【国外英文文学】The Seven Against Thebes.doc

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1、【国外英文文学】The Seven Against Thebes 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

2、 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 Watchf

3、ul 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

4、 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

5、 neer, 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 lands gracious lap, Alike to plant the hearth and bear the shield In loyal servi

6、ce, 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 lo

7、re of fire interpreted) Foretelleth, by the mastery of his art, That now an onset of Achaeas 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 yo

8、ur 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

9、 tremble at their task, And, with their news, I fear no foemans 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 shi

10、eld Have shed a bulls 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 foeme

11、ns land With blood impasted. Then, as memorys 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 t

12、he 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 mayst, Hard by the gates, to dash on them, for now, Full-armed, the onward ranks of Argos come! The dust whirls up,

13、 and from their panting steeds White foamy flakes like snow bedew the plain. Thou therefore, chieftain! like a steersman skilled, Enshield the citys 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

14、 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 fathers Curse, of baneful might, Spare ye at least this town, nor root it up, By violence of the fo

15、emen, stock and stem! For here, from home and hearth, rings Hellas tongue. Forbid that eer 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

16、 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 signa

17、l, 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

18、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

19、! 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 oerwhelm Thine own im

20、memorial 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

21、 rush is the rush of a wave Rolled on by the War-gods 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

22、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 presenc

23、e revealed, to rescue Harmonias 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 wolfs howl wild, Thou, O the wolf-lord, and thou, of she-wolf Leto the chi

24、ld! 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 bla

25、st 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

26、 away! strophe 3 O gods and O sisters of gods, our bulwark and guard! we beseech That ye give not our war-worn hold to a rabble of alien speech! List to the call of the maidens, the hands held up for the right, antistrophe 3 Be near us, protect us, and show that the city is dear in your sight! Have

27、heed for her sacrifice holy, and thought of her offerings take, Forget not her love and her worship, be near her and smite for her sake! (ETEOCLES and his retinue re-enter.) ETEOCLES (addressing the CHORUS) Hark to my question, things detestable! Is this aright and for the citys weal, And helpful to

28、 our army thus beset, That ye before the statues of our gods Should fling yourselves, and scream and shriek your fears? Immodest, uncontrolled! Be this my lot- Never in troublous nor in peaceful days To dwell with aught that wears a female form! Where womankind has power, no man can house, Where wom

29、ankind feeds panic, ruin rules Alike in house and city! Look you now- Your flying feet, and rumour of your fears, Have spread a soulless panic on our walls, And they without do go from strength to strength, And we within make breach upon ourselves! Such fate it brings, to house with womankind. There

30、fore if any shall resist my rule Or man, or woman, or some sexless thing- The vote of sentence shall decide their doom, And stones of execution, past escape, Shall finish all. Let not a womans voice Be loud in council! for the things without, A man must care; let women keep within- Even then is misc

31、hief all too probable! Hear ye? or speak I to unheeding ears? CHORUS (chanting) Ah, but I shudder, child of Oedipus! I heard the clash and clang! The axles rolled and rumbled; woe to us, Fire-welded bridles rang! Say-when a ship is strained and deep in brine, Did eer a seaman mend his chance, who le

32、ft The helm, t invoke the image at the prow? CHORUS (chanting) Ah, but I fled to the shrines, I called to our helpers on high, When the stone-shower roared at the portals! I sped to the temples aloft, and loud was my call and my cry, Look down and deliver, Immortals! ETEOCLES Ay, pray amain that sto

33、ne may vanquish steel! Where not that grace of gods? ay, ay-methinks, When cities fall, the gods go forth from them! CHORUS (chanting) Ah, let me die, or ever I behold The gods go forth, in conflagration dire! The foemens rush and raid, and all our hold Wrapt in the burning fire! ETEOCLES Cry not on

34、 Heaven, in impotent debate! What saith the saw?-Good saving Strength, in verity, Out of Obedience breeds the babe Prosperity. CHORUS (chanting) Tis true: yet stronger is the power divine, And oft, when mans estate is overbowed With bitter pangs, disperses from his eyne The heavy, hanging cloud! ETE

35、OCLES Let men with sacrifice and augury Approach the gods, when comes the tug of war: Alaids must be silent and abide within. CHORUS (chanting) By grace of the gods we hold it, a city untamed of the spear, And the battlement wards from the wall the foe and his aspect of fear! What need of displeasur

36、e herein? ETEOCLES Ay, pay thy vows to Heaven; I grudge them not, But-so thou strike no fear into our men- Have calm at heart, nor be too much afraid. Alack, it is fresh in mine ears, the clamour and crash of the fray, And up to our holiest height I sped on my timorous way, Bewildered, beset by the

37、din! ETEOCLES Now, if ye hear the bruit of death or wounds, Give not yourselves oermuch to shriek and scream, For Ares ravins upon human flesh. LEADER OF THE CHORUS Ah, but the snorting of the steeds I hear! ETEOCLES Then, if thou hearest, hear them not too well LEADER Hark, the earth rumbles, as th

38、ey close us round! ETEOCLES Enough if I am here, with plans prepared. LEADER Alack, the battering at the gates is loud! ETEOCLES Peace! stay your tongue, or else the town may hear! LEADER O warders of the walls, betray them not! ETEOCLES Beshrew your cries! in silence face your fate. LEADER Gods of

39、our city, see me not enslaved! ETEOCLES On me, on all, thy cries bring slavery. LEADER Zeus, strong to smite, turn upon foes thy blow! ETEOCLES Zeus, what a curse are women, wrought by thee! LEADER Weak wretches, even as men, when cities fall. What! clasping gods, yet voicing thy despair? LEADER In

40、the sick heart, fear maketh prey of speech. ETEOCLES Light is the thing I ask thee-do my will! LEADER Ask swiftly: swiftly shall I know my power. ETEOCLES Silence, weak wretch! nor put thy friends in fear. LEADER I speak no more: the general fate be mine! ETEOCLES I take that word as wiser than the rest. Nay, more: these images possess