Four Plays of Aeschylus Part 18

Thou therefore, chieftain! like a steersman skilled, Ens.h.i.+eld the city's bulwarks, ere the blast Of war comes darting on them! hark, the roar Of the great landstorm with its waves of men!

Take Fortune by the forelock! for the rest, By yonder dawn-light will I scan the field Clear and aright, and surety of my word Shall keep thee scatheless of the coming storm.

ETEOCLES

O Zeus and Earth and city-guarding G.o.ds, And thou, my father's Curse, of baneful might, Spare ye at least this town, nor root it up, By violence of the foemen, stock and stem!

For here, from home and hearth, rings h.e.l.las' tongue.

Forbid that e'er the yoke of slavery Should bow this land of freedom, Cadmus' hold!

Be ye her help! your cause I plead with mine- A city saved doth honour to her G.o.ds!

[Exit ETEOCLES, etc. Enter the CHORUS OF MAIDENS.

CHORUS

I wail in the stress of my terror, and shrill is my cry of despair.

The foemen roll forth from their camp as a billow, and onward they bear!

Their hors.e.m.e.n are swift in the forefront, the dust rises up to the sky, A signal, though speechless, of doom, a herald more clear than a cry!

Hoof-trampled, the land of my love bears onward the din to mine ears.

As a torrent descending a mountain, it thunders and echoes and nears!

The doom is unloosened and cometh!

O kings and O queens of high Heaven, Prevail that it fall not upon us: the sign for their onset is given- They stream to the walls from without, white-s.h.i.+elded and keen for the fray.

They storm to the citadel gates- what G.o.d or what G.o.ddess can stay The rush of their feet? to what shrine shall I bow me in terror and pray?

O G.o.ds high-throned in bliss, we must crouch at the shrines in your home!

Not here must we tarry and wail: s.h.i.+eld clashes on s.h.i.+eld as they come- And now, even now is the hour for the robes and the chaplets of prayer!

Mine eyes feel the flash of the sword, the clang is instinct with the spear!

Is thy hand set against us, O Ares, in ruin and wrath to o'erwhelm Thine own immemorial land, O G.o.d of the golden helm?

Look down upon us, we beseech thee, on the land that thou lovest of old, And ye, O protecting G.o.ds, in pity your people behold!

Yea, save us, the maidenly troop, from the doom and despair of the slave, For the crests of the foemen come onward, their rush is the rush of a wave Rolled on by the war-G.o.d's breath!

almighty one, hear us and save From the grasp of the Argives' might!

to the ramparts of Cadmus they crowd, And, clenched in the teeth of the steeds, the bits clink horror aloud!

And seven high chieftains of war, with spear and with panoply bold, Are set, by the law of the lot, to storm the seven gates of our hold!

Be near and befriend us, O Pallas, the Zeus-born maiden of might!

O lord of the steed and the sea, be thy trident uplifted to smite In eager desire of the fray, Poseidon!

and Ares come down, In fatherly presence revealed, to rescue Harmonia's town!

Thine too, Aphrodite, we are!

thou art mother and queen of our race, To thee we cry out in our need, from thee let thy children have grace!

Ye too, to scare back the foe, be your cry as a wolf's howl wild, Thou, O the wolf-lord, and thou, of she-wolf Leto the child!

Woe and alack for the sound, for the rattle of cars to the wall, And the creak of the grinding axles!

O Hera, to thee is our call!

Artemis, maiden beloved!

the air is distraught with the spears, And whither doth destiny drive us, and where is the goal of our fears?

The blast of the terrible stones on the ridge of our wall is not stayed, At the gates is the brazen clash of the bucklers-Apollo to aid!

Thou too, O daughter of Zeus, who guidest the wavering fray To the holy decision of fate, Athena! be with us to-day!

Come down to the sevenfold gates and harry the foemen away!

O G.o.ds and O sisters of G.o.ds, our bulwark and guard! we beseech That ye give not our war-worn hold to a rabble of alien speech!

List to the call of the maidens, the hands held up for the right, Be near us, protect us, and show that the city is dear in your sight!

Have heed for her sacrifice holy, and thought of her offerings take, Forget not her love and her wors.h.i.+p, be near her and smite for her sake!

[Re-enter ETEOCLES.

ETEOCLES Hark to my question, things detestable!

Is this aright and for the city's weal, And helpful to our army thus beset, That ye before the statues of our G.o.ds Should fling yourselves, and scream and shriek your fears?

Immodest, uncontrolled! Be this my lot- Never in troublous nor in peaceful days To dwell with aught that wears a female form!

Where womankind has power, no man can house, Where womankind feeds panic, ruin rules Alike in house and city! Look you now- Your flying feet, and rumour of your fears, Have spread a soulless panic on our walls, And they without do go from strength to strength, And we within make breach upon ourselves!

Such fate it brings, to house with womankind.

Therefore if any shall resist my rule- Or man, or woman, or some s.e.xless thing- The vote of sentence shall decide their doom, And stones of execution, past escape, Shall finish all. Let not a woman's voice Be loud in council! for the things without, A man must care; let women keep within- Even then is mischief all too probable!

Hear ye? or speak I to unheeding ears?

CHORUS

Ah, but I shudder, child of Oedipus!

I heard the clash and clang!

The axles rolled and rumbled; woe to us Fire-welded bridles rang!

ETEOCLES

Say-when a s.h.i.+p is strained and deep in brine, Did e'er a seaman mend his chance, who left The helm, t'invoke the image at the prow?

CHORUS

Ah, but I fled to the shrines, I called to our helpers on high, When the stone-shower roared at the portals!

I sped to the temples aloft, and loud was my call and my cry, Look down and deliver. Immortals!

ETEOCLES

Ay, pray amain that stone may vanquish steel!

Were not that grace of G.o.ds? ay, ay-methinks, When cities fall, the G.o.ds go forth from them!

CHORUS

Ah, let me die, or ever I behold The G.o.ds go forth, in conflagration dire!

The foemen's rush and raid, and all our hold Wrapt in the burning fire!

ETEOCLES

Cry not: on Heaven, in impotent debate!

What saith the saw?-Good saving Strength, in verity, Out of Obedience breeds the babe Prosperity.

CHORUS

'Tis true: yet stronger is the power divine, And oft, when man's estate is overbowed With bitter pangs, disperses from his eyne The heavy, hanging cloud!

ETEOCLES

Let men with sacrifice and augury Approach the G.o.ds, when comes the tug of war; Maids must be silent and abide within.

CHORUS

By grace of the G.o.ds we hold it, a city untamed of the spear, And the battlement wards from the wall the foe and his aspect of fear!

What need of displeasure herein?

ETEOCLES

Ay, pay thy vows to Heaven; I grudge them not, But-so thou strike no fear into our men- Have calm at heart, nor be too much afraid.

CHORUS

Alack, it is fresh in mine ears, the clamour and crash of the fray, And up to our holiest height I sped on my timorous way, Bewildered, beset by the din!

ETEOCLES

Now, if ye hear the bruit of death or wounds, Give not yourselves o'ermuch to shriek and scream, For Ares ravens upon human flesh.

CHORUS

Ah, but the snorting of the steeds I hear!

ETEOCLES