6.
Now Eteocles and Polynices made a compact with each other concerning the kingdom and
resolved that each should rule alternately for a year at a time.1 Some say that Polynices was the first to rule, and that after a year he
handed over the kingdom to Eteocles; but some say that Eteocles was the first to rule, and
would not hand over the kingdom. So, being banished from Thebes, Polynices came to Argos,
taking with him the necklace and the robe.2 The king of Argos was Adrastus, son of Talaus; and Polynices went up
to his palace by night and engaged in a fight with Tydeus, son of Oeneus, who had fled
from Calydon.3 At the sudden outcry Adrastus appeared and parted them, and
remembering the words of a certain seer who told him to yoke his daughters in marriage to
a boar and a lion,4 he accepted them both as bridegrooms, because
they had on their shields, the one the forepart of a boar, and the other the forepart of a
lion.5 And Tydeus married Deipyle, and Polynices married Argia6; and Adrastus promised that he would restore them both to their
native lands. And first he was eager to march against Thebes, and he mustered the chiefs.
[2]
But Amphiaraus, son of Oicles, being a seer and foreseeing that all who joined in the
expedition except Adrastus were destined to perish, shrank from it himself and discouraged
the rest. However, Polynices went to Iphis, son of Alector, and begged to know how
Amphiaraus could be compelled to go to the war. He answered that it could be
done if Eriphyle got the necklace.7 Now Amphiaraus had forbidden Eriphyle to accept gifts from
Polynices; but Polynices gave her the necklace and begged her to persuade Amphiaraus to go
to the war; for the decision lay with her, because once, when a difference arose between
him and Adrastus, he had made it up with him and sworn to let Eriphyle decide any future
dispute he might have with Adrastus.8 Accordingly, when war was to be made on Thebes, and the measure was advocated by Adrastus and opposed by
Amphiaraus, Eriphyle accepted the necklace and persuaded him to march with Adrastus. Thus
forced to go to the war, Amphiaraus laid his commands on his sons, that, when they were
grown up, they should slay their mother and march against Thebes.
[3]
Having mustered an army with seven leaders, Adrastus hastened to wage war on Thebes. The leaders were these9:
Adrastus, son of Talaus; Amphiaraus, son of Oicles; Capaneus, son of
Hipponous; Hippomedon, son of Aristomachus, but some say of Talaus. These came from
Argos; but Polynices, son of Oedipus, came
from Thebes; Tydeus, son of Oeneus, was an
Aetolian; Parthenopaeus, son of Melanion, was an Arcadian. Some, however, do not reckon
Tydeus and Polynices among them, but include Eteoclus, son of Iphis,10 and Mecisteus11 in the list of the seven.
[4]
Having come to Nemea, of which Lycurgus was
king, they sought for water; and Hypsipyle showed them the way to a spring, leaving behind
an infant boy Opheltes, whom she nursed, a child of Eurydice and Lycurgus.12 For the Lemnian women, afterwards learning that Thoas had
been saved alive,13 put him to death and sold Hypsipyle into slavery;
wherefore she served in the house of Lycurgus as a purchased bondwoman. But while she
showed the spring, the abandoned boy was killed by a serpent. When Adrastus and his party
appeared on the scene, they slew the serpent and buried the boy; but Amphiaraus told them
that the sign foreboded the future, and they called the boy Archemorus.14 They celebrated the Nemean
games in his honor; and Adrastus won the horse race, Eteoclus the footrace, Tydeus the
boxing match, Amphiaraus the leaping and quoit-throwing match, Laodocus the
javelin-throwing match, Polynices the wrestling match, and Parthenopaeus the archery
match.
[5]
When they came to Cithaeron, they sent Tydeus to tell Eteocles in advance that he must
cede the kingdom to Polynices, as they had agreed among themselves. As Eteocles paid no
heed to the message, Tydeus, by way of putting the Thebans to the proof,
challenged them to single combat and was victorious in every encounter; and though the
Thebans set fifty armed men to lie in wait for him as he went away, he slew them all but
Maeon, and then came to the camp.15
[6]
Having armed themselves, the Argives approached the walls16; and as there were seven gates, Adrastus was stationed at the Homoloidian
gate, Capaneus at the Ogygian, Amphiaraus at the Proetidian, Hippomedon at the Oncaidian,
Polynices at the Hypsistan,17 Parthenopaeus at the Electran, and Tydeus at the Crenidian.18
Eteocles on his side armed the Thebans, and having appointed leaders to match those of the
enemy in number, he put the battle in array, and resorted to divination to learn how they
might overcome the foe.
[7]
Now there was among the Thebans
a soothsayer, Tiresias, son of Everes and a nymph Chariclo, of the family of Udaeus, the
Spartan,19 and he had lost the sight
of his eyes. Different stories are told about his blindness and his power of soothsaying.
For some say that he was blinded by the gods because he revealed their secrets to men.
But Pherecydes says that he was blinded by Athena20; for Chariclo
was dear to Athena ... and Tiresias saw the goddess stark naked, and she covered his
eyes with her hands, and so rendered him sightless. And when Chariclo asked her to restore
his sight, she could not do so, but by cleansing his ears she caused him to understand
every note of birds; and she gave him a staff of cornel-wood,21
wherewith he walked like those who see. But Hesiod says that he beheld snakes
copulating on Cyllene, and that having wounded them he was turned from a man into a woman,
but that on observing the same snakes copulating again, he became a man.22 Hence,
when Hera and Zeus disputed whether the pleasures of love are felt more by
women or by men, they referred to him for a decision. He said that if the pleasures of
love be reckoned at ten, men enjoy one and women nine. Wherefore Hera blinded him, but
Zeus bestowed on him the art of soothsaying.“
The saying of Tiresias to Zeus and Hera.
Of ten parts a man enjoys one only;
But a woman enjoys the full ten parts in her heart.
23 ” He also lived to a great age. So when the Thebans sought counsel of him, he said that they should be victorious if Menoeceus, son of Creon, would offer himself freely as a sacrifice to Ares. On hearing that, Menoeceus, son of Creon, slew himself before the gates.24 But a battle having taken place, the Cadmeans were chased in a crowd as far as the walls, and Capaneus, seizing a ladder, was climbing up it to the walls, when Zeus smote him with a thunderbolt.25 [8] When that befell, the Argives turned to flee. And as many fell, Eteocles and Polynices, by the resolution of both armies, fought a single combat for the kingdom, and slew each other.26 In another fierce battle the sons of Astacus did doughty deeds; for Ismarus slew Hippomedon,27 Leades slew Eteoclus, and Amphidicus slew Parthenopaeus. But Euripides says that Parthenopaeus was slain by Periclymenus, son of Poseidon.28 And Melanippus, the remaining one of the sons of Astacus, wounded Tydeus in the belly. As he lay half dead, Athena brought a medicine which she had begged of Zeus, and by which she intended to make him immortal. But Amphiaraus hated Tydeus for thwarting him by persuading the Argives to march to Thebes; so when he perceived the intention of the goddess he cut off the head of Melanippus and gave it to Tydeus, who, wounded though he was, had killed him. And Tydeus split open the head and gulped up the brains. But when Athena saw that, in disgust she grudged and withheld the intended benefit.29 Amphiaraus fled beside the river Ismenus, and before Periclymenus could wound him in the back, Zeus cleft the earth by throwing a thunderbolt, and Amphiaraus vanished with his chariot and his charioteer Baton, or, as some say, Elato;30 and Zeus made him immortal. Adrastus alone was saved by his horse Arion. That horse Poseidon begot on Demeter, when in the likeness of a Fury she consorted with him.31
Of ten parts a man enjoys one only;
But a woman enjoys the full ten parts in her heart.
23 ” He also lived to a great age. So when the Thebans sought counsel of him, he said that they should be victorious if Menoeceus, son of Creon, would offer himself freely as a sacrifice to Ares. On hearing that, Menoeceus, son of Creon, slew himself before the gates.24 But a battle having taken place, the Cadmeans were chased in a crowd as far as the walls, and Capaneus, seizing a ladder, was climbing up it to the walls, when Zeus smote him with a thunderbolt.25 [8] When that befell, the Argives turned to flee. And as many fell, Eteocles and Polynices, by the resolution of both armies, fought a single combat for the kingdom, and slew each other.26 In another fierce battle the sons of Astacus did doughty deeds; for Ismarus slew Hippomedon,27 Leades slew Eteoclus, and Amphidicus slew Parthenopaeus. But Euripides says that Parthenopaeus was slain by Periclymenus, son of Poseidon.28 And Melanippus, the remaining one of the sons of Astacus, wounded Tydeus in the belly. As he lay half dead, Athena brought a medicine which she had begged of Zeus, and by which she intended to make him immortal. But Amphiaraus hated Tydeus for thwarting him by persuading the Argives to march to Thebes; so when he perceived the intention of the goddess he cut off the head of Melanippus and gave it to Tydeus, who, wounded though he was, had killed him. And Tydeus split open the head and gulped up the brains. But when Athena saw that, in disgust she grudged and withheld the intended benefit.29 Amphiaraus fled beside the river Ismenus, and before Periclymenus could wound him in the back, Zeus cleft the earth by throwing a thunderbolt, and Amphiaraus vanished with his chariot and his charioteer Baton, or, as some say, Elato;30 and Zeus made him immortal. Adrastus alone was saved by his horse Arion. That horse Poseidon begot on Demeter, when in the likeness of a Fury she consorted with him.31
