[48] In the same manner [Greek:  hebai] is used in Orestes, 687, [Greek:  hotan gar hebai demos eis orgen peson].

[49] i.e. the severed head of the Gorgon.  Valckenaer observes, that this is an expression meaning facie aversa, and compares l. 465 of the Phoenissae.

[50] Winter’s Tale, v. 3.

  Start not:  her actions shall be holy, as,
  You hear, my spell is lawful:  do not shun her,
  Until you see her die again; for then
  You kill her double:  Nay, present your hand: 
  When she was young you woo’d her; now, in age,
  Is she become the suitor?

Compare also Much Ado about Nothing, v. 4.  B.

[51] [Greek:  haphagnizein] h. l. non purificare sed desecrare.  Orcus enim, quando gladio totondisset Alcestidis capillos, eam diis manibus sacram dicaverat, quod diserte [Greek:  hegnisai] appellat noster, vide 75—­77.  Contraria igitur aliqua ceremonia desecranda erat, antequam Admeto ejus consuetudine et colloquio frui liceret.  HEATH.

* * * * * *

THE BACCHAE.

* * * *

PERSONS REPRESENTED,

  BACCHUS. 
  CHORUS. 
  TIRESIAS. 
  CADMUS. 
  PENTHEUS. 
  SERVANT. 
  MESSENGER. 
  ANOTHER MESSENGER. 
  AGAVE.

* * * * *

THE ARGUMENT.

* * * *

Bacchus, the son of Jove by Semele, had made Thebes, his mother’s birth-place, his favorite place of abode and worship.  Pentheus, the then reigning king, who, as others say, preferred the worship of Minerva, slighted the new God, and persecuted those who celebrated his revels.  Upon this, Bacchus excited his mother Agave, together with the sisters of Semele, Autonoe and Ino, to madness, and visiting Pentheus in disguise of a Bacchanal, was at first imprisoned, but, easily escaping from his bonds, he persuaded Pentheus to intrude upon the rites of the Bacchants.  While surveying them from a lofty tree, the voice of Bacchus was heard inciting the Bacchants to avenge themselves upon the intruder, and they tore the miserable Pentheus piecemeal.  The grief and banishment of Agave for her unwitting offense conclude the play.

* * * * *

THE BACCHAE.[1]

* * * *

BACCHUS.

I, Bacchus, the son of Jove, am come to this land of the Thebans, whom formerly Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, brought forth, delivered by the lightning-bearing flame.  And having taken a mortal form instead of a God’s, I am present at the fountains of Dirce and the water of Ismenus.  And I see the tomb of my thunder-stricken mother here near the palace, and the remnants of the house smoking, and the still living name of Jove’s fire, the everlasting insult of Juno against my mother.  But I praise Cadmus, who has made this place hallowed, the shrine