[_Fire leaps upon the Tomb of Semele._]

A MAIDEN
Ah, saw ye, marked ye there the flame
From Semele's enhallowed sod
Awakened? Yea, the Death that came
Ablaze from heaven of old, the same
Hot splendour of the shaft of God?

LEADER
Oh cast ye, cast ye, to the earth! The Lord
Cometh against this house! Oh, cast ye down,
Ye trembling damsels; He, our own adored,
God's Child hath come, and all is overthrown!

[_The Maidens cast themselves upon the ground, their eyes earthward._
DIONYSUS, _alone and unbound, enters from the Castle._]

DIONYSUS
Ye Damsels of the Morning Hills, why lie ye thus dismayed?
Ye marked him, then, our Master, and the mighty hand he laid
On tower and rock, shaking the house of Pentheus?--But arise,
And cast the trembling from your flesh, and lift untroubled eyes.

LEADER
O Light in Darkness, is it thou? O Priest, is this thy face?
My heart leaps out to greet thee from the deep of loneliness.

DIONYSUS
Fell ye so quick despairing, when beneath the Gate I passed?