CYNEGETICA, IV. 300-329 



of all the worshippers of Bromius flowed with tears. 

 And straightway they cried : " lo ! blessed one, 

 O Dionysus, kindle thou the flaming hghtning of 

 thy father and shake the earth and give us speedy 

 vengeance on the e\il tyrant. And, O son of fire, 

 make Pentheus a bull upon the hills, make Pentheus 

 of evil name a bull and make us ravenous ^vild beasts, 

 armed with deadly claws, that, O Dionysus, we may 

 rend him in our mouths." So spake they praying 

 and the lord of Nysa speedily hearkened to their 

 prayer. Pentheus he made a bull of deadly eye 

 and arched his neck and made the horns spring from 

 his forehead. But to the women he gave the grey 

 eyes of a -wild beast and armed their jaws and on 

 their backs put a spotted hide hke that of fa^vns and 

 made them a savage race. And, by the de\-ising of 

 the god ha\ing changed their fair flesh, in the form 

 of Leopards they rent Pentheus among the rocks. 

 Such things let us sing, such things let us beheve 

 in our hearts ! But as for the deeds of the women 

 in the glens of Cithaeron, or the tales told of those 

 wicked mothers, alien to Dionysus, these are the 

 impious falsehoods of minstrels. 



In tliis fashion does some hunter with his comrades 

 devise a snare for the Leopards which love neat vnne. 

 They choose a spring in the thirsty land of Libya, 

 a spring which, though small, gives forth in a very 

 waterless place abundant dark water, mysterious 

 and unexpected ; nor does it flow onward vrith 

 murmuring stream, but bubbles marvellously and 

 remains stationary and sinks in the sands. Thereof 

 the race of fierce Leopards come at dawn to drink. 

 And straightway at nightfall the hunters set forth 

 and carry with them twenty jars of sweet wine, which 



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