Æschylos Tragedies and Fragments. Aeschylus

twisted snakes.

      And he too shouts his war-cry, and in frenzy,

      As man possessed by Ares, hastes to battle,

      Like Thyiad, darting terror from his eyes.101

      'Gainst such a hero's might we well may guard;

      Already at the gates men brag of rout.

      Eteoc. First, the great Onca-Pallas, dwelling nigh

      Our city's gates, and hating man's bold pride,

      Shall ward him from her nestlings like a snake

      Of venom dread; and next Hyperbios,

      The stalwart son of Œnops, has been chosen,

      A hero 'gainst this hero, willing found

      To try his destiny at Fortune's hest.

      No fault has he in form, or heart, or arms;

      And Hermes with good reason pairs them off;

      For man with man will fight as enemy,

      And on their shields they'll bring opposing Gods;

      For this man beareth Typhon, breathing fire,

      And on Hyperbios' shield sits father Zeus,

      Full firm, with burning thunderbolt in hand;

      And never yet has man seen Zeus, I trow,

      O'ercome. Such then the favour of the Gods,

      We with the winners, they with losers are:102

      Good reason then the rivals so should fare,

      If Zeus than Typhon stronger be in fight,

      And to Hyperbios Zeus will saviour prove,

      As that device upon his shield presents him.

Antistrophe II

      Chor. Now do I trust that he

      Who bears upon his shield the hated form

      Of Power whom Earth doth shroud,

      Antagonist to Zeus, unloved by men

      And by the ageless Gods,

      Before those gates of ours

      To his own hurt may dash his haughty head.

      Mess. So may it be! And now the fifth I tell,

      Who the fifth gates, the Northern, occupies,

      Hard by Amphion's tomb, the son of Zeus;

      And by his spear he swears, (which he is bold

      To honour more than God or his own eyes,)

      That he will sack the fort of the Cadmeians

      With that spear's might. So speaks the offspring fair

      Of mother mountain-bred, a stripling hero;

      And the soft down is creeping o'er his cheeks,

      Youth's growth, and hair that floweth full and thick;

      And he with soul, not maiden's like his name,103

      But stern, with flashing eye, is standing there.

      Nor stands he at the gate without a vaunt;

      For on his brass-wrought buckler, strong defence,

      Full-orbed, his body guarding, he the shame

      Of this our city bears, the ravenous Sphinx,

      With rivets fixed, all burnished and embossed;104

      And under her she holdeth a Cadmeian,

      That so on him most arrows might be shot.

      No chance that he will fight a peddling fight,

      Nor shame the long, long journey he hath come,

      Parthenopæos, in Arcadia born:

      This man did Argos welcome as a guest,

      And now he pays her for her goodly rearing,

      And threatens these our towers with … God avert it!

      Eteoc. Should the Gods give them what they plan 'gainst us,

      Then they, with those their godless boastings high,

      Would perish shamefully and utterly.

      And for this man of Arcady thou tell'st of,

      We have a man who boasts not, but his hand

      Sees the right thing to do; – Actôr, of him

      I named but now the brother, – who no tongue

      Divorced from deeds will ever let within

      Our gates, to spread and multiply our ills,

      Nor him who bears upon his foeman's shield

      The image of the hateful venomed beast;

      But she without shall blame him as he tries

      To take her in, when she beneath our walls

      Gets sorely bruised and battered.105 And herein,

      If the Gods will, I prophet true shall prove.

Strophe III

      Chor. Thy words thrill through my breast;

      My hair stands all on end,

      To hear the boastings great

      Of those who speak great things

      Unholy. May the Gods

      Destroy them in our land!

      Mess. A sixth I tell of, one of noblest mood,

      Amphiaraos, seer and warrior famed;

      He, stationed at the Homolôian gates,

      Reproves the mighty Tydeus with sharp words

      As 'murderer,' and 'troubler of the State,'106

      'To Argos teacher of all direst ills,

      Erinnys' sumpnour,'107 'murder's minister,'

      Whose counsels led Adrastos to these ills.

      And at thy brother Polyneikes glancing

      With eyes uplifted for his father's fate,

      And ending, twice he syllabled his name,108

      And called him, and thus speaketh with his lips: —

      “A goodly deed, and pleasant to the Gods,

      Noble for after age to hear and tell,

      Thy father's city and thy country's Gods

      To waste through might of mercenary host!

      And how shall Justice stay thy mother's tears?109

      And how, when conquered, shall thy fatherland,

      Laid waste, become a true ally to thee?

      As for myself, I shall that land make rich,110

      A prophet buried in a foeman's soil:

      To arms! I look for no inglorious death.”

      So spake the prophet, bearing full-orbed shield

      Wrought all of bronze, no ensign on that orb.

      He wishes to be just, and not to seem,111

      Reaping full harvest from his soul's deep furrows,

      Whence ever new and noble counsels spring.

      I bid

101

Thyiad, another name for the Mænads, the frenzied attendants on Dionysos.

102

Sc., in the legends of Typhon, not he, but Zeus, had proved the conqueror. The warrior, therefore, who chose Typhon for his badge was identifying himself with the losing, not the winning side.

103

The name, as we are told in v. 542, is Parthenopæos, the maiden-faced.

104

The Sphinx, besides its general character as an emblem of terror, had, of course, a special meaning as directed to the Thebans. The warrior who bore it threatened to renew the old days when the monster whom Œdipus had overcome had laid waste their city.

105

Sc., the Sphinx on his shield will not be allowed to enter the city. It will only serve as a mark, attracting men to attack both it and the warrior who bears it.

106

The quarrel between Tydeus and the seer Amphiaraos had been already touched upon.

107

I have used the old English word to express a term of like technical use in Athenian law processes. As the “sumpnour” called witnesses or parties to a suit into court, so Tydeus had summoned the Erinnys to do her work of destruction.

108

Sc., so pronounced his name as to emphasise the significance of its two component parts, as indicating that he who bore it was a man of much contention.

109

The words are obscure, but seem to refer to the badge of Polyneikes, the figure of Justice described in v. 643 as on his shield. How shall that Justice, the seer asks, console Jocasta for her son's death? Another rendering gives,

“And how shall Justice quench a mother's life?”

the “mother” being the country against which Polyneikes wars.

110

The words had a twofold fulfilment (1) in the burial of Amphiaraos, in the Theban soil; and (2) in the honour which accrued to Thebes after his death, through the fame of the oracle at his shrine.

111

The passage cannot be passed over without noticing the old tradition (Plutarch, Aristeid. c. 3), that when the actor uttered these words, he and the whole audience looked to Aristeides, surnamed the Just, as recognising that the words were true of him as they were of no one else. “Best,” instead of “just,” is, however, a very old various reading.