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.
130
Theseus
Why didst lead thy seven armies against Thebes?
