And having taken his stand above our roofs,
Ravening with spears eager for death
Around the outlets of the seven portals,
Away he went before his jaws were glutted
With Theban blood,
Before the flame of torches
Had caught our circling coronet of towers.
Such and so loud the Martial clatter
Which pealed about him as he fled—
No easy task to grapple with it!
The Dragon was his match in war.
Zeus exceedingly hateth the boastings of Misproud language and soon as he saw them, In a swollen torrent of gold advancing,
And proud in the rattle of armour,
Forth flew his brandisht bolt at the foe, who,
Scaling our ramparts,
Was beginning the pæan of conquest.
Thrown from our walls against the solid earth,
Torch in hand, he fell,
Who then with frantic impulse raging
Hurtled in angry hurricanes against us.
So went the war with him!
Elsewhere great Ares others
Roughly entreated, on the right
Our tug of battle aiding.
ἑπτὰ λοχαγοὶ γὰρ ἐφ ̓ ἑπτὰ πύλαις
ταχθέντες ἴσοι πρὸς ἴσους, ἔλιπον
Ζηνὶ τροπαίῳ πάγχαλκα τέλη
πλὴν τοῖν στυγεροῖν, ὦ πατρὸς ἑνὸς
μητρός τε μιᾶς φύντε, καθ ̓ αὑτοῖν
δικρατεῖς λόγχας στήσαντ ̓, ἔχετον
κοινοῦ θανάτου μέρος ἄμφω.
ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὁ μεγαλώνυμος ἦλθε Νίκα
τῷ πολυαρμάτῳ ἀντιχαρεῖσα Θήβα,
ἐκ μὲν δὴ πολέμων
τῶν νῦν θέσθε λησμοσύναν,
θεῶν δὲ ναούς χοροῖς
παννυχίοις πάντας ἐπέλθωμεν· ὁ Θήβας δ' ἐλελίχθων † Βάκχιος ἄρχοι.
ἀλλ' ὅδε γὰρ δὴ βασιλεὺς χώρας αντισύστ. β ́. 155
Κρέων ὁ Μενοικέως [† νέον εἰληχως
ἀρχήν,] νεοχμὸς νεαραῖσι θεῶν
ἐπὶ συντυχίαις χωρεῖ, τίνα δὴ
μῆτιν ἐρέσσων, ὅτι σύγκλητον
τήνδε γερόντων προὔθετο λέσχην,
κοινῷ κηρύγματι πέμψας;
γρ. Κρ. ὁ Μ. νεοχμὸς κ.τ.λ.
For seven at seven portals contending,
Chief against chief, each left to his foeman
His armour of bronze as a trophy for Zeus,
Save those two implacable brothers, who
Born of one father and mother, with lances
Equal in victory, foined till they shared
In the fratricide's portion together.
But now that Victory of mighty name
Has come to Theba, rich in cars, with joyous cheer,
Forget the wars that now no longer rage,
And seek we all the temples of the Gods,
With choirs that last the live-long night,
And be the shaker of the Theban land,-
Bacchus, our dance's leader!
Lo he approaches the King of our country,
Kreon, the son of Mencekeus; [the vacant
Throne he ascended e'en now, and] his rule is
New as the fates which the Gods have provided.
What counsel revolving summons he here
This Senate to list to his words, each elder
By the voice of the herald convening?
(While this movement is singing Kreon enters from the middle door with a long train of attendants, and having taken his seat on the throne, addresses the Chorus.)
ἌΝΔΡΕΣ, τὰ μὲν δὴ πόλεος ἀσφαλῶς θεοί,
πολλῷ σάλῳ σείσαντες, ώρθωσαν πάλιν
ὑμᾶς δ ̓ ἐγὼ πομποῖσιν ἐκ πάντων δίχα
ἔστειλ ̓ ἱκέσθαι· τοῦτο μὲν, τὰ Λαΐου
σέβοντας εἰδὼς εὖ θρόνων ἀεὶ κράτη
τοῦτ ̓ αὖθις, ἡνίκ ̓ Οἰδίπους ὤρθου πόλιν,
καπεὶ διώλετ', ἀμφὶ τοὺς κείνων ἔτι
παῖδας μένοντας ἐμπέδοις φρονήμασιν.
ὅτ ̓ οὖν ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς διπλῆς μοίρας μίαν
καθ ̓ ἡμέραν ὤλοντο, παίσαντές τε καὶ
πληγέντες αὐτόχειρι σὺν μιάσματι,
ἐγὼ κράτη δὴ πάντα καὶ θρόνους ἔχω
γένους κατ ̓ ἀγχιστεῖα τῶν ὀλωλότων.
ἀμήχανον δὲ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἐκμαθεῖν
ψυχήν τε καὶ φρόνημα καὶ γνώμην, πρὶν ἂν
ἀρχαῖς τε καὶ νόμοισιν ἐντριβὴς φανῇ,
ἐμοὶ γὰρ, ὅστις πᾶσαν εὐθύνων πόλιν,
μὴ τῶν ἀρίστων ἅπτεται βουλευμάτων,
ἀλλ ̓ ἐκ φόβου του γλῶσσαν † ἐγκλήσας ἔχει,
κάκιστος εἶναι νῦν τε καὶ πάλαι δοκεῖ·
καὶ μείζον ̓ ὅστις ἀντὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ πάτρας
φίλον νομίζει, τοῦτον οὐδαμοῦ λέγω.
ἐγὼ γὰρ, ἴστω Ζεὺς ὁ πάνθ' ὁρῶν ἀεὶ,
οὔτ ̓ ἂν σιωπήσαιμι τὴν ἄτην ὁρῶν
στείχουσαν ἀστοῖς ἀντὶ τῆς σωτηρίας, οὔτ ̓ ἂν φίλον ποτ ̓ ἄνδρα δυσμενῆ χθονὸς θείμην ἐμαυτῷ, τοῦτο γιγνώσκων, ὅτι
![[blocks in formation]](https://books.google.pt/books/content?id=HMQNAAAAYAAJ&hl=pt-PT&output=html_text&pg=PA21&img=1&zoom=3&q=editions:HARVARD32044050813641&cds=1&sig=ACfU3U0ASYZUMk9G9OaogVgNk6JwPgk6-A&edge=0&edge=stretch&ci=201,186,480,92)
SIRS, for the vessel of the state, the Gods
Had tossed us in a stormy surge, and now
Have righted us again and made us safe.
But you by messengers have I speeded here
To secret council; first, because I knew
How well ye ever held in reverence
The enthroned power of Laius; then again,
While Edipus maintained the city's weal,
And after he was gone, ye still continued
Good subjects to the children of that house.
Well now that they by a twin fate have fallen
On one day, each the smiter and the stricken,
Stained with the fratricide's blood-guiltiness,
I all that power, I that throne possess,
On claims of nearest kindred to the dead.
There is no man whose soul and will and meaning
Stand forth as outward things for all to see,
Till he has shown himself by practice versed
In ruling under law and making laws.
As to myself it is and was of old
My fixed belief, that he is vile indeed
Who when the general state his guidance claims
Dares not adhere to wisest policy,
But keeps his tongue locked up for fear of somewhat. Him too I reckon nowhere who esteems
A private friend more than his father-land.
For I,—may Zeus who ever seeth all things Witness my words,-I would not hold my peace, If, as the price of my peculiar safety,
I saw my citizens unwittingly
Exposed to onslaught from the public mischief;
Nor would I er count among my friends
My country's enemy for well I know,
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