Leader of the First Semi-Chorus:
Look, friends! methinks the scout, who parted
hence
To spy upon the foemen, comes with news,
His feet as swift as wafting chariot-wheels.
Leader of the Second Semi-Chorus:
Ay, and our king, the son of Oedipus,
Comes prompt to time, to learn the spy's report-
His heart is fainer than his foot is fast!
The Spy:
Well have I scanned the foe, and well can
say
Unto which chief, by lot, each gate is given.
Tydeus already with his onset-cry
Storms at the gate called Proetides; but him
The seer Amphiaraus holds at halt,
Nor wills that he should cross Ismenus' ford,
Until the sacrifices promise fair.
But Tydeus, mad with lust of blood and broil,
Like to a cockatrice at noontide hour,
Hisses out wrath and smites with scourge of tongue
The prophet-son of Oecleus-Wise thou art,
Faint against war, and holding back from death!
Studies
