Thebaid

The body of Capaneus plummets to earth from the walls of Thebes, struck down by Jupiter (1-8). Statius compares him to the Giant who assaulted Apollo’s mother Leto, whose horrifying corpse left no doubt of his power (9-17). The Thebans take heart at his death, but watch, aghast, as Jupiter also prevents the Argives from retreating (18-25). An Argive trumpeter tries to sound the retreat and is instantly killed, though his horn plays on (49-56).

Tisiphone, now bored of the conflict, calls up her sister Megaera to set up the final duel between Polynices and Eteocles (57-76). She is exhausted by how insatiably evil men are, whom it is her job to incite, and mentions Tydeus specifically (“You’ve seen—surely he’s shown up among Stygian shades?—the leader whose mouth is foul with blood, whose lips stream black / muck? I gave him his wretched foe’s head, and he ate it! / Insatiable!” (85-87)). Tisiphone wants Megaera to choose one of the brothers and help her set him against each other in single combat (92-112). In heaven, Jupiter urges the gods to turn their eyes away from the impious conflict that is coming (121-35).

Megaera finds Polynices debating whether to fight or flee; a frightening dream of a silent, mournful Argia has made him wary (136-46). Megaera juices him up with rage and Polynices rushes to tell Adrastus that he will do what he should have done long ago, before the rest of the Seven were killed: He will fight Eteocles one-on-one. He bids farewell to Argia and hopes she finds a better husband than he (155-92). Before Adrastus can respond, Tisiphone, disguised as an Argive, steals him away, urging him to “Snap to it! No dawdling! Let’s make haste […]!”

Meanwhile, Eteocles is performing a sacrifice to Jupiter, thinking the Argives are defeated. He attributes the victory to Jupiter’s connections to Thebes—e.g. the rapes of Io and Semele—and thanks him, but a black flame knocks off his crown and the sacrificial cow spews blood everywhere (205-38). A messenger tells Eteocles that Polynices is approaching. The courtiers encourage Eteocles to hang back and let them do the dirty work, but Creon, still mourning his son Menoeceus, verbally abuses Eteocles at length for being the cause of the war and a plague on Thebes (238-96). Eteocles shrugs off the accusations, claiming that Creon is not angry for his son—he just wants the throne for himself. He will deal with Creon later, as the priority is fighting Polynices (298-314).

When Jocasta hears that the duel is drawing near, she confronts Eteocles and tries to make him kill her if he intends to proceed, but he pushes past her (315-53). Antigone tries the same with Polynices, calling down to him from a tower as he pelts the walls with pikes. She lies and says that though Polynices called, Eteocles will not answer (354-82). Polynices’ rage ebbs, but Tisiphone breaks down the gates and Eteocles charges out. Polynices shows his true colors: “[H]e glared at his brother—for, deep in his heart, jealousy burned / at the other’s vast retinue, regal casque” (396-8).

The brothers charge each other and begin their final battle. The citizens of Thebes all gather on the ramparts to watch—shockingly, Dis sends the Theban dead up from the Underworld to watch the spectacle too (416-23). Adrastus tries to stop Eteocles and Polynices one last time, appealing to the former to lay down his pride and to the latter as father to son, but he fails. He drives his red horse Arion (featured prominently in the chariot race of Book 6) away from the conflict and abandons the war entirely (424-46).

Statius moves us to a far corner of heaven, where a personification of Devotion (Latin: Pietas) sits apart, “offended by Earth and the Council of Gods (457). Like Jocasta and Antigone, she is distressed at the fight between two brothers, wishing she lived in the Underworld instead (457-71). Though she is sure she wastes her time, she decides to try to intervene. Her presence instantly makes the brothers and their armies feel shame, but Tisiphone drives her off: “Make way, hussy! Mine this / field, and mine this day!” (485-6). The fight resumes.

Polynices promises he will atone and kill himself for his crimes if he can only kill Eteocles (504-8). His javelin hits Eteocles’s horse and, believing the fight won, Polynices charges. The two men fight on foot, “they clash without scheme, without skill—mere brute force now, and rage, and the fire of hatred” (524-5). Finally Polynices stabs Eteocles in the groin, mocking him as he stumbles (540-51). In his joy and greed he moves to strip Eteocles’s arms, who has one last trap in store: he buries his sword in his brother’s heart and, vaunting over him, dies (560-73). In an aside to the reader, Statius hopes no-one will remember this foul moment again—only kings should keep it in mind (574-9).

At their death, Oedipus emerges and begs Antigone to throw him on the corpses of his sons. He mourns them loudly, asking Devotion why she only now affects him with remorse. He wishes his eyes would grow back so he could rip them out again, growing furious when Antigone does not allow him to kill himself (580-633). In the palace his wife Jocasta commits suicide with a sword, to the horror of their other daughter, Ismene (634-47).

Creon ascends to the throne. His first action as king—“first hint and gauge of Creon’s reign (so steeped was he / in the savage ways of the palace”—is to deny the Argives the right to bury their dead (661-4). He mocks Oedipus and expels him from Thebes, though he knows himself to be the lesser man. Citing everything he has been through, Oedipus refuses to be cowed by two-bit pretender. He ironically blesses Creon’s rule over Thebes, hoping it will turn out just like his own (673-706). Antigone begs Creon to be the bigger man and pity her father, who presents no real threat to his reign and is cruel only because of his horrible lot in life (707-47). Creon deigns to let them stay in the Theban countryside but bars them from civilized areas like shrines and homes (748-56). The Argive army starts wandering home (757-61).

Not quite believing the war is over, the shell-shocked Thebans begin dismantling the city’s defenses and burying the Theban corpses. “Often too,” Statius tells us, “they were fooled (Fortune snickered the while) and shed / tears over their foes—no sure way for the wretches to tell / whose flesh they should honor and whose tread underfoot” (35-7). After three days they assemble enough wood to build pyres for the Thebans; unburied, the Argive ghosts wail (55-9). Creon specifies that his son Menoeceus (who committed suicide in Book 10, 616-782) receive special treatment. Creon laments at his bier that Menoeceus had longed for glory and snaps that he does not care if he is judged for not allowing the Argives to be buried (60-104).

Meanwhile a group of mourning women races from Argos to Thebes, led by the Polynices’ widow Argia (her sister Deipyle, Tydeus’s widow, accompanies her, as does Hippomedon’s widow Nealce and Capaneus’s widow Evadne) (105-28). Hecate—the goddess Diana in a more witchy form—guides the way in the night, while Iris preserves the Argive corpses until they arrive (129-40). A man named Ornytus tells the women of Creon’s ban on burial and suggests they return home and commemorate the dead in empty tombs—or perhaps request help from the hero Theseus, the neighboring king of Athens (141-66). When the women disagree on what to do, Argia hatches a plan: They will continue on to Athens while Argia alone appeals to Creon and his “thunderbolts” in Thebes herself (199). She is desperate to bury Polynices before he decomposes. Tirelessly, she crosses the countryside with the assistance of an older man, Menoetes (166-242).

Under cover of night, Argia begs the spirit of the city of Thebes to aid her and searches the gory battlefield for Polynices (255-90). Juno, on her way to Athens to petition Theseus on behalf of the other Argive women, sees her and pities her. She convinces the moon goddess Cynthia to shed more light on Argia’s way and finally, Argia finds Polynices’ corpse (291-321). She begs him to “lift [his] head and unseeing eyes” to show her his ancestral home, then blames herself for her role in the tragedy and promises he will be buried properly (322-48). A second mourner arrives: Antigone, who snuck out of Thebes. At first she confronts Argia—“Reckless woman!,” she says, “Whose soul, what limbs do you seek? / This night is mine!” (366-7)—but when Argia reveals her identity, the two commiserate as daybreak approaches (349-405).

They cleanse Polynices’ body in the river Ismenos and look for wood and fire to burn him—and happen to use the same pyre as was used for Eteocles. The corpses of the brothers, together again, tussle for position on the pyre. Antigone marks what is happening and declares that Creon has won, as they still cannot temper their anger (409-46). Theban watchmen catch sight of the pyre and Argia and Antigone suicidally taunt them with their success in honoring Polynices. They are arrested (447-63).

In Athens, Minerva and Juno accompany the Argive women (264-80). In the heart of the city there is an altar to the personification of Clemency in a lovely grove of olive and laurel trees. It is known to peoples of many nations as a place to seek peace and relief from suffering. The Argive women come here just as Theseus arrives home from war (481-520).

Theseus’s victory parade—including his new barbarian wife, Hippolyte—is splendid (521-39). Theseus sees the Argive women and agrees to hear their plea. Evadne, Capaneus’s wife, identifies them as fellow Greeks who complain not that their husbands were slain—war is war, after all—but rather that they cannot be buried. She asks Theseus’s assistance in setting things right, as the gods, including Jupiter, have done nothing, and she has heard Theseus is a noble man (540-86). Theseus is moved by their plight and wonders “What Erinys [i.e. Fury] has brought on this madness, / so strangely unkinglike?” (590-1). He agrees to help and leads his weary but eager troops to Thebes (599-648). He looks “a very Jupiter” (650) at the head of the army, bearing a shield with his own image (649-76).

Back in Thebes, Antigone and Argia are being sent to their execution when the messenger Phegeus arrives, bringing word of Theseus’s arrival. Creon refuses to change course (677-98). The exhausted Thebans can barely convince themselves to prepare for battle (698-708). Theseus arrives and does the dead the honor of not fighting on top of their corpses, but the Thebans are too tired to respond (715-40). Still, Theseus attacks in a mini-aristeia (730-53).

Theseus calls for Creon, who taunts him with the Thebans’ slaughter of Tydeus, Hippomedon, and Capaneus (754-65). Theseus laughs at him and kills him with his spear, “thundering” to hell to open its gates for Creon (767-81). The Thebans beg Theseus to tour their city. Widows stream about the battlefield like crazed worshippers of Bacchus (789-96).

Statius concludes by telling the reader he is too exhausted to go on detailing the funerals. He addresses the Thebaid itself, which he has worked on for twelve years, wondering if it will outlive him. He encourages it not to try to surpass its model, Virgil’s “Aeneid divine” (797-819).