An officer brings in Dionysus as prisoner; he has yielded himself without resistance, while as for the imprisoned worshippers their chains have fallen off spontaneous, and they are away to the revels on the mountains. In long-drawn parallel dialogue Pentheus questions the Stranger--struck with his beauty though he be. Dionysus calmly answers to every point, but allows the orgies are secret and must not be revealed to the uninitiated. The King threatens in vain. _Pen._ First I will clip away those soft bright locks. _Dio._ My locks are holy, dedicate to my god. _Pen._ Next, give thou me that thyrsus in thy hand. _Dio._ Take it thyself; 'tis Dionysus' wand. _Pen._ I'll bind thy body in strong iron chains. _Dio._ My god himself will loose them when he will. _Pen._ When thou invok'st him 'mid thy Bacchanals. _Dio._ Even now he is present, he beholds me now. _Pen._ Where is he then? mine eyes perceive him not. _Dio._ Near me: the impious eyes may not discern him. The king relies on his superior strength. _Dio._ Thou knowest not where thou art or what thou art. _Pen._ Pentheus, Agave's son, my sire Echion. _Dio._ Thou hast a name whose very sound is woe. Dionysus is removed a prisoner to the palace of Pentheus, while the latter retires to prepare measures against the Maenads. CHORAL INTERLUDE II The Chorus, addressing the landscape before them, expostulate with the sacred stream in which the infant god was dipped for not accepting the divinity whose mystic name is 'Twice-born.' They call upon Dionysus to see them from Olympus, his rapt prophets at strife with dark necessity, and, golden wand in hand, to come to their rescue against the threats of the proud dragon-brood. They are wondering what fair land of song may be holding their sacred leader, when cries from within put an end to the ode. {582} EPISODE III In wild lyric snatches shouts are interchanged between Dionysus within and groups of the disordered Chorus, bringing out the tumultuous scene--the earth rocking beneath them, sounds of crashing masonry, capitals of pillars hurled through the air; then _by the machinery of the hemicyclium the whole scene left of the center disappears and is replaced by a tableau representing Pentheus' palace in ruins, and the smouldering tomb of Semele surmounted by bright flame. From the ruins steps Dionysus, unharmed and free, the metre breaking into accelerated rhythm_. {613}