[Illustration: THE OATH OF THE SEVEN CHIEFS]

And as he made an end of speaking there ran in one who declared that
even now the enemy was about to assault the city. And after him came a
troop of maidens of Thebes, crying out that the enemy had come forth
from the camp, and that they heard the tramp of many feet upon the
earth, and the rattling of shields, and the noise of many spears. And
they lifted up their voices to the Gods that they should help the city,
to Ares, the god of the golden helmet, that he should defend the land
which in truth was his from old time, and to Father Zeus, and to Pallas,
who was the daughter of Zeus, and to Poseidon, the great ruler of the
sea, and to Aphrodité the Fair, for that she was the mother of their
race, and to Apollo, the wolf-king, that he would be as a devouring wolf
to the enemy, and to Artemis, that she should bend her bow against them,
and to Heré, the Queen of heaven, even to all the dwellers in Olympus,
that they should defend the city, and save it.

But the King was very wroth when he heard this outcry, and cried, "Think
ye to make bold the hearts of our men by these lamentations? Now may the
Gods save me from this race of women; for if they be bold no man can
endure their insolence, and if they be afraid they vex both their home
and their country. Even so now do ye help them that are without and
trouble your own people. But hearken to this. He that heareth not my
command, be he man or woman, the people shall stone him. Speak I
plainly?"

"But, O son of Oedipus," the maidens made reply, "we hear the rolling
of the chariot wheels, and the rattling of the axles, and the jingling
of the bridle reins."