Eteocles

Eteocles and Polynices were not only brothers by law, but, being sprung of a son and a mother, of the closest kin.

when they had fallen out for the sake of more—the one wishing to rule alone, the other seeking by every means to recover his share of the power—did they not, being brothers, slay one another, and become the cause of great evils to those who joined either side, the assailants perishing on the spot, the defenders defeated a little after, since they would not let the dead be buried?

"Why, my son, art thou set upon Ambition, basest of divinities?

and they made an agreement, that Polyneices, the younger, should first leave the land in voluntary exile, while Eteocles should stay and hold the scepter, and then change places yearly.

I have been everywhere, lord Eteocles, in my desire to see you, and have gone all round the gates and sentinels of Thebes hunting for you.

when a man that is angry with his friend confronts him face to face, he ought only to keep in view the object of his coming, forgetting all previous quarrels.

To whom must I announce the message of Creon, who rules o’er the land of Cadmus, since Eteocles was slain by the hand of his brother Polynices, at the sevenfold gates of Thebes?

We thought our Argos irresistible, ourselves a young and lusty host, and so when Eteocles was for making terms, in spite of his fair offer we would not accept them, and so we perished.

Has not Creon destined our brothers, the one to honored burial, the other to unburied shame?

Eteocles, who fell fighting in behalf of our city and who excelled all in battle, they shall entomb and heap up every sacred offering that descends to the noblest of the dead below.

For the seven captains, stationed against an equal number at the seven gates, left behind their brazen arms in tribute to Zeus the turner of battle—all but the accursed pair who, born of one father and one mother, set against each other their spears, both victorious, and who now share in a common death.

Therefore Eteocles, though the younger, thrust me from the land, when he had neither defeated me by an argument of law, nor made a trial of might and deed.

Before that you will fall, polluted by bloodshed, and so too your brother.

It is we who implore you, father, every one of us, by your daughters here and by your soul, begging you to forgo your fierce anger against me, as I go forth to punish my brother, who has expelled me and robbed me of my fatherland.