nor is Ares agreeable.

ChorusUnder strokes of iron they are come to this, and under strokes of iron there await them—what, one might perhaps ask—shares in their father’s tomb.As the brothers were to divide the substance of their dead father, their equal inheritance was the tomb. λαχαί means both apportioning of possessions and digging. Our shrill, heart-rending wail goes with them—product of lamentation and pain felt of its own accord—a wail from a distressed mind, joyless, pouring forth tears from a heartthat wastes away as I weep for these two princes.

ChorusOver these poor men it can be said that they did much to harm our citizens and also the ranks of all the foreignerswho died in abundance in the fighting. Ill-fated beyond all women who are called by the name of mother is she who bore them. After she made her own child her own husband,she gave birth to these sons, who have thus ended their lives with kindred hands giving death for death.

ChorusOf the same seed, in truth, they were utterly destroyed in unloving divisions,in maddened discord, in the ending of their strife. Their hatred has ceased. Their life has been mingled in the blood-soaked earth. Now truly their blood is one.