Epeisodion 1
Theseus
What is this lamentation that I hear, this beating of the breast, these dirges for the dead, with cries that echo from this shrine? How fluttering fear disquiets me,
lest haply my mother have gotten some mischance, in quest of whom I come, for she hath been long absent from home. Ha! what now? A strange sight challenges my speech; I see my aged mother sitting at the altar and stranger dames are with her, who in various note
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proclaim their woe; from aged eyes the piteous tear is starting to the ground, their hair is shorn, their robes are not the robes of joy.
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What means it, mother? ’Tis thine to make it plain to me, mine to listen; yea, for I expect some tidings strange.
Aethra
My son, these are the mothers of those chieftains seven, who fell around the gates of Cadmus’ town. With suppliant boughs they keep me prisoner, as thou seest, in their midst.
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Theseus
And who is yonder man, that moaneth piteously in the gateway?
Aethra
Adrastus, they inform me, king of Argos.
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Theseus
Are those his children, those boys who stand round him?
Aethra
Not his, but the sons of the fallen slain.
Theseus
Why are they come to us, with suppliant hand outstretched?
Aethra
I know; but ’tis for them to tell their story, my son.
Theseus
To thee, in thy mantle muffled, I address my inquiries; unveil thy head, let lamentation be, and speak; for naught can be achieved save through the utterance of thy tongue.Markland’s emendation περᾷς … ’ιών, is certainly tempting. Hartung adopts it; but Paley and Nauck, whom I have followed, retain the old reading πάρας … ’ιόν.
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Adrastus
Victorious prince of the Athenian realm, Theseus, to thee and to thy city I, a suppliant, come.
Theseus
What seekest thou? What need is thine?
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Adrastus
Dost know how I did lead an expedition to its ruin?
Theseus
Assuredly; thou didst not pass through Hellas, all in silence.
Adrastus
There I lost the pick of Argos’ sons.
Theseus
These are the results of that unhappy war.
Adrastus
I went and craved their bodies from Thebes.
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Theseus
Didst thou rely on heralds, Hermes’ servants, in order to bury them?
Adrastus
I did; and even then their slayers said me nay.
Theseus
Why, what say they to thy just request?
Adrastus
Say! Success makes them forget how to bear their
fortune.
Theseus
Art come to me then for counsel? or wherefore?
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Adrastus
With the wish that thou, O Theseus, shouldst recover the sons of the Argives.
Theseus
Where is your Argos now? were its vauntings all in vain?
Adrastus
Defeat and ruin are our lot. To thee for aid we come.
Theseus
this thy own private resolve, or the wish of all the city?
Adrastus
The sons of Danaus, one and all, implore thee to bury the dead.
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Theseus
Why didst lead thy seven armies against Thebes?
Adrastus
To confer that favour on the husbands of my daughters twain.
Theseus
To which of the Argives didst thou give thy daughters in marriage?
Adrastus
I made no match for them with kinsmen of my family.
Theseus
What! didst give Argive maids to foreign lords?
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Adrastus
Yea, to Tydeus, and to Polynices, who was Theban-born.
Theseus
What induced thee to select this alliance?
Adrastus
Dark riddles of Phoebus stole away my judgment.
Theseus
What said Apollo to determine the maidens’ marriage?
Adrastus
That I should give my daughters twain to a wild boar and a lion.
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Theseus
How dost thou explain the message of the god?
Adrastus
One night came to my door two exiles.
Theseus
The name of each declare; thou art speaking of both together.
Adrastus
They fought together, Tydeus with Polynices.
Theseus
Didst thou give thy daughters to them as to wild beasts?
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Adrastus
Yea, for, as they fought, I likened them to those monsters twain.
Theseus
Why had they left the borders of their native land and come to thee?
Adrastus
Tydeus was exiled for the murder of a kinsman.
Theseus
Wherefore had the son of Oedipus left Thebes?
Adrastus
By reason of his father’s curse, not to spill his brother’s blood.
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Theseus
Wise no doubt that voluntary exile.
Adrastus
But those who stayed at home were for injuring the absent.
Theseus
What! did brother rob brother of his inheritance?
Adrastus
To avenge this I set out; hence my ruin.
Theseus
Didst consult seers, and gaze into the flame of burnt-offerings?
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Adrastus
Ah me! thou pressest on the very point, wherein I most did fail.
Theseus
It seems thy going was not favoured by heaven.
Adrastus
Worse; I went in spite even of Amphiaraus.
Theseus
And so heaven lightly turnedReiske conjectures ἀπεστράφης, and omits σ’. its face from thee.
Adrastus
I was carried away by the clamour of younger men.
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Theseus
Thou didst favour courage instead of discretion.
Adrastus
Dindorf condemns this line. Paley brackets it as spurious. Nauck assigns it to Theseus, and retains it. True; and many a general owes defeat to that. O king of Athens, bravest of the sons of Hellas, I blush
to throw myself upon the ground and clasp thy knees, I a grey-haired king, blest in days gone by; yet needs must I yield to my misfortunes. I pray thee save the dead; have pity on my sorrows and on these, the mothers of the slain,
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whom hoary eld finds reft of their sons; yet they endured to journey hither and tread a foreign soil with aged tottering steps, bearing no embassy to Demeter’s mysteries; only seeking burial for their dead, which lot should have been theirs,
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e’en burial by the hands of sons still in their prime.The following two lines are bracketed as spurious by Nauck. And ’tis wise in the rich to see the poor man’s poverty, and in the poor man to turn ambitious eyes toward the rich, that so he may himself indulge a longing for property; and they, whom fortune frowns not on, should gaze on misery’s presentment;
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likewise, who maketh songs should take a pleasure in their making; for if it be not so with him, he will in no wise avail to gladden others, if himself have sorrow in his home; nay, ’tis not even right to expect it. Mayhap thou’lt say, Why pass the land of Pelops o’er,
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and lay this toil on Athens? This am I bound to declare. Sparta is cruel, her customs variable; the other states are small and weak. Thy city alone would be able to undertake this labour;
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for it turns an eye on suffering, and hath in thee a young and gallant king, for want whereof to lead their hosts states ere now have often perished.
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Chorus
I too, Theseus, urge the same plea to thee; have pity on my hard fate.
Theseus
Full οft have I argued out this subject with others. For there are who say, there is more bad than good in human nature, to the which I hold a contrary view, that1 good o’er bad predominates in man,
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for if it were not so, we should not exist. He hath my praise, whoe’er of gods brought us to live by rule from chaos and from brutishness, first by implanting reason, and next by giving us a tongue to declare our thoughts, so as to2 know the meaning of what is said,
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bestowing fruitful crops, and drops of rain from heaven to make them grow, wherewith to nourish earth’s fruits and to water her lap; and more than this, protection from the wintry storm, and means to ward from us the sun-god’s scorching heat; the art of sailing o’er the sea, so that we might exchange
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with one another whatso our countries lack. And where sight fails us and our knowledge is not sure, the seer foretells by gazing on the flame, by reading signs in folds of entrails, or by divination from the flight of birds. Are we not then too proud, when heaven hath made such preparation for our life,
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not to be content therewith? But our presumption seeks to lord it over heaven, and in the pride of our hearts we think we are wiser than the gods.
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Methinks thou art even of this number, a son of folly,
seeing that thou, though obedient to Apollo’s oracle in giving thy daughters to strangers, as if gods really existed, yet hast hurt thy house by mingling the stream of its pure line with muddy waters; no! never should the wise man have joined the stock of just and unjust in one,
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but should have gotten prosperous friends for his family. For the deity, confusing their destinies, doth oft destroy by the sinner’s fate him who never sinned nor committed injustice. Thou didst lead all Argos forth to battle,
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though seers proclaimed the will of heaven, and then in scorn of them and in violent disregard of the gods hast ruined thy city, led away by younger men, such as court distinction, and add war to war unrighteously destroying their fellow-citizens; one aspires to lead an army;
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another fain would seize the reins of power and work his wanton will; a third is bent on gain, careless of any mischief the people thereby suffer. For there are three ranks of citizens; the rich, a useless set, that ever crave for more;
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the poor and destitute, fearful folk, that cherish envy more than is right, and shoot out grievous stings against the men who have aught, beguiled as they are by the eloquence of vicious leaders; while the class that is midmost of the three preserveth cities,
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observing such order as the state ordains. Shall I then become thy ally? What fair pretext should I urge before my countrymen? Depart in peace! For whyReading with Hermann ἡμῶν τί δεῖ; for MS. ’ημᾶς λίαν.Paley’s text here follows Matthiae’s emendation ἴθ’ εἰ γάρ μὴ for MS. ἴθι δὴ· μὴ γὰρ. shouldst thou, having been ill-advised thyself, seek to drag our fortune down?
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Chorus
He erred; but with the young men rests this error, while he may well be pardoned.
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Adrastus
I did not choose thee, king, to judge my affliction, butDobree rejects this line. Nauck, Matthiae, and Hartung omit it also. came to thee to cure it; no! nor if in aught my fortunes prove me wrong,
came I to thee to punish or correct them, but to seek thy help. But if thou wilt not, I must be content with thy decision; for how can I help it? Come, aged dames, away! Yet leave behind you here the woven leaves of pale green foliage,
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calling to witness heaven and earth, Demeter, that fire-bearing goddess, and the sun-god’s light, that our prayers to heaven availed us naught.
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Chorus
. . . . Something is lost here, referring to the claims of relationship. The sense perhaps is, thou art thyself related to Pittheus, who was, etc. who was Pelops’ son, and we are of the land of Pelops and share with thee the blood of ancestors.
What art thou doing? wilt thou betray these suppliant symbols, and banish from thy land these aged women without the boon they should obtain? Do not so; e’en the wild beast finds a refuge in the rock, the slave in the altars of the gods, and a state when tempest-tossed cowers to its neighbour’s shelter;
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for naught in this life of man is blest unto its end.
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[Episode]
Rise, hapless one, from the sacred floor of Persephone; rise, clasp him by the knees and implore him, O recover the bodies of our dead sons, the children that I lost—ah, woe is me!—beneath the walls of Cadmus’ town.
Chorus
Ah me! ah me!The words ἰω μοι to γεραιᾶς are probably interpolated. Nauck and Hartung reject them here. Take me by the hand, poor aged sufferer that I am, support and guide and raise me up. By thy beard, kind friend, glory of Hellas, I do beseech thee, as I clasp thy knees and hands in my misery;
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O pity me as I entreat for my sons with my tale of wretched woe, likeReading ὔ τιν’ ἀλάταν with Musgrave. some beggar; nor let my sons lie there unburied in the land of Cadmus, glad prey for beasts, whilst thou art in thy prime, I implore thee. See the teardrop tremble in my eye,
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as thus I throw me at thy knees to win my children burial.
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Theseus
Mother mine, why weepest thou, drawing o’er thine eyes thy veil? Is it because thou didst hear their piteous lamentations? To my own heart it goes. Raise thy silvered head, weep not
where thou sittest at the holy altar of Demeter.
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Theseus
’Tis not for thee their sorrows to lament.
Theseus
Thou art not of their company.
Aethra
May I a scheme declare, my son, that shall add to thy glory and the state’s?
Theseus
Yea, for oft even from women’s lips issue wise counsels.
Aethra
Yet the word, that lurks within my heart, makes me hesitate.
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Theseus
Shame! to hide from friends good counsel.
Aethra
Nay then, I will not hold my peace to blame myself hereafter for having now kept silence to my shame, nor will I forego my honourable proposal, from the common fear
that it is useless for women to give good advice. First, my son, I exhort thee give good heed to heaven’s will, lest from slighting it thou suffer shipwreck; Probably spurious. for in this one single point thou failest, though well-advised in all else. Further, I would have patiently endured, had it not been my duty
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to venture somewhat for injured folk; and this, my son, it is that brings thee now thy honour, and causes me no fear to urge that thou shouldst useLine 310 is rejected by Nauck. thy power to make men of violence, who prevent the dead from receiving their meed of burial and funeral rites,
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perform this bounden duty, and check those who would confound the customs of all Hellas; for this it is that holds men’s states together,—strict observance of the laws. And some, no doubt, will say, ’twas cowardice made thee stand aloof in terror,
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when thou mightest have won for thy city a crown of glory, and, though thou didst encounter a savage swine,The monster Phaea, which infested the neighbourhood of Corinth. labouring for a sorry task, yet when the time came for thee to face the helmet and pointed spear, and do thy best, thou wert found to be a coward.
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Nay! do not so if thou be son of mine. Dost see how fiercely thy country looks on its revilers when they mock her for want of counsel? Yea, for in her toils she groweth greater. But states, whose policy is dark and cautious,
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have their sight darkened by their carefulness. My son, wilt thou not go succour the dead and these poor women in their need? I have no fears for thee, starting as thou dost with right upon thy side; and although I see the prosperity of Cadmus’ folk,
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still am I confident they will throw a different die; for the deity reverses all things again.
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Chorus
Ah! best of friends, right well hast thou pleaded for me and for Adrastus, and hence my joy is doubled.
Theseus
Mother, the words that I have spoken
are his fair deserts, and I have declared my opinion of the counsels that ruined him; yet do I perceive the truth of thy warning to me, that it ill suits my character to shun dangers. For by a long and glorious career have
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I displayed this my habit among Hellenes, of ever punishing the wicked. Wherefore I cannot refuse toil. For what will spiteful tongues say of me, when thou, my mother, who more than all others fearest for my safety,
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bidst me undertake this enterprise? Yea, I will go about this business and rescue the dead by words persuasive; or, failing that, the spear forthwith shall decide this issue, nor will heaven grudge me this. But I require the whole city’s sanction also,
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which my mere wish will ensure; still by communicating the proposal to them I shall find the people better disposed. For them I made supreme, when I set this city free, by giving all an equal vote. So I will take Adrastus as a text for what I have to say
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and go to their assembly, and when I have won them to these views, I will return hither, after collecting a picked band of young Athenians; and then remaining under arms I will send a message to Creon, begging the bodies of the dead. But do ye, aged ladies, remove from my mother your holy wreaths,
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that I may take her by the hand and conduct her to the house of Aegeus; for a wretched son is he who rewards not his parents by service; for, when he hath conferred on them the best he hath, he in his turn from his own sons receives all such service as he gave to them.
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