Seven Against Thebes

Aeschylus

Aeschylus, Volume 1. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922.

  1. is advancing in a flurry of dust, and glistening foam splatters the plain in drops from the horses’ pantings. So you, like the careful helmsman of a ship, secure the city before Ares’ blasts storm down upon it; for the wave of their army now crashes over the dry land.
  2. Seize the first opportune moment for doing this. For all else, I, on my part, will keep a reliable eye on the lookout, and you, by learning from my certain report what happens beyond the gates, shall remain unharmed. Exit.
Eteocles
  1. O Zeus and Earth, and gods that guard our city,
  2. and Curse,[*](The curse pronounced by Oedipus against his two sons (cp. 785 ff.) is a daemonic power, here identified with the vengeance it calls into being.) potent agent of my father’s vengeance, do not destroy my city, ripping it up from its foundations, captive of the enemy, a city that speaks in Greece’s tongue, and do not destroy our hearths and homes.