Chapter V: Part II: Page (3)

_Mess._ The seventh chief then who at the seventh gate stands, Thine own, own brother, I will speak of now, What curses on our State he pours, and prays 630 That he the towers ascending, and proclaimed By herald's voice to all the territory, And shouting out the captor's pæan-cry, May so fight with thee, slay, and with thee die; Or driving thee alive, who did'st him wrong, May on thee a vengeance wreak like in kind. So clamours he, and bids his father's Gods, His country's guardians, look upon his prayers, [And grant them all. So Polyneikes prays.] And he a new and well-wrought shield doth bear, And twofold sign upon it riveted; 640 For there a woman with a stately tread Leads one who seems a warrior wrought in gold: Justice she calls herself, and thus she speaks: “I WILL BRING BACK THIS MAN, AND HE SHALL HAVE THE CITY AND HIS FATHER'S DWELLING-PLACE.” Such are the signs and mottoes of those men; And thou, know well whom thou dost mean to send: So thou shalt never blame my heraldings; And thou thyself know how to steer the State.

_Eteoc._ O frenzy-stricken, hated sore of Gods! 650 O woe-fraught race (my race!) of Œdipus! Ah me! my father's curse is now fulfilled; But neither is it meet to weep or wail, Lest cry more grievous on the issue come. Of Polyneikes, name and omen true, We soon shall know what way his badge shall end, Whether his gold-wrought letters shall restore him, His shield's great swelling words with frenzied soul. An if great Justice, Zeus's virgin child, Ruled o'er his words and acts, this might have been; 660 But neither when he left his mother's womb, Nor in his youth, nor yet in ripening age, Nor when his beard was gathered on his chin, Did Justice count him meet for fellowship; Nor do I think that she befriends him now In this great outrage on his father's land. Yea, justly Justice would as falsely named Be known, if she with one all-daring joined. In this I trust, and I myself will face him: Who else could claim a greater right than I? 670 Brother with brother fighting, king with king, And foe with foe, I'll stand. Come, quickly fetch My greaves that guard against the spear and stones.

_Chor._ Nay, dearest friend, thou son of Œdipus, Be ye not like to him with that ill name. It is enough Cadmeian men should fight Against the Argives. That blood may be cleansed; But death so murderous of two brothers born, This is pollution that will ne'er wax old.

_Eteoc._ If a man must bear evil, let him still 680 Be without shame—sole profit that in death. [No glory comes of base and evil deeds].

_Chor._ What dost thou crave, my son? Let no ill fate,
Frenzied and hot for war,
Carry thee headlong on;
Check the first onset of an evil lust.

_Eteoc._ Since God so hotly urges on the matter, Let all of Laios' race whom Phœbos hates, Drift with the breeze upon Cokytos' wave.

_Chor._ An over-fierce and passionate desire
Stirs thee and pricks thee on
To work an evil deed
Of guilt of blood thy hand should never shed. 690

_Eteoc._ Nay, my dear father's curse, in full-grown hate, Dwells on dry eyes that cannot shed a tear, And speaks of gain before the after-doom.

_Chor._ But be not thou urged on. The coward's name
Shall not be thine, for thou
Hast ordered well thy life.
Dark-robed Erinnys enters not the house,
When at men's hands the Gods
Accept their sacrifice.

_Eteoc._ As for the Gods, they scorned us long ago, And smile but on the offering of our deaths; 700 What boots it then on death's doom still to fawn?

_Chor._ Nay do it now, while yet 'tis in thy power;[115]
Perchance may fortune shift
With tardy change of mood,
And come with spirit less implacable:
At present fierce and hot
She waxeth in her rage.

_Eteoc._ Yea, fierce and hot the Curse of Œdipus; And all too true the visions of the night, My father's treasured store distributing.

_Chor._ Yield to us women, though thou lov'st us not.

_Eteoc._ Speak then what may be done, and be not long. 710

_Chor._ Tread not the path that to the seventh gate leads.

_Eteoc._ Thou shall not blunt my sharpened edge with words.

_Chor._ And yet God loves the victory that submits.[116]

_Eteoc._ That word a warrior must not tolerate.

_Chor._ Dost thou then haste thy brother's blood to shed?

_Eteoc._ If the Gods grant it, he shall not 'scape harm.

[_Exeunt_ ETEOCLES, Scout, _and_ Captains

STROPHE I

_Chor._ I fear her might who doth this whole house wreck,
The Goddess unlike Gods,
The prophetess of evil all too true,
The Erinnys of thy father's imprecations, 720
Lest she fulfil the curse,
O'er-wrathful, frenzy-fraught,
The curse of Œdipus,
Laying his children low.
This Strife doth urge them on.

ANTISTROPHE I

And now a stranger doth divide the lots,
The Chalyb,[117] from the Skythians emigrant,
The stern distributor of heaped-up wealth,
The iron that hath assigned them just so much
Of land as theirs, no more,
As may suffice for them
As grave when they shall fall,
Without or part or lot
In the broad-spreading plains. 730

STROPHE II

And when the hands of each
The other's blood have shed,
And the earth's dust shall drink
The black and clotted gore,
Who then can purify?
Who cleanse thee from the guilt?
Ah me! O sorrows new,
That mingle with the old woes of our house!

ANTISTROPHE II

I tell the ancient tale
Of sin that brought swift doom; 740
Till the third age it waits,
Since Laios, heeding not
Apollo's oracle,
(Though spoken thrice to him
In Pythia's central shrine,)
That dying childless, he should save the State.

STROPHE III

But he by those he loved full rashly swayed,
Doom for himself begat,
His murderer Œdipus, 750
Who dared to sow in field
Unholy, whence he sprang,
A root of blood-flecked woe.
Madness together brought
Bridegroom and bride accursed.

ANTISTROPHE III

And now the sea of evil pours its flood:
This falling, others rise,
As with a triple crest,
Which round the State's stern roars:
And but a bulwark slight,
A tower's poor breadth, defends: 760
And lest the city fall
With its two kings I fear.

STROPHE IV

*And that atonement of the ancient curse
Receives fulfilment now;[118]
*And when they come, the evils pass not by.
E'en so the wealth of sea-adventurers,
When heaped up in excess,
Leads but to cargo from the stern thrown out.[119]

ANTISTROPHE IV

For whom of mortals did the Gods so praise, And fellow-worshippers, 770 *And race of those who feed their flocks and herds[120] As much as then they honoured Œdipus, Who from our country's bounds Had driven the monster, murderess of men?

STROPHE V

And when too late he knew,
Ah, miserable man! his wedlock dire,
Vexed sore with that dread shame,
With heart to madness driven,
He wrought a twofold ill,
And with the hand that smote his father's life 780
*Blinded the eyes that might his sons have seen.

ANTISTROPHE V

And with a mind provoked
By nurture scant, he at his sons did hurl[121]
His curses dire and dark,
(Ah, bitter curses those!)
That they with spear in hand
Should one day share their father's wealth; and I
Fear now lest swift Erinnys should fulfil them.

_Enter_ Messenger

_Mess._ Be of good cheer, ye maidens, mother-reared; Our city has escaped the yoke of bondage, 790 The boasts of mighty men are fallen low, And this our city in calm waters floats, And, though by waves lashed, springs not any leak. Our fortress still holds out, and we did guard The gates with champions who redeemed their pledge. In the six gateways almost all goes well; But the seventh gate did King Apollo choose,[122] Seventh mighty chief, avenging Laios' want Of counsel on the sons of Œdipus.

_Chor._ What new disaster happens to our city?[123] 800

_Mess._ The city's saved, but both the royal brothers,...

_Chor._ Who? and what of them? I'm distraught with fear.

_Mess._ Be calm, and hear: the sons of Œdipus,...

_Chor._ Oh wretched me! a prophet I of ill!

_Mess._ Slain by each other, earth has drunk their blood.

_Chor._ Came they to that? 'Tis dire; yet tell it me.

_Mess._ Too true, by brother's hand our chiefs are slain.

_Chor._ What, did the brother's hands the brother lay?

_Mess._ No doubt is there that they are laid in dust.

_Chor._ Thus was there then a common fate for both?

_Mess._ *Yea, it lays low the whole ill-fated race.

_Chor._ These things give cause for gladness and for tears, 810 Seeing that our city prospers, and our lords, The generals twain, with well-wrought Skythian steel, Have shared between them all their store of goods, And now shall have their portion in a grave, Borne on, as spake their father's grievous curse.[124]

_Mess._ [The city's saved, but of the brother-kings The earth has drunk the blood, each slain by each.]

_Chor._ Great Zeus! and ye, O Gods!
Guardians of this our town,
Who save in very deed
The towers of Cadmos old, 820
Shall I rejoice and shout
Over the happy chance
That frees our State from harm;
Or weep that ill-starred pair,
The war-chiefs, childless and most miserable,
Who, true to that ill name
Of Polyneikes, died in impious mood,
Contending overmuch?

STROPHE

Oh dark, and all too true That curse of Œdipus and all his race,[125] An evil chill is falling on my heart, 830 And, like a Thyiad wild, Over his grave I sing a dirge of grief, Hearing the dead have died by evil fate, Each in foul bloodshed steeped; Ah me! Ill-omened is the spear's accord.[126]

ANTISTROPHE

It hath wrought out its end, And hath not failed, that prayer the father poured; And Laios' reckless counsels work till now: I fear me for the State; The oracles have not yet lost their edge; 840 O men of many sorrows, ye have wrought This deed incredible; Not now in word come woes most lamentable.

[_As the Chorus are speaking, the bodies of_ ETEOCLES
_and_ POLYNEIKES _are brought in solemn procession
by_ Theban Citizens

EPODE

Yea, it is all too clear, The herald's tale of woe comes full in sight; Twofold our cares, twin evils born of pride, Murderous, with double doom, Wrought unto full completeness all these ills. What shall I say? What else Are they than woes that make this house their home? But oh! my friends, ply, ply with swift, strong gale, That even stroke of hands upon your head,[127] 850 In funeral order, such as evermore O'er Acheron sends on *That bark of State, dark-rigged, accursed its voyage, Which nor Apollo visits nor the sun,[128] On to the shore unseen, The resting-place of all.

[ISMENE _and_ ANTIGONE _are seen approaching in
mourning garments, followed by a procession of
women wailing and lamenting_

For see, they come to bitter deed called forth,
Ismene and the maid Antigone,
To wail their brothers' fall;
With little doubt I deem,
That they will pour from fond, deep-bosomed breasts
A worthy strain of grief:
But it is meet that we,
Before we hear their cry, 860
Should utter the harsh hymn Erinnys loves,
And sing to Hades dark
The Pæan of distress.
O ye, most evil-fated in your kin,
Of all who guard their robes with maiden's band,
I weep and wail, and feigning know I none,
That I should fail to speak
My sorrow from my heart.

STROPHE I

_Semi-Chor. A._ Alas! alas! Men of stern mood, who would not list to friends, Unwearied in all ills, 870 Seizing your father's house, O wretched ones With the spear's murderous point.

_Semi-Chor. B._ Yea, wretched they who found a wretched doom,
With havoc of the house.

ANTISTROPHE I

_Semi-Chor. A._ Alas! alas! Ye who laid low the ancient walls of home, On sovereignty, ill won, Your eyes have looked, and ye at last are brought To concord by the sword.

_Semi-Chor. B._ Yea, of a truth, the curse of Œdipus 880
Erinnys dread fulfils.

STROPHE II

_Semi-Chor. A._ Yea, smitten through the heart, Smitten through sides where flowed the blood of brothers. Ah me! ye doomed of God! Ah me! the curses dire Of deaths ye met with each at other's hands!

_Semi-Chor. B._ Thou tell'st of men death-smitten through and through,
Both in their homes and lives,
With wrath beyond all speech, 890
And doom of discord fell,
That sprang from out the curse their father spake.

ANTISTROPHE II

_Semi-Chor. A._ Yea, through the city runs A wailing cry. The high towers wail aloud; Wails all the plain that loves her heroes well; And to their children's sons The wealth will go for which The strife of those ill-starred ones brought forth death.

_Semi-Chor. B._ Quick to resent, they shared their fortune so,
That each like portion won;
*Nor can their friends regard
Their umpire without blame; 900
Nor is our voice in thanks to Ares raised.

STROPHE III

_Semi-Chor. A._ By the sword smitten low,
Thus are they now;
By the sword smitten low,
There wait them ... Nay,
Doth one perchance ask what?
Shares in their old ancestral sepulchres.

_Semi-Chor. B._ *The sorrow of the house is borne to them By my heart-rending wail. Mine own the cries I pour; Mine own the woes I weep, Bitter and joyless, shedding truest tears 910 From heart that faileth, even as they fall, For these two kingly chiefs.

ANTISTROPHE III

_Semi-Chor. A._ Yes; one may say of them,
That wretched pair,
That they much ill have wrought
To their own host;
Yea, and to alien ranks
Of many nations fallen in the fray.

_Semi-Chor._ B. Ah! miserable she who bare those twain,
'Bove all of women born
Who boast a mother's name! 920
Taking her son, her own,
As spouse, she bare these children, and they both,
By mutual slaughter and by brothers' hands,
Have found their end in death.

STROPHE IV

_Semi-Chor. A._ Yes; of the same womb born, and doomèd both,
*Not as friends part, they fell,
In strife to madness pushed
In this their quarrel's end.

_Semi-Chor. B._ The quarrel now is hushed, And in the ensanguined earth their lives are blent; 930 Full near in blood are they. Stern umpire of their strifes Has been the stranger from beyond the sea,[129] Fresh from the furnace, keen and sharpened steel. Stern, too, is Ares found, Distributing their goods, Making their father's curses all too true.

ANTISTROPHE IV

_Semi-Chor. A._ At last they have their share, ah, wretched ones!
Of burdens sent from God. 940
And now beneath them lies
A boundless wealth of——earth.

_Semi-Chor. B._ O ye who your own race Have made to burgeon out with many woes! Over the end at last The brood of Curses raise Their shrill, sharp cry of lamentation loud, The race being put to flight of utmost rout, And Atè's trophy stands, Where in the gates they fell; And Fate, now both are conquered, rests at last. 950

_Enter_ ANTIGONE _and_ ISMENE, _followed by mourning
maidens_[130]

_Ant._ Thou wast smitten, and thou smotest.

_Ism._ Thou did'st slaughter, and wast slaughtered.

_Ant._ Thou with spear to death did'st smite him.

_Ism._ Thou with spear to death wast smitten.

_Ant._ Oh, the woe of all your labours!

_Ism._ Oh, the woe of all ye suffered!

_Ant._ Pour the cry of lamentation.

_Ism._ Pour the tears of bitter weeping.

_Ant._ There in death thou liest prostrate.

_Ism._ Having wrought a great destruction.

STROPHE

_Ant._ Ah! my mind is crazed with wailing. 960

_Ism._ Yea, my heart within me groaneth.

_Ant._ Thou for whom the city weepeth!

_Ism._ Thou too, doomed to all ill-fortune!

_Ant._ By a loved hand thou hast perished.

_Ism._ And a loved form thou hast slaughtered.

_Ant._ Double woes are ours to tell of.

_Ism._ Double woes too ours to look on.

_Ant._ *Twofold sorrows from near kindred.

_Ism._ *Sisters we by brothers standing.

_Ant._ Terrible are they to tell of. 970

_Ism._ Terrible are they to look on.

_Chor._ Ah me, thou Destiny, Giver of evil gifts, and working woe, And thou dread spectral form of Œdipus, And swarth Erinnys too, A mighty one art thou.

ANTISTROPHE

_Ant._ Ah me! ah me! woes dread to look on....

_Ism._ Ye showed to me, returned from exile.

_Ant._ Not, when he had slain, returned he.

_Ism._ Nay, he, saved from exile, perished. 980

_Ant._ Yea, I trow too well, he perished.

_Ism._ And his brother, too, he murdered.

_Ant._ Woeful, piteous, are those brothers!

_Ism._ Woeful, piteous, all they suffered!

_Ant._ Woes of kindred wrath enkindling!

_Ism._ Saturate with threefold horrors!

_Ant._ Terrible are they to tell of.

_Ism._ Terrible are they to look on.

_Chor._ Ah me, thou Destiny, Giver of evil gifts, and stern of soul, And thou dread spectral form of Œdipus, 990 And swarth Erinnys too, A mighty one art thou.

EPODE

_Ant._ Thou, then, by full trial knowest....

_Ism._ Thou, too, no whit later learning....

_Ant._ When thou cam'st back to this city[131]....

_Ism._ Rival to our chief in warfare.

_Ant._ Woe, alas! for all our troubles!

_Ism._ Woe, alas! for all our evils!

_Ant._ Evils fallen on our houses!

_Ism._ Evils fallen on our country!

_Ant._ And on me before all others....

_Ism._ And to me the future waiting.... 1000

_Ant._ Woe for those two brothers luckless!

_Ism._ King Eteocles, our leader!

_Ant._ Oh, before all others wretched!

_Ism._ . . . . .

_Ant._ Ah, by Atè frenzy-stricken!

_Ism._ Ah, where now shall they be buried?

_Ant._ There where grave is highest honour.

_Ism._ Ah, the woe my father wedded!

_Enter a_ Herald

_Her._ 'Tis mine the judgment and decrees to publish Of this Cadmeian city's counsellors: It is decreed Eteocles to honour, For his good-will towards this land of ours, 1010 With seemly burial, such as friend may claim; For warding off our foes he courted death; Pure as regards his country's holy things, Blameless he died where death the young beseems; This then I'm ordered to proclaim of him. But for his brother's, Polyneikes' corpse, To cast it out unburied, prey for dogs, As working havoc on Cadmeian land, Unless some God had hindered by the spear Of this our prince;[132] and he, though, dead, shall gain 1020 The curse of all his father's Gods, whom he

[_Pointing to_ POLYNEIKES

With alien host dishonouring, sought to take Our city. Him by ravenous birds interred Ingloriously, they sentence to receive His full deserts; and none may take in hand To heap up there a tomb, nor honour him With shrill-voiced wailings; but he still must lie, Without the meed of burial by his friends. So do the high Cadmeian powers decree.

_Ant._ And I those rulers of Cadmeians tell,[133] 1030 That if no other care to bury him, I will inter him, facing all the risk, Burying my brother: nor am I ashamed To thwart the State in rank disloyalty; Strange power there is in ties of blood, that we, Born of woe-laden mother, sire ill-starred, Are bound by: therefore of thy full free-will, Share thou, my soul, in woes he did not will, Thou living, he being dead, with sister's heart. And this I say, no wolves with ravening maw, Shall tear his flesh—No! no! let none think that! For tomb and burial I will scheme for him, 1040 Though I be but weak woman, bringing earth Within my byssine raiment's fold, and so Myself will bury him; let no man think (I say't again) aught else. Take heart, my soul! There shall not fail the means effectual.

_Her._ I bid thee not defy the State in this.

_Ant._ I bid thee not proclaim vain words to me.

_Her._ Stern is the people now, with victory flushed.

_Ant._ Stern let them be, he shall not tombless lie.

_Her._ And wilt thou honour whom the State doth loathe?

_Ant._ *Yea, from the Gods he gets an honour due.[134]1050

_Her._ It was not so till he this land attacked.

_Ant._ He, suffering evil, evil would repay.

_Her._ Not against one his arms were turned, but all.

_Ant._ Strife is the last of Gods to end disputes: Him I will bury; talk no more of it.

_Her._ Choose for thyself then, I forbid the deed.

_Chor._ Alas! alas! alas!
Ye haughty boasters, race-destroying,
Now Fates and now Erinnyes, smiting
The sons of Œdipus, ye slew them,
With a root-and-branch destruction. 1060
What shall I then do, what suffer?
What shall I devise in counsel?
How should I dare nor to weep thee,
Nor escort thee to the burial?
But I tremble and I shrink from
All the terrors which they threatened,
They who are my fellow-townsmen.
Many mourners thou (_looking to the bier of_ ETEOCLES) shalt
meet with;
But he, lost one, unlamented,
With his sister's wailing only
Passeth. Who with this complieth?

_Semi-Chor. A_. Let the city doom or not doom
Those who weep for Polyneikes;
We will go, and we will bury, 1070
Maidens we in sad procession;
For the woe to all is common,
And our State with voice uncertain,
Of the claims of Right and Justice;
Hither, thither, shifts its praises.

_Semi-Chor. B._ We will thus, our chief attending,
Speak, as speaks the State, our praises:
Of the claims of Right and Justice;[135]
For next those the Blessed Rulers,
And the strength of Zeus, he chiefly
Saved the city of Cadmeians
From the doom of fell destruction,
From the doom of whelming utter,
In the flood of alien warriors.

[_Exeunt_ ANTIGONE _and Semi-Chorus A., following
the corpse of_ POLYNEIKES; ISMENE
_and Semi-Chorus B. that of_ ETEOCLES.

-----

Footnote 73:

Probably directed against the tendency of the Athenians, as shown in
their treatment of Miltiades, and later in that of Thukydides, to
punish their unsuccessful generals, “_pour encourager les autres_.”

Footnote 74:

Teiresias, as in Sophocles (_Antig._ v. 1005), sitting, though blind,
and listening, as the birds flit by him, and the flames burn steadily
or fitfully; a various reading gives “apart from sight.”

Footnote 75:

Enyo, the goddess of war, and companion of Ares.

Footnote 76:

Amphiaraos the seer had prophesied that Adrastos alone should return
home in safety. On his car, therefore, the other chieftains hung the
clasps, or locks of hair, or other memorials which in the event of
their death were to be taken to their parents.

Footnote 77:

The Hellenic feeling, such as the Platæans appealed to in the
Peloponnesian war (Thuc. iii. 58, 59), that it was noble and right for
Hellenes to destroy a city of the barbarians, but that they should
spare one belonging to a people of their own stock.

Footnote 78:

The characteristic feature of the Argive soldiers was, that they bore
a shield painted white (comp. Sophocles, _Antig._ v. 114). The leaders
alone appear to have embellished this with devices and mottoes.

Footnote 79:

In solemn supplications, the litanies of the ancient world, especially
in those to Pallas, the suppliants carried with them in procession the
shawl or _peplos_ of the Goddess, and with it enwrapt her statue. To
carry boughs of trees in the hands was one of the uniform, probably
indispensable, accompaniments of such processions.

Footnote 80:

The words recall our thoughts to the original use of the trident,
which became afterwards a symbol of Poseidon, as employed by the
sailors of Hellas to spear or harpoon the larger fish of the
Archipelago. Comp. _Pers._ v. 426, where the slaughter of a defeated
army is compared to tunny-fishing.

Footnote 81:

Cadmos, probably “the man from the East,” the Phœnikian who had
founded Thebes, and sown the dragon's seed, and taught men a Semitic
alphabet for the non-Semitic speech of Hellas.

Footnote 82:

Worthy of his name as the Wolf-destroyer, mighty to destroy his foes.

Footnote 83:

Possibly “_from_ battlements attacked.” In the primitive sieges of
Greek warfare stones were used as missiles alike by besieged and
besiegers.

Footnote 84:

The name of Onca belonged especially to the Theban worship of Pallas,
and was said to have been of Phœnikian origin, introduced by Cadmos.
There seems, however, to have been a town Onkæ in Bœotia, with which
the name was doubtless connected.

Footnote 85:

“Alien,” on account of the difference of dialect between the speech of
Argos and that of Bœotia, though both were Hellenic.

Footnote 86:

The vehemence with which Eteocles reproves the wild frenzied wailing
of the Chorus may be taken as an element of the higher culture showing
itself in Athenian life, which led Solon to restrain such lamentations
by special laws (Plutarch, _Solon_, c. 20). Here, too, we note in
Æschylos an echo of the teaching of Epimenides.

Footnote 87:

As now the sailor of the Mediterranean turns to the image of his
patron saint, so of old he ran in his distress to the figure of his
God upon the prow of his ship (often, as in Acts xxviii. II, that of
the _Dioscuri_), and called to it for deliverance (comp. Jonah i. 8).

Footnote 88:

Eteocles seems to wish for a short, plain prayer for deliverance,
instead of the cries and supplications and vain repetitions of the
Chorus.

Footnote 89:

The thought thus expressed was, that the Gods, yielding to the
mightier law of destiny, or in their wrath at the guilt of men, left
the city before its capture. The feeling was all but universal. Its
two representative instances are found in Virgil, _Æn._ 351—

“Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis
Di quibus imperium hoc steterat;”

and the narrative given alike by Tacitus (_Hist._ v. 13), and Josephus
(_Bell. Jud._ vi. 5, 3), that the cry “Let us depart hence,” was heard
at midnight through the courts of the Temple, before the destruction
of Jerusalem.

Footnote 90:

_Sc._ Blood must be shed in war. Ares would not be Ares without it. It
is better to take it as it comes.

Footnote 91:

_Sc._, the company of Gods, Pallas, Hera and the others whom the
Chorus had invoked.

Footnote 92:

Reference to this custom, which has passed from Pagan temples into
Christian churches, is found in the _Agamemnon_, v. 562. It was
connected, of course, with the general practice of offering as _ex
votos_ any personal ornaments or clothing as a token of thanksgiving
for special mercies.

Footnote 93:

Rivers and streams as the children of Tethys and Okeanos.

Footnote 94:

Here, as in v. 571, Tydeus appears as the real leader of the
expedition, who had persuaded Adrastos and the other chiefs to join in
it, and Amphiaraos, the prophet, the son of Œcleus, as having all
along foreseen its disastrous issue. The account of the expedition in
the _Œdipus at Colonos_ (1300-1330) may be compared with this.

Footnote 95:

The legend of the Medusa's head on the shield of Athena shows the
practice of thus decorating shields to have been of remote date. In
Homer it does not appear as common, and the account given of the
shield of Achilles lays stress upon the work of the artist (Hephæstos)
who wrought the shield in relief, not, as here, upon painted insignia.
They were obviously common in the time of Æschylos.

Footnote 96:

The older families of Thebes boasted that they sprang from the
survivors of the Sparti, who, sprung from the Dragon's teeth, waged
deadly war against each other, till all but five were slain. The later
settlers, who were said to have come with Cadmos, stood to these as
the “greater” to the “lesser _gentes_” at Rome.

Footnote 97:

So in the _Antigone_ of Sophocles (v. 134), Capaneus appears as the
special representative of boastful, reckless impiety.

Footnote 98:

Artemis, as one of the special Deities to whom Thebes was consecrated.

Footnote 99:

Apparently an Asiatic invention, to increase the terror of an attack
of war-chariots.

Footnote 100:

The phrase and thought were almost proverbial in Athens. Men, as
citizens, were thought of as fed at a common table, bound to
contribute their gifts to the common stock. When they offered up their
lives in battle, they were giving, as Pericles says (Thucyd. ii. 43),
their noblest “contribution,” paying in full their subscription to the
society of which they were members.

Footnote 101:

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

Footnote 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.

Footnote 103:

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

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 106:

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

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 112:

If the former reference to Aristeides be admitted, we can scarcely
avoid seeing in this passage an allusion to Themistocles, as one with
whose reckless and democratic policy it was dangerous for the more
conservative leader to associate himself.

Footnote 113:

The far-off city, not of Thebes, but of Hades. In the legend of
Thebes, the earth opened and swallowed up Amphiaraos, as in 583.

Footnote 114:

The short spear was usually carried under the shelter of the shield;
when brought into action it was, of course, laid bare.

Footnote 115:

Perhaps “since death is at nigh hand.”

Footnote 116:

The Chorus means that if Eteocles would allow himself to be overcome
in this contest of his wishes with their prayers the Gods would honour
that defeat as if it were indeed a victory. He makes answer that the
very thought of being overcome implied in the word “defeat” in
anything is one which the true warrior cannot bear.

Footnote 117:

The “Chalyb stranger” is the sword, thought of as taking its name from
the Skythian tribe of the Chalybes, between Colchis and Armenia, and
passing through the Thrakians into Greece.

Footnote 118:

The two brothers, _i.e._, are set at one again, but it is not in the
bonds of friendship, but in those of death.

Footnote 119:

The image meets us again in _Agam._ 980. Here the thought is, that a
man too prosperous is like a ship too heavily freighted. He must part
with a portion of his possession in order to save the rest. Not to
part with them leads, when the storm rages, to an enforced abandonment
and utter loss.

Footnote 120:

Another reading gives—

“And race of those who crowd the Agora.”

Footnote 121:

This seems to have been one form of the legends as to the cause of the
curse which Œdipus had launched upon his sons, An alternative
rendering is—

And with a mind enraged
At thought of what they were whom he had reared,
He at his sons did hurl
His curses dire and dark.

Footnote 122:

_Sc._, when Eteocles fell, Apollo took his place at the seventh gate,
and turned the tide of war in favour of the Thebans.

Footnote 123:

I follow in this dialogue the arrangement which Paley adopts from
Hermann.

Footnote 124:

There seems an intentional ambiguity. They are “borne on,” but it is
as the corpses of the dead are borne to the sepulchre.

Footnote 125:

Not here the curse uttered by Œdipus, but that which rested on him and
all his kin. There is possibly an allusion to the curse which Pelops
is said to have uttered against Laios when he stole his son
Chrysippos. Comp. v. 837.

Footnote 126:

As in v. 763 we read of the brothers as made one in death, so now of
the concord which is wrought out by conflict, the concord, _i.e._, of
the grave.

Footnote 127:

The Chorus are called on to change their character, and to pass from
the attitude of suppliants, with outstretched arms, to that of
mourners at a funeral, beating on their breasts. But, perhaps, the
call is addressed to the mourners who are seen approaching with Ismene
and Antigone.

Footnote 128:

The thought is drawn from the _theoris_ or pilgrim-ship, which went
with snow-white sails, and accompanied by joyful pæans, on a solemn
mission from Athens to Delos. In contrast with this type of joy,
Æschylos draws the picture of the boat of Charon, which passes over
the gloomy pool accompanied by the sighs and gestures of bitter
lamentation. So, in the old Attic legend, the ship that annually
carried seven youths and maidens to the Minotaur of Crete was
conspicuous for its black sails.

Footnote 129:

The “Chalyb,” or iron sword, which the Hellenes had imported from the
Skythians. Comp. vv. 70. 86.

Footnote 130:

The lyrical, operative character of Greek tragedies has to be borne in
mind as we read passages like that which follows. They were not meant
to be _read_. Uttered in a passionate recitative, accompanied by
expressive action, they probably formed a very effective element in
the actual representation of the tragedy. We may look on it as the
only extant specimen of the kind of wailing which was characteristic
of Eastern burials, and which was slowly passing away in Greece under
the influence of a higher culture. The early fondness of Æschylos for
a _finale_ of this nature is seen also in _The Persians_, and in a
more solemn and subdued form, in the _Eumenides_. The feeling that
there was something barbaric in these untoward displays of grief,
showed itself alike in the legislation of Solon, and the eloquence of
Pericles.

Footnote 131:

Here, and perhaps throughout, we must think of Antigone as addressing
and looking on the corpse of Polyneikes, Ismene on that of Eteocles.

Footnote 132:

Perhaps

“Unless some God had stood against the spear
This chief did wield.”

Footnote 133:

The speech of the Antigone becomes the starting-point, in the hands of
Sophocles, of the noblest of his tragedies. The denial of burial, it
will be remembered, was looked on as not merely an indignity and
outrage against the feelings of the living, but as depriving the souls
of the dead of all rest and peace. As such it was the punishment of
parricides and traitors.

Footnote 134:

The words are obscure enough, the point lying, it may be, in their
ambiguity. Antigone here, as in the tragedy of Sophocles, pleads that
the Gods have pardoned; they still command and love the reverence for
the dead, which she is about to show. The herald catches up her words
and takes them in another sense, as though all the honour he had met
with from the Gods had been defeat, and death, and shame, as the
reward of his sacrilege. Another rendering, however, gives—

“Yes, so the Gods have done with honouring him.”

Footnote 135:

The words are probably a protest against the changeableness of the
Athenian _demos_, as seen especially in their treatment of Aristeides.

PROMETHEUS BOUND

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

PROMETHEUS
HERMES
OKEANOS
STRENGTH
HEPHÆSTOS
FORCE
_Chorus of Ocean Nymphs_

_ARGUMENT.—In the old time, when Cronos was sovereign of the Gods, Zeus, whom he had begotten, rose up against him, and the Gods were divided in their counsels, some, the Titans chiefly, siding with the father, and some with the son. And Prometheus, the son of Earth or Themis, though one of the Titans, supported Zeus, as did also Okeanos, and by his counsels Zeus obtained the victory, and Cronos was chained in Tartaros, and the Titans buried under mountains, or kept in bonds in Hades. And then Prometheus, seeing the miseries of the race of men, of whom Zeus took little heed, stole the fire which till then had belonged to none but Hephæstos and was used only for the Gods, and gave it to mankind, and taught them many arts whereby their wretchedness was lessened. But Zeus being wroth with Prometheus for this deed, sent Hephæstos, with his two helpers, Strength and Force, to fetter him to a rock on Caucasos._

_And in yet another story was the cruelty of the Gods made known. For Zeus loved Io, the daughter of Inachos, king of Argos, and she was haunted by visions of the night, telling her of his passion, and she told her father thereof. And Inachos, sending to the God at Delphi, was told to drive Io forth from her home. And Zeus gave her the horns of a cow, and Hera, who hated her because she was dear to Zeus, sent with her a gadfly that stung her, and gave her no rest, and drove her over many lands._

_Note._—The play is believed to have been the second of a Trilogy, of which the first was _Prometheus the Fire-giver_, and the third _Prometheus Unbound_.

PROMETHEUS BOUND

SCENE.—SKYTHIA, _on the heights of Caucasos. The Euxine
seen in the distance_

_Enter_ HEPHÆSTOS, STRENGTH, _and_ FORCE, _leading_
PROMETHEUS _in chains_[136]

_Strength._ Lo! to a plain, earth's boundary remote, We now are come,—the tract as Skythian known, A desert inaccessible: and now, Hephæstos, it is thine to do the hests The Father gave thee, to these lofty crags To bind this crafty trickster fast in chains Of adamantine bonds that none can break; For he thy choice flower stealing, the bright glory Of fire that all arts spring from, hath bestowed it On mortal men. And so for fault like this He now must pay the Gods due penalty, That he may learn to bear the sovereign rule 10 Of Zeus, and cease from his philanthropy.

_Heph._ O Strength, and thou, O Force, the hest of Zeus, As far as touches you, attains its end, And nothing hinders. Yet my courage fails To bind a God of mine own kin by force To this bare rock where tempests wildly sweep; And yet I needs must muster courage for it: 'Tis no slight thing the Father's words to scorn. O thou of Themis [_to_ PROMETHEUS] wise in counsel son, Full deep of purpose, lo! against my will,[137] I fetter thee against thy will with bonds Of bronze that none can loose, to this lone height, 20 Where thou shalt know nor voice nor face of man, But scorching in the hot blaze of the sun, Shalt lose thy skin's fair beauty. Thou shalt long For starry-mantled night to hide day's sheen, For sun to melt the rime of early dawn; And evermore the weight of present ill Shall wear thee down. Unborn as yet is he Who shall release thee: this the fate thou gain'st As due reward for thy philanthropy. For thou, a God not fearing wrath of Gods, In thy transgression gav'st their power to men; 30 And therefore on this rock of little ease Thou still shalt keep thy watch, nor lying down, Nor knowing sleep, nor ever bending knee; And many groans and wailings profitless Thy lips shall utter; for the mind of Zeus Remains inexorable. Who holds a power But newly gained[138] is ever stern of mood.

_Strength._ Let be! Why linger in this idle pity? Why dost not hate a God to Gods a foe, Who gave thy choicest prize to mortal men?

_Heph._ Strange is the power of kin and intercourse.[139]

_Strength._ I own it; yet to slight the Father's words, 40 How may that be? Is not that fear the worse?

_Heph._ Still art thou ruthless, full of savagery.

_Strength._ There is no help in weeping over him: Spend not thy toil on things that profit not.

_Heph._ O handicraft to me intolerable!

_Strength._ Why loath'st thou it? Of these thy present griefs That craft of thine is not one whit the cause.

_Heph._ And yet I would some other had that skill.

_Strength._ *All things bring toil except for Gods to reign;[140] For none but Zeus can boast of freedom true. 50

_Heph._ Too well I see the proof, and gainsay not.

_Strength._ Wilt thou not speed to fix the chains on him, Lest He, the Father, see thee loitering here?

_Heph._ Well, here the handcuffs thou may'st see prepared.

_Strength._ In thine hands take him. Then with all thy might Strike with thine hammer; nail him to the rocks.

_Heph._ The work goes on, I ween, and not in vain.

_Strength._ Strike harder, rivet, give no whit of ease: A wondrous knack has he to find resource, Even where all might seem to baffle him.

_Heph._ Lo! this his arm is fixed inextricably. 60

_Strength._ Now rivet thou this other fast, that he May learn, though sharp, that he than Zeus is duller.

_Heph._ No one but he could justly blame my work.

_Strength._ Now drive the stern jaw of the adamant wedge Right through his chest with all the strength thou hast.

_Heph._ Ah me! Prometheus, for thy woes I groan.

_Strength._ Again, thou'rt loth, and for the foes of Zeus Thou groanest: take good heed to it lest thou Ere long with cause thyself commiserate.

_Heph._ Thou see'st a sight unsightly to our eyes.

_Strength._ I see this man obtaining his deserts: 70 Nay, cast thy breast-chains round about his ribs.

_Heph._ I must needs do it. Spare thine o'er much bidding; Go thou below and rivet both his legs.[141]

_Strength._ Nay, I will bid thee, urge thee to thy work.

_Heph._ There, it is done, and that with no long toil.

_Strength._ Now with thy full power fix the galling fetters: Thou hast a stern o'erlooker of thy work.

_Heph._ Thy tongue but utters words that match thy form.[142]

_Strength._ Choose thou the melting mood; but chide not me For my self-will and wrath and ruthlessness. 80

_Heph._ Now let us go, his limbs are bound in chains.

_Strength._ Here then wax proud, and stealing what belongs To the Gods, to mortals give it. What can they Avail to rescue thee from these thy woes? Falsely the Gods have given thee thy name, Prometheus, Forethought; forethought thou dost need To free thyself from this rare handiwork.

[_Exeunt_ HEPHÆSTOS, STRENGTH, _and_ FORCE,
_leaving_ PROMETHEUS _on the rock_

_Prom._[143] Thou firmament of God, and swift-winged winds, Ye springs of rivers, and of ocean waves That smile innumerous! Mother of us all, 90 O Earth, and Sun's all-seeing eye, behold, I pray, what I a God from Gods endure. Behold in what foul case I for ten thousand years Shall struggle in my woe, In these unseemly chains. Such doom the new-made Monarch of the Blest Hath now devised for me. Woe, woe! The present and the oncoming pang I wail, as I search out The place and hour when end of all these ills Shall dawn on me at last. 100 What say I? All too clearly I foresee The things that come, and nought of pain shall be By me unlooked-for; but I needs must bear My destiny as best I may, knowing well The might resistless of Necessity. And neither may I speak of this my fate, Nor hold my peace. For I, poor I, through giving Great gifts to mortal men, am prisoner made In these fast fetters; yea, in fennel stalk[144] I snatched the hidden spring of stolen fire, Which is to men a teacher of all arts, 110 Their chief resource. And now this penalty Of that offence I pay, fast riveted In chains beneath the open firmament. Ha! ha! What now? What sound, what odour floats invisibly?[145] Is it of God or man, or blending both? And has one come to the remotest rock To look upon my woes? Or what wills he? Behold me bound, a God to evil doomed, The foe of Zeus, and held In hatred by all Gods 120 Who tread the courts of Zeus: And this for my great love, Too great, for mortal men. Ah me! what rustling sounds Hear I of birds not far? With the light whirr of wings The air re-echoeth: All that draws nigh to me is cause of fear.[146]

_Enter Chorus of_ Ocean Nymphs, _with wings,
floating in the air_[147]

_Chor._ Nay, fear thou nought: in love All our array of wings In eager race hath come 130 To this high peak, full hardly gaining o'er Our Father's mind and will; And the swift-rushing breezes bore me on: For lo! the echoing sound of blows on iron Pierced to our cave's recess, and put to flight My shamefast modesty, And I in unshod haste, on winged car, To thee rushed hitherward.

_Prom._ Ah me! ah me! Offspring of Tethys blest with many a child, 140 Daughters of Old Okeanos that rolls Round all the earth with never-sleeping stream, Behold ye me, and see With what chains fettered fast, I on the topmost crags of this ravine Shall keep my sentry-post unenviable.

_Chor._ I see it, O Prometheus, and a mist
Of fear and full of tears comes o'er mine eyes,
Thy frame beholding thus,
Writhing on these high rocks 150
In adamantine ills.
New pilots now o'er high Olympos rule,
And with new-fashioned laws
Zeus reigns, down-trampling right,
And all the ancient powers He sweeps away.

_Prom._ Ah! would that 'neath the Earth, 'neath Hades too, Home of the dead, far down to Tartaros 160 Unfathomable He in fetters fast In wrath had hurled me down: So neither had a God Nor any other mocked at these my woes; But now, the wretched plaything of the winds, I suffer ills at which my foes rejoice.

_Chor._ Nay, which of all the Gods Is so hard-hearted as to joy in this? Who, Zeus excepted, doth not pity thee In these thine ills? But He, Ruthless, with soul unbent, Subdues the heavenly host, nor will He cease[148] 170 Until his heart be satiate with power, Or some one seize with subtle stratagem The sovran might that so resistless seemed.

_Prom._ Nay, of a truth, though put to evil shame,
In massive fetters bound,
The Ruler of the Gods
Shall yet have need of me, yes, e'en of me,
To tell the counsel new
That seeks to strip from him
His sceptre and his might of sovereignty.
In vain will He with words
Or suasion's honeyed charms 180
Soothe me, nor will I tell
Through fear of his stern threats,
Ere He shall set me free
From these my bonds, and make,
Of his own choice, amends
For all these outrages.

_Chor._ Full rash art thou, and yield'st In not a jot to bitterest form of woe; Thou art o'er-free and reckless in thy speech: But piercing fear hath stirred My inmost soul to strife; For I fear greatly touching thy distress, As to what haven of these woes of thine 190 Thou now must steer: the son of Cronos hath A stubborn mood and heart inexorable.

_Prom._ I know that Zeus is hard,
And keeps the Right supremely to himself;
But then, I trow, He'll be
Full pliant in his will,
When He is thus crushed down.
Then, calming down his mood
Of hard and bitter wrath,
He'll hasten unto me,
As I to him shall haste, 200
For friendship and for peace.

_Chor._ Hide it not from us, tell us all the tale: For what offence Zeus, having seized thee thus, So wantonly and bitterly insults thee: If the tale hurt thee not, inform thou us.

_Prom._ Painful are these things to me e'en to speak: Painful is silence; everywhere is woe. For when the high Gods fell on mood of wrath, And hot debate of mutual strife was stirred, Some wishing to hurl Cronos from his throne, That Zeus, forsooth, might reign; while others strove, Eager that Zeus might never rule the Gods: 210 Then I, full strongly seeking to persuade The Titans, yea, the sons of Heaven and Earth, Failed of my purpose. Scorning subtle arts, With counsels violent, they thought that they By force would gain full easy mastery. But then not once or twice my mother Themis And Earth, one form though bearing many names,[149] Had prophesied the future, how 'twould run, That not by strength nor yet by violence, 220 But guile, should those who prospered gain the day. And when in my words I this counsel gave, They deigned not e'en to glance at it at all. And then of all that offered, it seemed best To join my mother, and of mine own will, Not against his will, take my side with Zeus, And by my counsels, mine, the dark deep pit Of Tartaros the ancient Cronos holds, Himself and his allies. Thus profiting By me, the mighty ruler of the Gods 230 Repays me with these evil penalties: For somehow this disease in sovereignty Inheres, of never trusting to one's friends.[150] And since ye ask me under what pretence He thus maltreats me, I will show it you: For soon as He upon his father's throne Had sat secure, forthwith to divers Gods He divers gifts distributed, and his realm Began to order. But of mortal men He took no heed, but purposed utterly 240 To crush their race and plant another new; And, I excepted, none dared cross his will; But I did dare, and mortal men I freed From passing on to Hades thunder-stricken; And therefore am I bound beneath these woes, Dreadful to suffer, pitiable to see: And I, who in my pity thought of men More than myself, have not been worthy deemed To gain like favour, but all ruthlessly I thus am chained, foul shame this sight to Zeus.

_Chor._ Iron-hearted must he be and made of rock 250 Who is not moved, Prometheus, by thy woes: Fain could I wish I ne'er had seen such things, And, seeing them, am wounded to the heart.

_Prom._ Yea, I am piteous for my friends to see.

_Chor._ Did'st thou not go to farther lengths than this?

_Prom._ I made men cease from contemplating death.[151]

_Chor._ What medicine did'st thou find for that disease?

_Prom._ Blind hopes I gave to live and dwell with them.

_Chor._ Great service that thou did'st for mortal men!

_Prom._ And more than that, I gave them fire, yes I. 260

_Chor._ Do short-lived men the flaming fire possess?

_Prom._ Yea, and full many an art they'll learn from it.

_Chor._ And is it then on charges such as these That Zeus maltreats thee, and no respite gives Of many woes? And has thy pain no end?

_Prom._ End there is none, except as pleases Him.

_Chor._ How shall it please? What hope hast thou? See'st not That thou hast sinned? Yet to say how thou sinned'st Gives me no pleasure, and is pain to thee. Well! let us leave these things, and, if we may, Seek out some means to 'scape from this thy woe. 270

_Prom._ 'Tis a light thing for one who has his foot Beyond the reach of evil to exhort And counsel him who suffers. This to me Was all well known. Yea, willing, willingly I sinned, nor will deny it. Helping men, I for myself found trouble: yet I thought not That I with such dread penalties as these Should wither here on these high-towering crags, Lighting on this lone hill and neighbourless. Wherefore wail not for these my present woes, But, drawing nigh, my coming fortunes hear, 280 That ye may learn the whole tale to the end. Nay, hearken, hearken; show your sympathy With him who suffers now. 'Tis thus that woe, Wandering, now falls on this one, now on that.

_Chor._ Not to unwilling hearers hast thou uttered, Prometheus, thy request, And now with nimble foot abounding My swiftly rushing car, And the pure æther, path of birds of heaven, 290 I will draw near this rough and rocky land, For much do I desire To hear this tale, full measure, of thy woes.

_Enter_ OKEANOS, _on a car drawn by a winged gryphon_