And Thebes

From Bird Relics by Arsic:"

"Seven Against Thebes is precisely the tragedy that Thoreau began translating in 1842, either immediately or soon after John died. In it Aeschylus rethinks what it means to mourn dead brothers by suggesting a complex understanding of the paean that blurs the divide between dead and living..." (Page numbers? not listed)

Several pages later: "...in the letter to Emerson, Thoreau identifies perpetual grief as the coincidence of lamenting paean and wind--that will function as the whirlpool of life, capable of catching the "black sailed bark" that ferries the dead--and move it against the rivers's current, back onto the land where the dead can be seen again. This then is the precise ontological operation of grief in Thoreaus Aeschylus: it transforms the dead from invisible waste into the daylight of creaturely life."  (page??)

 Later... "Not then death as the end (telos) of strife, but strife as the end of death."

ALSO HERE: "Enjoying 'The Seven Against Thebes'"

Background "There are many things that are worse than war. They all begin with defeat."

Before we had reliable birth control, population pressures made war between neighboring communities inevitable. Whole towns would be enslaved or exterminated so that the conquerors could expand. The chorus in "The Seven Against Thebes" describes, in vivid detail, what happened to the conquered people.

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The chorus of women comes in. They are very frightened by the sound of the attacking army. They talk about running off to pray to save them from slavery. (A victorious army would kill the men and take the younger women as sex slaves.) As they call on the various gods, they also hear the battle progressing.
Eteocles comes in and is very angry with the chorus. Etiocles turns out to be quite the misogynist. He talks about not liking to live with women, since when things go well they are bossy, and when things go badly they go hysterical. Their agitation is bad for morale, and he tells them to get off the street and be quiet.

The chorus says they're just afraid. Eteocles makes pious talk about the gods, but urges them to honor "Obedience, the mother of Success and wife of Rescue." In other words, it's more important for you to due your part as citizens, even if it just means keeping your mouth shut. Eteocles says the sacrificial bloodletting is being done by the soldiers -- killing the enemy. The chorus agrees to quiet down, and Eteocles goes to prepare defensive positions.

I became interested in Greek tragedy during the era of Vietnam war protests. The similarities and differences between the two situations are obvious.

The chorus continues to pray to the various gods. They mention vividly what will happen to young unmarried girls -- they will be raped and dragged off. The city and surroundings will be looted and people slaughtered.

Next we are treated to a catalogue of "The Seven Against Thebes."

~ http://www.pathguy.com/7thebes.htm