was. For spear nor barbèd brand Could scathe nor touch the damsels; but the Wand, The soft and wreathèd wand their white hands sped, Blasted those men and quelled them, and they fled Dizzily. Sure some God was in these things! And the holy women back to those strange springs Returned, that God had sent them when the day Dawned, on the upper heights; and washed away The stain of battle. And those girdling snakes Hissed out to lap the waterdrops from cheeks And hair and breast. Therefore I counsel thee O King, receive this Spirit, whoe'er he be, To Thebes in glory. Greatness manifold Is all about him; and the tale is told That this is he who first to man did give The grief-assuaging vine. Oh, let him live; For if he die, then Love herself is slain, And nothing joyous in the world again!

LEADER Albeit I tremble, and scarce may speak my thought To a king's face, yet will I hide it not. Dionyse is God, no God more true nor higher!

PENTHEUS It bursts hard by us, like a smothered fire, This frenzy of Bacchic women! All my land Is made their mock.--This needs an iron hand! Ho, Captain! Quick to the Electran Gate; Bid gather all my men-at-arms thereat; Call all that spur the charger, all who know To wield the orbèd targe or bend the bow; We march to war--'Fore God, shall women dare Such deeds against us? 'Tis too much to bear!

DIONYSUS Thou mark'st me not, O King, and holdest light My solemn words; yet, in thine own despite, I warn thee still. Lift thou not up thy spear Against a God, but hold thy peace, and fear His wrath! He will not brook it, if thou fright His Chosen from the hills of their delight.

PENTHEUS Peace, thou! And if for once thou hast slipped chain, Give thanks!--Or shall I knot thine arms again?

DIONYSUS Better to yield him prayer and sacrifice Than kick against the pricks, since Dionyse Is God, and thou but mortal.

PENTHEUS That will I! Yea, sacrifice of women's blood, to cry His name through all Kithaeron!

DIONYSUS Ye shall fly, All, and abase your shields of bronzen rim Before their wands.

PENTHEUS There is no way with him, This stranger that so dogs us! Well or ill I may entreat him, he must babble still!

DIONYSUS Wait, good my friend! These crooked matters may Even yet be straightened. [PENTHEUS _has started as though to seek his army at the gate._]

PENTHEUS Aye, if I obey Mine own slaves' will; how else?

DIONYSUS Myself will lead The damsels hither, without sword or steed.

PENTHEUS How now?--This is some plot against me!

DIONYSUS What Dost fear? Only to save thee do I plot.

PENTHEUS It is some compact ye have made, whereby To dance these hills for ever!

DIONYSUS Verily, That is my compact, plighted with my Lord!

PENTHEUS (_turning from him_) Ho, armourers! Bring forth my shield and sword!-- And thou, be silent!

DIONYSUS (_after regarding him fixedly, speaks with resignation_) Ah!--Have then thy will! [_He fixes his eyes upon_ PENTHEUS _again, while the armourers bring out his armour; then speaks in a tone of command._] Man, thou wouldst fain behold them on the hill Praying!

PENTHEUS (_who during the rest of this scene, with a few exceptions, simply speaks the thoughts that_ DIONYSUS _puts into him, losing power over his own mind_) That would I, though it cost me all The gold of Thebes!

DIONYSUS So much? Thou art quick to fall To such great longing.

PENTHEUS (_somewhat bewildered at what he has said_) Aye; 'twould grieve me much To see them flown with wine.

DIONYSUS Yet cravest thou such A sight as would much grieve thee?

PENTHEUS Yes; I fain Would watch, ambushed among the pines.

DIONYSUS 'Twere vain To hide. They soon will track thee out.

PENTHEUS Well said! 'Twere best done openly.

DIONYSUS Wilt thou be led By me, and try the venture?

PENTHEUS Aye, indeed! Lead on. Why should we tarry?

DIONYSUS First we need A rich and trailing robe of fine-linen To gird thee.

PENTHEUS Nay; am I a woman, then, And no man more.

DIONYSUS Wouldst have them slay thee dead? No man may see their mysteries.

PENTHEUS Well said'-- I marked thy subtle temper long ere now.

DIONYSUS 'Tis Dionyse that prompteth me.

PENTHEUS And how Mean'st thou the further plan?

DIONYSUS First take thy way Within. I will array thee.

PENTHEUS What array! The woman's? Nay, I will not.

DIONYSUS Doth it change So soon, all thy desire to see this strange Adoring?

PENTHEUS Wait! What garb wilt thou bestow About me?

DIONYSUS First a long tress dangling low Beneath thy shoulders.

PENTHEUS Aye, and next?

DIONYSUS The same red Robe, falling to thy feet; and on thine head A snood.

PENTHEUS And after? Hast thou aught beyond?

DIONYSUS Surely; the dappled fawn-skin and the wand.

PENTHEUS (_after a struggle with himself_) Enough! I cannot wear a robe and snood.

DIONYSUS Wouldst liefer draw the sword and spill men's blood?

PENTHEUS (_again doubting_) True, that were evil.--Aye; 'tis best to go First to some place of watch.

DIONYSUS Far wiser so, Than seek by wrath wrath's bitter recompense.

PENTHEUS What of the city streets? Canst lead me hence Unseen of any?

DIONYSUS Lonely and untried Thy path from hence shall be, and I thy guide!

PENTHEUS I care for nothing, so these Bacchanals Triumph not against me! ...Forward to my halls Within!--I will ordain what seemeth best.

DIONYSUS So be it, O King! 'Tis mine to obey thine hest, Whate'er it be.

PENTHEUS (_after hesitating once more and waiting_) Well, I will go--perchance To march and scatter them with serried lance. Perchance to take thy plan.... I know not yet. [_Exit_ PENTHEUS _into the Castle._]

DIONYSUS Damsels, the lion walketh to the net! He finds his Bacchae now, and sees and dies, And pays for all his sin!--O Dionyse, This is thine hour and thou not far away. Grant us our vengeance!--First, O Master, stay The course of reason in him, and instil A foam of madness. Let his seeing will, Which ne'er had stooped to put thy vesture on, Be darkened, till the deed is lightly done. Grant likewise that he find through all his streets Loud scorn, this man of wrath and bitter threats That made Thebes tremble, led in woman's guise. I go to fold that robe of sacrifice On Pentheus, that shall deck him to the dark. His mother's gift!--So shall he learn and mark God's true Son, Dionyse, in fulness God, Most fearful, yet to man most soft of mood. [_Exit_ DIONYSUS, _following PENTHEUS into Castle._]

CHORUS

_Some Maidens_

Will they ever come to me, ever again, The long long dances, On through the dark till the dim stars wane? Shall I feel the dew on my throat, and the stream Of wind in my hair? Shall our white feet gleam In the dim expanses? Oh, feet of a fawn to the greenwood fled, Alone in the grass and the loveliness;

Leap of the hunted, no more in dread, Beyond the snares and the deadly press: Yet a voice still in the distance sounds, A voice and a fear and a haste of hounds; O wildly labouring, fiercely fleet, Onward yet by river and glen ... Is it joy or terror, ye storm-swift feet? ... To the dear lone lands untroubled of men, Where no voice sounds, and amid the shadowy green The little things of the woodland live unseen.

What else is Wisdom? What of man's endeavour Or God's high grace, so lovely and so great? To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait; To hold a hand uplifted over Hate; And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever?

_Others_ O Strength of God, slow art thou and still, Yet failest never! On them that worship the Ruthless Will, On them that dream, doth His judgment wait. Dreams of the proud man, making great And greater ever, Things which are not of God. In wide And devious coverts, hunter-wise, He coucheth Time's unhasting stride, Following, following, him whose eyes Look not to Heaven. For all is vain, The pulse of the heart, the plot of the brain, That striveth beyond the laws that live. And is thy Fate so much to give, Is it so hard a thing to see, That the Spirit of God, whate'er it be, The Law that abides and changes not, ages long, The Eternal and Nature-born--these things be strong?

What else is Wisdom? What of man's endeavour Or God's high grace so lovely and so great? To stand from fear set free, to breathe and wait; To hold a hand uplifted over Hate; And shall not Loveliness be loved for ever?

LEADER Happy he, on the weary sea Who hath fled the tempest and won the haven. Happy whoso hath risen, free, Above his striving. For strangely graven Is the orb of life, that one and another In gold and power may outpass his brother, And men in their millions float and flow And seethe with a million hopes as leaven; And they win their Will, or they miss their Will, And the hopes are dead or are pined for still, But whoe'er can know, As the long days go, That To Live is happy, hath found his Heaven!

[_Re-enter_ DIONYSUS, _from the Castle_]

DIONYSUS O eye that cravest sights thou must not see, O heart athirst for that which slakes not! Thee, Pentheus, I call; forth and be seen, in guise Of woman, Maenad, saint of Dionyse, To spy upon His Chosen and thine own Mother! [_Enter_ PENTHEUS, _clad like a Bacchanal, and strangely excited, a spirit of Bacchic madness overshadowing him._] Thy shape, methinks, is like to one Of Cadmus' royal maids!

PENTHEUS Yea; and mine eye Is bright! Yon sun shines twofold in the sky, Thebes twofold and the Wall of Seven Gates.... And is it a Wild Bull this, that walks and waits Before me? There are horns upon thy brow! What art thou, man or beast! For surely now The Bull is on thee!

DIONYSUS He who erst was wrath, Goes with us now in gentleness. He hath Unsealed thine eyes to see what thou shouldst see.

PENTHEUS Say; stand I not as Ino stands, or she Who bore me?

DIONYSUS When I look on thee, it seems I see their very selves!--But stay; why streams That lock abroad, not where I laid it, crossed Under the coif?

PENTHEUS I did it, as I tossed My head in dancing, to and fro, and cried His holy music!

DIONYSUS (_tending him_) It shall soon be tied Aright. 'Tis mine to tend thee. . . . Nay, but stand With head straight.

PENTHEUS In the hollow of thine hand I lay me. Deck me as thou wilt.

DIONYSUS Thy zone Is loosened likewise; and the folded gown Not evenly falling to the feet.

PENTHEUS 'Tis so, By the right foot. But here methinks, they flow In one straight line to the heel.