The Bacchae, pages 200-220 Summary

A messenger enters from Cithaeron, moaning the collapse of the palace. Coryphaeus asks the messenger for his news, and the messenger says that Pentheus is dead. Coryphaeus praises Dionysus. The messenger criticizes her for rejoicing in the leader's death, and Coryphaeus counters that she is not Greek and follows her god. She asks how Pentheus died, and the messenger tells the story: The messenger, Pentheus, and Dionysus go up to the mountain, and the messenger sees the women singing and decorating their wands. Pentheus cannot see the women and wants to climb a fir tree to see better. Dionysus bends the tree down to the earth and places Pentheus on the top branch, and lifts the tree back up. The women see Pentheus in the tree, and Dionysus vanishes. The god's voice calls out to the women...