O THOU, that whirling 'midst the stars of heaven
Thy radiant course, and on thy golden car
High-seated, glorying in thy fiery steeds,
Rollest the orient light, resplendent Sun,
How inauspicious didst thou dart thy beams
That day on Thebes, when from the sea-wash'd coast
Of fair Phoenicia Cadmus on this land
Set his ill-omen'd foot! Yet to his arms
The queen of love consign'd her beauteous daughter
Harmonia; and from her, to crown his joys,
Sprung Polydorus; Labdacus from him
Derived his birth; the father he of Laius.
Menœceus was my sire, and from one mother
Creon my brother: me my father named
Jocasta, and to Laius wedded me.
Year after year roll'd on, our nuptial bed
Yet childless, when to Phoebus he his way
Enquiring took, and of the god requests
The sweet society of a son to cheer
His house: the oracle replied, "O king
"Of warlike Thebes, sow not, the gods averse,
"For such a fatal harvest: should a son
"Spring up, that son shall kill thee, and thine house "Shall sink in blood." Yet one night in his wine
He yielded to his pleasure, and a son
From thence arose: but conscious of his fault
Offending 'gainst th' oracular voice, that son
He to his herdsmen gave in charge t' expose him
In the rich meads of Juno, where Citharon
O'ershades the vale, and with sharp-pointed steel
Bored through his legs; hence Greece gave him the name
Of Edipus. Him there the wand'ring grooms,
That watch'd the grazing steeds of Polybus,
Took up, and to their royal mistress bore:
She cherish'd at her breast the child, that cost me
A mother's throes, and works upon her lord
To deem it hers. When now the blooming down
Spoke manhood in my son, by instinct moved
Or some report, t' Apollo's shrine he went
Ardent to know his parents: at that time
To the same shrine went Laius, to enquire,
If haply he might learn, what fate attended
His exposed child: at Phocis, where the road
Divides itself, they met; the charioteer
Of Laius sternly bids him quit the way,
Yielding to kings; he silent moved and slow,
Greatly indignant; but the rushing steeds
Rent with their trampling hoofs his bleeding feet:
At this, (but why relate each circumstance
Of bloody action distant far?) the son
There kills the father, and to Polybus
In triumph sends the chariot. Now the Sphinx
Prey'd with a vulture's talons on the city.
My husband now no more, my brother Creon
Proclaim'd to him, whose deep thought should unfold
The subtle monster's intricate enigma,
My bed the prize: chance then brought Edipus,
My son; the Sphinx's riddle he explain'd ;
And as the monarch of this land assumes
The sceptre, his just meed; and marries me
His mother, hapless he, and knew it not;
Nor did she know that her son shared her bed.
I to my child bore children; two brave sons,
Eteocles, and the illustrious worth
Of Polynices; and two daughters, one
Her father call'd Ismene, but the elder
I named Antigone. But when he knew,
Much-suffering Œdipus, that sharing mine
He shared his mother's bed, in grief, in rage,
He did a deed of desperate horror, rent
His eyes, and with his golden buckles bored
Their bleeding orbs. When now the manly down
Began to darken on their cheeks, his sons
In secret shut him, from the
Immured, that the sad memory of his fortune.
Which needed much the best plann'd policy,
Might wear away: yet in the house he lives,
With most unhallow'd execrations cursing
His sons, that with the sword's sharp edge his house
Their mutual hate may share. They fearing this,
Fearing the gods might execute this curse,
Should they reside beneath one roof, agreed
In friendly compact that my Polynices,
The younger, should a willing exile go
Leaving this land, and to Eteocles
Consign the throne, till the revolving year
With grateful interchange should call him back.
Th' imperial seat he quits not, but with scorn
Drives Polynices out to banishment;
Who flies to Argos, and accepting there
Th' alliance of Adrastus, drew to arms
An host of Argives, who with many a shield
Form the firm phalanx round their chief, and march
To the sev'n gates of Thebes: before these walls
His father's sceptre he demands, his share
Of empire. To prevent this dreadful contest
I wrought my son, e'er his hand grasp the spear
Confiding in a truce to enter Thebes,
Brother with brother holding conference:
Gentle his answer; soon he will be here.
O thou, that in shining clouds of heaven
Dwellest enthroned, all-pow'rful Jove, preserve us,
Dispose my sons to peace; well it becomes
Thy wisdom, nor on one devoted head
To pour th' unceasing storm of wretchedness!
PHOR. Pride of thy father's house, sweet-breathing flower, Since, with leave granted, thou hast left th' apartments, Where virgin modesty retires to shun
The gaze of men, and to this tow'r approachest
Anxious to view the Argive troops beneath,
Yet stay thy steps, Antigone; mine eye
Shall first explore the pass; haply some Theban
May be in sight, and with opprobrious taunts
Revile me as a slave, nor spare e'en thee
Of royal birth: this caution had, my tongue
Shall tell thee all, whate'er I saw, or heard
From th' Argives, to thy brother when I bore
The offer of a truce, and thence return'd.
But nigh this house no Theban is in sight;
Come then, ascend this height, let thy foot tread
These stairs of ancient cedar; thence survey
The plains beneath; see what an host of foes
At Dirce's fount encamp, and stretch along
The valley where Ismenus rolls his stream.
Stretch forth thy hand, thy aged hand: support
My youth, assist me whilst I mount this height.
PHOR. Lean on my hand: in lucky' hour thou comest:
In motion is the wide Pelasgian host,
Each wheeling phalanx forming round its chief.
Awful Diana, virgin goddess, see
The field all brass glares like the lightning's blaze.
PHOR. Not tamely Polynices to this land
Returns, but raging leads a numerous host,
Horsemen, and deep'ning ranks of foot in arms.
Are the gates closed, fasten'd with bars of brass
To the strong bulwarks by Amphion rais'd
Of rock impregnable?
Within the city is secure: but view
That chief, if thy desire to know excite thee.
Who is that chief, o'er whose bright helmet waves
The snowy plume, as marshalling the van
He moves, and on his arm his brazen shield
Lifts lightly? Whence his race, and what his name? PHOR. That warrior chief from rich Mycena boasts His race, and near the fount of Lerna fixed His royal seat, the king Hippomedon.
With what an haughty port he moves, to sight
How dreadful, tow'ring like an earth-born giant!
Blazing amidst his starry arms he seems
Far other than the race of mortal men.
PHOR. Seest thou that chief now passing o'er the stream
Of Dirce!
Different he, of different guise
Is this the prince, who made
The son of Eneus: in his breast he bears
Th' Etolian Mars.
The sister of my brother's royal bride
His nuptial choice? How different are his arms,
And of barbaric mixture?
149. ̓Ασερωπός ἐν γραφαῖσι, ν. 131. This alludes to the figure of Argus engraved on his shield. See v. 1122. of the original, and 1. 1250. of the translation. So Valckenaer and Dr. Musgrave explain it.
158. Antigone had observed that the arms of Tydeus were in part barbaric; and her experienced attendant allows the justness of her observation, telling her that all the Etolians carry the shield and hurl the spear: as these weapons of offence and defence were common to all the Greeks, the difference could only be in the form. The words, which Euripides here uses, are ráxos and λóyx”, the precise meaning of which we must endeavour to find. Homer indeed makes use οἱ σάκος and ἀσπὶς indiscriminately; the shield of Paris is σάκος μέγα τε σιβαρόν τε, and soon after the spear of Menelaus strikes xar' oxida wávror iony, for the Grecian shield was round, and süxuxλos the general epithet of rìs; hence Virgil speaks of the eye of Polyphemus as
Argolici clypei, aut Phoebeæ lampadis instar.
Like the Sun's disk, or like a Grecian shield.-Dryden.
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