And those prisoned Maids withal Whom thou didst seize and bind within the wall Of thy great dungeon, they are fled, O King. Free in the woods, a-dance and glorying To Bromios. Of their own impulse fell To earth, men say, fetter and manacle, And bars slid back untouched of mortal hand Yea, full of many wonders to thy land Is this man come.... Howbeit, it lies with thee! PENTHEUS Ye are mad!--Unhand him. Howso swift he be, My toils are round him and he shall not fly. [_The guards loose the arms of_ DIONYSUS; PENTHEUS _studies him for a while in silence then speaks jeeringly._ DIONYSUS _remains gentle and unafraid._] Marry, a fair shape for a woman's eye, Sir stranger! And thou seek'st no more, I ween! Long curls, withal! That shows thou ne'er hast been A wrestler!--down both cheeks so softly tossed And winsome! And a white skin! It hath cost Thee pains, to please thy damsels with this white And red of cheeks that never face the light! [_DIONYSUS is silent._] Speak, sirrah; tell me first thy name and race. DIONYSUS No glory is therein, nor yet disgrace. Thou hast heard of Tmolus, the bright hill of flowers? PENTHEUS Surely, the ridge that winds by Sardis towers. DIONYSUS Thence am I; Lydia was my fatherland. PENTHEUS And whence these revelations, that thy band Spreadeth in Hellas? DIONYSUS Their intent and use Dionysus oped to me, the Child of Zeus. PENTHEUS (_brutally_) Is there a Zeus there, that can still beget Young Gods? DIONYSUS Nay, only He whose seal was set Here in thy Thebes on Semele. PENTHEUS What way Descended he upon thee? In full day Or vision of night? DIONYSUS Most clear he stood, and scanned My soul, and gave his emblems to mine hand. PENTHEUS What like be they, these emblems? DIONYSUS That may none Reveal, nor know, save his Elect alone. PENTHEUS And what good bring they to the worshipper? DIONYSUS Good beyond price, but not for thee to hear. PENTHEUS Thou trickster? Thou wouldst prick me on the more To seek them out! DIONYSUS His mysteries abhor The touch of sin-lovers. PENTHEUS And so thine eyes Saw this God plain; what guise had he? DIONYSUS What guise It liked him. 'Twas not I ordained his shape. PENTHEUS Aye, deftly turned again. An idle jape, And nothing answered! DIONYSUS Wise words being brought To blinded eyes will seem as things of nought. PENTHEUS And comest thou first to Thebes, to have thy God Established?