Messenger monologue — Specimens of Greek Tragedy — Aeschylus and Sophocles

The chief whose post is at the seventh gate Is thine own brother; hear his direful prayers, His imprecations on our commonwealth. He prays that he may mount our battlements, Be there proclaimed our king, shout victory, Meet thee, and slay thee, and insult thee slain, Or, living, drive thee forth a banished man, Disgracing thee as thou hast him disgraced. With such fell words and adjurations dire Of his paternal gods to hear his prayer, Strong Polynices makes the field resound. A shield he bears, fair-shaped and newly-wrought, Whereon a twofold emblem is empaled: A lady with a stately mien leads on The golden likeness of a man-at-arms, The legend says that Justice is her name And she is bringing back a banished man To claim his native city and his home. [Footnote: Four lines, probably spurious, if not interpolated, are here omitted.]