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Though there has been a great deal of argument about the structure of the Thebaid, [1] it seems best to regard it as a deliberately episodic work bound together by a unified tone and by numerous correspondences between individual passages and books. The one obvious division is that between the two halves, the first covering the events leading up to the war and the second the war itself and its final outcome. Though the brothers Eteocles and Polynices slay each other in Book 11, the twelfth book, in which Theseus of Athens defeats Creon and imposes order and piety on Thebes, is less a postscript than the culmination of the poem, the restoration of harmony and justice. Since the Thebaid is generally not well known and is full of incident and a large number of characters, the following summary of the plot may be of use to the reader. After a proem defining the poem's subject and praising Domitian (1.1-45), the scene changes to Thebes where Oedipus curses his sons Eteocles and Polynices, invoking the aid of the Fury Tisiphone. She speeds to Thebes and sets the brothers against each other. They agree to alternate a year's rule for each with a year's exile, and the lots assign the first year of kingship to Eteocles (1.46-196). On Olympus Jupiter explains to a council of the gods his plan to cleanse both Thebes and Argos of their sin by the blood of war (1.197-311). Polynices journeys by night to Argos in the midst of a terrible storm. At the palace of king Adrastus he meets Tydeus, exiled after the killing of his own brother. The two quarrel and fight until Adrastus, wakened by the noise, separates them. By their dress and weapons he recognizes in them the sons-in-law promised him by Fate, and immediately orders a banquet to be set (1.312-556). To explain what feast they are celebrating in Argos he tells them the story of Linus and Coroebus (1.557-720). Meanwhile Mercury brings Laius' ghost from Hades to inspire hatred and mistrust of Polynices in Eteocles' heart (2.1-133). In Argos Adrastus gives his daughters Argia and Deipyle in marriage to Polynices and Tydeus, among many evil omens (2.134-305). Polynices' thoughts turn to Thebes, and Tydeus undertakes to act as ambassador to demand the throne, the allotted year having expired. His speech is provocative and Eteocles refuses to yield. An ambush of fifty Thebans is set for Tydeus, but he slays them all, sparing only Maeon (2. 306-743). Macon returns to Thebes to recount the disaster and to inveigh against Eteocles' impiety, then kills himself (3.1-113). The Thebans pour out of the city to find and bury their dead (3.114-217), and Jupiter commands Mars to begin battle. He does so joyfully, though Venus attempts to intervene on behalf of the Thebans, descendants of their daughter Harmonia (3. 218-324). Tydeus reaches Argos and rouses Adrastus' men to fury; the king decides to try the will of the gods (3. 325-459). The prophets Amphiaraus and Melampus take the auspices and foretell disaster, but the god-despiser Capaneus decides the Argives for war and Argia's pleas on her husband's behalf convince her father (3. 460-721). The Argives muster, their captains and troops being identified in a lengthy catalogue (4.1-344). There is panic at Thebes, and Tiresias, at Eteocles' command, summons up ghosts from the underworld to learn the future (4.345-645). Meanwhile the Argives have reached Nemea. Bacchus, to protect his native city, causes a drought, but Hypsipyle, once queen of Lemnos and now a slave, reveals to the Argives the stream of Langia (4.646-843). At Adrastus' request she tells the tale of the slaughter visited on their menfolk by the Lemnian women (5.1-498). While she is giving her account, however, her infant charge Opheltes, son of king Lycurgus of Nemea, is crushed to death by a mighty serpent which dwells in the grove (5. 499-638). Lycurgus is prevented by the Argives from slaying Hypsipyle in revenge (5. 639-753). An elaborate funeral is given the unfortunate child, now called Archemorus, and games follow in which the seven princes each win an event (6.1-946). At this point Jupiter, impatient of the delay, sends Mercury to Thrace to urge Mars to action (7.1-89). The Argives advance as Mars spreads panic, but Jupiter refuses Bacchus' request for mercy for Thebes (7.90-226). At Thebes, from the walls, Phorbas identifies to the maiden Antigone the leaders of the Thebans and their allies, while Eteocles encourages his men (7.227-423). The Argives reach the Asopus and pitch their camp: the Thebans spend a fearful night. At dawn Jocasta leaves the city with her daughters and attempts to dissuade Polynices from attacking his homeland, but Tydeus urges the troops on (7.424-563). Battle begins, and the seer Amphiaraus, aided by Apollo, enjoys an aristeia until, claimed by Fate but spared death for the sake of his pietas, he descends to the underworld through a chasm that opens in the earth (7.564-823). In the underworld Pluto, angered by Amphiaraus' unlawful descent still living into Hades, sends Tisiphone to the upper world to wreak mischief (8.1-126). Before Thebes the Argives, horrified by the portent, flee. Darkness falls and they lament the lost seer, while the Thebans, their confidence growing, rejoice (8.127-270) . The Argives choose Thiodamas to replace Amphiaraus, and he sacrifices and prays to Earth to avert the omen (8.271-341). The Thebans issue forth, battle is joined, and Hypseus and Haemon distinguish themselves (8.342-518). Haemon then retreats before Tydeus, who now enjoys an aristeia in his turn. Among his victims is the youthful Atys, betrothed to Ismene; fatally wounded, Atys dies in his beloved's arms (8. 519-654). Tydeus continues victorious until he is struck by a spear cast by Melanippus. At his command Capaneus brings him Melanippus' body and the hero in his fury sinks to cannibalism, so disgusting his patron Pallas that she withholds the boon of immortality she had won for him from Jupiter (8. 655-766). Book 9 begins with a study of the reactions of the armies and their generals to Tydeus' unspeakable act of cannibalism. The gleeful false indignation of Eteocles is contrasted with the utter desolation of Polynices, whom his friend's death reduces to despair and attempted suicide (9.1-85). Hippomedon stoutly defends his comrade's corpse (9.86-144) but is deceived by Tisiphone into abandoning this duty, with the result that the Thebans capture and disfigure it (9.145-95). He seeks revenge and, on Tydeus' horse, drives the Thebans before him to the river Ismenos, where his merciless sword, the river's high waters, and the general confusion produce many horrific woundings and deaths (9.196-314). Hippomedon goes too far, however, and callously cuts down Crenaeus, the young grandson of the river-god himself (9.314-50). Moved to fury by the lamentations and taunts of the bereaved mother, Ismenos gathers all his waters and assails the hero; in the ensuing conflict of god and man the superhuman hero long endures, a quite magnificent figure, until forced to turn and flee by divine might (9.351-491). Unable to escape and fearing an ignoble death by drowning, he asks for Mars' help; he is reprieved, only to fall before whole troops of cowardly Thebans, defeated but not dishonoured (9. 492-538). His corpse is defended by Capaneus (9.539-69). The scene now changes to Arcadia, where Atalanta, terrified by dreams of ill-omen foretelling her son's death, begs their patron Diana to save him (9.570-636). Diana hurries to Thebes but, meeting her brother Apollo on the way, is told that unalterable Fate demands the boy's death: she resolves to grant him glory in battle at the end and to punish his slayer (9.637-67). Full of joy and reckless of danger, Parthenopaeus, with Diana's never-erring arrows, kills mercilessly: he ignores the warnings of the gruff warrior Amphion and of Diana, disguised as his tutor Dorceus. He weakens and finally falls before the monstrous Dryas, the ancestral enemy of Diana and her devotees, who is then himself mysteriously slain (9. 670-876). The boy's last words are a pathetic address to his mother, acknowledging his folly and cruelty (9.877-907). The Thebans confidently camp outside the walls, but Juno sends Somnus to entrap them and, as they sleep, the Argives slaughter them (10.1-346). Hopleus and Dymas attempt to retrieve the bodies of their fallen princes, Parthenopaeus and Tydeus, but dawn overtakes them and they die a heroic death (10.347-448). In the next day's fighting the Argives gain the upper hand and, as the Thebans panic, Tiresias reveals that Fate demands 'the last of the serpent's blood' in return for the salvation of the city. Menoeceus, spurred on by the goddess Virtus, realizes that he is meant by this and leaps to his death from the walls (10. 449-826). Capaneus now climbs the walls, challenging Jupiter, who smites him with his thunderbolt (10. 827-939). Tisiphone urges her sister Megaera to help her bring the brothers to single combat. Polynices hesitates at first, until Eteocles, driven by the Fury and by Creon's taunts, appears on the battlefield. Jocasta tries in vain to dissuade him, while Antigone, from the walls, pleads with Polynices (11.403-579). As the brothers clash, Adrastus flees in horror and Tisiphone drives Pietas from the field. Polynices fatally wounds Eteocles, who treacherously feigns death and in his turn smites Polynices as he stoops to strip the corpse (11.403-579). Oedipus is overcome with remorse and laments his crime, and Jocasta takes her own life. Creon, now king, begins his reign by banishing Oedipus and forbidding the Argives to be buried (11.580-761). The next day, the Thebans stream out of the city once more to find their dead, and Creon laments his own son (12.1-104). Meanwhile the women of Argos set out to bury their dead, but are told by Ornytus of Creon's cruel command. Argia, accompanied only by her old guardian Menoetes, makes her way to Thebes while the other women go to Athens to enlist the aid of Theseus. On the battlefield Argia and Antigone, who is defying Creon's orders, meet over the body of Polynices, which they wash and place upon the same pyre where Eteocles' already burns. The flame divides, proof of a hatred that has outlived even death (10.105-463). The Argive women reach Athens and the altar of Clementia. A speech by Evadne moves Theseus to action and he musters the men of Attica. He attacks Thebes, slays Creon, and restores order and piety by allowing the burial of all the dead, on both sides. The poem ends with the pyres and the laments of the women of Argos (12.464-819) . Footnotes[1] Vessey pp. 317-28. Related Sections: Aspects of Statius' Poetic Style | Bibliography |