A soldier enters with Dionysus tied up and peacefully unresisting. Events have left the soldier wary. He reports that the Bacchants who Pentheus imprisoned were spontaneously set free. Pentheus remains unconcerned, mocking Dionysus for his feminine looks and threatening to cut his hair. Pentheus questions him, and Dionysius claims to be from Lydia and an initiate in Dionysus’ rites, which he will not reveal. Pentheus threatens to punish Dionysus, and he warns Pentheus against impiety. His warnings go unheeded, though, as Pentheus orders his soldiers to lead Dionysus into the palace. The Chorus sings to Thebes, asking the city why it has rejected the god. Referencing Dionysus’s divine birth, the Chorus asks Zeus to come down and destroy Pentheus.

Dionysius’ voice is heard from the palace calling on his Bacchants. The Chorus replies for him to set the palace aflame. Dionysius emerges, revealing that he freed himself easily. In a frantic rage, Pentheus tried to bind him, while Dionysus quietly watched. The god deluded Pentheus, who did not realize that the creature he was struggling with was not the man from Lydia but a bull. While Pentheus exhausted himself in his futile endeavors, Dionysius calmly exited the palace.