Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/366

296 No! 'neath our walls, sore-batter'd, she will rail

At him who fain would carry her within.

If heaven so wills, herein I truth shall speak.

His word my breast doth rend,

Standeth my hair on end,

Hearing the haughty boast

Of haughty men profane;

Ye Gods, above who reign,

Here, in our land, smite ye their alien host!

Sixth, let me name a man most sage of heart,

Amphiarâos, prophet, first in arms;

He, marshall'd at the Homoloian gates,

Tydeus with keen reproaches oft assails,

As homicide, disturber of the State,

To Argos prime instructor in these harms,

Erinys' herald, Slaughter's minister,

Adviser to Adrastos of these ills;

And on thy brother Polyneikes' might,

He calls, dissecting his ill-omened name;

Then in conclusion, twice with emphasis

His name repeating, utters forth these words:

"Pleasing to gods in sooth is such a deed,

Lovely for future years to hear and toll,

The city of thy sires and native gods

To spoil, made captive by an alien host.