Cast o'er his head thy snare;
And laugh aloud and drag him to his death,
Who stalks thy herded madness in its lair!
[_Enter hastily a_ MESSENGER _from the Mountain, pale and distraught._]

MESSENGER
Woe to the house once blest in Hellas! Woe
To thee, old King Sidonian, who didst sow
The dragon-seed on Ares' bloody lea!
Alas, even thy slaves must weep for thee!

LEADER
News from the mountain?--Speak! How hath it sped?

MESSENGER
Pentheus, my king, Echion's son, is dead!

LEADER
All hail, God of the Voice,
Manifest ever more!

MESSENGER
What say'st thou?--And how strange thy tone, as though
In joy at this my master's overthrow!

LEADER
With fierce joy I rejoice,
Child of a savage shore;
For the chains of my prison are broken, and the dread where I cowered of
yore!