THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

FABULA VII.
' ADVENTU^BACCHI: IMPIETAS PENTIIEI.
Pentheus, the son of Echion and Agave, endeavors to prevent the Thetans
from paying respect to Bacchus. He orders his servants to seize the pre
tended deity; and bring him before him. They cannot find Bacchus, but re
turn with AcKtes, his chief priest, whom they have captured.
EXPLICATIO.
THE orgies of Bacchus were the same as the mysterious rites of Osiris,
with such alterations and additions as suited the corrupt tastes of those
among whom they were introduced ; for we are expressly told by Diodorus
Siculus, that " Osiris is the same person that the Greeks call Dionysus;"
and again, " the rites of Osiris and Bacchus are the same." Now in the
processions of Osiris, found sculptured on the monuments of Eg\pt, evi
dent reference is made to Noah. First, a boat is carried bj priests,
superintended by the pontiff clad in a leopard skin, after which arc two
liieraphori with a staff, then a man with a tambourine, behind whom is
a pomegranate, with the stalk bound with ivy, followed by two hicraphori
bearing a staff with a jackall, then others with ivy-bound flowers. The
processions of Bacchus are similar to the above, with some additions; for
we find in them the tambourine, the ivy-bound thrysus, the leopard skin,
the sacred basket, and sometimes the ark, containing fruit with serpents
enclosed in the same. Besides these, were carried the mysterious phalli,
in honor of the deity.
Having before shown, that in their Bacchus, the Greeks had a con
fused blending of the history of Adam and Noah, and that their cere
monies were designed to commemorate early history, it is plain that the
rites of Bacchus were a representation of the Fall of Man. The Bac
chanals rushing' wildly along, half-clothed and covered with skins, were
no inappropriate representation of our first parents, as they left Eden,
clothed with the skins which God had provided them, and forced now to
till the soil for a sustenance. They uttered wild and piercing' cries as
they ran, and in the most sacred part of the ceremony, as they lifted the
fruit from the mystic basket, or a serpent discovered itself from among
the fruit, they shout Evcc! Evre ! in commemoration of the Tempter who
had thus rendered agriculture and the tillage of the vine necessary. The
mystic pomegranate, too, was probably said to be the fruit of temptation,
as it was fair to the sight, and its name, £wa (Rhca), became the name
of the productive earth, the goddess Rhea, because by eating of it the
earth came to be cultivated. The fig-leaves, and the serpents in Hippa's
hair, also have their antelypes in Eden. The phallus, too, which was
borne in the orgies of Bacchus, was not only a sign of the fructifying
principle of the earth, but had especial reference to the Fall of Alan;
for it was not till after the Fall, that " Adam knew his wife."
Such was the intention of the rites of Bacchus, lint corruptions had
probably been introduced, and licentiousness, which induced Pentheus to
resist their introduction into Thebes.
238
"If
OGNITA res meritam vati per Acha'idas urbes
Attulerat famam; nomenque erat auguris ingens.
Spernit Echionides tamen hunc, ex omnibus unus
Contemptor Superftm Pentheus: prsesagaquc ridel
Verba senis; tenebrasque et cladcm lucis adempta;
Objicit. Ille movens albentia tempora canis,
Q.uam felix esses, si tu quoque luminis hujus
Orbus, ait, fieres; ne Bacchia sacra videres !
NOTjE.
2. . Augurif: of ihe prophet. irophet. This word properly belongs belonj to a
soot" thsnycr who makes his predictions from the flight of birds.
No more the augur stanils in snowy shroud,
To watch each timing wing nml rolling cloud. IlibTORY OF THE CHUBCH.
3. Ecliionides. Fenthcus, the son of Echion and Agave.
What rage, what rage doia Pentlieus1 bosom fire?
lie from ihe dragon-brood,
Thnt started from Hie ground, derives his blood,
r.urtli-ljorn Kcliiuli was ot' old liU sire. BACCH.E OF EUBIPIDES.
4. Cnnltmptor snperum: a contemrjer of 5. Ttncbras: his darkness; his blind
the pods. The poet inculcates a good ness.
moral, by niakinp impiety to the pods the 6. Klovens aVientia: shaking his temples,
cause of his punishment. A distinction white with hoary hair,
should be made, however, between true j arn ir]eu cyriieiw imitantur tempera plumos.
religion and superstition. OVID, Tri"! iv. Ucg. IS.
He with profane coin Tripl against me ivar 8. Ne Eacchia sacra. The tnvsteries of
Drives ,.>. = me ..,. from ,.«... tlie ...- lilmllons. ...... ....... in his ...^ vows -- .the heathen world were commemorations
Deems me not worthy mention: for which | of t |lc ear]y history of ninn, preserved by
e_ous«,
To him and all the Thebans, will ] show
Myeclf u god EUIUPIDES.
tradition, but corrupted in many cases by
the lapse of time. Thus the ceremonies