第 1 节
作者:
津夏 更新:2021-02-24 22:17 字数:9321
460 BC
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES
by Aeschylus
translated by E。D。A。 Morshead
CHARACTERS IN THE PLAY
ETEOCLES; son of Oedipus; King of Thebes
A SPY
CHORUS OF THEBAN WOMEN
ANTIGONE
ISMENE
sisters of ETEOCLES
A HERALD
SCENE:…Within the Citadel of Thebes。 There is an altar with the
statues of several gods visible。 A crowd of citizens are present
as ETEOCLES enters with his attendants。)
ETEOCLES
Clansmen of Cadmus; at the signal given
By time and season must the ruler speak
Who sets the course and steers the ship of State
With hand upon the tiller; and with eye
Watchful against the treachery of sleep。
For if all go aright; thank Heaven; men say;
But if adversely…which may God forefend!…
One name on many lips; from street to street;
Would bear the bruit and rumour of the time;
Down witk Eteocles!…a clamorous curse;
A dirge of ruin。 May averting Zeus
Make good his title here; in Cadmus' hold!
You it beseems now…boys unripened yet
To lusty manhood; men gone past the prime
And increase of the full begetting seed;
And those whom youth and manhood well combined
Array for action…all to rise in aid
Of city; shrines; and altars of all powers
Who guard our land; that ne'er; to end of time;
Be blotted out the sacred service due
To our sweet mother…land and to her brood。
For she it was who to their guest…right called
Your waxing youth; was patient of the toil;
And cherished you on the land's gracious lap;
Alike to plant the hearth and bear the shield
In loyal service; for an hour like this。
Mark now! until to…day; luck rules our scale;
For we; though long beleaguered; in the main
Have with our sallies struck the foemen hard。
But now the seer; the feeder of the birds
(Whose art unerring and prophetic skill
Of ear and mind divines their utterance
Without the lore of fire interpreted)
Foretelleth; by the mastery of his art;
That now an onset of Achaea's host
Is by a council of the night designed
To fall in double strength upon our walls。
Up and away; then; to the battlements;
The gates; the bulwarks! don your panoplies;
Array you at the breast…work; take your stand
On the floorings of the towers; and with good heart
Stand firm for sudden sallies at the gates;
Nor hold too heinous a respect for hordes
Sent on you from afar: some god will guard!
I too; for shrewd espial of their camp;
Have sent forth scouts; and confidence is mine
They will not fail nor tremble at their task;
And; with their news; I fear no foeman's guile。
(A Spy enters。)
THE SPY
Eteocles; high king of Cadmus' folk;
I stand here with news certified and sure
From Argos' camp; things by myself descried。
Seven warriors yonder; doughty chiefs of might;
Into the crimsoned concave of a shield
Have shed a bull's blood; and; with hands immersed
Into the gore of sacrifice; have sworn
By Ares; lord of fight; and by thy name;
Blood…lapping Terror; Let our oath be heard…
Either to raze the walls; make void the hold
Of Cadmus…strive his children as they may…
Or; dying here; to make the foemen's land
With blood impasted。 Then; as memory's gift
Unto their parents at the far…off home;
Chaplets they hung upon Adrastus' car;
With eyes tear…dropping; but no word of moan。
For their steeled spirit glowed with high resolve;
As lions pant; with battle in their eyes。
For them; no weak alarm delays the clear
Issues of death or life! I parted thence
Even as they cast the lots; how each should lead;
Against which gate; his serried company。
Rank then thy bravest; with what speed thou may'st;
Hard by the gates; to dash on them; for now;
Full…armed; the onward ranks of Argos come!
The dust whirls up; and from their panting steeds
White foamy flakes like snow bedew the plain。
Thou therefore; chieftain! like a steersman skilled;
Enshield the city's bulwarks; ere the blast
Of war comes darting on them! hark; the roar
Of the great landstorm with its waves of men
Take Fortune by the forelock! for the rest;
By yonder dawn…light will I scan the field
Clear and aright; and surety of my word
Shall keep thee scatheless of the coming storm。
ETEOCLES
O Zeus and Earth and city…guarding gods;
And thou; my father's Curse; of baneful might;
Spare ye at least this town; nor root it up;
By violence of the foemen; stock and stem!
For here; from home and hearth; rings Hellas' tongue。
Forbid that e'er the yoke of slavery
Should bow this land of freedom; Cadmus' hold!
Be ye her help! your cause I plead with mine…
A city saved doth honour to her gods!
(ETEOCLES; his attendants and most of the crowd go out。 The
CHORUS OF THEBAN WOMEN enters。 They appear terror…stricken。)
CHORUS (singing)
I wail in the stress of my terror; and shrill is my cry of
despair。
The foemen roll forth from their camp as a billow; and onward they
bear!
Their horsemen are swift in the forefront; the dust rises up to
the sky;
A signal; though speechless; of doom; a herald more clear than a
cry!
Hoof…trampled; the land of my love bears onward the din to mine
ears。
As a torrent descending a mountain; it thunders and echoes and
nears!
The doom is unloosened and cometh! O kings and O queens of high
Heaven;
Prevail that it fall not upon us! the sign for their onset is
given…
They stream to the walls from without; white…shielded and keen for
the fray。
The rush of their feet? to what shrine shall I bow me in terror
and pray?
(They rush to pray to the gods。)
O gods high…throned in bliss; we must crouch at the shrines in
your home!
Not here must we tarry and wail: shield clashes on shield as they
come
And now; even now is the hour for the robes and the chaplets of
prayer!
Mine eyes feel the flash of the sword; the clang is instinct with
the spear!
Is thy hand set against us; O Ares; in ruin and wrath to o'erwhelm
Thine own immemorial land; O god of the golden helm?
Look down upon us; we beseech thee; on the land that thou lovest
of old。
strophe 1
And ye; O protecting gods; in pity your people behold!
Yea; save us; the maidenly troop; from the doom and despair of the
slave;
For the crests of the foemen come onward; their rush is the rush
of a wave
Rolled on by the War…god's breath! almighty one; hear us and save
From the grasp of the Argives' might! to the ramparts of Cadmus
they crowd;
And; clenched in the teeth of the steeds; the bits clink horror
aloud
And seven high chieftains of war; with spear and with panoply
bold;
Are set; by the law of the lot; to storm the seven gates of our
hold!
antistrophe 1
Be near and befriend us; O Pallas; the Zeus…born maiden of might!
O lord of the steed and the sea; be thy trident uplifted to smite
In eager desire of the fray; Poseidon! and Ares come down;
In fatherly presence revealed; to rescue Harmonia's town!
Thine too; Aphrodite; we are! thou art mother and queen of our
race;
To thee we cry out in our need; from thee let thy children have
grace!
Ye too; to scare back the foe; be your cry as a wolf's howl wild;
Thou; O the wolf…lord; and thou; of she…wolf Leto the child!
strophe 2
Woe and alack for the sound; for the rattle of cars to the wall;
And the creak of the griding axles! O Hera; to thee is our call!
Artemis; maiden beloved! the air is distraught with the spears;
And whither doth destiny drive us; and where is the goal of our
fears?
antistrophe 2
The blast of the terrible stones on the ridge of our wall is not
stayed;
At the gates is the brazen clash of the bucklers…Apollo to aid!
Thou too; O daughter of Zeus; who guidest the wavering fray
To the holy decision of fate; Athena! be with us to…day!
Come down to the sevenfold gates and harry the foemen away!