Editing Hypsipyle (section)

===The ''Thebaid''===
[[Statius]], in his epic poem, the ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]''&mdash;which tells the story of the Seven against Thebes&mdash;preserves the most complete account of the myth of Hypsipyle and Opheltes.<ref>Bravo, p. 118.</ref> As in Hyginus' account, when the Lemnian women discovered that Thoas had been saved, Hypsipyle fled the island, but was captured by pirates, and sold as a slave to Lycurgus,<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.305.xml 5.486&ndash;498].</ref> who is both the king of Nemea (as in Hyginus) and the priest of Zeus (as in Euripides).<ref>Bravo, p. 119. For Lycurgus as king of Nemea, see [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.323.xml 5.715&ndash;716] ("Lycurgus ... the king"), [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.325.xml 733] ("ruler of Nemea"). For Lycurgus as a priest of Zeus, see [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.317.xml 5.638&ndash;641] ("Lycurgus ... at sacrifice ... offered portions to the unfriendly Thunderer"), and [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.317.xml 5.643&ndash;644] where it is said that priestly duties kept Lycurgus from participating in the Argive war against Thebes.</ref>

As in Euripides, Hypsipyle, who has become the nurse of Lycurgus and Eurydice's son Opheltes, encounters the Seven against Thebes, who are in urgent need of water.<ref>Bravo, p. 119; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.263.xml 4.778&ndash;779] (Hypsipyle describing herself as the "foster mother of a child entrusted to my care"), [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.261.xml 4.746&ndash;752] (the Seven meeting Hypsipyle carrying Lycurgus' son Opheltes, "at her breast"), [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.317.xml 5.632] (Euridice mother of Opheltes), [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.259.xml 4.730&ndash;745] (need for water).</ref> However in Statius' account, Hypsipyle does not take Opheltes with her to the spring, instead, in her haste to provide water for the Seven, she leaves the child behind, lying on the ground, "lest she be too slow a guide".<ref>Bravo, p. 120; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.263.xml 4.785&ndash;789].</ref> Hypsipyle takes the Seven to the spring, and when they have drunk their fill, they ask Hypsipyle to tell them who she is.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.271.xml 5.1&ndash;27].</ref> Then, over the course of 471 lines of the ''Thebaid'', Hypsipyle tells the Seven her story: the massacre of the men by the Lemnian women, her saving her father Thoas, the visit to Lemnos by the Argonauts, her twin sons, Euneus and Thoas, by Jason, and how she came to be the nurse of Opheltes.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.273.xml 5.28&ndash;498].</ref> Meanwhile, with Hypsipyle long delayed at the spring telling her story, and "oblivious (so the gods would have it) of her absent charge", Opheltes has fallen asleep in the grass,<ref>Bravo, p. 120; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.307.xml 5.499&ndash;504].</ref> and though unnoticed, he is  killed by an unwitting swish of the tail of the enormous serpent who guards Zeus' sacred grove.<ref>Bravo, pp. 120&ndash;121; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.307.xml 5.505&ndash;540].</ref>

Hypsipyle is again saved, by the Seven, from execution, but here, as in Hyginus, it is the king who is restrained.<ref>Bravo, p. 121; [[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.319.xml 5.653&ndash;679].</ref> As in Euripides, Hypsipyles' sons Thoas and Euneus, who are searching for their mother, arrive at the palace. In Statius' poem, Hypsipyle is able to identify her sons by means of the swords they carry, which belonged to Jason, and bear the mark of Jason's ship the [[Argo]] on them, and a joyous reunion ensues.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.323.xml 5.710&ndash;730].</ref>