Bacchae Flashcards
(39 cards)
What must the city learn in the prologue?
The city must learn its lesson well, even against its will, for not celebrating my rites.
What warning does the Chorus give?
Unbridled mouths and lawless folly end in disaster.
What is the Chorus’ truism about wisdom?
Wisdom is not cleverness.
What has happened according to Pentheus?
Our women have abandoned their homes in fake Bacchic revels.
What is Pentheus’ anxiety about the women?
One by one the women creep off to hide in secret places and serve the lusts of men.
What is Pentheus’ wrath?
By cutting his head off from his body.
What does Pentheus say to Tiresias and Cadmus?
Go and play the bacchant but don’t wipe your stupidity off on me!
What is Pentheus’ order?
Track down the effeminate foreigner, who has brought a new disease to our women.
What does Cadmus say about honoring the gods?
I do not scorn the gods, since I am mortal myself.
What are Tiresias’ thoughts about Pentheus?
You poor wretch, how ignorant you are of what you are saying.
What are Tiresias’ instructions to Pentheus?
Accept the god in this country, and pour libations; become a bacchant and garland your head.
What is Pentheus’ curiosity?
What form do they take, these mysteries of yours?…What good do they do the worshippers?
What does Dionysus promise to Pentheus?
You will pay, for your ignorance and irreverence to the god!
What pricks Pentheus’ pride?
Seize him! He is mocking me and Thebes!
How does the Chorus describe Pentheus?
A savage, unnatural creature, inhuman, a giant so bloody he threatens the gods!
What does Dionysus call offstage?
O bacchants! O bacchants!
What does the Chorus scream for Dionysus?
! Worship him! Ah- we worship him!
What happens when Pentheus attacks the mirage?
Pentheus rushed to attack it, and slashed the shimmering air as though he were killing me.
What statement sums up Pentheus?
Though only a man, he dared to fight against a god.
How does the messenger describe the bacchants’ connection with nature?
Some of them held a faun in their arms or the wild cubs of wolves, and they gave them white milk.
How does the messenger describe the bacchants’ wildness?
You could see a woman pulling apart a young, full-uddered, bellowing heifer, with her bare hands.
What does the messenger say about the bacchants destroying social order?
They turned everything upside down.
What does the messenger say about the bacchants and children?
They snatched children from their homes.
What does the messenger say about the bacchants and men?
Women overcoming men!
