Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments. Aeschylus

those who in the triremes perished!

      Chor. With broken cries of woe will I escort thee.

[Exeunt in procession, wailing, andrending their robes.

      THE SEVEN WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THEBES

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

      Eteocles

      Scout

      Herald

      Ismene

      Antigone

      Chorus of Theban Maidens

      ARGUMENT. —When Œdipus king of Thebes discovered that he had unknowingly been the murderer of his father, and had lived in incest with his mother, he blinded himself. And his two sons, Eteocles and Polyneikes, wishing to banish the remembrance of these horrors from the eyes of men, at first kept him in confinement. And he, being wroth with them, prayed that they might divide their inheritance with the sword. And they, in fear lest the prayer should be accomplished, agreed to reign in turn, each for a year, and Eteocles, as the elder of the two, took the first turn. But when at the end of the year Polyneikes came to ask for the kingdom, Eteocles refused to give way, and sent him away empty. So Polyneikes went to Argos and married the daughter of Adrastos the king of that country, and gathered together a great army under six great captains, himself going as the seventh, and led it against Thebes. And so they compassed it about, and at each of the seven gates of the city was stationed one of the divisions of the army.

      Note.—The Seven against Thebes appears to have been produced B.C. 472, the year after The Persians.

THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBESScene. – Thebes in front of the Acropolis Enter Eteocles, and crowd of Theban Citizens

      Eteoc. Ye citizens of Cadmos, it behoves

      That one who standeth at the stern of State

      Guiding the helm, with eyes unclosed in sleep,

      Should speak the things that meet occasion's need.

      For should we prosper, God gets all the praise:

      But if (which God forbid!) disaster falls,

      Eteocles, much blame on one head falling,

      Would find his name the by-word of the State,73

      Sung in the slanderous ballads of the town;

      Yes, and with groanings, which may Zeus the Averter,

      True to his name, from us Cadmeians turn!

      But now 'tis meet for all, both him who fails

      Of full-grown age, and him advanced in years,

      Yet boasting still a stalwart strength of frame,

      And each in life's full prime, as it is fit,

      The State to succour and the altars here

      Of these our country's Gods, that never more

      Their votive honours cease, – to help our sons,

      And Earth, our dearest mother and kind nurse;

      For she, when young ye crept her kindly plain,

      Bearing the whole charge of your nourishment,

      Reared you as denizens that bear the shield,

      That ye should trusty prove in this her need.

      And now thus far God turns the scale for us;

      For unto us, beleaguered these long days,

      War doth in most things with God's help speed well,

      But now, as saith the seer, the augur skilled,74

      Watching with ear and mind, apart from fire,

      The birds oracular with mind unerring,

      He, lord and master of these prophet-arts,

      Says that the great attack of the Achæans

      This very night is talked of, and their plots

      Devised against the town. But ye, haste all

      Unto the walls and gateways of the forts;

      Rush ye full-armed, and fill the outer space,

      And stand upon the platforms of the towers,

      And at the entrance of the gates abiding

      Be of good cheer, nor fear ye overmuch

      The host of aliens. Well will God work all.

      And I have sent my scouts and watchers forth,

      And trust their errand is no fruitless one.

      I shall not, hearing them, be caught with guile.

[Exeunt Citizens. Enter one of the Scouts

      Mess. King of Cadmeians, great Eteocles,

      I from the army come with tidings clear,

      And am myself eye-witness of its acts;

      For seven brave warriors, leading armèd bands,

      Cutting a bull's throat o'er a black-rimmed shield,

      And dipping in the bull's blood with their hands,

      Swore before Ares, Enyo,75 murderous Fear,

      That they would bring destruction on our town,

      And trample under foot the tower of Cadmos,

      Or dying, with their own blood stain our soil;

      And they memorials for their sires at home

      Placed with their hands upon Adrastos' car,76

      Weeping, but no wail uttering with their lips,

      For courage iron-hearted breathed out fire

      In manliness unconquered, as when lions

      Flash battle from their eyeballs. And report

      Of these things does not linger on the way.

      I left them casting lots, that each might take,

      As the lot fell, his station at the gate.

      Wherefore do thou our city's chosen ones

      Array with speed at entrance of the gates;

      For near already is the Argive host,

      Marching through clouds of dust, and whitening foam

      Spots all the plain with drops from horses' mouths.

      And thou, as prudent helmsman of the ship,

      Guard thou our fortress ere the blasts of Ares

      Swoop on it wildly; for there comes the roar

      Of the land-wave of armies. And do thou

      Seize for these things the swiftest tide and time;

      And I, in all that comes, will keep my eye

      As faithful sentry; so through speech full clear,

      Thou, knowing all things yonder, shalt be safe.

[Exit.

      Eteoc. O Zeus and Earth, and all ye guardian Gods!

      Thou Curse and strong Erinnys of my sire!

      Destroy ye not my city root and branch,

      With sore destruction smitten, one whose voice

      Is that of Hellas, nor our hearths and homes;77

      Grant that they never hold in yoke of bondage

      Our country free, and town of Cadmos named;

      But be ye our defence. I deem I speak

      Of what concerns us both; for still 'tis

73

Probably directed against the tendency of the Athenians, as shown in their treatment of Miltiades, and later in that of Thukydides, to punish their unsuccessful generals, “pour encourager les autres.”

74

Teiresias, as in Sophocles (Antig. v. 1005), sitting, though blind, and listening, as the birds flit by him, and the flames burn steadily or fitfully; a various reading gives “apart from sight.”

75

Enyo, the goddess of war, and companion of Ares.

76

Amphiaraos the seer had prophesied that Adrastos alone should return home in safety. On his car, therefore, the other chieftains hung the clasps, or locks of hair, or other memorials which in the event of their death were to be taken to their parents.

77

The Hellenic feeling, such as the Platæans appealed to in the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. iii. 58, 59), that it was noble and right for Hellenes to destroy a city of the barbarians, but that they should spare one belonging to a people of their own stock.