Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments. Aeschylus

and thither, ye have troubled sore

      Our subjects with a coward want of heart;

      And do your best for those our foes without;

      And we are harassed by ourselves within.

      This comes to one who dwells with womankind.

      And if there be that will not own my sway,

      Or man or woman in their prime, or those

      Who can be classed with neither, they shall take

      Their trial for their life, nor shall they 'scape

      The fate of stoning. Things outdoors are still

      The man's to look to: let not woman counsel.

      Stay thou within, and do no mischief more.

      Hear'st thou, or no? or speak I to the deaf?

Strophe I

      Chor. Dear son of Œdipus,

      I shuddered as I heard the din, the din

      Of many a chariot's noise,

      When on the axles creaked the whirling wheels,

      And when I heard the sound

      Of fire-wrought curbs within the horses' mouths.

      Eteoc. What then? Did ever yet the sailor flee

      From stern to stem, and find deliverance so,

      While his ship laboured in the ocean's wave?87

Antistrophe I

      Chor. Nay, to the ancient forms

      Of mighty Powers I rushed, as trusting Gods;

      And when behind the gates

      Was heard the crash of fierce and pelting storm,

      Then was it, in my fear,

      I prayed the Blessed Ones to guard our city.

      Eteoc. Pray that our towns hold out 'gainst spear of foes.88

      Chor. Do not the Gods grant these things?

      Eteoc. Nay the Gods,

      So say they, leave the captured city's walls.89

Strophe II

      Chor. Ah! never in my life

      May all this goodly company of Gods

      Depart; nor may I see

      This city scene of rushings to and fro,

      And hostile army burning it with fire!

      Eteoc. Nay, call not on the Gods with counsel base;

      Obedience is the mother of success,

      Child strong to save. 'Tis thus the saying runs.

Antistrophe II

      Chor. True is it; but the Gods

      Have yet a mightier power, and oftentimes,

      In pressure of sore ill,

      It raises one perplexed from direst woe,

      When dark clouds gather thickly o'er his eyes.

      Eteoc. 'Tis work of men to offer sacrifice

      And victims to the Gods, when foes press hard;

      Thine to be dumb and keep within the house.

Strophe III

      Chor. 'Tis through the Gods we live

      In city unsubdued, and that our towers

      Ward off the multitude of jealous foes.

      What Power will grudge us this?

      Eteoc. I grudge not your devotion to the Gods;

      But lest you make my citizens faint-hearted

      Be tranquil, nor to fear's excess give way.

Antistrophe III

      Chor. Hearing but now a din

      Strange, wildly mingled, I with shrinking fear

      Here to our city's high Acropolis,

      Time-hallowed spot, have come.

      Eteoc. Nay, if ye hear of wounded men or dying,

      Bear them not swiftly off with wailing loud;

      For blood of men is Ares' chosen food.90

      Chor. Hark! now I hear the panting of the steeds.

      Eteoc. Clear though thou hear, yet hear not overmuch.

      Chor. Lo! from its depths the fortress groans, beleaguered.

      Eteoc. It is enough that I provide for this.

      Chor. I fear: the din increases at the gates.

      Eteoc. Be still, say nought of these things in the city.

      Chor. O holy Band!91 desert ye not our towers.

      Eteoc. A curse fall on thee! wilt thou not be still?

      Chor. Gods of my city, from the slave's lot save me!

      Eteoc. 'Tis thou enslav'st thyself and all thy city.

      Chor. Oh, turn thy darts, great Zeus, against our foes!

      Eteoc. Oh, Zeus, what race of women thou hast given us!

      Chor. A sorry race, like men whose city falls.

      Eteoc. What? Cling to these statues, yet speak words of ill?

      Chor. Fear hurries on my tongue in want of courage.

      Eteoc. Could'st thou but grant one small boon at my prayer!

      Chor. Speak it out quickly, and I soon shall know.

      Eteoc. Be still, poor fool, and frighten not thy friends.

      Chor. Still am I, and with others bear our fate.

      Eteoc. These words of thine I much prefer to those:

      And further, though no longer at the shrines,

      Pray thou for victory, that the Gods fight with us.

      And when my prayers thou hearest, then do thou

      Raise a loud, welcome, holy pæan-shout,

      The Hellenes' wonted cry at sacrifice;

      So cheer thy friends, and check their fear of foes;

      And I unto our country's guardian Gods,

      Who hold the plain or watch the agora,

      The springs of Dirkè, and Ismenos' stream; —

      If things go well, and this our city's saved, —

      I vow that staining with the blood of sheep

      The altar-hearths of Gods, or slaying bulls,

      We'll fix our trophies, and our foemen's robes

      On the spear's point on consecrated walls,

      Before the shrines I'll hang.92 Pray thou this prayer,

      Not weakly wailing, nor with vain wild sobs,

      For no whit more thou'lt 'scape thy destined lot:

      And I six warriors, with myself as seventh,

      Against

87

As now the sailor of the Mediterranean turns to the image of his patron saint, so of old he ran in his distress to the figure of his God upon the prow of his ship (often, as in Acts xxviii. II, that of the Dioscuri), and called to it for deliverance (comp. Jonah i. 8).

88

Eteocles seems to wish for a short, plain prayer for deliverance, instead of the cries and supplications and vain repetitions of the Chorus.

89

The thought thus expressed was, that the Gods, yielding to the mightier law of destiny, or in their wrath at the guilt of men, left the city before its capture. The feeling was all but universal. Its two representative instances are found in Virgil, Æn. 351 —

“Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictisDi quibus imperium hoc steterat;”

and the narrative given alike by Tacitus (Hist. v. 13), and Josephus (Bell. Jud. vi. 5, 3), that the cry “Let us depart hence,” was heard at midnight through the courts of the Temple, before the destruction of Jerusalem.

90

Sc. Blood must be shed in war. Ares would not be Ares without it. It is better to take it as it comes.

91

Sc., the company of Gods, Pallas, Hera and the others whom the Chorus had invoked.

92

Reference to this custom, which has passed from Pagan temples into Christian churches, is found in the Agamemnon, v. 562. It was connected, of course, with the general practice of offering as ex votos any personal ornaments or clothing as a token of thanksgiving for special mercies.