the plot of the septem contra thebas

8/13/2019 The Plot of the Septem Contra Thebas

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THE CLASSICAL QUARTERLYAPRIL, 1913.

THE PLOT OF THE SEPTEM CONTRA THEBAS.THIS paper is an attempt to show that considerations similar to thosewhich have been applied by the presentwriter to the Suppliants1throwmorelight than is generally admitted on the construction and dramatic value ofthe Septem. The criticism of Dr. Verrall,2whom I cannot mention withouta deep sense of gratitude and sorrow,and the edition by Prof. Tucker,havemade it unlikelythat any careful student will without argument dismiss theplay as uninteresting. We are no longer content to remarkthat 'the scene

between Eteocles and the Chorus is dramaticallyunnecessary,'3 hat 'in theepisode, vv. 370-7o8, which is the centre and kernel of the SevenagainstThebes,we look in vain for action,'4 that 'there is no drama properexcept betweenAntigone and the Herald.' Such remarkscorrespondto the first impressionof a modern reader,but it is the business of the critic to answer, if he can,the question what qualities of the work made it interesting and exciting tothe ancient audience. In what I have to say I hope to supplement, not toattack, the answers given by the scholarswhom I have named. So far as themechanical structure of the drama is concerned Dr. Verrall's interpretation,as modifiedbut in the main accepted by Prof. Tucker,6needs no defence.7 Atthe outset Eteocles has no reasonto expect that his brother will be one of theseven leaders of the assault, nor is there any reason to assume that Eteocleswill himselfbe one of the defendingchampions. It is the panic of the womenthat makes him announce his intention of fighting. Again, in the centralscene, the improbablebehaviour of the Messenger in describing the Seven1 See C.Q., October,191z, vol. v., pp. 220 sqq.2 In his edition and in his notice of Prof.Tucker'swork, C, R., zgo8,vol. xxii., p. 249.3 P. Richter.' Muff: cf. Schmid in Christ'sGr. Lit. Gesch.

I. i. p. 292. For the inadequacy of such criti-cism see H. Weil, DrameAntique,pp. 29 sqq.;yet Weil can say (Aesch. i., p. 15) 1uno tantumuersu ad tragicumfatorumnexumreuocamur.'5 Hartung.

6 See for instance Tucker's notes on vv. 269,636, and cf. W. G. Headlam, On EditingAeschylus, . 87.7 See Dr. Verrall's restatement of his view inC. R., zgo8,vol. xxii., p. 249, and Mr. Bayfield'sadmirable summary in C. R., 1904, vol. xviii.,p. 16o. As originallystated, Dr. Verrall's inter-pretationwas misleading,for it seemed to implythat the dramadependedon militarydispositionsand on a nice derangementof plans.

NO. II. VOL. VII. F


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74 J. T. SHEPPARDChampions singly and seriatimwas dramaticallynecessary: it was essential,however improbable,that the name of Polyneices should be reserved to theend, that his challenge should come to Eteocles as a surpriseand shock. Forthe apparentwaste of time involved Aeschylusgives a naif excuse (354 Weil):for the greater improbability,the long and formal interchangeof rhetoric, noexcuse is given. If the absurdity was noticed by an audience accustomed,as Tucker has said, to a rhetoricalepic convention, and delighting generallyin oratoryand particularly n descriptionsof martialequipment,it might havebeen justified, as Verrall said, by the dramatic moment to which it was thenecessary condition. But I do not believe that it was noticed. I do notbelieve that the panic of the women and the recital seriatimof the names ofthe championswere felt by the audience to be a part of the fatal working ofthe Curse: simply, they are the means by which Aeschyluscontrives to makethe crisis appearnatural and inevitable. The poet has arrangeda series ofcoincidences in order that that situation may plausibly be broughtabout: hehas not laid stress on the fact that they are coincidences, nor does he meanthe audience to feel any particular nterest in the coincidences as such.If this account is true, we must admit that the central scene, though inthe analysis of the poet's method it is found to be a deliberate device forproducing the crisis, is not for that reason justified as drama. Tucker hasgiven reason for supposing that the Athenian audience would neverthelesshave foundthe scene excellent as poetry and for its rhetoric. But the rhetoricof Aeschylus is generally dramatic,1and this scene also, I believe, has adramatic value if we remember that to a Greek at the time of Aeschylusevents are broughtabout not only by what men do but by what they say. Inthe Suppliants he use of the right words first to Zeus, then to the King,secures the safety of the daughtersof Danaus. In the matterof prayer,as inmagic, we understandthe importanceof using good words; in events of dailylife-it is a commonplace-euphemism was a consideration of greater import-ance with the Greeksthan with us.

Of Sophocles Mr Mackail has remarked that a ' keen exquisite sense oflanguage, of the potency and inexhaustiblesignificance of the word is alwayspresent with him. In the Oedipusat Colonus he power of the word-' thelittle word,' ao-ucp? XXyo---is a recurrent note. Language, to one who hadbeen working in it with exquisite truth and delicacy for half a century, hasbecome something awful.'2 He might have added, that with Athenians ofthe fifth century in general the sense of the potency and significanceof wordswas always present. Many phrases in Sophocles and elsewhere,which seemstrange to us, are natural, almost conventional, expressions of this sense.Thus, in the OedipusTyrannus,when the King has consulted the Oracle tolearn bywhat means he may save the city, in Greek a natural expression for1 Cf.myremarks nC. Q., October, gx911,ol.v.,p. 228. Nothing that I say there or here affectsthe value of such an analysis as is madeby M. P.Nilsson (NeueJakrbb.,Xxvii., 1gzz, p. 626) of the

epico-lyrical composition of the play, or ofBrun's remarks (Lit. Portrit,. p. 56) on thecharacters.2 Lecturess GreekPoetry,p. i5o.


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THE PLOT OF THE SEPTEM CONTRA THEBAS 75'by what means' is 5t Sp v tI owvW4v,ust as in P.V. 686 71Xp 8pvT'kXovlra ... and in Cho. 315 71 ~p~eOv 4 71 P'as 'Xos.p' . . . (the expressionused by the suppliants who would summon Agamemnon to his revenge);'cf. Hom. A 394-5. The Greeks in fact not only contrast X67yo and 4pov,$ovXal and 6pyaas different sides of the activity of man, but couple them astogether making up that whole activity. We must beware of attributing tothe peculiar sensitiveness of Sophocles expressionswhich are in fact simplyGreek. To a Greek hearer there is nothing odd or unusual in phrases likeoo 86 Ti XOyTweicKao0veL (i.e. 8ovX0 Te Kal' pyotq) ipa?r 68, 7rovoDa KatXe'-ovoa 364. Even so anyone who carefullyreads the OedipusColoneuswithMr Mackail's remark in his mind can hardly fail to admit that the 'littleword' is here treatedas peculiarly significant: it is in fact one of the bindingpoetical motives of a dramatically rather disjointed play. Many isolatedphrases, really significant, might be added to those to which Mr Mackailrefers (443, 569, 620): see, for example, 46, 74, 138, 293, 550 and 1351, 624,1128. In many cases it is difficult to say whether any special significanceismeant to be felt: but in general Mr Mackail's observation is just . . . thewhole play is full of the immensesignificanceof the spoken word. The silenceof the Groveof the Eumenides is relevantto the drama: the name of Oedipus,wrung from him by the questions of the villagers, fills them with fear: thedivinevoice summons him to rest. It is partly this sense of the significanceof speech and silence that gives value to the cursing of Polyneicesand to theinjunctionof secrecy upon Theseus.Now we know (especially from the Electra) that it was a habit ofSophocles to make use of topics and phrasesfrom olderdramatists,investingthem by more or less subtle modifications with new meaning and poeticalvalue. It is probablethat this motif of the significant word, natural enoughto Greek thought, was already when Sophocles wrote his play associatedespecially with the legend of Oedipus. Whether the peculiar use of themotifwhich appearsin the OedipusColoneusmplies that to the artist in words'language has become somethingawful,' it is perhaps rash to conjecture. Atany rate, in the OedipusTyrannus he same motif is not without significance.2The whole play is nothing but the emergingfromdarknessof a terribleX5yov.Throughout the play Oedipus wrings from unwilling speakerswordswhich inthe end prove fatal. His own wild words sting Teiresiasinto utterance of his

1 Prof. Murray's 'bitter task' ignores theconventional character of this expression. Histheory that Oedipus is hintifig at a possiblecommand to die for the city is not justified bySophocles, and indeedwould somewhat diminishthe effect of the play. At the outset Oedipus isthe strong, calm helper of a broken people:-everythingis devised to show how great and safehe seemso be.2 Consider the living oracles of 151-7, 476, theirony of 296 ob8' C9't 0ofiei, 545, 706, 1147, thewords of Teiresias rising fromXyco412 (cf. 449)

to dpd 418 and the climax Pois 420, and noticeespecially 324 6pC y&p ob-& ol 7b av d,9vrn,'Ibvrpbt KaLp6&.It is the wicked words of Jocastawhich terrifythe chorus 864, 884. Notice howdramatically rplv MtoLi'dpObvot 505 is caughtup by Creon's 8elv'9T7 513 just as KaKlaV 512 byKaK6s 21. Oedipus was started on his journeyby 'a chance missile of reproach' (Jebb on784). His own words invoked his doom 1381.Observe how Iocasta says rd 7? 71(,Xq KparT,and Oedipus crv?8az -t rGX~7 (977, 08oo), each justbefore knowledgeof the truth.


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76 J. T. SHEPPARDdreadful secret. The interest of the scene with Teiresias lies here, and isquite independent of questions as to the fitness of Teiresias for his sacredoffice. In this scene is enacted on a small scale a drama similar to that ofthe whole tragedy: as in the whole, so in the part, the impetuousness ofOedipus drags to light the fatal meaning of Apollo's oracle. The famousChorus, in which the Oracleis personifiedand lives, strikes the dominantnoteof the whole poem.In the Septem also, oracles of Apollo and wild words of Oedipus,obscure at first-save to the audience-are translated into disastrous fact.Unfortunately,since the Oedipusof Aeschylus is lost, we cannot tell how farSophocles in his treatment is working upon Aeschylean stuff. It must beclear, however, to any reader who has studied the Septem n the light, forinstance, of Tucker'sIntroduction,1 hat the figure of Oedipus dominates thetrilogy. As his begetting was the ruin of Laius, so his curse is the ruin of hissons. The Chorus at the crisis of the drama merelyputs into new and ill-omened2 words the themes which have coloured the whole trilogy: Laius'Arr~kwvo.. .. r. p'V ed7r6ovo4.... 81 disobeyed, KparTfleO dEK6 Xwv d/ovXtiav,and had issue Oedipus; Oedipusmarried his mother and had issue; rrapdvotaovvayev,4tov;4pevcXet3.., Trel 'pSy c/povyp v o ... '-,KVOLqEc1 v? .. rrtKporyXWeoovqap~. It is evident that here already we have the senseof the potency and inexhaustible significance of words which leads to suchremarkabledevelopmentsin Sophocles.The legend, then, and the atmosphereof the trilogy make it certain thata Greekaudiencewill find effectualworking for good and evil, not only in theacts but also in the words of the performers. But there is another considera-tion which must be remembered if we are to realize how dramatic the playmust have seemed. The Laios presented the sin and ruin of Laius: in theOedipushe sin and ruinof Oedipusinvolve the ruin of his wife and the cursingof his family: in the Septemthe family is ruined throughthe Curse,and theCity is involved in the peril-&-ooca & a-Rv 3ao-rteivt u7r1Xv o aava;oi.'4As in the third part of the Oresteia ur interest in the house of Agamemnon sraised to the plane of patriotism, so in the Septem,he City as well as Eteoclesclaims our sympathy and interest. In the Eumenides ndeed our interest inOrestes is swamped by our greater interest in Athens and Athenian Institu-tions: in the Septemthe double interest involves no such lack of unity-JMETtyap uarcapaq al Ato` lo-Xiv I 68e Ka8sdewv pve~Lpv? v. . ., true wordsand an admirableending for the play, whetheror not the lines were written byAeschylus. Eteocles saves his city, but himself he does not save: that is the1Especially pp. xxv-xxix.2 And therefore dramatic: see Tucker's noteon v. 820, excellent so far as concerns thedrafiatic effect of 707-776, whatever may bethought of his interpretationof 820 itself.3 It is true of course that Oedipus marriedthrough &'yrooa,ot through rapdoua;but this isa refinement of modern criticism. If the order

of the words is not enough, dprTLpwv akes itclear that Oedipus, not Laius, is meant.It is the importanceof this new interest thatjustifies the doublet r6A&tiowo'rraines. It isimpossible to say whether -tew v 6Xt (in 734) isor is not a modification of the oracle to suit thepatrioticdevelopment of the play.


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THE PLOT OF THE SEPTEM CONTRA THEBAS 77tragedy. The interest of the audience in the fate of the city was of coursemade keenerby the memoryof the Persians,xand, as Prof. Tucker has pointedout, bythe fact that the fortificationof the Acropoliswas at this time a burningquestion of Athenianpolicy. The memoryof the Persians moreoverexplainsthose references to a foreign tongue which led both Verrall and Tucker indifferentways to think that Aeschyluswas consciouslyor unconsciouslydeal-ing with ethnology. Cadmeia is a Greek city besieged by wicked invaders;Polyneices like Hippias is an exiled prince on whose behalf these invaderscome; there is no need to talk of an ancient Northern Hellas, or to supposethat the Cadmeans 'though Cadmus was a Phoenician' claimed to be as'Greek as the Achaeans.' Words and phraseslike &epoOp4,, c/A,,yfovy 'EXXd8o0,8dpj8apov 'rporrovare alive, and suggest no thoughts of ethnology to anaudiencewhich remembers he burningof Athens by the Persians.2Eteocles, then, though he sinned and was killed, saved the city. Buthow ? His first words give the answer. The late Dr. Headlamused to saythat the first words of an Aeschylean play struck a keynote of the symphony:in the SuppliantsZevtj,n the Agamemnono o8Lo, in the Libation-bearerso theDead 'Ep/I X06te, in the Eumenides7rpCOov pv . . . razav, n the Prometheus,the story of the sufferingTitan, XOovoq,and in this play 'Citizens of Cadmus.'He might have added that the whole of the first sentence is sometimessignificant:

Oeoob'uev al'c r7cv0' 'raXXarylv 76voov, (and Clytaemnestrasayse'yo K a- 9riaouev ICpaToVrTeT7OW&e O/LaTWvKcaX02K),6e4;Nv c/1MOrwpb'ot

WrpoOp604; ... Alav 8E Xtwroiro-atOdva . .,c Ep3 xO0vte rrarpP'rrOrevoOvXpT77 I rrTp 7evoI- pot atvppaxo47' alTovLLv9Y.4 So here,as Kd81.ov 7roXTratstands for the fact that this is the dramanot only of Eteocles, but also of theo'dXt,so the first sentence of Eteocles is full of significanceto those who havelately heard the Curse of Oedipus:

KdCa8ov 7roXLrat, ~X'XEw rd IalptaortV OvXacYrYtrtpa-7yo4...

Now it is true that rrpayocs not exactly 7rpaLc; nor exactly ipyov,but we missmuch of the significance of these words if we translate with Tucker 'cause.'rir Iaipta means, as Tucker says, both 'briefly' and 'to the point'; but itmeans more than that.5 The order of the words stresses XV'etvand connectsit, by chiasmus, with 7nparyo4. t is the part of a good general to speakas well as do Tr /alpta. To Eteocles the words mean little more thanProf. Tucker's 'excuse for his peremptory orders.' To the audience they1 See Tucker, Introduction, pp. xlv.xlvi andnotes on vv. 98, 149; Weil, vol. ii., p. xiv.2 The barbaricblazonsmakethe matterclearerstill. Plut. Themist.8, I (towhich Tucker refersin his note on v. 385) odre irXJ; reWPE06r7 K64rtoLxal XaTp6T1rTrs r~i4pOr04tr Kparcl KoaroriW5EtBctpcpapotwaavrstXovaOt (arv6bv.3 For this see my article on the Sufplices C.Q.,x91g). I should have added there an acknow-

ledgment to Prof. Murray(GreekEpic2,pp. io8,291). I had forgotten that I was indebted tohim for my interpretation of d&iKrump,nd onlyrememberedmy indebtedness when I read thesecond edition of the GreekEpic.For this see my article on Politics is theFrogs,J. H. S. vol. xxx., 19ro, p. 256.aCf. Blomfield, who quotes Hesych. Kaclpta.


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THE PLOT OF THE SEPTEM CONTRA THEBAS 79his fate, the hero speaks of Loxias, 'OrepvV80~otap/ayTav, ho is to take for hisown the Seventh Gate, as one who XEiZ rt7av X7ye6v rT eatpea. Notice againin passing the care with which the rhetoric is constructed. Lines I-9 beginand end with Cadmus(Tucker has well remarkedhat Ka8ptov 7roXet mplicsaspecial claim on the gods1),Kd8/1ov oX~Tiraeingansweredby Ka8ploWvr6Xee.Similarly,the second paragraphbegins with i'ai ~S Xp (which repeats theXpXof line I) and ends with Xpe'o T78e (a considerationwhich should makeus careful before we interpret lyevota8Oes part of an elaborate continuedmetaphor). So also 21 vih pv . . . ei Aret 8dOebegins a fresh rhetoricalparagraphwhich ends in eVITrXeL e6;. These are not merely devices formaking the speech a piece of soundingoratory-they have their effecton thedramatic value as a pious (therefore effectual, salutary) utterance, promisinggood on the whole, yet not without hints of evil. As the first paragraphappeals to Zeus and the second to Earth ' srav8oloDiaa.7T.X.,o the thirdbegins and ends with 9e. This is no accident.2 In line 69, after theMessengerhas deliveredhis report,the prayerof Eteocles begins c', Zei6Te /atr~alcat roXaa-oVXoOeot. The Messenger's speech has hints of the barbarism,pride,and fatal destiny of the assailants. There is one point which appearsto have escapedthe notice of commentators. The Oath of 46-48,-ArXe /ca'raa7ra;ti

8XvrOeXarrdaeevvctrv Kapetlwv 81'aAry-ivO8wa0v'r6 TWE0Vlvpdaetv f0v5,is skilfully interpretedagainst the Confederatesby the immediate mention ofthe p.va~.eZawhich they are fastening to the chariot of Adrastus. 9' of M.emphasizesthis point: 8' of Stobaeus slightly obscures it.The panic of the women which follows is designed, first of course tostimulate the imagination of the audience, to suggest the stress and theemotion of a city in peril; it also, as Verrallobserved,advancesthe mechani-cal plot by inducing Eteocles to announce his intention of fighting. But ithas a place in the more important moral drama as well. The evil-omenedcries of the women constitute a danger,not only becausethey are a source ofdisorderand are calculated to discouragethe fighting men, but also and chieflyfor the simple reason that they are ill-omened, unlucky. With this dangerEteocles has to deal. At first he is carried away by anger,and it seems as ifhe will ruin all by a combination of tyrannicalbrutalityand impiety. He issurely wicked, and intended to be thought wicked, when, in line 18o hethreatensa deathby stoning. In Agam. 1615,the samethreatis clearlyhubristic,and so in Soph. Ant. 36, the order of Creon is meant to be thought arbitraryand tyrannical. In his passion, moreover,Eteocles is in danger of slighting1 In 288-290 Atoyeres . . . Kasoyve,), eachword is significant. Tucker has a good note, butdoes not connect the two words in his transla-tion. Transl.: ' As you are sprung from Zeus,save us . . . for we are sprung from Cadmus.'

In 128not ' though we are sprungof your bloodwe worship,'but 'because f it we worship(andhave a claim to be heard).'2 Cf. 260-6. Tuckerwell explainsthe repetitionthere. Cf. Wecklein, Studien zu A. (1872), p. 54.


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80o J. T. SHEPPARDthe gods. 'We were terrified,' say the women. 'Well,' he answers, 'ifsailors run about vaguely from end to end of their ship, what good is that ?'The answerof the Chorus is a rebuke and a necessaryrebuke,'Our runningabout was not vague-it was to the ancient images of the gods I ran (in thegods I put my trust) when I heard . . . in that crisis my terror caught meaway, and it was to prayers to Heaven that I turned.' The emphasis of allthis is on &at6'vwv, Oeoia-tand, by a regular chiasmus of stress, on partdpwvcXKcav.1t is due to the constant reminders from the Chorus of theimportance of reverence to the gods that Eteocles passes from anger anddanger2 to the perfectly correct (and salutary) attitude of his long speech264 to 287. Though in general this scene is admirably nterpretedby Tucker,there are points in this speech which might have been made clearer: alpolkat,is not simply' this change of talk is better to my liking,' for it suggests ideasconnected with e.g. Ge'Xopat'rvpvtv (cf. Agam. 1653, Xo,4yoot1X7Vti OavelvcCre"*)v r~'Xvl8' alpoiqte6a) : similarly on 252 Tucker says, 'It is wrong to usein prayer such expressionsas imply that the gods may betray us' : it is morethan wrong, it is dangerous. That fact becomes importantin line 254 0dproo?tXotg,Xiovora roXtov ,,dov. Tucker says in his note that one idea involvedis the frighteningof the enemy, but Aeschylus does not say so. Is Tucker stillthinking of his O'dpaog btXotgX ovo-a, roXeplwvdB/ov, which he has with-drawn? As for'EXXrnvtKbvY~tuptpa,he point of that is simply that the paeanis the Greek-therefore the admirableand salutary-custom. Tucker rejectsXiovo-t oluentibusrightly, but by his translation and note implies that voituopa.-.7.X.

means 'the jubilant shout that passethin all Greece,'and that this is anallusion to the use of v'6uytpa n the sense of 'coin.' Here also there is noneed to drag in the enemy's point of view. By the well-omened paean thecitizens are encouraged,their fear of the enemy, and actually the fearfulnessof the enemy are diminished.The scene as a whole is brilliantly contrived. Just as the Chorus areinduced by Eteocles to abandontheir dangerous expressions of excessive fearfor the safe and pious abv a~XXotl rCoaopatr'b 6potrptpov(recalled and stressedby Eteocles in 282), so Eteocles is turnedby the insistenceof the Chorus froma mood of a certain rashnessto the safe piety of his vow. I do not mean tosuggest that 7rmp7yovTeyetve6ixearewas not intended to raise enthusiasm. Ithink it was. But those who cheered would not be the less impressed by theimportanceof the choric commentObKOn'rSVb8' ai wrpog6ecow.Both Eteoclesand the Chorusare right: both also are at first inclinedto excess.It must be confessed that the Chorusslip back to words of ill-omen witha persistencywhich reminds us of the Elders in the Agamemnon. In v. 820o,

1 I mention this specially, because Prof.Tucker's translation seems to me to place theemphasis wrongly. He makes the point of theirreply, 'Nay, I came to the gods because Itrusted them.' The point really is *not vaguely,but to the gods' (whom you must not slight).Similarly the point of v. 209 is obscured if

PovXeCovKatKWSs stressed at the expense of Oeo6rKcAXo00a.2 Though Eteocles is in danger of losing self-control and slipping into impiety, the scene isnot, I think, tinged with the light-hearted scep-tical irreverencesuggested by Verrall.


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THE PLOT OF THE SEPTEM CONTRA THEBAS 81if Prof. Tucker is right, they deplore that their ill-omened talk has had itseffect on the event. But I doubt if this is what they say.

We now come to the questionable central scene, but after so much timehas been spent on the earlier scenes I think that little need be added. Admitthat Eteocles saves the city by his moderation as the invaders destroythem-selves by their own boasts,' and the whole scene, including all its rhetoric,becomes intensely alive. For the audience not a word of the description ofthe assailants, not a word of the reply of Eteocles, nor of the prayer orcomment of the Chorus is undramatic. To us, many points are obscureorunintelligible. But even so, we can follow the main lines of the drama.Every reply of Eteocles seems to make him safer, as it certainly does makehis city safer. Five championsall impiousand boastful are described: againsteach of the five Eteocles turns the omens and at the same time avoids allboastfulness or impiety. Tydeus insults Amphiaraus-Eteocles fixes uponhim the consequences of guilt by his 1adTtgcavotaTiLY nd av'o' r/a'O'rovT'S' /pvav're1re7c'rat. The blazon of Tydeus we only half understand:there, as elsewherein this scene,if we knewmore of the Persianequipmentweshould perhaps find more significance.2 This much is clear: Tydeus byimplication compares himself to the moon. The answeris, that Night shallcome upon him-and Melanippus, surely ominously named, shall bring it.Notice how in 399-401, though Eteocles is careful not to make a confidentprediction,he suggests a happy issue by the ominous use of 6v*Ap1i Ie'bdcraTo.Of Capaneusand his opponent nothing need be added o Tucker'scommentary,but the opponent of Eteocles who boasts 64 oiS' &v"Aprnicra' 'cSd/cXotrvpyao-pdmwovs Megareus. In rejecting,rightly or wrongly, the interpretationwhichmakes abyiTXxn 'Tp imply that Megareusis markedout 'by happy chance'as the obvious opponent, Tuckerwrites,' no hint is given as to the nature ofthis happychance,or the secret of his fitness.' The nameMegareus s stressed,and the name is sufficient in itself to rout the boaster.4 At the close of thisspeech there is perhapsa touch, but not more than a touch of over-confidencein Eteocles.The first five championsare all alike wicked, but there is a progressionofexcitement. Tydeus insults the UIdw-tsvAmphiaraus,Capaneus derides thethunderbolt, Eteocles defies Ares, Hippomedon identifies himself with theenemy of Zeus (and the mention of Athena here raises the interest one stagehigher), then Parthenopaeus brings as his blazon the most deadly insult

I The admission is implied in Tucker'snoteson 401, 612. But the Introduction and suchnotes as that on 543 show that the point needsemphasizing.a Kg8o,wernd X6Momre magical, not simplymeant by noise and a fine appearanceto frightenthe enemy, but prophylactic; cf. Chase, TheShieldDeices of theGreeks,HarvardStudies, xiii.,1902, p. 70, n. i, and Pease, Harvard Studies,

xv. 1904, pp. 35 sqq., 41-42 elephant bells notterrifyingby their noise.3 Adrx6b;,tand alXp~v (396-8)are words thatfind their full significance n 670-2, as AJ1A (402)in 657, 8. For the significanceof AiKVnd'Ap~rcf. Cho. 459, 934-7; Klausen, Aesch. Theolog.,p. 129.4 Ares is involved by implicationin the choiceof the wordsrWa''peCo, rd~&ovn v. 292.


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82 THE PLOT OF THE SEPTEM CONTRA THEBASpossible against the city (T 7r6Xvew vet&o4)nd openly defies none other thanZeus himself.Five times Eteocles has been tested and found sufficient. The sixth testis different. Amphiaraus s put in the sixth place not merelybecausehe differsfrom the other champions,but becausehis solemn denunciation of impietyandthe moralizingwith which it is answered make a dramatic contrast to thestorm of wickednessin which Eteqcles is soon to be swept away. Notice thatin lines 571-2 ipbP '7rypvnd warrpl~7yaaare significantto Greek ears: theysuggest the sacred Earth andWater of the city,' the soil and the streams,bothviolated, both mentionedin orderthat they may be stirred to aid the defence.It is a mistaketo say that arya Xooo-ahere= Tbv' 7rvyLvat. The suprememerit of Amphiaraus o rtap o&KEZvtptaTroo JXX' e7vat 09Xet gains fresh signifi-cance from the fact that Eteocles is soon to perish through his desire forEVIAXa.The replyof Eteocles is a masterpiece.There is no hint of5pt?. A generoustribute to Amphiaraus s accompanied by a skilfulturningof the omen againstthe armyto which the presenceof so good a man mightwell have broughtgoodfortune. It should be noticed2that Kcap'by?oV' roIruCaT0o4c.?'.X. answers 8eaO0avaiXoKaK.7.X.,and that the asyndeton(noted by Tucker) s explained by that fact.Line 588 explainsthe precedingline, and means not simply that 'the wages ofsin is death,' but that 'the field is the field of Ate, and the harvest thereofis death.' Observe also that 'S,upcorresponds by the usual chiasmus to7XWXEV (cf. o880tKa 8' o-iv 8aaoateaLtvc rv' Xtqaalcaaf). All the moralizingofEteocles about Ate, though it turns the omens against the invaders,has alsofor the audiencea sinister referenceas it falls fromthe lips of him who is soonto be the victim of Distraction. eTa 8' oiyv tdKapaq,Eteocles has saved sixgates, and had he shown the same modest temperunder the last great test allwould have been well for him as for the city : '-s 8'8o'8 hZ/8 vSO oupa-dr7aqivas 'Awr6Xov 'Xero, for good and evil has taken as his own, for salva-tion to the city, for ruin to the brothers. The audienceforesee the challenge,to Eteocles it is unexpectedand overwhelming. The passionate nature whichwe have alreadydiscerned behind his self-control bursts3 into a consumingfire.In spite of the remonstranceof the Chorus,half mad and reasoning abouthonour with the pervertedlogicof madness,he rushes to his sin anddeath. Inthe words which Prof.Tucker has attributed to Aeschylusp'ptitva 4wfli w~r7-Xtv06'rcaT' ovic aJtXdveTat. He saved the city, but himself he could not save.And, when the bodies are carried in, the Chorus sing lobVroXdrrovot, 7~T'e Ip 7 a" ac r9' Ctcr'r-ov"- XO9e8atiaTc'r 7a" ' 'o X 6 r '.4J. T. SHEPPARD.KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

I Cf. 293-4.2 It was noticed by Weil.3 After a strugglefor sanity (645 Schol.).4 Elpycwa e and o X6bypre stressed by theorderof words: the X6boshas now become theIpyor.

the plot of the septem contra thebas

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