Chapter XXXIX: Book III: At the news there is sorrow in Thebes. To stir up Argos,

Jupiter despatches Mars and overawes the gods into compliance with his will. The hush produced by his threats is likened to a windless calm in summer-time:

As when the ocean is becalmed amid
Long surcease of the gales, and every shore
Reposeth in an unresisting sleep,
When drowsy summer fans the woodland leaves
And clouds with scarce a breath; then do the pools
And murmuring meres abate their height, and streams
Are hushed, for burning suns have parched them dry.[1391]

Exultant in his chariot, Mars is met and reproached by Venus in vain. Tydeus, battle-worn and wounded, presents himself at the council of King Adrastus in Argos and relates his adventure. The debate is “war or no war?” The seer Amphiaraus, when consulted, foresees disaster, and, though reluctant to reveal the worst, opposes the impetuosity of Capaneus. The seer’s speech when induced to break his silence is a forcible effort. Argia pleads for hostilities. Her speech has an effective close in human feeling: she would have her royal father consent to the war which is the heart’s desire of her husband; but she knows that, when the parting comes and the bugles sound for the men who march away, she would wish it otherwise.