THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES

ETEOCLES, son of Oedipus, King of Thebes
A SPY
CHORUS OF THEBAN WOMEN
ANTIGONE
ISMENE
sisters of ETEOCLES
A HERALD

Scene

Within the Citadel of Thebes. There is an altar with the statues of several gods visible. A crowd of citizens are present as ETEOCLES enters with his attendants.

ETEOCLES

    Clansmen of Cadmus, at the signal given
    By time and season must the ruler speak
    Who sets the course and steers the ship of State
    With hand upon the tiller, and with eye
    Watchful against the treachery of sleep.
    For if all go aright, thank Heaven, men say,
    But if adversely-which may God forefend!-
    One name on many lips, from street to street,
    Would bear the bruit and rumour of the time,
    Down witk Eteocles!-a clamorous curse,
    A dirge of ruin. May averting Zeus
    Make good his title here, in Cadmus' hold!
    You it beseems now-boys unripened yet
    To lusty manhood, men gone past the prime
    And increase of the full begetting seed,
    And those whom youth and manhood well combined
    Array for action-all to rise in aid
    Of city, shrines, and altars of all powers
    Who guard our land; that ne'er, to end of time,
    Be blotted out the sacred service due
    To our sweet mother-land and to her brood.
    For she it was who to their guest-right called
    Your waxing youth, was patient of the toil,
    And cherished you on the land's gracious lap,
    Alike to plant the hearth and bear the shield
    In loyal service, for an hour like this.
    Mark now! until to-day, luck rules our scale;
    For we, though long beleaguered, in the main
    Have with our sallies struck the foemen hard.
    But now the seer, the feeder of the birds
    (Whose art unerring and prophetic skill
    Of ear and mind divines their utterance
    Without the lore of fire interpreted)
    Foretelleth, by the mastery of his art,
    That now an onset of Achaea's host
    Is by a council of the night designed
    To fall in double strength upon our walls.
    Up and away, then, to the battlements,
    The gates, the bulwarks! don your panoplies,
    Array you at the breast-work, take your stand
    On the floorings of the towers, and with good heart
    Stand firm for sudden sallies at the gates,
    Nor hold too heinous a respect for hordes
    Sent on you from afar: some god will guard!
    I too, for shrewd espial of their camp,
    Have sent forth scouts, and confidence is mine
    They will not fail nor tremble at their task,
    And, with their news, I fear no foeman's guile.

A Spy enters.
 

THE SPY

    Eteocles, high king of Cadmus' folk,
    I stand here with news certified and sure
    From Argos' camp, things by myself descried.
    Seven warriors yonder, doughty chiefs of might,
    Into the crimsoned concave of a shield
    Have shed a bull's blood, and, with hands immersed
    Into the gore of sacrifice, have sworn
    By Ares, lord of fight, and by thy name,
    Blood-lapping Terror, Let our oath be heard-
    Either to raze the walls, make void the hold
    Of Cadmus-strive his children as they may-
    Or, dying here, to make the foemen's land
    With blood impasted. Then, as memory's gift
    Unto their parents at the far-off home,
    Chaplets they hung upon Adrastus' car,
    With eyes tear-dropping, but no word of moan.
    For their steeled spirit glowed with high resolve,
    As lions pant, with battle in their eyes.
    For them, no weak alarm delays the clear
    Issues of death or life! I parted thence
    Even as they cast the lots, how each should lead,
    Against which gate, his serried company.
    Rank then thy bravest, with what speed thou may'st,
    Hard by the gates, to dash on them, for now,
    Full-armed, the onward ranks of Argos come!
    The dust whirls up, and from their panting steeds
    White foamy flakes like snow bedew the plain.
    Thou therefore, chieftain! like a steersman skilled,
    Enshield the city's bulwarks, ere the blast
    Of war comes darting on them! hark, the roar
    Of the great landstorm with its waves of men
    Take Fortune by the forelock! for the rest,
    By yonder dawn-light will I scan the field
    Clear and aright, and surety of my word
    Shall keep thee scatheless of the coming storm.
 

ETEOCLES

    O Zeus and Earth and city-guarding gods,
    And thou, my father's Curse, of baneful might,
    Spare ye at least this town, nor root it up,
    By violence of the foemen, stock and stem!
    For here, from home and hearth, rings Hellas' tongue.
    Forbid that e'er the yoke of slavery
    Should bow this land of freedom, Cadmus' hold!
    Be ye her help! your cause I plead with mine-
    A city saved doth honour to her gods!

ETEOCLES, his attendants and most of the crowd go out. The CHORUS OF THEBAN WOMEN enters. They appear terror-stricken.
 

CHORUS singing

    I wail in the stress of my terror, and shrill is my cry of despair.
    The foemen roll forth from their camp as a billow, and onward they bear!
    Their horsemen are swift in the forefront, the dust rises up to the sky,
    A signal, though speechless, of doom, a herald more clear than a cry!
    Hoof-trampled, the land of my love bears onward the din to mine ears.
    As a torrent descending a mountain, it thunders and echoes and nears!
    The doom is unloosened and cometh! O kings and O queens of high
    Heaven,
    Prevail that it fall not upon us! the sign for their onset is given-
    They stream to the walls from without, white-shielded and keen for the fray.
    The rush of their feet? to what shrine shall I bow me in terror and pray?

They rush to pray to the gods.

    O gods high-throned in bliss, we must crouch at the shrines in your home!
    Not here must we tarry and wail: shield clashes on shield as they come
    And now, even now is the hour for the robes and the chaplets of prayer!
    Mine eyes feel the flash of the sword, the clang is instinct with the spear!
    Is thy hand set against us, O Ares, in ruin and wrath to o'erwhelm
    Thine own immemorial land, O god of the golden helm?
    Look down upon us, we beseech thee, on the land that thou lovest of old.

    strophe 1

    And ye, O protecting gods, in pity your people behold!
    Yea, save us, the maidenly troop, from the doom and despair of the slave,
    For the crests of the foemen come onward, their rush is the rush of a wave
    Rolled on by the War-god's breath! almighty one, hear us and save
    From the grasp of the Argives' might! to the ramparts of Cadmus they crowd,
    And, clenched in the teeth of the steeds, the bits clink horror aloud
    And seven high chieftains of war, with spear and with panoply bold,
    Are set, by the law of the lot, to storm the seven gates of our hold!

    antistrophe 1

    Be near and befriend us, O Pallas, the Zeus-born maiden of might!
    O lord of the steed and the sea, be thy trident uplifted to smite
    In eager desire of the fray, Poseidon! and Ares come down,
    In fatherly presence revealed, to rescue Harmonia's town!
    Thine too, Aphrodite, we are! thou art mother and queen of our race,
    To thee we cry out in our need, from thee let thy children have grace!
    Ye too, to scare back the foe, be your cry as a wolf's howl wild,
    Thou, O the wolf-lord, and thou, of she-wolf Leto the child!

    strophe 2

    Woe and alack for the sound, for the rattle of cars to the wall,
    And the creak of the griding axles! O Hera, to thee is our call!
    Artemis, maiden beloved! the air is distraught with the spears,
    And whither doth destiny drive us, and where is the goal of our fears?

    antistrophe 2

    The blast of the terrible stones on the ridge of our wall is not stayed,
    At the gates is the brazen clash of the bucklers-Apollo to aid!
    Thou too, O daughter of Zeus, who guidest the wavering fray
    To the holy decision of fate, Athena! be with us to-day!
    Come down to the sevenfold gates and harry the foemen away!

    strophe 3

    O gods and O sisters of gods, our bulwark and guard! we beseech
    That ye give not our war-worn hold to a rabble of alien speech!
    List to the call of the maidens, the hands held up for the right,

    antistrophe 3

    Be near us, protect us, and show that the city is dear in your sight!
    Have heed for her sacrifice holy, and thought of her offerings take,
    Forget not her love and her worship, be near her and smite for her sake!

ETEOCLES and his retinue re-enter.
 

ETEOCLES addressing the CHORUS

    Hark to my question, things detestable!
    Is this aright and for the city's weal,
    And helpful to our army thus beset,
    That ye before the statues of our gods
    Should fling yourselves, and scream and shriek your fears?
    Immodest, uncontrolled! Be this my lot-
    Never in troublous nor in peaceful days
    To dwell with aught that wears a female form!
    Where womankind has power, no man can house,
    Where womankind feeds panic, ruin rules
    Alike in house and city! Look you now-
    Your flying feet, and rumour of your fears,
    Have spread a soulless panic on our walls,
    And they without do go from strength to strength,
    And we within make breach upon ourselves!
    Such fate it brings, to house with womankind.
    Therefore if any shall resist my rule
    Or man, or woman, or some sexless thing-
    The vote of sentence shall decide their doom,
    And stones of execution, past escape,
    Shall finish all. Let not a woman's voice
    Be loud in council! for the things without,
    A man must care; let women keep within-
    Even then is mischief all too probable!
    Hear ye? or speak I to unheeding ears?
 

CHORUS chanting

    Ah, but I shudder, child of Oedipus!
    I heard the clash and clang!
    The axles rolled and rumbled; woe to us,
    Fire-welded bridles rang!
    Say-when a ship is strained and deep in brine,
    Did eer a seaman mend his chance, who left
    The helm, t' invoke the image at the prow?
 

CHORUS chanting

    Ah, but I fled to the shrines, I called to our helpers on high,
    When the stone-shower roared at the portals!
    I sped to the temples aloft, and loud was my call and my cry,
    Look down and deliver, Immortals!
 

ETEOCLES

    Ay, pray amain that stone may vanquish steel!
    Where not that grace of gods? ay, ay-methinks,
    When cities fall, the gods go forth from them!
 

CHORUS chanting

    Ah, let me die, or ever I behold
    The gods go forth, in conflagration dire!
    The foemen's rush and raid, and all our hold
    Wrapt in the burning fire!
 

ETEOCLES

    Cry not on Heaven, in impotent debate!
    What saith the saw?-Good saving Strength, in verity,
    Out of Obedience breeds the babe Prosperity.
 

CHORUS chanting

    'Tis true: yet stronger is the power divine,
    And oft, when man's estate is overbowed
    With bitter pangs, disperses from his eyne
    The heavy, hanging cloud!
 

ETEOCLES

    Let men with sacrifice and augury
    Approach the gods, when comes the tug of war:
    Alaids must be silent and abide within.
 

CHORUS chanting

    By grace of the gods we hold it, a city untamed of the spear,
    And the battlement wards from the wall the foe and his aspect of fear!
    What need of displeasure herein?
 

ETEOCLES

    Ay, pay thy vows to Heaven; I grudge them not,
    But-so thou strike no fear into our men-
    Have calm at heart, nor be too much afraid.
    Alack, it is fresh in mine ears, the clamour and crash of the fray,
    And up to our holiest height I sped on my timorous way,
    Bewildered, beset by the din!
 

ETEOCLES

    Now, if ye hear the bruit of death or wounds,
    Give not yourselves o'ermuch to shriek and scream,
    For Ares ravins upon human flesh.
 

LEADER OF THE CHORUS

    Ah, but the snorting of the steeds I hear!
 

ETEOCLES

    Then, if thou hearest, hear them not too well
 

LEADER

    Hark, the earth rumbles, as they close us round!
 

ETEOCLES

    Enough if I am here, with plans prepared.
 

LEADER

    Alack, the battering at the gates is loud!
 

ETEOCLES

    Peace! stay your tongue, or else the town may hear!
 

LEADER

    O warders of the walls, betray them not!
 

ETEOCLES

    Beshrew your cries! in silence face your fate.
 

LEADER

    Gods of our city, see me not enslaved!
 

ETEOCLES

    On me, on all, thy cries bring slavery.
 

LEADER

    Zeus, strong to smite, turn upon foes thy blow!
 

ETEOCLES

    Zeus, what a curse are women, wrought by thee!
 

LEADER

    Weak wretches, even as men, when cities fall.
    What! clasping gods, yet voicing thy despair?
 

LEADER

    In the sick heart, fear maketh prey of speech.
 

ETEOCLES

    Light is the thing I ask thee-do my will!
 

LEADER

    Ask swiftly: swiftly shall I know my power.
 

ETEOCLES

    Silence, weak wretch! nor put thy friends in fear.
 

LEADER

    I speak no more: the general fate be mine!
 

ETEOCLES

    I take that word as wiser than the rest.
    Nay, more: these images possess thy will-
    Pray, in their strength, that Heaven be on our side!
    Then hear my prayers withal, and then ring out
    The female triumph-note, thy privilege-
    Yea, utter forth the usage Hellas knows,
    The cry beside the altars, sounding clear
    Encouragement to friends, alarm to foes.
    But I unto all gods that guard our walls,
    Lords of the plain or warders of the mart
    And to Ismenus' stream and Dirce's rills,
    I swear, if Fortune smiles and saves our town,
    That we will make our altars reek with blood
    Of sheep and kine, shed forth unto the gods,
    And with victorious tokens front our fanes-
    Corslets and casques that once our foemen wore,
    Spear-shattered now-to deck these holy homes!
    Be such thy vows to Heaven-away with sighs,
    Away with outcry vain and barbarous,
    That shall avail not, in a general doom!
    But I will back, and, with six chosen men
    Myself the seventh, to confront the foe
    In this great aspect of a poised war,
    Return and plant them at the sevenfold gates,
    Or e'er the prompt and clamorous battle-scouts
    Haste to inflame our counsel with the need.

ETEOCLES and his retinue go out.
 

CHORUS singing

    strophe 1

    I mark his words, yet, dark and deep,
    My heart's alarm forbiddeth sleep!
    Close-clinging cares around my soul
    Enkindle fears beyond control,
    Presageful of what doom may fall
    From the great leaguer of the wall!
    So a poor dove is faint with fear
    For her weak nestlings, while anew
    Glides on the snaky ravisher!
    In troop and squadron, hand on hand,
    They climb and throng, and hemmed we stand,
    While on the warders of our town
    The flinty shower comes hurtling down!
    Gods born of Zeus! put forth your might
    For Cadmus' city, realm, and right!

    antistrophe 1

    What nobler land shall e'er be yours,
    If once ye give to hostile powers
    The deep rich soil, and Dirce's wave,
    The nursing stream, Poseidon gave
    And Tethys' children? Up and save!
    Cast on the ranks that hem us round
    A deadly panic, make them fling
    Their arms in terror on the ground,
    And die in carnage! thence shall spring
    High honour for our clan and king!
    Come at our wailing cry, and stand
    As throned sentries of our land!

    strophe 2

    For pity and sorrow it were that this immemorial town
    Should sink to be slave of the spear, to dust and to ashes gone down,
    By the gods of Achaean worship and arms of Achaean might
    Sacked and defiled and dishonoured, its women the prize of the fight-
    That, haled by the hair as a steed, their mantles dishevelled and torn,
    The maiden and matron alike should pass to the wedlock of scorn!
    I hear it arise from the city, the manifold wail of despair-
    Woe, woe for the doom that shall be-as in grasp of the foeman they fare!

    antistrophe 2

    For a woe and a weeping it is, if the maiden inviolate flower
    Is plucked by the foe in his might, not culled in the bridal bower!
    Alas for the hate and the horror-how say it?-less hateful by far
    Is the doom to be slain by the sword, hewn down in the carnage of war!
    For wide, ah! wide is the woe when the foeman has mounted the wall;
    There is havoc and terror and flame, and the dark smoke broods over all,
    And wild is the war-god's breath, as in frenzy of conquest he springs,
    And pollutes with the blast of his lips the glory of holiest things!

    strophe 3

    Up to the citadel rise clash and din,
    The war-net closes in,
    The spear is in the heart: with blood imbrued
    Young mothers wail aloud,
    For children at their breast who scream and die!
    And boys and maidens fly,
    Yet scape not the pursuer, in his greed
    To thrust and grasp and feed!
    Robber with robber joins, each calls his mate
    Unto the feast of hate-
    The banquet, lo! is spread-seize, rend, and tear!
    No need to choose or share!

    antistrophe 3

    And all the wealth of earth to waste is poured-
    A sight by all abhorred!
    The grieving housewives eye it; heaped and blent,
    Earth's boons are spoiled and spent,
    And waste to nothingness; and O alas,
    Young maids, forlorn ye pass-
    Fresh horror at your hearts-beneath the power
    Of those who crop the flower!
    Ye own the ruffian ravisher for lord,
    And night brings rites abhorred!
    Woe, woe for you! upon your grief and pain
    There comes a fouler stain.

On one side the SPY enters; on the other, ETEOCLES and the SIX CHAMPIONS.
 

LEADER OF THE FIRST SEMI-CHORUS

    Look, friends! methinks the scout, who parted hence
    To spy upon the foemen, comes with news,
    His feet as swift as wafting chariot-wheels.
 

LEADER OF THE SECOND SEMI-CHORUS

    Ay, and our king, the son of Oedipus,
    Comes prompt to time, to learn the spy's report-
    His heart is fainer than his foot is fast!
 

THE SPY

    Well have I scanned the foe, and well can say
    Unto which chief, by lot, each gate is given.
    Tydeus already with his onset-cry
    Storms at the gate called Proetides; but him
    The seer Amphiaraus holds at halt,
    Nor wills that he should cross Ismenus' ford,
    Until the sacrifices promise fair.
    But Tydeus, mad with lust of blood and broil,
    Like to a cockatrice at noontide hour,
    Hisses out wrath and smites with scourge of tongue
    The prophet-son of Oecleus-Wise thou art,
    Faint against war, and holding back from death!
    With such revilings loud upon his lips
    He waves the triple plumes that o'er his helm
    Float overshadowing, as a courser's mane;
    And at his shield's rim, terror in their tone,
    Clang and reverberate the brazen bells.
    And this proud sign, wrought on his shield, he bears,-
    The vault of heaven, inlaid with blazing stars;
    And, for the boss, the bright moon glows at full,
    The eye of night, the first and lordliest star.
    Thus with high-vaunted armour, madly bold,
    He clamours by the stream-bank, wild for war,
    As a steed panting grimly on his bit,
    Held in and chafing for the trumpet's bray!
    Whom wilt thou set against him? when the gates
    Of Proetus yield, who can his rush repel?
 

ETEOCLES

    To me, no blazon on a foeman's shield
    Shall e'er present a fear! such pointed threats
    Are powerless to wound; his plumes and bells,
    Without a spear, are snakes without a sting.
    Nay, more-that pageant of which thou tellest-
    The nightly sky displayed, ablaze with stars,
    Upon his shield, palters with double sense
    One headstrong fool will find its truth anon!
    For, if night fall upon his eyes in death,
    Yon vaunting blazon will its own truth prove,
    And he is prophet of his folly's fall.
    Mine shall it be, to pit against his power
    The loyal son of Astacus, as guard
    To hold the gateways-a right valiant soul,
    Who has in heed the throne of Modesty
    And loathes the speech of Pride, and evermore
    Shrinks from the base, but knows no other fear.
    He springs by stock from those whom Ares spared,
    The men called Sown, a right son of the soil,
    And Melanippus styled. Now, what his arm
    To-day shall do, rests with the dice of war,
    And Ares shall ordain it; but his cause
    Hath the true badge of Right, to urge him on
    To guard, as son, his motherland from wrong.

MELANIPPUS goes out.
 

CHORUS chanting

    Then may the gods give fortune fair
    Unto our chief, sent forth to dare
    War's terrible arbitrament!
    But ah! when champions wend away,
    I shudder, lest, from out the fray,
    Only their blood-stained wrecks be sent!
 

THE SPY

    Nay, let him pass, and the gods' help be his!
    Next, Capaneus comes on, by lot to lead
    The onset at the gates Electran styled:
    A giant be, more huge than Tydeus' self,
    And more than human in his arrogance-
    May fate forefend his threat against our walls!
    God willing, or unwilling-such his vaunt-
    I will lay waste this city; Pallas' self,
    Zeus's warrior maid, although she swoop to earth
    And plant her in my path, shall stay me not.
    And, for the flashes of the levin-bolt,
    He holds them harmless as the noontide rays.
    Mark, too, the symbol on his shield-a man
    Scornfully weaponless but torch in hand,
    And the flame glows witbin his grasp, prepared
    For ravin: lo, the legend, wrought in words,
    Fire for the city bring I, flares in gold!
    Against such wight, send forth-yet whom? what man
    Will front that vaunting figure and not fear?
 

ETEOCLES

    Aha, this profits also, gain on gain!
    In sooth, for mortals, the tongue's utterance
    Bewrays unerringly a foolish pride!
    Hither stalks Capaneus, with vaunt and threat
    Defying god-like powers, equipt to act,
    And, mortal though he be, he strains his tongue
    In folly's ecstasy, and casts aloft
    High swelling words against the ears of Zeus.
    Right well I trust-if justice grants the word-
    That, by the might of Zeus, a bolt of flame
    In more than semblance shall descend on him.
    Against his vaunts, though reckless, I have set,
    To make assurance sure, a warrior stern-
    Strong Polyphontes, fervid for the fray;-
    A sturdy bulwark, he, by grace of Heaven
    And favour of his champion Artemis!
    Say on, who holdeth the next gate in ward?

POLYPHONTES goes out.
 

CHORUS chanting

    Perish the wretch whose vaunt affronts our home!
    On him the red bolt come,
    Ere to the maiden bowers his way he cleave,
    To ravage and bereave!
 

THE SPY

    I will say on. Eteoclus is third-
    To him it fell, what time the third lot sprang
    O'er the inverted helmet's brazen rim,
    To dash his stormers on Neistae gate.
    He wheels his mares, who at their frontlets chafe
    And yearn to charge upon the gates amain.
    They snort the breath of pride, and, filled therewith,
    Their nozzles whistle with barbaric sound.
    High too and haughty is his shield's device-
    An armed man who climbs, from rung to rung,
    A scaling ladder, up a hostile wall,
    Afire to sack and slay; and he too cries
    (By letters, full of sound, upon the shield)
    Not Ares' self shall cast me from the wall.
    Look to it, send, against this man, a man
    Strong to debar the slave's yoke from our town.
 

ETEOCLES pointing to MEGAREUS

    Send will I-even this man, with luck to aid-

MEGAREUS departs as soon as he has been marked out.

    By his worth sent already, not by pride
    And vain pretence, is he. 'Tis Megareus,
    The child of Creon, of the Earth-sprung born!
    He will not shrink from guarding of the gates,
    Nor fear the maddened charger's frenzied neigh,
    But, if he dies, will nobly quit the score
    For nurture to the land that gave him birth,
    Or from the shield-side hew two warriors down-
    Eteoclus and the figure that he lifts-
    Ay, and the city pictured, all in one,
    And deck with spoils the temple of his sire!
    Announce the next pair, stint not of thy tongue!
 

CHORUS chanting

    O thou, the warder of my home,
    Grant, unto us, Fate's favouring tide,
    Send on the foemen doom!
    They fling forth taunts of frenzied pride,
    On them may Zeus with glare of vengeance come
 

THE SPY

    Lo, next him stands a fourth and shouts amain,
    By Pallas Onca's portal, and displays
    A different challenge; 'tis Hippomedon!
    Huge the device that starts up from his targe
    In high relief; and, I deny it not,
    I shuddered, seeing how, upon the rim,
    It made a mighty circle round the shield-
    No sorry craftsman he, who wrought that work
    And clamped it all around the buckler's edge!
    The form was Typhon: from his glowing throat
    Rolled lurid smoke, spark-litten, kin of fire!
    The flattened edge-work, circling round the whole,
    Made strong support for coiling snakes that grew
    Erect above the concave of the shield:
    Loud rang the warrior's voice; inspired for war,
    He raves to slay, as doth a Bacchanal,
    His very glance a terror! of such wight
    Beware the onset! closing on the gates,
    He peals his vaunting and appalling cry!
 

ETEOCLES

    Yet first our Pallas Onca-wardress she,
    Planting her foot hard by her gate-shall stand,
    The Maid against the ruffian, and repel
    His force, as from her brood the mother-bird
    Beats back the wintered serpent's venom'd fang.
    And next, by her, is Oenops' gallant son,
    Hyperbius, chosen to confront this foe,
    Ready to seek his fate at Fortune's shrine!
    In form, in valour, and in skill of arms,
    None shall gainsay him. See how wisely well
    Hermes hath set the brave against the strong!
    Confronted shall they stand, the shield of each
    Bearing the image of opposing gods:
    One holds aloft his Typhon breathing fire,
    But, on the other's shield, in symbol sits
    Zeus, calm and strong, and fans his bolt to flame-
    Zeus, seen of all, yet seen of none to fail!
    Howbeit, weak is trust reposed in Heaven-
    Yet are we upon Zeus' victorious side,
    The foe, with those he worsted-if in sooth
    Zeus against Typhon held the upper hand,
    And if Hyperbius (as well may hap
    When two such foes such diverse emblems bear)
    Have Zeus upon his shield, a saving sign.

HYPERBIUS goes out.
 

CHORUS chanting

    High faith is mine that he whose shield
    Bears, against Zeus, the thing of hate.
    The giant Typhon, thus revealed,
    A monster loathed of gods eterne
    And mortal men-this doom shall earn
    A shattered skull, before the gate!
 

THE SPY

    Heaven send it so! A fifth assailant now
    Is set against our fifth, the northern, gate,
    Fronting the death-mound where Amphion lies
    The child of Zeus. This foeman vows his faith,
    Upon a mystic spear-head which he deems
    More holy than a godhead and more sure
    To find its mark than any glance of eye,
    That, will they, nill they, he will storm and sack
    The hold of the Cadmeans. Such his oath-
    His, the bold warrior, yet of childish years,
    A bud of beauty's foremost flower, the son
    Of Zeus and of the mountain maid. I mark
    How the soft down is waxing on his cheek,
    Thick and close-growing in its tender prime-
    In name, not mood, is he a maiden's child-
    Parthenopaeus; large and bright his eyes
    But fierce the wrath wherewith he fronts the gate:
    Yet not unheralded he takes his stand
    Before the portal; on his brazen shield,
    The rounded screen and shelter of his form,
    I saw him show the ravening Sphinx, the fiend
    That shamed our city-how it glared and moved,
    Clamped on the buckler, wrought in high relief!
    And in its claws did a Cadmean bear-
    Nor heretofore, for any single prey,
    Sped she aloft, through such a storm of darts
    As now awaits her. So our foe is here-
    Like, as I deem, to ply no stinted trade
    In blood and broil, but traffick as is meet
    In fierce exchange for his long wayfaring!
 

ETEOCLES

    Ah, may they meet the doom they think to bring-
    They and their impious vaunts-from those on high!
    So should they sink, hurled down to deepest death!
    This foe, at least, by thee Arcadian styled,
    Is faced by one who bears no braggart sign,
    But his hand sees to smite, where blows avail-
    Actor, own brother to Hyperbius!
    He will not let a boast without a blow
    Stream through our gates and nourish our despair,
    Nor give him way who on his hostile shield
    Bears the brute image of the loathly Sphinx!
    Blocked at the gate, she will rebuke the man
    Who strives to thrust her forward, when she feels
    Thick crash of blows, up to the city wall.
    With Heaven's goodwill, my forecast shall be true.

ACTOR goes out.
 

CHORUS chanting

    Home to my heart the vaunting goes,
    And, quick with terror, on my head
    Rises my hair, at sound of those
    Who wildly, impiously rave!
    If gods there be, to them I plead-
    Give them to darkness and the grave.
 

THE SPY

    Fronting the sixth gate stands another foe,
    Wisest of warriors, bravest among seers-
    Such must I name Amphiaraus: he,
    Set steadfast at the Homoloid gate,
    Berates strong Tydeus with reviling words-
    The man of blood, the bane of state and home
    To Argos, arch-allurer to all ill,
    Evoker of the Fury-fiend of hell,
    Death's minister, and counsellor of wrong
    Unto Adrastus in this fatal field.
    Ay, and with eyes upturned and mien of scorn
    He chides thy brother Polyneices to
    At his desert, and once and yet again
    Dwells hard and meaningly upon his name
    Where it saith glory yet importeth feud.
    Yea, such thou art in act, and such thy grace
    In sight of Heaven, and such in aftertime
    Thy fame, for lips and ears of mortal men!
    "He strove to sack the city of his sires
    And temples of her gods, and brought on her
    An alien armament of foreign foes.
    The fountain of maternal blood outpoured
    What power can staunck? even so, thy fatherland
    Once by thine ardent malice stormed and ta'en,
    Shall ne'er join force with thee." For me, I know
    It doth remain to let my blood enrich
    The border of this land that loves me not-
    Blood of a prophet, in a foreign grave!
    Now, for the battle! I foreknow my doom,
    Yet it shall be with honour. So he spake,
    The prophet, holding up his targe of bronze
    Wrought without blazon, to the ears of men
    Who stood around and heeded not his word.
    For on no bruit and rumour of great deeds,
    But on their doing, is his spirit set,
    And in his heart he reaps a furrow rich,
    Wherefrom the foison of good counsel springs.
    Against him, send brave heart and hand of might;
    For the god-lover is man's fiercest foe.
 

ETEOCLES

    Out on the chance that couples mortal men,
    Linking the just and impious in one!
    In every issue, the one curse is this-
    Companionship with men of evil heart!
    A baneful harvest, let none gather it!
    The field of sin is rank, and brings forth death
    At whiles a righteous man who goes aboard
    With reckless mates, a horde of villainy,
    Dies by one death with that detested crew;
    At whiles the just man, joined with citizens
    Ruthless to strangers, recking nought of Heaven,
    Trapped, against nature, in one net with them,
    Dies by God's thrust and all-including blow.
    So will this prophet die, even Oecleus' child,
    Sage, just, and brave, and loyal towards Heaven,
    Potent in prophecy, but mated here
    With men of sin, too boastful to be wise!
    Long is their road, and they return no more,
    And, at their taking-off, by hard of Zeus,
    The prophet too shall take the downward way.
    He will not-so I deem-assail the gate-
    Not as through cowardice or feeble will,
    But as one knowing to what end shall be
    Their struggle in the battle, if indeed
    Fruit of fulfilment lie in Loxias' word.
    He speaketh not, unless to speak avails!
    Yet, for more surety, we will post a man,
    Strong Lasthenes, as warder of the gate,
    Stern to the foeman; he hath age's skill,
    Mated with youthful vigour, and an eye
    Forward, alert; swift too his hand, to catch
    The fenceless interval 'twixt shield and spear!
    Yet man's good fortune lies in hand of Heaven.

LASTHENES goes out.
 

CHORUS chanting

    Unto our loyal cry, ye gods, give ear!
    Save, save the city! turn away the spear,
    Send on the foemen fear!
    Outside the rampart fall they, rent and riven
    Beneath the bolt of heaven!
 

THE SPY

    Last, let me name yon seventh antagonist,
    Thy brother's self, at the seventh portal set-
    Hear with what wrath he imprecates our doom,
    Vowing to mount the wall, though banished hence,
    And peal aloud the wild exulting cry-
    The town is ta'en-then clash his sword with thine,
    Giving and taking death in close embrace,
    Or, if thou 'scapest, flinging upon thee,
    As robber of his honour and his home,
    The doom of exile such as he has borne.
    So clamours he and so invokes the gods
    Who guard his race and home, to hear and heed
    The curse that sounds in Polyneices' name!
    He bears a round shield, fresh from forge and fire,
    And wrought upon it is a twofold sign-
    For lo, a woman leads decorously
    The figure of a warrior wrought in gold;
    And thus the legend runs-I Justice am,
    And I will bring the hero home again,
    To hold once more his place within this town,
    Once more to pace his sire's ancestral hall.
    Such are the symbols, by our foemen shown-
    Now make thine own decision, whom to send
    Against this last opponent! I have said-
    Nor canst thou in my tidings find a flaw-
    Thine is it, now, to steer the course aright.
 

ETEOCLES

    Ah me, the madman, and the curse of Heaven
    And woe for us, the lamentable line
    Of Oedipus, and woe that in this house
    Our father's curse must find accomplishment!
    But now, a truce to tears and loud lament,
    Lest they should breed a still more rueful wail!
    As for this Polyneices, named too well,
    Soon shall we know how this device shall end-
    Whether the gold-wrought symbols on his shield,
    In their mad vaunting and bewildered pride,
    Shall guide him as a victor to his home!
    For had but justice, maiden-child of Zeus,
    Stood by his act and thought, it might have been!
    Yet never, from the day he reached the light
    Out of the darkness of his mother's womb,
    Never in childhood, nor in youthful prime,
    Nor when his chin was gathering its beard,
    Hath justice hailed or claimed him as her own.
    Therefore I deem not that she standeth now
    To aid him in this outrage on his home!
    Misnamed, in truth, were justice, utterly,
    If to impiety she lent her hand.
    Sure in this faith, I will myself go forth
    And match me with him; who hath fairer claim?
    Ruler, against one fain to snatch the rule,
    Brother with brother matched, and foe with foe,
    Will I confront the issue. To the wall!
 

LEADER OF THE CHORUS

    O thou true heart, O child of Oedipus,
    Be not, in wrath, too like the man whose name
    Murmurs an evil omen! 'Tis enough
    That Cadmus' clan should strive with Arges' host,
    For blood there is that can atone that stain!
    But-brother upon brother dealing death-
    Not time itself can expiate the sin!
 

ETEOCLES

    If man find hurt, yet clasp his honour still,
    'Tis well; the dead have honour, nought beside.
    Hurt, with dishonour, wins no word of praise!
 

CHORUS chanting

    Ah, what is thy desire?
    Let not the lust and ravin of the sword
    Bear thee adown the tide accursed, abhorred!
    Fling off thy passion's rage, thy spirit's prompting dire!
 

ETEOCLES

    Nay-since the god is urgent for our doom,
    Let Laius' house, by Phoebus loathed and scorned,
    Follow the gale of destiny, and win
    Its great inheritance, the gulf of hell!
 

CHORUS chanting

    Ruthless thy craving is-
    Craving for kindred and forbidden blood
    To be outpoured-a sacrifice imbrued
    With sin, a bitter fruit of murderous enmities!
 

ETEOCLES

    Yea, my own father's fateful Curse proclaims-
    A ghastly presence, and her eyes are dry-
    Strike! honour is the prize, not life prolonged!
 

CHORUS chanting

    Ah, be not urged of her! for none shall dare
    To call thee coward, in thy throned estate!
    Will not the Fury in her sable pal
    Pass outward from these halls, what time the gods
    Welcome a votive offering from our hands?
 

ETEOCLES

    The gods! long since they hold us in contempt,
    Scornful of gifts thus offered by the lost!
    Why should we fawn and flinch away from doom?
 

CHORUS chanting

    Now, when it stands beside thee! for its power
    May, with a changing gust of milder mood,
    Temper the blast that bloweth wild and rude
    And frenzied, in this hour!
 

ETEOCLES

    Ay, kindled by the curse of Oedipus-
    All too prophetic, out of dreamland came
    The vision, meting out our sire's estate!
 

LEADER OF THE CHORUS

    Heed women's voices, though thou love them not!
 

ETEOCLES

    Say aught that may avail, but stint thy words.
 

LEADER

    Go not thou forth to guard the seventh gate!
 

ETEOCLES

    Words shall not blunt the edge of my resolve.
 

LEADER

    Yet the god loves to let the weak prevail.
 

ETEOCLES

    That to a swordsman, is no welcome word!
 

LEADER

    Shall thine own brother's blood be victory's palm?
 

ETEOCLES

    Ill which the gods have sent thou canst no-shun!

ETEOCLES goes out.
 

CHORUS singing

    strophe 1

    I shudder in dread of the power, abhorred by the gods of high heaven,
    The ruinous curse of the home till roof-tree and rafter be riven!
    Too true are the visions of ill, too true the fulfilment they bring
    To the curse that was spoken of old by the frenzy and wrath of the king!
    Her will is the doom of the children, and Discord is kindled amain,

    antistrophe 1

    And strange is the Lord of Division, who cleaveth the birthright in twain,-
    The edged thing, born of the north, the steel that is ruthless and keen,
    Dividing in bitter division the lot of the children of teen!
    Not the wide lowland around, the realm of their sire, shall they have,
    Yet enough for the dead to inherit, the pitiful space of a grave!

    strophe 2

    Ah, but when kin meets kin, when sire and child,
    Unknowing, are defiled
    By shedding common blood, and when the pit
    Of death devoureth it,
    Drinking the clotted stain, the gory dye-
    Who, who can purify?
    Who cleanse pollution, where the ancient bane
    Rises and reeks again?

    antistrophe 2

    Whilome in olden days the sin was wrought,
    And swift requital brought-
    Yea on the children of the child came still
    New heritage of ill!
    For thrice Apollo spoke this word divine,
    From Delphi's central shrine,
    To Laius-Die thou childless! thus alone
    Can the land's weal be won!

    strophe 3

    But vainly with his wife's desire he strove,
    And gave himself to love,
    Begetting Oedipus, by whom he died,
    The fateful parricide!
    The sacred seed-plot, his own mother's womb,
    He sowed, his house's doom,
    A root of blood! by frenzy lured, they came
    Unto their wedded shame.

    antistrophe 3

    And now the waxing surge, the wave of fate,
    Rolls on them, triply great-
    One billow sinks, the next towers, high and dark,
    Above our city's bark-
    Only the narrow barrier of the wal
    Totters, as soon to fall;
    And, if our chieftains in the storm go down,
    What chance can save the town?

    strophe 4

    Curses, inherited from long ago,
    Bring heavy freight of woe:
    Rich stores of merchandise o'erload the deck,
    Near, nearer comes the wreck-
    And all is lost, cast out upon the wave,
    Floating, with none to save!

    antistrophe 4

    Whom did the gods, whom did the chief of men,
    Whom did each citizen
    In crowded concourse, in such honour hold,
    As Oedipus of old,
    When the grim fiend, that fed on human prey,
    He took from us away?

    strophe 5

    But when, in the fulness of days, he knew of his bridal unblest,
    A twofold horror he wrought, in the frenzied despair of his breast-
    Debarred from the grace of the banquet, the service of goblets of gold
    He flung on his children a curse for the splendour they dared to withhold.

    antistrophe 5

    A curse prophetic and bitter-The glory of wealth and of pride,
    With iron, not gold, in your hands, ye shall come, at the last, to divide!
    Behold, how a shudder runs through me, lest now, in the fulness of time,
    The house-fiend awake and return, to mete out the measure of crime!

THE SPY enters.
 

THE SPY

    Take heart, ye daughters whom your mothers' milk
    Made milky-hearted! lo, our city stands,
    Saved from the yoke of servitude: the vaunts
    Of overweening men are silent now,
    And the State sails beneath a sky serene,
    Nor in the manifold and battering waves
    Hath shipped a single surge, and solid stands
    The rampart, and the gates are made secure,
    Each with a single champion's trusty guard.
    So in the main and at six gates we hold
    A victory assured; but, at the seventh,
    The god that on the seventh day was born,
    Royal Apollo, hath ta'en up his rest
    To wreak upon the sons of Oedipus
    Their grandsire's wilfulness of long ago.
 

LEADER OF THE CHORUS

    What further woefulness besets our home?
 

THE SPY

    The home stands safe-but ah, the princes twain-
 

LEADER

    Who? what of them? I am distraught with fear.
 

THE SPY

    Hear now, and mark! the sons of Oedipus-
 

LEADER

    Ah, my prophetic soul! I feel their doom.
 

THE SPY

    Have done with questions!-with I-with their lives crushed out-
 

LEADER

    Lie they out yonder? the full horror speak!
    Did hands meet hands more close than brotherly?
    Came fate on each. and in the selfsame hour?
 

THE SPY

    Yea, blotting out the lineage ill-starred!
    Now mix your exultation and your tears,
    Over a city saved, the while its lords,
    Twin leaders of the fight, have parcelled out
    With forged arbitrament of Scythian steel
    The full division of their fatherland,
    And, as their father's imprecation bade,
    Shall have their due of land, a twofold grave.
    So is the city saved; the earth has drunk
    Blood of twin princes, by each other slain.
 

CHORUS chanting

    O mighty Zeus and guardian powers,
    The strength and stay of Cadmus' towers!
    Shall I send forth a joyous cry,
    Hail to the lord of weal renewed?
    Or weep the misbegotten twain,
    Born to a fatal destiny
    Each numbered now among the slain,
    Each dying in ill fortitude,
    Each truly named, each child of feud?
    O dark and all-prevailing ill,
    That broods o'er Oedipus and all his line,
    Numbing my heart with mortal chill!
    Ah me, this song of mine,
    Which, Thyad-like, I woke, now falleth still,
    Or only tells of doom,
    And echoes round a tomb!
    Dead are they, dead! in their own blood they lie
    Ill-omened the concent that hails our victory!
    The curse a father on his children spake
    Hath faltered not, nor failed!
    Nought, Laius! thy stubborn choice availed-
    First to beget, then, in the after day
    And for the city's sake,
    The child to slay!
    For nought can blunt nor mar
    The speech oracular!
    Children of teen! by disbelief ye erred-
    Yet in wild weeping came fulfilment of the word!

ANTIGONE and ISMENE approach, with a train of mourners. bearing the bodies of ETEOCLES and POLYNEICES.

    Look up, look forth! the doom is plain,
    Nor spake the messenger in vain!
    A twofold sorrow, twofold strife-
    Each brave against a brother's life!
    In double doom hath sorrow come
    How shall I speak it?-on the home!
    Alas, my sisters! be your sighs the gale,
    The smiting of your brows the plash of oars,
    Wafting the boat, to Acheron's dim shores
    That passeth ever, with its darkened sail,
    On its uncharted voyage and sunless way,
    Far from thy beams, Apollo, god of day-
    The melancholy bark
    Bound for the common bourn, the harbour of the dark!

    Look up, look yonder! from the home
    Antigone, Ismene come,
    On the last, saddest errand bound,
    To chant a dirge of doleful sound,
    With agony of equal pain
    Above their brethren slain!
    Their sister-bosoms surely swell,
    Heart with rent heart according well
    In grief for those who fought and fell!
    Yet-ere they utter forth their woe
    We must awake the rueful strain
    To vengeful powers, in realms below,
    And mourn hell's triumph o'er the slain!

    Alas! of all, the breast who bind,-
    Yea, all the race of womankind-
    O maidens, ye are most bereaved!
    For you, for you the tear-drops start-
    Deem that in truth, and undeceived,
    Ye hear the sorrows of my heart!

To the dead

    Children of bitterness, and sternly brave-
    One, proud of heart against persuasion's voice,
    One, against exile proof! ye win your choice-
    Each in your fatherland, a separate grave!
    Alack, on house and heritage
    They brought a baneful doom, and death for wage!
    One strove through tottering walls to force his way,
    One claimed, in bitter arrogance, the sway,
    And both alike, even now and here,
    Have closed their suit, with steel for arbiter!
    And lo, the Fury-fiend of Oedipus, their sire,
    Hath brought his curse to consummation dire
    Each in the left side smitten, see them laid-
    The children of one womb,
    Slain by a mutual doom!
    Alas, their fate! the combat murderous,
    The horror of the house,
    The curse of ancient bloodshed, now repaid!
    Yea, deep and to the heart the deathblow fell,
    Edged by their feud ineffable-
    By the grim curse, their sire did imprecate
    Discord and deadly hate!
    Hark, how the city and its towers make moan-
    How the land mourns that held them for its own!
    Fierce greed and fell division did they blend,
    Till death made end!
    They strove to part the heritage in twain,
    Giving to each a gain-
    Yet that which struck the balance in the strife,
    The arbitrating sword,
    By those who loved the twain is held abhorred-
    Loathed is the god of death, who sundered each from life!
    Here, by the stroke of steel, behold! they lie-
    And rightly may we cry
    Beside their fathers, let them here be laid-
    Iron gave their doom, witk iron their graves be made-
    A lack, the slaying sword, alack, th' entombing spade!
    Alas, a piercing shriek, a rending groan,
    A cry unfeigned of sorrow felt at heart!
    With shuddering of grief, with tears that start,
    With wailful escort, let them hither come-
    For one or other make divided moan!
    No light lament of pity mixed with gladness,
    But with true tears, poured from the soul of sadness,
    Over the princes dead and their bereaved home
    Say we, above these brethren dead,
    On citizen, on foreign foe,
    Brave was their rush, and stern their blow-
    Now, lowly are they laid!
    Beyond all women upon earth
    Woe, woe for her who gave them birth!
    Unknowingly, her son she wed-
    The children of that marriage-bed,
    Each in the self-same womb, were bred-
    Each by a brother's hand lies dead!

    Yea, from one seed they sprang, and by one fate
    Their heritage is desolate,
    The heart's division sundered claim from claim,
    And, from their feud, death came!
    Now is their hate allayed,
    Now is their life-stream shed,
    Ensanguining the earth with crimson dye-
    Lo, from one blood they sprang, and in one blood they lie!
    A grievous arbiter was given the twain-
    The stranger from the northern main,
    The sharp, dividing sword,
    Fresh from the forge and fire
    The War-god treacherous gave ill award
    And brought their father's curse to a fulfilment dire!
    They have their portion-each his lot and doom,
    Given from the gods on high!
    Yea, the piled wealth of fatherland, for tomb,
    Shall underneath them lie!
    Alas, alas! with flowers of fame and pride
    Your home ye glorified;
    But, in the end, the Furies gathered round
    With chants of boding sound,
    Shrieking, In wild defeat and disarray,
    Behold, ye pass away!
    The sign of Ruin standeth at the gate,
    There, where they strove with Fate-
    And the ill power beheld the brothers' fall,
    And triumphed over all!

ANTIGONE, ISMENE, and the CHORUS all take part in the following responsive dirge.

    Thou wert smitten, in smiting,
    Thou didst slay, and wert slain-
    By the spear of each other
    Ye lie on the plain,
    And ruthless the deed that ye wrought was, and ruthless the death of the twain!

    Take voice, O my sorrow!
    Flow tear upon tear-
    Lay the slain by the slayer,
    Made one on the bier!
    Our soul in distraction is lost, and we mourn o'er the prey of the spear!

    Ah, woe for your ending,
    Unbrotherly wrought!
    And woe for the issue,
    The fray that ye fought,
    The doom of a mutual slaughter whereby to the grave ye are brought!

    Ah, twofold the sorrow-
    The heard and the seen!
    And double the tide
    Of our tears and our teen,
    As we stand by our brothers in death and wail for the love that has been!

    O grievous the fate
    That attends upon wrong!
    Stern ghost of our sire,
    Thy vengeance is long!
    Dark Fury of hell and of death, the hands of thy kingdom are. strong!

    O dark were the sorrows
    That exile hath known!
    He slew, but returned not
    Alive to his own!
    He struck down a brother, but fell, in the moment of triumph hewn down!

    O lineage accurst,
    O doom and despair!
    Alas, for their quarrel,
    The brothers that were!
    And woe! for their pitiful end, who once were our love and our care!

    O grievous the fate
    That attends upon wrong)
    Stern ghost of our sire,
    Thy vengeance is long!
    Dark Fury of hell and of death, the hands of thy kingdom are strong!

    By proof have ye learnt it!
    At once and as one,
    O brothers beloved,
    To death ye were, done!
    Ye came to the strife of the sword, and behold! ye are both overthrown!

    O grievous the tale is,
    And grievous their fall,
    To the house, to the land,
    And to me above all!
    Ah, God! for the curse that hath come, the sin and the ruin withal!

    O children distraught,
    Who in madness have died!
    Shall ye rest with old kings
    In the place of their pride?
    Alas for the wrath of your sire if he findeth you laid by his side!

A HERALD enters.
 

HERALD

    I bear command to tell to one and all
    What hath approved itself and now is law,
    Ruled by the counsellors of Cadmus' town.
    For this Eteocles, it is resolved
    To lay him on his earth-bed, in this soil,
    Not without care and kindly sepulture.
    For why? he hated those who hated us,
    And, with all duties blanielessly performed
    Unto the sacred ritual of his sires,
    He met such end as gains our city's grace,-
    With auspices that do ennoble death.
    Such words I have in charge to speak of him:
    But of his brother Polyneices, this-
    Be he cast out unburied, for the dogs
    To rend and tear: for he presumed to waste
    The land of the Cadmeans, had not Heaven-
    Some god of those who aid our fatherland-
    Opposed his onset, by his brother's spear,
    To whom, tho' dead, shall consecration come!
    Against him stood this wretch, and brought a horde
    Of foreign foemen, to beset our town.
    He therefore shall receive his recompense,
    Buried ignobly in the maw of kites-
    No women-wailers to escort his corpse
    Nor pile his tomb nor shrill his dirge anew-
    Unhouselled, unattended, cast away
    So, for these brothers, doth our State ordain.
 

ANTIGONE

    And I-to those who make such claims of rule
    In Cadmus' town-I, though no other help,

Pointing to the body of POLYNEICES

    I, I will bury this my brother's corse
    And risk your wrath and what may come of it!
    It shames me not to face the State, and set
    Will against power, rebellion resolute:
    Deep in my heart is set my sisterhood,
    My common birthright with my brothers, born
    All of one womb, her children who, for woe,
    Brought forth sad offspring to a sire ill-starred.
    Therefore, my soul! take thou thy willing share,
    In aid of him who now can will no more,
    Against this outrage: be a sister true,
    While yet thou livest, to a brother dead!
    Him never shall the wolves with ravening maw
    Rend and devour: I do forbid the thought!
    I for him, I-albeit a woman weak-
    In place of burial-pit, will give him rest
    By this protecting handful of light dust
    Which, in the lap of this poor linen robe,
    I bear to hallow and bestrew his corpse
    With the due covering. Let none gainsay!
    Courage and craft shall arm me, this to do.
 

HERALD

    I charge thee, not to flout the city's law!
 

ANTIGONE

    I charge thee, use no useless heralding!
 

HERALD

    Stern is a people newly 'scaped from death.
 

ANTIGONE

    Whet thou their sternness! burial he shall have.
 

HERALD

    How? grace of burial, to the city's foe?
 

ANTIGONE

    God hath not judged him separate in guilt.
 

HERALD

    True-till he put this land in jeopardy.
 

ANTIGONE

    His rights usurped, he answered wrong with wrong.
 

HERALD

    Nay-but for one man's sin he smote the State.
 

ANTIGONE

    Contention doth out-talk all other gods!
    Prate thou no more-I will to bury him.
 

HERALD

    Will, an thou wilt! but I forbid the deed.

The HERALD goes out.
 

CHORUS singing

    Exulting Fates, who waste the line
    And whelm the house of Oedipus!
    Fiends, who have slain, in wrath condign,
    The father and the children thus!
    What now befits it that I do,
    What meditate, what undergo?
    Can I the funeral rite refrain,
    Nor weep for Polyneices slain?
    But yet, with fear I shrink and thrill,
    Presageful of the city's will!
    Thou, O Eteocles, shalt have
    Full rites, and mourners at thy grave,
    But he, thy brother slain, shall he,
    With none to weep or cry Alas,
    To unbefriended burial pass?
    Only one sister o'er his bier,
    To raise the cry and pour the tear-
    Who can obey such stern decree?
 

SEMI-CHORUS

    Let those who hold our city's sway
    Wreak, or forbear to wreak, their will
    On those who cry, Ah, well-a-day!
    Lamenting Polyneices still!
    We will go forth and, side by side
    With her, due burial will provide!
    Royal he was; to him be paid
    Our grief, wherever he be laid!
    The crowd may sway, and change, and still
    Take its caprice for justice' will
    But we this dead Eteocles,
    As Justice wills and Right decrees,
    Will bear unto his grave!
    For-under those enthroned on high
    And Zeus' eternal royalty-
    He unto us salvation gave!
    He saved us from a foreign yoke,-
    A wild assault of outland folk,
    A savage, alien wave!