The Bacchae or Bacchantes By Euripides - Dionysus Wineskin God

It is symptomatic of structures that have lost their elasticity, becoming too rigid to accommodate further development, to intensify the semantics of self-reference as a sort of final act of self-reassurance.

When the clergy tried to get Jesus involved in choral dance and song they were testing to determine whether He was Dionysus whom many Jews worshipped in song with instrument, dance and drama. When you worship the new wineskin gods you are praised but when you refuse to worship Dionysus he gets you ripped apart by the men-girls of the musical worship and dance teams. Because of His miracles and prophetic teaching, the way to test Jesus' suitability as the "new David" or even Dionysus was to play the flute and He would strip off His clothes, fling his hands and tresses and do the effeminate choral dance.

See Psalm "41" as translated in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This explains why Judas failed to MUSICALLY TRIUMPH OVER JESUS.

See more details of how the Levitical Warrior Musicians momentarily TRIUMPHED over Jesus after dismissing Him as Beel-zebul (Dung God in Hebrew and therefore Lord of the Flies). In the end, God in Christ would make "music" as the fruit of His lips.

When "performers" put on the persona of the Dionysus female ACTORS with any form of "body" performance they are trying to "worship with men's hands" and insult the Incarnate God of the universe Who was never a performer and Who demanded that you can only find Him in quiet places, outside the gates in solitary communion.

Many churches having lost their elasticicity demand a "new wineskin" to allow the wine-like exhilaration of "worship" to move the group into drama in an effort to "move the worshippers into the presence of the gods." This urge for "play" or drama is the evidence of lostness which can be somewhat relieved by pretending a form of worship to replace the never-realized goals of a few minor gods.

When the Wineskins Won't Stretch!

"It is symptomatic of structures that have lost their elasticity, becoming too rigid to accommodate further development, to intensify the semantics of self-reference as a sort of final act of self-reassurance.

The patterns of self-reference by drama to drama as we see them in The Bacchae of Euripides reflect a crisis in the very genre of tragedy, in the context of drastic changes in Athenian society toward the end of the fifth century; the prospect is one of abrupt confrontation and loss." -- Nagy, Pindar's Homer p. 388

This was the Y-.5K hysteria and the signs was a hysterical effort to assure themselves when they really had nothing to say. The pretend people substituted the performance of their own bodies having lost all of their clothing of righteousness and justice.

Mania (A), Ion. -iê, hê, ( [mainomai] ) madness, Hdt.6.112, Hp.Aph. 7.5, S.Ant.958 (lyr.), etc.; pollên katagnônai m. tinôn Isoc.4.133 ; mechri manias hê sphodra hêdonê katechousa Pl.Phlb.45e ; maniê nousos Hdt.6.75 : freq. in pl., Lex Solonis ap.D.46.14, Thgn.1231, A.Pr. 879, 1057 (both anap.), etc.

II. enthusiasm, inspired frenzy, m. Dionusou para E.Ba.305 ; apo Mousôn katokôchê te kai m. Pl.Phdr. 245a ; theia m., opposite sôphrosunê anthrôpinê, ib.256b, cf. Prt.323b, X. Mem.1.1.16; tês philosophou m. te kai bakcheias Pl.Smp.218b .

Mousôn katokôchê

Mousa 1 [*maô]

I. the Muse, in pl. the Muses, goddesses of song, music, poetry, dancing, the drama, and all fine arts, Hom.: the names of the nine were Clio, Euterpe, Thalia, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Erato, Polymnia or Polyhymnia, Urania, and Calliope, Hes.,

II. mousa, as appellat., music, song, Pind., Trag.:--also eloquence, Eur.:--in pl. arts, accomplishments, Ar., Plat.

melôid-ia , hê, singing, chanting, E.Rh.923, etc.
II. chant, choral song, melôidias poiêtês Pl.Lg.935e , cf. 812d; lullaby, ib.790e: generally, music, Phld.Mus.p.12 K.

katokôchê 1 [attic for katochê] a being possessed, possession (i. e. inspiration), Plat.

OPPOSITE: sôphrosunê anthrôpinê [mankind]

sôphrôn 1 [sôs, phrên]

I. of sound mind, Lat. sanae mentis:-- hence sensible, discreet, wise, Hom., Hdt., Xen.

2. of things, sôphrona eipein Eur.; allo ti sôphronesteron gignôskein Thuc.:-- sôphron

II. having control over the sensual desires, temperate, self-controlled, moderate, chaste, sober,

2. to sôphron sôphrosunê,

Sophron (g4988) so'-frone; from the base of 4982 and that of 5424; safe (sound) in mind, i.e. self- controlled (moderate as to opinion or passion): - discreet, sober, temperate.

Anthrôpinos [anthrôpos] mankind defined as the only being capable of controlling their emotions.

Tatian reminds the sophisticated urbans who disparage rural songs and worship that song, instruments, dance and vocal competition (who will get out the biggest crowd), that these are always a reaching back for the "archaic, in Joseph Campbell's mind, when the food supply runs out:

"The wonders of the god Dionysus pull people together to celebrate these wonders by competing with each other in song and dance. The speech of the herdsman says it all: "once upon a time, we humble herdsmen came together in the countryside, drawn by the wonders of the god to sing and dance in competition."

Even in Corinth the unbelievers might have visited the urban church just to see the "huper" or super apostles fling their hands and listen to the women (men don't often do that) sing in the charismatic style of self-invention pretending to be true prophest and speaking for God. However, when "the best show in town" was over and the jubilators returned home, the modern music from voodoo and hillbilly roots makes them hold the "children playing musical games looking like madmen" (mild or extreme) in contempt:

"I have often seen a man (actor)-- and have been amazed to see, and the amazement has ended in contempt, to think how he is one thing internally, but outwardly counterfeits what he is not--

giving himself excessive airs of daintiness and indulging in all sorts of effeminacy;
somethines darting his eyes about;
sometimes throwing his hands hither and thither,

and raving with his face smeared with mud (sweat, spit and dust); sometimes personating Aphrodite (female), sometimes Apollo (male); a solitary accuser of all the gods, an epitome of superstition, a vituperator of heroic deeds, an actor of murders, a chronicler of adultery,

a storehouse of madness, a teacher of cynaedi, an instigator of capital sentences;-- and yet such a man is praised by all. But I have rejected all his falsehoods, his impiety, his practices,--in short, the man althogether.

But you are led captive by such men,
while you revile those who do not take a part in your pursuits.

I have no mind to stand agape at a number of singers, nor do I desire to be affected in sympathy with

a man when he is winking and gesticulating in an unnatural manner."...

"Why should I admire the mythic piper... We leave you to these worthless things; and do you believe our doctrines, or, like us, give up yours." (Tatian to the Greeks, Ante-Nicene, Vol. II, p. 75).

History of Dionysus
Text from Classics Archive
The Greek Text
Images
A complex retelling

As you read the play you will understand why the jubilating Jews who had adopted Dionysus forms of worship tested Jesus, discovered that He was not a Dancing God and therefore had Him destroyed. Jesus, however, refused to sing, dance, get in the effeminate dance and identify Himself as -- like they hoped John would be -- a "man" Who wore soft clothing. When He refused they literally tried to tear Him limb from limb as His "bones were out of joint." He is still mocked by boy-girls trying to force you into the dance---

Cast

Dionysus
Cadmus
Pentheus
Agave
Teiresias
First Messenger
Second Messenger
Servant

Scene

Before the Palace of Pentheus at Thebes. Enter DIONYSUS.
Written 410 B.C.

IDIONYSUS [Annotating note: The Bacchae will always be in BLACK text.]

Lo! I am come to this land of Thebes, Dionysus' the son of Zeus,

of whom on a day Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, was delivered by a flash of lightning.

I have put off the god and taken human shape, and so present myself at Dirce's springs and the waters of Ismenus.

Yonder I see my mother's monument where the bolt slew her nigh her house, and there are the ruins of her home smouldering with the heavenly flame that blazeth still-

Hera's deathless outrage on my mother. To Cadmus all praise I offer, because he keeps this spot hallowed, his daughter's precinct, which my own hands have shaded round about with the vine's clustering foliage.

Lydia's glebes, where gold abounds, and Phrygia have I left behind; o'er Persia's sun-baked plains, by Bactria's walled towns and Media's wintry clime

have I advanced through Arabia, land of promise; and Asia's length and breadth, outstretched along the brackish sea, with many a fair walled town, peopled with mingled race of Hellenes and barbarians; and

this is the first city in Hellas I have reached.

<>There too have I ordained dances and established my rites, that I might manifest my godhead to men;
but Thebes is the first city in the land of Hellas that I have made ring with shouts of joy, girt in a fawn-skin, with a thyrsus, my ivy-bound spear, in my hand;

since my mother's sisters, who least of all should have done it,

<>denied that Dionysus was the son of Zeus,
saying that Semele, when she became a mother by some mortal lover,
tried to foist her sin on Zeus-a clever ruse of Cadmus, which, they boldly asserted, caused Zeus to slay her for the falsehood about the marriage.

Wherefore these are they whom I have driven frenzied from their homes,

and they are dwelling on the hills with mind distraught; and I have forced them to assume the dress worn in my orgies, and all the women-folk of Cadmus' stock have I driven raving from their homes, one and all alike; and there they sit upon the roofless rocks beneath the green pine-trees, mingling amongst the sons of Thebes.

For this city must learn, however loth, seeing that it is not initiated in my Bacchic rites, and I must take up my mother's defence,

by showing to mortals that the child she bore to Zeus is a deity.

Now Cadmus gave his sceptre and its privileges to Pentheus, his daughter's child, (the mortal brother)

who wages war 'gainst my divinity, thrusting me away from his drink-offerings, and making no mention of me in his prayers.

Therefore will I prove to him and all the race of Cadmus that I am a god. And when I have set all in order here, I will pass hence to a fresh country, manifesting myself; but if the city of Thebes in fury takes up arms and seeks to drive my votaries from the mountain, I will meet them at the head of my frantic rout.

This is why I have assumed a mortal form, and put off my godhead to take man's nature.

O ye who left Tmolus, the bulwark of Lydia, ye women, my revel rout! whom I brought

from your foreign homes to be ever by my side and bear me company, uplift the cymbals native to your Phrygian home, that were by me and the great mother Rhea first devised, and march around the royal halls of Pentheus smiting them, that the city of Cadmus may see you;

while I will seek Cithaeron's glens, there with my Bacchanals to join the dance.

Exit DIONYSUS.

Enter CHORUS.

CHORUS

Dionysus or Bacchus was the NEW WINESKIN god. The Jews hoped that Jesus was that god. The test for both John the Baptist and Jesus was that they hoped that John wore soft clothing of the catamite of male prostitute which plagued the Jewish and all priesthoods. They "piped" as Jesus accused them of thinking that He would join the feminine of effeminate singing and dancing.

From Asia o'er the holy ridge of Tmolus hasten to a pleasant task, a toil that brings no weariness, for Bromius' (son of Egyptus, husband of Erato:) sake, in honour of the Bacchic god. Who loiters in the road? who lingers 'neath the roof? Avaunt!

I say, and let every lip be hushed in solemn silence;

for I will raise a hymn to Dionysus, as custom aye ordains. O happy he! who to his joy is initiated in heavenly mysteries and leads a holy life, joining heart and soul in Bacchic revelry upon the hills,

purified from every sin; observing the rites of Cybele, the mighty mother, and brandishing the thyrsus, with ivy-wreathed head, he worships Dionysus.

Go forth, go forth, ye Bacchanals, bring home the Bromian god Dionysus, child of a god, from the mountains of Phrygia to the spacious streets of Hellas, bring home the Bromian god!

whom on a day his mother in her sore travail brought forth untimely, yielding up her life beneath the lightning stroke of Zeus' winged bolt; but forthwith Zeus, the son of Cronos, found for him another womb wherein to rest,

for he hid him in his thigh and fastened it with golden pins to conceal him from Hera. And when the Fates had fully formed the horned god, he brought him forth and crowned him with a coronal of snakes,

whence it is the thyrsus-bearing Maenads hunt the snake to twine about their hair. O Thebes, nurse of Semele! crown thyself with ivy;

burst forth, burst forth with blossoms fair of green convolvulus, and with the boughs of oak and pine

join in the Bacchic revelry; don thy coat of dappled fawn-skin, decking it with tufts of silvered hair; with reverent hand the sportive wand now wield.

Rhea was a name for EVE. In the Greek version, Eve is named ZOE or the MOTHER GODDESS. Long before the time of Paul most people worshiped the MOTHER OF THE GODS. The dove resting on the goddess whose DAUGHTER was the "female teaching principle" identified this goddess under various names. When the dove rested on the head of Jesus it was the FATHER speaking and identifying Jesus as the SON who spoke His words exactly as He heard them.

Inanna or Ishtar worshiped by the men in Jerusalem as the women lamented with instruments in the temple for Tammuz (Bacchus, Saturn or Satan whose number is 666) became EVE in the Classical period and ZOE in the early post-Christian period. In Babylonia, Inanna got father or grandfather drunk and stole the MES of the trees. Ea was the patron god of music and Inanna had the magical power of MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Sophia (wisdom) was identified as the SERPENT and her daughter ZOE was identified as the BEAST. She was identified as the FEMALE INSTRUCTING PRINCIPLE.

People worshiped EVE because she had SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE because Satan (Saturn 666) taught her both good and evil.

Paul being educated in Greek literature understood that Christianity had to be different for two reasons:

1. It was a fact that EVE was wholly seduced by Lucifer. She is called the harp playing prostitute as king/queen of Tyre.

Lucifer was in the garden and used music as the pleasure of the angelic host to seduce the worship from God. He is credited with introducing string instruments, wind instruments and percussions.

The prophecy that Lucifer as the end time Babylon Harlot "mother" of all RELIGIONS would again go back into hell with her musicians and musical instruments.

2. In the world view at that time, Sophia-Zoe had forced the "minor jehovahs" into forming MUSICAL WORSHIP TEAMS in order to worship the FEMININE Goddesses.

3. God had declared for a PATRIARCHIAL "school of the Bible" as opposed to a pagan worship center with music by identifying Himself as the FATHER.

4. Women and effeminate men always formed RELIGIONS but Christianity continued the synagogue. This was not a worship center but a school of the Bible.

5. Women and strange males were always identified as the singers and musicians in all pagan religions usually practiced at festivals.

6. The "authority" Paul outlawed was the Greek authentia. This was known to be exercised by women as both EROTIC and MURDEROUS. Musicologists identify today's praise songs as EROTIC.

Anon shall the whole land be dancing, when Bromius leads his revellers to the hills, to the hills away! where wait him groups of maidens from loom and shuttle roused in frantic haste by Dionysus. O hidden cave of the Curetes! O hallowed haunts in Crete, that saw Zeus born,

where Corybantes with crested helms devised for me in their grotto the rounded timbrel of ox-hide (lifeless instrument),

mingling Bacchic minstrelsy with the shrill sweet accents of the Phrygian flute, a gift bestowed by them on mother Rhea, to add its crash of music to the Bacchantes' shouts of joy;

but frantic satyrs (homosexual priests) won it from the mother-goddess for their own, and added it to their dances in festivals, which gladden the heart of Dionysus, each third recurrent year.

Oh! happy that votary, when from the hurrying revel-rout he sinks to earth, in his holy robe of fawnskin, chasing the goat to drink its blood, a banquet sweet of flesh uncooked, as he hastes to Phrygia's or to Libya's hills; while in the van the Bromian god exults with cries of Evoe (Eve, Zoe and now Mary).

With milk and wine and streams of luscious honey flows the earth, and Syrian incense smokes.

Methodist feminist and lesbian pastors have added the worship of SOPHIA and use honey in their "communion."

Paul warned about "uncovered prophesying" in Corinth:

While the Bacchante holding in his hand a blazing torch of pine uplifted on his wand waves it, as he speeds along, rousing wandering votaries, and as he waves it cries aloud with wanton tresses tossing in the breeze; and thus to crown the revelry, he raises loud his voice, "On, on, ye Bacchanals, pride of Tmolus (a gold-producing mountain in Lydia, near Sardis:)

with its rills of gold to the sound of the booming drum,

chanting in joyous strains the praises of your joyous god with Phrygian accents lifted high,

what time the holy lute with sweet complaining note invites you to your hallowed sport,

according well with feet that hurry wildly to the hills; like a colt that gambols at its mother's side in the pasture, with gladsome heart each Bacchante bounds along."

Enter TEIRESIAS.

TEIRESIAS

What loiterer at the gates will call Cadmus from the house, Agenor's son, who left the city of Sidon and founded here the town of Thebes? Go one of you, announce to him that Teiresias is seeking him; he knows himself the reason of my coming and the compact I and he have made in our old age to bind the thyrsus with leaves and don the fawnskin, crowning our heads the while with ivy-sprays.

Enter CADMUS.

CADMUS

Best of friends! I was in the house when I heard thy voice, wise as its owner. I come prepared, dressed in the livery of the god. For 'tis but right

I should magnify with all my might my own daughter's son, Dionysus, who hath shown his godhead unto men.

Where are we to join the dance? where plant the foot and shake the hoary head? Do thou, Teiresias, be my guide, age leading age, for thou art wise. Never shall I weary, night or day, of beating the earth with my thyrsus. What joy to forget our years?

TEIRESIAS

Why, then thou art as I am. For I too am young again, and will essay the dance.

CADMUS

We will drive then in our chariot to the hill.

TEIRESIAS

Nay, thus would the god not have an equal honour paid.

CADMUS

Well, I will lead thee, age leading age.

TEIRESIAS

The god will guide us both thither without toil.

CADMUS

Shall we alone of all the city dance in Bacchus' honour?

TEIRESIAS

Yea, for we alone are wise, the rest are mad.

CADMUS

We stay too long; come, take my hand.

TEIRESIAS

There link thy hand in my firm grip.

CADMUS

Mortal that I am, I scorn not the gods.

TEIRESIAS

No subtleties do I indulge about the powers of heaven. The faith we inherited from our fathers, old as time itself, no reasoning shall cast down; no! though it were the subtlest invention of wits refined.

Maybe some one will say, I have no respect for my grey hair in going to dance with ivy round my head; not so, for the god did not define whether old or young should dance, but from all alike he claims a universal homage,

and scorns nice calculations in his worship.

CADMUS

Teiresias, since thou art blind, I must prompt thee what to say. Pentheus is coming hither to the house in haste, Echion's son, to whom I resign the government. How scared he looks I what strange tidings will he tell?

Here is something on Echion:

THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2

Enter PENTHEUS.

PENTHEUS

I had left my kingdom for awhile, when tidings of strange mischief in this city reached me;

I hear that our women-folk have left their homes on pretence of Bacchic rites, and on the wooded hills rush wildly to and fro,

honouring in the dance this new god Dionysus, whoe'er he is; and in the midst of each revel-rout the brimming wine-bowl stands, and one by one they steal away to lonely spots to gratify their lust, pretending forsooth that they are Maenads bent on sacrifice, though it is Aphrodite they are placing before the Bacchic god. As many as I caught, my gaolers are keeping safe in the public prison fast bound; and all who are gone forth, will I chase from the hills, Ino and Agave too who bore me to Echion, and Actaeon's mother Autonoe. In fetters of iron will I bind them and soon put an end to these outrageous Bacchic rites.

They say there came a stranger hither, a trickster and a sorcerer, from Lydia's land,
with golden hair and perfumed locks,
the flush of wine upon his face,
and in his eyes each GRACE that Aphrodite [Zoe] gives;
by day and night he lingers in our maidens' company
on the plea of teaching Bacchic mysteries.
John in Revelation 18 identifies the singers, musicians and all religious operatives as Sorcerers in Revelation 18. A Sorcerer is:

Goês , êtos, ho, Used with:

Epôidos [epaidô] I.singing to or over: as Subst. an enchanter, Eur.: c. gen. acting as a charm for or against, Aesch., Plat. 2. pass. sung or said after, morphês epôidonc alled after this form, 
II. in metre, epôidos, ho, a verse or passage returning at intervals, a chorus, burden, refrain, as in Theocr.
pharmakos (on the accent v. Hdn.Gr.1.150), ho, hê,

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, Malachi 3:5a

and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:5b

Rev 21: 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Rev 21: 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Rev 22:14

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Rev 22:15

Rev 18:14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

Rev 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

Rev 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians [Apollyon's muses or locusts] and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, [theater builders and stage managers] of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone [called a pipe, made a wistling sound to attract] shall be heard no more at all in thee;

Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Isa 47:10

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Isa 47:12

H2267 cheber kheh'-ber From H2266 ; a society; also a spell: + charmer (-ing), company, enchantment, X wide.

H2266 chebar khaw-bar'A primitive root; to join (literally or figuratively); specifically (by means of spells) to fascinate: charm (-er), be compact, couple (together), have fellowship with, heap up, join (self, together), league.

H3785 kesheph keh'-shef From H3784 ; magic: sorcery, witchcraft.

H3784 kashaph kaw-shaf' A primitive root; properly to whisper a spell, that is, to inchant or practise magic: sorcerer, (use) witch (-craft).

Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Isa 47:13

The serpent was a Musical Enchanter or enchantress.

Nachash (h5172) naw-khash'; a prim. root; prop. to hiss, i. e. whisper a (magic) spell; gen. to prognosticate: - * certainly, divine, enchanter, (use) * enchantment, learn by experience, * indeed, diligently observe.

Nachash "snake, serpent" with nshk "bite" provides a link between two verses in Amos speaking of the impossibility of escape Amos 5:19 and 9:3 - nachash often either carries overtones of the serpent in Eden (Gen 3) or of the mythology of Canaanite cultures (Is 27:1).

As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Amos 5:19

Nashak (h5391) naw-shak'; a prim. root; to strike with a sting (as a serpent); fig., to oppress with interest on a loan: - bite, lend upon usury.

"The spirits were thought to speak in murmurings or piping sounds (Isa 8:19), which could be imitated by the medium (witch or ventriloquist)...Most spiritual and popular was the interpretation of dreams.

It also was the case that mediums intentionally would convert themselves into a semi-waking trance. In this way the suitable mediums attained to a certain kind of clarvoyance, found among various peoples.

This approaches the condition of an ecstatically aroused pseudo-prophet.. In Greece, too, oracles were pronounced by the Phythian prophetess who by vapors and the like was aroused to a practice of the mantic art. (Int Std Bible Ency, p. 2466)

Once let me catch him within these walls, and I will put an end to his thyrsus-beating and his waving of his tresses, for I will cut his head from his body.

This is the fellow who says that Dionysus is a god, says that he was once stitched up in the thigh of Zeus-that child who with his mother was blasted by the lightning flash, because the woman falsely said her marriage was with Zeus. Is not this enough to deserve the awful penalty of hanging, this stranger's wanton insolence, whoe'er he be?

But lo! another marvel. I see Teiresias, our diviner, dressed in dappled fawn-skins, and my mother's father too, wildly waving the Bacchic wand; droll sight enough! Father,

it grieves me to see you two old men so void of sense.

Oh! shake that ivy from thee! Let fall the thyrsus from thy hand, my mother's sire! Was it thou, Teiresias, urged him on to this? Art bent on introducing this fellow as another new deity amongst men, that thou mayst then observe the fowls of the air and make a gain from fiery divination?

and constant friction (minemployment) between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 1 Timothy 6:5

Were it not that thy grey hairs protected thee, thou shouldst sit in chains amid the Bacchanals,

for introducing knavish mysteries;
for where the gladsome grape is found at women's feasts, I deny that their rites have any longer good results.

CHORUS

What impiety! Hast thou no reverence, sir stranger, for the gods or for Cadmus who sowed the crop of earth-born warriors? Son of Echion as thou art, thou dost shame thy birth.

Sounding brass is:

Echeo (g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.

TEIRESIAS

Whenso a man of wisdom finds a good topic for argument, it is no difficult matter to speak well; but thou,

though possessing a glib tongue as if endowed with sense,
art yet devoid thereof in all thou sayest.

[a proper prophets with the true "voice of the angels" would by nature be insane and therefore speak in gibberish or tongues because they believed that dod always used the emotionally or sexual abnormal to make people trust the gods.]

A headstrong man, if he have influence and a capacity for speaking, makes a bad citizen because he lacks sense.

This new deity, whom thou deridest, will rise to power I cannot say how great, throughout Hellas. Two things there are, young prince, that hold first rank among men,

the goddess Demeter, that is, the earth, call her which name thou please; she it is that feedeth men with solid food;

and as her counterpart came this god, (Dionysus) the son of Semele, who discovered the juice of the grape and introduced it to mankind,

stilling thereby each grief that mortals suffer from, soon as e'er they are filled with the juice of the vine;
and sleep also he giveth, sleep that brings forgetfulness of daily ills, the sovereign charm for all our woe.

God though he is, he serves all other gods for libations, so that through him mankind is blest.

He it is whom thou dost mock, because he was sewn up in the thigh of Zeus. But I will show thee this fair mystery. When Zeus had snatched him from the lightning's blaze, and to Olympus borne the tender babe, Hera would have cast him forth from heaven, but Zeus, as such a god well might, devised a counterplot.

He broke off a fragment of the ether which surrounds the world, and made thereof a hostage against Hera's bitterness, while he gave out Dionysus into other hands; hence, in time, men said that he was reared in the thigh of Zeus, having changed the word and invented a legend, because the god was once a hostage to the goddess Hera.

This god too hath prophetic power,

for there is no small prophecy inspired by Bacchic frenzy;

for whenever the god in his full might enters the human frame,
he makes his frantic votaries foretell the future.

(speaking in tongues and their interpretations are pretend prophetic statements which delude and minimize the true prophets through God's Word)

Likewise he hath some share in Ares' rights; for oft, or ever a weapon is touched, a panic seizes an army when it is marshalled in array; and this too is a frenzy sent by Dionysus. Yet shalt thou behold him e'en on Delphi's rocks leaping o'er the cloven height, torch in hand, waving and brandishing the branch by Bacchus loved, yea, and through the length and breadth of Hellas.

Hearken to me, Pentheus; never boast that might alone doth sway the world,

nor if thou think so, unsound as thy opinion is, credit thyself with any wisdom;
but receive the god into thy realm, pour out libations, join the revel rout, and crown thy head.

It is not Dionysus that will force chastity on women in their love;

but this is what we should consider, whether chastity is part of their nature for good and all; for if it is,
no really modest maid will ever fall 'mid Bacchic mysteries.
Mark this: thou thyself art glad when thousands throng thy gates, and citizens extol the name of Pentheus;
he too, I trow, delights in being honoured. Wherefore I and Cadmus, whom thou jeerest so,
will wreath our brows with ivy and join the dance;

pair of grey beards though we be, still must we take part therein; never will I for any words of thine fight against heaven.

Most grievous is thy madness, nor canst thou find a charm to cure thee,
albeit charms have caused thy malady.

CHORUS

Old sir, thy words do not discredit Phoebus, and thou art wise in honouring Bromius, potent deity.

CADMUS

My son, Teiresias hath given thee sound advice; dwell with us, but o'erstep not the threshold of custom;

for now thou art soaring aloft, and thy wisdom is no wisdom. E'en though he be no god, as thou assertest, still say he is;
be guilty of a splendid fraud, declaring him the son of Semele, that she may be thought the mother of a god,

and we and all our race gain honour.

Dost thou mark the awful fate of Actaeon? whom savage hounds of his own rearing rent in pieces in the meadows,

because he boasted himself a better hunter than Artemis.
Lest thy fate be the same, come let me crown thy head with ivy; join us in rendering homage to the god.

PENTHEUS

Touch me not, away to thy Bacchic rites thyself! never try to infect me with thy foolery!

Vengeance will I have on the fellow who teaches thee such senselessness. Away one of you without delay! seek yonder seat where he observes his birds, wrench it from its base with levers, turn it upside down, o'erthrowing it in utter confusion, and toss his garlands to the tempest's blast. For by so doing shall I wound him most deeply.

Others of you, range the city and hunt down this girl-faced stranger, who is introducing a new complaint amongst our women, and doing outrage to the marriage tie.

And if haply ye catch him, bring him hither to me in chains, to be stoned to death, a bitter ending to his revelry in Thebes.

Exit PENTHEUS.

TEIRESIAS

Unhappy wretch! thou little knowest what thou art saying. Now art thou become a raving madman, even before unsound in mind. Let us away, Cadmus, and pray earnestly for him, spite of his savage temper, and likewise for the city, that the god inflict not a signal vengeance.

Come, follow me with thy ivy-wreathed staff; try to support my tottering frame as I do thine, for it is unseemly that two old men should fall; but let that-pass.

For we must serve the Bacchic god, the son of Zeus.
Only, Cadmus, beware lest Pentheus' bring sorrow to thy house;
it is not my prophetic art, but circumstances that lead me to say this; for the words of a fool are folly.

Exeunt CADMUS and TEIRESIAS.

CHORUS

O holiness, queen amongst the gods, sweeping on golden pinion o'er the earth! dost hear the words of Pentheus, dost hear his proud blaspheming Bromius, the son of Semele;

first of all the blessed gods at every merry festival?
His it is to rouse the revellers to dance, to laugh away dull care,
.......and wake the flute,
.......whene'er at banquets of the gods the luscious grape appears,
.......or when the winecup in the feast sheds sleep on men who wear the ivy-spray.

The end of all unbridled speech and lawless senselessness is misery;

but the life of calm repose and the rule of reason abide unshaken and support the home;
for far away in heaven though they dwell,
....... the powers divine behold man's state.

Sophistry is not wisdom, and to indulge in thoughts beyond man's ken is to shorten life; and if a man on such poor terms should aim too high, he may miss the pleasures in his reach.

These, to my mind, are the ways of madmen and idiots. Oh! to make my way to Cyprus, isle of Aphrodite, where dwell the love-gods strong to soothe man's soul, or to Paphos, which that foreign river, never fed by rain, enriches with its hundred mouths!

Oh! lead me, Bromian god, celestial guide of Bacchic pilgrims, to the hallowed slopes of Olympus, where Pierian Muses have their haunt most fair.

There dwell the Graces; there is soft desire; there thy votaries may hold their revels freely. The joy of our god, the son of Zeus, is in banquets, his delight is in peace, that giver of riches and nurse divine of youth. Both to rich and poor alike hath he granted the delight of wine, that makes all pain to cease;

Grace is CHARA or CHARIS which is the "goddess" of Charismatic which involves pederasty among the "priesthood."

hateful to him is every one who careth not to live the life of bliss, that lasts through days and nights of joy.

True wisdom is to keep the heart and soul aloof from over-subtle wits. That which the less enlightened crowd approves and practises, will I accept.

Re-enter PENTHEUS. Enter SERVANT bringing DIONYSUS bound.

SERVANT

We are come, Pentheus, having hunted down this prey, for which thou didst send us forth; not in vain hath been our quest. We found our quarry tame; he did not fly from us, but yielded himself without a struggle; his cheek ne'er blanched, nor did his ruddy colour change, but with a smile he bade me bind and lead him away, and he waited, making my task an easy one.

For very shame I said to him, "Against my will, sir stranger, do I lead thee hence, but Pentheus ordered it, who sent me hither." As for his votaries whom thou thyself didst check, seizing and binding them hand and foot in the public gaol,

all these have loosed their bonds and fled into the meadows where they now are sporting, See the meaning of PLAY or SPORTING at Mount Sinai.

calling aloud on the Bromian god. Their chains fell off their feet of their own accord, and doors flew open without man's hand to help. Many a marvel hath this stranger brought with him to our city of Thebes; what yet remains must be thy care.

PENTHEUS

Loose his hands; for now that I have him in the net he is scarce swift enough to elude me. So, sir stranger,

thou art not ill-favoured from a woman's point of view,
which was thy real object in coming to Thebes;
thy hair is long because thou hast never been a wrestler, flowing right down thy cheeks most wantonly;thy skin is white to help thee gain thy end, not tanned by ray of sun, but kept within the shade, as thou goest in quest of love with beauty's bait. Come, tell me first of thy race.

DIONYSUS

That needs no braggart's tongue, 'tis easily told; maybe thou knowest Tmolus by hearsay.

PENTHEUS

I know it, the range that rings the city of Sardis round.

DIONYSUS

Thence I come, Lydia is my native home.

PENTHEUS

What makes thee bring these mysteries to Hellas?

DIONYSUS

Dionysus, the son of Zeus, initiated me.

PENTHEUS

Is there a Zeus in Lydia, who begets new gods?

DIONYSUS

No, but Zeus who married Semele in Hellas.

PENTHEUS

Was it by night or in the face of day that he constrained thee?

DIONYSUS

'Twas face to face he intrusted his mysteries to me.

PENTHEUS

Pray, what special feature stamps thy rites?

DIONYSUS

That is a secret to be hidden from the uninitiated.

Jesus refused to BOW when the Jews (Not Israelites) piped.

See From Strabo

THE SATYROI were rustic fertility Daimones (Spirits) of the wilderness and countryside. They were usually associated with the gods Dionysos, Rheia, Gaia, Hermes and Hephaistos; and were said to mate with the Nymphai in the mountains.

Satyroi were depicted as animal-like men with the tail of a horse, the ears of an ass, upturned pug noses, reclining hair-lines, and erect members.

As companions of Dionysos, they were depicted draped in animal skins, drinking, dancing, playing tambourines and flutes (the instruments of the Dionysian orgy) and sporting with the Nymphai Bakkhai.

They were also frequently shown in vase paintings, dancing around the goddess Gaia (Earth), rising up from the fertile earth.

Other closely related Daimones included: the Panes (goat-legged satyroi), and the Seilenoi (elderly satyroi). Child satyrs were known as Satyriskoi.

Orgi-a , iôn, ta,

A. secret rites, secret worship, practised by the initiated, a post-Hom. word ; used of the worship of Demeter at Eleusis, h.Cer.273,476. Ar.Ra.386, Th.948 ; of the rites of the Cabeiri and Demeter Achaia, Hdt.2.51,5.61; of Orpheus, Id.2.81; of Eumolpus, App.Anth.1.318 ; of Cybele, E.Ba.78 (lyr.): most freq. of the rites of Dionysus, Hdt.2.81, E.Ba.34, al., Theoc.26.13.

II. generally, rites, sacrifices, SIG57.4 (Milet., v B. C.), A.Th.179 (lyr.), S.Tr.765, Ant.1013 ; orgia Mousôn Ar.Ra.356 .

2. metaph., mysteries, without reference to religion, epistêmês Hp.Lex5 ; tois tês Aphroditês o. eilêmmenon Ar.Lys.832 , cf. Ach.Tat.4.1; ta Epikourou theophanta o. Metrod.38 .--The sg. orgion is rare, Jahresh.13Beibl.29 No.3 (Erythrae, iv B. C.), Luc.Syr.D.16, Orph.H.52.5. (Prob. cogn. with erdô, rhezô, cf. ergon, orgeôn.)

Mousa , ês, hê, Aeol. Moisa Sapph.84, IG42(1).130.16, etc.; Dor. Môsa Alcm. 1, etc.; Lacon. Môha (for Môsa) Ar.Lys.1298, cf. An. Ox.1.277:--Muse,

A. Olumpiades M., Dios aigiochoio thugateres Il.2.491 , cf. Hes.Th.25, etc.; nine in number, first in Od.24.60; named in Hes.Th.75 sqq.

II. mousa, as Appellat., music, song, m. stugera A.Eu.308 (anap.); euphamos Id.Supp.695 (lyr.); kanachan . . theias antiluron mousas S.Tr.643 (lyr.); Aiakôi moisan pherein Pi.N.3.28 ; tis hêde mousa; what strain is this ? E.Ion757; aluros m. Id.Ph.1028 (lyr.); dia mousas êixa Id.Alc.962 (lyr.): in Prose, aidein adokimon m. Pl.Lg. 829d : in pl., mousai Sphingos, of the Sphinx's riddle, E.Ph.50; esp. liberal arts, accomplishments, tas mousas aphanizôn Ar.Nu.972 ; apaideuton tôn peri tas numphikas m. Pl.Lg.775b : also in sg., tês alêthinês m. êmelêkenai Id.R.548b ; koinônein mousês ib.411c.

2. hautê hê Sôkratous m. that was Socrates's way, Gal.UP1.9.

But all educated men, and especially the musicians, are ministers of the Muses;

and both these and those who have to do with divination are ministers of Apollo;
and the initiated and torch-bearers and hierophants, of Demeter; and the Sileni and Satyri and Bacchae, and also the Lenae and Thyiae and Mimallones and Naïdes and Nymphae and the beings called Tityri, of Dionysus.

PENTHEUS

What profit bring they to their votaries?

DIONYSUS

Thou must not be told, though 'tis well worth knowing.

PENTHEUS

A pretty piece of trickery, to excite my curiosity!

DIONYSUS

A man of godless life is an abomination to the rites of the god.

PENTHEUS

Thou sayest thou didst see the god clearly; what was he like?

DIONYSUS

What his fancy chose; I was not there to order this.

PENTHEUS

Another clever twist and turn of thine, without a word of answer.

DIONYSUS

He were a fool, methinks, who would utter wisdom to a fool.

PENTHEUS

Hast thou come hither first with this deity?

DIONYSUS

All foreigners already celebrate these mysteries with dances.

PENTHEUS

The reason being, they are far behind Hellenes in wisdom.

DIONYSUS

In this at least far in advance, though their customs differ.

PENTHEUS

Is it by night or day thou performest these devotions?

DIONYSUS

By night mostly; darkness lends solemnity.

PENTHEUS

Calculated to entrap and corrupt women.

DIONYSUS

Day too for that matter may discover shame.

PENTHEUS

This vile quibbling settles thy punishment.

DIONYSUS

Brutish ignorance and godlessness will settle thine.

PENTHEUS

How bold our Bacchanal is growing! a very master in this wordy strife!

DIONYSUS

Tell me what I am to suffer; what is the grievous doom thou wilt inflict upon me?

PENTHEUS

First will I shear off thy dainty tresses.

DIONYSUS

My locks are sacred; for the god I let them grow. [It is a shame for a man to have long hair 1Co.11:14 ]

PENTHEUS

Next surrender that thyrsus.

DIONYSUS

Take it from me thyself; 'tis the wand of Dionysus I am bearing.

PENTHEUS

In dungeon deep thy body will I guard.

DIONYSUS

The god himself will set me free, whene'er I list.

PENTHEUS

Perhaps he may, when thou standest amid thy Bacchanals and callest on his name.

DIONYSUS

Even now he is near me and witnesses my treatment.

PENTHEUS

Why, where is he? To my eyes he is invisible.

DIONYSUS

He is by my side; thou art a godless man and therefore dost not see him.

PENTHEUS

Seize him! the fellow scorns me and Thebes too.

DIONYSUS

I bid you bind me not, reason addressing madness.

PENTHEUS

But I say "bind!" with better right than thou.

DIONYSUS

Thou hast no knowledge of the life thou art leading; thy very existence is now a mystery to thee.

PENTHEUS

I am Pentheus, son of Agave and Echion.

DIONYSUS

Well-named to be misfortune's mate!

PENTHEUS

Avaunt! Ho! shut him up within the horses' stalls hard by, that for light he may have pitchy gloom. Do thy dancing there,
and these women whom thou bringest with thee to share thy villainies
I will either sell as slaves or make their hands cease from this noisy beating of drums,
and set them to work at the loom as servants of my own.

DIONYSUS

I will go; for that which fate forbids, can never befall me.

For this thy mockery be sure Dionysus will exact a recompense of thee-even the god whose existence thou deniest; for thou art injuring him by haling me to prison.

Exit DIONYSUS, guarded, and PENTHEUS.

CHORUS

Hail to thee, Dirce, happy maid, daughter revered of Achelous! within thy founts thou didst receive in days gone by the babe of Zeus, what time his father caught him up into his thigh from out the deathless flame,

while thus he cried: "Go rest, my Dithyrambus, there within thy father's womb; by this name, O Bacchic god, I now proclaim thee to Thebes." But thou, blest Dirce, thrustest me aside, when in thy midst I strive to hold my revels graced with crowns. Why dost thou scorn me? Why avoid me?

[6] Dithurambos Harmatideô. Dithyrambos, son of Harmatides, was not the captain, or general of the Thespians (cp. c. 222 supra). Dithyrambos, as a proper name, is a little startling: it is primarily (like Marôn) a title of Bakchos, cp. Eurip. Bakch. 526; it is secondarily a kind of poetry or melody (of which Arion was inventor, cp. 1. 23). This Thespian is the only human person to whom the name is given. His father ('Wagoner') may have been a musician --of the Dionysiac order (the dithyramb was always in the 'Phrygian' mode, and decidedly orgiastic: Aristot. Pol. 5 (8). 7. 9 f.=1342 A-B).

The dionysus infleunced clergy hoped that John wore soft clothing of a king's catamite and that Jesus would lament and dance the choral to prove that He was also a homosexual:

They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wept. Lu.7:32

The lament is derived from the Greek base:

Thriambeuo ((g2358) three-am-byoo'-o; from a prol. comp. of the base of 2360 and a der. of 680 (mean. a noisy iambus, sung in honor of Bacchus); to make an acclamatory procession, i.e. (fig.) to conquer or (by Hebr.) to give victory: - (cause) to triumph (over).

Because Jesus DRANK they accused Him of being a winedrinker. Of course in His own way He called them liars.

By the clustered charm that Dionysus sheds o'er the vintage I vow there yet shall come a time when thou wilt turn thy thoughts to Bromius. What furious rage the earth-born race displays,

even Pentheus sprung of a dragon (serpent) of old, himself the son of earth-born Echion, a savage monster in his very mien, not made in human mould,

THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 1 Cor13:1

Sounding in Greek is: 1 Corinthians chapter 13:, 1 Corinthians chapter 13:,

Echeo (g2278) ay-kheh'-o; from 2279; to make a loud noise, i.e. reverberate: - roar, sound.

Echos (g2279) ay'-khos; of uncert. affin.; a loud or confused noise ("echo"), i.e. roar: fig. a rumor: - fame, sound.

Hebrew Dictionary linked to Strong Numbers Chalal (h2490) an instructor/ of distance/space, start, commence; to redeem, to desecrate, make void, to create a cavity, vacuum, hollow, an empty space; a hollow/vacuum as a means to trap or bring together, nature; a vault, to make hollow: to wound, pierce, define, violate, make vulgar, wounded, slain, dead, the action of resisting: to break, disregard; violating instruction, to arrange/ an order of instruction; to assign, to pipe, play pipes

Echo 1 Corinthians chapter 13:,

in Greek mythology, a mountain nymph, or oread. Ovid's Metamorphoses relates that Echo offended the goddess Hera by keeping her in conversation, thus preventing her from spying on one of Zeus' amours. To punish Echo, Hera deprived her of speech, except for the ability to repeat the last words of another. Echo's hopeless love for Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image, made her fade away until all that was left of her was her voice.

According to the Greek writer Longus, Echo rejected the advances of the god Pan; he thereupon drove the shepherds mad, and they tore her to pieces. Gaea (Earth) buried her limbs but allowed her to retain the power of song. (Britannica Members

Ovid Metamorphoses 7.346. 1 Corinthians chapter 13:,

against the magic-making sound of gongs
........O wonder-working Moon, I draw you down
against the magic-making sound of gongs