peaking the truth.

CH. The tale pierces my bosom, the locks of my hair stand erect, when I
hear of the big words of these proudly vaunting impious men. Oh!
would that the gods would destroy them in the land.

MES. I will tell of the sixth, a man most prudent, and in valor the
best, the seer, the mighty Amphiaraus; for he, having been marshaled
against the gate of Homoloeis, reviles mighty Tydeus full oft with
reproaches, as the homicide, the troubler of the state, chief teacher of
the mischiefs of Argos, the summoner of Erinnys, minister of slaughter,
and adviser of these mischiefs to Adrastus. Then again going up[143] to
thy brother, the mighty Polynices, he casts his eye aloft, and, at last,
reproachfully dividing his name [into syllables,[144]] he calls to him:
and through his mouth he gives utterance to this speech--"Verily such a
deed is well-pleasing to the gods, and glorious to hear of and to tell
in after times, that you are making havoc of your paternal city, and its
native gods, having brought into it a foreign armament. And what Justice
shall staunch the fountain of thy mother's tears?

"And how can thy father-land, after having been taken by the spear
through thy means, ever be an ally to thee? I, for my part, in very
truth shall fatten this soil, seer as I am, buried beneath a hostile
earth. Let us to the battle, I look not for a dishonorable fall." Thus
spake the seer, wielding a fair-orbed shield, all of brass; but no
device was on its circle--for he wishes not to seem but to be righteous,
reaping fruit from a deep furrow in his mind, from which sprout forth
his goodly counsels. Against this champion I advise that thou send
antagonists, both wise and good. A dread adversary is he that reveres
the gods.

ET. Alas! for the omen[145] that associates a righteous man with the
impious! Indeed in every matter, nothing is worse than evil
fellowship--the field of infatuation has death for its fruits.[146] For
whether it be that a pious man hath embarked in a vessel along with
violent sailors, and some villany, he perishes with the race of men
abhorred of heaven; or, being righteous, and having rightly fallen into
the same toils with his countrymen, violators of hospitality, and
unmindful of the gods, he is beaten down, smitten with the scourge of
the deity, which falls alike on all. Now this seer, I mean the son of
Oicleus, a moderate, just, good, and pious man, a mighty prophet,
associated with unholy bold-m