And yet any victory, even a cowardly one, is nonetheless held in honor by God. EteoclesA soldier must not embrace that maxim. ChorusBut are you willing to harvest the blood of your own brother? EteoclesWhen it is the gods who give you evils, you cannot flee them. Exit.

ChorusI shudder in terror at the goddess who lays ruin to homes, a goddess unlike other divinities, who is an unerring omen of evil to come. I shudder that the Erinys invoked by the father’s prayer will fulfil the over-wrathful curses that Oedipus spoke in madness. This strife that will destroy his sons drives the Erinys to fulfillment.

ChorusA stranger distributes their inheritance, a Chalybian immigrant from Scythia, a bitter divider of wealth,savage-hearted iron that apportions land for them to dwell in, as much as they can occupy in death when they have lost their share in these wide plains.

ChorusBut when both have died, each killing