courage or is weak-willed, but
because he knows that he must meet his end in battle, if the prophecies of
Loxias are to come to fruition — the god usually either holds silent or speaks
to the point. Just the same, I will station a man against him, mighty
Lasthenes, a gate-keeper who hates foreigners. He has the wisdom of an old man,
but his body is at its prime: his eyes are quick, and he does not let his hand
delay for his spear to seize what is left exposed by the shield. Still it is
God’s gift when mortals succeed.
[ Exit Lasthenes. ]
CHORUS
[626] Gods, hear
our just prayers and fulfil them, that the city may have good fortune! Turn
aside the evils suffered in war onto those who invade our land! May Zeus strike
them with his thunderbolt outside the walls and slay them!
SCOUT
[631] Last I
will tell of the seventh champion, him at the seventh gate, your own brother,
and of what fate he prays for and calls down on the city. His prayer is that
after he mounts the battlements and is proclaimed king in the land, and shouts
the paian in triumph over its capture, he may then meet you in combat, and once
he kills you, that he may perish at your side, or, if you survive, make you pay
with banishment in the same way as you dishonored him with exile. Mighty
Polynices shouts such threats and invokes his native gods, the gods of his
fatherland, to watch over his prayers in every way. He holds a shield, a perfect
circle, newly-made, with a double symbol cleverly fastened on it: a woman
modestly walking in the fore leads a man in arms made, it appears, of hammered
gold. She claims to be Justice, as the lettering indicates, “I will bring this
man back and he will have his city and move freely in his father’s halls.”
[649] Such are the
inventions fixed to their shields. [Quickly determine yourself whom you think
it best to send.] Know that you will find no fault with me in the substance of
my report, but you yourself determine on what course to pilot the city.
[ Exit Scout. ]
ETEOCLES
[654] O my
family sired by Oedipus, steeped in tears, driven to madness by the gods and by
the gods detested! Ah, now indeed our father’s curses are brought to
fulfillment. But neither weeping nor wailing is proper for me now, lest a grief
even harder to bear is brought to life. As for him whose name is so very
fitting, Polynices, we shall know soon enough what the symbol on his shield
will accomplish, whether the babbling letters shaped in gold on his shield,
together with his mind’s wanderings, will bring him back. If Justice, Zeus’s
maiden daughter, were attending his actions and his thoughts, this might be so.
But as it is, neither when he escaped the darkness of his mother’s womb, nor in
childhood, nor at any point in his early manhood, nor when the beard first
thickened on his cheek, did Justice acknowledge him and consider him worthy.
And even now I do not think that she is standing by his side to aid the
destruction of his fatherland. Indeed, Justice would truly be false to her
name, if she should ally herself with a man so utterly audacious in his plans.
Trusting in this fact I will go and stand against him — I myself in person. Who
else has a more just claim? Commander against commander, brother against
brother, enemy against enemy, I will take my stand. Quick, bring my greaves to
protect against spears and stones!
CHORUS
[677] No, son of
Oedipus, most dear of our men, do not be like in temperament to him who is
called by such an evil name. It is enough that Cadmeans are advancing to close
combat with Argives. That bloodshed can be expiated. But when men of the same
blood kill each other as you desire, the pollution from this act never grows
old.
ETEOCLES
[683] If indeed
a man should suffer evil, let it be without dishonor, since that is the only
benefit for the dead. But you cannot speak of any glory for happenings that are
at once evil and held in dishonor.
CHORUS
[686] For what
are you so eager, child? Do not let mad
because he knows that he must meet his end in battle, if the prophecies of
Loxias are to come to fruition — the god usually either holds silent or speaks
to the point. Just the same, I will station a man against him, mighty
Lasthenes, a gate-keeper who hates foreigners. He has the wisdom of an old man,
but his body is at its prime: his eyes are quick, and he does not let his hand
delay for his spear to seize what is left exposed by the shield. Still it is
God’s gift when mortals succeed.
[ Exit Lasthenes. ]
CHORUS
[626] Gods, hear
our just prayers and fulfil them, that the city may have good fortune! Turn
aside the evils suffered in war onto those who invade our land! May Zeus strike
them with his thunderbolt outside the walls and slay them!
SCOUT
[631] Last I
will tell of the seventh champion, him at the seventh gate, your own brother,
and of what fate he prays for and calls down on the city. His prayer is that
after he mounts the battlements and is proclaimed king in the land, and shouts
the paian in triumph over its capture, he may then meet you in combat, and once
he kills you, that he may perish at your side, or, if you survive, make you pay
with banishment in the same way as you dishonored him with exile. Mighty
Polynices shouts such threats and invokes his native gods, the gods of his
fatherland, to watch over his prayers in every way. He holds a shield, a perfect
circle, newly-made, with a double symbol cleverly fastened on it: a woman
modestly walking in the fore leads a man in arms made, it appears, of hammered
gold. She claims to be Justice, as the lettering indicates, “I will bring this
man back and he will have his city and move freely in his father’s halls.”
[649] Such are the
inventions fixed to their shields. [Quickly determine yourself whom you think
it best to send.] Know that you will find no fault with me in the substance of
my report, but you yourself determine on what course to pilot the city.
[ Exit Scout. ]
ETEOCLES
[654] O my
family sired by Oedipus, steeped in tears, driven to madness by the gods and by
the gods detested! Ah, now indeed our father’s curses are brought to
fulfillment. But neither weeping nor wailing is proper for me now, lest a grief
even harder to bear is brought to life. As for him whose name is so very
fitting, Polynices, we shall know soon enough what the symbol on his shield
will accomplish, whether the babbling letters shaped in gold on his shield,
together with his mind’s wanderings, will bring him back. If Justice, Zeus’s
maiden daughter, were attending his actions and his thoughts, this might be so.
But as it is, neither when he escaped the darkness of his mother’s womb, nor in
childhood, nor at any point in his early manhood, nor when the beard first
thickened on his cheek, did Justice acknowledge him and consider him worthy.
And even now I do not think that she is standing by his side to aid the
destruction of his fatherland. Indeed, Justice would truly be false to her
name, if she should ally herself with a man so utterly audacious in his plans.
Trusting in this fact I will go and stand against him — I myself in person. Who
else has a more just claim? Commander against commander, brother against
brother, enemy against enemy, I will take my stand. Quick, bring my greaves to
protect against spears and stones!
CHORUS
[677] No, son of
Oedipus, most dear of our men, do not be like in temperament to him who is
called by such an evil name. It is enough that Cadmeans are advancing to close
combat with Argives. That bloodshed can be expiated. But when men of the same
blood kill each other as you desire, the pollution from this act never grows
old.
ETEOCLES
[683] If indeed
a man should suffer evil, let it be without dishonor, since that is the only
benefit for the dead. But you cannot speak of any glory for happenings that are
at once evil and held in dishonor.
CHORUS
[686] For what
are you so eager, child? Do not let mad
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