Can Justice the maternal fountain quench?[1] 580
Thy Fatherland, if captur'd through thy zeal,
How can it e'er again be thine ally?
Myself I shall this land enrich, a seer
'Neath hostile earth sepulchred. Fight we now!
For no dishonourable doom I look."
Thus spake the seer, wielding his rounded shield,
All brass, but no device was on its orb;
For just to be, he longs, not just to seem,
Ripe wisdom reaping from his deep-plough'd mind,
Whence honest counsels grow. Against this man 590
Champions, I charge thee, send, skilful and brave,
For terrible is he who fears the gods.
Eteocles.
Woe for the omen which the righteous makes
Companion of the impious; nought is worse
In any cause than evil fellowship;
Its fruit may not be garner'd; Até's field
Yields death for harvest; yea, the godly man,
With headstrong sailors bent on villainy,
Mounting the bark, sinks with the heaven-loathed crew; 600
Or, just himself, but leagued with citizens
Ruthless to strangers, heedless of the gods,
Caught in the self-same snare, he prostrate lies,
Smitten with them by God's impartial scourge.
So too this seer himself, Oïcles' son,
- ↑ Alluding to the device of Justice upon his shield.
