From the dragon of crimson crest that battened on beasts of the wold820
A race of the seed of his teeth, to be Thebes' reproach and her glory.
To Harmonia's bridal descended of yore[1]
The children of Heaven; and Thebes' walls rose to the harp's voice singing,
When the spell of Amphion's lyre fashioned towers for her brows' enringing,
In the space 'twixt the rivers twain that pour
Out of Dirkê, whose dews drift greenness, shedding
Life o'er the plain by Ismenus spreading.
And our ancestress Io of hornèd brows
Was mother of kings unto Kadmus' house.
Lo, how hath this city, through line on line830
Of blessings unnumbered, attained to the height
Where the War-god's crowns of victory-might
Shine!
Enter Teiresias led by his daughter, with Menoikeus.
Teiresias.
Lead on, my daughter: to my sightless feet
As eyes art thou, as star to mariners.835
Hither, on even ground, plant thou my steps.
Guide, lest I stumble: strengthless is thy sire.
Guard in thy maiden hand the augury-lots
Which, when I marked the bodings of the birds,
In the holy seat I took, where I divine.840
Thou child Menoikeus, son of Kreon, tell
How much remaineth of the townward way
- ↑ Harmonia, daughter of Ares, was given by the Gods to Kadmus to wife.
