Cadmus Quotes in The Bacchae
CADMUS
Are we the only men who'll dance for Dionysus?
TIRESIAS
The rest are blind. Only we can see.
And here's another miracle! The prophet Tiresias
all got up in fawn skin, and my mother's father
dressed up as a Bacchant with a wand.
You look ridiculous, both of you: have you lost your wits?
I'm ashamed of you, Grandfather.
Shake off that ivy and drop that bloody stick!
This is your doing, Tiresias, I can tell:
another imported god, another chance
to make money on the side from burnt offerings
and reading auguries from the guts of birds.
Father, you have the right to make the proudest boast,
for you have sired the bravest daughters in the world.
And of us all, I am the foremost:
leaving the shuttle and loom for bigger things –
hunting animals with my bare hands.
As you can see, I have a trophy for our house,
to hang here on the wall.
AGAVE
Cithaeron? But why was Pentheus there?
CADMUS
He went to mock the gods, and your rituals.
AGAVE
But we—why were we there?
CADMUS
You were out of your wits.
The whole city was possessed by Bacchus.
AGAVE
I see. Dionysus has destroyed us all.
Cadmus Quotes in The Bacchae
CADMUS
Are we the only men who'll dance for Dionysus?
TIRESIAS
The rest are blind. Only we can see.
And here's another miracle! The prophet Tiresias
all got up in fawn skin, and my mother's father
dressed up as a Bacchant with a wand.
You look ridiculous, both of you: have you lost your wits?
I'm ashamed of you, Grandfather.
Shake off that ivy and drop that bloody stick!
This is your doing, Tiresias, I can tell:
another imported god, another chance
to make money on the side from burnt offerings
and reading auguries from the guts of birds.
Father, you have the right to make the proudest boast,
for you have sired the bravest daughters in the world.
And of us all, I am the foremost:
leaving the shuttle and loom for bigger things –
hunting animals with my bare hands.
As you can see, I have a trophy for our house,
to hang here on the wall.
AGAVE
Cithaeron? But why was Pentheus there?
CADMUS
He went to mock the gods, and your rituals.
AGAVE
But we—why were we there?
CADMUS
You were out of your wits.
The whole city was possessed by Bacchus.
AGAVE
I see. Dionysus has destroyed us all.
