of Amphiaraus; and the querulous utterances of Pluto, almost Lucianesque
in their scoffing spirit, have a wholly different ring from the
consistent solemnity of Virgil in _Aeneid_ VI. The Argives are inwardly
shaken and fall back: so there is joy in Thebes. Adrastus summons a
council to choose a successor to the prophet. The battle is renewed on
the Theban side by a sally, and a narrative of wounds and death ensues.
The daughters of Oedipus, Antigone and Ismene, a pair of contrasting
characters (_par aliud morum_), lament the sorrows of their house with
divided sympathies in the conflict:
Both, ways their fears incline: whom would they wish
The vanquished, whom the victor in the war?
The exile wins their preference unowned.
(_tacite praeponderat exsul_).[1397]
Real pathos marks the end of Ismene’s lover, Atys, the warrior brought
home dying, with her name the only word on his chill lips.[1398] Tydeus
works havoc among the enemy, and sends whirling through the air helmets
with heads inside (_galeasque rotat per nubila plenas_, 699). He and
Melanippus mortally wound each other, and the book closes with the
horrible spectacle of Tydeus gnawing the head of his adversary.