ow driven them from the house with frenzy, and they dwell on the
mountain, insane of mind; and I have compelled them to wear the dress of my
mysteries. And all the female seed of the Cadmeans, as many as are women,
have I driven maddened from the house. And they, mingled with the sons of
Cadmus, sit on the roofless rocks beneath the green pines. For this city
must know, even though it be unwilling, that it is not initiated into my
Bacchanalian rites, and that I plead the cause of my mother, Semele, in
appearing manifest to mortals as a God whom she bore to Jove. Cadmus then
gave his honor and power to Pentheus, born from his daughter, who fights
against the Gods as far as I am concerned, and drives me from sacrifices,
and in his prayers makes no mention of me; on which account I will show him
and all the Thebans that I am a God. And having set matters here aright,
manifesting myself, I will move to another land. But if the city of the
Thebans should in anger seek by arms to bring down the Bacchae from the
mountain, I, general of the Maenads, will join battle.[3] On which account I
have changed my form to a mortal one, and transformed my shape into the
nature of a man. But, O ye who have left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia; ye
women, my assembly, whom I have brought from among the barbarians as
assistants and companions to me; take your drums, your native instruments
in the Phrygian cities, the invention of the mother Rhea[4] and myself, and
coming beat them around this royal palace of Pentheus, that the city of
Cadmus may see it. And I, with the Bacchae, going to the dells of Cithaeron,
where they are, will share their dances.

CHOR. Coming from the land of Asia, having left the sacred Tmolus, I dance
in honor of Bromius, a sweet labor and a toil easily borne, celebrating the
god Bacchus. Who is in the way? who is in the way? who is in the halls? Let
him depart. And let every one be pure as to his mouth speaking propitious
things; for now I will with hymns celebrate Bacchus according to
custom:--Blessed is he,[5] whoever being favored, knowing the mysteries of
the gods, keeps his life pure, and has his soul initiated into the Bacchic
revels, dancing o'er the mountains with holy purifications, and reverencing
the mysteries of the mighty mother Cybele, and brandishing the thyrsus, and
being crowned with ivy, serves Bacchus! Go, ye Bacchae; go, ye Bacchae,
escorting Bromius, a God, the son of a God, from the Phrygian mountains