When Dionysus led his host against the men of Ind (surely there is nothing to prevent my telling you a tale of Bacchus!), he was held at first in such contempt, they say, by the people there, that they laughed at his advance; more than that, they pitied him for his hardihood, because he was certain to be trampled under foot in an instant by the elephants if he deployed against them. No doubt they heard curious reports about his army from their scouts: “His rank and file are crack-brained, crazy women, wreathed with ivy, dressed in fawn-skins, carrying little headless spears which are of ivy too, and light targes that boom if you do but touch them”—for they supposed, no doubt, that the tambours were shields. ‘A few young clodhoppers are with them, dancing the can-can without any clothes on; they have tails, and have horns like those which start from the foreheads of new-born kids.

As for the general himself, he rides on a car behind a team of panthers; he is quite beardless, without even the least bit of down on his cheek, has horns, wears a garland of grape clusters, ties up his hair with a ribbon, and is in a purple gown and gilt slippers. He has two lieutenants. OneSilenus is a short, thick-set old man with a big belly, a flat nose and large, up-standing ears, who is a bit shaky and walks with a staff (though for the most part he rides on an ass), and is also in a woman’s gown, which is yellow; he is a very appropriate aide to such a chief! The otherPan is a misbegotten fellow like a goat in the underpinning, with hairy legs, horns, and a long beard; he is choleric and hot-headed, carries a shepherd’s pipe in his left hand and brandishes a crooked stick in his right, and goes bounding all about the army. The women are afraid of him; they toss their hair in the wind when he comes near and cry out ‘Evoe.’ This we suppose to be the name of their ruler. The flocks have already been harried - by the women, and the animals torn limb from limb while still alive; for they are eaters of raw meat.”