Jocasta
The gods and fortune have treated us well; for my sons are alive and my land has escaped ruin. But Creon seems to have had bitter enjoyment
[1205]
from my marriage with Oedipus, by losing his son to his sorrow, a public success, a private grief. But please, come back to your tale again and say what my two sons next intend.
Messenger
Let the rest be; all is well with you so far.
Jocasta
[1210]
Your words rouse my suspicions; I cannot let it be.
Messenger
Have you any further wish than your sons' safety?
Jocasta
Yes, to hear if I shall fare well in the future.
Messenger
Let me go; your son is left without his squire.
Jocasta
There is some evil you are hiding, veiling it in darkness.
Messenger
[1215]
I would not add ill news to the good you have heard.
Jocasta
You must, unless you take wings and fly away.
Messenger
Messenger
Ah! Why did you not let me go after my good news, instead of forcing me to disclose evil? Those two sons of yours are resolved on
[1220]
deeds of shameful recklessness, a single combat apart from the army; they addressed to Argives and Thebans alike words I would they had never uttered. Eteocles, taking his stand on a lofty tower, after ordering silence to be proclaimed to the army, began:
[1225]
[and said: “O captains of Hellas,] chieftains of Argos here assembled, and you people of Cadmus, do not barter your lives for Polyneices or for me! For I myself excuse you from this risk,
[1230]
and will engage my brother in single combat; and if I slay him, I will possess my house alone, but if I am conquered I will hand down the city to him alone. You men of Argos, give up the struggle and return to your land, do not lose your lives here;
[1235]
there are enough of the Sown-men who lie dead.” So he spoke; then your son Polyneices rushed from the battle-line and assented to his proposal. And all the Argives and the people of Cadmus shouted their approval, as though they thought it just.
[1240]
On these terms the armies made a truce, and in the space between them the generals took an oath to abide by.
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Euripides. The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. The Phoenissae, translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
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