Bacchae Quotes
Pentheus
1st Episode
‘one by one the women creep off to hide in secret places and serve the lusts of men’
‘they put Aphrodite before the Bacchic god.’
‘Those still at large I will hunt from the mountains’
‘his blond hair smelling of perfume, his cheeks flushed, with the charms of Aphrodite in his
eyes.’
‘I will put a stop to him pounding his thyrsus and tossing his hair- by cutting his head from
his body’
‘you want to bring this new god to mankind so that you can make more money from augury
and sacrifices!’
‘Go and play and bacchant, but don’t wipe your stupidity off on me!’
‘Go, someone, immediately to the seat where he practices his prophecy! Lever it up with
crowbars and turn it upside-down (…) that is how I will hurt him most’
‘effeminate foreigner’
‘and if you catch him, bring him here in chains, to be punished by stoning and so die.’
2nd Episode
‘He is in my net, and he is not so quick that he can get away from me.’
‘Was it in a dream, or face-to-face, that the god commanded you?’
‘That is a clever trick, to make me want to hear!’
‘Because they (Persia) have far less sense than the Greeks!’
‘You will pay the penalty for your vile cleverness!’
‘Seize him! He is mocking me, and Thebes!’
‘I will sell them as slaves, or keep them as servants at my loom’
2nd Stasimon
‘he rages, how he rages, Pentheus, born of the earth’
‘A savage, unnatural creature, inhuman, a giant so bloody he threatens the gods!’
3rd Episode
‘panting his rage, his body dripping with sweat, and biting his lips.’
, ‘Pentheus rushed to attack it, and slashed the shimmering air as though he were killing me’
‘though only a man, he dared to fight against a god’
‘Who? Everything you say to me is so bizarre!’
‘for I fear the swiftness of your moods, lord, and your temper, which is excessively kinglike’
‘Speak! You will not be harmed by me, no matter what; for one should not be angry with the
innocent’
‘It has gone to far, if we are to suffer this at the hands of women!’
‘Since you have escaped your prison, keep out of trouble’
‘I will sacrifice a great slaughter of women’
‘I am quite ensnared by this impossible stranger’
‘How? By taking orders from my slaves’
‘I would not like to see them drunk (…) sitting in silence under the pine trees’
‘You are right again. How clever you are- and have been all along!’
‘In what clothes? Women’s? I am ashamed (…) I could not put on women’s clothes!’
‘How will I avoid being seen by the Thebans as I go through the city?’
‘Anything is better than the bacchants laughing at me. Let us go inside… I will decide what is
best’
4th Episode
‘Now I seem to see two suns, and a double city of Thebes (…) Were you an animal before?
Certainly, you are a bull now.’
‘I must have thrown it out of place when I was dancing as a bacchant inside the palace,
shaking my head up and down.’
‘I am in your hands now’
‘Should we take tools, crowbars? Or shall I tear up the mountain with my bare hands’
‘You are right: force must not be used to defeat women’
‘like birds in the sweet clutches of love-making’
‘Escort me through the heart of Thebes, for I am the only Theban man enough to dare this
deed.’
‘My mother! (…) that is why I am going’
4th Stasimon
‘The enemy of gods, law, and justice!’
Pentheus
1st Episode
‘one by one the women creep off to hide in secret places and serve the lusts of men’
‘they put Aphrodite before the Bacchic god.’
‘Those still at large I will hunt from the mountains’
‘his blond hair smelling of perfume, his cheeks flushed, with the charms of Aphrodite in his
eyes.’
‘I will put a stop to him pounding his thyrsus and tossing his hair- by cutting his head from
his body’
‘you want to bring this new god to mankind so that you can make more money from augury
and sacrifices!’
‘Go and play and bacchant, but don’t wipe your stupidity off on me!’
‘Go, someone, immediately to the seat where he practices his prophecy! Lever it up with
crowbars and turn it upside-down (…) that is how I will hurt him most’
‘effeminate foreigner’
‘and if you catch him, bring him here in chains, to be punished by stoning and so die.’
2nd Episode
‘He is in my net, and he is not so quick that he can get away from me.’
‘Was it in a dream, or face-to-face, that the god commanded you?’
‘That is a clever trick, to make me want to hear!’
‘Because they (Persia) have far less sense than the Greeks!’
‘You will pay the penalty for your vile cleverness!’
‘Seize him! He is mocking me, and Thebes!’
‘I will sell them as slaves, or keep them as servants at my loom’
2nd Stasimon
‘he rages, how he rages, Pentheus, born of the earth’
‘A savage, unnatural creature, inhuman, a giant so bloody he threatens the gods!’
3rd Episode
‘panting his rage, his body dripping with sweat, and biting his lips.’
, ‘Pentheus rushed to attack it, and slashed the shimmering air as though he were killing me’
‘though only a man, he dared to fight against a god’
‘Who? Everything you say to me is so bizarre!’
‘for I fear the swiftness of your moods, lord, and your temper, which is excessively kinglike’
‘Speak! You will not be harmed by me, no matter what; for one should not be angry with the
innocent’
‘It has gone to far, if we are to suffer this at the hands of women!’
‘Since you have escaped your prison, keep out of trouble’
‘I will sacrifice a great slaughter of women’
‘I am quite ensnared by this impossible stranger’
‘How? By taking orders from my slaves’
‘I would not like to see them drunk (…) sitting in silence under the pine trees’
‘You are right again. How clever you are- and have been all along!’
‘In what clothes? Women’s? I am ashamed (…) I could not put on women’s clothes!’
‘How will I avoid being seen by the Thebans as I go through the city?’
‘Anything is better than the bacchants laughing at me. Let us go inside… I will decide what is
best’
4th Episode
‘Now I seem to see two suns, and a double city of Thebes (…) Were you an animal before?
Certainly, you are a bull now.’
‘I must have thrown it out of place when I was dancing as a bacchant inside the palace,
shaking my head up and down.’
‘I am in your hands now’
‘Should we take tools, crowbars? Or shall I tear up the mountain with my bare hands’
‘You are right: force must not be used to defeat women’
‘like birds in the sweet clutches of love-making’
‘Escort me through the heart of Thebes, for I am the only Theban man enough to dare this
deed.’
‘My mother! (…) that is why I am going’
4th Stasimon
‘The enemy of gods, law, and justice!’
