Hymn to Dionysus Bassareus

Seven lines, and they contain the whole Orphic version of the god.

Πυρίσπορε — fire-begotten: Semele burned at Zeus' epiphany, and the infant was snatched from the flame. Ταυρομέτωπε — bull-fronted: in Orphic myth the Titans tore apart the child Dionysus in the form of a bull, and from his remains mankind arose. Two epithets in the first line — and in them the birth from fire and the dismemberment in bull shape, that is, the whole Orphic story, which was closed to the uninitiated.

Ὃς ξίφεσιν χαίρεις ἠδ᾽ αἵματι Μαινάσι θ᾽ ἁγναῖς — you who rejoice in swords and in blood and in the pure Maenads. The word "pure" stands next to blood with no transition at all: purity here is ritual, not moral, and tearing a victim apart does not breach it.

Βαρύμηνι — heavy in wrath. The petitioner names the danger aloud while inviting it in.

And it all ends thus: "come, blessed one, leaping, bringing great gladness to all". Of a god just described in terms of swords, blood and heavy wrath, cheerfulness is requested. The same move occurs in Seneca, where the Theban chorus praises Bacchus with a catalogue of his reprisals (seneca-bacchus-001).