{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_27458/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_27458","id":"gutenberg_27458","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27458","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Classics of Literature","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Plays/Films/Dramas","Eteocles, King of Thebes (Mythological character) -- Drama","Polynices (Greek mythological figure) -- Drama","Prometheus (Greek deity) -- Drama","Seven against Thebes (Greek mythology) -- Drama","Thebes (Greece) -- Drama","Tragedies (Drama)"],"text":"Produced by Suzanne Lybarger, Turgut Dincer, Brian Janes,\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttps://www.pgdp.net.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAESCHYLUS'\n\nPROMETHEUS BOUND\n\nAND THE\n\nSEVEN AGAINST THEBES.\n\nLITERALLY TRANSLATED,\nWITH CRITICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES,\n\nBY\n\nTHEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, B.A.\n\nWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY\n\nEDWARD BROOKS, JR.\n\nPHILADELPHIA:\nDAVID McKAY, PUBLISHER,\n\n610 SOUTH WASHINGTON SQUARE.\n\nCopyright, 1897, by DAVID MCKAY.\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nAEschylus, the first of the great Grecian writers of tragedy, was born at\nEleusis, in 525 B.C. He was the son of Euphorion, who was probably a\nwealthy owner of rich vineyards. The poet's early employment was to\nwatch the grapes and protect them from the ravages of men and other\nanimals, and it is said that this occupation led to the development of\nhis dramatic genius. It is more easy to believe that it was responsible\nfor the development of certain other less admirable qualities of the\npoet.\n\nHis first appearance as a tragic writer was in 499 B.C., and in 484 B.C.\nhe won a prize in the tragic contests. He took part in the battle of\nMarathon, in 490 B.C., and also fought in the battle of Salamis, in 480\nB.C. He visited Sicily twice, and probably spent some time in that\ncountry, as the use of many Sicilian words in his later plays would\nindicate.\n\nThere is a curious story related as to his death, which took place at\nGela in 456 B.C. It is said that an eagle, mistaking his bald head for a\nstone, dropped a tortoise upon it in order to break its shell, and that\nthe blow quite killed AEschylus. Too much reliance should not be placed\nupon this story.\n\nIt is not known how many plays the poet wrote, but only seven have been\npreserved to us. That these tragedies contain much that is undramatic is\nundoubtedly true, but it must be remembered that at the time he wrote,\nAEschylus found the drama in a very primitive state. The persons\nrepresented consisted of but a single actor, who related some narrative\nof mythological or legendary interest, and a chorus, who relieved the\nmonotony of such a performance by the interspersing of a few songs and\ndances. To AEschylus belongs the credit of creating the dialogue in the\nGreek drama by the introduction of a second actor.\n\nIn the following pages will be found a translation of two of the poet's\ngreatest compositions, viz., the \"Prometheus Chained\" and the \"Seven\nAgainst Thebes.\" The first of these dramas has been designated \"The\nsublimest poem and simplest tragedy of antiquity,\" and the second, while\nprobably an earlier work and containing much that is undramatic,\npresents such a splendid spectacle of true Grecian chivalry that it has\nbeen regarded as the equal of anything which the author ever attempted.\n\nThe characters represented in the \"Prometheus\" are Strength, Force,\nVulcan, Prometheus, Io, daughter of Inachus, Ocean and Mercury. The play\nopens with the appearance of Prometheus in company with Strength, Force\nand Vulcan, who have been bidden to bind Prometheus with adamantine\nfetters to the lofty cragged rocks of an untrodden Scythian desert,\nbecause he has offended Jupiter by stealing fire from heaven and\nbestowing it upon mortals.\n\nVulcan is loth to obey the mandates of Jove, but urged on by Strength\nand Force and the fear of the consequences which disobedience will\nentail, with mighty force drives the wedges into the adamantine rocks\nand rivets the captive with galling shackles to the ruthless crags.\n\nPrometheus, being bound and left alone, bemoans his fate and relates to\nthe chorus of nymphs the base ingratitude of Jove, who through his\ncounsels having overwhelmed the aged Saturn beneath the murky abyss of\nTartarus, now rewards his ally with indignities because he had\ncompassion upon mortals.\n\nOcean then comes to Prometheus, offering sympathy and counsel, urging\nhim not to utter words thus harsh and whetted, lest Jupiter seated far\naloft may hear them and inflict upon him added woes to which his present\nsufferings will seem but child's play.\n\nOcean having taken his departure, Prometheus again complains to the\nchorus and enumerates the boons which he has bestowed upon mankind, with\nthe comment that though he has discovered such inventions for mortals,\nhe has no device whereby he may escape from his present misfortune.\n\nIo, daughter of Inachus, beloved by Jove, but forced, through the\njealous hatred of Juno, to make many wanderings, then appears, and\nbeseeches Prometheus to discover to her what time shall be the limit of\nher sufferings. Prometheus accedes to her request and relates how she\nshall wander over many lands and seas until she reaches the city of\nCanopus, at the mouth of the Nile, where she shall bring forth a\nJove-begotten child, from whose seed shall finally spring a dauntless\nwarrior renowned in archery, who will liberate Prometheus from his\ncaptivity and accomplish the downfall of Jove.\n\nIo then resumes her wanderings, and Mercury, sent by Jove, comes to\nquestion Prometheus as to the nuptials which he has boasted will\naccomplish the overthrow of the ruler of the Gods. Him Prometheus\nreviles with opprobrious epithets, calling him a lackey of the Gods, and\nrefuses to disclose anything concerning the matter on which he questions\nhim. The winged God, replying, threatens him with dire calamities. A\ntempest will come upon him and overwhelm him with thunderbolts, and a\nbloodthirsting eagle shall feed upon his liver. Thus saying, he departs,\nand immediately the earth commences to heave, the noise of thunder is\nheard, vivid streaks of lightning blaze throughout the sky and a\nhurricane--the onslaught of Jove--sweeps Prometheus away in its blast.\n\nThe \"Seven against Thebes\" includes in its cast of characters Eteocles,\nKing of Thebes, Antigone and Ismene, Sisters of the King, a Messenger\nand a Herald. The play opens with the siege of Thebes. Eteocles appears\nupon the Acropolis in the early morning, and exhorts the citizens to be\nbrave and be not over-dismayed at the rabble of alien besiegers. A\nmessenger arrives and announces the rapid approach of the Argives.\nEteocles goes to see that the battlements and the gates are properly\nmanned, and during his absence the chorus of Theban maidens set up a\ngreat wail of distress and burst forth with violent lamentations.\nEteocles, returning, upbraids them severely for their weakness and bids\nthem begone and raise the sacred auspicious shout of the paean as an\nencouragement to the Theban warriors. He then departs to prepare himself\nand six others to meet in combat the seven chieftains who have come\nagainst the city.\n\nHe soon re-enters, and at the same time comes the messenger from another\npart of the city with fresh tidings of the foe and the arrangement of\nthe invaders around the walls of the city. By the gate of Proetus\nstands the raging Tydeus with his helm of hairy crests and his buckler\ntricked out with a full moon and a gleaming sky full of stars, against\nwhom Eteocles will marshal the wary son of Astacus, a noble and a modest\nyouth, who detests vain boastings and yet is not a coward.\n\nBy the Electron gate is stationed the giant Campaneus, who bears about\nhim the device of a naked man with a gleaming torch in his hands, crying\nout \"I will burn the city.\" Against him will be pitted the doughty\nPolyphontes, favored by Diana and other gods.\n\nAgainst the gate of Neis the mighty Eteoclus is wheeling his foaming\nsteeds, bearing a buckler blazoned with a man in armor treading the\nsteps of a ladder to his foeman's tower. Megareus, the offspring of\nCreon, is the valiant warrior who will either pay the debt of his\nnurture to his land or will decorate his father's house with the spoils\nof the conquered Eteoclus.\n\nThe fiery Hippomedon is raging at the gate of Onca Minerva, bearing upon\nhis buckler a Typhon darting forth smoke through his fire-breathing\nmouth, eager to meet the brave Hyperbius, son of OEnops, who has been\nselected to check his impetuous onslaught.\n\nAt the gate of Boreas the youthful Parthenopaeus takes his stand, a\nfair-faced stripling, upon whose face the youthful down is just making\nits appearance. Opposed to him stands Actor, a man who is no braggart,\nbut who will not submit to boastful tauntings or permit the rash\nintruder to batter his way into the city.\n\nThe mighty Amphiarus is waiting at the gate of Homoloeis, and in the\nmeantime reproaches his ally, Tydeus, calling him a homicide, and\nPolynices he rebukes with having brought a mighty armament into his\nnative city. Lasthenes, he of the aged mind but youthful form, is the\nThebian who has been chosen to marshal his forces against this invader.\n\nAt the seventh gate stands Polynices, brother of Eteocles, bearing a\nwell-wrought shield with a device constructed upon it of a woman leading\non a mailed warrior, bringing havoc to his paternal city and desirous of\nbecoming a fratricide. Against him Eteocles will go and face him in\nperson, and leader against leader, brother against brother and foeman\nagainst foeman, take his stand.\n\nEteocles then departs to engage in battle, and soon after the messenger\nenters to announce that six of the Theban warriors have been successful,\nbut that Polynices and Eteocles have both fallen, slain by each other's\nhand.\n\nAntigone and Ismene then enter, each bewailing the death of their\nbrothers. A herald interrupts them in the midst of their lamentations to\nannounce to them the decree of the senate, which is that Eteocles, on\naccount of his attachment to his country, though a fratricide, shall be\nhonored with fitting funeral rites, but that Polynices, the would-be\noverturner of his native city, shall be cast out unburied, a prey to the\ndogs.\n\nAgainst this decree Antigone rebels, and with her final words announces\nher unalterable intention of burying her brother in spite of the fate\nwhich awaits her disobedience to the will of the senate.\n\n\n\n\nPROMETHEUS CHAINED.\n\n  Prometheus having, by his attention to the wants of men,\n  provoked the anger of Jove, is bound down in a cleft of a\n  rock in a distant desert of Scythia. Here he not only\n  relates the wanderings, but foretells the future lot of\n  Io, and likewise alludes to the fall of Jove's dynasty.\n  Disdaining to explain his meaning to Mercury, he is swept\n  into the abyss amid terrific hurricane and earthquake.\n\n\nPERSONS REPRESENTED.\n\n\n  STRENGTH.\n  FORCE.\n  VULCAN.\n  PROMETHEUS.\n  CHORUS OF NYMPHS, DAUGHTERS OF OCEAN.\n  IO, DAUGHTER OF INACHUS.\n  MERCURY.\n\n\nSTRENGTH, FORCE, VULCAN, PROMETHEUS.\n\nSTRENGTH. [1]We are come to a plain, the distant boundary of the earth,\nto the Scythian track, to an untrodden[2] desert. Vulcan, it behooves\nthee that the mandates, which thy Sire imposed, be thy concern--to bind\nthis daring wretch[3] to the lofty-cragged rocks, in fetters of\nadamantine chains that can not be broken; for he stole and gave to\nmortals thy honor, the brilliancy of fire [that aids] all arts.[4] Hence\nfor such a trespass he must needs give retribution to the gods, that he\nmay be taught to submit to the sovereignty of Jupiter, and to cease from\nhis philanthropic disposition.\n\nVULCAN. Strength and Force, as far as you are concerned, the mandate of\nJupiter has now[5] its consummation, and there is no farther obstacle.\nBut I have not the courage to bind perforce a kindred god to this\nweather-beaten ravine. Yet in every way it is necessary for me to take\ncourage for this task; for a dreadful thing it is to disregard[6] the\ndirections of the Sire.[7] Lofty-scheming son of right-counseling\nThemis, unwilling shall I rivet thee unwilling in indissoluble shackles\nto this solitary rock, where nor voice nor form of any one of mortals\nshalt thou see;[8] but slowly scorched by the bright blaze of the sun\nthou shalt lose the bloom of thy complexion; and to thee joyous shall\nnight in spangled robe[9] veil the light; and the sun again disperse the\nhoar-frost of the morn; and evermore shall the pain of the present evil\nwaste thee; for no one yet born shall release thee. Such fruits hast\nthou reaped from thy friendly disposition to mankind. For thou, a god,\nnot crouching beneath the wrath of the gods, hast imparted to mortals\nhonors beyond what was right. In requital whereof thou shalt keep\nsentinel on this cheerless rock, standing erect, sleepless, not bending\na knee:[10] and many laments and unavailing groans shalt thou utter; for\nthe heart of Jupiter is hard to be entreated; and every one that has\nnewly-acquired power is stern.\n\nST. Well, well! Why art thou delaying and vainly commiserating? Why\nloathest thou not the god that is most hateful to the gods, who has\nbetrayed thy prerogative to mortals?\n\nVUL. Relationship and intimacy are of great power.\n\nST. I grant it--but how is it possible to disobey the Sire's word?\nDreadest thou not this the rather?\n\nVUL. Ay truly thou art ever pitiless and full of boldness.\n\nST. For to deplore this wretch is no cure [for him]. But concern not\nthou thyself vainly with matters that are of no advantage.\n\nVUL. O much detested handicraft!\n\nST. Wherefore loathest thou it! for with the ills now present thy craft\nin good truth is not at all chargeable.\n\nVUL. For all that, I would that some other had obtained this.\n\nST. Every thing has been achieved except for the gods to rule; for no\none is free save Jupiter.[11]\n\nVUL. I know it--and I have nothing to say against it.[12]\n\nST. Wilt thou not then bestir thyself to cast fetters about this wretch,\nthat the Sire may not espy thee loitering?\n\nVUL. Ay, and in truth you may see the manacles ready.\n\nST. Take them, and with mighty force clench them with the mallet about\nhis hands: rivet him close to the crags.\n\nVUL. This work of ours is speeding to its consummation and loiters not.\n\nST. Smite harder, tighten, slacken at no point, for he hath cunning to\nfind outlets even from impracticable difficulties.\n\nVUL. This arm at all events is fastened inextricably.\n\nST. And now clasp this securely, that he may perceive himself to be a\nduller contriver than Jupiter.\n\nVUL. Save this [sufferer], no one could with reason find fault with me.\n\nST. Now by main force rivet the ruthless fang of an adamantine wedge\nright through his breast.[13]\n\nVUL. Alas! alas! Prometheus, I sigh over thy sufferings.\n\nST. Again thou art hanging back, and sighest thou over the enemies of\nJupiter? Look to it, that thou hast not at some time to mourn for\nthyself.\n\nVUL. Thou beholdest a spectacle ill-sighted to the eye.\n\nST. I behold this wretch receiving his deserts. But fling thou these\ngirths round his sides.\n\nVUL. I must needs do this; urge me not very much.\n\nST. Ay, but I will urge thee, and set thee on too. Move downward, and\nstrongly link his legs.\n\nVUL. And in truth the task is done with no long toil.\n\nST. With main force now smite the galling fetters, since stern indeed is\nthe inspector of this work.\n\nVUL. Thy tongue sounds in accordance with thy form.\n\nST. Yield thou to softness, but taunt not me with ruthlessness and\nharshness of temper.\n\nVUL. Let us go; since he hath the shackles about his limbs.\n\nST. There now be insolent; and after pillaging the prerogatives of the\ngods, confer them on creatures of a day. In what will mortals be able to\nalleviate these agonies of thine? By no true title do the divinities\ncall thee Prometheus; for thou thyself hast need of a Prometheus, by\nmeans of which you will slip out of this fate.[14]\n\n  [_Exeunt_ STRENGTH _and_ FORCE.\n\nPROMETHEUS. O divine aether, and ye swift-winged breezes, and ye\nfountains of rivers, and countless dimpling[15] of the waves of the\ndeep, and thou earth, mother of all--and to the all-seeing orb of the\nSun I appeal; look upon me, what treatment I, a god, am enduring at the\nhand of the gods! Behold with what indignities mangled I shall have to\nwrestle through time of years innumerable. Such an ignominious bondage\nhath the new ruler of the immortals devised against me. Alas! alas! I\nsigh over the present suffering, and that which is coming on. How, where\nmust a termination of these toils arise? And yet what is it I am saying?\nI know beforehand all futurity exactly, and no suffering will come upon\nme unlooked-for. But I needs must bear my doom as easily as may be,\nknowing as I do, that the might of Necessity can not be resisted.\n\nBut yet it is not possible for me either to hold my peace, or not to\nhold my peace touching these my fortunes. For having bestowed boons upon\nmortals, I am enthralled unhappy in these hardships. And I am he that\nsearched out the source of fire, by stealth borne-off inclosed in a\nfennel-rod,[16] which has shown itself a teacher of every art to\nmortals, and a great resource. Such then as this is the vengeance that I\nendure for my trespasses, being riveted in fetters beneath the naked\nsky.\n\nHah! what sound, what ineffable odor[17] hath been wafted to me,\nemanating from a god, or from mortal, or of some intermediate nature?\nHas there come anyone to the remote rock as a spectator of my\nsufferings, or with what intent![18] Behold me an ill-fated god in\ndurance, the foe of Jupiter, him that hath incurred the detestation of\nall the gods who frequent the court of Jupiter, by reason of my\nexcessive friendliness to mortals. Alas! alas! what can this hasty\nmotion of birds be which I again hear hard by me? The air too is\nwhistling faintly with the whirrings of pinions. Every thing that\napproaches is to me an object of dread.\n\nCHORUS. Dread thou nothing; for this is a friendly band that has come\nwith the fleet rivalry of their pinions to this rock, after prevailing\nwith difficulty on the mind of our father. And the swiftly-wafting\nbreezes escorted me; for the echo of the clang of steel pierced to the\nrecess of our grots, and banished my demure-looking reserve; and I sped\nwithout my sandals in my winged chariot.\n\nPR. Alas! alas! ye offspring of prolific Thetys, and daughters of Ocean\nyour sire, who rolls around the whole earth in his unslumbering stream;\nlook upon me, see clasped in what bonds I shall keep an unenviable watch\non the topmost crags of this ravine.\n\nCH. I see, Prometheus: and a fearful mist full of tears darts over mine\neyes, as I looked on thy frame withering on the rocks[19] in these\ngalling adamantine fetters: for new pilots are the masters of Olympus;\nand Jove, contrary to right, lords it with new laws, and things\naforetime had in reverence he is obliterating.\n\nPR. Oh would that he had sent me beneath the earth, and below into the\nboundless Tartarus of Hades that receives the dead, after savagely\nsecuring me in indissoluble bonds, so that no god at any time, nor any\nother being, had exulted in this my doom. Whereas now, hapless one, I,\nthe sport of the winds, suffer pangs that gladden my foes.\n\nCH. Who of the gods is so hard-hearted as that these things should be\ngrateful to him? Who is there that sympathizes not with thy sufferings,\nJove excepted? He, indeed, in his wrath, assuming an inflexible temper,\nis evermore oppressing the celestial race! nor will he cease before that\neither he shall have sated his heart, or some one by some stratagem\nshall have seized upon his sovereignity that will be no easy prize.\n\nPR. In truth hereafter the president of the immortals[20] shall have\nneed of me, albeit that I am ignominiously suffering in stubborn\nshackles, to discover to him the new plot by which he is to be despoiled\nof his sceptre and his honors. But neither shall he win me by the\nhoney-tongued charms of persuasion; nor will I at any time, crouching\nbeneath his stern threats, divulge this matter, before he shall have\nreleased me from my cruel bonds, and shall be willing to yield me\nretribution for this outrage.\n\nCH. Thou indeed both art bold, and yieldest nought to thy bitter\ncalamities, but art over free in thy language. But piercing terror is\nworrying my soul; for I fear for thy fortunes. How, when will it be thy\ndestiny to make the haven and see the end of these thy sufferings? for\nthe son of Saturn has manners that supplication cannot reach, and an\ninexorable heart.\n\nPR. I know that Jupiter is harsh, and keeps justice to himself; but for\nall that he shall hereafter be softened in purpose, when he shall be\ncrushed in this way; and, after calming his unyielding temper with\neagerness will he hereafter come into league and friendship with me that\nwill eagerly [welcome him].\n\nCH. Unfold and speak out to us the whole story, from what accusation has\nJupiter seized thee, and is thus disgracefully and bitterly tormenting\nthee. Inform us, if thou be in no respect hurt by the recital.\n\nPR. Painful indeed are these things for me to tell, and painful too for\nme to hold my peace, and in every way grievous. As soon as the\ndivinities began discord, and a feud was stirred up among them with one\nanother--one party[21] wishing to eject Saturn from his throne, in\norder forsooth that Jupiter might be king, and others expediting the\nreverse, that Jupiter might at no time rule over the gods: then I, when\nI gave the best advice, was not able to prevail upon the Titans,\nchildren of Uranus and Terra; but they, contemning in their stout\nspirits wily schemes, fancied that without any trouble, and by dint of\nmain force, they were to win the sovereignty. But it was not once only\nthat my mother Themis, and Terra, a single person with many titles, had\nforewarned me of the way in which the future would be accomplished; how\nit was destined, that, not by main force, nor by the strong hand, but by\ncraft the victors should prevail. When, however, I explained such points\nin discourse, they deigned not to pay me any regard at all. Of the plans\nwhich then presented themselves to me, the best appeared that I should\ntake my mother and promptly side with Jupiter, who was right willing [to\nreceive us]. And 'tis by means of my counsels that the murky abyss of\nTartarus overwhelms the antique Saturn, allies and all. After thus being\nassisted by me, the tyrant of the gods hath recompensed me with this\nfoul recompense. For somehow this malady attaches to tyranny, not to put\nconfidence in its friends. But for your inquiries upon what charge is it\nthat he outrages me, this I will make clear. As soon as he has\nestablished himself on his father's throne, he assigns forthwith to the\ndifferent divinities each his honors, and he was marshaling in order his\nempire; but of woe-begone mortals he made no account, but wished, after\nhaving annihilated the entire race, to plant another new one. And these\nschemes no one opposed except myself: But I dared: I ransomed mortals\nfrom being utterly destroyed, and going down to Hades. 'Tis for this, in\ntruth, that I am bent by sufferings such as these, agonizing to endure,\nand piteous to look upon. I that had compassion for mortals, have myself\nbeen deemed unworthy to obtain this, but mercilessly am thus coerced to\norder, a spectacle inglorious to Jupiter.\n\nCH. Iron-hearted and formed of rock too, Prometheus, is he, who condoles\nnot with thy toils: for I could have wished never to have beheld them,\nand now, when I behold them, I am pained in my heart.\n\nPR. Ay, in very deed I am a piteous object for friends to behold.\n\nCH. And didst thou chance to advance even beyond this?\n\nPR. Yes! I prevented mortals from foreseeing their doom.\n\nCH. By finding what remedy for this malady?\n\nPR. I caused blind hopes to dwell within them.\n\nCH. In this thou gavest a mighty benefit to mortals.\n\nPR. Over and above these boons, however, I imparted fire to them.\n\nCH. And do the creatures of a day now possess bright fire?\n\nPR. Yes--from which they will moreover learn thoroughly many arts.\n\nCH. Is it indeed on charges such as these that Jupiter is both visiting\nthee with indignities, and in no wise grants thee a respite from thy\npains? And is no period to thy toils set before thee?\n\nPR. None other assuredly, but when it may please him.\n\nCH. And how shall it be his good pleasure? What hope is there? Seest\nthou not that thou didst err? but how thou didst err, I can not relate\nwith pleasure, and it would be a pain to you. But let us leave these\npoints, and search thou for some escape from thine agony.\n\nPR. 'Tis easy, for any one that hath his foot unentangled by sufferings,\nboth to exhort and to admonish him that is in evil plight. But I knew\nall these things willingly, willingly I erred, I will not gainsay it;\nand in doing service to mortals I brought upon myself sufferings. Yet\nnot at all did I imagine, that, in such a punishment as this, I was to\nwither away upon lofty rocks, meeting with this desolate solitary crag.\nAnd yet wail ye not over my present sorrows, but after alighting on the\nground, list ye to the fortune that is coming on, that ye may learn the\nwhole throughout. Yield to me, yield ye, take ye a share in the woes of\nhim that is now suffering. Hence in the same way doth calamity, roaming\nto and fro, settle down on different individuals.\n\nCH. Upon those who are nothing loth hast thou urged this, Prometheus:\nand now having with light step quitted my rapidly-wafted chariot-seat,\nand the pure aether, highway of the feathered race, I will draw near to\nthis rugged ground: and I long to hear the whole tale of thy sufferings.\n\n  _Enter_ OCEAN.\n\nI am arrived at the end of a long journey,[22] having passed over [it]\nto thee, Prometheus, guiding this winged steed of mine, swift of pinion,\nby my will, without a bit; and, rest assured, I sorrow with thy\nmisfortunes. For both the tie of kindred thus constrains me, and,\nrelationship apart, there is no one on whom I would bestow a larger\nshare [of my regard] than to thyself. And thou shalt know that these\nwords are sincere, and that it is not in me vainly to do lip-service;\nfor come, signify to me in what it is necessary for me to assist thee;\nfor at no time shalt thou say that thou hast a stancher friend than\nOceanus.\n\nPR. Hah! what means this? and hast thou too come to be a witness of my\npangs? How hast thou ventured, after quitting both the stream that bears\nthy name, and the rock-roofed self-wrought[23] grots, to come into the\niron teeming land? Is it that you may contemplate my misfortunes, and as\nsympathizing with my woes that thou hast come? Behold a spectacle, me\nhere the friend of Jupiter, that helped to establish his sovereignty,\nwith what pains I am bent by him.\n\nOC. I see, Prometheus, and to thee, subtle as thou art, I wish to give\nthe best counsel. Know thyself, and assume to thyself new manners; for\namong the gods too there is a new monarch. But if thou wilt utter words\nthus harsh and whetted, Jupiter mayhap, though seated far aloft, will\nhear thee, so that the present bitterness of sufferings will seem to\nthee to be child's play. But, O hapless one! dismiss the passion which\nthou feelest, and search for a deliverance from these sufferings of\nthine. Old-fashioned maxims these, it may be, I appear to thee to utter;\nyet such becomes the wages of the tongue that talks too proudly. But not\neven yet art thou humble, nor submittest to ills; and in addition to\nthose that already beset thee, thou art willing to bring others upon\nthee. Yet not, if at least thou takest me for thy instructor, wilt thou\nstretch out thy leg against the pricks; as thou seest that a harsh\nmonarch, and one that is not subject to control, is lording it. And now\nI for my part will go, and will essay, if I be able, to disinthrall thee\nfrom these thy pangs. But be thou still, nor be over impetuous in thy\nlanguage. What! knowest thou not exactly, extremely intelligent as thou\nart, that punishment is inflicted on a froward tongue?\n\nPR. I give thee joy, because that thou hast escaped censure, after\ntaking part in and venturing along with me in all things. And now leave\nhim alone, and let it not concern thee. For in no wise wilt thou\npersuade him; for he is not open to persuasion. And look thou well to it\nthat thou take not harm thyself by the journey.\n\nOC. Thou art far better calculated by nature to instruct thy neighbors\nthan thyself: I draw my conclusion from fact, and not from word. But\nthink not for a moment to divert me from the attempt. For I am\nconfident, yea, I am confident, that Jupiter will grant me this boon, so\nas to release thee from these pangs of thine.\n\nPR. In part I commend thee, and will by no means at any time cease to do\nso. For in zeal to serve me thou lackest nothing. But trouble thyself\nnot; for in vain, without being of any service to me,[24] wilt thou\nlabor, if in any respect thou art willing to labor. But hold thou thy\npeace, and keep thyself out of harm's way; for I, though I be in\nmisfortune, would not on this account be willing that sufferings should\nbefall as many as possible. No, indeed, since also the disasters of my\nbrother Atlas gall my heart, who is stationed in the western regions,\nsustaining on his shoulders the pillar of heaven and of earth, a burden\nnot of easy grasp. I commiserated too when I beheld the earth-born\ninmate of the Cilician caverns, a tremendous prodigy, the hundred-headed\nimpetuous Typhon, overpowered by force, who withstood all the gods,\nhissing slaughter from his hungry jaws; and from his eyes there flashed\na hideous glare, as though he would perforce overthrow the sovereignty\nof Jove. But the sleepless shaft of Jupiter came upon him, the\ndescending thunderbolt breathing forth flame, which scared him out of\nhis presumptuous bravadoes; for having been smitten to his very soul he\nwas crumbled to a cinder, and thunder-blasted in his prowess. And now, a\nhelpless and paralyzed form is he lying hard by a narrow frith, pressed\ndown beneath the roots of AEtna.[25] And, seated on the topmost peaks,\nVulcan forges the molten masses, whence there shall one day burst forth\nfloods devouring with fell jaws the level fields of fruitful Sicily:\nwith rage such as this shall Typhon boil over in hot artillery of a\nnever-glutted fire-breathing storm; albeit he hath been reduced to ashes\nby the thunder-bolt of Jupiter. But thou art no novice, nor needest thou\nme for thine instructor. Save thyself as best thou knowest how; but I\nwill exhaust my present fate until such time as the spirit of Jupiter\nshall abate its wrath.\n\nOC. Knowest thou not this then, Prometheus, that words are the\nphysicians of a distempered feeling?[26]\n\nPR. True, if one seasonably soften down the heart, and do not with rude\nviolence reduce a swelling spirit.\n\nOC. Ay, but in foresight along with boldness[27] what mischief is there\nthat thou seest to be inherent? inform me.\n\nPR. Superfluous trouble and trifling folly.\n\nOC. Suffer me to sicken in this said sickness, since 'tis of the highest\nadvantage for one that is wise not to seem to be wise.\n\nPR. (Not so, for) this trespass will seem to be mine.\n\nOC. Thy language is plainly sending me back to my home.\n\nPR. Lest thy lamentation over me bring thee into ill-will.\n\nOC. What with him who hath lately seated himself on the throne that\nruleth over all?\n\nPR. Beware of him lest at any time his heart be moved to wrath.\n\nOC. Thy disaster, Prometheus, is my monitor.\n\nPR. Away! withdraw thee, keep thy present determination.\n\nOC. On me, hastening to start, hast thou urged this injunction; for my\nwinged quadruped flaps with his pinions the smooth track of aether; and\nblithely would he recline his limbs in his stalls at home.\n\n  [_Exit_ OC.\n\nCH. I bewail thee for thy lost fate, Prometheus. A flood of trickling\ntears from my yielding eyes has bedewed my cheek with its humid\ngushings; for Jupiter commanding this thine unenviable doom by laws of\nhis own, displays his spear appearing superior o'er the gods of old.[28]\nAnd now the whole land echoes with wailing--they wail thy stately and\ntime-graced honors, and those of thy brethren; and all they of mortal\nrace that occupy a dwelling neighboring on hallowed Asia[29] mourn with\nthy deeply-deplorable sufferings: the virgins that dwell in the land of\nColchis too, fearless of the fight, and the Scythian horde who possess\nthe most remote regions of earth around lake Maeotis; and the war-like\nflower of Arabia,[30] who occupy a fortress on the craggy heights in\nthe neighborhood of Caucasus, a warrior-host, clamoring amid\nsharply-barbed spears.\n\nOne other god only, indeed, have I heretofore beheld in miseries, the\nTitan Atlas, subdued by the galling of adamantine[31] bonds, who\nevermore in his back is groaning beneath[32] the excessive mighty mass\nof the pole of heaven. And the billow of the deep roars as it falls in\ncadence, the depth moans, and the murky vault of Hades rumbles beneath\nthe earth, and the fountains of the pure streaming rivers wail for his\npiteous pains.\n\nPR. Do not, I pray you, suppose that I am holding my peace from pride or\nself-will; but by reflection am I gnawed to the heart, seeing myself\nthus ignominiously entreated.[33] And yet who but myself defined\ncompletely the prerogative for these same new gods? But on these matters\nI say nothing, for I should speak to you already acquainted with these\nthings. But for the misfortunes that existed among mortals, hear how I\nmade them, that aforetime lived as infants, rational and possessed of\nintellect.[34] And I will tell you, having no complaint against\nmankind, as detailing the kindness of the boons which I bestowed upon\nthem: they who at first seeing saw in vain, hearing they heard not. But,\nlike to the forms of dreams, for a long time they used to huddle\ntogether all things at random, and naught knew they about\nbrick-built[35] and sun-ward houses, nor carpentry; but they dwelt in\nthe excavated earth like tiny emmets in the sunless depths of caverns.\nAnd they had no sure sign either of winter, or of flowery spring, or of\nfruitful summer; but they used to do every thing without judgment, until\nindeed I showed to them the risings of the stars and their settings,[36]\nhard to be discerned.\n\nAnd verily I discover for them Numbers, the surpassing all\ninventions,[37] the combinations too of letters, and Memory, effective\nmother-nurse of all arts. I also first bound with yokes beasts\nsubmissive to the collars; and in order that with their bodies they\nmight become to mortals substitutes for their severest toils, I brought\nsteeds under cars obedient to the rein,[38] a glory to pompous luxury.\nAnd none other than I invented the canvas-winged chariots of mariners\nthat roam over the ocean. After discovering for mortals such inventions,\nwretch that I am, I myself have no device whereby I may escape from my\npresent misery.\n\nCH. Thou hast suffered unseemly ills, baulked in thy discretion thou art\nerring; and like a bad physician, having fallen into a distemper thou\nart faint-hearted, and, in reference to thyself, thou canst not discover\nby what manner of medicines thou mayest be cured.\n\nPR. When thou hearest the rest of my tale, thou wilt wonder still more\nwhat arts and resources I contrived. For the greatest--if that any one\nfell into a distemper, there was no remedy, neither in the way of diet,\nnor of liniment, nor of potion, but for lack of medicines they used to\npine away to skeletons, before that I pointed out to them the\ncomposition[39] of mild remedies, wherewith they ward off all their\nmaladies. Many modes too of the divining art did I classify, and was the\nfirst that discriminated among dreams those which are destined to be a\ntrue vision; obscure vocal omens[40] too I made known to them; tokens\nalso incidental on the road, and the flight of birds of crooked talons I\nclearly defined, both those that are in their nature auspicious, and the\nill-omened, and what the kind of life that each leads, and what are\ntheir feuds and endearments[41] and intercourse one with another: the\nsmoothness too of the entrails, and what hue they must have to be\nacceptable to the gods, the various happy formations of the gall and\nliver, and the limbs enveloped in fat: and having roasted the long chine\nI pointed out to mortals the way into an abstruse art; and I brought to\nlight the fiery symbols[42] that were aforetime wrapt in darkness. Such\nindeed were these boons; and the gains to mankind that were hidden under\nground, brass, iron, silver, and gold--who could assert that he had\ndiscovered before me? No one, I well know, who does not mean to idly\nbabble. And in one brief sentence learn the whole at once--All arts\namong the human race are from Prometheus.\n\nCH. Do not now serve the human race beyond what is profitable, nor\ndisregard thyself in thy distress: since I have good hopes that thou\nshalt yet be liberated from these shackles, and be not one whit less\npowerful than Jove.\n\nPR. Not at all in this way is Fate, that brings events to their\nconsummation ordained to accomplish these things: but after having been\nbent by countless sufferings and calamities, thus am I to escape from my\nshackles. And art is far less powerful than necessity.\n\nCH. Who then is the pilot of necessity?\n\nPR. The triform Fates and the remembering Furies.\n\nCH. Is Jupiter then less powerful than these?\n\nPR. Most certainly he can not at any rate escape his doom.[43]\n\nCH. Why, what is doomed for Jupiter but to reign for evermore?\n\nPR. This thou mayest not yet learn, and do not press it.\n\nCH. 'Tis surely some solemn mystery that thou veilest.\n\nPR. Make mention of some other matter; it is by no means seasonable to\nproclaim this; but it must be shrouded in deepest concealment; for it is\nby keeping this secret that I am to escape from my ignominious shackles\nand miseries.\n\nCH. Never may Jupiter, who directs all things, set his might in\nopposition to my purpose: nor may I be backward in attending upon the\ngods at their hallowed banquets, at which oxen are sacrificed, beside\nthe restless stream of my sire Ocean; and may I not trespass in my\nwords; but may this feeling abide by me and never melt away. Sweet it is\nto pass through a long life in confident hopes, making the spirits swell\nwith bright merriment; but I shudder as I behold thee harrowed by\nagonies incalculable.... For not standing in awe of Jupiter, thou,\nPrometheus, in thy self-will honorest mortals to excess. Come, my\nfriend, own how boonless was the boon; say where is any aid? What relief\ncan come from the creatures of a day? Sawest thou not the powerless\nweakness, nought better than a dream, in which the blind race of men is\nentangled? Never shall at any time the schemes of mortals evade the\nharmonious system of Jupiter. This I learned by witnessing thy\ndestructive fate, Prometheus. And far different is this strain that now\nflits toward me from the hymenaeal chant which I raised around the baths\nand thy couch with the consent[44] of nuptials, when, after having won\nHesione with thy love-tokens, thou didst conduct her our sister to be\nthy bride, the sharer of thy bed.\n\n  _Enter_ IO.[45]\n\nWhat land is this? what race? whom shall I say I here behold\nstorm-tossed in rocky fetters? Of what trespass is the retribution\ndestroying thee? Declare to me into what part of earth I forlorn have\nroamed. Ah me! alas! alas! again the hornet[46] stings me miserable: O\nearth avert[47] the goblin of earth-born Argus:[48] I am terrified at\nthe sight of the neatherd of thousand eyes, for he is journeying on,\nkeeping a cunning glance, whom not even after death does earth conceal;\nbut issuing forth from among the departed he chases me miserable, and he\nmakes me to wander famished along the shingled strand, while the\nsounding wax-compacted pipe drones on a sleepy strain. Oh! oh! ye\npowers! Oh! powers! whither do my far-roaming wanderings convey me? In\nwhat, in what, O son of Saturn, hast thou, having found me\ntransgressing, shackled me in these pangs? Ah! ah! and art thus wearing\nout a timorous wretch frenzied with sting-driven fear. Burn me with\nfire, or bury me in earth, or give me for food to the monsters of the\ndeep, and grudge me not these prayers, O king! Amply have my\nmuch-traversed wanderings harassed me; nor can I discover how I may\navoid pain. Hearest thou the address of the ox-horned maiden?\n\nPR. How can I fail to hear the damsel that is frenzy-driven by the\nhornet, the daughter of Inachus, who warms the heart of Jupiter with\nlove, and now, abhorred of Juno, is driven perforce courses of exceeding\nlength?\n\nIO. From whence utterest thou the name of my father? Tell me, the\nwoe-begone, who thou art, who, I say, O hapless one, that hast thus\ncorrectly accosted me miserable, and hast named the heaven-inflicted\ndisorder which wastes me, fretting with its maddening stings? Ah! ah!\nviolently driven by the famishing tortures of my boundings have I come a\nvictim to the wrathful counsels of Juno. And of the ill-fated who are\nthere, ah me! that endure woes such as mine? But do thou clearly define\nto me what remains for me to suffer, what salve:[49] what remedy there\nis for my malady, discover to me, if at all thou knowest: speak, tell it\nto the wretched roaming damsel.\n\nPR. I will tell thee clearly every thing which thou desirest to learn,\nnot interweaving riddles, but in plain language, as it is right to open\nthe mouth to friends. Thou seest him that bestowed fire on mortals,\nPrometheus.\n\nIO. O thou that didst dawn a common benefit upon mortals, wretched\nPrometheus, as penance for what offense art thou thus suffering?\n\nPR. I have just ceased lamenting my own pangs.\n\nIO. Wilt thou not then accord to me this boon?\n\nPR. Say what it is that thou art asking, for thou mightest learn\neverything from me.\n\nIO. Say who it was that bound thee fast in this cleft?\n\nPR. The decree of Jupiter, but the hand of Vulcan.\n\nIO. And for what offenses art thou paying the penalty?\n\nPR. Thus much alone is all that I can clearly explain to thee.\n\nIO. At least, in addition to this, discover what time shall be to me\nwoe-worn the limit of my wanderings.\n\nPR. Not to learn this is better for thee than to learn it.\n\nIO. Yet conceal not from me what I am to endure.\n\nPR. Nay, I grudge thee not this gift.\n\nIO. Why then delayest thou to utter the whole?\n\nPR. 'Tis not reluctance, but I am loth to shock thy feelings.\n\nIO. Do not be more anxious on my account than is agreeable to me.[50]\n\nPR. Since thou art eager, I must needs tell thee: attend thou.\n\nCH. Not yet, however; but grant me also a share of the pleasure. Let us\nfirst learn the malady of this maiden, from her own tale of her\ndestructive[51] fortunes; but, for the sequel of her afflictions let her\nbe informed by thee.\n\nPR. It is thy part, Io, to minister to the gratification of these now\nbefore thee, both for all other reasons, and that they are the sisters\nof thy father. Since to weep and lament over misfortunes, when one is\nsure to win a tear from the listeners, is well worth the while.\n\nIO. I know not how I should disobey you; and in a plain tale ye shall\nlearn everything that ye desire; and yet I am pained even to speak of\nthe tempest that hath been sent upon me from heaven, and the utter\nmarring of my person, whence it suddenly came upon me, a wretched\ncreature! For nightly visions thronging to my maiden chamber, would\nentice me with smooth words: \"O damsel, greatly fortunate, why dost\nthou live long time in maidenhood, when it is in thy power to achieve a\nmatch the very noblest? for Jupiter is fired by thy charms with the\nshaft of passion, and longs with thee to share in love. But do not, my\nchild, spurn away from thee the couch of Jupiter; but go forth to\nLerna's fertile mead, to the folds and ox-stalls of thy father, that the\neye of Jove may have respite from its longing.\" By dreams such as these\nwas I unhappy beset every night, until at length I made bold to tell my\nsire of the dreams that haunted me by night. And he dispatched both to\nPytho and Dodona[52] many a messenger to consult the oracles, that he\nmight learn what it behooved him to do or say, so as to perform what was\nwell-pleasing to the divinities. And they came bringing a report back of\noracles ambiguously worded, indistinct, and obscurely delivered. But at\nlast a clear response came to Inachus, plainly charging and directing\nhim to thrust me forth both from my home and my country, to stray an\noutcast to earth's remotest limits; and that, if he would not, a\nfiery-visaged thunder-bolt would come from Jupiter, and utterly blot out\nhis whole race. Overcome by oracles of Loxias such as these, unwilling\ndid me expel and exclude me unwilling from his dwelling: but the bit of\nJupiter[53] perforce constrained him to do this. And straightway my\nperson and my mind were distorted, and horned, as ye see, stung by the\nkeenly-biting fly, I rushed with maniac boundings to the sweet stream of\nCerchneia, and the fountain[54] of Lerna; and the earth-born neatherd\nArgus of untempered fierceness, kept dogging me, peering after my\nfootsteps with thick-set eyes. Him, however, an unlooked-for sudden fate\nbereaved of life; but I hornet-stricken am driven by the scourge divine\nfrom land to land. Thou hearest what has taken place, and if thou art\nable to say what pangs there remain for me, declare them; and do not,\ncompassionating me, warm me with false tales, for I pronounce fabricated\nstatements to be a most foul malady.\n\nCH. Ah! ah! forbear! Alas! Never, never did I expect that a tale [so]\nstrange would come to my ears, or that sufferings thus horrible to\nwitness and horrible to endure, outrages, terrors with their two-edged\ngoad, would chill my spirit. Alas! alas! O Fate! Fate! I shudder as I\nbehold the condition of Io.\n\nPR. Prematurely, however, are thou sighing, and art full of terror.\nHold, until thou shalt also have heard the residue.\n\nCH. Say on; inform me fully: to the sick indeed it is sweet to get a\nclear knowledge beforehand of the sequel of their sorrows.\n\nPR. Your former desire at any rate ye gained from me easily; for first\nof all ye desired to be informed by her recital of the affliction[55]\nthat attaches to herself. Now give ear to the rest, what sort of\nsufferings it is the fate of this young damsel before you to undergo at\nthe hand of Juno: thou too, seed of Inachus, lay to heart my words, that\nthou mayest be fully informed of the termination of thy journey. In the\nfirst place, after turning thyself from this spot toward the rising of\nthe sun, traverse unplowed fields; and thou wilt reach the wandering\nScythians, who, raised from off the around, inhabit wicker dwellings on\nwell-wheeled cars, equipped with distant-shooting bows; to whom thou\nmust not draw near, but pass on out of their land, bringing thy feet to\napproach the rugged roaring shores. And on thy left hand dwell the\nChalybes, workers of iron, of whom thou must needs beware, for they are\nbarbarous, and not accessible to strangers. And thou wilt come to the\nriver Hybristes,[56] not falsely so called, which do not thou cross, for\nit is not easy to ford, until thou shalt have come to Caucasus itself,\nloftiest of mountains, where from its very brow the river spouts forth\nits might. And surmounting its peaks that neighbor on the stars, thou\nmust go into a southward track, where thou wilt come to the\nman-detesting host of Amazons, who hereafter shall make a settlement,\nThemiscyra, on the banks of Thermodon, where lies the rugged\nSalmydessian sea-gorge, a host by mariners hated, a step-dame to ships;\nand they will conduct thee on thy way, and that right willingly. Thou\nshalt come too to the Cimmerian isthmus, hard by the very portals of a\nlake, with narrow passage, which thou undauntedly must leave, and cross\nthe Maeotic frith; and there shall exist for evermore among mortals a\nfamous legend concerning thy passage, and after thy name it shall be\ncalled the Bosphorus; and after having quitted European ground, thou\nshalt come to the Asiatic continent. Does not then the sovereign of the\ngods seem to you to be violent alike toward all things? for he a god\nlusting to enjoy the charms of this mortal fair one, hath cast upon her\nthese wanderings. And a bitter wooer, maiden, hast thou found for thy\nhand; for think that the words which thou hast now heard are not even\nfor a prelude.\n\nIO. Woe is me! ah! ah!\n\nPR. Thou too in thy turn[57] art crying out and moaning: what wilt thou\ndo then, when thou learnest the residue of thy ills?\n\nCH. What! hast thou aught of suffering left to tell to her?\n\nPR. Ay, a tempestuous sea of baleful calamities.\n\nIO. What gain then is it for me to live? but why did I not quickly fling\nmyself from this rough precipice, that dashing on the plain I had rid\nmyself of all my pangs? for better is it once to die, than all one's\ndays to suffer ill.\n\nPR. Verily thou wouldst hardly bear the agonies of me to whom it is not\ndoomed to die. For this would be an escape from sufferings. But now\nthere is no limit set to my hardships, until Jove shall have been\ndeposed from his tyranny.\n\nIO. What! is it possible that Jupiter should ever fall from his power?\n\nPR. Glad wouldst thou be, I ween, to witness this event.\n\nIO. And how not so, I, who through Jupiter am suffering ill?\n\nPR. Well, then, thou mayest assure thyself of these things that they are\nso.\n\nIO. By whom is he to be despoiled of his sceptre of tyranny.\n\nPR. Himself, by his own senseless counsels.\n\nIO. In what manner? Specify it, if there be no harm.\n\nPR. He will make such a match as he shall one day rue.[58]\n\nIO. Celestial or mortal? If it may be spoken, tell me.\n\nPR. But why ask its nature? for it is not a matter that I can\ncommunicate to you.\n\nIO. Is it by a consort that he is to be ejected from his throne?\n\nPR. Yes, surely, one that shall give birth to a son mightier than the\nfather.[59]\n\nIO. And has he no refuge from this misfortune?\n\nPR. Not he, indeed, before at any rate I after being liberated from my\nshackles--\n\nIO. Who, then, is he that shall liberate thee in despite of Jupiter?\n\nPR. It is ordained that it shall be one of thine own descendants.\n\nIO. How sayest thou? Shall child of mine release thee from thy ills?\n\nPR. Yes, the third of thy lineage in addition to ten other\ngenerations.[60]\n\nIO. This prophecy of thine is no longer easy for me to form a guess\nupon.\n\nPR. Nor seek thou to know over well thine own pangs.\n\nIO. Do not, after proffering me a benefit, withhold it from me.\n\nPR. I will freely grant thee one of two disclosures.\n\nIO. Explain to me first of what sort they are, and allow me my choice.\n\nPR. I allow it thee; for choose whether I shall clearly tell to thee the\nresidue of thy troubles, or who it is that is to be my deliverer.\n\nCH. Of these twain do thou vouchsafe to bestow the one boon on this\ndamsel, and the other on me, and disdain thou not my request. To her\ntell the rest of her wanderings, and to me him that is to deliver thee;\nfor this I long [to hear].\n\nPR. Seeing that ye are eagerly bent upon it, I will not oppose your\nwishes, so as not to utter every thing as much as ye desire. To thee in\nthe first place, Io, will I describe thy mazy wanderings, which do thou\nengrave on the recording tablets of thy mind.\n\nWhen thou shalt have crossed the stream that is the boundary of the\nContinents, to the ruddy realms of morn where walks the sun[61] ...\nhaving passed over the roaring swell of the sea, until thou shalt reach\nthe Gorgonian plains of Cisthene, where dwell the Phorcides, three\nswan-like aged damsels, that possess one eye in common, that have but a\nsingle tooth, on whom ne'er doth the sun glance with his rays, nor the\nnightly moon. And hard by are three winged sisters of these, the\nsnake-tressed Gorgons, abhorred of mortals, whom none of human race can\nlook upon and retain the breath of life.[62] Such is this caution[63]\nwhich I mention to thee. Now lend an ear to another hideous spectacle;\nfor be on thy guard against the keen-fanged hounds of Jupiter that never\nbark, the gryphons, and the cavalry host of one-eyed Arimaspians, who\ndwell on the banks of the gold-gushing fount, the stream of Pluto: go\nnot thou nigh to these. And thou wilt reach a far-distant land, a dark\ntribe, who dwell close upon the fountains of the sun, where is the river\nAEthiops. Along the banks of this wend thy way, until thou shalt have\nreached the cataract where from the Bybline mountains the Nile pours\nforth his hallowed, grateful stream. This will guide thee to the\ntriangular land of the Nile; where at length, Io, it is ordained for\nthee and thy children after thee to found the distant colony. And if\naught of this is obscurely uttered, and hard to be understood, question\nme anew, and learn it thoroughly and clearly: as for leisure, I have\nmore than I desire.\n\nCH. If indeed thou hast aught to tell of her baleful wanderings, that\nstill remains or hath been omitted, say on; but if thou hast told the\nwhole, give to us in our turn the favor which we ask, and you,\nperchance, remember.\n\nPR. She hath heard the full term of her journeying. And that she may\nknow that she hath not been listening to me in vain, I will relate what\nhardships she endured before she came hither, giving her this as a sure\nproof of my statements. The very great multitude indeed of words I\nshall omit, and I will proceed to the termination itself of thine\naberrations. For after that thou hadst come to the Molossian plains, and\nabout the lofty ridge of Dodona, where is the oracular seat of\nThesprotian Jove, and a portent passing belief, the speaking oaks, by\nwhich thou wast clearly and without any ambiguity saluted illustrious\nspouse of Jove that art to be; if aught of this hath any charms for\nthee.[64] Thence madly rushing along the seaside track, thou didst dart\naway to the vast bay of Rhea, from which thou art tempest-driven in\nretrograde courses: and in time to come, know well that the gulf of the\ndeep shall be called IO-nian, a memorial of thy passage to all mortals.\nThese hast thou as tokens of my intelligence, how that it perceives\nsomewhat beyond what appears.\n\nThe rest I shall tell both to you and to her in common, after reaching\nthe very identical track of my former narrative. There is on the land's\nutmost verge a city Canopus, hard by the Nile's very mouth and alluvial\ndike; on this spot Jupiter at length makes thee sane by merely soothing\nand touching thee with his unalarming hand. And named after the\nprogeniture of Jupiter[65] thou shalt give birth to swarthy Epaphus, who\nshall reap the harvest of all the land which the wide-streaming Nile\nwaters. But fifth in descent from him a generation of fifty virgins\nshall again come to Argos, not of their own accord, fleeing from\nincestuous wedlock with their cousins; and these with fluttering hearts,\nlike falcons left not far behind by doves, shall come pursuing marriage\nsuch as should not be pursued, but heaven shall be jealous over their\npersons;[66] and Pelasgia shall receive them after being crushed by a\ndeed of night-fenced daring, wrought by woman's hand; for each bride\nshall bereave her respective husband of life, having dyed in their\nthroats[67] a sword of twin sharp edge. Would that in guise like this\nVenus might visit my foes! But tenderness shall soften one[68] of the\nmaidens, so that she shall not slay the partner of her couch, but shall\nbe blunt in her resolve; and of the two alternatives she shall choose\nthe former, to be called a coward rather than a murderess. She in Argos\nshall give birth to a race of kings. There needs a long discourse to\ndetail these things distinctly; but from this seed be sure shall spring\na dauntless warrior renowned in archery, who shall set me free from\nthese toils. Such predictions did my aged mother the Titaness Themis\nrehearse to me; but how and when--to tell this requires a long detail,\nand thou in knowing it all wouldst be in nought a gainer.\n\nIO. Eleleu! Eleleu! Once more the spasm[69] and maddening frenzies\ninflame me--and the sting of the hornet, wrought by no fire,[70]\nenvenoms me; and with panic my heart throbs violently against my breast.\nMy eyes, too, are rolling in a mazy whirl, and I am carried out of my\ncourse by the raging blast of madness, having no control of tongue, but\nmy troubled words dash idly against the surges of loathsome calamity.\n\n  [_Exit_ IO.\n\nCH. Wise was the man, ay, wise indeed, who first weighed well this\nmaxim, and with his tongue published it abroad, that to match in one's\nown degree is best by far;[71] and that one who lives by labor should\nwoo the hand neither of any that have waxed wanton in opulence, nor of\nsuch as pride themselves on nobility of birth. Never, O Destines,[72]\nnever ... may ye behold me approaching as a partner the couch of\nJupiter: nor may I be[73] brought to the arms of any bridegroom from\namong the sons of heaven: for I am in dread when I behold the maiden Io,\ncontented with no mortal lover, greatly marred by wearisome wanderings\nat the hand of Juno. For myself, indeed--inasmuch as wedlock on one's\nown level is free from apprehension--I feel no alarm.[74] And oh! never\nmay the love of the mightier gods cast on me a glance that none can\nelude. This at least is a war without a conflict, accomplishing things\nimpossible:[75] nor know I what might become of me, for I see not how I\ncould evade the counsel of Jove.\n\nPR. Yet truly shall Jove, albeit he is self-willed in his temper, be\nlowly, in such[76] wedlock is he prepared to wed, as shall hurl him out\nof his sovereignty and off his throne a forgotten thing; and the curse\nof his father Saturn shall then at length find entire consummation,\nwhich he imprecated when he was deposed from his ancient throne. From\ndisasters such as these there is no one of the gods besides myself that\ncan clearly disclose to him a way of escape. I know this, and by what\nmeans. Wherefore let him rest on in his presumption, putting confidence\nin his thunders aloft, brandishing in his hand a fire-breathing bolt.\nFor not one jot shall these suffice to save him from falling dishonored\nin a downfall beyond endurance; such an antagonist is he now with his\nown hands preparing against himself, a portent that shall baffle all\nresistance; who shall invent a flame more potent than the lightning, and\na mighty din that shall surpass the thunder; and shall shiver the ocean\ntrident, that earth-convulsing pest, the spear of Neptune. And when he\nhath stumbled upon this mischief, he shall be taught how great is the\ndifference between sovereignty and slavery.\n\nCH. Thou forsooth art boding against Jupiter the things thou wishest.\n\nPR. Things that shall come to pass, and that I desire to boot.\n\nCH. And are we to expect that any one will get the mastery of Jove?\n\nPR. Ay, and pangs too yet harder to bear than these [of mine] shall he\nsustain.\n\nCH. And how is it that thou art not dismayed blurting out words such as\nthese?\n\nPR. Why at what should I be terrified to whom it is not destined to die?\n\nCH. Yet perchance he will provide for thee affliction more grievous than\neven this.\n\nPR. Let him do it then, all is foreseen by me.\n\nCH. They that do homage to Adrasteia are wise.\n\nPR. Do homage, make thy prayer, cringe to each ruler of the day. I care\nfor Jove less than nothing; let him do, let him lord it for this brief\nspan, e'en as he list, for not long shall he rule over the gods. But no\nmore, for I descry Jove's courier close at hand, the menial of the new\nmonarch: beyond all [doubt] he has come to announce to us some news.\n\n  _Enter_ MERCURY.\n\nThee, the contriver, thee full of gall and bitterness, who sinned\nagainst the gods by bestowing their honors on creatures of a day, the\nthief of fire, I address. The Sire commands thee to divulge of what\nnuptials it is that thou art vaunting, by means of which he is to be put\ndown from his power. And these things, moreover, without any kind of\nmystery, but each exactly as it is, do thou tell out; and entail not\nupon me, Prometheus, a double journey; and thou perceivest that by such\nconduct Jove is not softened.\n\nPR. High sounding, i'faith, and full of haughtiness is thy speech, as\nbeseems a lackey of the gods. Young in years, ye are young in power;[77]\nand ye fancy forsooth that ye dwell in a citadel impregnable against\nsorrow. Have I not known two monarchs[78] dethroned from it? And the\nthird that now is ruler I shall also see expelled most foully and most\nquickly. Seem I to thee in aught to be dismayed at, and to crouch\nbeneath the new gods? Widely, ay altogether, do I come short [of such\nfeelings]. But do thou hie thee back the way by which thou camest: for\nnot one tittle shalt thou learn of the matter on which thou questionest\nme.\n\nMER. Yet truly 'twas by such self-will even before now that thou didst\nbring thyself to such a calamitous mooring.\n\nPR. Be well assured that I would not barter my wretched plight for thy\ndrudgery; for better do I deem it to be a lackey to this rock, than to\nbe born the confidential courier of father Jove. Thus is it meet to\nrepay insult in kind.\n\nMER. Thou seemest to revel in thy present state.\n\nPR. Revel! Would that I might see my foes thus reveling, and among these\nI reckon thee.\n\nMER. What dost thou impute to me also any blame for thy mischances?\n\nPR. In plain truth, I detest all the gods, as many of them as, after\nhaving received benefits at my hands, are iniquitously visiting me with\nevils.\n\nMER. I hear thee raving with no slight disorder.\n\nPR. Disordered I would be, if disorder it be to loathe one's foes.\n\nMER. Thou wouldst be beyond endurance, wert thou in prosperity.\n\nPR. Woe's me!\n\nMER. This word of thine Jove knows not.\n\nPR. Ay, but Time as he grows old teaches all things.\n\nMER. And yet verily thou knowest not yet how to be discreet.\n\nPR. No i'faith, or I should not have held parley with thee, menial as\nthou art.\n\nMER. Thou seemest disposed to tell nought of the things which the Sire\ndesires.\n\nPR. In sooth, being under obligation as I am to him, I am bound to\nreturn his favor.\n\nMER. Thou floutest me, forsooth, as if I were a boy.\n\nPR. Why, art thou not a boy, and yet sillier than one, if thou lookest\nto obtain any information from me? There is no outrage nor artifice by\nwhich Jupiter shall bring me to utter this, before my torturing shackles\nshall have been loosened. Wherefore let his glowing lightning be hurled,\nand with the white feathered shower of snow, and thunderings beneath the\nearth let him confound and embroil the universe; for nought of these\nthings shall bend me so much as even to say by whom it is doomed that he\nshall be put down from his sovereignty.\n\nMER. Consider now whether this determination seems availing.\n\nPR. Long since has this been considered and resolved.\n\nMER. Resolve, O vain one, resolve at length in consideration of thy\npresent sufferings to come to thy right senses.\n\nPR. Thou troublest me with thine admonitions as vainly as\n[thou mightest] a billow.[79] Never let it enter your thoughts that I,\naffrighted by the purpose of Jupiter, shall become womanish, and shall\nimportune the object whom I greatly loathe, with effeminate upliftings\nof my hands, to release me from these shackles: I want much of that.\n\nMER. With all that I have said I seem to be speaking to no purpose; for\nnot one whit art thou melted or softened in thy heart by entreaties, but\nart champing the bit like a colt fresh yoked, and struggling against the\nreins. But on the strength of an impotent scheme art thou thus violent;\nfor obstinacy in one not soundly wise, itself by itself availeth less\nthan nothing. And mark, if thou art not persuaded by my words, what a\ntempest and three-fold surge of ills, from which there is no escape,\nwill come upon thee. For in the first place the Sire will shiver this\ncraggy cleft with thunder and the blaze of his bolt, and will overwhelm\nthy body, and a clasping arm of rock shall bear thee up. And after thou\nshalt have passed through to its close, a long space of time, thou shalt\ncome back into the light; and a winged hound of Jupiter, a\nblood-thirsting eagle, shall ravenously mangle thy huge lacerated frame,\nstealing upon thee an unbidden guest, and [tarrying] all the live-long\nday, and shall banquet his fill on the black viands[80] of thy liver. To\nsuch labors look thou for no termination, until some god shall appear\nas a substitute in thy pangs, and shall be willing to go both to gloomy\nHades, and to the murky depths around Tartarus. Wherefore advise thee,\nsince this is no fictitious vaunt, but uttered in great earnestness; for\nthe divine mouth knows not how to utter falsehood, but will bring every\nword to pass. But do thou look around and reflect, and never for a\nmoment deem pertinacity better than discretion.\n\nCH. To us, indeed, Mercury seems to propose no unseasonable counsel; for\nhe bids thee to abandon thy recklessness, and seek out wise\nconsideration. Be persuaded; for to a wise man 'tis disgraceful to err.\n\nPR. To me already well aware of it hath this fellow urged his message;\nbut for a foe to suffer horribly at the hands of foes is no indignity.\nWherefore let the doubly-pointed wreath of his fire be hurled at me, and\nether be torn piecemeal by thunder, and spasm of savage blasts; and let\nthe wind rock earth from her base, roots and all, and with stormy surge\nmingle in rough tide the billow of the deep and the paths of the stars;\nand fling my body into black Tartarus, with a whirl, in the stern eddies\nof necessity. Yet by no possible means shall he visit me with death.\n\nMER. Resolutions and expressions, in truth, such as these of thine, one\nmay hear from maniacs. For in what point doth his fate fall short of\ninsanity?[81] What doth it abate from ravings? But do ye then at any\nrate, that sympathize with him in his sufferings, withdraw hence\nspeedily some-whither from this spot, lest the harsh bellowing of the\nthunder smite you with idiotcy.\n\nCH. Utter and advise me to something else, in which too thou mayest\nprevail upon me; for in this, be sure, thou hast intruded a proposal\nnot to be borne. How is it that thou urgest me to practice baseness?\nAlong with him here I am willing to endure what is destined, for I have\nlearned to abhor traitors; and there is no evil which I hold in greater\nabomination.\n\nMER. Well, then, bear in mind the things of which I forewarn you: and do\nnot, when ye have been caught in the snares of Ate, throw the blame on\nfortune, nor ever at any time say that Jove cast you into unforeseen\ncalamity: no indeed, but ye your ownselves: for well aware, and not on a\nsudden, nor in ignorance, will ye be entangled by your senselessness in\nan impervious net of Ate.\n\n  [_Exit_ MERCURY.\n\nPR. And verily in deed and no longer in word doth the earth heave, and\nthe roaring echo of thunder rolls bellowing by us; and deep blazing\nwreaths of lightning are glaring, and hurricanes whirl the dust; and\nblasts of all the winds are leaping forth, showing one against the other\na strife of conflict gusts; and the firmament is embroiled with the\ndeep.[82] Such is this onslaught that is clearly coming upon me from\nJove, a cause for terror. O dread majesty of my mother Earth, O ether\nthat diffusest thy common light, thou beholdest the wrongs I suffer.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES.\n\n\nThe siege of the city of Thebes, and the description of the seven\nchampions of the Theban and Argive armies, The deaths of the brothers\nPolynices and Eteocles, the mournings over them, by their sisters\nAntigone and Ismene, and the public refusal of burial to the ashes of\nPolynices, against which Antigone boldly protests, conclude the play.\n\n\nPERSONS REPRESENTED.\n\n\n  ETEOCLES.\n  A MESSENGER.\n  CHORUS OF THEBAN VIRGINS.\n  ISMENE.\n  ANTIGONE.\n  A HERALD.\n\n\nSCENE. The Acropolis of Thebes.--Compare v. 227, ed. Blomf.\n\nTIME. Early in the morning; the length of the action can scarcely be\nfixed with absolute certainty. It certainly did not exceed twelve hours.\n\nThe expedition of \"the Seven\" against Thebes is fixed by Sir I. Newton,\nB.C. 928. Cf. of his Chronology, p. 27. Blair carries it as far back as\nB.C. 1225.--OLD TRANSLATOR.\n\nETEOCLES. Citizens of Cadmus! it is fitting that he should speak things\nseasonable who has the care of affairs on the poop of a state, managing\nthe helm, not lulling his eyelids in slumber. For if we succeed, the\ngods are the cause; but if, on the other hand (which heaven forbid),\nmischance should befall, Eteocles alone would be much bruited through\nthe city by the townsmen in strains clamorous and in wailings, of which\nmay Jove prove rightly called the Averter to the city of the\nCadmaeans.[83] And now it behooves you--both him who still falls short of\nyouth in its prime, and him who in point of age has passed his youth,\nnurturing the ample vigor of his frame and each that is in his\nprime,[84] as is best fitting--to succor the city, and the altars of\nyour country's gods, so that their honors may never be obliterated; your\nchildren too, and your motherland, most beloved nurse; for she, taking\nfully on herself the whole trouble of your rearing, nurtured you when\ninfants crawling on her kindly soil, for her trusty shield-bearing\ncitizens, that ye might be [trusty[85]] for this service. And, for the\npresent indeed, up to this day, the deity inclines in our favor; since\nto us now all this time beleaguered the war for the most part, by divine\nallotment, turns out well. But now, as saith the seer, the feeder[86] of\nbirds, revolving in ear and thoughts, without the use of fire, the\noracular birds with unerring art--he, lord of such divining powers,\ndeclares that the main Achaean assault is this night proclaimed,[87] and\n[that the Achaeans] attempt the city.\n\nBut haste ye all, both to the battlements and the gates of the tower\nworks; On! in full panoply throng the breastworks, and take your\nstations on the platforms of the towers, and, making stand at the\noutlets of the gates, be of good heart, nor be over-dismayed at the\nrabble of the aliens; God will give a happy issue. Moreover, I have also\ndispatched scouts and observers of the army, who will not, I feel\nassured, loiter on their way; and when I have had intelligence from\nthese, I shall, in no point, be surprised by stratagem.\n\nMESSENGER.--Most gallant Eteocles! sovereign of the Cadmaeans, I have\ncome bearing a clear account of the matters yonder, from the army; and I\nmyself am eye-witness of the facts. For seven chieftains, impetuous\nleaders of battalions, cutting a bull's throat,[88] over an iron-rimmed\nshield,[89] and touching with their hands the gore of the bull, by oath\nhave called to witness[90] Mars, Enyo, and Terror, that delights in\nbloodshed, that either having wrought the demolition of our city they\nwill make havoc of the town of the Cadmaeans, or having fallen will steep\nthis land of ours in gore. Memorials too of themselves, to their parents\nat home, were they with their hands hanging in festoons[91] at the car\nof Adrastus, dropping a tear, but no sound of complaint passed their\nlips.[92] For their iron-hearted spirit glowing with valor was panting,\nas of lions that glare battle. And the report of these my tidings is not\nretarded by sluggishness. But I left them in the very act of casting\nlots, that so each of them, obtaining his post by lot, might lead on his\nbattalion to our gates. Wherefore do thou with all speed marshal at the\noutlets of the gates the bravest men, the chosen of our city; for\nalready the host of Argives hard at hand armed cap-a-pie is in motion,\nis speeding onward, and white foam is staining the plain with its\ndrippings from the lungs of their chargers. Do thou then, like the\nclever helmsman of a vessel, fence[93] our city before the breath of\nMars burst like a hurricane upon it, for the main-land billow of their\nhost is roaring. And for these measures do thou seize the very earliest\nopportunity; for the sequel I will keep my eye a faithful watch by day,\nand thou, knowing from the clearness of my detail the movements of those\nwithout, shalt be unscathed.\n\n  [_Exit_ MESSENGER.\n\nET. O Jupiter! and earth! and ye tutelary deities! and thou Curse, the\nmighty Erinnys of my sire! do not, I pray, uproot with utter destruction\nfrom its very base, a prey to foemen, our city, which utters the\nlanguage of Greece, and our native dwellings.[94] Grant that they may\nnever hold the free land and city of Cadmus in a yoke of slavery; but be\nye our strength--nay, I trust that I am urging our common interests, for\na state that is in prosperity honors the divinities.[95]\n\n  [_Exit_ ETEOCLES.\n\nCHORUS.[96] I wail over our fearful, mighty woes! the army is let loose,\nhaving quitted its camp, a mighty mounted host is streaming hitherward\nin advance;[97] the dust appearing high in the air convinces me, a\nvoiceless, clear, true messenger; the noise of the clatter of their\nhoofs upon the plain,[98] reaching even to our couches, approaches my\nears, is wafted on, and is rumbling like a resistless torrent lashing\nthe mountain-side. Alas! alas! oh gods and goddesses, avert the rising\nhorror; the white-bucklered[99] well-appointed host is rushing on with a\nshout on the other side our walls, speeding its way to the city. Who\nthen will rescue us, who then of gods and goddesses will aid us? Shall I\nthen prostrate myself before the statues of the divinities? Oh ye\nblessed beings, seated on your glorious thrones, 'tis high time for us\nto cling to your statues--why do we deeply sighing delay? Hear ye, or\nhear ye not, the clash of bucklers? When, if not now, shall we set\nabout the orison of the peplus[100] and chaplets? I perceive a din, a\ncrash of no single spear. What wilt thou do? wilt thou, O Mars, ancient\nguardian of our soil, abandon thine own land? God of the golden helm,\nlook upon, look upon the city which once thou didst hold well-beloved.\nTutelary gods of our country, behold,[101] behold this train of virgins\nsuppliant to escape from slavery,[102] for around our city a surge of\nmen with waving crests is rippling, stirred by the blasts of Mars. But,\nO Jove, sire all-perfect! avert thoroughly from us capture by the\nfoemen; for Argives are encircling the fortress of Cadmus; and I feel a\ndread of martial arms, and the bits which are fastened through the jaws\nof their horses are knelling slaughter. And seven leaders of the host,\nconspicuous in their spear-proof harness, are taking their stand at our\nseventh gate,[103] assigned their posts by lot. Do thou too, O Jove-born\npower that delightest in battle, Pallas, become a savior to our city;\nand thou, equestrian monarch, sovereign of the main, with thy\nfish-smiting trident, O Neptune, grant a deliverance, a deliverance from\nour terrors. Do thou too, O Mars, alas! alas! guard the city which is\nnamed after Cadmus, and manifestly show thy care--and thou, Venus, the\noriginal mother of our race, avert [these ills]--for from thy blood are\nwe sprung; calling on thee with heavenward orisons do we approach thee.\nAnd thou, Lycaean king, be thou fierce as a wolf[104] to the hostile\narmy, [moved] by the voice of our sighs.[105] Thou too, virgin-daughter\nof Latona, deftly adorn thyself with thy bow, O beloved Diana. Ah! ah!\nah! I hear the rumbling of cars around the city, O revered Juno, the\nnaves of the heavy-laden axles creak, the air is maddened with the\nwhizzing of javelins--what is our city undergoing? What will become of\nit? To what point is the deity conducting the issue?[106] ah! ah! A\nshower of stones too from their slingers is coming over our battlements.\nO beloved Apollo! there is the clash of brass-rimmed shields at the\ngates, and the just issue in battle must be decided by arms according to\nthe disposal of Jove.[107] And thou Onca,[108] immortal queen, that\ndwellest in front of our city, rescue thy seven-gated seat. O gods,\nall-potent to save, O ye gods and goddesses, perfect guardians of the\ntowers of this land, abandon not our war-wasted city to an army of\naliens. Listen to these virgins, listen to our all-just prayers, as is\nmost right, to the orisons of virgins which are offered with\nout-stretched hands. O beloved divinities, hovering around our city as\nits deliverers, show how ye love it; give heed to our public rituals,\nand when ye give heed to them succor us, and be ye truly mindful, I\nbeseech ye, of the rites of our city which abound in sacrifices.\n\n  _Re-enter_ ETEOCLES.\n\nIntolerable creatures! is this, I ask you, best and salutary for our\ncity, and an encouragement to this beleagured force, for you to fall\nbefore the statues of our tutelary gods, to shriek, to yell--O ye\nabominations of the wise. Neither in woes nor in welcome prosperity may\nI be associated with womankind; for when woman prevails, her audacity is\nmore than one can live with; and when she is affrighted, she is a still\ngreater mischief to her home and city. Even now, having brought upon\nyour countrymen this pell-mell flight, ye have, by your outcries, spread\ndastard cowardice, and ye are serving, as best ye may, the interests of\nthose without, but we within our walls are suffering capture at our own\nhands; such blessings will you have if you live along with women.\nWherefore if any one give not ear to my authority, be it man or woman,\nor other between [these names[109]], the fatal pebble shall decide\nagainst him, and by no means shall he escape the doom of stoning at the\nhand of the populace. For what passeth without is a man's concern, let\nnot woman offer advice--but remaining within do thou occasion no\nmischief. Heard'st thou, or heard'st thou not, or am I speaking to a\ndeaf woman?\n\nCH. O dear son of OEdipus, I felt terror when I heard the din from the\nclatter of the cars, when the wheel-whirling naves rattled, and [the\ndin] of the fire-wrought bits, the rudders[110] of the horses, passing\nthrough their mouths that know no rest.\n\nET. What then? does the mariner who flees from the stern to the\nprow[111] find means of escape, when his bark is laboring against the\nbillow of the ocean?\n\nCH. No; but I came in haste to the ancient statues of the divinities,\ntrusting in the gods, when there was a pattering at our gates of\ndestructive sleet showering down, even then I was carried away by terror\nto offer my supplications to the Immortals, that they would extend their\nprotection over the city.\n\nET. Pray that our fortification may resist the hostile spear.\n\nCH. Shall not this, then, be at the disposal of the gods?\n\nET. Ay, but 'tis said that the gods of the captured city abandon it.\n\nCH. At no time during my life may this conclave of gods abandon us:\nnever may I behold our city overrun, and an army firing it with hostile\nflame.\n\nET. Do not thou, invoking the gods, take ill counsel; for subordination,\nwoman, is the mother of saving success; so the adage runs.\n\nCH. But the gods have a power superior still, and oft in adversity does\nthis raise the helpless out of severe calamity, when clouds are\noverhanging his brow.\n\nET. It is the business of men, to present victims and offerings of\nworship to the gods, when foemen are making an attempt: 'tis thine on\nthe other hand to hold thy peace and abide within doors.\n\nCH. 'Tis by the blessing of the gods that we inhabit a city unconquered,\nand that our fortification is proof against the multitude of our\nenemies. What Nemesis can feel offended at this?\n\nET. I am not offended that ye should honor the race of the gods; but\nthat thou mayest not render the citizens faint-hearted, keep quiet and\nyield not to excessive terrors.\n\nCH. When I heard the sudden din, I came, on the very instant, in\ndistracting panic to this Acropolis, a hallowed seat.\n\nET. Do not now, if ye hear of the dying or the wounded, eagerly receive\nthem with shrieks; for with this slaughter of mortals is Mars fed.\n\nCH. And I do in truth hear the snortings of the horses.\n\nET. Do not now, when thou hearest them, hear too distinctly.\n\nCH. Our city groans from the ground, as though the foes were hemming her\nin.\n\nET. Is it not then enough that I take measures for this?\n\nCH. I fear! for the battering at the gates increases.\n\nET. Wilt thou not be silent? Say nought of this kind in the city.\n\nCH. O associate band [of gods], abandon not our towers.\n\nET. Can not ye endure it in silence, and confusion to ye?\n\nCH. Gods of my city! let me not meet with slavery.\n\nET. Thou thyself art making a slave both of me, of thyself, and of the\ncity.\n\nCH. O all-potent Jove! turn the shaft against our foes.\n\nET. O Jove! what a race hast thou made women!\n\nCH. Just as wretched as men when their city is taken.\n\nET. Again thou art yelping as thou claspest the statues!\n\nCH. Yes, for in my panic terror hurries away my tongue.\n\nET. Would to heaven that you would grant me a trifling favor on my\nrequesting it.\n\nCH. Tell me as quickly as you can, and I shall know at once.\n\nET. Hold thy peace, wretched woman, alarm not thy friends.\n\nCH. I hold my peace--with others I will suffer what is destined.\n\nET. I prefer this expression of thine rather than thy former words; and\nmoreover, coming forth from the statues, pray thou for the best--that\nthe gods may be our allies. And after thou hast listened to my prayers,\nthen do thou raise the sacred auspicious shout of the Paean, the Grecian\nrite of sacrificial acclamation, an encouragement to thy friends that\nremoves the fear of the foe. And I, to the tutelary gods of our land,\nboth those who haunt the plains, and those who watch over the forum, and\nto the fountains of Dirce, and I speak not without those of the\nIsmenus,[112] if things turn out well and our city is preserved, do thus\nmake my vows that we, dyeing the altars of the gods with the blood of\nsheep, offering bulls to the gods, will deposit trophies, and vestments\nof our enemies, spear-won spoils of the foe, in their hallowed abodes.\nOffer thou prayers like these to the gods, not with a number of sighs,\nnor with foolish and wild sobbings; for not one whit the more wilt thou\nescape Destiny. But I too, forsooth,[113] will go and marshal at the\nseven outlets of our walls, six men, with myself for a seventh,\nantagonists to our foes in gallant plight, before both urgent messengers\nand quickly-bruited tidings arrive, and inflame us by the crisis.\n\n  [_Exit_ ETEOCLES.\n\nCH. I attend, but through terror my heart sleeps not, and cares that\npress close upon my heart keep my dread alive, because of the host that\nhems our walls[114] around; like as a dove, an all-attentive nurse,\nfears, on behalf of her brood, serpents, evil intruders into her nest.\nFor some are advancing against the towers in all their numbers, in all\ntheir array; (what will become of me?) and others are launching the vast\nrugged stone at the citizens, who are assailed on all sides. By every\nmeans, O ye Jove-descended gods! rescue the city and the army that\nspring from Cadmus. What better plain of land will ye take in exchange\nto yourselves than this, after ye have abandoned to our enemies the\nfertile land, and Dirce's water best fed of all the streams that\nearth-encircling Neptune sends forth, and the daughters of Tethys?\nWherefore, O tutelary gods of the city! having hurled on those without\nthe towers the calamity that slaughters men, and casts away shields,\nachieve glory for these citizens, and be your statues placed on noble\nsites, as deliverers of our city,[115] through our entreaties fraught\nwith shrill groanings. For sad it is to send prematurely to destruction\nan ancient city, a prey of slavery to the spear, ingloriously overthrown\nin crumbling ashes by an Achaean according to the will of heaven; and for\nits women to be dragged away captives, alas! alas! both the young and\nthe aged, like horses by their hair, while their vestments are rent\nabout their persons. And the emptied city cries aloud, while its booty\nis wasted amid confused clamors; verily I fearfully forbode heavy\ncalamities. And a mournful thing it is for [maidens] just\nmarriageable,[116] before the celebration of rites for culling the fresh\nflower of their virginity, to have to traverse a hateful journey from\ntheir homes. What? I pronounce that the dead fares better than these;\nfor full many are the calamities, alas! alas! which a city undergoes\nwhen it has been reduced. One drags another,[117] slaughters, and to\nparts he sets fire--the whole city is defiled with smoke, and raving\nMars that tramples down the nations, violating piety, inspires them.\nThroughout the town are uproars, against the city rises the turreted\ncircumvallation,[118] and man is slain by man with the spear. And the\ncries of children at the breast all bloody resound, and there is rapine\nsister of pell-mell confusion. Pillager meets pillager, and the\nempty-handed shouts to the empty-handed, wishing to have a partner,\ngreedy for a portion that shall be neither less nor equal. What of these\nthings can speech picture? Fruits of every possible kind strewn[119]\nupon the ground occasion sorrow, and dismal is the face of the\nstewards. And full many a gift of earth is swept along in the worthless\nstreams, in undistinguished medley. And young female slaves have new\nsorrows, a foe being superior[120] and fortunate as to their wretched\ncaptive couch, so that they hope for life's gloomy close to come, a\nguardian against their all-mournful sorrows.\n\nSEMI-CH. The scout, methinks, my friends, is bringing us some fresh\ntidings from the army, urging in haste the forwarding axles[121] of his\nfeet.\n\nSEMI-CH. Ay, and in very truth, here comes our prince, son of OEdipus,\nvery opportunely for learning the messenger's report--and haste does not\nallow him to make equal footsteps.[122]\n\n  [_Re-enter_ MESSENGER _and_ ETEOCLES _from different sides_.\n\nMES. I would fain tell, for I know them well, the arrangements of our\nadversaries, and how each has obtained his lot at our gate. Tydeus now\nfor some time has been raging hard by the gates of Proetus; but the\nseer allows him not to cross the stream of Ismenus, for the sacrifices\nare not auspicious. So Tydeus, raving and greedy for the fight, roars\nlike a serpent in its hissings beneath the noontide heat, and he smites\nthe sage seer, son of Oicleus, with a taunt, [saying] that he is\ncrouching to both Death and Battle out of cowardice. Shouting out such\nwords as these, he shakes there shadowy crests, the hairy honors of his\nhelm, while beneath his buckler bells cast in brass are shrilly pealing\nterror: on his buckler too he has this arrogant device--a gleaming sky\ntricked out with stars, and in the centre of the shield a brilliant full\nmoon is conspicuous, most august of the heavenly bodies, the eye of\nnight. Chafing thus in his vaunting harness, he roars beside the bank of\nthe river, enamored of conflict, like a steed champing his bit with\nrage, that rushes forth when he hears the voice of the trumpet.[123]\nWhom wilt thou marshal against this [foe]? Who, when the fastenings give\nway, is fit to be intrusted with the defense of the gate of Proetus?\n\nET. At no possible array of a man should I tremble; and blazonry has no\npower of inflicting wounds, and crests and bell bite not[124] without\nthe spear. And for this night which thou tellest me is sparkling on his\nbuckler with the stars of heaven, it may perchance be a prophet in\nconceit;[125] for if night shall settle on his eyes as he is dying,\nverily this vaunting device would correctly and justly answer to its\nname, and he himself will have the insolence ominous against himself.\nBut against Tydeus will I marshal this wary son of Astacus, as defender\nof the portals, full nobly born, and one that reverences the throne of\nModesty, and detests too haughty language, for he is wont to be slow at\nbase acts, but no dastard. And from the sown heroes whom Mars spared is\nMelanippus sprung a scion, and he is thoroughly a native. But the event\nMars with his dice will decide. And justice, his near kinswoman, makes\nhim her champion,[126] that he may ward off the foeman's spear from the\nmother that bare him.\n\nCH. Now may the gods grant unto our champion to be successful, since\nwith justice[127] does he speed forth in defense of the city; but I\nshudder to behold the sanguinary fate of those who perish in behalf of\ntheir friends.\n\nMES. To him may the gods so grant success. But Capaneus has by lot\nobtained his station against the Electran gate. This is a giant, greater\nthan the other aforementioned, and his vaunt savors not of humanity; but\nhe threatens horrors against our towers, which may fortune not bring to\npass! for he declares, that whether the god is willing or unwilling, he\nwill make havoc of our city, and that not the Wrath[128] of Jove,\ndashing down upon the plain, should stop him. And he is wont to compare\nboth the lightnings and the thunder-bolts to the heat of noontide. He\nhas a bearing too, a naked man bearing fire, and there gleams a torch\nwith which his hands are armed;[129] and, in letters of gold, he is\nuttering, I WILL BURN THE CITY. Against a man such as this do thou\nsend[130]----. Who will engage with him? Who will abide his vaunting and\nnot tremble?\n\nET. And in this case[131] also one advantage is gained upon another. Of\nthe vain conceits of man in sooth the tongue of truth becomes accuser.\nBut Capaneus is menacing, prepared for action, dishonoring the gods, and\npracticing his tongue in vain exultation; mortal as he is, he is sending\nloud-swelling words into heaven to the ears of Jove. But I trust that,\nas he well deserves, the fire-bearing thunder-bolt will with justice\ncome upon him, in no wise likened to the noontide warmth of the sun. Yet\nagainst him, albeit he is a very violent blusterer, is a hero marshaled,\nfiery in his spirit, stout Polyphontes, a trusty guard by the favor of\nDiana our protectress, and of the other gods. Mention another who hath\nhad his station fixed at another of our gates.\n\nCH. May he perish[132] who proudly vaunts against our city, and may the\nthunder-bolt check him before that he bursts into my abode, or ever,\nwith his insolent spear force us away from our maiden dwellings.\n\nMES. And verily I will mention him that hath next had his post allotted\nagainst our gates: for to Eteoclus, third in order, hath the third lot\nleapt from the inverted helm of glittering brass, for him to advance his\nbattalion against the gates of Neis; and he is wheeling his steeds\nfuming in their trappings, eager to dash forward against the gates. And\ntheir snaffles ring, in barbarian fashion, filled with the breath of\ntheir snorting nostrils. His buckler, too, hath been blazoned in no\npaltry style, but a man in armor is treading the steps of a ladder to\nhis foemen's tower, seeking to storm it. And this man, in a combination\nof letters, is shouting, how that not even Mars should force him from\nthe bulwarks. Do thou send also to this man a worthy champion to ward\noff from this city the servile yoke.\n\nET. I will send this man forthwith, and may it be with good fortune; and\nverily he is sent, bearing his boast in deed,[133] Megareus, the\noffspring of Creon, of the race of the sown;[134] who will go forth from\nthe gates not a whit terrified at the noise of the mad snortings of the\nhorses; but, either by his fall will fully pay the debt of his nurture\nto the land, or, having taken two men[135] and the city on the shield,\nwill garnish with the spoils the house of his father. Vaunt thee of\nanother, and spare me not the recital.\n\nCH. I pray that this side may succeed, O champion of my dwellings! and\nthat with them it may go ill; and as they, with frenzied mind, utter\nexceedingly proud vaunts against our city, so may Jove the avenger\nregard them in his wrath.\n\nMES. Another, the fourth, who occupies the adjoining gates of Onca\nMinerva, stands hard by with a shout, the shape and mighty mould of\nHippomedon; and I shuddered at him as he whirled the immense orb, I mean\nthe circumference of his buckler--I will not deny it. And assuredly it\nwas not any mean artificer in heraldry who produced this work upon his\nbuckler, a Typhon, darting forth through his fire-breathing mouth dark\nsmoke, the quivering sister of fire, and the circular cavity of the\nhollow-bellied shield hath been made farther solid with coils of\nserpents. He himself, too, hath raised the war-cry; and, possessed by\nMars, raves for the onslaught, like a Thyiad,[136] glaring terror. Well\nmust we guard against the attack of such a man as this, for Terror is\nalready vaunting himself hard by our gates.\n\nET. In the first place, this Onca Pallas, who dwells in our suburbs,\nliving near the gates, detesting the insolence of the man, will drive\nhim off, as a noxious serpent from her young. And Hyperbius, worthy son\nof OEnops, hath been chosen to oppose him, man to man, willing to\nessay his destiny in the crisis of fortune; he is open to censure\nneither in form, nor in spirit, nor in array of arm: but Mercury hath\nmatched them fairly; for hostile is the man to the man with whom he will\nhave to combat, and on their bucklers will they bring into conflict\nhostile gods; for the one hath fire-breathing Typhon, and on the buckler\nof Hyperbius father Jove is seated firm, flashing, with his bolt in his\nhand; and never yet did any one know of Jove being by any chance\nvanquished.[137] Such in good sooth is the friendship of the\ndivinities: we are on the side of the victors, but they on that of the\nconquered, if at least Jove be mightier in battle than Typhon. Wherefore\n'tis probable that the combatants will fare accordingly; and to\nHyperbius, in accordance with its blazonry, may Jove that is on his\nshield become a savior.\n\nCH. I feel confident that he who hath upon his shield the adversary of\nJove, the hateful form of the subterranean fiend, a semblance hateful\nboth to mortals and the everliving gods, will have to leave his head\nbefore our gates.\n\nMES. May such be the issue! But, farthermore, I mention the fifth,\nmarshaled at the fifth gate, that of Boreas, by the very tomb of\nJove-born Amphion. And he makes oath by the spear[138] which he grasps,\ndaring to revere it more than a god, and more dearly than his eyes,[139]\nthat verily he will make havoc of the city of the Cadmaeans in spite of\nJove: thus says the fair-faced scion of a mountain-dwelling mother, a\nstripling hero, and the down is just making its way through his cheeks,\nin the spring of his prime, thick sprouting hair. And he takes his post,\nhaving a ruthless spirit, not answering to his maidenly name,[140] and a\nsavage aspect. Yet not without his vaunt does he take stand against our\ngates, for on his brazen-forged shield the rounded bulwark of his body,\nhe was wielding the reproach of our city, the Sphinx of ruthless maw\naffixed by means of studs, a gleaming embossed form; and under her she\nholds a man, one of the Cadmaeans, so that against this man[141] most\nshafts are hurled. And he, a youth, Parthenopaeus an Arcadian, seems to\nhave come to fight in no short measure,[142] and not to disgrace the\nlength of way that he has traversed; for this man, such as he is, is a\nsojourner, and, by way of fully repaying Argos for the goodly nurture\nshe has given him, he utters against these towers menaces, which may the\ndeity not fulfill.\n\nET. O may they receive from the gods the things which they are purposing\nin those very unhallowed vaunts! Assuredly they would perish most\nmiserably in utter destruction. But there is [provided] for this man\nalso, the Arcadian of whom you speak, a man that is no braggart, but his\nhand discerns what should be done, Actor, brother of the one\naforementioned, who will not allow either a tongue, without deeds,\nstreaming within our gates, to aggravate mischiefs, nor him to make his\nway within who bears upon his hostile buckler the image of the wild\nbeast, most odious monster, which from the outside shall find fault with\nhim who bears it within, when it meets with a thick battering under the\ncity. So, please the gods, may I be speaking the truth.\n\nCH. The tale pierces my bosom, the locks of my hair stand erect, when I\nhear of the big words of these proudly vaunting impious men. Oh!\nwould that the gods would destroy them in the land.\n\nMES. I will tell of the sixth, a man most prudent, and in valor the\nbest, the seer, the mighty Amphiaraus; for he, having been marshaled\nagainst the gate of Homoloeis, reviles mighty Tydeus full oft with\nreproaches, as the homicide, the troubler of the state, chief teacher of\nthe mischiefs of Argos, the summoner of Erinnys, minister of slaughter,\nand adviser of these mischiefs to Adrastus. Then again going up[143] to\nthy brother, the mighty Polynices, he casts his eye aloft, and, at last,\nreproachfully dividing his name [into syllables,[144]] he calls to him:\nand through his mouth he gives utterance to this speech--\"Verily such a\ndeed is well-pleasing to the gods, and glorious to hear of and to tell\nin after times, that you are making havoc of your paternal city, and its\nnative gods, having brought into it a foreign armament. And what Justice\nshall staunch the fountain of thy mother's tears?\n\n\"And how can thy father-land, after having been taken by the spear\nthrough thy means, ever be an ally to thee? I, for my part, in very\ntruth shall fatten this soil, seer as I am, buried beneath a hostile\nearth. Let us to the battle, I look not for a dishonorable fall.\" Thus\nspake the seer, wielding a fair-orbed shield, all of brass; but no\ndevice was on its circle--for he wishes not to seem but to be righteous,\nreaping fruit from a deep furrow in his mind, from which sprout forth\nhis goodly counsels. Against this champion I advise that thou send\nantagonists, both wise and good. A dread adversary is he that reveres\nthe gods.\n\nET. Alas! for the omen[145] that associates a righteous man with the\nimpious! Indeed in every matter, nothing is worse than evil\nfellowship--the field of infatuation has death for its fruits.[146] For\nwhether it be that a pious man hath embarked in a vessel along with\nviolent sailors, and some villany, he perishes with the race of men\nabhorred of heaven; or, being righteous, and having rightly fallen into\nthe same toils with his countrymen, violators of hospitality, and\nunmindful of the gods, he is beaten down, smitten with the scourge of\nthe deity, which falls alike on all. Now this seer, I mean the son of\nOicleus, a moderate, just, good, and pious man, a mighty prophet,\nassociated with unholy bold-mouthed men, in spite of his [better]\njudgment, when they made their long march, by the favor of Jove, shall\nbe drawn along with them to go to the distant city.[147] I fancy,\nindeed, that he will not make an attack on our gates, not as wanting\nspirit, nor from cowardice of disposition, but he knows that it is his\ndoom to fall in battle, if there is to be any fruit in the oracles of\nApollo: 'tis his wont too to hold his peace, or to speak what is\nseasonable. Nevertheless against him we will marshal a man, mighty\nLasthenes, a porter surly to strangers, and who bears an aged mind, but\na youthful form; quick is his eye, and he is not slow of hand to snatch\nhis spear made naked from his left hand.[148] But for mortals to succeed\nis a boon of the deity.\n\nCH. O ye gods, give ear to our righteous supplications, and graciously\nbring it to pass that our city may be successful, while ye turn the\nhorrors wrought by the spear upon the invaders of our country; and may\nJove, having flung them [to a distance] from our towers, slay them with\nhis thunder-bolt.\n\nMES. Now will I mention this the seventh, against the seventh gate,\nthine own brother--what calamities too he imprecates and prays for\nagainst our city; that, he having scaled the towers, and been\nproclaimed[149] to the land, after having shouted out the paean of\ntriumph at the capture, may engage with thee; and, having slain thee,\nmay die beside thee, or avenge himself on thee alive, that dishonored,\nthat banished him,[150] by exile after the very same manner. This does\nmighty Polynices clamor, and he summons the gods of his race and\nfatherland to regard his supplications. He has, moreover, a\nnewly-constructed shield, well suited [to his arm] and a double device\nwrought upon it. For a woman is leading on a mailed warrior, forged out\nof brass, conducting him decorously; and so she professes to be Justice,\nas the inscription tells: I WILL BRING BACK THIS MAN, AND HE SHALL HAVE\nTHE CITY OF HIS FATHERS, AND A DWELLING IN THE PALACE. Such are their\ndevices; and do thou thyself now determine whom it is that thou thinkest\nproper to send: since never at any time shalt thou censure me for my\ntidings; but do thou thyself determine the management of the vessel of\nthe state.\n\nET. O heaven-frenzied, and great abomination of the gods! Oh! for our\nrace of OEdipus, worthy of all mourning--Alas for me! now verily are\nthe curses of my sire coming to an accomplishment. But it becomes me not\nto weep or wail, lest birth be given to a lament yet more intolerable.\nBut to Polynices, that well deserves his name, I say, soon shall we know\nwhat issue his blazonry will have; whether letters wrought in gold,\nvainly vaunting on his buckler, along with frenzy of soul will restore\nhim. If indeed Justice, the virgin daughter of Jove, attended on his\nactions or his thoughts, perchance this might be. But neither when he\nescape the darkness of the womb, nor in his infancy, nor ever in his\nboyhood, nor in the gathering of the hair on his chin, did Justice look\non him, or deem him worthy her regards: nor truly do I suppose that she\nwill now take her stand near to him, in his ill-omened possession of his\nfather-land. Truly she would then in all reason be falsely called\nJustice, were she to consort with a man all-daring in his soul. Trusting\nin this I will go, and face him in person. Who else could do so with\nbetter right? Leader against leader, brother against brother, foeman\nwith foeman, shall I take my stand. Bring me with all speed my greaves,\nmy spear, and my armor of defense against the stones.\n\n  [_Exit_ MESSENGER.\n\nCH. Do not, O dearest of men, son of OEdipus, become in wrath like to\nhim against whom thou hast most bitterly spoken. Enough it is that\nCadmaeans come to the encounter with Argives. For such bloodshed admits\nof expiation. But the death of own brothers thus mutually wrought by\ntheir own hands--of this pollution there is no decay.\n\nET. If any one receives evil without disgrace, be it so; for the only\nadvantage is among the dead: but of evil and disgraceful things, thou\ncanst not tell me honor.\n\nCH. Why art thou eager, my son? let not Ate, full of wrath, raging with\nthe spear, hurry thee away--but banish the first impulse of [evil]\npassion.\n\nET. Since the deity with all power urges on the matter, let the whole\nrace of Laius, abhorred by Phoebus, having received for its portion\nthe wave of Cocytus, drift down with the wind.\n\nCH. So fierce a biting lust for unlawful blood hurries thee on to\nperpetrate the shedding of a man's blood, of which the fruit is\nbitter.[151]\n\nET. Ay, for the hateful curse of my dear father, consummated, sits hard\nbeside me with dry tearless eyes, telling me that profit comes before my\nafter doom.[152]\n\nCH. But do not accelerate it; thou wilt not be called dastardly if thou\nhonorably preservest thy life--and Erinnys,[153] with her murky\ntempest, enters not the dwelling where the gods receive a sacrifice from\nthe hands [of the inmates].\n\nET. By the gods, indeed, we have now for some time been in a manner\nneglected, and the pleasure which arises from our destruction is\nwelcomed by them; why should we any longer fawn[154] upon our deadly\ndoom?\n\nCH. Do so now, while it is in thy power; since the demon, that may alter\nwith a distant shifting of his temper, will perchance come with a\ngentler air; but now he still rages.\n\nET. Ay, for the curses of OEdipus have raged beyond all bounds; and\ntoo true were my visions of phantoms seen in my slumbers, dividers of my\nfather's wealth.[155]\n\nCH. Yield thee to women, albeit that thou lovest them not.\n\nET. Say ye then what one may allow you; but it must not be at length.\n\nCH. Go not thou on in this way to the seventh gate.\n\nET. Whetted as I am, thou wilt not blunt me by argument.\n\nCH. Yet god, at all events, honors an inglorious victory.\n\nET. It ill becomes a warrior to acquiesce in this advice.\n\nCH. What! wilt thou shed the blood of thine own brother?\n\nET. By heaven's leave, he shall not elude destruction.\n\n  [_Exit_ ETEOCLES.\n\nCH. I shudder with dread that the power that lays waste this house, not\nlike the gods, the all-true, the evil-boding Erinnys summoned by the\ncurses of the father, is bringing to a consummation the wrathful curses\nof distracted OEdipus.[156] 'Tis this quarrel, fatal to his sons, that\narouses her. And the Chalybian stranger, emigrant from Scythia, is\napportioning their shares, a fell divider of possessions, the\nstern-hearted steel,[157] allotting them land to occupy, just as much\nas it may be theirs to possess when dead, bereft of their large\ndomains.[158] When they shall have fallen, slain by each other's hands\nin mutual slaughter, and the dust of the ground shall have drunk up the\nblack-clotted blood of murder, who will furnish expiation? who will\npurify them? Alas for the fresh troubles mingled with the ancient\nhorrors of this family! for I speak of the ancient transgression with\nits speedy punishment; yet it abides unto the third generation; since\nLaius, in spite of Apollo, who had thrice declared, in the central\noracles of Pytho, that, dying without issue, he would save the\nstate,[159] did, notwithstanding, overcome by his friends, in his\ninfatuation beget his own destruction, the parricide OEdipus, who\ndared to plant in an unhallowed field, where he had been reared, a\nbloody root.--'Twas frenzy linked the distracted pair; and as it were, a\nsea of troubles brings on one billow that subsides, and rears another\ntriply cloven, which too dashes about the stern of our state. But\nbetween [it and us] there stretches a fence at a small interval, a tower\nin width alone.[160] And I fear lest the city should be overcome along\nwith its princes. For the execrations, that were uttered long ago, are\nfinding their accomplishment: bitter is the settlement, and deadly\nthings in their consummation pass not away. The wealth of enterprising\nmerchants,[161] too thickly stowed, brings with it a casting overboard\nfrom the stern. For whom of mortals did the gods, and his fellow-inmates\nin the city, and the many lives of herding men,[162] admire so much as\nthey then honored OEdipus, who had banished from the realm the baneful\npest that made men her prey. But when he unhappy was apprised of his\nwretched marriage, despairing in his sorrow, with frenzied heart, he\nperpetrated a two-fold horror; he deprived himself with parricidal hand\nof the eyes that were more precious than his children. And indignant\nbecause of his scanty supply of food,[163] he sent upon his sons, alas!\nalas! a curse horrible in utterance, even that they should some time or\nother share his substance between them with sword-wielding hand; and now\nI tremble lest the swift Erinnys should be on the point of fulfilling\nthat prayer.\n\n  _Re-enter_ MESSENGER.\n\nBe of good cheer, maidens that have been nurtured by your mothers.[164]\nThis city hath escaped the yoke of servitude; the vauntings of our\nmighty foes have fallen; and our city is calm, and hath not admitted a\nleak from the many buffets of the surge; our fortification too stands\nproof, and we have fenced our gates with champions fighting\nsingle-handed, and bringing surety; for the most part, at six of our\ngates, it is well; but the seventh, the revered lord of the seventh,\nsovereign Apollo, chose for himself, bringing to a consummation the\nancient indiscretions of Laius.\n\nCH. And what new event is happening to our city?\n\nMES. These men have fallen by hands that dealt mutual slaughter.[165]--\n\nCH. Who? What is it thou sayest! I am distracted with terror at thy\ntidings.\n\nMES. Now be calm and listen, the race of OEdipus--\n\nCH. Alas for me wretched! I am a prophetess of horrors.\n\nMES. Stretched in the dust are they beyond all dispute.\n\nCH. Came they even to that? bitter then are thy tidings, yet speak them.\n\nMES. Even thus [too surely] were they destroyed by brotherly hands.\n\nCH. Even thus was the demon at once impartial to both.\n\nMES. And he himself, to be sure of this, is cutting off the ill-fated\nrace.\n\nCH. Over such events one may both rejoice and weep--[rejoice] at the\nsuccess of our city--but [mourn because][166] our princes, the two\ngenerals, have portioned out the whole possession of their substance\nwith the hammer-wrought Scythian steel, and they will possess of land\njust as much as they receive at their burial, carried off according to\nthe unhappy imprecations of their sire.\n\nMES. The city is rescued, but earth hath drank the blood of the brother\nprinces through their slaughter of each other.\n\n  [_Exit_ MESSENGER.[167]\n\nCH. Oh mighty Jove! and tutelary divinities of our city! ye that do in\nvery deed protect these towers of Cadmus, am I to rejoice and raise a\njoyous hymn to the savior of our city, the averter of mischief, or shall\nI bewail the miserable and ill-fated childless[168] commanders, who, in\nvery truth, correctly, according to their name,[169] full of rancor,\nhave perished in impious purpose? Oh dark and fatal curse of the race\nand of OEdipus, what horrible chill is this that is falling upon my\nheart?[170] I, like a Thyiad, have framed a dirge for the tomb, hearing\nof the dead, dabbled in blood, that perished haplessly--verily this\nmeeting of spears was ill-omened. The imprecation of the father hath\ntaken full effect, and hath not failed: and the unbelieving schemes of\nLaius have lasted even until now; and care is through our city, and the\ndivine declarations lose not their edge--Alas! worthy of many a sigh, ye\nhave accomplished this horror surpassing credence; and lamentable\nsufferings have come indeed. This is self-evident, the tale of the\nmessenger is before my eyes--Double are our sorrows, double are the\nhorrors of them that have fallen by mutual slaughter; doubly shared are\nthese consummated sufferings. What shall I say? What, but that of a\ncertainty troubles on troubles are constant inmates of this house? But,\nmy friends, ply the speeding stroke of your hands about your heads,\nbefore the gale of sighs, which ever wafts on its passage the bark, on\nwhich no sighs are heard, with sable sails, the freighted with the dead,\nuntrodden for Apollo, the sunless, across Acheron, and to the invisible\nall-receiving shore.[171]\n\nBut [enough]! for here are coming to this bitter office both Antigone\nand Ismene. I am assured beyond all doubt that they will send forth a\nfitting wail from their lovely deep-cinctured bosoms. And right it is\nthat we, before the sound of their wailing reach us, both ejaculate the\ndismal-sounding chaunt of Erinnys, and sing a hateful paean to Pluto.\nAlas! ye that are the most hapless in your sisterhood of all women that\nfling the zone around their robes, I weep, I mourn, and there is no\nguile about so as not to be truly wailing from my very soul.\n\nSEMI-CHORUS. Alas! alas! ye frantic youths, distrustful of friends, and\nunsubdued by troubles, have wretched seized on your paternal dwelling\nwith the spear.\n\nSEMI-CH. Wretched in sooth were they who found a wretched death to the\nbane of their houses.\n\nSEMI-CH. Alas! alas! ye that overthrew the walls of your palace, and\nhaving cast an eye on bitter monarchy, how have ye now settled your\nclaims with the steel?\n\nSEMI-CH. And too truly hath awful Erinnys brought [the curses] of their\nfather OEdipus to a consummation.\n\nSEMI-CH. Smitten through your left--Smitten in very truth, and through\nsides that sprung from a common womb.\n\nSEMI-CH. Alas for them, wretched! Alas! for the imprecations of death\nwhich avenged murder by murder.\n\nSEMI-CH. Thou speakest of the stroke that pierced through and through\nthose that were smitten in their houses and in their persons with\nspeechless rage, and the doom of discord brought upon them by the curses\nof their father.\n\nSEMI-CH. And moreover, sighing pervades the city, the towers sigh, the\nland that loved her heroes sighs; and for posterity remains the\nsubstance by reason of which, by reason of which,[172] contention came\nupon them whom evil destiny, and the issue of death.\n\nSEMI-CH. In the fierceness of their hearts they divided between them\nthe possessions, so as to have an equal share; but the arbiter[173]\nescapes not censure from their friends, and joyless was their warfare.\n\nSEMI-CH. Smitten by the steel, here they lie; and smitten by the\nsteel[174] there await them--one may perchance ask what?--the\ninheritance of the tombs of their fathers.\n\nSEMI-CH. From the house the piercing groan sends forth its sound loudly\nover them, mourning with a sorrow sufferings as o'er its own,\nmelancholy, a foe to mirth, sincerely weeping from the very soul, which\nis worn down while I wail for these two princes.\n\nSEMI-CH. We may say too of these happy men that they both wrought many\nmischiefs to their countrymen, and to the ranks of all the strangers,\nthat perished in great numbers in battle.\n\nSEMI-CH. Ill-fated was she that bare them before all women, as many as\nare mothers of children. Having taken to herself her own son for a\nhusband, she brought forth these, and they have ended their existence\nthus by fraternal hands that dealt mutual slaughter.\n\nSEMI-CH. Fraternal in very truth! and utterly undone were they by a\nsevering in no wise amicable, by frenzied strife at the consummation of\ntheir feud.\n\nSEMI-CH. But their emnity is terminated; and in the reeking earth is\ntheir life-blood mingled, and truly are they of the same blood. A bitter\narbiter of strife is the stranger from beyond the sea, the whetted steel\nthat bounded forth from the fire; and bitter is the horrible distributer\nof their substance, Mars, who hath brought the curse of their father\ntruly to its consummation.\n\nSEMI-CH. Hapless youths! They have obtained their portion of\nheaven-awarded woes, and beneath their bodies shall be a fathomless\nwealth of earth.[175] Alas! ye that have made your houses bloom with\nmany troubles! And at its fall these Curses raised the shout of triumph\nin shrill strain, when the race had been put to flight in total rout; a\ntrophy of Ate has been reared at the gate at which they smote each\nother, and, having overcome both, the demon rested.\n\n  _Enter_ ANTIGONE _and_ ISMENE.\n\nANT. When wounded thou didst wound again.[176]\n\nISM. And thou, having dealt death, didst perish.\n\nANT. With the spear thou didst slay.\n\nISM. By the spear thou didst fall.\n\nANT. Wretched in thy deeds!\n\nISM. Wretched in thy sufferings!\n\nANT. Let tears arise.\n\nISM. Let groans resound.\n\nANT. Having slain, he shall lie prostrate. Alas! alas! my soul is\nmaddening with sighs.\n\nISM. And my heart mourns within me.\n\nANT. Alas! thou that art worthy of all lamentation!\n\nISM. And thou again also utterly wretched.\n\nANT. By a friend didst thou fall.\n\nISM. And a friend didst thou slay.\n\nANT. Double horrors to tell of.\n\nISM. Double horrors to behold!\n\nANT. These horrors are near akin to such sorrows.\n\nISM. And we their sisters here are near to our brothers.\n\nCH. Alas! thou Destiny, awarder of bitterness, wretched! and thou dread\nshade of OEdipus! and dark Erinnys! verily art thou great in might.\n\nANT. Alas! alas! sufferings dismal to behold hath he shown to me after\nhis exile.\n\nANT. And he returned not when he had slain him.\n\nISM. No--but after being saved he lost his life.\n\nANT. In very truth he lost it.\n\nISM. Ay, and he cut off his brother.\n\nANT. Wretched family!\n\nISM. That hath endured wretchedness. Woes that are wretched and of one\nname. Thoroughly steeped in three-fold sufferings.\n\nANT. Deadly to tell--\n\nISM. Deadly to look on.\n\nCH. Alas! alas! thou Destiny, awarder of bitterness, wretched! and thou\ndread shade of OEdipus! and dark Erinnys! verily art thou great in\nmight.\n\nANT. Thou in sooth knowest this by passing through it.\n\nISM. And so dost thou, having learned it just as soon as he.\n\nANT. After that thou didst return to the city.\n\nISM. An antagonist too to this man here in battle-fray.\n\nANT. Deadly to tell.\n\nISM. Deadly to look on.\n\nANT. Alas! the trouble.\n\nISM. Alas! the horrors upon our family and our land, and me above all.\n\nANT. Alas! alas! and me, be sure, more than all.\n\nISM. Alas! alas! for the wretched horrors! O sovereign Eteocles, our\nchieftain!\n\nANT. Alas! ye most miserable of all men.\n\nISM. Alas! ye possessed by Ate.\n\nANT. Alas! alas! where in the land shall we place them both? Alas! in\nthe spot that is most honorable. Alas! alas! a woe fit to sleep beside\nmy father.[177]\n\n  _Enter_ HERALD.\n\n'Tis my duty to announce the good pleasure and the decree of the\nsenators of the people of this city of Cadmus. It is resolved to bury\nthis body of Eteocles for his attachment to his country, with the dear\ninterment in earth! for in repelling our foes he met death in the city,\nand being pure in respect to the sacred rites of his country, blameless\nhath he fallen where 'tis glorious for the young to fall; thus, indeed,\nhath it been commissioned me to announce concerning this corpse: But [it\nhas been decreed] to cast out unburied, a prey for dogs, this the corpse\nof his brother Polynices, inasmuch as he would have been the overturner\nof the land of Cadmus, if some one of the gods had not stood in\nopposition to his spear: and even now that he is dead, he will lie under\nthe guilt of pollution with the gods of his country, whom he having\ndishonored was for taking the city by bringing against it a foreign\nhost. So it is resolved that he, having been buried dishonorably by\nwinged fowls, should receive his recompense, and that neither piling up\nby hands of the mound over his tomb should follow, nor any one honor him\nwith shrill-voiced wailings, but that he be ungraced with a funeral at\nthe hands of his friends. Such is the decree of the magistracy of the\nCadmaeans.\n\nANT. But I say to the rulers of the Cadmaeans, if not another single\nperson is willing to take part with me in burying him, I will bury him,\nand will expose myself[178] to peril by burying my brother. And I feel\nno shame at being guilty of this disobedient insubordination against the\ncity. Powerful is the tie of the common womb from which we sprung, from\na wretched mother and a hapless sire. Wherefore, my soul, do thou,\nwilling with the willing share in his woes, with the dead, thou living,\nwith sisterly feeling--and nought shall lean-bellied wolves tear his\nflesh--let no one suppose it. All woman though I be, I will contrive a\ntomb and a deep-dug grave for him, bearing earth in the bosom-fold of\nmy fine linen robe, and I myself will cover him; let none imagine the\ncontrary: an effective scheme shall aid my boldness.\n\nHER. I bid thee not to act despite the state in this matter.\n\nANT. I bid thee not announce to me superfluous things.\n\nHER. Yet stern is a people that has just escaped troubles.\n\nANT. Ay, call it stern[179]--yet this [corpse] shall not lie unburied.\n\nHER. What! wilt thou honor with a tomb him whom our state abhors?[180]\n\nHER. ANT. Heretofore he has not been honored by the gods.[181]\n\nHER. Not so, at least before he put this realm in jeopardy.\n\nANT. Having suffered injuriously he repaid with injury.\n\nHER. Ay, but this deed of his fell on all instead of one.\n\nANT. Contention is the last of the gods to finish a dispute,[182] and I\nwill bury him; make no more words.\n\nHER. Well, take thine own way--yet I forbid thee.\n\n  [Exit_ HERALD.\n\nCH. Alas! alas! O ye fatal Furies, proudly triumphant, and destructive\nto this race, ye that have ruined the family of OEdipus from its root.\nWhat will become of me? What shall I do? What can I devise? How shall I\nhave the heart neither to bewail thee nor to escort thee to the tomb?\nBut I dread and shrink from the terror of the citizens. Thou, at all\nevents, shalt in sooth have many mourners; but he, wretched one, departs\nunsighed for, having the solitary-wailing dirge of his sister. Who will\nagree to this?\n\nSEM. Let the state do or not do aught to those who bewail Polynices. We,\non this side will go and join to escort his funeral procession; for both\nthis sorrow is common to the race, and the state at different times\nsanctions different maxims of justice.\n\nSEM. But we will go with this corpse, as both the city and justice join\nto sanction. For next to the Immortals and the might of Jove, this man\nprevented the city of the Cadmaeans from being destroyed, and thoroughly\noverwhelmed by the surge of foreign enemies.\n\n\n  FOOTNOTES\n\n  [1] Lucian, in his dialogue entitled \"Prometheus,\" or\n  \"Caucasus,\" has given occasional imitations of passages in\n  this play, not, however, sufficient to amount to a\n  paraphrase, as Dr. Blomfield asserted. Besides, as Lucian\n  lays the scene at Caucasus, he would rather seem to have\n  had the \"Prometheus solutus\" in mind. (See Schutz, Argum.)\n  But the ancients commonly made Caucasus the seat of the\n  punishment of Prometheus, and, as AEschylus is not over\n  particular in his geography, it is possible that he may be\n  not altogether consistent with himself. Lucian makes no\n  mention of Strength and Force, but brings in Mercury at\n  the beginning of the dialogue. Moreover, Mercury is\n  represented in an excellent humor, and rallies Prometheus\n  good-naturedly upon his tortures. Thus, Sec.6, he says,\n  [Greek: eu echei. kataptesetai de ede kai ho aetos\n  apokeron to hepar, hos panta echois anti tes kales kai\n  eumechanou plastikes.] In regard to the place where\n  Prometheus was bound, the scene doubtless represented a\n  ravine between two precipices rent from each other, with a\n  distant prospect of some of the places mentioned in the\n  wanderings of Io. (See Schutz, _ibid._) But as the whole\n  mention of Scythia is an anachronism, the less said on\n  this point the better. Compare, however, the following\n  remarks of Humboldt, Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 140, \"The legend\n  of Prometheus, and the unbinding of the chains of the\n  fire-bringing Titan on the Caucasus by Hercules in\n  journeying eastward--the ascent of Io from the valley of\n  the Hybrites--[See Griffiths' note on v. 717, on [Greek:\n  hybristes potamos], which _must_ be a proper name]--toward\n  the Caucasus; and the myth of Phryxus and Helle--all point\n  to the same path on which Phoenician navigators had\n  earlier adventured.\"\n\n  [2] Dindorf, in his note, rightly approves the elegant\n  reading [Greek: abroton (=apanthropon)] in lieu of the\n  frigid [Greek: abaton]. See Blomf. and Burges. As far as\n  this play is concerned, the tract was not actually\n  _impassable_, but it was so to _mortals_.\n\n  [3] [Greek: leorgos = rhadiourgos, panourgos, kakourgos].\n  Cf. Liddell and Linwood, s. v. The interpretation and\n  derivation of the etym. magn. [Greek: ho ton anthropon\n  plastes], is justly rejected by Dindorf, who remarks that\n  AEschylus paid no attention to the fable respecting\n  Prometheus being the maker of mankind.\n\n  [4] The epithet [Greek: pantechnou], which might perhaps\n  be rendered \"art-full,\" is explained by v. 110 and 254.\n\n  [5] See Jelf. Gk. Gr. Sec.720, 2d.\n\n  [6] There seems little doubt that [Greek: euoriazein] is\n  the right reading. Its ironical force answers to Terence's\n  \"probe curasti.\"\n\n  [7] I have spelled Sire in all places with a capital\n  letter, as Jove is evidently meant. See my note on v. 49.\n\n  [8] This is not a mere zeugma, but is derived from the\n  supposition that sight was the chief of the senses, and in\n  a manner included the rest. (Cf. Plato Tim. p. 533, C. D.)\n  See the examples adduced by the commentators. Schrader on\n  Musaeus 5, and Boyes, Illustrations to Sept. c. Th. 98.\n  Shakespeare has burlesqued this idea in his exquisite\n  buffoonery, Midsummer Night's Dream, Act v. sc. 1.\n\n    _Pyramus._ I see a voice: now will I to the chink,\n               To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face.\n\n  [9] Claudian de rapt. Pros. II. 363. \"Stellantes nox picta\n  sinus.\" See on Soph. Trach. 94.\n\n  [10] _I.e._, having no rest. Soph. OEd. Col. 19. [Greek:\n  kola kampson toud' ep' axestou petrou].\n\n  [11] The difficulties of this passage have been increased\n  by no one of the commentators perceiving the evident\n  opposition between [Greek: Theoi] and [Greek: Zeus]. As in\n  the formula [Greek: o Zeu kai Theoi] (cf. Plato Protag.\n  p. 193, E.; Aristoph. Plut. I. with Bergler's note; Julian\n  Caes. p. 51, 59, 76; Dionys. Hal. A. R. II. p. 80, 32-81,\n  20, ed. Sylb.) so, from the time of Homer downward, we\n  find [Greek: Zeus] constantly mentioned apart from the\n  other gods (cf. Il. I. 423, 494), and so also with his\n  epithet [Greek: pater], as in v. 4, 17, 20, etc.\n  (Eustath, on Il. T. I., p. 111, 30, [Greek: hoti Zeus\n  allachou men haplos pater elechthe]). There is evidently,\n  therefore, the opposition expressed in the text: \"'Tis not\n  for the other gods (_i.e._ [Greek: tois allois theois]) to\n  rule, but for Jove alone.\" This view was approved, but not\n  confirmed, by Paley.\n\n  [12] See Dindorf.\n\n  [13] Paley well observes that there is no objection to\n  this interpretation, for if Prometheus could endure the\n  daily gnawing of his entrails by the vulture, the rivets\n  wouldn't put him to much trouble. Lucian, Sec. 6, is content\n  with fastening his hands to the two sides of the chasm.\n\n  [14] [Greek: tyches] is retained by Dindorf, but [Greek:\n  technes] is defended by Griffiths and Paley. I think, with\n  Burges, that it is a gloss upon [Greek: Prometheos].\n\n  [15] So Milton, P. L. iv. 165.\n\n    Cheer'd with the grateful smell old Ocean _smiles_.\n\n  Lord Byron (opening of the Giaour):\n\n    There mildly _dimpling_ Ocean's cheek Reflects the tints\n    of many a peak, Caught by the _laughing_ tides that lave\n    Those Edens of the eastern wave.\n\n  [16] Literally \"filling a rod,\" [Greek: plerotos] here\n  being active. Cf. Agam. 361, [Greek: ates panalotou].\n  Choeph. 296, [Greek: pamphtharto moro]. Pers. 105, [Greek:\n  polemous pyrgodaiktous]. See also Blomfield, and Porson on\n  Hes. 1117, [Greek: narthex] is \"ferula\" or \"fennel-giant,\"\n  the pith of which makes excellent fuel. Blomfield quotes\n  Proclus on Hesiod, Op. 1, 52, \"the [Greek: narthex]\n  preserves flame excellently, having a soft pith inside,\n  that nourishes, but can not extinguish the flame.\" For a\n  strange fable connected with this theft, see AElian Hist.\n  An. VI. 51.\n\n  [17] On the preternatural scent supposed to attend the\n  presence of a deity, cf Eur. Hippol. 1391, with Monk's\n  note, Virg. AEn. I. 403, and La Cerda. See also Boyes's\n  Illustrations.\n\n  [18] On [Greek: de] cf. Jelf, Gk. Gr. Sec. 723, 2.\n\n  [19] Elmsley's reading, [Greek: petra ... tade], is\n  preferred by Dindorf, and seems more suitable to the\n  passage. But if we read [Greek: taisde], it will come to\n  the same thing, retaining [Greek: petrais].\n\n  [20] Surely we should read this sentence interrogatively,\n  as in v. 99, [Greek: pe pote mochthon Chre termata tond'\n  epiteilai;] although the editions do not agree as to that\n  passage. So Burges.\n\n  [21] Nominativus Pendens. Soph, Antig. 259, [Greek: logoi\n  d' en alleloisin errothoun kakoi, phylax elenchon\n  phylaka], where see Wunder, and Elmsley on Eur. Heracl.\n  40. But it is probably only the [Greek: schema kath' holon\n  kai meros], on which see Jelf, Gk. Gr. Sec. 478, and the same\n  thing takes place with the accusative, as in Antig. 21,\n  sq. 561. See Erfurdt on 21.\n\n  [22] See Linwood's Lexicon, s. v. [Greek: ameibo], whose\n  construing I have followed.\n\n  [23] Cf. Virg. AEn. I. 167, \"Intus aquae dulces, vivoque\n  sedilia saxo.\"\n\n    \"The rudest habitation, ye might think\n    That it had sprung from earth self-raised, or grown\n    Out of the living rock.\"--Wordsworth's Excursion,\n      Book vi.\n\n  Compare a most picturesque description of Diana's cave, in\n  Apul. Met. II. p. 116; Elm. Telemachus, Book I.; Undine,\n  ch. viii.; Lane's Arabian Nights, vol. iii. p. 385.\n\n  [24] Although Dindorf has left [Greek: OKEANOS] before the\n  lines beginning with [Greek: ou deta], yet as he in his\n  notes, p. 54, approves of the opinion of Elmsley (to which\n  the majority of critics assent), I have continued them to\n  Prometheus. Dindorf (after Burges) remarks that the\n  particles [Greek: ou deta] deceived the copyists, who\n  thought that they pointed to the commencement of a new\n  speaker's address. He quotes Soph. OEd. C. 433; Eur.\n  Alcest. 555; Heracl. 507, sqq., where it is used as a\n  continuation of a previous argument, as in the present\n  passage.\n\n  [25] It has been remarked that AEschylus had Pindar in\n  mind, see Pyth. I. 31, and VIII. 20. On this fate of\n  Enceladus cf. Philostrat. de V. Apoll. V. 6; Apollodorus\n  I.; Hygin. Fab. 152; and for poetical descriptions,\n  Cornel. Severus AEtna, 70, \"Gurgite Trinacrio morientem\n  Jupiter AEtna Obruit Enceladum, vasti qui pondere montis\n  AEstuat, et patulis exspirat faucibus ignes.\" Virg. AEn.\n  III. 578; Valer. Flacc. II. 24; Ovid. Met. V. Fab. V. 6;\n  Claudian, de raptu Pros. I. 155; Orph. Arg. 1256. Strabo,\n  I. p. 42, makes Hesiod acquainted with these eruptions.\n  (See Goettling on Theog. 821.) But Prometheus here utters\n  a prophecy concerning an eruption that really took place\n  during the life of AEschylus, Ol. 75, 2, B.C. 479. Cf.\n  Thucydides III. 116; Cluver, Sicil. Antig. p. 104, and\n  Dindorf's clear and learned note. There can be little\n  doubt but Enceladus and Typhon are only different names\n  for the same monster. Burges has well remarked the\n  resemblance between the Egyptian Typho and the Grecian,\n  and considers them both as \"two outward forms of one\n  internal idea, representing the destructive principle of\n  matter opposed to the creative.\" I shall refer the reader\n  to Plutarch's entertaining treatise on Isis and Osiris;\n  but to quote authorities from Herodotus down to the\n  Apologetic Fathers, would be endless.\n\n  [26] I think, notwithstanding the arguments of Dindorf,\n  that [Greek: orges nosouses] means \"a mind distempered,\"\n  and that [Greek: logoi] mean \"arguments, reasonings.\"\n  Boyes, who always shows a _poetical_ appreciation of his\n  author, aptly quotes Spenser's Fairy Queen, b. 2, c. 8,\n  st. 26.\n\n    \"Words well dispost,\n     Have secrete powre t' appease inflamed rage.\"\n\n  And Samson Agonistes:\n\n    \"Apt words have power to swage\n     The tumors of a troubled mind.\"\n\n  The reading of Plutarch, [Greek: psyches] appears to be a\n  mere gloss.\n\n  [27] Intellige _audaciam prudentia\n  conjunctam_.--Blomfield.\n\n  [28] [Greek: aichma] is rendered \"indoles\" by Paley (see\n  on Ag. 467). Linwood by \"authority,\" which is much nearer\n  the truth, as the spear was anciently used for the\n  sceptre. Mr. Burges opportunely suggests Pindar's [Greek:\n  enchos zakoton], which he gives to Jupiter, Nem. vi. 90.\n\n  [29] Asia is here personified.\n\n  [30] All commentators, from the scholiast downward, are\n  naturally surprised at this mention of Arabia, when\n  Prometheus is occupied in describing the countries\n  bordering on the Euxine. Burges conjectures [Greek:\n  Abarios], which he supports with considerable learning.\n  But although the name [Greek: Abarides] (mentioned by\n  Suidas) might well be given to those who dwelt in unknown\n  parts of the earth, from the legendary travels of Abaris\n  with his arrow, yet the epithet [Greek: areion anthos]\n  seems to point to some really existing nation, while\n  [Greek: Abaries] would rather seem proverbial. Till, then,\n  we are more certain, AEschylus must still stand chargeable\n  with geographical inconsistency.\n\n  [31] I have followed Burges and Dindorf, although the\n  latter retains [Greek: akamantodetois] in his text.\n\n  [32] Why Dindorf should have adopted Hermann's frigid\n  [Greek: hypostegazei], is not easily seen. The reader\n  will, however, find Griffiths' foot-note well deserving of\n  inspection.\n\n  [33] On [Greek: prouseloumenon], see Dindorf.\n\n  [34] Among the mythographi discovered by Maii, and\n  subsequently edited by Bode, the reader will find some\n  allegorical explanations of these benefits given by\n  Prometheus. See Myth. primus I. 1, and tertius 3, 10, 9.\n  They are, however, little else than compilations from the\n  commentary of Servius on Virgil, and the silly, but\n  amusing, mythology of Fulgentius. On the endowment of\n  speech and reason to men by Prometheus, cf. Themist. Or.\n  xxxvi. p. 323, C. D. and xxvi. p. 338, C. ed. Hard.; and\n  for general illustrations, the notes of Wasse on Sallust,\n  Cat. sub init.\n\n  [35] Brick-building is first ascribed to Euryalus and\n  Hyperbius, two brothers at Athens, by Pliny, H. N. vii.\n  56, quoted by Stanley. After caves, huts of beams, filled\n  in with turf-clods, were probably the first dwellings of\n  men. See Mallet's Northern Antiquities, p. 217, ed. Bohn.\n  This whole passage has been imitated by Moschion apud\n  Stob. Ecl. Phys. I. 11, while the early reformation of men\n  has ever been a favorite theme for poets. Cf. Eurip.\n  Suppl. 200 sqq.; Manilius I. 41, sqq.; and Bronkhus, on\n  Tibull. I. 3, 35.\n\n  [36] Cf. Apul de Deo Socr. Sec. II. ed. meae, \"quos probe\n  callet, qui signorum ortus et obitus comprehendit,\"\n  Catullus (in a poem imitated from Callimachus) carm. 67,\n  1. \"Omnia qui magni dispexit lumina mundi, Qui stellarum\n  ortus comperit atque obitus.\" See on Agam. 7.\n\n  [37] On the following discoveries consult the learned and\n  entertaining notes of Stanley.\n\n  [38] [Greek: egagon philenious], i.e. [Greek: hoste\n  philenious einai].\n\n  [39] See the elaborate notes of Blomfield and Burges, from\n  whence all the other commentators have derived their\n  information. [Greek: Krasis] is what Scribonius Largus\n  calls \"compositio.\" Cf. Rhodii Lexicon Scribon, p. 364-5;\n  Serenus Sammonicus \"synthesis.\" The former writer observes\n  in his preface, p. 2, \"est enim haec pars (compositio,\n  scilicet) medicinae ut maxime necessaria, ita certe\n  antiquissima, et ob hoc primum celebrata atque illustrata.\n  Siquidem verum est, antiquos herbis ac radicibus earum\n  corporis vitia curasse.\"\n\n  [40] Apul. de Deo Socr. Sec. 20, ed. meae, \"ut videmus\n  plerisque usu venire, qui nimia ominum superstitione, non\n  suopte corde, sed alterius verbo, reguntur: et per\n  angiporta reptantes, consilia ex alienis vocibus\n  colligunt.\" Such was the voice that appeared to Socrates.\n  See Plato Theog. p. 11. A. Xenoph. Apol. 12; Proclus in\n  Alcib. Prim. 13, p. 41. Creuz. See also Stanley's note.\n\n  [41] On these augurial terms see Abresch.\n\n  [42] Although the Vatican mythologist above quoted\n  observes of Prometheus, \"deprehendit praeterea rationem\n  fulminum, et hominibus indicavit--\" I should nevertheless\n  follow Stanley and Blomfield, in understanding these words\n  to apply to the omens derived from the flame and smoke\n  ascending from the sacrifices.\n\n  [43] Cf. Herodot. I. 91, quoted by Blomfield: [Greek: ten\n  pepromenen moiren adynata esti apophygeein kai to theo].\n  On this Pythagorean notion of AEschylus see Stanley.\n\n  [44] Or, \"in pleasure at the nuptials.\" See Linwood.\n  Burges: \"for the one-ness of marriage.\"\n\n  [45] No clew is given as to the form in which Io was\n  represented on the stage. In v. 848, the promise [Greek:\n  entautha de se Zeus tithesin emphrona] does not imply any\n  bodily change, but that Io labored under a mental\n  delusion. Still the mythologists are against us, who agree\n  in making her transformation complete. Perhaps she was\n  represented with horns, like the Egyptian figures of Isis,\n  but in other respects as a virgin, which is somewhat\n  confirmed by v. 592, [Greek: klyeis phthegma tas boukero\n  parthenou].\n\n  [46] \"Gad-fly\" or \"brize.\" See the commentators.\n\n  [47] On the discrepancies of reading, see Dind. With the\n  whole passage compare Nonnus, Dionys. III. p. 62,2.\n\n    [Greek: taurophyes hote portis ameibomenoio prosopou\n    eis agelen agraulos elauneto synnomos Io.\n    kai damales agrypnon ethekato boukolon Here\n    poikilon aplaneessi kekasmenon Argon opopais\n    Zenos opipeutera bookrairon hymenaion.\n    Zenos atheetoio kai es nomon eie koure,\n    ophthalmous tromeousa polyglenoio nomeos.\n    gyioboro de myopi charassomene demas Io\n    Ionies [halos] oidma kategraphe phoitadi chele.\n    elthe kai eis Aigypton]--\n\n  This writer, who constantly has the Athenian dramatists in\n  view, pursues the narrative of Io's wanderings with an\n  evident reference to AEschylus. See other illustrations\n  from the poets in Stanley's notes.\n\n  [48] The ghost of Argus was doubtless whimsically\n  represented, but probably without the waste of flour that\n  is peculiar to modern stage spectres. Perhaps, as Burges\n  describes, \"a mute in a dress resembling a peacock's tail\n  expanded, and with a Pan's pipe slung to his side, which\n  ever and anon he seems to sound; and with a goad in his\n  hand, mounted at one end with a representation of a hornet\n  or gad-fly.\" But this phantom, like Macbeth's dagger, is\n  supposed to be in the mind only. With a similar idea\n  Apuleius, Apol. p. 315, ed. Elm. invokes upon AEmilianus in\n  the following mild terms: \"At ... semper obvias species\n  mortuorum, quidquid umbrarum est usquam, quidquid lemurum,\n  quidquid manium, quidquid larvarum oculis tuis oggerat:\n  omnia noctium occursacula, omnia bustorum formidamina,\n  omnia sepulchrorum terriculamenta, a quibus tamen aevo\n  emerito haud longe abes.\"\n\n  [49] I have followed Dindorf's elegant emendation. See his\n  note, and Blomf. on Ag. 1.\n\n  [50] After the remarks of Dindorf and Paley, it seems that\n  the above must be the sense, whether we read [Greek: hon]\n  with Hermann, or take [Greek: hos] for [Greek: e hos] with\n  the above mentioned editor.\n\n  [51] Paley remarks that [Greek: tas pol. tychas] is used in\n  the same manner as in Pers. 453, [Greek:\n  phtharentes]=\"shipwrecked\" (see his note), or \"wandering.\"\n  He renders the present passage \"the adventures of her long\n  wanderings.\"\n\n  [52] With the earlier circumstances of this narrative\n  compare the beautiful story of Psyche in Apuleius, Met.\n  IV. p. 157, sqq. Elm.\n\n  [53] Cf Ag. 217, [Greek: epei d' anankas edy lepadnon].\n\n  [54] [Greek: krenen] is the elegant conjecture of Canter,\n  approved by Dindorf. In addition to the remarks of the\n  commentators, the tradition preserved by Pausanias II. 15,\n  greatly confirms this emendation. He remarks, [Greek:\n  therous de aua sphisin esti ta rheumata plen ton en\n  Lerne]. It was probably somewhat proverbial.\n\n  [55] I shall not attempt to enter into the much-disputed\n  geography of Io's wanderings. So much has been said, and\n  to so little purpose, on this perplexing subject, that to\n  write additional notes would be only to furnish more\n  reasons for doubting.\n\n  [56] Probably the Kurban. Schutz well observes that the\n  words [Greek: ou pseudonymon] could not be applied to an\n  epithet of the poet's own creation. Such, too, was\n  Humboldt's idea. See my first note on this play.\n\n  [57] See Schutz and Griffiths.\n\n  [58] Wrapped in mystery as the liberation of Prometheus is\n  in this drama, it may be amusing to compare the following\n  extracts from the Short Chronicle prefixed to Sir I.\n  Newton's Chronology.\n\n  \"968. B.C. Sesak, having carried on his victories to Mount\n  Caucasus, leaves his nephew Prometheus there, to guard the\n  pass, etc.\n\n  \"937. The Argonautic expedition. Prometheus leaves Mount\n  Caucasus, being set at liberty by Hercules,\" etc.--Old\n  Translator.\n\n  [59] Stanley compares Pindar, Isth. vii. 33.\n\n      ----[Greek: pepromenon en pherteron\n    gonon [hoi] anakta patros tekein].\n\n  And Apoll. Rhod. iv. 201. Also the words of Thetis herself\n  in Nonnus, Dionys. xxxiii. 356.\n\n    [Greek: Zeus me pater edioke kai ethelen es gamon helkein,\n    ei me min potheonta geron anekopte Prometheus,\n    thespizon Kronionos areiona paida phyteusai].\n\n\n  [60] \"These were; 1. Epaphus; 2. Lybia; 3. Belus; 4.\n  Danaus; 5. Hypermnestra; 6. Abas; 7. Proetus; 8.\n  Acrisius; 9. Danae; 10. Perseus; 11. Electryon; 12.\n  Alcmena; 13. Hercules.\"--Blomfield.\n\n  [61] For two ways of supplying the lacuna in this\n  description of Io's travels, see Dindorf and Paley.\n\n  [62] Being turned into stone. Such was the punishment of\n  the fire-worshipers in the story of the first Lady of\n  Baghdad. See Arabian Nights, Vol. I., p. 198. The\n  mythico-geographical allusions in the following lines have\n  been so fully and so learnedly illustrated, that I shall\n  content myself with referring to the commentators.\n\n  [63] See Linwood's Lexicon and Griffiths' note.\n\n  [64] There is still much doubt about the elision [Greek:\n  esesth', ei]. Others read the passage interrogatively. See\n  Griffiths and Dindorf.\n\n  [65] This pun upon the name of Epaphus is preserved by\n  Moschus II. 50.\n\n    [Greek: en d' en Zeus, epaphomenos erema cheiri theeie\n    portios Inachies. ten heptaporo para Neilo\n    ek boos eukeraoio palin metameibe gynaika.]\n\n  and Nonnus, III. p. 62, 20:\n\n    [Greek: enth' Epaphon dii tikten akerasion hoti kolpon\n    Inachies damales epaphesato theios akoites\n    chersin erosaneessi--]\n\n\n  [66] There is much difficulty in this passage. Dindorf\n  understands [Greek: ekeinon] (AEgypti filiorum), and so\n  Paley, referring to his notes on Ag. 938, Suppl. 437. Mr.\n  Jelf, Gk. Gr., Sec. 696, Obs. 3, appears to take the same\n  view. There does not, therefore, seem any need of\n  alteration. On the other interpretation sometimes given to\n  [Greek: phthonon hixei somaton], see Linwood, v. [Greek:\n  phthonos].\n\n  [67] [Greek: sphagaisi] is rightly rendered \"in jugulo\" by\n  Blomfield, after Ruhnk. Ep. Crit. I. p. 71. To the\n  examples quoted add Apul. Met. I. p. 108, \"per jugulum\n  sinistrum capulotenus gladium totum ei demergit,\" and p.\n  110, \"jugulo ejus vulnus dehiscit in patorem,\" The\n  expression [Greek: nyktiphroureto thrasei] is well\n  illustrated by the words of Nonnus, I. c. p. 64, 17.\n\n    [Greek: kai kryphiois xipheessi siderophoron epi lektron\n    arsena gymnon Area kateunase thelys Enyo].\n\n  [68] See Nonnus I. c. Ovid, ep. xiv. 51, sqq.\n\n    \"Sed timor, et pietas crudelibus obstitit ausis:\n     Castaque mandatum dextra refugit opus.\"\n\n  [69] On [Greek: sphakelos] see Ruhnk. Tim. p. 123, and\n  Blomfield.\n\n  [70] See Paley. [Greek: a] is never intensive.\n\n  [71] On this admonition, generally attributed to Pittacus,\n  see Griffiths, and for a modern illustration in the\n  miseries of Sir John Anvil (or Enville), Knt., the\n  Spectator, No. 299.\n\n  [72] Paley would supply [Greek: potniai] to complete the\n  metre.\n\n  [73] I have followed Griffiths.\n\n  [74] Dindorf would throw out [Greek: aphobos], Paley\n  [Greek: ou dedia], remarking that the sense appears to\n  require [Greek: hote].\n\n  [75] _I.e._ possessing resources even among\n  impossibilities. Cf. Antig. 360. [Greek: aporos ep' ouden\n  erchetai], and for the construction, Jelf, Gk. Gr. Sec.\n  581, 2. obs.\n\n  [76] I think Elmsley has settled the question in favor of\n  [Greek: toion] for [Greek: hoion].\n\n  [77] \"In AEschylus we seem to read the vehement language of\n  an old servant of exploded Titanism: with him Jupiter and\n  the Olympians are but a new dynasty, fresh and exulting,\n  insolent and capricious, the victory just gained and yet\n  but imperfectly secured over the mysterious and venerable\n  beings who had preceded, TIME, HEAVEN, OCEAN, EARTH and\n  her gigantic progeny: Jupiter is still but half the\n  monarch of the world; his future fall is not obscurely\n  predicted, and even while he reigns, a gloomy irresistible\n  destiny controls his power.\"--Quart. Rev. xxviii, 416.\n\n  [79] Milton, Samson Agon.\n\n    _Dalilah._ \"I see thou art implacable, more deaf\n     To prayers than winds or seas.\"\n\n  Merchant of Venice, Act 4, sc. 1.\n\n    \"You may as well go stand upon the beach\n     And bid the main flood bate his usual height.\"\n\n  See Schrader on Musaeus, 320.\n\n  [80] See Linwood's Lexicon. Cf. Nonnus, Dionys. II. p. 45,\n  22.\n\n    [Greek: desma phygon dolometis homarteseie Prometheus,\n    hepatos heboontos apheidea daitymonea\n    ouranies thrasyn ornin echon pompea keleuthou].\n\n  [81] I have adopted Dindorf's emendation. See his note.\n\n  [82] How the cosmoramic effects here described were\n  represented on the stage, it is difficult to say, but such\n  descriptions are by no means rare in the poets. Compare\n  Musaeus, 314, sqq. Lucan, I. 75 sqq. and a multitude in the\n  notes of La Cerda on Virgil, AEn. I. 107, and Barthius on\n  Claudian. Gigant. 31, sqq. Nonnus, Dionys. I. p. 12.\n\n  [83] Or, \"of which may Jove the Averter be what his name\n  imports.\" See Paley and Linwood's Lex.\n\n  [84] This interpretation is now fully established, See\n  Paley. Thus Caesar, B. G. I. 29, \"qui arma ferre possent:\n  et item separatius pueri, senes;\" II. 28, Eteocles wishes\n  even the [Greek: achreioi] to assist in the common\n  defense.\n\n  [85] [Greek: pistoi] is to be supplied with [Greek:\n  genoisthe].\n\n  [86] Although [Greek: boter] may be compared with the\n  Roman _pullarius_, yet the phrase is here probably only\n  equivalent to [Greek: despotes manteumaton] soon after.\n\n  [87] Paley prefers \"nocturno concilio agitari,\" comparing\n  Rhes. 88, [Greek: tas sas pros eunas phylakes\n  elthontes phobo nyktegorousi]. On the authority of\n  Griffiths, I have supplied [Greek: tous Achaious] before\n  [Greek: epibouleuein].\n\n  [88] See my note on Prom. 863.\n\n  [89] See commentators.\n\n  [90] Cf. Jelf. Gk. Gr. Sec. 566, 2.\n\n  [91] See Linwood, s.v. [Greek: stephein]. Paley compares\n  v. 267, [Greek: Laphyra daon douriplechth' hagnois domois\n  Stepso pro naon]. Adrastus alone had been promised a safe\n  return home.\n\n  [92] Cf. Eum. 515, [Greek: oikton oiktisaito], _would\n  utter cries of pity_. Suppl. 59, [Greek: oikton oiktron\n  aion], _hearing one mournful piteous cry_. The old\n  translations rendered it, \"no regret was expressed on\n  their countenance.\"\n\n  [93] Perhaps we might render [Greek: phraxai], _dam_, in\n  order to keep up the metaphor of the ship. Cf. Hom. Od. V.\n  346, [Greek: phraxe de min rhipessi diamperes oisyinesi].\n  The closing the ports of a vessel to keep out the water\n  will best convey the meaning to modern readers.\n\n  [94] This seems the true meaning of [Greek: ephestios],\n  _indigenous in Greece_, as Blomfield interprets, quoting\n  Hesych, [Greek: ephestios, autochthon, enoikos], II. B.\n  125, etc. An Athenian audience, with their political\n  jealousy of Asiatic influence, and pride of indigenous\n  origin, would have appreciated this prayer as heartily as\n  the one below, v. 158, [Greek: polin doriponon me prodoth'\n  Heterophono strato], which their minds would connect with\n  more powerful associations than the mere provincial\n  differences of Boeotia and Argos. How great a stress was\n  laid upon the ridicule of foreign dialect, may be seen\n  from the reception of Pseudartabas in the Acharnians.\n\n  [95] Cf. Arist. Rhet. II. 17, 6. The same sentiment,\n  though expressed the contrary way, occurs in Eur. Troad.\n  26, [Greek: Eremia gar polin hotan labe kake, Nosei ta ton\n  theon oude timasthai thelei].\n\n  [96] The chorus survey the surrounding plains from a high\n  part of the Acropolis of Thebes, as Antigone from the top\n  of the palace in the Phoenissae of Euripides, v. 103,\n  sqq.\n\n  [97] [Greek: prodromos]=_so as to be foremost_. Cf. Soph.\n  Antig. 108, [Greek: phygada prodromon oxytero kinesasa\n  chalino].\n\n  [98] This passage is undoubtedly corrupt, but Dindorf's\n  conjecture [Greek: hele d' emas phrenas deos; hoplon ktypos\n  potichrimptetai, dia pedon boa potatai, bremei d']--,\n  although ingenious, differs too much from the _ductus\n  literarum_, to be considered safe. Paley from the\n  interpretation of the Medicean MS. and the reading of\n  Robortelli, [Greek: eDIDemnas], has conjectured [Greek:\n  DIA de gas emas pedi' hoploktypou], which seems\n  preferable. Perhaps we might read [Greek: epi de gas\n  pedioploktypou osin chrimp. boa], by tmesis, for [Greek:\n  epichrimptetai]. AEschylus used the compound, [Greek:\n  enchriptesthai], Suppl. 790, and nothing is more common\n  than such a tmesis. I doubt whether [Greek:\n  pedioploktypon] is not one of AEschylus' own \"high-crested\"\n  compounds. Mr. Burges has kindly suggested a parallel\n  passage of an anonymous author, quoted by Suidas, s. v.\n  [Greek: hyparattomenes: hippon chremetizonton, tes ges\n  tois posin auton hyparattomenes, oulon synkrouomenon].\n\n  [99] Cf. Soph. Antig. 106.\n\n  [100] Cf. Virg. _AEn._ I. 479;\n\n    \"Interea ad templum non aequae Palladis ibant\n     Crinibus Iliades passis, peplumque ferebant\n     Suppliciter tristes\"--\n\n  Statius, Theb. x. 50:\n\n        ----\"et ad patrias fusae Pelopeides aras\n    Sceptriferae Junonis opem, reditumque suorum\n    Exposcunt, pictasque fores, et frigida vultu\n    Saxa terunt, parvosque docent procumbere natos\n           *       *       *       *       *\n    Peplum etiam dono, cujus mirabile textum,\" etc.\n\n  [101] Here there is a gap in the metre. See Dindorf.\n\n  [102] \"pro vitanda servitute.\"--Paley.\n\n  [103] Not \"at the seven gates,\" as Valckenaer has clearly\n  shown.\n\n  [104] The paronomasia can only be kept up by rendering,\n  \"do thou, king of wolves, fall with wolf-like fierceness,\"\n  etc. Mueller, Dorians, vol. i. p. 325, considers that\n  [Greek: Lykeios] is connected with [Greek: lyke], _light_,\n  not with [Greek: lykos], _a wolf_.\n\n  [105] I follow Paley's emendation, [Greek: auetais].\n\n  [106] See a judicious note of Paley's.\n\n  [107] I have borrowed Griffiths' translation. It seems\n  impossible that [Greek: hagnon telos] could ever be a\n  personal appeal, while [Greek: sy te] evidently shows that\n  the address to Pallas Onca was unconnected with the\n  preceding line. As there is probably a lacuna after\n  [Greek: Diothen], it is impossible to arrive at any\n  certain meaning.\n\n  [108] See Stanley. [Greek: Onka] is a Phoenician word,\n  and epithet of Minerva.\n\n  [109] The boys, girls, etc.\n\n  [110] Cf. Eur. Hippol. 1219, sqq.\n\n    [Greek: kai despotes men hippikois en ethesi\n    polys xynoikon herpas' henias cheroin,\n    helkei de kopen hoste naubates aner].\n\n  [111] _I.e._ to adore the images placed at the head of the\n  vessel. See Griffiths.\n\n  [112] This far-fetched interpretation of an absurd text is\n  rightly condemned by W. Dindorf in his note, who elegantly\n  reads with Lud. Dindorf [Greek: hydasi t' Ismenou]. Paley\n  has clearly shown the origin of the corruption. Linwood is\n  equally disinclined to support the common reading.\n\n  [113] Blomfield reads [Greek: ego de g' andras], the\n  change of [Greek: DEG] to [Greek: DEP] being by no means a\n  difficult one. Linwood agrees with this alteration, and\n  Dindorf in his notes. But Paley still defends the common\n  reading, thinking that [Greek: ep' echthrois] is to be\n  taken from the following line. I do not think the poet\n  would have hazarded a construction so doubtful, that we\n  might take [Greek: epi] either with [Greek: andras],\n  [Greek: echthrois], or by tmesis, with [Greek: axo].\n\n  [114] The construction of the exegetical accusative is\n  well illustrated in Jelf's Gk. Gr. Sec. 580, 3.\n\n  [115] I have followed Blomfield, and Dindorf in his notes,\n  in reading [Greek: kydos toisde politais].\n\n  [116] This is perhaps the sense required; but, with\n  Dindorf, I can not see how it can be elicited from the\n  common reading. Perhaps Schneider's [Greek: artitrophois]\n  is right, which is approved by Dindorf, Linwood, and\n  Paley.\n\n  [117] There is the same irregular antithesis between\n  [Greek: allon agei] and [Greek: ta de (=ta de) pyrphorei];\n  as in Soph. Ant. 138, [Greek: eiche d' alla ta men, alla d'\n  ep' allois epenoma--Ares].\n\n  [118] See Elmsl. on Eur. Bacch. 611. I follow Griffiths\n  and Paley.\n\n  [119] There is much difficulty in the double participle\n  [Greek: peson-kyresas]. Dindorf would\n  altogether omit [Greek: kyresas], as a gloss. But surely\n  [Greek: peson] was more likely to be added as a gloss,\n  than [Greek: kyresas]. I think that the fault probably\n  lies in [Greek: peson].\n\n  [120] This passage is scarcely satisfactory, but I have\n  followed Paley. Perhaps if we place a comma after [Greek:\n  hyperterou], and treat [Greek: hos andr. d. hyp. eutych.]\n  as a genitive absolute, there will be less abruptness,\n  [Greek: elpis esti] standing for [Greek: elpizousi], by a\n  frequent enallage.\n\n  [121] The turgidity of this metaphor is almost too much\n  even for AEschylus!\n\n  [122] The multitude of interpretations of the common\n  reading are from their uniform absurdity sufficient to\n  show that it is corrupt. I have chosen the least\n  offensive, but am still certain that [Greek: apartizei] is\n  indefensible. Hermann (who, strange to say, is followed by\n  Wellauer) reads [Greek: katargizei], Blomfield [Greek:\n  katartizei].\n\n  [123] Besides Stanley's illustrations, see Pricaeus on\n  Apul. Apol. p. 58. Pelagonius in the Geoponica, XVI. 2,\n  observes [Greek: agathou de hippou kai touto tekmerion,\n  hotan hestekos me anechetai, alla kroton ten gen hosper\n  trechein epithyme]. St. Macarius Hom. XXIII. 2, [Greek:\n  epan de mathe (ho hippos) kai synethisthe eis ton polemon,\n  hotan osphranthe kai akouse phonen polemou, autos hetoimos\n  erchetai epi tous echthrous, hoste kai ap' autes tes phones\n  ptoesin empoiein tois polemiois]. Marmion, Canto V.,\n\n    \"Marmion, like charger in the stall,\n     That hears without the trumpet's call,\n       Began to chafe and swear.\"\n\n  [124] See Boyes' Illustrations, p. 11.\n\n  [125] This seems to be the sense of [Greek: mantis\n  ennoia]. Blomfield would add [Greek: ennoia] to the\n  dative, which is easier.\n\n  [126] So Linwood. Justice is styled the near relation of\n  Melanippus, because he was [Greek: aischron argos], v.\n  406. The scholiast however interprets it [Greek: to tes\n  xyngeneias dikaion].\n\n  [127] Dindorf's substitution of [Greek: dikaias] for\n  [Greek: dikaios] is no improvement. Paley's [Greek:\n  dikaios] is more elegant, but there seems little reason\n  for alteration.\n\n  [128] Probably nothing more than the lightning is meant,\n  as Blomfield supposes. Paley quotes Eur. Cycl. 328,\n  [Greek: peplon krouei, Dios brontaisin eis erin ktypon].\n  And this agrees with the fate of Capaneus as described in\n  Soph. Antig. 131, sqq.; Nonnus, XXVIII. p. 480; Eur.\n  Phoen. 1187, sqq.\n\n  [129] Blomfield compares Eur. Bacch. 733, [Greek: thyrsois\n  dia cheroin hoplismenas]. But the present construction is\n  harsher.\n\n  [130] See Blomfield.\n\n  [131] I follow Blomfield and Paley.\n\n  [132] \"We embrace this opportunity of making a grammatical\n  observation with respect to the older poets, which, to the\n  best of our knowledge, has not hitherto been noticed by\n  any grammarian or critic. Wherever a wish or a prayer is\n  expressed, either by the single optative mood of the verb,\n  or with [Greek: me, eithe, ei gar, eithe gar], the verb is\n  in the second aorist, if it have a distinct second aorist;\n  otherwise it may be in the present tense, but is more\n  frequently in the first aorist.\"--Edinb. Rev. xix. 485.\n\n  [133] _I.e._ not bearing a braggart inscription, but\n  putting confidence in his own valor. [Greek: ou] was\n  rightly thrown out by Erfurdt. See Paley.\n\n  [134] _I.e._ from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus.\n\n  [135] Eteoclus and the figure on his\n  shield.\n\n  [136] Like a Bacchic devotee. See Virg. AEn. IV. 301, sqq.\n  So in the Agamemnon, v. 477.\n\n    [Greek: martyrei de moi kasis\n    pelou xynouros, dipsia konis, tade].\n\n  [137] Cf. Ag. 174. [Greek: Zena de tis epinikia klazon,\n  Teuxetai phrenon to pan]. Dindorf would omit all the\n  following lines. There is some difficulty about the sense\n  of [Greek: prosphileia], which I think Pauw best explains\n  as meaning \"such is the god that respectively befriends\n  each of these champions.\"\n\n  [138] Cf. Apollon. Rhod. I. 466, [Greek: Isto nyn dory\n  thouron hoto periosion allon kydos eni ptolemoisin\n  aeiromai, oude m' ophellei Zeus toson, hossation per emon\n  dory]. Statius Theb. ix. 649--\"ades o mihi dextera tantum\n  Tu praesens bellis, et inevitable numen, Te voco, te solam\n  superum contemptor adoro.\" See Cerda on Virg. AEn. X. 773.\n\n  [139] So Catullus, iii. 4, 5.\n\n    Passer, deliciae meae puellae,\n    Quem plus illa oculis suis amabat.\n\n  And Vathek, p. 124 (of the English version), \"Nouronihar\n  loved her cousin more than her own beautiful eyes.\"--OLD\n  TRANSLATOR. See Valcken. on Theocrit. xi. 53.\n\n  [140] A pun upon the word [Greek: parthenos] in the\n  composition of Parthenopaeus's name.\n\n  [141] The figure on the shield is undoubtedly the one\n  meant.\n\n  [142] _I.e._ \"he will fight by wholesale.\" See comm.\n  Perhaps the English phrase to \"deal a blow,\" to \"lend a\n  blow,\" is the nearest approximation to this curious idiom.\n  Boyes quotes some neat illustrations.\n\n  [143] This passage is a fair instance of the impossibility\n  of construing certain portions of AEschylus as they are\n  edited. Dindorf in his notes approves of Dobree's\n  emendation, [Greek: kai ton son aut' adelphou es patros\n  moron Exyptiazon onoma], and so Paley, except that he\n  reads [Greek: omma] with Schutz, and renders it \"_oculo in\n  patrio OEdipi fatum religiose sublato_.\" Blomfield's\n  [Greek: prosmolon homosporon] seems simpler, and in better\n  taste. [Greek: homosporon] was doubtless obliterated by the\n  gloss [Greek: adelpheon] (an Ionic form ill suited to the\n  senarius), and the [Greek: homoioteleuton] caused the\n  remainder of the error. Burges first proposed [Greek:\n  homosporon] in Troad. Append. p. 134, D. As to Paley's idea\n  that OEdipus' death was caused \"_per contentiorim filii\n  indolem_,\" I can not find either authority for the fact,\n  or reason for its mention here, and I have therefore\n  followed Blomfield. Dindorf's translation I can not\n  understand. The explanations of [Greek: exyptiazon onoma]\n  are amusing, and that is all.\n\n  [144] _I.e._ saying [Greek: Polyneikes polyneikes]. Paley\n  ingeniously remarks that [Greek: endateisthai] is here\n  used in a double sense, both of _dividing_ and\n  _reproaching_. See his note, and cf. Phoen. 636. [Greek:\n  alethos onoma Polyneike pater etheto soi theia, pronoia,\n  neikeon eponymon].\n\n  [145] See Griffiths.\n\n  [146] Porson, and all the subsequent editors have\n  bracketed this verse, as spurious, but the chief objection\n  to this sense of [Greek: karpizesthai] seems to be\n  obviated by Paley. See his note.\n\n  [147] Either with [Greek: palin] or [Greek: polin] there\n  is much difficulty, as without an epithet [Greek: polis]\n  seems harshly applied to Hades. Paley thinks that [Greek:\n  ten makran] refers both to [Greek: pompen] and [Greek:\n  polin]. Dindorf adopts his usual plan when a difficulty\n  occurs, and proposes to omit the line. Fritzsche truly\n  said of this learned critic, that if he had the privilege\n  of omitting every thing he could not understand, the plays\n  of the Grecian dramatists would speedily be reduced to a\n  collection of fragments.\n\n  [148] When the spear was not in use, it was held in the\n  left hand, under the shield. See Blomfield.\n\n  [149] Sc. king, or victor. Blomfield adopts the former.\n\n  [150] This passage is not satisfactory. Paley reads\n  [Greek: andrelaton], but I am doubtful about [Greek: tos\n  ... tonde ... tropon].\n\n  [151] In the original there is, perhaps, a slight mixture\n  of construction, [Greek: haimatos] partly depending upon\n  [Greek: karpos] implied in [Greek: pikrokarpon], and\n  partly upon [Greek: androktasian], [Greek: androkt..\n  haim.] being _the slaughter of a man, by which his blood\n  is shed_.\n\n  [152] Wellauer: _denuntians lucrum, quod prius erit morte\n  posteriore_: _i.e._ victoriam quam sequetur mors. And so\n  Griffiths and Paley.\n\n  [153] Shakespeare uses this name in the opening speech of\n  King Henry, in part I.:\n\n    No more the thirsty Erinnys of this soil\n    Shall daub her lips with her own children's blood.\n        OLD TRANSLATOR.\n\n  [154] See above, v. 383.\n\n  [155] Somewhat to the same effect is the dream of Atossa\n  in the Persae.\n\n  [156] I prefer Blomfield's transposition to Dindorf's\n  correction, [Greek: blapsiphronos], which, though\n  repudiated in the notes, is still adopted by Paley.\n\n  [157] A noble impersonation of the sword.\n\n  [158] Shakespeare, King John, Act 4, sc. 2:\n\n    That blood, which own'd the breadth of all this isle,\n    Three foot of it doth hold.\n\n  King Henry IV. part I. Act 5, sc. 5:\n\n            Fare thee well, great heart!\n    Ill-weav'd ambition, how much art thou shrunk!\n    When that this body did contain a spirit,\n    A kingdom for it was too small a bound;\n    But now, two paces of the vilest earth\n    Is room enough.\n\n  [159] Surely the full stop after [Greek: polin] in v. 749\n  should be removed, and a colon, or mark of hyperbaton\n  substituted. On looking at Paley's edition, I find myself\n  anticipated.\n\n  [160] This is Griffiths' version of this awkward passage.\n  I should prefer reading [Greek: alkan] with Paley, from\n  one MS. So also Burges.\n\n  [161] See my note on Soph. Philoct. 708, ed. Bohn.\n\n  [162] This seems the best way of rendering the bold\n  periphrase, [Greek: ho polybotos aion broton]. See\n  Griffiths.\n\n  [163] I follow Paley. Dindorf, in his notes, agrees in\n  reading [Greek: trophas], but the metre seems to require\n  [Greek: epikotos]. Griffiths defends the common reading,\n  but against the ancient authority of the schol. on OEd.\n  Col. 1375. See Blomfield.\n\n  [164] Blomfield with reason thinks that a verse has been\n  lost.\n\n  [165] The care which the Messenger takes to show the\n  bright side of the picture first, reminds us of\n  Northumberland's speech, Shakespeare, King Henry IV. part\n  II. Act 1, sc. 1:\n\n    This thou would'st say--Your son did thus and thus;\n    Your brother, thus; so fought the noble Douglas;\n    Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds;\n    But in the end, to stop mine ear indeed,\n    Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise,\n    Ending with--brother, son, and all are dead.\n      --OLD TRANSL.\n\n  [166] This is a good example of the figure chiasmus, the\n  force of which I have expressed by the bracketed words\n  repeated from the two infinities. See Latin examples in\n  the notes of Arntzenius on Mamertin. Geneth. 8, p. 27;\n  Pang. Vett. t. i.\n\n  [167] The Messenger retires to dress for the Herald's\n  part.\n\n  Horace's rule, \"Nec quarta loqui persona laboret,\" seems\n  to have been drawn from the practice of the Greek stage.\n  Only three actors were allowed to each of the\n  competitor-dramatists, and these were assigned to them by\n  lot. (Hesychius, [Greek: Nemesis hypokriton].) Thus, for\n  instance, as is remarked by a writer in the Quarterly\n  Review, in the OEdipus at Colonus, v. 509, Ismene goes\n  to offer sacrifice, and, after about forty lines, returns\n  in the character of Theseus. Soon afterward, v. 847,\n  Antigone is carried off by Creon's attendants, and returns\n  as Theseus after about the same interval as before.--OLD\n  TRANSLATION. The translator had misquoted the gloss of\n  Hesychius.\n\n  [168] This is the tragic account. See Soph. Antig. 170,\n  sqq.; Eurip. Phaen. 757, sqq. But other authors mention\n  descendants of both.\n\n  [169] Another pun on [Greek: Polyneikes].\n\n  [170] Cf. Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, sec. 3:\n\n    \"I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins.\"\n\n  [171] This passage is confessedly corrupt. Paley seems to\n  have rightly restored [Greek: astolon] from the [Greek:\n  astolon theorida] in Robertelli's edition. This ship, as\n  he remarks, would truly be [Greek: astolos], in opposition\n  to the one sent to Delphi, which was properly said [Greek:\n  stellesthai epi theorian]. The words [Greek: astibe\n  Apolloni] confirm this opinion. In regard to the allusions,\n  see Stanley and Blomfield, also Wyttenbach on Plato\n  Phaedon. sub. init.\n\n  [172] This repetition of [Greek: di' hon] is not altogether\n  otiose. Their contention for estate was the cause both of\n  their being [Greek: ainomoroi] and of the [Greek: neikos]\n  that ensued.\n\n  [173] _I.e._ the sword. Cf. v. 885.\n\n  [174] This epithet applied to their ancestral tombs\n  doubtless alludes to the violent deaths of Laius and\n  OEdipus.\n\n  [175] On the enallage [Greek: somati] for [Greek: somasi]\n  see Griffiths. The poet means to say that this will be all\n  their possession after death. Still Blomfield's reading,\n  [Greek: chomati], seems more elegant and satisfactory.\n\n  [176] Pauw remarks that Polynices is the chief subject of\n  Antigone's mourning, while Ismene bewails Eteocles. This\n  may illustrate much of the following dialogue, as well as\n  explain whence Sophocles derived his master-piece of\n  character, the Theban martyr-heroine, Antigone.\n\n  [177] Throughout this scene I have followed Dindorf's\n  text, although many improvements have been made in the\n  disposition of the dramatis personae. Every one will\n  confess that the length of [Greek: io io] commonplaces in\n  this scene would be much against the play, but for the\n  animated conclusion, a conclusion, however, that must lose\n  all its finest interest to the reader who is unacquainted\n  with the Antigone of Sophocles!\n\n  [178] Wellauer (not Scholfield, as Griffiths says) defends\n  the common reading from Herodot. V. 49.\n\n  [179] [Greek: trachyne] But T. Burgess' emendation [Greek:\n  trachys ge] seems better, and is approved by Blomfield.\n\n  [180] Soph. Ant. 44. [Greek: e gar noeis thaptein sph'\n  aporreton polei].\n\n  [181] I have taken Griffiths' translation of what Dindorf\n  rightly calls \"lectio vitiosa,\" and of stuff that no sane\n  person can believe came from the hand of AEschylus. Paley,\n  who has often seen the truth where all others have failed,\n  ingeniously supposes that [Greek: ou] is a mistaken\n  insertion, and, omitting it, takes [Greek: diatetimetai]\n  in this sense: \"_jam hic non amplius a diis honoratur;\n  ergo ego eum honorabo._\" See his highly satisfactory note,\n  to which I will only add that the reasoning of the\n  Antigone of Sophocles, vss. 515, sqq. gives ample\n  confirmation to his view of this passage.\n\n  [182] Blomfield would either omit this verse, or assign it\n  to the chorus.\n\n\nThe Hamilton, Locke and Clark\nSERIES OF\nInterlinear Translations\n\nHave long been the Standard and are now the _Best Translated_ and _Most\nComplete_ Series of Interlinears published.\n\n12mo., well bound in Half Leather.\n\nPrice reduced to $1.50 each. Postpaid to any address.\n\n\n_Latin Interlinear Translations:_\n\nVIRGIL--By HART AND OSBORNE.\nCAESAR--By HAMILTON AND CLARK.\nHORACE--By STIRLING, NUTTALL AND CLARK.\nCICERO--By HAMILTON AND CLARK.\nSALLUST--By HAMILTON AND CLARK.\nOVID--By GEORGE W. HEILIG.\nJUVENAL--By HAMILTON AND CLARK.\nLIVY--By HAMILTON AND CLARK.\nCORNELIUS NEPOS--By HAMILTON AND UNDERWOOD.\n\n_Greek Interlinear Translations:_\n\nHOMER'S ILIAD--By THOMAS CLARK.\nXENOPHON'S ANABASIS--By HAMILTON AND CLARK.\nGOSPEL OF ST. JOHN--By GEORGE W. HEILIG.\n\nS. Austin Allibone, the distinguished author, writes:\n\n\"There is a growing disapprobation, both in Great Britain and America,\nof the disproportionate length of time devoted by the youthful student\nto the acquisition of the dead languages; and therefore nothing will\ntend so effectually to the preservation of the Greek and Latin grammars\nas their judicious union (the fruit of an intelligent compromise) with\nthe Interlinear Classics.\"\n\nDAVID McKAY, Publisher, Philadelphia.\nFormerly published by Charles De Silver & Sons.","title":"Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and the Seven Against Thebes","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":28432}