with thee? As for me I shall fall in this land, for am I not a seer? Be
it so. I shall not die without honour!' No device hath this man on his
shield, for he seeketh not to seem, but to be in very deed most
excellent. Thou must need send some wise man to stand against him."

"It is an ill fate that bringeth a just man into company with the
wicked. And of a truth there is not a worse thing upon the earth than
ill companionship, wherein the sowing is madness and the harvest is
death. For thus a god-fearing man being on shipboard with godless
companions perisheth with them; and one that is righteous, if he dwell
in one city with the wicked, is destroyed with the same destruction. So
shall it fare with this Amphiaraüs; for though he be a good man and
righteous, and that feareth God, yet shall he perish because he beareth
these boasters company. And I think that he will not come near to the
gates, so well knoweth he what shall befall him. Yet have I set
Lasthenes to stand against him, young in years but old in counsel, very
keen of eye, and swift of hand to cast his javelin from under his
shield."

"And now, O King! hear how thy brother beareth himself, for he it is who
standeth yonder at the seventh gate. For he crieth aloud that he will
climb upon the wall and slay thee, even though he die with thee, or
drive thee forth into banishment, even as thou, he saith, hast driven
him. And on his shield there is this device: a woman leading an armed
man, and while she leadeth him, she saith, 'I AM JUSTICE, AND I WILL
BRING BACK THIS MAN TO THE KINGDOM WHICH IS HIS OF RIGHT.'"

But when the King heard this he brake forth in much fury, "Now will the
curse of this house be fulfilled to the uttermost. Yet must I not bewail
myself, lest there should fall upon us an evil that is yet greater than