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!