Fourth Episode
(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 guiseOf woman, Maenad, saint of Dionyse,To spy upon His Chosen and thine ownMother!
(Enter PENTHEUS, clad like a Bacchanal, and strangely excited, a spirit of Bacchic madness overshadowing him.)
Thy shape, methinks, is like to oneOf Cadmus' royal maids!
PENTHEUS.Yea; and mine eyeIs 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 waitsBefore me? There are horns upon thy brow!What art thou, man or beast? For surely nowThe Bull is on thee!
DIONYSUS.He who erst was wrath,Goes with us now in gentleness. He hathUnsealed thine eyes to see what thou shouldst see.
PENTHEUS.Say; stand I not as Ino stands, or sheWho bore me?
DIONYSUS.When I look on thee, it seemsI see their very selves!--But stay; why streamsThat lock abroad, not where I laid it, crossedUnder the coif?
PENTHEUS.I did it, as I tossedMy head in dancing, to and fro, and criedHis holy music!
DIONYSUS (tending him).It shall soon be tiedAright. 'Tis mine to tend thee. . . . Nay, but standWith head straight.
PENTHEUS.In the hollow of thy handI lay me. Deck me as thou wilt.
DIONYSUS.Thy zoneIs loosened likewise; and the folded gownNot evenly falling to the feet.
PENTHEUS.'Tis so,By the right foot. But here, methinks, they flowIn one straight line to the heel.
DIONYSUS (while tending him).And if thou proveTheir madness true, aye, more than true, what loveAnd thanks hast thou for me?
PENTHEUS (not listening to him).In my right handIs it, or thus, that I should bear the wand,To be most like to them?
DIONYSUS.Up let it swingIn the right hand, timed with the right foot's spring. . . .'Tis well thy heart is changed!
PENTHEUS (more wildly).What strength is this!Kithaeron's steeps and all that in them is--How say'st thou?--Could my shoulders lift the whole?
DIONYSUS.Surely thou canst, and if thou wilt! Thy soul,Being once so sick, now stands as it should stand.
PENTHEUS.Shall it be bars of iron? Or this bare handAnd shoulder to the crags, to wrench them down?
DIONYSUS.Wouldst wreck the Nymphs' wild temples, and the brownRocks, where Pan pipes at noonday?
PENTHEUS.Nay; not I!Force is not well with women. I will lieHid in the pine-brake.
DIONYSUS.Even as fits a spyOn holy and fearful things, so shalt thou lie!
PENTHEUS (with a laugh).They lie there now, methinks--the wild birds, caughtBy love among the leaves, and fluttering not!
DIONYSUS.It may be. That is what thou goest to see,Aye, and to trap them--so they trap not thee!
PENTHEUS.Forth through the Thebans' town! I am their king,Aye, their one Man, seeing I dare this thing!
DIONYSUS.Yea, thou shalt bear their burden, thou alone;Therefore thy trial awaiteth thee!--But on;With me into thine ambush shalt thou comeUnscathed; then let another bear thee home!
PENTHEUS.The Queen, my mother.
DIONYSUS.Marked of every eye.
PENTHEUS.For that I go!
DIONYSUS.Thou shalt be borne on high!
PENTHEUS.That were like pride!
DIONYSUS.Thy mother's hands shall shareThy carrying.
PENTHEUS.Nay; I need not such soft care!
DIONYSUS.So soft?
PENTHEUS.Whate'er it be, I have earned it well!
(Exit PENTHEUS towards the Mountain.)
DIONYSUS.Fell, fell art thou; and to a doom so fellThou walkest, that thy name from South to NorthShall shine, a sign for ever!--Reach thou forthThine arms, Agave, now, and ye dark-browedCadmeian sisters! Greet this prince so proudTo the high ordeal, where save God and me,None walks unscathed!--The rest this day shall see.
(Exit DIONYSUS following PENTHEUS.)
Words in this poem
- athirst a.
- Wanting drink; thirsty. [OE. ofthurst, AS. ofpyrsted, p. p. of ofpyrstan; pref. of-, intensive + pyrstan to thirst. See Thirst.]
- clad v.
- To clothe. Holland.
- bacchanal a.
- Relating to Bacchus or his festival. [L. Bacchanalis. See Bacchanalia.]
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
- bacchic a.
- Of or relating to Bacchus; hence, jovial, or riotous,with intoxication.
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- aright adv.
- Rightly; correctly; in a right way or form; without mistake or crime; as, to worship God aright. [Pref. a- + right.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- wrench n.
- Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. Wring, and cf. Ranch, v. t.]
- noonday n.
- Midday; twelve o'clock in the day; noon.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Fourth Episode is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bacchae of Euripides, translated into English verse by Gilbert Murray, Project Gutenberg ebook #35173, the Gilbert Murray translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Euripides, Fourth Episode, in The Bacchae (1904), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #35173, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/euripides-bacchae/fourth-episode.html, id L28771.
Form and metre
Fourth Episode is 125 lines in 38 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 2 -AA---- dionysus · seeA · theeA · guise · dionyse · own · mother
- 5 -AABBCC- pentheus · eyeA · skyA · gatesB · waitsB · browC · nowC · thee
- 6 -AA- dionysus · wrathA · hathA · see
- 7 -AA pentheus · sheA · meA
- 8 -AA-- dionysus · seemsA · streamsA · crossed · coif
- 13 -AA- pentheus · soA · flowA · heel
- 14 -AA- him · proveA · loveA · me
- 16 -AA- dionysus · swingA · springA · changed
- 21 -AA- pentheus · iA · lieA · brake
- 22 -AA dionysus · spyA · lieA
- 23 -AA laugh · caughtA · notA
- 24 -AA dionysus · seeA · theeA
- 25 -AA pentheus · kingA · thingA
- 26 ---AA dionysus · alone · on · comeA · homeA
- 37 --AABBCC dionysus · fell · northA · forthA · browedB · proudB · meC · seeC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| (Re-enter DIONYSUS from the Castle.) | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| O eye that cravest sights thou must not see, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| O heart athirst for that which slakes not! Thee, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Pentheus, I call; forth and be seen, in guise | 10 | ·········· |
| Of woman, Maenad, saint of Dionyse, | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| To spy upon His Chosen and thine own | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Mother! | 2 | /˘ |
| (Enter PENTHEUS, clad like a Bacchanal, and strangely excited, a spirit of Bacchic madness overshadowing him.) | 28 | /˘·····/˘˘·/˘˘/˘·/···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Thy shape, methinks, is like to one | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| Of Cadmus' royal maids! | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| Yea; and mine eye | 4 | ···· |
| Is bright! Yon sun shines twofold in the sky, | 10 | ·····//··· |
| Thebes twofold and the Wall of Seven Gates. . . . | 10 | ·//····/˘· |
| And is it a Wild Bull this, that walks and waits | 11 | ··········· |
| Before me? There are horns upon thy brow! | 10 | ·········· |
| What art thou, man or beast? For surely now | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The Bull is on thee! | 5 | ····· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| He who erst was wrath, | 5 | ····· |
| Goes with us now in gentleness. He hath | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Unsealed thine eyes to see what thou shouldst see. | 10 | ˘/········ |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| Say; stand I not as Ino stands, or she | 10 | ·········· |
| Who bore me? | 3 | ··· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| When I look on thee, it seems | 7 | ······· |
| I see their very selves!--But stay; why streams | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That lock abroad, not where I laid it, crossed | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Under the coif? | 4 | ···· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| I did it, as I tossed | 6 | ······ |
| My head in dancing, to and fro, and cried | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| His holy music! | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| DIONYSUS (tending him). | 6 | ···/˘· |
| It shall soon be tied | 5 | ····· |
| Aright. 'Tis mine to tend thee. . . . Nay, but stand | 10 | ˘/········ |
| With head straight. | 3 | ··· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| In the hollow of thy hand | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| I lay me. Deck me as thou wilt. | 8 | ········ |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Thy zone | 2 | ·· |
| Is loosened likewise; and the folded gown | 10 | ·/˘/···/˘· |
| Not evenly falling to the feet. | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| 'Tis so, | 2 | ·· |
| By the right foot. But here, methinks, they flow | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| In one straight line to the heel. | 7 | ······· |
| DIONYSUS (while tending him). | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And if thou prove | 4 | ···· |
| Their madness true, aye, more than true, what love | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And thanks hast thou for me? | 6 | ······ |
| PENTHEUS (not listening to him). | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| In my right hand | 4 | ···· |
| Is it, or thus, that I should bear the wand, | 10 | ·········· |
| To be most like to them? | 6 | ······ |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Up let it swing | 4 | ···· |
| In the right hand, timed with the right foot's spring. . . . | 10 | ·········· |
| 'Tis well thy heart is changed! | 6 | ······ |
| PENTHEUS (more wildly). | 5 | ···/˘ |
| What strength is this! | 4 | ···· |
| Kithaeron's steeps and all that in them is-- | 10 | ·········· |
| How say'st thou?--Could my shoulders lift the whole? | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Surely thou canst, and if thou wilt! Thy soul, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Being once so sick, now stands as it should stand. | 10 | /········· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| Shall it be bars of iron? Or this bare hand | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And shoulder to the crags, to wrench them down? | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Wouldst wreck the Nymphs' wild temples, and the brown | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Rocks, where Pan pipes at noonday? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| Nay; not I! | 3 | ··· |
| Force is not well with women. I will lie | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Hid in the pine-brake. | 5 | ····· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Even as fits a spy | 6 | /˘···· |
| On holy and fearful things, so shalt thou lie! | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
| PENTHEUS (with a laugh). | 5 | ····· |
| They lie there now, methinks--the wild birds, caught | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| By love among the leaves, and fluttering not! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| It may be. That is what thou goest to see, | 10 | ·········· |
| Aye, and to trap them--so they trap not thee! | 10 | ·········· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| Forth through the Thebans' town! I am their king, | 10 | ·········· |
| Aye, their one Man, seeing I dare this thing! | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Yea, thou shalt bear their burden, thou alone; | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Therefore thy trial awaiteth thee!--But on; | 11 | ···/˘˘/˘··· |
| With me into thine ambush shalt thou come | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Unscathed; then let another bear thee home! | 10 | ˘/··˘/˘··· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| The Queen, my mother. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Marked of every eye. | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| For that I go! | 4 | ···· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Thou shalt be borne on high! | 6 | ······ |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| That were like pride! | 4 | ···· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Thy mother's hands shall share | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thy carrying. | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| Nay; I need not such soft care! | 7 | ······· |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| So soft? | 2 | ·· |
| PENTHEUS. | 2 | ·· |
| Whate'er it be, I have earned it well! | 10 | ˘˘/······· |
| (Exit PENTHEUS towards the Mountain.) | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| DIONYSUS. | 3 | ··· |
| Fell, fell art thou; and to a doom so fell | 10 | ·········· |
| Thou walkest, that thy name from South to North | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Shall shine, a sign for ever!--Reach thou forth | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Thine arms, Agave, now, and ye dark-browed | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| Cadmeian sisters! Greet this prince so proud | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| To the high ordeal, where save God and me, | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| None walks unscathed!--The rest this day shall see. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| (Exit DIONYSUS following PENTHEUS.) | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
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