MYTHS OF THE YOUNGER HEROES: THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES
=186. Their Exploits.= The exploits of the sons and grandsons of the
chieftains engaged in the Calydonian Hunt and the Quest of the Golden
Fleece are narrated in four stories,--the Seven against Thebes, the
Siege of Troy, the Wanderings of Ulysses, and the Adventures of Æneas.
=187. The Seven against Thebes.=[272] The allies of Adrastus and
Polynices in the enterprise against Thebes were Tydeus of Calydon,
half brother of Meleager, Parthenopæus of Arcadia, son of Atalanta
and Mars, Capaneus of Argos, Hippomedon of Argos, and Amphiaraüs, the
brother-in-law of Adrastus. Amphiaraüs opposed the expedition for,
being a soothsayer, he knew that none of the leaders except Adrastus
would live to return from Thebes; but on his marriage to Eriphyle,
the king's sister, he had agreed that whenever he and Adrastus should
differ in opinion, the decision should be left to Eriphyle. Polynices,
knowing this, gave Eriphyle the necklace of Harmonia and thereby gained
her to his interest. This was the selfsame necklace that Vulcan had
given to Harmonia on her marriage with Cadmus; Polynices had taken it
with him on his flight from Thebes. It seems to have been still fraught
with the curse of the house of Cadmus. But Eriphyle could not resist
so tempting a bribe. By her decision the war was resolved on, and
Amphiaraüs went to his fate. He bore his part bravely in the contest,
but still could not avert his destiny. While, pursued by the enemy, he
was fleeing along the river, a thunderbolt launched by Jupiter opened
the ground, and he, his chariot, and his charioteer were swallowed up.
It is unnecessary here to detail all the acts of heroism or atrocity
which marked this contest. The fidelity, however, of Evadne stands out
as an offset to the weakness of Eriphyle. Her husband, Capaneus, having
in the ardor of the fight declared that he would force his way into the
city in spite of Jove himself, placed a ladder against the wall and
mounted; but Jupiter, offended at his impious language, struck him with
a thunderbolt. When his obsequies were celebrated, Evadne cast herself
on his funeral pile and perished.
[Illustration: FIG. 147. ETEOCLES AND POLYNICES KILL EACH OTHER]
It seems that early in the contest Eteocles consulted the soothsayer
Tiresias as to the issue. Now, this Tiresias in his youth had by chance
seen Minerva bathing, and had been deprived by her of his sight, but
afterwards had obtained of her the knowledge of future events. When
consulted by Eteocles, he declared that victory should fall to Thebes
if Men[oe]ceus, the son of Creon, gave himself a voluntary victim. The
heroic youth, learning the response, threw away his life in the first
encounter.
The siege continued long, with varying success. At length both hosts
agreed that the brothers should decide their quarrel by single combat.
They fought, and fell each by the hand of the other. The armies then
renewed the fight; and at last the invaders were forced to yield,
and fled, leaving their dead unburied. Creon, the uncle of the
fallen princes, now became king, caused Eteocles to be buried with
distinguished honor, but suffered the body of Polynices to lie where it
fell, forbidding any one, on pain of death, to give it burial.
=188. Antigone=,[273] the sister of Polynices, heard with indignation
the revolting edict which, consigning her brother's body to the dogs
and vultures, deprived it of the rites that were considered essential
to the repose of the dead. Unmoved by the dissuading counsel of her
affectionate but timid sister, and unable to procure assistance, she
determined to brave the hazard and to bury the body with her own hands.
She was detected in the act. When Creon asked the fearless woman
whether she dared disobey the laws, she answered:
Yes, for it was not Zeus who gave them forth,
Nor justice, dwelling with the gods below,
Who traced these laws for all the sons of men;
Nor did I deem thy edicts strong enough,
That thou, a mortal man, should'st overpass
The unwritten laws of God that know no change.
They are not of to-day nor yesterday,
But live forever, nor can man assign
When first they sprang to being. Not through fear
Of any man's resolve was I prepared
Before the gods to bear the penalty
Of sinning against these. That I should die
I knew (how should I not?), though thy decree
Had never spoken. And before my time
If I shall die, I reckon this a gain;
For whoso lives, as I, in many woes,
How can it be but he shall gain by death?
And so for me to bear this doom of thine
Has nothing fearful. But, if I had left
My mother's son unburied on his death,
In that I should have suffered; but in this
I suffer not.[274]
Creon, unyielding and unable to conceive of a law higher than that
he knew, gave orders that she should be buried alive, as having
deliberately set at nought the solemn edict of the city. Her lover,
Hæmon, the son of Creon, unable to avert her fate, would not survive
her, and fell by his own hand. It is only after his son's death and as
he gazes upon the corpses of the lovers, that the aged Creon recognizes
the insolence of his narrow judgment. And those that stand beside him
say:
Man's highest blessedness
In wisdom chiefly stands;
And in the things that touch upon the gods,
'T is best in word or deed,
To shun unholy pride;
Great words of boasting bring great punishments,
And so to gray-haired age
Teach wisdom at the last.[275]
=189. The Epigoni.=[276] Such was the fall of the house of Labdacus.
The bane of Cadmus expires with the family of [OE]dipus. But the
wedding gear of Harmonia has not yet fulfilled its baleful mission.
Amphiaraüs had, with his last breath, enjoined his son Alcmæon to
avenge him on the faithless Eriphyle. Alcmæon engaged his word, but
before accomplishing the fell purpose, he was ordered by an oracle of
Delphi to conduct against Thebes a new expedition. Thereto his mother
Eriphyle, influenced by Thersander, the son of Polynices, and bribed
this time by the gift of Harmonia's wedding garment, impelled not only
Alcmæon but her other son, Amphilochus. The descendants (_Epigoni_) of
the former Seven thus renewed the war against Thebes. They leveled the
city to the ground. Its inhabitants, counseled by Tiresias, took refuge
in foreign lands. Tiresias himself perished during the flight. Alcmæon,
returning to Argos, put his mother to death but, in consequence,
repeated in his own experience the penalty of Orestes. The outfit
of Harmonia preserved its malign influence until, at last, it was
devoted to the temple at Delphi and removed from the sphere of mortal
jealousies.
FOOTNOTES:
[272] Æschylus, Seven against Thebes; Euripides, Ph[oe]nissæ;
Apollodorus, 3. 6 and 7; Hyginus, Fab. 69, 70; Pausanias, 8 and 9;
Statius, Thebaid.
[273] Sophocles, Antigone; Euripides, Suppliants.
[274] Sophocles, Antigone, ll. 450-470 (E. H. Plumptre's translation).
[275] Sophocles, Antigone, closing chorus.
[276] Pausanias, 9, 9, §§ 2, 3; Herodotus, 5, 61; Apollodorus.