Chapter XXX: The Seven Against Thebes

The sons of Oedipus were twins, and their names were Eteocles and Polynices. When their father was banished from Thebes they succeeded to the kingdom, and agreed that they would each reign in turn for one year. Eteocles had his turn first; but he found it so pleasant to be king that when the year came to an end he refused to give up the sovereignty and drove his brother from the city. Polynices was now an exile; but he determined that he would take no rest till he had found some friends who would promise to help him to revenge himself upon his brother. He set out for Argos, where King Adrastus lived, and arrived there after dark one evening. In the darkness he happened to jostle against another hero who was also going into the palace, and from angry words they soon came to blows, and drew their swords to fight one another. King Adrastus heard the clash of arms from within the palace, and he took a torch and went out to see what was the matter. He commanded the heroes to stop fighting, and asked them what they wanted. Then Polynices explained how he had been driven away from his country by his brother, and how he hoped that the king would help {213} him to claim his rights. The other hero, whose name was Tydeus, had been driven from his country on account of a murder that he had committed unintentionally, and he had come to request the king to help him to return home again. Whilst the heroes were speaking, the king saw by the light of the torch the shining brazen figures upon their shields. The Greek heroes used to wear various kinds of devices on their shields by which they could be recognised, such as serpents, griffins, eagles, and so forth. Now, on the shield of Polynices there was a lion, and on that of Tydeus a boar's head, and when Adrastus saw these, he remembered that once when he had asked the Oracle to whom he should give his two daughters in marriage, the Oracle had replied, 'To a lion and a wild boar.' Adrastus had not understood the answer at the time, but he now perceived that it must have referred to the two heroes, and he therefore received them kindly, and said that he would give them his daughters in marriage, and restore them to their homes. The wedding soon took place, and Tydeus was married to the elder daughter, and Polynices to the younger.

The king said that he would first help Polynices, and he assembled his soldiers, and summoned several brave heroes to march with them. Three heroes, Capaneus, Hippomedon, and Parthenopaeus, promised to do so, which made six with the king and his two sons-in-law. There was another hero in Argos, named Amphiaraus, who was very wise and could foretell the future, and the king did not like going to war unless he went too, for he was not only brave and fearless, but he always gave good counsel. But when Adrastus summoned {214} him to march against Thebes, he said he would not go, for he knew that they would not conquer the city, but would all perish excepting Adrastus, who would return alone. Amphiaraus knew this because he could see into the future, but the others did not believe what he said and thought he was afraid of going to the war, and Capaneus, who was a very headstrong man, said, 'If the gods themselves should declare against the expedition, I am resolved to conquer the city in spite of them.' Even Adrastus did not believe that the war would end unhappily, and he said so to Amphiaraus, and pressed him to accompany them. At last it was agreed that Eriphyle, the wife of Amphiaraus, who was also the sister of Adrastus, should decide the matter. There had once been a bitter quarrel between Amphiaraus and Adrastus which had led to their taking arms against each other, and when peace was restored, they had agreed that if ever any dispute should again arise between them, Eriphyle should decide about it, and that whatever she determined should be done. So now Eriphyle had to decide about the going to war. Amphiaraus foresaw that Polynices would try to bribe her and he warned her to take no present from him, and she promised to obey. But Polynices came to her secretly with a beautiful necklace and veil, and said that he would give them to her if she would decide that Amphiaraus should go to the war. These were no ordinary ornaments, but had been given by the god Hephaestus to Cadmus and Harmonia when they celebrated their marriage in the Cadmea,[1] and had been handed down from father to son in the royal family of {215} Thebes, till they had been worn, last of all, by Queen Jocasta. When Eriphyle saw the glittering necklace and the snow-white veil, she could not overcome her desire to possess them, and although she knew quite well that if she counselled war it would cost her husband his life, she promised to do so; and when the heroes came together to hear her decision, she said, 'Amphiaraus shall go to the war.' Amphiaraus knew that she must have been bribed by Polynices, but he did not dare to make any further difficulty, and accordingly prepared to set out; but before he left the city he called aside his two sons, who were still young boys, and told them that when they were grown up they were to kill their mother because she had decided upon his death.

There were thus seven princes who set out to march against Thebes, and they were accompanied by a goodly band of soldiers, and all except Amphiaraus were merry and in good spirits, for they did not know that they were marching to their death. It was a long journey to Thebes, and they had to travel for several days before they came in sight of it. One day, as they were approaching the city of Nemea, they had to pass through a forest where they met a woman carrying a young child in her arms. The woman was a servant of King Lycurgus, who ruled over the city of Nemea, and it was his child that she was taking care of. Her name was Hypsipele, and her home was in the island of Lemnos, where she had once been a queen herself.[2] The women of Lemnos had killed all the men in the island and formed a kingdom composed entirely of women, and they had made a law that any woman who {216} should spare even her husband or son and not kill him, should be severely punished. But Hypsipele loved her old father too dearly not to be willing to brave the punishment, and she kept him alive secretly, and used to take him food and talk to him when the others were asleep. This went on for a great many years, but at last the other women found it out, and then they killed the old father, and sold the queen as a slave to some pirates who happened to be sailing past the island at the time. The pirates sold her again in Nemea, and this was how she came to be the slave of King Lycurgus, and the nurse of his child. The heroes were very thirsty, for it was just then mid-day, and they asked Hypsipele if she knew of a spring where they could quench their thirst. She told them that farther down in the valley there was a spring of beautiful clear water, and said that she would show them the way to it. The child was frightened at their shining armour and clanging weapons, so she left it playing on the grass, and went alone with the men. They soon reached the spring and quenched their thirst, and then they returned to the place where they had left the child. But the child was gone, and on a tree close by, there sat a great ugly serpent who had eaten him up. The serpent was soon punished for his wickedness, for one of the heroes pierced him through and through with his lance and killed him, but Hypsipele wept and sobbed, for she felt sure that King Lycurgus would kill her. The heroes were very sorry for her, and they went with her to Nemea in the hope that they might be able to save her from being punished. King Lycurgus thought at first that they were enemies who were coming to attack the {217} city, but Adrastus explained why they had come, and begged him not to be angry with Hypsipele, as it was really they who were the cause of the child's death. Lycurgus was very sorrowful at hearing about it, so the heroes tried to comfort him, and said that they would honour his child as no child had ever been honoured before, by celebrating magnificent funeral games over its tomb. They took the child out of the snake's body and burnt it on a pyre, and then they put the ashes into a beautiful urn and buried them and heaped up a mound over them. After this they held games near the mound, and vied with each other in all kinds of sports such as heroes take pleasure in. Such games as these were at that time only celebrated in memory of rich and famous kings, and Lycurgus thanked the heroes for honouring his child in this manner. From that time games were celebrated every third year at Nemea, which were called the Nemean Games, and were famed far and wide. Numbers of people came to them from all countries, and whoever did best in any trial of skill received a crown as a prize.

When the funeral festivities were at an end, the heroes took leave of Lycurgus, who promised that for their sake he would not do any harm to Hypsipele. Amphiaraus warned them once again that they had better return home, and said that the death of the child was a bad omen. But when the gods meant to let misfortune overtake people, they blinded their eyes and prevented them from listening to any warning or good counsel, and thus the heroes rejected the advice of Amphiaraus, and continued their march. After some days they came to a mountain from which they could {218} see Thebes in the distance, and there they halted and held a council, at which it was resolved that before they began the war, Tydeus should go to Thebes and tell Eteocles that he had better give up the kingdom to his brother peaceably, for if he did not, the Argives would take possession of the city by force. Tydeus set out for Thebes, and finding the Theban heroes at a banquet, he delivered his message to them there. Eteocles answered that he hated his brother and would rather die than share the kingdom with him, and that he was not afraid of the Argives, but was quite ready to fight them. On hearing this, Tydeus prepared to return to the camp, but as Eteocles asked him to stay and feast with him, he accepted the invitation, and they talked together in a friendly manner as host and guest, although they were just going to meet one another in deadly conflict. In those days when heroes met they always took the opportunity of vying with one another in feats of strength, and so when the banquet was over, Tydeus challenged the Thebans to wrestle with him. First one presented himself, and then another, but Tydeus was stronger than any of them, and overcame them all. The Thebans were ashamed of themselves and furious with Tydeus, and they placed an ambush of fifty youths in a copse not far from the city, who rushed out and fell upon him as he was returning home. It was an unequal struggle, but Tydeus killed them all except one, who fled back into the city and told the Thebans what had become of the others, and then they wondered still more at the extraordinary strength of Tydeus.

When the princes understood that Eteocles would not give up the kingdom peaceably, they led their army {219} against the city in order to get possession of it by force. The gates were fastened with strong bars, and on the walls stood the Thebans in arms, prepared to beat off the enemy. There were seven gates in the walls of the city, and Adrastus allotted one gate to each of the princes to attack with his band of followers. The Thebans, on their side, had also placed the seven gates under the special charge of their seven most valiant heroes, each of whom had a band of men to fight under him. Then a fierce battle took place,--the Argives tried to scale the walls by means of ladders, and hurled javelins and arrows at their enemies, while the Thebans rolled great stones to the top of the walls, and just when there were a number of Argives upon one of the ladders and they were hoping that in another moment they would have gained possession of the wall, the Thebans let fall a huge stone, which broke the ladder and crushed to death all those who were upon it. Capaneus was the most impetuous of all the Argives, and wherever he fought the Thebans gave way before him. He set up a ladder against the wall and had climbed almost to the top of it, when, thinking that the city was already in his hands, he looked up at the sky and cried out in a mocking tone, 'The strength of heroes is mightier than the will of the gods.' But as the presumptuous hero raised his foot to place it upon the wall, there came a flash of lightning which destroyed him in a moment, and the Thebans, who were inspired by this with fresh courage, drove back the band of soldiers that he had been leading. All day long the Argives fought against the city, but at last the sun went down, and they were obliged to give over for the time.

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The next day Eteocles ascended a tower, and took with him a herald whom he caused to make a proclamation to the Argives in the following words: 'Ye heroes of Argos, Eteocles offers to fight alone with Polynices, on the understanding that whichever of them gets the better of the other shall be king of Thebes.' Polynices on his part was also eager to fight with his brother, and readily accepted the challenge to single combat. Then the Thebans came and encamped outside the city to watch the fight; and the Argives in the plain beyond planted their spears in the ground by their side, thinking they would have no more use for them. Between the two armies was a field, where the brothers were to engage in the deadly struggle. As each of them took his shield and sword from his friends, he eyed the other angrily, longing to begin the fight, and as soon as they were armed they both rushed at one another, each of them so intent on killing his brother that he forgot to cover himself with his shield. And thus, at the same moment, each of the brothers ran his spear through the body of his opponent, and they both sank down dead. But this did not end the quarrel, for the two armies rose up, each desirous of avenging the death of its champion upon the enemy, and a fierce battle took place. Zeus gave the victory to the Thebans, and all the Argives,--heroes and followers alike,--were slain: and thus the prophecy of Amphiaraus was fulfilled. As for the seer himself, he was standing in his war-chariot, urging on his horses that he might not be overtaken by the enemy, when a Theban hero pursued him hotly and gained steadily upon him till he had almost come up with him. But Zeus, who loved Amphiaraus, hurled a {221} thunder-bolt which clove the ground asunder in front of him, and he sank far down into the earth. It closed over him before the eyes of his pursuer who was thus unable to reach him, and Zeus granted him immortality and took him to live among the gods on Mount Olympus. All the rest of the Argives had by this time perished, excepting only Adrastus. He had a horse, named Arion, who was of divine origin and was swifter than any other horse in the world, so when the king took to flight, the Thebans could not overtake him, and he returned alone to Argos, as Amphiaraus had foretold.

A brother of Jocasta's, whose name was Creon, now became king of Thebes, and he commanded that the fallen Thebans should be buried with great honour, but that Polynices and the Argives should be left unburied on the field of battle, to be food for dogs and vultures. The Greeks believed that those whose bodies were not buried found no rest in the Lower World, and they never offered such an insult as this to the memory of any but their most deadly enemies. A herald went through the city, proclaiming to the Thebans that if any one dared to give burial to Polynices or any of the Argives, he would have to answer for it with his life. Every one was afraid to disobey excepting one, and that one was a woman,--Antigone, the sister of Polynices. She had been very angry with her brothers for casting off their father Oedipus in his time of need, but now that they were dead, she wept for them and could not bear that either of them should be dishonoured. So in the night she went to the field where the corpses lay, and sought for that of her brother. It {222} was disfigured with dust and blood, but she recognised it, and she covered it over with loose sand and poured out the libations for the dead which consisted of wine, milk, and honey, over the mound. When a corpse had been covered over in this manner and had received the due libations for the dead, the gods accepted it as if it had been properly buried,--so that everything that was necessary had now been done for the corpse of Polynices. But Creon had set watchmen round the field to catch any one who should come to disobey his orders, and just as Antigone had finished her work, the watch-men seized her and took her as a prisoner to Creon, although they were loth to do this, for every one loved the noble maiden. The king was very angry when he heard what she had done, but nevertheless, if she would have consented to admit that she had done wrong in disobeying his orders and to beg for mercy, he would have been willing to spare her life. But she scorned to save her life by such means, and instead of begging for forgiveness, she spoke out boldly, and said: 'Higher than thy commands do I esteem those laws which set before us that which is noble and right.' Then the king was still more angry with her for not being afraid of him, and he condemned her to a cruel death. There was a cave outside the city, and the king commanded that she should be shut up there and left to die of hunger. Her friends accompanied her as far as the cave, weeping bitterly, but Antigone herself shed no tears. A pitcher of water and a little bread had been placed in the cave, and when Antigone had taken leave of her friends, she went inside, and the workmen piled up stones against the mouth of the cave and {223} walled her in. Thus the noble Antigone died; but she did not wait for the lingering death of starvation,--instead of that she made her veil into a noose and hanged herself.

King Adrastus heard with grief and anger that Creon had refused to allow the Argives to be buried, but as all the heroes of Argos had died in the war and there were none but young boys left in the city, he was unable to raise an army in order to compel him to do so. So he went to Athens with a twig in his hand (which it was the custom for those who wanted help to carry) and seated himself on the steps of the Altar of Pity.[3] Theseus came and asked what he wanted, and Adrastus told him of his misfortune and begged him to procure an honourable burial for the Argives. When Theseus heard about it all, he was very sorry for him, and he marched to Thebes at the head of a band of heroes, and said that unless Creon at once countermanded his wicked orders, he would destroy the city. Creon was afraid of Theseus, so he granted all that he required, and the heroes were buried with due honours.

[1] See page 58.

[2] See page 153.

[3] See page 196.

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