barbarian way,
filled with the breath of their haughty nostrils. His shield is decorated in
great style: an armored man climbs a ladder’s rungs to mount an enemy tower
that he wants to destroy. This one, too, shouts in syllables of written letters
that even Ares could not hurl him from the battlements. Send a dependable
opponent against this man, too, to keep the yoke of slavery from our city.
ETEOCLES
[472] I would
send this man here, and with good fortune. [ Exit Megareus. ] Indeed, he
has already been sent, his only boast in his hands, Megareus, Creon’s seed, of
the race of the sown-men. He will not withdraw from the gate in fear of
the thunder of the horses’ furious snorting; but either he will die and pay the
earth the full price of his nurture, or will capture two men and the city on
the shield, and then adorn his father’s house with the spoils. Tell me about another’s
boasts and do not begrudge me the full tale!
CHORUS
[481] O champion
of my home, I pray that this man will have good fortune, and that there will be
bad fortune for his enemies. As they boast too much against the city in their
frenzied mind, so, too, may Zeus the Requiter look on them in anger!
SCOUT
[486] Another,
the fourth, has the gate near Onca Athena and takes his stand with a shout,
Hippomedon, tremendous in form and figure. I shuddered in fear as he spun a
huge disk — the circle of his shield, I mean — I cannot deny it. The
symbol-maker who put the design on his shield was no lowly craftsman: the
symbol is Typhon, spitting out of his fire-breathing mouth a dark, thick smoke,
the darting sister of fire. And the rim of the hollow-bellied shield is
fastened all around with snaky braids. The warrior himself has raised the
war-cry and, inspired by Ares he raves for battle like a maenad, with a look to
inspire fear. We must put up a good defense against the assault of such a man,
for already Rout is boasting of victory at the gate.
ETEOCLES
[501] First Onca
Pallas, who dwells near the city, close by the gate, and who loathes
outrageousness in a man, will fend him off like a dangerous snake away from
nestlings. Moreover, Hyperbius, Oenops’ trusty son, is chosen to match him, man
to man, as he is eager to search out his fate in the crisis that chance has
wrought — neither in form, nor spirit nor in the wielding of his arms does he
bear reproach. Hermes has appropriately pitted them against each other. For the
man is hostile to the man he faces in battle, and the gods on their shields
also meet as enemies. The one has fire-breathing Typhon, while father Zeus
stands upright on Hyperbius’ shield, his lightening bolt aflame in his hand.
And no one yet has seen Zeus conquered. Such then is the favor of the divine
powers: we are with the victors, they with the vanquished, if Zeus in fact
proves stronger in battle than Typhon. And it is likely that the mortal
adversaries will fare as do their gods; and so, in accordance with the symbol,
Zeus will be a savior for Hyperbius since he resides on his shield.
[ Exit Hyperbius. ]
CHORUS
[521] I am sure
that Zeus’ antagonist, since he has on his shield the unloved form of an
earth-born deity, an image hated by both mortals and the long-lived gods, will
drop his head in death before the gate.
SCOUT
[526] Let it be
so! Next I describe the fifth man who is stationed at the fifth, the Northern
gate opposite the tomb of Amphion, Zeus’s son. He swears by his spear which, in
his confidence, he holds more to be revered than a god and more precious than
his eyes, that he will sack the city of the Cadmeans in spite of Zeus. He says
this, the beautiful child of a mountain-bred mother — a warrior, half man, half
boy, and his beard’s first growth is just now advancing on his cheeks, his
youth in first bloom, thick, upspringing hair. But now he makes his advance
with a savage heart and a terrifying look, not at all like the maidens he’s
named for. Nor does he take his stand at the gate unboasting,
filled with the breath of their haughty nostrils. His shield is decorated in
great style: an armored man climbs a ladder’s rungs to mount an enemy tower
that he wants to destroy. This one, too, shouts in syllables of written letters
that even Ares could not hurl him from the battlements. Send a dependable
opponent against this man, too, to keep the yoke of slavery from our city.
ETEOCLES
[472] I would
send this man here, and with good fortune. [ Exit Megareus. ] Indeed, he
has already been sent, his only boast in his hands, Megareus, Creon’s seed, of
the race of the sown-men. He will not withdraw from the gate in fear of
the thunder of the horses’ furious snorting; but either he will die and pay the
earth the full price of his nurture, or will capture two men and the city on
the shield, and then adorn his father’s house with the spoils. Tell me about another’s
boasts and do not begrudge me the full tale!
CHORUS
[481] O champion
of my home, I pray that this man will have good fortune, and that there will be
bad fortune for his enemies. As they boast too much against the city in their
frenzied mind, so, too, may Zeus the Requiter look on them in anger!
SCOUT
[486] Another,
the fourth, has the gate near Onca Athena and takes his stand with a shout,
Hippomedon, tremendous in form and figure. I shuddered in fear as he spun a
huge disk — the circle of his shield, I mean — I cannot deny it. The
symbol-maker who put the design on his shield was no lowly craftsman: the
symbol is Typhon, spitting out of his fire-breathing mouth a dark, thick smoke,
the darting sister of fire. And the rim of the hollow-bellied shield is
fastened all around with snaky braids. The warrior himself has raised the
war-cry and, inspired by Ares he raves for battle like a maenad, with a look to
inspire fear. We must put up a good defense against the assault of such a man,
for already Rout is boasting of victory at the gate.
ETEOCLES
[501] First Onca
Pallas, who dwells near the city, close by the gate, and who loathes
outrageousness in a man, will fend him off like a dangerous snake away from
nestlings. Moreover, Hyperbius, Oenops’ trusty son, is chosen to match him, man
to man, as he is eager to search out his fate in the crisis that chance has
wrought — neither in form, nor spirit nor in the wielding of his arms does he
bear reproach. Hermes has appropriately pitted them against each other. For the
man is hostile to the man he faces in battle, and the gods on their shields
also meet as enemies. The one has fire-breathing Typhon, while father Zeus
stands upright on Hyperbius’ shield, his lightening bolt aflame in his hand.
And no one yet has seen Zeus conquered. Such then is the favor of the divine
powers: we are with the victors, they with the vanquished, if Zeus in fact
proves stronger in battle than Typhon. And it is likely that the mortal
adversaries will fare as do their gods; and so, in accordance with the symbol,
Zeus will be a savior for Hyperbius since he resides on his shield.
[ Exit Hyperbius. ]
CHORUS
[521] I am sure
that Zeus’ antagonist, since he has on his shield the unloved form of an
earth-born deity, an image hated by both mortals and the long-lived gods, will
drop his head in death before the gate.
SCOUT
[526] Let it be
so! Next I describe the fifth man who is stationed at the fifth, the Northern
gate opposite the tomb of Amphion, Zeus’s son. He swears by his spear which, in
his confidence, he holds more to be revered than a god and more precious than
his eyes, that he will sack the city of the Cadmeans in spite of Zeus. He says
this, the beautiful child of a mountain-bred mother — a warrior, half man, half
boy, and his beard’s first growth is just now advancing on his cheeks, his
youth in first bloom, thick, upspringing hair. But now he makes his advance
with a savage heart and a terrifying look, not at all like the maidens he’s
named for. Nor does he take his stand at the gate unboasting,
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