grievous thing when men take a city, for the women, old and young, are
dragged by the hair, and the men are slain with the sword, and there is
slaughter and burning, while they that plunder cry each man to his
comrade, and the fruits of the earth are wasted upon the ground; nor is
there any hope but in death."

And as they made an end, the King came back, and at the same time a
messenger bringing tidings of the battle, how the seven chiefs had
ranged themselves each against a gate of the city. And the man's story
was this.

"First Tydeus, the Ætolian, standeth in great fury at the gate of
Proetus. Very wroth is he because the soothsayer, Amphiaraüs,
suffereth him not to cross the Ismenus, for that the omens promise not
victory. A triple crest he hath, and there are bells of bronze under his
shield which ring terribly. And on his shield he hath this device: the
heaven studded with stars, and in the midst the mightiest of the stars,
the eye of night, even the moon. Whom, O King, will thou set against
this man?"

Then the King made reply, "I tremble not at any man's adorning, and a
device woundeth not. And, indeed, as for the night that thou tellest to
be on his shield, haply it signifieth the night of death that shall fall
upon his eyes. Over against him will I set the son of Astacus, a brave
man and a modest. Also he is of the race of the Dragon's Teeth, and men
call him Melanippus."

And the messenger said, "Heaven send him good fortune! At the gate of
Electra standeth Capaneus, a man of great stature, and his boastings are
above all measure, for he crieth out that he will destroy this city