3
On hearing this, the Hindoos and their king roared with laughter, as well they might, and did not care to take the field against them or to deploy their troops; at most, they said, they would turn their women loose on them if they came near. They themselves thought it a shame to defeat them and kill crazy women, a hair-ribboned leader, a drunken little old man, a goat-soldie? and a lot of naked dancers— ridiculous, every one of them! But word soon came that the god was setting the country in a blaze, burning up cities and their inhabitants and firing the forests, and that he had speedily filled all India with flame. (Naturally, the weapon of Dionysus is fire, because it.is his father’s and comes from the thunderbolt.Zeus, the father of Dionysys, revealed himself to Semele, his mother, in all his glory, at her own request. Killed by his thunderbolt, she gave untimely birth to Dionysus, whom Zeus stitched into his own thigh and in due time brought into the world.) Then at last they hurriedly took arms, saddled and bridled their elephants and put the towers on them, and sallied out against the enemy. Even then they despised them, but were angry at them all the same, and eager to crush the life out of the beardless general and his army.
