THE METAMORPHOSES OF PUBLIUS OVIDIUS NASO

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FABULA IX.
PENTHEUS A BACCHIS DISCERPTUS.
Pentheus, unmoved by the miraculous release of Aerates, priest of iacjhus,
and burning with increased rage, goes to Mount Cithssron for the purpose of
restraining the celebration of the orgies: v/hile thus looking on the mysteries
with profane eyes, he is seen by his mother, Agave, who, under Bacchic
furor, mistakes him for a wild boar. She wounds him with her thyrsus;
the other Bacchantes join in the pursuit, and tear the unfortunate prince to
pieces.
EXPLICATIO.
IN this Fable, the poet intends to exhibit the justice of Heaven in trie
punishment of a cruel and implacable tyrant, who had no reverence for
piety and age, nor any veneration for the gods. Pentheus had dis
honored Tiresias, a hoary-headed prophet of approved oracular power,
and refused to admit the claims of Bacchus, a deity manifested by
miracles. Unaffected by the admonitions of the aged seer, and the power
of the youthful god, he is hurried on by reckless impiety, and madly
rushes upon his own destruction. Under a blind impulse, he attempts to
witness the Bacchic rites, but is discovered and attacked by the Baccha
nals. He discovers his error when too late, acknowledges his fauJt, and
implores in vain the forgiveness of his impiety. According to the pre
dictions of Tiresias, he defiles with his blood his mother and sisters, and
in his miserable end affords an example to others:
Discite justitiam moniti et non contemnere divos. VIKGIL.
The real character of Pentheus was that of a prince zealous for the
public interest, but carried by violence beyond a prudent opposition toths
rites of Bacchus, which, in their origin religious, and commemorative of
the Flood and Fall of Man, became afterwards scenes of corruption and
debauchery, as will appear from the following extract from Livy :
" These mysterious rites were at first imparted to a few, but afterward
communicated to great numbers, both men and women. To their reli
gious performances were added the pleasures of wine and feasting, to
allure the greater number of proselytes. When wine, friendly discourse,
night, and the mingling of sexes, had extinguished every sentiment of
modesty, then debaucheries of every kind began to be practised, as every
person found at hand that sort of enjoyment to which he was disposed by
the passion most prevalent in his nature. Nor were they confined to one
species of vice, the promiscuous meetings of freeborn men and women;
but from this storehouse of villany proceeded false witnesses, counterfeit
seals, false evidences, and pretended discoveries. In the same place, too,
were perpetrated secret murders; so that, in some cases, even the bodies
could not be found for burial. Many of their audacious deeds were
brought about by treachery, but most of them by force; and this force
was concealed by loud shouting, and the noise of drums and "cymbals, so
that none of the cries uttered by the persons suffering outrage or murder
could be heard abroad." Book xxxix.
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ERST AT Echionides; nee jam jubet ire, sed ipse
Vadit, ubi electus facienda ad sacra Cithasron,
Cantibus et clara Bacchantfim voce sonabat.
Ut fremit acer equus, cum bellicus cere canoro
Signa dedit tubicen, pugnasque assumit amorem:
Penthea sic ictus longis ululatibus sether
Mnvit; et audito clangore recanduit ira.
Monte fere medio est, cingentibus ultima sylvis.
NOTJE.
1. Perstat. Pentheus persists in his impiety, in rejecting the new
deity, though he had witnessed his miraculous interposition in favor
of his leader Accetes.
2. Cithceron. A mountain of Brcotia, where Acttcon and Pcntheus
were torn in pieces. It was sacred to Bacchus, and from its wild and
precipitous character, was well suited for the rites of Bacchus, and
the fearlul scenes connected with them.
4. Ut fremit equus. The excitement of the spirited charger, when
he hears the trumpet, has been described by many writers, but by
none more forcibly than by Job:
Hast thou given the uorse strength; host thou
clothed his neck \vith thunder?—Cansl thou
make him afraid as n grasshopper ? The glory
of his nostrils is terrible, lie paweth in the
valley, and rejoiceth in his strength—he goelh
on lo meet the armed men. lie mocketh nt fear,
and is not affrighted; neither turnrth he back
from the sword. The quiver rattleth ngninsl
him; the glittering spear and the shield. He
Bwallowelli the ground with fierceness and
rage; neither believeih he that it is the sound of
the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets. Ha!
la! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thun
der of the captains and the shouting.—CHAP
xxxix. IS—25.
No fear alarms him, nor vain shouts molesl;
But nt the clash of arms, his ear afar
Drinks the deep sound, mid vibrates to the war:
Flames from each nostril rod in gathered
stream.
His quivering limbs with restless motion gleam,
And o'er liis shoulder, floating full and fair,
Sweeps his thick mane, and spreads its pomp
of hair.—GEORGH: lii.
6. Penthea fie Irtug. A modern poet hns
Y 253