“O Dionysus, we feel you near,stirring like molten lavaunder the ravaged earth,flowing from the wounds of your treesin tears of sap,screaming with the rageof your hunted beasts.”

“O Dionysus, Son of God,do you see our sufferings?Do you see your faithfulin helpless agony before the oppressor?O Lord, come down from Olympus,shake your golden thyrsusand stifle the murderer's insolent fury.”

“Young man, two are the forces most precious to mankind.The first is Demeter, the Goddess.She is the Earth -- or any name you wish to call her -- and she sustains humanity with solid food.Next came Dionysus, the son of the virgin, bringing the counterpart to bread: wineand the blessings of life's flowing juices.His blood, the blood of the grape,lightens the burden of our mortal misery.Though himself a God, it is his blood we pour outto offer thanks to the Gods. And through him, we are blessed.”

“tell me how does it feel with my teeth in your heart!”

“Come, God -- Bromius, Bacchus, Dionysus -- burst into life, burstinto being, be a mighty bull,a hundred-headed snake,a fire-breathing lion. Burst into smiling life, oh Bacchus!”

“A woman like me! What am I like that's different from you or any man”

“He is life's liberating force.He is release of limbs and communion through dance.He is laughter, and music in flutes. He is repose from all cares -- he is sleep!When his blood bursts from the grapeand flows across tables laid in his honorto fuse with our blood,he gently, gradually, wraps us in shadowsof ivy-cool sleep.”