Such a terrible situation.

It can be said that under the influence of the wine god, Agaue would not have attacked Pentheus. Since it is she who betrays her own son and kills him, we see that she is sick. So much like an animal with rabies, she cannot hear he son’s pleas for his life. Under the control of Dionysus, her sense are gone and no longer is she Pentheus’ mother than a wild animal on a killing spree. “not by strength but by ease of hand that was the gift of the god.” This quote also tells us that she does not have the power over her own actions at this point. It is Dionysus himself that is doing this deed with his own power.
Relating this to Greek culture, we see uncivilized behavior from Agave who is under the spell of Dionysus. This goes to show us that Dionysus is not acting godlike at all but rather using his powers to take advantage and seek revenge on the people.

The Lost Symbol

"Andros bought a sprawling villa on the island of Syros and settled in among the bella gente in the exclusive town of Possidonia. This new world was a community not only of wealth, but of culture and physical perfection. His neighbors took great pride in their bodies and minds, and it was contagious. The newcomer suddenly found himself jogging on the beach, tanning his pale body, and reading books. Andros read Homer's Odyssey,captivated by the images of powerful bronze men doing battle on these islands." (Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol, page 223)

This thriller of a novel is evidently considerably deep in terms of how much intellectual content is present. Here Brown describes a person's transformation. He specifies that taking care of your body is paramount in terms of self perfection along with expanding one's mind. Specifically, the mention of the Odyssey indicates that Brown must consider it a worthy story worth reading as it inspires his character to not only improve his physical body but also is a part of his intellectual expansion. The context that the Odyssey is mentioned in shows our link to the past; how we want to imitate great warriors of Homer's time by being as physically perfected as one can be while having a constantly developing mind that can bend ideas into realities.

Does Evil Complement Good?

"There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realise his conception of the beautiful."
-Oscar Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray"

This is my second time quoting from this book, but I could really go on forever. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde is my favourite novel, offering incredible insight into art, beauty, good, evil, sin, religion, and class.

This quote touches on an interesting philosophical concept. Could good and beauty exist without the parallel of evil and ugliness? Is it the contrast in which we discover true merit, the ability to compare that leads us to distinguish one from the other? I'm not a fan of philosophy and its roundabout tendancies, but this question intrigues me. I agree with the speaker of this quote. I believe that if we weren't aquainted with evil, then we could never appreciate the good in the world to its fullest extent.

"Ignorant Shepherds"

"[Allan] Bloom's book [The Closing of the American Mind] is a profound book, full of rewards to the attentive reader because of the richness of his thought and the clarity, energy, and wit of his writing. Near the end he offers a poignant metaphor of where we now stand in relation to the great tradition of human learning:

'We are like ignorant shepherds living on a site where great civilizations once flourished. The shepherds play with the fragments that pop up to the surface, having no notion of the beautiful structures of which they were once a part. All that is necessary is a careful excavation to provide them with life-enhancing models.'"

from Robert Nielsen's essay/book review, "The Closing of the (North) American Mind"