he wine-god, drove away his attendants, the nymphs
of Nysa, from that sacred mountain, and so effectually intimidated
Dionysus, that he precipitated himself into the sea, where he was received
into the arms of the ocean-nymph, Thetis. But the impious king bitterly
expiated his sacrilegious conduct. He was punished with the loss of his
reason, and, during one of his mad paroxysms, killed his own son Dryas,
whom he mistook for a vine.

Pentheus, king of Thebes, seeing his subjects so completely infatuated by
the riotous worship of this new divinity, and fearing the demoralizing
effects of the unseemly nocturnal orgies held in honour of the wine-god,
strictly prohibited his people from taking any part in the wild
Bacchanalian revels. Anxious to save him from the consequences of his
impiety, Dionysus appeared to him under the form of a youth in the king's
train, and earnestly warned him to desist from his denunciations. But the
well-meant admonition failed in its purpose, for Pentheus only became more
incensed at this interference, and, commanding Dionysus to be cast into
prison, caused the most cruel preparations to be made for his immediate
execution. But the god soon freed himself from his ignoble confinement, for
scarcely had his jailers departed, ere the prison-doors opened of
themselves, and, bursting asunder his iron chains, he escaped to rejoin his
devoted followers.

Meanwhile, the mother of the king and her sisters, inspired with
Bacchanalian fury, had repaired to Mount Cithaeron, in order to join the
worshippers of the {127} wine-god in those dreadful orgies which were
solemnized exclusively by women, and at which no man was allowed to be
present. Enraged at finding his commands thus openly disregarded by the
members of his own family, Pentheus resolved to witness for himself the
excesses of which he had heard such terrible reports, and for this purpose,
concealed himself behind a tree on Mount Cithaeron; but his hiding-place
being discovered, he was dragged out by the half-maddened crew of
Bacchantes and, horrible to relate, he was torn in pieces by his own mother
Agave and her two sisters.

An incident which occurred to Dionysus on one of his travels has been a
favourite subject with the classic poets. One day, as some Tyrrhenian
pirates approached the shores of Greece, they beheld Dionysus, in the form
of a beautiful youth, attired in radiant garments. Thinking to secure a
rich prize, they seized him, bound