How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Line). Every time a character talks counts as one line, even if what they say turns into a long monologue. We used Paul Roche's translation.
Quote #1
Dionysus:
"Yes, here in Hellas, Thebes
is the first city I fill
with the transports of ecstatic women." (1)
Dionysus has greatly upset the societal order of Thebes with his shenanigans. Not only has he driven people mad and sent them off to dance in the woods, but these particular people are women. This sort of behavior was totally against the rules for females in Greek society.
Quote #2
Tiresias:
"No, we don't play at theologians with the gods.
We stay close to the hallowed tenets of our fathers,
old as time. Nothing can undo them ever." (19)
Though Tiresias and Cadmus are violating the rules of the city by heading off to worship Dionysus, they are staying true to a much older set of regulations the rules of the gods. Both old men have seen enough life to know the terrible penalties that the gods put on humans who don't respect them.
Quote #3
Pentheus:
"The ones [Maenads] I've rounded up, my police have handcuffed
and safely clapped in jail." (21)
Upon his return to the city, Pentheus wastes no time trying to reassert himself. He's locking up Bacchus-crazed women left and right. Though he probably comes off as kind of a jerk, he's mostly just doing his job. What's a king to do when he comes home and finds every woman in his city dancing wildly in the woods? Isn't he expected to maintain order in the city?