Adrastus Argiuorum rex, accepta cruenta suorum clade ante Thebas, cum occisis neque pretio nec precibus sepulturam impetrare a uictore posset, Athenas uenit cum matribus septem ducum, qui in eodem conflictu perierant, Theseumque Atheniensium principem, uirum ut fortissimum ita et aequissimum, de uindicanda tanta hostium immanitate et tuenda lege Graeciae interpellat et ut communium fortunarum misereatur supplex orat. Ille, etsi se primum difficiliorem ad horum preces praeberet, tamen mox perpensa re accuratius apud se et matris quoque suasu, mutato animo, omnino decernit Thebanos ui, si minus amice possit, adigere ut corpora caesorum reddant Argiuis. Interea Thebanus aduenit praeco, qui ex mandato Creontis Boeotiae tyranni monet Theseum ut Argiuos missos faciat nec se illorum causae admisceat, si suam ciuitatem tranquillam saluamque habere cupiat. Huius arrogantia et insolentes animi iam magis accendunt Theseum ad uindictam insepultorum Argiuorum. Quare cum exercitu Thebas proficiscitur magnoque damno illato hostibus Argiuos humo mandat. Septem uero ducum corpora in Atticam usque transportat ut matres plangere ea et ritu patrio sepelire possent, ubi Euadne se in uiri Capanei rogum iniicit ac una exuritur. Post haec Adrastus una cum matribus, sancito prius foedere idque Mineruae monitu, in patriam remittuntur.

Adrastus the king of the Argives, having suffered the disaster of his own people before Thebes, when he had not been able to seek from the victors burial for the dead either with payment or with prayers, came to Athens with the mothers of the seven leaders, who had died in that same conflict, and he addresses Theseus the leader of the Athenians, a man both very brave and most just, concerning punishing such brutality of the enemies and protecting the law of Greece, and as a suppliant he begs that Theseus should feel pity for the common fortunes. He, although at first he showed himself to be rather adverse to the prayers of these people, nevertheless soon after weighing the matter more carefully with himself and by the persuasion of his mother as well, with a changed mind, he decides that by all means he would impel the Thebans with force, if he is not able to do it in a friendly way, to return the bodies of the slaughtered men to the Argives. Meanwhile, a Theban herald arrives, who by the command of Creon the Boeoetian tyrant warns Theseus to dismiss the Argives and not to involve himself in their cause if he wants to keep his own city peaceful and safe. The arrogance of this man and his insolent spirit stir Theseus now even more to avenge the unburied Argives. Therefore, with his army, he sets out for Thebes and after great damage had been brought upon the enemies, he buries the Argives in the ground. However, he carries the bodies of the seven leaders all the way to Athens so that the mothers can mourn them and bury them with their native rite. And there Evadne throws herself into the pyre of her husband Capaneus and is burned together with him. After this, when a treaty had first been solemnized (and this at the advice of Minerva), Adrastus together with the mothers is sent back to their homeland.

Hoc igitur Drama encomium continet Athenarum: quae ciuitas ob multas eximias res semper tam Graecis quam Latinis literis celebrari meruit. Non enim solum omnium doctrinarum inuentrices Athenae sunt, sed etiam alia multa diuina ac eximia hominum uitae pepererunt, ut leges, rectas rerum publicarum* rationes, recte uiuendi instituta, et quid non? Mira enim felicitate naturae uel potius peculiari quodam benignioris caeli genio recto sinceroque iudicio semper ualuisse existimati sunt Athenienses. Quo minus mirandum tanta tamque praeclara ab illis in hominum uitam profecta esse. Praecipua uero reipub(licae) bene constitutae gloria comparatur ex strenua defensione libertatis ac propulsatione iniuriarum a finitimis populis. Nam (ut inquit Cicero) iusti est non solum non facere iniuriam sed etiam ab immeritis propulsare. Quare Theseus miseris et funesta clade obtritis Argiuis nec auxilium nec suam ipsius operam denegat, nec proprium periculum aut sumptus excusat: eo quod aequum iudicaret, tueri humanitatem, tueri communes Graeciae leges, quas ex ista barbara crudelitate qua fortiter praeliatos uiros insepultos esse Thebani uolebant imminui intelligebat. Docet ergo Poeta hoc illustri exemplo qualia bella principibus honeste et suscipi et geri possint: nimirum ea quibus indignis modis oppressi aut afflicti uindicantur, aut cum hostis patriis e finibus profligandus est. Quoties autem arma sumunt uel dilatandi imperii gratia, uel impulsi aliqua priuata cupiditate, aut spe inani incitati, tum non sine ignominia orbem lerna malorum† degrauant et affligunt. Pius igitur princeps supplices opisque alienae in acerbissimo casu indigos non arcet a suo limine, sed et opibus et copiis iuuat. Unde miram humanitatem, iustitiam, pietatem, magnanimitatem in Theseo uidere est, cuius uirtutes merito omnium scriptorum consensu aeternae memoriae consecratae sunt.

*[Typographical error publicatam, already corrected in Stephanus 1602]

†[Λέρνη κακῶν (a Lerna [= large swamp in the Peloponnese] of evils) is a Greek proverb (Strabo 8.6.8), translated into Latin as the adage Lerna malorum for a countless mass of evils, which Stiblinus will have found in Erasmus's collection Adagia.]

This play therefore contains a commendation of Athens: this city state deserved always to be celebrated for many exceptional things in both Greek and Latin literature. For not only is Athens the inventor of all disciplines, but also it produced many other divine and remarkable things for human life, such as laws, the correct arrangements of public affairs, the principles of living rightly, and what didn’t not (Athens produce)? For because of a wondrous felicity of nature, or rather a certain special genius of a more benign heaven, the Athenians have always been considered to prevail in righteous and truthful judgment. How much less is to be wondered at that so many and so illustrious things have been produced by them for the life of humans. In truth, the particular glory of a well-constituted republic is obtained by the strenuous defense of liberty and the repulsion of injustices from neighboring peoples. For (as Cicero says) it is characteristic of the just man not only not to commit injustice but also to repel injustice from the innocent. Therefore Theseus denies the Argives, wretched and having been afflicted by a deadly disaster, neither help nor his own effort, and he does not treat as an excuse his own danger or expense: because he judged it just, to protect humanity, to protect the common laws of Greece, which he understood were being diminished by that barbaric cruelty with which the Thebans wanted men who fought bravely to be unburied. Therefore the Poet shows with this illustrious example what sort of wars can be undertaken and waged honorably by princes: evidently, those by which those who are oppressed or afflicted in a shameful way are vindicated, or when the enemy is to be driven from the borders of the fatherland. But as often as they take up arms either for the sake of expanding the empire or when impelled by some private greed or spurred on by an empty hope, then not without dishonor they burden and afflict the world with a Lerna of evils. Therefore the pious prince does not ward off from his own threshold suppliants and those in need of foreign help amid the harshest calamity, but helps with wealth and military resources. From this, the wonderful humanity, justice, piety, and generosity can be seen in Theseus, whose virtues have been deservedly consecrated to eternal memory by the consensus of all writers.

Hoc Thesei exemplum inuictissimus princeps [302] Carolus Quintus** Romanorum Imperator non modo aequauit, sed etiam longe superauit uel unica illa in Africam expeditione, qua Goleta castro Ruffibarbi munitissimo expugnato, urbem ipsam Tunetum cepit, multaque milia Christianorum captiuorum liberauit ac ipsum regem liberaliter in regnum restituit. Mallet nimirum tantus Monarcha huiusmodi bella gerere quibus barbarorum ferociam opesque frangeret quam perpetuo ciuilibus Imperii dissensionibus occupari ac rebellantes domesticis uictoriis subigere. Miseratur enim supplices ac sanguinolentos manes Palaeologi, calamitosi illius et ultimi Orientis Imperatoris: miseratur sordidatas et maestas umbras tot matronarum et uirginum quae sanguine suo et oculos et animum taeterrimi Mahometi pauerunt: miseratur innocuum cruorem infantium, puerorum, puellarumque quo infelicium matrum sanguinarius ille parricida sinus et gremia respergere non ueretur. Supplicat enim Caesari ipsa Constantinopolis, ueterum Imperatorum Graeciae domicilium, atque adeo omnis Graecia passim Christianorum sanguine funestata. Et, ut interim de Asia ceterisque prouinciis quas barbarus ille latro uexat taceam, ipsae Athenae, studiorum et sapientiae olim nutrices, quas in hoc Dramate duce Theseo pulcherrimo facinore oppressos Argiuos uindicasse cernimus, conculcatae ac in ruinis iam exspirantes suosque ciues insepultos miserantes, opem Caesaris unici praesidii Christianorum implorant. Clamant hoc deberi primum naturae legibus et societati humanae, deinde communi religioni et mutuae caritati qua Christus omnes homines qui in se crederent dogmaque suum profiterentur ceu unum corpus conglutinatos esse uoluit, praeterea uirtuti et pietati tot principum et fortium uirorum, qui crudelissime necati a Turca etiamnum manent inulti. Haec igitur uere est tragoedia Supplicum, prae qua nostrae Argiuae Supplices magis Comicae quam Tragicae uideri possint.

The most invincible prince Charles the Fifth, emperor of the Romans, not only equaled this example of Theseus, but also surpassed it by far, simply with that single expedition against Africa, with which, after Goleta [La Goulette], the most fortified fortress of [Hayreddin] Barbarossa, was conquered, he captured the city of Tunis itself, and freed many thousands of Christian captives and generously restored the king himself [Mulay Hassan] to power. Evidently so great a Monarch would prefer to wage wars of this sort with which he would break the fierceness and powers of the barbarians than to be perpetually occupied with the civil strife of the Empire and to subdue the rebels with domestic victories. For he pities the suppliant and bloody ghost of Palaeologus, that disastrous and final Emperor of the East: he pities the defiled and sad shades of so many married women and virgins who fed with their own blood the eyes and mind of the most disgraceful Mahometus: he pities the innocent blood of infants, boys, and girls with which that bloodthirsty assassin does not fear to sprinkle the laps and bosoms of the unlucky mothers. For Constantinople itself, the seat of the old emperors of Greece, supplicates to Caesar (the emperor), and in addition all of Greece do so, polluted everywhere by the blood of Christians. And, to pass over in silence for the moment Asia and the other provinces that the barbarian bandit harasses, Athens itself, once the promoter of studies and wisdom, which we see in this play under the leadership of Theseus avenged the oppressed Argives with a most beautiful deed, having been trampled and already dying in its ruins and pitying its own unburied citizens, begs the assistance of Caesar, the only protection of the Christians. It cries out that this (assistance) is owed firstly to the laws of nature and to human society, then to the common religion and mutual affection by which Christ wished all people who believe in him and profess his teachings to be bound together as one body, in addition to the virtue and piety of so many princes and brave men, who still remain unavenged, having been most cruelly killed by the Turk. This therefore is in truth the tragedy of Supplices, in comparison with which our Argive Supplices might be seen more as a comedy than as a tragedy.

Sed nostra oratio, ne longius digrediamur, ad argumentum redeat. Versatur tota fere fabula in genere suasorio, praesertim orationes mutuae praeconis Thebani et Thesei, in quibus multae sententiae atque adeo contentiones quaedam de Rebuspub(licis) insunt. Reliquum Dramatis consumitur partim in laude septem ducum et ceterorum qui occubuerant Argiuorum, partim in luctu ac curatione funerum. Euadne exusta simul cum uiro exemplum est singularis pietatis et amoris uxorii erga maritum. Aethra mater Thesei et ipsa pia misericors ac benigna inducitur. Praeco arrogans garrulus ac in alieno regno curiosus fingitur: quae legatorum aut nuntiorum uitia non carent periculo. Argiuae mulieres flebiles ac maestae: tales enim supplices esse decebat. Iphis calamitosus et orbus senex. Theseus rectus integer fortis et magnanimus. Lege ad hoc argumentum Isocratis Panegyricum et Panathenaicum.

**Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1556. In the following sentences references are made to Barbarossa (pirate based in North Africa and later admiral of the Ottoman Empire), to Charles’ capture of the North African cities of Goletta and Tunis in 1535, and to Constantine XI Palaeologos, the last Byzantine emperor who died at the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. The Ottoman ruler during this period was Süleyman the Magnificent, sultan from 1520 to 1566.

But lest we digress any longer, let our speech return to its subject. Nearly the whole play revolves around the genre of persuasion, especially the speeches exchanged between the herald of the Thebans and Theseus, in which many maxims and even certain points of dispute about Republics are present. The remainder of the Play is spent partly in praise of the seven leaders and the rest of the Argives who had met their death, partly in mourning and care of the burials. Evadne burned together with her husband is an example of remarkable piety and love from a wife for her husband. Aethra, the mother of Theseus, herself also a devoted woman, is introduced as merciful and kind. The herald is portrayed as arrogant, chatty, and interfering in a foreign kingdom: these faults of ambassadors and messengers are not without danger. The Argive women are tearful and sad: for it was fitting for suppliants to be such. Iphis is a miserable and childless old man. Theseus is righteous, uncorrupted, brave, and generous. For this theme, read the Panegyric and Panathenaicus of Isocrates.

Argumentum Actus primi.

Aethra mater Thesei ad templum Cereris, quod celeberrimum erat in Attica, exierat, ibi de more supplicatura deae ut florentissimam Atheniensium urbem tueri et protegere pergeret illorumque res prosperaret ac frugum uberem prouentum efferret, cum Adrastus et Argiuorum matres adueniunt, maesti ac squalidi, ut implorarent opem Thesei ad uindicandum caesos ante Thebas. itaque anus accersit filium ut quod ei uideretur faceret. 2. Chorus, hoc est Argiuae matres, accidunt ad pedes Aethrae suamque calamitatem plangentes miseris precibus auxilium petunt. Interea Theseus uenit, turbatus propter clamorem et eiulatum mulierum. Aliud enim noui mali reipub(licae) fortasse ortum esse hinc suspicabatur: cui mox Adrastus suam causam exponit. 3. Adrastus implorat opem Thesei, sed negat Theseus, eo quod post tanta praesidia quae natura hominibus tribuit ad uitam recte gubernandam totum illud malum sua culpa contraxerit. Supplicat eidem et Chorus miserabili ac confusa uoce. 4. Sed Aethra, commota nimirum miserabili spectaculo supplicum mulierum, lacrimantibus oculis intercedit apud filium pro Argiuis, exoratque, id quod decebat matrem, Theseum ut caesorum uindictam polliceretur reciperetque. Unde Chorus mirifice afficitur ac bona ultionis spe erigitur.

Argument of the First Act

Aethra the mother of Theseus had gone out to the Temple of Ceres, which was the most celebrated in Attica, there, as it was customary, to pray to the goddess that she would continue to guard and protect the most flourishing city of the Athenians and that she would make their affairs favorable and that she would bring out a bountiful harvest of crops, when Adrastus and the Argive mothers arrived, sad and miserable, to beg for the help of Theseus for the recover those slain before Thebes. Therefore, the old woman summoned her son so that he could do whatever \ seemed good to him. 2. The chorus, that is, the Argive mothers, fall at the feet of Aethra and seek help with wretched prayers, weeping over their own disaster. Meanwhile, Theseus comes, having been disturbed by the outcry and the wailing of the women. For he was suspecting that perhaps another new evil for the state may have risen from this: soon Adrastus explained his cause to him. 3. Adrastus begs for the help of Theseus, but Theseus refuses, because after so many protections which nature has granted humans to steer their life rightly, he had brought upon himself that entire evil through his own fault. The Chorus too supplicates him with a pitiable and perplexed (or distraught) voice. 4. But Aethra, obviously moved by the pitiful sight of the suppliant women, intervenes with her son with tearful eyes on behalf of the Argives, and beseeches, that which was fitting for a mother, that Theseus should promise and recover vindication for the slain. By this the Chorus is wonderfully moved and roused by the good hope of revenge.

[305] Argumentum Actus Secundi

Secundus Actus habet praestructionem quandam ad sequentes epitases. Dum enim Theseus matris precibus atque adeo ipsa humanitate et aequitate uictus nuntium ad Creontem Thebanorum principem cum mandatis de sepeliendis mortuis mitteret, casu aduenit Thebanus praeco de eadem re cum Theseo nomine regis sui acturus. Antequam autem ad ipsam rem ueniretur, praeter argumenti rationem disceptatio quaedam oritur de monarchia, tyrannide, et optimatum Repub(lica) idque uitio natiuae cuiusdam loquacitatis praeconis, qua nulla turpior comes hominum quibus seria demandata sunt negotia. 2. Disceptatione finita, tandem urgente Theseo cogitur praeco exponere causam suam, cuius perorationem Theseus eleganti responso excipit ac diluit, omninoque Argiuos sepelire, si minus bona gratia Creontis fieri possit, per uim et arma parat.

Argument of the Second Act

The Second Act contains a certain prelude for the following complications. For while Theseus, having been overcome by his mother’s prayers and indeed by human nature itself and justice, was sending a messenger to Creon, the ruler of the Thebans, with demands about burying the dead, by chance a Theban herald comes to deal with Theseus regarding the same matter in the name of his king. But before they come to the matter itself, beyond the rationale of the subject-matter, a certain dispute arises about monarchy, tyranny, and the state of aristocracy, and this occurs through the fault of a certain innate talkativeness of the herald, than which there is no more shameful a companion for men to whom serious business has been entrusted. 2. When the debate was finished, at last by the urging of Theseus the herald is forced to explain his purpose, Theseus follows up on and refutes his speech with an elegant response, and prepares by all means to bury the Argives, if it cannot be done with the kind favor of Creon, through force and arms, .

[307] Argumentum Actus Tertii

Argiuae matres et Aethra de futuro belli euentu disceptant, qui solis diis notus sit, ut et reliquarum rerum exitus, rogantque numina ut Theseo praesto esse uelint. 2. Nuntius Thesei uictoriam Choro narrat utque totum bellum peractum sit ordine exponit. Adrastus exclamat in fortunae uarias ac incertas uices, praeterea in mortalium insaniam, qui tristi quadam amentia ipsi sibi accersant pericula bella exitia, et salutaria monita bonaque consilia repudient in propriamque perniciem obnixe tendant. 3. Chorus interrogat nuntium de sepultura caesorum ante Thebas Argiuorum simulque cum Adrasto ploratus et querelas super caesis ducibus iamque in scenam productis inchoat.

Argument of the Third Act

The Argive mothers and Aethra dispute about the future outcome of the war, which is known to the gods alone, just as the result of other things, and ask the divinities that they willingly aid Theseus. 2. The messenger tells the Chorus of the victory of Theseus, and explains in order how the whole war was carried out. Adrastus exclaims about the varying and uncertain turns of fortune, moreover about the madness of mortals who by a certain sad folly invoke dangers, wars, and destruction upon themselves and reject helpful warnings and good advice and strive stubbornly toward their own destruction. 3. The Chorus asks the messenger about the burial of the Argives slain before Thebes, and together with Adrastus begins wailing and lamenting the slain leaders who are now brought onto the stage.

[308] Argumentum Actus Quarti

Quartus Actus primum habet colloquium Thesei ex bello reuersi et Adrasti, uersaturque in genere encomiastico. Continet enim laudes et encomium caesorum ante Thebas ducum ut eo indignior et acerbior illorum miserabilis casus spectatoribus uideretur. 2. De sepeliendis cadaueribus eorundem agitur. 3. Chorus repetit inchoata prius lamenta, ne frigeret atrocitas epitaseos, simulque ad sequentem Actum uiam praemunit.

Argument of the Fourth Act

The Fourth Act has first of all the conversation between Theseus, returned from war, and Adrastus and is engaged in the genre of praise. For it contains praises and commendation of the leaders slain before Thebes so that their pitiable fate may seem more undeserved and harsh to the audience. 2. There is discussione about the burial of their bodies. The Chorus repeats the lamentations that were begun earlier, so that the dreadfulness of the development of the plot not be chilled, and at the same time readies the way to the following act.

[309] Argumentum Actus Quinti

Prolatis iam ducum cadaueribus in theatrum Choroque et Adrasto deplorantibus miseriam fatalem, subito Euadne uxor Capanei de praerupta conspicitur rupe ad quam cremabantur defuncti, orditurque querelam ac marito commoritura se deuouet. Adest et Iphis senex miserrimus et filii Amphiarai* (quem hic Eteoclum noster uocat) funus curaturus et filiam quaesiturus Euadnen, cuius consilium cum audit atque adeo ipsum funestum facinus coram uidet et animo et corpore obstupescit, uitamque, praesertim eam quae liberis creandis operam dat, postremo et ipsam senectutem damnat suamque calamitatem deplorat. 2. Chorus cum pueris, qui aduenerant una, lacrimas et fletus supremum cineribus honorem impendit. 3. Cum iam Theseus Argiuos cum cineribus et ossibus suorum dimittere uellet, subito adest Minerua expositura quae amplius fieri uelit aut agi a Theseo cum Argiuis, ne exitus fabulae frigidior esset sineque aliqua rerum expectatione languesceret.

*[A curious error, the origin of which is not clear. The father of Amphiaraus is usually Oikles, or less commonly Iokles.]

Argument of the Fifth Act

Now with the bodies of the leaders having been brought forth onto the stage and with the Chorus and Adrastus weeping their fatal misery, suddenly Evadne the wife of Capaneus is seen from the steep cliff near which the bodies were being burned, and begins a lamentation, and intending to die with her husband she devotes herself to self-sacrifices Iphis, a most miserable old man, also arrives intending to see to the burial of his son Amphiaraus (whom our poet calls here Eteoclus) and to look for his daughter Evadne; when he hears her plan and moreover sees the fatal deed itself before his eyes, he is struck dumb in his mind and body, and he condemns life, especially that which strives to beget children, and at last also old age itself, and he mourns his own disaster. 2. The Chorus with the boys, who had arrived together with them, pays the final honor to the ashes with tears and weeping. 3. When Theseus now wanted to send the Argives away with the ashes and bones of their dead, suddenly Minerva arrives to explain what more she wants to be done or to be transacted by Theseus with the Argives, so that the end of the play does not become more frigid and wilt away without some expectation of (future) things.

Translation by Tom Wang