by Euripides
LEADER Be of good cheer; for if thou preserve the light of justice, thou shalt escape many a charge that men might urge.
THEBAN HERALD Wilt thou that I sum up in brief all thou wouldst say?
THESEUS Say what thou wilt; for thou art not silent as it is.
THEBAN HERALD Thou shalt never take the sons of Argos from our land.
THESEUS Hear, then, my answer too to that, if so thou wilt.
THEBAN HERALD I will hear thee; not that I wish it, but I must give thee thy turn.
THESEUS I will bury the dead, when from Asopus’ land I have removed them.
THEBAN HERALD First must thou adventure somewhat in the front of war.
THESEUS Many an enterprise and of a different kind have I ere this endured.
THEBAN HERALD Wert thou then begotten of thy sire to cope with every foe?
THESEUS Ay, with all wanton villains; virtue I punish not.
THEBAN HERALD To meddle is aye thy wont and thy city’s too.
THESEUS Hence her enterprise on many a field hath won her many blessings.
THEBAN HERALD Come then, that the warriors of the dragon-crop may catch thee in our city.
THESEUS What furious warrior-host could spring from dragon’s seed?
THEBAN HERALD Thou shalt learn that to thy cost. As yet thou art young and rash.
THESEUS Thy boastful speech stirs not my heart at all to rage. Yet get thee gone from my land, taking with thee the idle words thou broughtest; for we are making no advance. (The THEBAN HERALD withdraws.) ’Tis time for all to start, each stout footman, and whoso mounts the car; ’tis time the bit, dripping with foam, should urge the charger on toward the land of Cadmus. For I will march in person to the seven gates thereof with the sharp sword in my hand, and be myself my herald. But thee, Adrastus, I bid stay, nor blend with mine thy fortunes, for I will take my own good star to lead my host, a chieftain famed in famous deeds of arms. One thing alone I need, the favour of all gods that reverence right, for the presence of these things insures victory. For their valour availeth men naught, unless they have the god’s goodwill.
(THESEUS and his retinue depart. The following
lines between the SEMI-CHORUSES are chanted responsively.)
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS Unhappy mothers of those hapless chiefs! How wildly in my heart pale fear stirs up alarm!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS What is this new cry thou utterest?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS I fear the issue of the strife, whereto the hosts of Pallas march.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS Dost speak of issues of the sword, or interchange of words?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS That last were gain indeed; but if the carnage of battle, fighting, and the noise of beaten breasts again be heard in the land, what, alas! will be said of me, who am the cause thereof?
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS Yet may fate again bring low the brilliant victor; ’tis this brave thought that twines about my heart.
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS Thou speak’st of the gods as if they were just.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS For who but they allot whate’er betides?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS I see much at variance in their dealings with men.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS The former fear hath warped thy judgment. Vengeance calls vengeance forth; slaughter calls for slaughter, but the gods give respite from affliction, holding in their own hands each thing’s allotted end.
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS Would I could reach yon plains with turrets crowned, leaving Callichorus, fountain of the goddess!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS O that some god would give me wings to fly to the city of rivers twain!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS So might’st thou see and know the fortunes of thy friends.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS What fate, what issue there awaits the valiant monarch of this land?
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS Once more do we invoke the gods we called upon before; yea, in our fear this is our first and chiefest trust.
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS O Zeus, father to the child the heifer-mother bore in days long past, that daughter of Inachus!
FIRST SEMI-CHORUS O be gracious, I pray, and champion this city!
SECOND SEMI-CHORUS ’Tis thy own darling, thy own settler in the city of Argos that I am striving from outrage to rescue for the funeral pyre.
(A MESSENGER enters.)
MESSENGER Ladies, I bring you tidings of great joy, myself escaped-for I was taken prisoner in the battle which cost those chieftains seven their lives near Dirce’s fount-to bear the news of Theseus’ victory. But I will save thee tedious questioning; I was the servant of Capaneus, whom Zeus with scorching bolt to ashes burnt.
LEADER OF THE CHORUS Friend of friends, fair thy news of thy own return, nor less the news about Theseus; and if the host of Athens, too, is safe, welcome will all thy message be.
MESSENGER ’Tis safe, and all hath happened as I would it had befallen Adrastus and his Argives, whom from Inachus he led, to march against the city of the Cadmeans.
LEADER How did the son of Aegeus and his fellow-warriors raise their trophy to Zeus? Tell us, for thou wert there and canst gladden us who were not.
MESSENGER Bright shone the sun, one levelled line of light, upon the world, as by Electra’s gate I stood to watch, from a turret with a far outlook. And lo! I saw the host in three divisions, deploying its mail-clad warriors on the high ground by the banks of Ismenus; this last I heard; and with them was the king himself, famous son of Aegeus; his own men, natives of old Cecropia, were ranged upon the right; while on the left, hard by the fountain of Ares, were the dwellers by the sea, harnessed spearmen they; on either wing were posted cavalry, in equal numbers, and chariots were stationed in the shelter of Amphion’s holy tomb. Meantime, the folk of Cadmus set themselves before the walls, placing in the rear the bodies for which they fought. Horse to horse, and car to car stood ranged. Then did the herald of Theseus cry aloud to all: “Be still, ye folk! hush, ye ranks of Cadmus, hearken! we are come to fetch the bodies of the slain, wishing to bury them in observance of the universal law of Hellas; no wish have we to lengthen out the slaughter.” Not a word would Creon let his herald answer back, but there he stood in silence under arms. Then did the drivers of the four-horse cars begin the fray; on, past each other they drave their chariots, bringing the warriors at their sides up into line. Some fought with swords, some wheeled the horses back to the fray again for those they drove. Now when Phorbas, who captained the cavalry of the Erechtheidae, saw the thronging chariots, he and they who had the charge of the Theban horse met hand to hand, and by turns were victors and vanquished. The many horrors happening there I saw, not merely heard about, for I was at the spot where the chariots and their riders met and fought, but which to tell of first I know not,-the clouds of dust that mounted to the sky, the warriors tangled in the reins and dragged this way and that, the streams of crimson gore, when men fell dead, or when, from shattered chariot-seats, they tumbled headlong to the ground, and, amid the splinters of their cars, gave up the ghost. But Creon, when he marked our cavalry’s success on one wing, caught up a shield and rushed into the fray, ere that despondency should seize his men; but not for that did Theseus recoil in fear; no! snatching up at once his glittering harnes he hied him on. And the twain, clashing their shields together as they met in the midst of the assembled host, were dealing death and courting it, shouting loudly each to his fellow the battle-cry: “Slay, and with thy spear strike home against the sons of Erechtheus.” Fierce foes to cope with were the warriors whom the dragon’s teeth to manhood reared; so fierce, they broke our left wing, albeit theirs was routed by our right and put to flight, so that the struggle was evenly balanced. Here again our chief deserved all praise, for this success was not the only one he gained; no! next he sought that part of his army which was wavering; and loud he called to them, that the earth rang again, “My sons, if ye cannot restrain the earth-born warriors’ stubborn spear, the cause of Pallas is lost.” His word inspired new courage in all the Danaid host. Therewith himself did seize a fearsome mace, weapon of Epidaurian warfare, and swung
it to and fro, and with that club, as with a sickle, he shore off necks and heads and helmets thereupon. Scarce even then they turned themselves to fly. I cried aloud for joy, and danced and clapped my hands; while to the gates they ran. Throughout the town echoed the shrieks of young and old, as they crowded the temples in terror. But Theseus, when he might have come inside the walls, held back his men, for he had not come, said he, to sack the town, but to ask for the bodies of the dead. Such the general men should choose, one who shows his bravery in danger, yet hates the pride of those that in their hour of fortune lose the bliss they might have enjoyed, through seeking to scale the ladder’s topmost step.
LEADER Now do I believe in the gods after seeing this unexpected day, and feel my woes are lighter now that these have paid their penalty.
ADRASTUS O Zeus, why do men assert the wisdom of the wretched human race? On thee we all depend, and all we do is only what thou listest. We thought our Argos irresistible, ourselves a young and lusty host, and so when Eteocles was for making terms, in spite of his fair offer we would not accept them, and so we perished. Then in their turn those foolish folk of Cadmus, to fortune raised, like some beggar with his newly-gotten wealth, waxed wanton, and, waxing so, were ruined in their turn. Ye foolish sons of men! who strain your bow like men who shoot beyond their mark, and only by suffering many evils as ye deserve, though deaf to friends, yet yield to circumstances; ye cities likewise, though ye might by parley end your ills, yet ye choose the sword instead of reason to settle all disputes. But wherefore these reflections? This I fain would learn, the way thou didst escape; and after that I will ask thee of the rest.
MESSENGER During the uproar which prevailed in the city owing to the battle, I passed the gates, just as the host had entered them.
ADRASTUS Are ye bringing the bodies, for the which the strife arose?
MESSENGER Ay, each of the seven chiefs who led their famous hosts.
ADRASTUS What sayest thou? the rest who fell-say, where are they?
MESSENGER They have found burial in the dells of Cithaeron.
ADRASTUS On this or that side of the mount? And who did bury them?
MESSENGER Theseus buried them ‘neath the shadow of Eleutherae’s cliff.
ADRASTUS Where didst thou leave the dead he hath not buried?
MESSENGER Not far away; earnest haste makes every goal look close.
ADRASTUS No doubt in sorrow slaves would gather them from the carnage.
MESSENGER Slaves! not one of them was set to do this toil. [A speech belonging to ADRASTUS has been lost.]
MESSENGER Thou wouldst say so, hadst thou been there to see his loving tendance of the dead.
ADRASTUS Did he himself wash the bloody wounds of the hapless youths?
MESSENGER Ay, and strewed their biers and wrapped them in their shrouds.
ADRASTUS An awful burden this, involving some disgrace.
MESSENGER Why, what disgrace to men are their fellows’ sorrows?
ADRASTUS Ah me! how much rather had I died with them!
MESSENGER ’Tis vain to weep and move to tears these women.
ADRASTUS Methinks ’tis they who give the lesson. Enough of that! My hands lift at meeting of the dead, and pour forth a tearful dirge to Hades, calling on my friends, whose loss I mourn in wretched solitude; for this one thing, when once ’tis spent, man cannot recover, the breath of life, though he knoweth ways to get his wealth again.
CHORUS (singing) Joy is here and sorrow too,-for the state fair fame, and for our captains double meed of honour. Bitter for me it is to see the limbs of my dead sons, and yet a welcome sight withal, because I shall behold the unexpected day after sorrow’s cup was full.
Would that Father Time had kept me unwed from my youth up e’en till now when I am old! What need had I of children? Methinks I should not have suffered overmuch, had I never borne the marriage-yoke; but now I have my sorrow full in view, the loss of children dear.
Lo! I see the bodies of the fallen youths. Woe is me! would I could join these children in their death and descend to Hades with them!
(THESEUS and his soldiers enter, carrying the corpses of the slain chieftains. ADRASTUS and the CHORUS chant the lament responsively.)
ADRASTUS Mothers, raise the wail for the dead departed; cry in answer when ye hear my note of woe.
CHORUS My sons, my sons! O bitter words for loving mothers to address to you! To thee, my lifeless child, I call.
ADRASTUS Woe! woe!
CHORUS Ah me, my sufferings!
ADRASTUS Alas! We have endured, alas!-
CHORUS Sorrows most grievous.
ADRASTUS O citizens of Argos! do ye not behold my fate?
CHORUS They see thee, and me the hapless mother, reft of her children.
ADRASTUS Bring near the blood-boltered corpses of those hapless chiefs, foully slain by foes unworthy, with whom lay the decision of the contest.
CHORUS Let me embrace and hold my children to my bosom in my enfolding arms.
ADRASTUS There, there! thou hast-
CHORUS Sorrows heavy enough to bear.
ADRASTUS Ah me!
CHORUS Thy groans mingle with those of their parents.
ADRASTUS Hear me.
CHORUS O’er both of us thou dost lament.
ADRASTUS Would God the Theban ranks had laid me dead in the dust!
CHORUS Oh that I had ne’er been wedded to a husband!
ADRASTUS Ah! hapless mothers, behold this sea of troubles!
CHORUS Our nails have ploughed our cheeks in furrows, and o’er our heads have we strewn ashes.
ADRASTUS Ah me! ah me! Oh that earth’s floor would swallow me, or the whirlwind snatch me away, or Zeus’s flaming bolt descend upon my head!
CHORUS Bitter the marriages thou didst witness, bitter the oracle of Phoebus! The curse of Oedipus, fraught with sorrow, after desolating his house, is come on thee.
THESEUS I meant to question thee when thou wert venting thy lamentations to the host, but I will let it pass; yet, though I dropped the matter then and left it alone, I now do ask Adrastus, “Of what lineage sprang those youths, to shine so bright in chivalry?” Tell it to our younger citizens of thy fuller wisdom, for thou art skilled to know. Myself beheld their daring deeds, too high for words to tell, whereby they thought to capture Thebes. One question will I spare thee, lest I provoke thy laughter; the foe that each of them encountered in the fray, the spear from which each received his death-wound. These be idle tales alike for those who hear or him who speaks, that any man amid the fray, when clouds of darts are hurtling before his eyes, should declare for certain who each champion is. I could not ask such questions, nor yet believe those who dare assert the like; for when a man is face to face with the foe, he scarce can see even that which ’tis his bounden duty to observe.
ADRASTUS Hearken then. For in giving this task to me thou findest a willing eulogist of friends, whose praise I would declare in all truth and sincerity. Dost see yon corpse by Zeus’s bolt transfixed? That is Capaneus; though he had ample wealth, yet was he the last to boast of his prosperity; nor would he ever vaunt himself above a poorer neighbour, but shunned the man whose sumptuous board had puffed him up too high and made him scorn mere competence, for he held that virtue lies not in greedy gluttony, but that moderate means suffice. True friend was he, alike to present or to absent friends the same; of such the number is not great. His was guileless character, a courteous address, that left no promise unperformed either towards his own household or his fellow-citizens. The next I name is Eteoclus; a master he of other kinds of excellence; young, nor richly dowered with store, yet high in honour in the Argive land. And though his friends oft offered gifts of gold, he would not have it in his house, to make his character its slave by taking wealth’s yoke upon him. Not his city, but those that sinned against her did he hate, for a city is no wise to be blamed if it get an evil name by reason of an evil governor. Such another was Hippomedon, third of all this band; from his very boyhood he refrained from turni
ng towards the allurements of the Muses, to lead life of ease; his home was in the fields, and gladly would he school his nature to hardships with a view to manliness, aye hasting to the chase, rejoicing in his steeds or straining of his bow, because he would make himself of use unto his state. Next behold the huntress Atalanta’s son, Parthenopaeus, a youth of peerless beauty; from Arcady he came even to the streams of Inachus, and in Argos spent his boyhood. There, when he grew to man’s estate, first, as is the duty of strangers settled in another land, he showed no pique or jealousy against the state, became no quibbler, chiefest source of annoyance citizen or stranger can give, but took his stand amid the host, and fought for Argos as he were her own son, glad at heart whenso the city prospered, deeply grieved if e’er reverses came; many a lover though he had midst men and maids, yet was he careful to avoid offence. Of Tydeus next the lofty praise I will express in brief; no brilliant spokesman he, but a clever craftsman in the art of war, with many a shrewd device; inferior in judgment to his brother Meleager, yet through his warrior skill lending his name to equal praise, for he had found in arms a perfect science; his was an ambitious nature, a spirit rich in store of deeds, with words less fully dowered. From this account then wonder not, Theseus, that they dared to die before the towers; for noble nurture carries honour with it, and every man, when once he hath practised virtue, scorns the name of villain. Courage may be learnt, for even a babe doth learn to speak and hear things it cannot comprehend; and whatso’er a child hath learnt, this it is his wont to treasure up till he is old. So train up your children in a virtuous way.
