Chorus.
Ah Gods, be ye averters of these ills,
And set at one the sons of Oedipus!
Eteokles.
Mother, 'tis too late for parley; nay, the time in dallying spent
Doth but run to waste, nor aught availeth this thy good intent.
Never shall we be at one, except as I have laid it down,590
That in lordship over Thebes I sway the sceptre, wear the crown.
Have thou done with tedious admonitions then, and let me be:
And, for thee, thou get thee forth these walls, ere death shall light on thee.
Polyneikes.
Death?—of whom?—what man so woundless, as to plunge his murderous sword
Into this my body, and not win himself the like reward?595
Eteokles.
Nigh he is: not far thou standest: lo, these hands—hast eyes to see?
Polyneikes.
Yea—and know how clings to life that craven thing, prosperity![1]
- ↑ Intimating that Eteokles has (as commonly happens with kings) too much to lose to be willing to risk it in a personal encounter.
