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==Principal sources== ===The ''Iliad'', Stesichorus, and the ''Thebaid''=== There are only a few surviving references to Adrastus before the 5th century BC. The ''[[Iliad]]'' has four passing mentions of Adrastus. It describes him as being "at the first" the king of Sicyon,<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.546-2.580 2.572].</ref> and his "swift horse" Arion, being "of heavenly stock".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.103-14.153 14.121].</ref> It mentions his daughter Aegiale being the wife of Diomedes,<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:5.363-5.415 5.410–415].</ref> and another daughter of his marrying Tydeus.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg001.perseus-eng1:14.103-14.153 14.121].</ref> The lyric poet [[Stesichorus]] (c. 630 – 555 BC) apparently wrote a poem (now lost) about the war against Thebes,<ref>Campbell, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/stesichorus_i-fragments/1991/pb_LCL476.137.xml pp. 137–141].</ref> in which Adrastus would presumably have figured. A fragment from the poem mentions Adrastus giving a daughter to Polynices.<ref>Gantz, pp. 508–509; [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/stesichorus_i-fragments/1991/pb_LCL476.137.xml fr. 222A Campbell] [= [[Lille Stesichorus|P. Lille]] 76 + 73], lines [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/stesichorus_i-fragments/1991/pb_LCL476.141.xml 270-280].</ref> The [[Theban Cycle|Cyclic]] ''[[Thebaid (Greek poem)|Thebaid]]'' (early sixth century BC?)<ref>West, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_theban_cycle_thebaid/2003/pb_LCL497.7.xml p. 7].</ref> was a Greek epic poem whose entire subject was the Seven's Theban war, however only a few fragments have survived.<ref>Gantz, p. 502; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.9.5 9.9.5]. For a discussion of the ''Thebaid'' and the surviving fragments see West, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_theban_cycle_thebaid/2003/pb_LCL497.7.xml pp. 6–9], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_theban_cycle_thebaid/2003/pb_LCL497.43.xml 43–53].</ref> One fragment has Adrastus being the only one saved at Thebes, thanks to his horse Arion.<ref>''Thebaid'' fr. 11 West, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_theban_cycle_thebaid/2003/pb_LCL497.53.xml pp. 52, 55]; Gantz, p. 517.</ref> Another fragment has Adrastus lamenting the death of Amphiaraus.<ref>''Thebaid'' fr. 6 West, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_theban_cycle_thebaid/2003/pb_LCL497.49.xml pp. 48, 49]; Gantz, p. 510. For other possible mentions of Adrastus in the poem, see ''Thebaid'' frs. 4*, 7* West, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_theban_cycle_thebaid/2003/pb_LCL497.47.xml pp. 46–49].</ref> Much of the later tradition concerning Adrastus probably derives from this work.<ref>''[[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]'', s.v. Adrastus.</ref> ===Pindar=== The 5th-century [[Greek lyric|lyric]] poet [[Pindar]] mentions Adrastus in several of his poems. He devotes twenty lines of his ''Nemian'' 9 to Adrastus, and the expedition of the Seven against Thebes.<ref>Race, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.96.xml pp. 96–103]; [[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.99.xml 9.8–27].</ref> He begins by praising Adrastus as the founder of the Sicyonian games, which Pindar says Adrastus did during his reign as king of Sicyon: :Let us rouse up, then, the resounding lyre and rouse the pipe for the very apex of contests :for horses, which Adrastus established for Phoebus by the streams of Asopus. Having mentioned them, :I shall exalt the hero with fame-bringing honors, :who, reigning there [Sicyon] at that time, made the city famous :by glorifying it with new festivals and contests for men’s strength and with polished chariots.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.99.xml 9.8–12].</ref> He then tells of a dispute between Adrastus and the seer [[Amphiaraus]], which resulted in Adrastus and his brothers being overthrown, and Adrastus fleeing Argos: :For in time past, to escape bold-counseling Amphiaraus and terrible civil strife, he had fled :from his ancestral home and Argos. No longer were Talaus’ [Adrastus' father] sons rulers; they had been overpowered by discord.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.101.xml 9.13–14].</ref> And how Ardastus and Amphiaraus were reconciled by Adrastus giving his sister Eriphyle to Ampiaraus: :But the stronger man puts an end to a former dispute. :After giving man-subduing Eriphyle as a faithful pledge :to Oecles’ son [Amphiaraus] for a wife, they became the greatest of the fair-haired Danaans . . .<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.101.xml 9.15–17].</ref> After which, Adrastus was a leader of the disastrous ill-omened expedition of the Seven against Thebes: :and later they led an army of men to seven-gated Thebes :on a journey with no favorable omens, and Cronus’ son brandished his lightning and urged them not to set out :recklessly from home, but to forgo the expedition. :But after all, the host was eager to march, with bronze :weapons and cavalry gear, into obvious disaster, and on the banks of the Ismenus :they laid down their sweet homecoming and fed the white-flowering smoke with their bodies, :for seven pyres feasted on the men’s young limbs. But for Amphiaraus’ sake, Zeus split the deep-bosomed :earth with his almighty thunderbolt and buried him with his team, :before being struck in the back by Periclymenus' spear :and suffering disgrace in his warrior spirit.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.101.xml 9.18–27].</ref> Pindar attributes the founding of the [[Nemean Games]] to Adrastus.<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.95.xml 8.50–51], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.115.xml 10.26–28] with Race's note 13. See also [[Bacchylides]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0199.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9 9.10–24]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.6.4 3.6.4].</ref> And, after the death of [[Amphiaraus]], Pindar has Adrastus say: "I dearly miss the eye of my army, good both as a seer and at fighting with the spear."<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-olympian_odes/1997/pb_LCL056.105.xml 6.16–17].</ref> In ''Pythian'' 8, Pindar mentions Ardastus receiving a prophecy from the dead Amphiaraus during the battle of the [[Epigoni]] at Thebes:<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Phythian'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-pythian_odes/1997/pb_LCL056.343.xml 8.48–55].</ref> :... he who suffered in a former defeat, :the hero Adrastus, :is now met with news :of better omen, but in his own household :he will fare otherwise: for he alone from the Danaan army :will gather the bones of his dead son and with the favor :of the gods will come with his host unharmed ===''The Suppliants''=== Adrastus is a principal character in [[Euripides]]' tragedy ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' (c. 420 BC).<ref>Gantz, pp. 296, 522. For a discussion of the play see Kovacs 1998, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.3.xml pp. 3–11]. Adrastus was also probably a character in Aeschylus' lost plays ''Elusinians'', ''Women of Argos'', and ''Epigoni'', and possibly in ''Nemea'', see Sommerstein 2009b, pp. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.11.xml 10–11], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.57.xml 56–59], [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aeschylus-attributed_fragments/2009/pb_LCL505.155.xml 154–155].</ref> The action of the play takes place after the disastrous defeat of the Seven against Thebes, and the refusal of Creon, the new Theban king, to allow the burial of the expedition's dead. Adrastus has come to Eleusis seeking the Athenians' help in recovering the bodies of the fallen warriors. In the play we hear for the first time an account of why Adrastus made war on Thebes.<ref>Gantz, p. 509.</ref> In an initial interview, Adrastus tells [[Theseus]], the king of [[Athens]], that because of an oracle of Apollo, he had given his daughters (unnamed) to Polynices and Theseus, and that, because of the "crime" done to Polynices by his brother Eteocles, who had stolen "his property" (i.e. the Theban throne), Adrastus marched "seven companies against Thebes".<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.27.xml 131–154]. A similar is account is given by Euripides, ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-phoenician_women/2002/pb_LCL011.253.xml 408–429].</ref> Theseus then asks Adrastus whether he consulted seers and the gods before making war on Thebes, and Adrastus answers that, not only did he go to war "without the gods’ good will", he also "went against the wish of Amphiaraus."<ref>[[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.31.xml 155–161].</ref> Finally persuaded to help recover the dead, Theseus leads an Athenian army to Thebes, where he defeats the Thebans in battle and brings back the dead warriors to Eleusis. Adrastus then, in a long speech of 60 lines, eulogizes the fallen champions.<ref>Gantz, p. 516; [[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.99.xml 857–917].</ref> ===Late sources=== The Greek historian [[Diodorus Siculus]] (first century BC), the Roman mythographer [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] (c. 64 BC – AD 17), the Latin poet [[Statius]] (c. 45—c. 96), and the Greek mythographer [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] (first or second century AD), all gave accounts of Adrastus' story. ====Diodorus Siculus==== According to [[Diodorus Siculus]], Polynices fled Thebes, when [[Eteocles]] refused to give up the kingship, as had been agreed, and [[Tydeus]] fled [[Calydon]], after killing his cousins. The two princes came to Argos where "Adrastus received both the fugitives kindly". As in Euripides, because of an oracle, Adrastus married his daughters Argia to Polynices and Deipyle to Tydeus, and promised to restore the exiles to their native kingdoms.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#65 4.65.1–3].</ref> Adrastus decided to deal with Thebes first. So he sent his son-in-law Tydeus on an embassy to negotiate a peaceful return for Polynices. Upon learning of the failure of Tydeus' mission, Adrastus began organizing an expedition against Thebes.<ref>Gantz, p. 513; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#65 4.65.4].</ref> The seer Amphiaraus refused to take part, at first, because he knew if he did he would die. But Polynices gave Amphiaraus's wife Eriphyle the [[necklace of Harmonia]], so that she would persuade her husband to join the expedition. Diodorus reports that "at the time" Adrastus and Amphiaraus were "at variance ... striving for the kingship", and they agreed that Eriphyle, Adrastus' sister and Amphiaraus's wife, would settle the matter. And when Eriphyle "awarded the victory to Adrastus" saying that the expedition "should be undertaken", Amphiaraus agreed to go.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#65 4.65.5–6].</ref> Adrastus recruited Capaneus, Hippomedon and Parthenopaeus, the son of Atalanta, to join himself, Polynices, Tydeus, and Amphiaraus as the seven leaders of the "notable army", the same list of Seven as in [[Euripides]]' ''[[The Phoenician Women]]''.<ref>Gantz, p. 516; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#65 4.65.7].</ref> Omitting any mention of the Seven's stop at Nemea, Diodorus next gives an account of the battle at Thebes. As always, all of the Seven died, except Adrastus. As for the burial of the Seven, Diodorus (with no mention of Creon or Theseus) says that the Thebans refused to allow Adrastus to remove the dead, so he went home to Argos, and (as in Euripides' ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'') the Athenians recovered the bodies and buried them.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4D*.html#65 4.65.8–9].</ref> ====Hyginus==== In his ''[[Fabulae]]'', Hyginus gives an account of Adrastus' story, mostly in accord with earlier sources.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 68–74.</ref> Following Bacchylides, Pindar, and Euripides, Hyginus says that Adrastus was the son of [[Talaus]], however Hyginus provides the name of a mother, [[Eurynome]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 69, 70. For Adrastus as the son of Talaus, see [[Bacchylides]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0199.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9 9.19]; [[Pindar]], ''Nemean'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-nemean_odes/1997/pb_LCL485.101.xml 9.14], ''Olympian'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pindar-olympian_odes/1997/pb_LCL056.105.xml 6.15]; and [[Euripides]], ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' 422. Compare with [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.9.13 1.9.13], where his mother is [[Lysimache]], the daughter of [[Abas (mythology)|Abas]]; and [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:2.6.6 2.6.6], where his mother is [[Lysianassa]], the daughter of [[Polybus of Sicyon|Polybus]].</ref> Following Euripides, Hyginus says that Adrastus had received an oracle of Apollo which said he would marry his daughters to a lion and a boar, and that, when Polynices, wearing the hide of a lion, and Tydeus, wearing the hide of a boar, arrived at Adrastus' court, Adrastus remembered the oracle and so married his older daughter, Argia, to Polynices, and his younger daughter Deipyle, to Tydeus.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 69.1–5. The story is told in [[Euripides]], ''[[The Suppliants (Euripides)|The Suppliants]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-suppliant_women/1998/pb_LCL009.27.xml 131–154], ''[[The Phoenician Women]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/euripides-phoenician_women/2002/pb_LCL011.253.xml 408–423], however, Euripides makes no mention of Polynices and Tydeus wearing animal hides, he says only that Adrastus identified the two as the husbands referred to by the oracle because they fought like wild beasts.</ref> He adds that [[Thersander (Epigoni)|Thersander]] (one of the Epigoni) was the son of Argia and Polynices, and that [[Diomedes]] (who fought at Troy, and another of the Epigoni) was the son of Deipyle and Tydeus.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 69.5.</ref> At Polynices request, Adrastus assembled an army to take back the kingship of Thebes from Eteocles. Adrastus chose "seven generals" (including himself) for the army because the walls of Thebes had seven gates.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 69.6–7.</ref> The army stops at Nemea in search of water, Opheltes is killed by a snake, Adrastus and the Seven kill the snake and establish funeral games in the child's honor.<ref>Bravo, pp. 117–118; Gantz, p. 511; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 74.</ref> At Thebes, all of the Seven die except Adrastus.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' 70.</ref> ====Statius==== Just as the [[Theban Cycle|Cyclic]] ''[[Thebaid (Greek poem)|Thebaid]]'' had been, the Latin poet [[Statius]]'s ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' (c. 92 AD), is devoted entirely to the Seven against Thebes.<ref>So also was the fifth-fourth-century BC ''Thebaid'' of [[Antimachus]].</ref> An epic poem in 12 books, it gives the most detailed account of Adrastus' story. In Book 1, the situations at Thebes and Argos are described. In Thebes, Polynices and Eteocles having agreed to rule in alternate years,<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.51.xml 1.138–139].</ref> Eteocles occupies the throne, while Polynices is in exile for a year.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.53.xml 1.164–165].</ref> While in Argos: :There king Adrastus governed his people in tranquillity, verging from life’s midway into old age. Rich was he in ancestry, back to Jove on either side. The better sex he lacked, but flourished in female offspring, supported by twin pledge of daughters. To him Phoebus prophesied (a deadly prodigy to tell, but the truth of it was soon revealed) that husbands for them were on their way by fate’s leading: a bristly pig and a tawny lion. That pondering, neither the father himself nor Amphiaraus skilled in futurity sees light, for Apollo the source forbids. Only in the parental heart anxiety sits and festers.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.69.xml 1.390–399].</ref> One night, during a raging storm, Polynices and Tydeus (also an exile) separately arrive at Adrastus' palace in Argos seeking refuge. They quarrel over the same bit of shelter, a fight breaks out, Adrastus is awoken, and separates them. He invites the two inside, and notices that Polynices wears a lion's pelt and that Tydeus a boar's skin and tusks, and by these signs, Adrastus recognizes in Polynices and Tydeus, the husbands that had been prophesied for his two daughters.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.71.xml 1.400–512].</ref> Adrastus feasts the young princes and introduces them to his daughters.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.79.xml 1.514–720].</ref> The next day, in Book 2, Polynices and Tydeus accept Adrastus' offer of his daughters [[Argia of Argos|Argia]] and [[Deipyle]] in marriage, and Adrastus promises to help the two exiles regain their native kingdoms.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.105.xml 2.152–200].</ref> Adrastus sends Tydeus to Thebes to see if Eteocles will peacefully surrender his crown. At Thebes, Eteocles rejects Tydeus' arguments that, since his year of rule is over, he should give over the kingship to Polynices.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.121.xml 2.363–451].</ref> On his way back to Argos, Tydeus is ambushed by fifty Thebans, and kills all of these but Maeon.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.131.xml 2.482–743].</ref> In Book 3, on returning to Argos, the wounded Tydeus urges an immediate attack of Thebes, an action the angry crowd supports.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.173.xml 3.324–386].</ref> But addressing Polynices, Adrastus "deep of counsel and no novice in manipulating the weight of command" urges restraint:<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.179.xml 3.386–388].</ref> :Leave all this, I pray you, to the High Ones and my care for remedy. Neither shall your brother wield the sceptre and you fail of satisfaction nor yet are we eager to let war loose. But now all welcome Oeneus’ noble son triumphing in so great a bloodshed. Let rest at last relax his courageous spirit. For my part indignation shall not go short of reason<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.179.xml 3.388–393].</ref> Adrastus consults the seers Amphiaraus and [[Melampus]] who receive omens too terrifying to divulge. Meanwhile, the Argives eagerly arm themselves, and at "the sad kings door" demand war.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.181.xml 3.440–597].</ref> Amphiaraus is finally forced to reveal what he has foreseen: death and defeat at Thebes, but the Argives are undeterred.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.195.xml 3.618–677].</ref> Argia, now Polynices' wife, tearfully urges her father Adrastus to make war on Thebes, who begins assembling an army.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.199.xml 3.678–721].</ref> In Book 4, the expedition sets out from Argos with Adrastus leading the first of the seven contingents: :King Adrastus, sad and sick with weight of cares and nearer to departing years, walks scarce of his own accord amid words of good cheer, content with the steel that girds his side; soldiers bear his shield behind him. His driver grooms the swift horses right at the gate and Arion is already fighting the yoke. ... This band, three thousand strong, follows Adrastus exulting. ... He himself joins them, venerable alike in years and sceptre, like a bull moving tall among the pastures he has long possessed; his neck is slack now and his shoulders empty, but still he is the leader; the steers have no stomach to attempt him in battle, for they see his horns broken from many a blow and the massive nodules of breast wounds.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.207.xml 4.38–73].</ref> In desperate need of water the expedition is forced to stop at Nemea.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.253.xml 4.646–745].</ref> There they encounter [[Hypsipyle]], the nurse of the infant [[Opheltes]], and Adrastus urgently asks her to lead them to water, which she does.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.253.xml 4.646–850].</ref> Meanwhile, in Book 5, the unattended Opheltes is killed by a serpent, and the infant's father the king, holding Hypsipyle responsible, intends to kill her with his sword.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.307.xml 5.499–661].</ref> The Archive champions rush to defend Hypsipyle—their army's savior—and Nemeans rally to their king, but Adrastus and Amphiaraus intercede, preventing an armed clash.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.319.xml 5.662–671].</ref> A rumor of Hypsipyle's imminent death reaches the Archive army, and they attack the palace, but Adrastus is able to stop them by racing to the palace with Hypsipyle in his chariot to show his army that she is safe.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.321.xml 5.691–703].</ref> In Book 6, Adrastus presides over games held in honor of Opheltes.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.345.xml 6.249–923].</ref> As a final honor, Adrastus is asked to give a display of his prowess with the bow or spear. He gladly complies, choosing a tree a great distance away as a target. Adrastus shoots an arrow, which hits the tree, but bounces all the way back to his feet. An ill omen: "the shaft promised its master a war from which he alone would return, a sad homecoming."<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL207.395.xml 6.924–946].</ref> In Book 7, the expedition arrives at Thebes, and the fighting begins and continues through Book 11. One by one each of the Seven champions die, all except Polynices and Adrastus. The brothers Polynices and Eteocles, having agreed to fight in single combat to decide the war, Adrastus drives his chariot between them and tries to stop them:<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL498.227.xml 11.424–429].</ref> :Sons of Inachus and Tyrians, shall we then watch this wickedness? Where is right and the gods, where war? Persist not in your passion. I pray you desist, my enemy—though did this anger permit, you too are not far from me in blood; you, my son-in-law, I also command. If you so much desire a sceptre, I put off my royal raiment, go, have Lerna and Argos to yourself.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL498.227.xml 11.429–435].</ref> But when Polynices and Eteocles refuse to stop, Adrastus flees:<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL498.227.xml 11.435–441].</ref> :leaving it all behind—camp, men, son-in-law, Thebes—and drives Arion on as he turns in the yoke and warns of Fate.<ref>[[Statius]], ''[[Thebaid (Latin poem)|Thebaid]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/statius-thebaid/2004/pb_LCL498.227.xml 11.441–446].</ref> ====Apollodorus==== [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] also gives an account of Adrastus story. Apollodorus gives the following genealogy: :Bias and Pero had a son Talaus, who married Lysimache, daughter of Abas, son of Melampus, and had by her Adrastus, Parthenopaeus, Pronax, Mecisteus, Aristomachus, and Eriphyle, whom Amphiaraus married. Parthenopaeus had a son Promachus, who marched with the Epigoni against Thebes; and Mecisteus had a son Euryalus, who went to Troy. Pronax had a son Lycurgus; and Adrastus had by Amphithea, daughter of Pronax, three daughters, Argia, Deipyle, and Aegialia, and two sons, Aegialeus and Cyanippus.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.9.13 1.9.13].</ref> According to Apollodorus, Polynices, being banished from Thebes by Eteocles, came to Argos one night and fought with Tydeus. They were heard by Adrastus, who separated them. Adrastus, noticing their shields, one with a lion and the other a boar, remembered an oracle which told him that he should marry his daughters to "a boar and a lion", and married his daughters Argia and Deipyle to the two young men. Adrastus promised to restore both his sons-in-law to their kingdoms, and "eager to march against Thebes" first, began to assembled an army.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.6.1 3.6.1].</ref> The seer Amphiaraus, having foreseen that all, except Adrastus, who went to Thebes were destined to die, at first refused to join Adrastus' expedition. But, as part of the resolution of an old dispute between Adrastus and Amphiaraus, Adrastus' sister Eriphyle had married Amphiaraus, and Amphiaraus had promised to let Eriphyle decide any future disputes between the two men. So, when Polynices bribed Amphiaraus' wife Eriphyle to tell her husband to join the expedition, he was forced to obey.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.6.2 3.6.2].</ref> In addition to himself, his son-in-laws Polynices and Tydeus, and his brother-in-law Amphiaraus, Adrastus chose Capaneus, Hippomedon (who Apollodorus says according to some accounts was a brother of Adrastus), and Parthenopaeus, to be the seven leaders of the expedition against Thebes. However, as Apollodorus notes, some do not count Polynices and Tydeus as being among the seven, instead including Eteoclus, son of Iphis, and Mecisteus (another brother of Adrastus) in the list of the seven.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.6.3 3.6.3].</ref> At Thebes, when Capaneus was killed by Zeus' thunderbolt, Adrastus, and the rest of the Argive army fled, but "Adrastus alone was saved by his horse Arion".<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.6.7 3.6.7–8].</ref> When Creon forbade the burial of the Argive dead, Arastus having "fled to Athens and took refuge at the altar of Mercy, and laying on it the suppliant's bough he prayed that they would bury the dead", and Theseus and the Athenians captured Thebes and recovered the dead.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.7.1 3.7.1].</ref>
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