Ismene
385
to thy father? Not for nought
Comest thou from Thebes, of this I am assured,.
Nor without bringing terror to my soul.
What late I suffer'd, while I sought the place.....
Of thy abode, my father, I forbear
To speak, unwilling to renew the sense
Of hardships by recounting them. But now
I come t' inform thee of the present ills./:..
Sprung up betwixt thy two unhappy sons..
Their first debate was whether they should yield
The royal seat to Creon, nor pollute
The city, reasoning on the ancient stain
Which mark'd their race, and thy ill-fated house.
Now from some god, and their flagitious mind,
A contest rages, threatening greater ills,
To seize the sceptre and the regal pow'r.
The younger fiercely of the throne deprives
The elder, Polynices, and by force
"Hath driv'n him from his country: he (for thus
Among us wide the swelling rumour flies)
An exile to the vales of Argos speeds;
There new alliance forms, and arms his friends.
Confederate in his cause; that Argos soon
His cause avenging, would subdue the realms
Of Thebes, and raise his glory to the skies.
These are not tales, my father, idly spread;
No; they are dreadful facts. But when the gods
Will pity thy distress, I cannot learn....ba
