To the gates of Neis comes Eteoclus, who bears on his shield an armed man climbing a scaling-ladder, and round is written, "Not Mars himself shall beat me from the towers." Against him Megareus, son of Creon, is matched with little fear.
The giant Hippomedon attacks the gates of Pallas. Upon his vast shield appears a Typhon breathing out fire and smoke; and like one of the frenzied followers of Bacchus, he rushes shouting to the war. To face this foe Eteocles has two champions. First, Pallas herself, who,
"Holding near the gates
Her hallowed state, abhors his furious rage;"—
and, of mortal combatants, the bold Hyperbius, whose shield is a good omen of his success. For, as Hippomedon displays the Typhon, so
"Hyperbius bears
The majesty of Jove securely throned,
Grasping his flaming bolt, and who e'er saw
The Thund'rer vanquished? In the fellowship
Of friendly gods, the conquerors are with us,
They with the conquered; and with like event
These warriors shall engage. As Jove in fight
Subdued the fell Typhœus, so his form
Emblazoned on the shield shall guard Hyperbius."
Fifth, at the northern gates, a soft-cheeked youth is set—the girl-faced Parthenopæus, who has, none the less, the soul of a hero. His cognisance is no good omen for Thebes. It is the hateful Sphinx—the old enemy of the city—and she is represented as carrying a Theban in her clutches, and holding him up as a
