Thereon the host sprang to their feet and fell to wrangling, we maintaining
that victory rested with my master, they with theirs; and amid our
leaders the contention raged, some holding that Polyneices gave the
first wound with his spear, others that, as both were dead, victory
rested with neither. Meantime Antigone crept away from the host; and
those others rushed to their weapons, but by some lucky forethought
the folk of Cadmus had sat down under arms; and by a sudden attack
we surprised the Argive host before it was fully equipped. Not one
withstood our onset, and they filled the plain with fugitives, while
blood was streaming from the countless dead our spears had slain.
Soon as victory crowned our warfare, some began to rear an image to
Zeus for the foe's defeat, others were stripping the Argive dead of
their shields and sending their spoils inside the battlements; and
others with Antigone are bringing her dead brothers hither for their
friends to mourn. So the result of this struggle to our city hovers
between the two extremes of good and evil fortune. (The Messenger
goes out.)
Studies
