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[_Exit ETEOCLES._] CHORUS. I mark his words, yet, dark and deep, My heart’s alarm forbiddeth sleep! Close-clinging cares around my soul Enkindle fears beyond control, Presageful of what doom may fall From the great leaguer of the wall! So a poor dove is faint with fear For her weak nestlings, while anew Glides on the s... |
Gods born of Zeus! put forth your might For Cadmus’ city, realm, and right! What nobler land shall e’er be yours, If once ye give to hostile powers The deep rich soil, and Dirce’s wave, The nursing stream, Poseidon gave And Tethys’ children? Up and save! Cast on the ranks that hem us round A deadly panic, make them fli... |
For pity and sorrow it were that this immemorial town Should sink to be slave of the spear, to dust and to ashes gone down, By the gods of Achaean worship and arms of Achaean might Sacked and defiled and dishonoured, its women the prize of the fight— That, haled by the hair as a steed, their mantles dishevelled and tor... |
Up to the citadel rise clash and din, The war-net closes in, The spear is in the heart: with blood imbrued Young mothers wail aloud, For children at their breast who scream and die! And boys and maidens fly, Yet scape not the pursuer, in his greed To thrust and grasp and feed! Robber with robber joins, each calls his m... |
Enter on one side THE SPY; on the other ETEOCLES and the SIX CHAMPIONS. SEMI-CHORUS. Look, friends! methinks the scout, who parted hence To spy upon the foemen, comes with news, His feet as swift as wafting chariot-wheels. |
SEMI-CHORUS. Ay, and our king, the son of Oedipus, Comes prompt to time, to learn the spy’s report— His heart is fainter than his foot is fast! |
THE SPY. Well have I scanned the foe, and well can say Unto which chief, by lot, each gate is given. Tydeus already with his onset-cry Storms at the gate called Proetides; but him The seer Amphiaraus holds at halt, Nor wills that he should cross Ismenus’ ford, Until the sacrifices promise fair. But Tydeus, mad with lus... |
ETEOCLES. To me, no blazon on a foeman’s shield Shall e’er present a fear! such pointed threats Are powerless to wound; his plumes and bells, Without a spear, are snakes without a sting. Nay, more—that pageant of which thou tellest— The nightly sky displayed, ablaze with stars, Upon his shield, palters with double sens... |
CHORUS. Then may the gods give fortune fair Unto our chief, sent forth to dare War’s terrible arbitrament! But ah! when champions wend away, I shudder, lest, from out the fray, Only their blood-stained wrecks be sent! |
THE SPY. Nay, let him pass, and the gods’ help be his! Next, Capaneus comes on, by lot to lead The onset at the gates Electran styled: A giant he, more huge than Tydeus’ self, And more than human in his arrogance— May fate forefend his threat against our walls! _God willing, or unwilling_—such his vaunt— _I will lay wa... |
ETEOCLES. Aha, this profits also, gain on gain! In sooth, for mortals, the tongue’s utterance Bewrays unerringly a foolish pride! Hither stalks Capaneus, with vaunt and threat Defying god-like powers, equipt to act, And, mortal though he be, he strains his tongue In folly’s ecstasy, and casts aloft High swelling words ... |
CHORUS. Perish the wretch whose vaunt affronts our home! On him the red bolt come, Ere to the maiden bowers his way he cleave, To ravage and bereave! |
THE SPY. I will say on. Eteoclus is third— To him it fell, what time the third lot sprang O’er the inverted helmet’s brazen rim, To dash his stormers on Neistae gate. He wheels his mares, who at their frontlets chafe And yearn to charge upon the gates amain. They snort the breath of pride, and, filled therewith, Their ... |
ETEOCLES (_pointing to_ MEGAREUS) Send will I—even this man, with luck to aid— By his worth sent already, not by pride And vain pretence, is he. ’Tis Megareus, The child of Creon, of the Earth-sprung born! He will not shrink from guarding of the gates, Nor fear the maddened charger’s frenzied neigh, But, if he dies, wi... |
CHORUS. O thou, the warder of my home, Grant, unto us, Fate’s favouring tide, Send on the foemen doom! They fling forth taunts of frenzied pride, On them may Zeus with glare of vengeance come; |
THE SPY. Lo, next him stands a fourth and shouts amain, By Pallas Onca’s portal, and displays A different challenge; ’tis Hippomedon! Huge the device that starts up from his targe In high relief; and, I deny it not, I shuddered, seeing how, upon the rim, It made a mighty circle round the shield— No sorry craftsman he, ... |
ETEOCLES. Yet first our Pallas Onca—wardress she, Planting her foot hard by her gate—shall stand, The Maid against the ruffian, and repel His force, as from her brood the mother-bird Beats back the wintered serpent’s venom’d fang And next, by her, is Oenops’ gallant son, Hyperbius, chosen to confront this foe, Ready to... |
In form, in valour, and in skill of arms, None shall gainsay him. See how wisely well Hermes hath set the brave against the strong! Confronted shall they stand, the shield of each Bearing the image of opposing gods: One holds aloft his Typhon breathing fire, But, on the other’s shield, in symbol sits Zeus, calm and str... |
CHORUS. High faith is mine that he whose shield Bears, against Zeus, the thing of hate. The giant Typhon, thus revealed, A monster loathed of gods eterne And mortal men—this doom shall earn A shattered skull, before the gate! |
THE SPY. Heaven send it so! A fifth assailant now Is set against our fifth, the northern, gate, Fronting the death-mound where Amphion lies The child of Zeus. |
This foeman vows his faith, Upon a mystic spear-head which he deems More holy than a godhead and more sure To find its mark than any glance of eye, That, will they, nill they, he will storm and sack The hold of the Cadmeans. Such his oath— His, the bold warrior, yet of childish years, A bud of beauty’s foremost flower,... |
ETEOCLES. Ah, may they meet the doom they think to bring— They and their impious vaunts—from those on high! So should they sink, hurled down to deepest death! This foe, at least, by thee Arcadian styled, Is faced by one who bears no braggart sign, But his hand sees to smite, where blows avail— Actor, own brother to Hyp... |
CHORUS. Home to my heart the vaunting goes, And, quick with terror, on my head Rises my hair, at sound of those Who wildly, impiously rave! If gods there be, to them I plead— _Give them to darkness and the grave_. |
THE SPY. Fronting the sixth gate stands another foe, Wisest of warriors, bravest among seers— Such must I name Amphiaraus: he, Set steadfast at the Homoloid gate, Berates strong Tydeus with reviling words— _The man of blood, the bane of state and home, To Argos, arch-allurer to all ill, Evoker of the fury-fiend of hell... |
ETEOCLES. Out on the chance that couples mortal men, Linking the just and impious in one! In every issue, the one curse is this— Companionship with men of evil heart! A baneful harvest, let none gather it! The field of sin is rank, and brings forth death At whiles a righteous man who goes aboard With reckless mates, a ... |
CHORUS. Unto our loyal cry, ye gods, give ear! Save, save the city! turn away the spear, Send on the foemen fear! Outside the rampart fall they, rent and riven Beneath the bolt of heaven! |
THE SPY. Last, let me name yon seventh antagonist, Thy brother’s self, at the seventh portal set— Hear with what wrath he imprecates our doom, Vowing to mount the wall, though banished hence, And peal aloud the wild exulting cry— _The town is ta’en_—then clash his sword with thine, Giving and taking death in close embr... |
ETEOCLES. Ah me, the madman, and the curse of Heaven! And woe for us, the lamentable line Of Oedipus, and woe that in this house Our father’s curse must find accomplishment! But now, a truce to tears and loud lament, Lest they should breed a still more rueful wail! As for this Polynices, named too well, Soon shall we k... |
CHORUS. O thou true heart, O child of Oedipus, Be not, in wrath, too like the man whose name Murmurs an evil omen! ’Tis enough That Cadmus’ clan should strive with Argos’ host, For blood there is that can atone that stain! But—brother upon brother dealing death— Not time itself can expiate the sin! |
ETEOCLES. If man find hurt, yet clasp his honour still, ’Tis well; the dead have honour, nought beside. Hurt, with dishonour, wins no word of praise! |
CHORUS. Ah, what is thy desire? Let not the lust and ravin of the sword Bear thee adown the tide accursed, abhorred! Fling off thy passion’s rage, thy spirit’s prompting dire! |
ETEOCLES. Nay—since the god is urgent for our doom, Let Laius’ house, by Phoebus loathed and scorned, Follow the gale of destiny, and win Its great inheritance, the gulf of hell! |
CHORUS. Ruthless thy craving is— Craving for kindred and forbidden blood To be outpoured—a sacrifice imbrued With sin, a bitter fruit of murderous enmities! |
ETEOCLES. Yea, my own father’s fateful Curse proclaims— A ghastly presence, and her eyes are dry— _Strike! honour is the prize, not life prolonged!_ |
CHORUS. Ah, be not urged of her! for none shall dare To call thee _coward_, in thy throned estate! Will not the Fury in her sable pall Pass outward from these halls, what time the gods Welcome a votive offering from our hands? |
ETEOCLES. The gods! long since they hold us in contempt, Scornful of gifts thus offered by the lost! Why should we fawn and flinch away from doom? |
CHORUS. Now, when it stands beside thee! for its power May, with a changing gust of milder mood, Temper the blast that bloweth wild and rude And frenzied, in this hour! |
ETEOCLES. Ay, kindled by the curse of Oedipus— All too prophetic, out of dreamland came The vision, meting out our sire’s estate! |
CHORUS. Heed women’s voices, though thou love them not! ETEOCLES. Say aught that may avail, but stint thy words. CHORUS. Go not thou forth to guard the seventh gate! |
ETEOCLES. Words shall not blunt the edge of my resolve. CHORUS. Yet the god loves to let the weak prevail. ETEOCLES. That to a swordsman, is no welcome word! |
CHORUS. Shall thine own brother’s blood be victory’s palm? ETEOCLES. Ill which the gods have sent thou canst not shun! [_Exit ETEOCLES._] |
CHORUS. I shudder in dread of the power, abhorred by the gods of high heaven, The ruinous curse of the home till roof-tree and rafter be riven! Too true are the visions of ill, too true the fulfilment they bring To the curse that was spoken of old by the frenzy and wrath of the king! Her will is the doom of the childre... |
Ah, but when kin meets kin, when sire and child, Unknowing, are defiled By shedding common blood, and when the pit Of death devoureth it, Drinking the clotted stain, the gory dye— Who, who can purify? Who cleanse pollution, where the ancient bane Rises and reeks again? Whilome in olden days the sin was wrought, And swi... |
Whom did the gods, whom did the chief of men, Whom did each citizen In crowded concourse, in such honour hold, As Oedipus of old, When the grim fiend, that fed on human prey, He took from us away? |
But when, in the fulness of days, he knew of his bridal unblest, A twofold horror he wrought, in the frenzied despair of his breast— Debarred from the grace of the banquet, the service of goblets of gold, He flung on his children a curse for the splendour they dared to withhold, A curse prophetic and bitter—_The glory ... |
Enter THE SPY. THE SPY. Take heart, ye daughters whom your mothers’ milk Made milky-hearted! lo, our city stands, Saved from the yoke of servitude: the vaunts Of overweening men are silent now, And the State sails beneath a sky serene, Nor in the manifold and battering waves Hath shipped a single surge, and solid stand... |
CHORUS. What further woefulness besets our home? THE SPY. The home stands safe—but ah, the princes twain— CHORUS. Who? what of them? I am distraught with fear. |
THE SPY. Hear now, and mark! the sons of Oedipus— CHORUS. Ah, my prophetic soul! I feel their doom. THE SPY. Have done with questions!—with their lives crushed out— |
CHORUS. Lie they out yonder? the full horror speak! Did hands meet hands more close than brotherly? Came fate on each, and in the selfsame hour? |
THE SPY. Yea, blotting out the lineage ill-starred! Now mix your exultation and your tears, Over a city saved, the while its lords, Twin leaders of the fight, have parcelled out With forged arbitrament of Scythian steel The full division of their fatherland, And, as their father’s imprecation bade, Shall have their due... |
CHORUS. O mighty Zeus and guardian powers, The strength and stay of Cadmus’ towers! Shall I send forth a joyous cry, _Hail to the lord of weal renewed?_ Or weep the misbegotten twain, Born to a fatal destiny? Each numbered now among the slain, Each dying in ill fortitude, Each _truly named_, each _child of feud?_ |
O dark and all-prevailing ill, That broods o’er Oedipus and all his line, Numbing my heart with mortal chill! Ah me, this song of mine, Which, Thyad-like, I woke, now falleth still, Or only tells of doom, And echoes round a tomb! |
Dead are they, dead! in their own blood they lie— Ill-omened the concent that hails our victory! The curse a father on his children spake Hath faltered not, nor failed! Nought, Laius! thy stubborn choice availed— First to beget, then, in the after day And for the city’s sake, The child to slay! For nought can blunt nor... |
ANTIGONE and ISMENE approach with a train of mourners, bearing the bodies of ETEOCLES and POLYNICES. Look up, look forth! the doom is plain, Nor spake the messenger in vain! A twofold sorrow, twofold strife— Each brave against a brother’s life! In double doom hath sorrow come— How shall I speak it?—on the home! |
Alas, my sisters! be your sighs the gale, The smiting of your brows the plash of oars, Wafting the boat, to Acheron’s dim shores That passeth ever, with its darkened sail, On its uncharted voyage and sunless way, Far from thy beams, Apollo, god of day— The melancholy bark Bound for the common bourn, the harbour of the ... |
Alas! of all, the breast who bind,— Yea, all the race of womankind— O maidens, ye are most bereaved! For you, for you the tear-drops start— Deem that in truth, and undeceived, Ye hear the sorrows of my heart! (_To the dead_.) Children of bitterness, and sternly brave— One, proud of heart against persuasion’s voice, One... |
Alack, on house and heritage They brought a baneful doom, and death for wage! One strove through tottering walls to force his way, One claimed, in bitter arrogance, the sway, And both alike, even now and here, Have closed their suit, with steel for arbiter! And lo, the Fury-fiend of Oedipus, their sire, Hath brought hi... |
Alas, a piercing shriek, a rending groan, A cry unfeigned of sorrow felt at heart! With shuddering of grief, with tears that start, With wailful escort, let them hither come— For one or other make divided moan! No light lament of pity mixed with gladness, But with true tears, poured from the soul of sadness, Over the p... |
Say we, above these brethren dead, _On citizen, on foreign foe, Brave was their rush, and stern their blow— Now, lowly are they laid!_ Beyond all women upon earth Woe, woe for her who gave them birth! Unknowingly, her son she wed— The children of that marriage-bed, Each in the self-same womb, were bred— Each by a broth... |
Yea, from one seed they sprang, and by one fate Their heritage is desolate, The heart’s division sundered claim from claim, And, from their feud, death came! Now is their hate allayed, Now is their life-stream shed, Ensanguining the earth with crimson dye— Lo, from one blood they sprang, and in one blood they lie! A gr... |
Shrieking, _In wild defeat and disarray, Behold, ye pass away!_ The sign of Ruin standeth at the gate, There, where they strove with Fate— And the ill power beheld the brothers’ fall, And triumphed over all! |
ANTIGONE, ISMENE, _and_ CHORUS (_Processional Chant_) Thou wert smitten, in smiting, Thou didst slay, and wert slain— By the spear of each other Ye lie on the plain, And ruthless the deed that ye wrought was, and ruthless the death of the twain! |
Take voice, O my sorrow! Flow tear upon tear— Lay the slain by the slayer, Made one on the bier! Our soul in distraction is lost, and we mourn o’er the prey of the spear! |
Ah, woe for your ending, Unbrotherly wrought! And woe for the issue, The fray that ye fought, The doom of a mutual slaughter whereby to the grave ye are brought! |
Ah, twofold the sorrow— The heard and the seen! And double the tide Of our tears and our teen, As we stand by our brothers in death and wail for the love that has been! |
O grievous the fate That attends upon wrong! Stern ghost of our sire, Thy vengeance is long! Dark Fury of hell and of death, the hands of thy kingdom are strong! |
O dark were the sorrows That exile hath known! He slew, but returned not Alive to his own! He struck down a brother, but fell, in the moment of triumph hewn down! |
O lineage accurst, O doom and despair! Alas, for their quarrel, The brothers that were! And woe! for their pitiful end, who once were our love and our care! |
By proof have ye learnt it! At once and as one, O brothers beloved, To death ye were done! Ye came to the strife of the sword, and behold! ye are both overthrown! |
O grievous the tale is, And grievous their fall, To the house, to the land, And to me above all! Ah God! for the curse that hath come, the sin and the ruin withal! |
O children distraught, Who in madness have died! Shall ye rest with old kings In the place of their pride? Alas for the wrath of your sire if he findeth you laid by his side! |
Enter a HERALD. HERALD. I bear command to tell to one and all What hath approved itself and now is law, Ruled by the counsellors of Cadmus’ town. For this Eteocles, it is resolved To lay him on his earth-bed, in this soil, Not without care and kindly sepulture. For why? he hated those who hated us, And, with all duties... |
ANTIGONE. And I—to those who make such claims of rule In Cadmus’ town—I, though no other help, (_Pointing to the body of_ POLYNICES) I, I will bury this my brother’s corse And risk your wrath and what may come of it! It shames me not to face the State, and set Will against power, rebellion resolute: Deep in my heart is... |
HERALD. I charge thee, not to flout the city’s law! ANTIGONE. I charge thee, use no useless heralding! HERALD. Stern is a people newly ’scaped from death. |
ANTIGONE. Whet thou their sternness! Burial he shall have. HERALD. How? Grace of burial, to the city’s foe? ANTIGONE. God hath not judged him separate in guilt. |
HERALD. True—till he put this land in jeopardy. ANTIGONE. His rights usurped, he answered wrong with wrong. HERALD. Nay—but for one man’s sin he smote the State. |
ANTIGONE. Contention doth out-talk all other gods! Prate thou no more—I will to bury him. HERALD. Will, an thou wilt! but I forbid the deed. |
[_Exit the HERALD._] CHORUS. Exulting Fates, who waste the line And whelm the house of Oedipus! Fiends, who have slain, in wrath condign, The father and the children thus! What now befits it that I do, What meditate, what undergo? Can I the funeral rite refrain, Nor weep for Polynices slain? But yet, with fear I shrink... |
SEMI-CHORUS. Let those who hold our city’s sway Wreak, or forbear to wreak, their will On those who cry, _Ah, well-a-day!_ Lamenting Polynices still! We will go forth and, side by side With her, due burial will provide! Royal he was; to him be paid Our grief, wherever he be laid! The crowd may sway, and change, and sti... |
[_Exeunt._] PROMETHEUS BOUND ARGUMENT In the beginning, Ouranos and Gaia held sway over Heaven and Earth. And manifold children were born unto them, of whom were Cronos, and Okeanos, and the Titans, and the Giants. But Cronos cast down his father Ouranos, and ruled in his stead, until Zeus his son cast him down in his ... |
STRENGTH. Lo, the earth’s bound and limitary land, The Scythian steppe, the waste untrod of men! Look to it now, Hephaestus—thine it is, Thy Sire obeying, this arch-thief to clench Against the steep-down precipice of rock, With stubborn links of adamantine chain. Look thou: thy flower, the gleaming plastic fire, He sto... |
HEPHAESTUS. O Strength and Force, for you the best of Zeus Stands all achieved, and nothing bars your will: But I—I dare not bind to storm-vext cleft One of our race, immortal as are we. Yet, none the less, necessity constrains, For Zeus, defied, is heavy in revenge! (_To PROMETHEUS_) |
O deep-devising child of Themis sage, Small will have I to do, or thou to bear, What yet we must. Beyond the haunt of man Unto this rock, with fetters grimly forged, I must transfix and shackle up thy limbs, Where thou shalt mark no voice nor human form, But, parching in the glow and glare of sun, Thy body’s flower sha... |
STRENGTH. Enough of useless ruth! why tarriest thou? Why pitiest one whom all gods wholly hate, One who to man gave o’er thy privilege? |
HEPHAESTUS. Kinship and friendship wring my heart for him. STRENGTH. Ay—but how disregard our Sire’s command? Is not thy pity weaker than thy fear? |
HEPHAESTUS. Ruthless as ever, brutal to the full! STRENGTH. Tears can avail him nothing: strive not thou, Nor waste thine efforts thus unaidingly. |
HEPHAESTUS. Out on my cursed mastery of steel! STRENGTH. Why curse it thus? In sooth that craft of thine Standeth assoiled of all that here is wrought. |
HEPHAESTUS. Would that some other were endowed therewith! STRENGTH. All hath its burden, save the rule of Heaven, And freedom is for Zeus, and Zeus alone. |
HEPHAESTUS. I know it; I gainsay no word hereof. STRENGTH. Up, then, and hasten to do on his bonds, Lest Zeus behold thee indolent of will! |
HEPHAESTUS. Ah well—behold the armlets ready now! STRENGTH. Then cast them round his arms and with sheer strength Swing down the hammer, clinch him to the crags. |
HEPHAESTUS. Lo, ’tis toward—no weakness in the work! STRENGTH. Smite harder, wedge it home—no faltering here! He hath a craft can pass th’ impassable! |
HEPHAESTUS. This arm is fast, inextricably bound. STRENGTH. Then shackle safe the other, that he know His utmost craft is weaker far than Zeus. |
HEPHAESTUS. He, but none other, can accuse mine art! STRENGTH. Now, strong and sheer, drive thro’ from breast to back The adamantine wedge’s stubborn fang. |
HEPHAESTUS. Alas, Prometheus! I lament thy pain. STRENGTH. Thou, faltering and weeping sore for those Whom Zeus abhors! ’ware, lest thou rue thy tears! |
HEPHAESTUS. Thou gazest on a scene that poisons sight. STRENGTH. I gaze on one who suffers his desert. Now between rib and shoulder shackle him— |
HEPHAESTUS. Do it I must—hush thy superfluous charge! STRENGTH. Urge thee I will—ay, hound thee to the prey. Step downward now, enring his legs amain! |
HEPHAESTUS. Lo, it is done—’twas but a moment’s toil. STRENGTH. Now, strongly strike, drive in the piercing gyves— Stern is the power that oversees thy task! |
HEPHAESTUS. Brutish thy form, thy speech brutality! STRENGTH. Be gentle, an thou wilt, but blame not me For this my stubbornness and anger fell! |
HEPHAESTUS. Let us go hence; his legs are firmly chained. STRENGTH (_To_ PROMETHEUS). Aha! there play the insolent, and steal, For creatures of a day, the rights of gods! O deep delusion of the powers that named thee Prometheus, the Fore-thinker! thou hast need Of others’ forethought and device, whereby Thou may’st elu... |
[_Exeunt HEPHAESTUS, STRENGTH and FORCE.—A pause._] PROMETHEUS. O Sky divine, O Winds of pinions swift, O fountain-heads of Rivers, and O thou, Illimitable laughter of the Sea! O Earth, the Mighty Mother, and thou Sun, Whose orbed light surveyeth all—attest, What ills I suffer from the gods, a god! Behold me, who must ... |
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