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029 - Legends Oedipus and The Seven against Thebes · Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty seven of Myths and Legends. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Barons.
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  Speaker 1: Oedipus Laus, king of Thebes, the son of Labdacus and
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  Speaker 1: a direct descendant of Cadmus, was married to Jocast, the
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  Speaker 1: daughter of a noble theban An oracle. Having foretold that
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  Speaker 1: he would perish by the hand of his own son,
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  Speaker 1: he determined to destroy the infant, whom Jocast had just
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  Speaker 1: given birth, with the consent of his wife, whose affection
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  Speaker 1: for her husband overcame her love for her child. He
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  Speaker 1: pierced the feet of the babe, bound them together, and
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  Speaker 1: handed the infant over to a servant with instructions to
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  Speaker 1: expose him on Mount Cytheron to perish. But instead of
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  Speaker 1: obeying this cruel command, the servant intrusted him to a
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  Speaker 1: share who was tending the flocks of Polybus, king of Corinth,
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  Speaker 1: and then returned to Laius and Jocaste and informed them
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  Speaker 1: that their orders had been obeyed. The parents were satisfied
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  Speaker 1: with the intelligence, and quieted their conscience by the reflection
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  Speaker 1: that they had thus prevented their son from committing the
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  Speaker 1: crime of parricide. Meanwhile, the shepherd of King Polybus had
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  Speaker 1: unbound the feet of the infant, and, in consequence of
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  Speaker 1: their being much swollen, he called him Oedipus, or swollen foot.
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  Speaker 1: He then carried him to the king his master, who,
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  Speaker 1: pitying the poor little waif, enlisted for him the kind
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  Speaker 1: offices of his wife Merope. Oedipus was adopted by the
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  Speaker 1: king and queen as their own son, and grew up
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  Speaker 1: in the belief that they were his parents, until one
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  Speaker 1: day a Corinthian noble taunted him at a banquet with
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  Speaker 1: not being the son of the king. Stung at the reproach,
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  Speaker 1: the youth appealed to Merope, but receiving an equivocal though
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  Speaker 1: kindly answer, he repaired to Delphi to consult the oracle.
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  Speaker 1: The Pythia vouchsafed no reply to his inquiry, but informed him,
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  Speaker 1: to his horror, that he was fated to kill his
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  Speaker 1: father and to marry his own mother. Filled with dismay,
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  Speaker 1: for he was tenderly attached to Pollybus and Aerope, Oedipus
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  Speaker 1: determined not to return to Corinth and took instead the
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  Speaker 1: road leading to Boeotia. On his way, a chariot passed him,
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  Speaker 1: in which sat an old man with two servants, who
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  Speaker 1: rudely pushed the pedestrian out of the path. In the
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  Speaker 1: scuffle which ensued, Oedipus struck the old man with his
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  Speaker 1: heavy stick, and he fell back dead on the seat
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  Speaker 1: of the chariot. Struck with dismay at the unpremeditated murder
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  Speaker 1: which he had committed, the youth fled and left the spot,
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  Speaker 1: without learning that the old man whom he had killed
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  Speaker 1: was his father, Lais, king of Thebes. Not long after
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  Speaker 1: this occurrence, the Sphynx, full details of whom have already
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  Speaker 1: been given, was sent by the goddess Hera as a
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  Speaker 1: punishment to the Thebans. Stationed on a rocky height just
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  Speaker 1: outside the city. She propounded to the passers by riddles
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  Speaker 1: which she had been taught by the muses, and whoever
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  Speaker 1: failed to solve them was torn in pieces and devoured
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  Speaker 1: by the monster. And in this manner great numbers of
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  Speaker 1: the inhabitants of Thieves had perished. Now on the death
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  Speaker 1: of the old king, lais Creon, the brother of the
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  Speaker 1: widowed queen, had seized the reigns of government and mounted
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  Speaker 1: the vacant throne, And when at length his own son
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  Speaker 1: fell a victim to the Sphinx, he resolved at all
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  Speaker 1: costs to rid the country of this fearful scourge. He
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  Speaker 1: accordingly issued a proclamation that the kingdom and the hand
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  Speaker 1: of the sister jocast should be awarded to him who
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  Speaker 1: should succeed in solving one of the riddles of the Sphinx,
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  Speaker 1: it having been foretold by an oracle that only then
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  Speaker 1: would the country be freed from the monster. Just as
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  Speaker 1: this proclamation was being made in the streets of thieves, Oedipus,
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  Speaker 1: with his pilgrim's staff in his hand, entered the city.
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  Speaker 1: Tempted by the prospect of so magnificent a reward, he
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  Speaker 1: repaired to the roc and boldly requested the Sphinx to
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  Speaker 1: propound to him one of her riddles. She proposed to
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  Speaker 1: him one which she deemed impossible of solution, but Oedipus
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  Speaker 1: had once sold it, whereupon the Sphynx, full of rage
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  Speaker 1: and despair, precipitated herself into the abyss and perished, Oedipus
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  Speaker 1: received the promised reward. He became king of Thebes and
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  Speaker 1: the husband of jocast, the widow of his father, King Leaus.
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  Speaker 1: For many years, Oedipus enjoyed the greatest happiness and tranquility.
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  Speaker 1: Four children were born to him, two sons Etiocles and Polyneses,
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  Speaker 1: and two daughters, Antigon and Ismin. But at last the
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  Speaker 1: gods afflicted the country with a grievous pestilence, which made
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  Speaker 1: terrible havoc among the people. In their distress, they entreated
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  Speaker 1: the help of the king, who was regarded by his
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  Speaker 1: subjects as a special favorite of the gods. Oedipus consulted
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  Speaker 1: an oracle, and the response was that the pestilence would
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  Speaker 1: continued to rage until the land was purified of the
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  Speaker 1: blood of King Leaus, whose murderer was living unpunished at Thebes.
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  Speaker 1: The king now invoked the most solemn imprecations on the
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  Speaker 1: head of the murderer and offered a reward for any
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  Speaker 1: information concerning him. He then sent for the blind old
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  Speaker 1: seer Thyrsius, and implored him, by means of his prophetic powers,
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  Speaker 1: to reveal to him the author of the crime Thyrsius,
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  Speaker 1: at first hesitated, but yielding to the earnest solicitations of
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  Speaker 1: the king, the old prophet thus addressed him thou thyself art,
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  Speaker 1: the murderer of the old king Laius, who was thy father,
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  Speaker 1: and thou art wedded to his widow, thine own mother.
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  Speaker 1: In order to convince Oedipus of the truth of his words,
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  Speaker 1: he brought forward the old servant who had exposed him
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  Speaker 1: as a babe on Mount Cytheron, and the shepherd who
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  Speaker 1: had conveyed him to King Polybus. Horrified at this awful revelation, Oedipus,
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  Speaker 1: in a fit of despair, deprived himself of sight, and
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  Speaker 1: the unfortunate Jocaste, unable to survive her disgrace, hanged herself.
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  Speaker 1: Accompanied by his faithful and devoted daughter Antigon, Oedipus quitted
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  Speaker 1: thebes and became a miserable and homeless outcast, begging his
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  Speaker 1: bread from place to place. At length. At their long
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  Speaker 1: and painful pilgrimage, he found a place of refuge in
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  Speaker 1: the grove of the Eumenides at Colonus, near Athens, where
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  Speaker 1: his last moments were soothed and tended by the care
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  Speaker 1: and devotion of the faithful Antigon the Seven against Thebes.
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  Speaker 1: After the voluntary abdication of Oedipus, his two sons, Ethiocles
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  Speaker 1: and Polyneses, took possession of the crown and reigned over
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  Speaker 1: the city of Thebes. But Ethiocles, being an ambitious prince,
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  Speaker 1: soon seized the reigns of government himself and expelled his
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  Speaker 1: brother from the throne. Polyneses now repaired to Argos, where
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  Speaker 1: he arrived in the dead of night outside the gates
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  Speaker 1: of the royal palace. He encountered Tideus, the son of Enus,
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  Speaker 1: King of Calus, having accidentally killed a relative in the chase.
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  Speaker 1: Titius was also a fugitive, but being mistaken by Polyneses
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  Speaker 1: and the darkness for an enemy, a quarrel ensued, which
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  Speaker 1: might have ended fatally had not King Adrastus, aroused by
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  Speaker 1: the clamor, appeared on the scene and parted the combatants
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  Speaker 1: by the light of the torches borne by his attendants.
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  Speaker 1: Addressed this observed to his surprise that on the shield
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  Speaker 1: of Polyneses a lion was depicted, and on that of
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  Speaker 1: Titius a boar. The former bore this insignia in honor
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  Speaker 1: of the renowned hero Heracles, the latter in memory of
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  Speaker 1: the famous Caledonian boar hunt. This circumstance reminded the king
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  Speaker 1: of an extraordinary oracular prediction concerning his two beautiful daughters,
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  Speaker 1: Argea and Depile, which was to the effect that he
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  Speaker 1: would give them in marriage to a lion and a boar.
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  Speaker 1: Hailing with delight what he regarded as an auspicious solution
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  Speaker 1: of the mysterious prophecy, he invited the strangers into his path,
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  Speaker 1: and when he heard their history and had convinced himself
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  Speaker 1: that they were of noble birth, he bestowed upon Polyneses
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  Speaker 1: his beautiful daughter Argea, and upon Titius the fair Dapile,
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  Speaker 1: promising at the same time that he would assist both
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  Speaker 1: his sons in law to regain their rightful patrimony. The
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  Speaker 1: first care of Adrastus was to aid Polyneses in regaining
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  Speaker 1: possession of his lawful share in the government of Thebes.
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  Speaker 1: He accordingly invited the most powerful chiefs in his kingdom
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  Speaker 1: to join in the expedition, all of whom readily obeyed
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  Speaker 1: the call, with the exception of the king's brother in
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  Speaker 1: law and Phiarus the Seer. As he foresaw a disastrous
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  Speaker 1: termination to the enterprise, and knew that not one of
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  Speaker 1: the heroes, save Edrastus himself, would return alive. He earnestly
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  Speaker 1: dissuaded the king from carrying out his project and declined
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  Speaker 1: to take any part in the undertaking. But Adrastus, seconded
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  Speaker 1: by Polyneses and Titius, was obstinately bent on the achievement
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  Speaker 1: of his purpose and Amphiarus, in order to escape from
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  Speaker 1: their importunities, concealed himself in a hiding place known only
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  Speaker 1: to his wife, Perophile. Now on the occasion of the
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  Speaker 1: marriage of Amphiarus, it had been agreed that if he
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  Speaker 1: ever differed an opinion with the king, his wife should
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  Speaker 1: decide the question, as the presence of Amphiaris was indispensable
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  Speaker 1: to the success of the undertaking, and moreover, as Adrastus
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  Speaker 1: would not enter upon it without the eye of the army.
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  Speaker 1: As he called his brother in law, Polyneses, bent on
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  Speaker 1: securing his services, determined to bribe Perophile to use her
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  Speaker 1: influence with her husband and to decide the question in
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  Speaker 1: accordance with his wishes. He bethought himself of the beautiful
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  Speaker 1: necklace of Harmonia, wife of Cadmus, which he had brought
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  Speaker 1: with him in his flight from Thebes. Without loss of time,
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  Speaker 1: he presented himself before the wife of Amphiaris and held
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  Speaker 1: up to her admiring gaze the glittering bauble, promising that
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  Speaker 1: if she revealed the hiding place of her husband and
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  Speaker 1: induced him to join the expedition, the necklace would be hers. Aerphyle,
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  Speaker 1: unable to withstand the tempting bait, accepted the bribe, and
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  Speaker 1: thus Amphiarus was compelled to join the army. But before
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  Speaker 1: leaving his home he extorted a solemn promise from his
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  Speaker 1: son Alcmion, that should he perish on the field of battle,
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  Speaker 1: he would avenge his death on his mother, the perfidious Aerphyle.
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  Speaker 1: Seven leaders were now chosen, each at the head of
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  Speaker 1: a separate detachment of troops. These were Adrastus the King,
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  Speaker 1: his two brothers, Hippomeyeron and Parthenopeus, Capanus, his nephew, Polynesies
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  Speaker 1: and Tideus, and Amphiarus. When the army was collected, they
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  Speaker 1: set out for Nemia, which was at this time governed
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  Speaker 1: by King Lysergus. Here, the Argives, being short of water,
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  Speaker 1: halted on the outskirts of a forest in order to
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  Speaker 1: search for a spring. When they saw a majestic and
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  Speaker 1: beautiful woman seated on the trunk of a tree, nursing
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  Speaker 1: an infant. They concluded from her noble and queen appearance
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  Speaker 1: that she must be a goddess, but were informed by
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  Speaker 1: her that she was Hypsipoly, queen of the Lemnians, who
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  Speaker 1: had been carried away captive by pirates and sold as
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  Speaker 1: a slave to King Lysergus, and that she was now
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  Speaker 1: acting as nurse to his infant son. When the warriors
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  Speaker 1: told her that they were in search of water, she
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  Speaker 1: laid the child down in the grass and led them
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  Speaker 1: to a secret spring in the forest, with which she
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  Speaker 1: alone was acquainted. But on their return they found to
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  Speaker 1: their grief that the unfortunate babe had been killed during
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  Speaker 1: their absent by a serpent. They slew the reptile, and
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  Speaker 1: then collecting the remains of the infant, they buried them
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  Speaker 1: with funeral honors and proceeded on their way. The warlike
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  Speaker 1: hosts now appeared before the walls of Thebes, and each
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  Speaker 1: leader placed himself before one of the seven gates of
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  Speaker 1: the city in readiness for the attack. Eteocles, in conjunction
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  Speaker 1: with Creon, had made due preparations to repel the invaders,
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  Speaker 1: and had stationed troops under the command of trusty leaders
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  Speaker 1: to guard each of the gates. Then, according to the
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  Speaker 1: practice of the ancients of consulting soothsayers before entering upon
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  Speaker 1: any undertaking, the blind old seer Tyrsius was sent for, who,
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  Speaker 1: after carefully taking the auguries from the flight of birds,
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  Speaker 1: declared that all efforts to defend the city would prove
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  Speaker 1: unavailing unless the youngest descendant of the house of Cadmus
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  Speaker 1: would offer himself as a voluntary sacrifice for the good
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  Speaker 1: of the state. When Creon heard the words of the seer,
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  Speaker 1: his first thought was of his favorite son, Menoceus, the
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  Speaker 1: youngest scion of the royal house, who was present at
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  Speaker 1: the interview. He therefore earnestly implored him to leave the
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  Speaker 1: city and to repair for safety to Delphi. But the
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  Speaker 1: gallant youth heroically resolved to sacrifice his life for the
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  Speaker 1: benefit of his country, and, after taking leave of his
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  Speaker 1: old father, mounted the city walls, and, plunging a dagger
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  Speaker 1: into his heart, perished in the sight of the contending hosts.
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  Speaker 1: Adrastus now gave his troops the word of command to
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  Speaker 1: storm the city, and they rushed forward to the attack
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  Speaker 1: with great valor. The battle raged long and furiously, and
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  Speaker 1: after heavy losses on both sides, the Argives were routed
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  Speaker 1: and put to flight. After the lapse of some days,
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  Speaker 1: they reorganized their forces and again appeared before the gates
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  Speaker 1: of Thebes, when Ettiocles, grieved to think that there should
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  Speaker 1: be such a terrible loss of life on his account,
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  Speaker 1: sent a herald into the opposite camp with a proposition
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  Speaker 1: that the fate of the campaign should be decided by
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  Speaker 1: single combat between himself and his brother Polyneses. The challenge
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  Speaker 1: was readily accepted, and in the duel, which took place
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  Speaker 1: outside the city walls in the sight of the rival forces,
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  Speaker 1: Etiocles and Polyneses were both fatally wounded and expired on
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  Speaker 1: the field of battle. Both sides now claimed the day,
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  Speaker 1: and the result was that hostilities recommenced, and soon the
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  Speaker 1: battle raged with greater fury than ever, but victory at
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  Speaker 1: last declared itself for the Thebans. In their flight, the
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  Speaker 1: Argives lost all their leaders. Adrasthus accepted, who owed his
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  Speaker 1: safety to the fleetness of his horse Arion. By the
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  Speaker 1: death of the brothers, Creon became once more King of Thebes,
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  Speaker 1: and in order to show his abhorrence of the conduct
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  Speaker 1: of Polyneses in fighting against his country, he strictly forbade
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  Speaker 1: anyone to bury either his remains or those of his allies.
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  Speaker 1: But the faithful Antigon, who had returned to Thebes on
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  Speaker 1: the death of her father, could not endure that the
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  Speaker 1: body of her brother should remain unburied. She therefore bravely
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  Speaker 1: disregarded the orders of the king and endeavored to give
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  Speaker 1: sepulture to the remains of Polyneses. When Creon discovered that
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  Speaker 1: his commands had been set at defiance, he inhumanly condemned
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  Speaker 1: the devoted maiden to be entombed alive in a subterranean vault.
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  Speaker 1: But retribution was at hand. His son Heimen, who was
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  Speaker 1: betrothed to Antigon, having contrived to an effect an entrance
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  Speaker 1: into the vault, was horrified to find that Antigon had
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  Speaker 1: hanged herself by her bail. Feeling that life without her
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  Speaker 1: would be intolerable, he threw himself in despair on his
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  Speaker 1: own sword, and, after solemnly invoking the malediction of the
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  Speaker 1: gods on the head of his father, expired beside the
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  Speaker 1: dead body of his betrothed. Hardly had the news of
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  Speaker 1: the tragic fate of his son reached the king before
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  Speaker 1: another messenger appeared bearing the tidings that his wife Eurydice,
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  Speaker 1: on hearing of the death of Himon, had put an
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  Speaker 1: end to her existence. And thus the king found himself,
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  Speaker 1: in his old age, both widowed and childless. Nor did
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  Speaker 1: he succeed in the execution of his vindictive designs. For Adrastus, who,
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  Speaker 1: after his flight from Thebes, had taken refuge at Athens,
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  Speaker 1: induced the Theseus to lead an army against the Thebans,
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  Speaker 1: to compel them to restore the dead bodies of the
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  Speaker 1: Argive warriors to their friends, in order that they might
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  Speaker 1: perform due funeral rites in honor of the slain. This
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  Speaker 1: undertaking was successfully accomplished, and the remains of the fallen
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  Speaker 1: heroes were in herd with due honors. End of section
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  Speaker 1: twenty seven. Recording by Anthony Wilson,