r army, the Thebans
retreated behind the city walls, and the enemy now pressed them hard on
every side. In their distress they appealed to the blind old seer Tiresias,
who was over a hundred years old. With trembling lips and in broken
accents, he informed them that they could only save their lives by
abandoning their native city with their wives and families. Upon this they
despatched ambassadors into the enemy's camp; and whilst these were
protracting negotiations during the night, the Thebans, with their wives
and children, evacuated the city. Next morning the Argives entered Thebes
and plundered it, placing Thersander, the son of Polynices (who was a
descendant of Cadmus), on the throne which his father had so vainly
contested.

ALCMAEON AND THE NECKLACE.

When Alcmaeon returned from his expedition against the Thebans he determined
to fulfil the last injunction of his father Amphiaraus, who had desired him
to be revenged on his mother Eriphyle for her perfidy in accepting a bribe
to betray him. This resolution was further strengthened by the discovery
that his unprincipled mother had urged him also to join the expedition
{278} in return for the much-coveted veil of Harmonia. He therefore put her
to death; and taking with him the ill-fated necklace and veil, abandoned
for ever the home of his fathers.

But the gods, who could not suffer so unnatural a crime to go unpunished,
afflicted him with madness, and sent one of the Furies to pursue him
unceasingly. In this unhappy condition he wandered about from place to
place, until at last having reached Psophis in Arcadia, Phegeus, king of
the country, not only purified him of his crime, but also bestowed upon him
the hand of his daughter Arsinoe, to whom Alcmaeon presented the necklace
and veil, which had already been the cause of so much unhappiness.

Though now released from his mental affliction, the curse which hung over
him was not entirely removed, and on his account the country of his
adoption was visited with a severe drought. On consulting the oracle of
Delphi he was informed that any land which offered him shelter would be
cursed by the gods, and that the malediction would continue to follow him
till he came to a country which was not in existence at the time he had
murdered his mother. Bereft of hope, and resolved no longer to cast the
shadow of his dark fate over those he loved, Alcmaeon took a tender leave of
his wife and little son, and became once more a