Togail na Tebe = The Thebiad of Statius : the Irish text

;THE THEBAII)cruel contentious heroes of that combat were the last posterityof thesame mother, and the acknowledged sons of the samefather, though they were angry with one another at that time.Then the bold warlike king, to wit, Eteocles, directed hisshining sharp-edged spear at Polynices. Polynices planted hisshield against it, so that it rebounded as if from a rock.Polynicesbrandished the thonged very long spear that was in his hand,and said :" Gods of heaven," said he, " guide this cast, and Ishall sacrifice myself to you out of my kingdom after gainingthe victory over this hero." And when he had said that, he againhurled from him the spear, so that that war spear shaft was abeam that glittered from one flank to another of Eteocles' horse.When the horse was wounded he sprung actively, and brokehis rein, and he began to gallop and to race madly, so thatevery way he went was red and crimson with his blood.Polynicesrejoiced at that deed, and quickly urged his horse towards him,so that the reins of the horses, the hands of the heroes, and theweapons of the veterans fought together in one place. Andwhen they fought together, each of them threw his arm aroundthe other, so that they fell from their horses as they might havefallen down a rock or because of insecurity. They arose forthwithtogether, going roughly and harshly towards one another,and they fought together without their horses. And such wasthe closeness of their fight that there appeared no mark ordistinction between the men at that time, and their helmetsand swords were locked together, the hands of the heroes mingledas they strongly slaughtered one another, like two raging lions,or two strong emulous tigers, or two heroic venomous snakes.Nay, each of them pierced and strongly wounded the otherthere, so that the skin of each of them was a perforated sieveand though the wounds there upon the veterans were many, noterrible dangerous wounds w r ere exchanged from one of them tothe other during that time. Now not kind was the relationshipof those two brothers, for it was a lust with each of them to291 19-2