Eksodos
Agave
You gave me, as they say, to Echion, the sown man.
Kadmos
What son did you bear to your husband in the house?
1275
Agave
Pentheus, from my union with his father.
Kadmos
Whose head do you hold in your hands?
Agave
A lion’s, as they who hunted him down said.
Kadmos
Examine it correctly then; it takes but little effort to see.
Agave
Ah! What do I see? What is this that I carry in my hands?
1280
Kadmos
Look at it and learn more clearly.
Agave
I see the greatest grief, wretched that I am.
Kadmos
Does it seem to you to be like a lion?
Agave
No, but I, wretched, hold the head of Pentheus.
Kadmos
Yes, much lamented before you recognized him.
1285
Agave
Who killed him? How did he come into my hands?
Kadmos
Miserable truth, how inopportunely you arrive!
Agave
Tell me. My heart leaps at what is to come.
Kadmos
You and your sisters killed him.
Agave
Where did he die? Was it here at home, or in what place?
1290
Kadmos
Where formerly dogs divided Actaeon among themselves.
Agave
And why did this ill-fated man go to Kithairon?
Kadmos
He went to mock the god and your revelry.
Agave
But in what way did we go there?
Kadmos
You were mad, and the whole city was frantic with Bacchus.
1295
Agave
Dionysus destroyed us—now I understand.
Kadmos
Being insulted with insolence, for you did not consider him a god.
Agave
And where is the body of my dearest child, father?
Kadmos
I have traced it with difficulty and brought it back.
Agave
Are its joints laid properly together?
1300
Agave
What part did Pentheus have in my folly?
Kadmos
He, like you, did not revere the god, who therefore joined all in one ruin, both you and this one here, and thus destroyed the house and me,
