Sphinx monster, over whom he triumphed, and was rewarded by the hand
of Iokaste, his own mother! Not till four children--two sons and two
daughters--had been born to them, was the secret of the lineage
revealed. Iokaste slew herself in horror, and the wretched king tore
out his eyes, that he might never again see the children of his awful
union. The two sons quarrelled over the succession, then agreed on a
compromise; then fell at variance again, and finally slew each other
in single combat. These two sons, according to one tradition, were
twins: but the more usual view is that the elder was called Eteocles,
the younger, Polynices.

To the point at which the internecine enmity between Eteocles and
Polynices arose, we have had to follow Sophocles and Euripides, the
first two parts of Aeschylus' Trilogy being lost. But the third part,
as we have said, survives under the name given to it by Aristophanes,
the _Seven against Thebes_: it opens with an exhortation by Eteocles
to his Cadmeans that they should "quit them like men" against the
onslaught of Polynices and his Argive allies: the Chorus is a bevy
of scared Cadmean maidens, to whom the very sound of war and tramp
of horsemen are new and terrific. It ends with the news of the death
of the two princes, and the lamentations of their two sisters,
Antigone and Ismene. The onslaught from without has been repulsed,
but the male line of the house of Laius is extinct. The Cadmeans
resolve that Eteocles shall be buried in honour, and Polynices flung
to the dogs and birds. Against the latter sentence Antigone protests,
and defies the decree: the Chorus, as is natural, are divided in
their sentiments.

It is interesting to note that, in combination with the _Laius_ and
the _Oedipus_, this play won the dramatic crown in 467 B.C. On the