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

splendidTHE THEBAIDthem that he would maintain for them their own diminishinginherited estates, and that is a thing wherein he performedmore than he had promised.Now that was told to the people of the fine fortified city ofLarissa, and the fame was heard of that fine foreign allianceexisting with the king, and the betrothal of the very wisemaidens of many charms : Argia to the first one,Polynices son of Oedipus. And wonderful was the form of themaiden, and she was the first-born of the royal children ofAdrastus. And it was told of the plump fair-hued goodly shapedvirgin Deipyle, that she was joined to a spouse suitable forher, Tydeus son of Oeneus. And that tale was heard throughthe far foreign confines, and it Was heard too as far as thebroad moors of Lycaeus and throughout the wide excellentParthenian wooded ridges and amid vast Isthmian assemblies,and from Thrace in the North to Thessaly in the South, andfrom the vast wAve3mght river of Nemea in the East to thebrink of the Adriatic sea towards the West, and to the beautifullofty abodes of Ephyre, and to choice dwellings of Thebans, sothat it disturbed and filled with foreboding the bold restlessking Eteocles, to hear that tale.Now when day came with its full light, wedding feasts oftrue wine were ordered and prepared. The royal very widehalls were filled and adorned with pleasant and joyous assembliesof Greek youth.It was a broadening of mind and a glorifyingof nature for the hard patrimonial famous kingfolk, to wit, theclose attention of looking and gazing at the engraved royalpictures of their fathers and their grandfathers that were uponthe well-known sides of that fine well-built house. And thesewere some of the kings whose pictures were engraved there,to wit, noble Inachus up to whom are brought the genealogicaltrees of all the Greeks, and old venerable Iasius, and peacefulbelieving Phoroneus, and the battle-victorious conqueror Abas,and wrathful full-spirited Acrisius, and heroic slaughteringCoroebus, and treacherous truly shameful Danaus, and alsothere were many other beautifully coloured well-executedpictures in that house.45