or the wild whelps of wolves, gave them white
milk, all those who, having lately had children, had breasts still full,
having left their infants, and they put on their ivy chaplets, and garlands
of oak and blossoming yew; and one having taken a thyrsus, struck it
against a rock, whence a dewy stream of water springs out; another placed
her wand on the ground, and then the God sent up a spring of wine. And as
many as had craving for the white drink, scratching the earth with the tips
of their fingers, obtained abundance of milk; and from the ivy thyrsus
sweet streams of honey dropped, so that, had you been present, beholding
these things, you would have approached with prayers that God whom you now
blame. And we came together, herdsmen and shepherds, to reason with one
another concerning this strange matter, what terrible things and worthy of
marvel they do; and some one, a wanderer about the city, and practiced in
speaking, said to us all, O ye who inhabit the holy downs of the mountains,
will ye that we hunt out Agave, the mother of Pentheus, back from the
revels, and do the king a pleasure? And he seemed to us to speak well, and
hiding ourselves, we lay in ambush in the foliage of the thickets; and
they, at the appointed hour, waved the thyrsus in their solemnities,
calling on Bacchus with united voice, the son of Jove, Bromius; and the
whole mountain and the beasts were in a revel; and nothing was unmoved by
their running; and Agave was bounding near to me, and I sprang forth, as
wishing to seize her, leaving my ambush where I was hidden. But she cried
out, O my fleet hounds, we are hunted by these men; but follow me, follow,
armed with thyrsi in your hands. We then flying, avoided the tearing of the
Bacchae, but they sprang on the heifers browsing the grass with unarmed
hand, and you might see one rending asunder a fatted lowing calf, and
others rent open cows, and you might see either ribs, or a cloven-footed
hoof, tossed here and there, and hanging beneath the pine-trees the
fragments were dripping, dabbled in gore; and the fierce bulls before
showing their fury with their horns, were thrown to the ground, overpowered
by myriads of maiden hands; and quicker were the coverings of flesh torn
asunder by the royal maids than you could shut your eyes; and like birds
raised in their course, they proceed along the level plain, which by the
streams of the Asopus produce the fertile crop of the Thebans, and falling
on Hysiae