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Seven Against Thebes: by Aeschylus
Seven Against Thebes: by Aeschylus
Seven Against Thebes: by Aeschylus
by Aeschylus
translated by
Frederic Raphael and Kenneth McLeish
WORKING SCRIPT
2012 RANDOLPH COLLEGE GREEK PLAY
Characters
ETEOCLES, KING OF THEBES
SCOUT
silent:
MELANIPPUS
POLYPHONTES
MEGAREUS
HYPERBIUS
AKTOR
LASTHENES
SOLDIERS, SERVANTS
Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
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Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
It skims, it flies.
Torrent in mountain gorge.
Yoh! Yoh!
Gods, goddesses, it rears,
Evil, turn it aside.
O-ah!
It hurls on the walls. 90
Surging shields, dazzling,
White shields pound Thebes.
Which god, which goddess?
Who our champion?
Whose altars? Where kneel?
Yoh! Blessed ones, do you hear?
Grab images. Cling.
Cling. Don't wait and howl.
Hear them! Shield-rattle. Hear! 100
Robe the statues,
Crown them now.
I'm afraid. Spear cracks on spear.
Up, Ares! Wargod, Ares, up!
Ancient ally, help us now.
Gold-helmet-god, look down, look down.
You loved us so.
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Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
E! E! E! E! 150 [str. b
Squeal of chariots round Thebes I hear.
Hera, queen of heaven.
Tormented axles scream.
Artemis, beloved.
Mad sky, bristling spears.
What will it suffer, our city? What will happen?
What end do the gods demand?
E!E!E!E! [ant. b
Stones shower on our battlements.
Beloved Apollo,
Bronze shields pound gates. 160
Son of Zeus, send
Consummation, blessed end of war.
Athene, guardian of Thebes, stand close, protect
Your home, the seven gates.
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Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
Sheep, oxen,
Trophies, spoils of the enemy;
Their tattered armour will scab your shrines.
Make these your prayers. No tears,
No snorts and grunts. Fate is fate: 280
You’ll not shriek free of it.
I'll choose six men, myself the seventh,
And station them against the enemy;
Seven champions, each at his gate.
This now. I need no messengers,
No torrent of words to fire my heart.
What better place on Earth will you make your own [ant. a
If you surrender to our enemies
The loam of Thebes,
Our river-water,
Purest of all Poseidon,
Earth-girdler, pours 310
For mortals to drink?
Gods of our city, stand firm for Thebes.
On the army outside its walls
Rain havoc,
Mutilation, death,
Let them drop their arms and run.
So honour will be ours -
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Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
ETEOCLES. Athene will see to it, who lives beside the gate.
She'll scorn his boasts; she'll drive him off,
This snake that threatens chicks and nest.
And then Hyperbius, Oenops' brave son,
I'll send against him. Man for man—
He'll take any risk, put his fate to any test:
A fine man, his courage and force of arms
Unquestioned. They're matched, the two of them:
Personal enemies, and on their shields 510
Their gods as well are enemies. Firebreathing giant
Is matched with Zeus enthroned, the Father,
Thunderbolt flaring in his hand.
Invincible, Zeus champions our champion.
So the gods stand on either side. An omen-
Zeus conquers giant, our man beats theirs. 520
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Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
LEADER 1. Slayer.
LEADER 2. Slain.
Verse 2
LEADER 1. Mind reels with grief.
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Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
Verse 3
LEADER 1. Bitter pain; eyes flinch.
LEADER 1. He rued.
LEADER 2. He killed.
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Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
Enter HERALD.
HERALD.
I am to announce the decision and decree
Of the counsellors of Thebes. In recognition
Of his loyalty, his patriotism,
Eteocles is granted burial here
In the earth he loved. For Thebes he died,
Fighting Thebes' enemies. To our ancestral gods
He is without sin or guilt. He died 1010
As young men ought, where honour is.
So stands the decision concerning him.
As for his brother Polynices, his corpse
Is to lie unburied, for dogs to tear.
A fitting end. He'd have toppled Thebes,
But the gods stopped him in his brother's spear.
He's dead; his guilt lives on,
His scorn for our gods.
Foreigners he led against his town.
Scorn and shame are his, well earned; 1020
His grave a vulture's craw. For him
No high-heaped tomb, no funeral dirge.
No ritual of death from next of kin.
So decree the counsellors of Thebes.
HERALD.
I warn you, don't disobey the state.
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Raphael & McLeish — Seven Against Thebes – First Working Script RCGP 2012
HERALD.
The people's mood is harsh now danger's past.
HERALD.
An outcast! You'll show him such respect?
HERALD.
Before be threatened Thebes.
HERALD.
No private Quarrel! He threatened us all. 1050
HERALD.
Do as you will. But stand warned by me.
Exit.
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