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

THE THEBAIDgoblet which reckless high-spirited Pholus threw at the Lapitheanhero-folk at Pirithous' nuptials. And that strong Thebanband wondered that Tydeus should be on the rock above theirheads. And then Tydeus threw the rock that resembled amountain, so that that tumultuous crash overwhelmed andscourged them, until the faces of that youthful soldiery andtheir unsheathed weapons fell to the ground at the same timeand moment, and the hands of those heroes clave to them.Thebreasts of those champions were overwhelmed and crushedbrokenly confusedly overpoweringly with his feats of strength aswell as of his great hurling powers which that hero had exertedupon the hard stone. Now four heroic fighting men fell at onetime by that stone, and died thereby ; and that valorous heroicband at once fled, for the four that died there were distinguishedand of good family. There was of them of that host a royalhigh-spirited bright fulminating man, to wit, Dorylas ; and theillustrious well-born man of the seed of Mars, son of Jove, fellthere, and stubborn in battle was that champion, to wit, Theron;and the great-spirited baleful woeful horseman, to wit, Halys,and he was a foot-soldier at that time ; and there also fell thehateful haughty man of the primary race of Pentheus, towit,Phaedimus. Tydeus, however, saw the fall of those champions,and that all the hosts, broken and in disorder, fled ; and hebrandished the two very sharp javelins that were in his hand,and hurled them straight and right strongly, and afterwardsmade a leap from the hard rock on which he stood, out uponthe great plain, following the flight of the Thebans ; and he tookthe fine battle-victorious hard shield of the stubborn Thebanman, to wit. Theron ; and he took the dreadful wild-beast skinwhich belonged to himself about his head. Thereafter theThebans again made themselves into a dense band of strongbattle against Tydeus. Tydeus, however, drew stoutly hastilyfrom its blue-sided sheath his strong lively Bistonian sword, thewarlike gift to him from his famous sire, to wit, Oeneus forvaliant fight in the hollow of his fine hand. At one time hedrove together and surrounded those men. At another he61