Eteocles and Polynices having dethroned their father, Oedipus, king of Thebes, agree to reign alternately. Oedipus invokes the fury Tisiphone to punish them; she sows dissension between them. Eteocles is chosen by lot to reign the first year. An universal discontent prevails among the Thebans. Jupiter calls a council of the Gods, and declares his intention of punishing Thebes and Argos. He sends Mercury to call up the ghost of Laius from the shades. On Eteocles's refusing to give up the sceptre at the expiration of his year, Polynices goes to Argos to solicit the aid of Adrastus against him. He is overtaken by a heavy storm, and being very much fatigued, lies down at Adrastus's gate. Tydeus arrives at the same place by chance. They quarrel and fight. Adrastus, alarmed at the noise, comes out, reconciles, and entertains them very hospitably. He relates the origin of a sacrifice which was then celebrating, and addresses a prayer to Apollo, which concludes the book.
O guilty Thebes, to foreign arms a prey,
Fraternal rage, and impious lust of sway, My daring Muse would sing, so Phoebus deign To prompt the bard, and harmonize the strain.
Say, goddess, whence shall I my subject trace, From Cadmus, author of the vicious race?
5. Say, goddess] Statius has been pretty severely handled by some ingenious critics among the moderus for this seeming doubt where to commence his narration. Tho' I cannot pretend to exculpate him entirely for running counter to the rules laid down by Horace, yet I cannot but hope, he will appear less worthy of censure than he has hitherto done, if we suppose, that the poet judged the greatest part of his Roman readers ignorant of the Theban history, (as undoubtedly they were,) and yet it was necessary they should have some previous knowledge of it, in order to understand his poem, and the allusions he frequently makes to the history and customs of that nation. how were they to be acquainted with it? Was he to have directly collected the heads of it, and declared his intention? No: that would have been the greatest affront he could have put upon them, which our author was sufficiently aware of. us admire, then, the art and dexterity of the poet, who has extricated himself from the embarassments he lay under, by this polite and ingenious device. If he has offended, it is a glorious offence, or (to use the words of Mr. Pope) a grace snatch'd beyond the rules of art.
6. From Cadmus] Cadmus was the son of Agenor; this obstinate prince insisted on his travelling in quest of his sister Europa, who had been carried off by Jupiter in the form of a bull. The hero complied, but not finding his sister, settled near Thebes.
Shall I describe him on the raging sea,
Obsequious to the monarch's stern decree?
Then tell, from whence th' aspiring nation rose,
And to what source proud Thebes its grandeur
10
Say, wilt thou sing, how grim with hostile blood, Hippomedon repeli'd the rushing flood; Lament th' Arcadian youth's untimely fate, Or Jove, oppos'd by Capaneus, relate? Now Oedipus, inur'd to deepest night, No more in sighs bewails the loss of sight; And tho' the rays of Phoebus ne'er invade His dark abode, or pierce th' eternal shade, Yet conscience haunts him with reflecting glass, Thro' which his sins, too well distinguish'd, pass. Their torches o'er his head the furies rear, And threats and harsh reproaches grate his eat. Now to th' unpitying ruler of the skies He lifts the gloomy sockets of his eyes, Then strikes the gaping void with impious hands, 20 And thus aloud infernal aid demands.
How soften'd rocks (so will'd resistless fate)
Danc'd into form, to grace a future state?
What fatal causes could so far incense
The queen of Heav'n, and what the dire offence,
When Athamas, by wrath divine pursu❜d,
His trembling hands in filial blood imbrued,
And his pale spouse, to shun his angry bow,
Sprung from the beach, and sought the depths be-
low?
Wave then, whate'er to Cadmus may belong,
O Muse, and date the subject of thy song
From wretched Oedipus ;-uor yet aspire
In Casar's praise to string thy feeble lyre,
Or tell, how twice he bade the Rhine obey,
How twice the Danube roll'd beneath his sway:
(While Dacia, daring impious war to wage,
Fell the just object of the victor's rage :)
Or how, in youthful armour clad, he strove
To vindicate the sacred rites of Jove.
Nor thou, commission'd in the rolls of fate,
To swell the glories of the Latian state,
By wild ambition led away, resign
"Ye gods, who sway in Tartarus maintain, Where guilty spirits howl with endless pain; Thou Styx, whose gloomy banks, and shady lake A sad impression on my senses make; Tisiphone, on whose repeated name I've dwelt; if Oedipus attention claim, Oh! lend an ear, and from the realms below Accord my wishes, and assist my vow. If from my sire misdeem'd I took my way 30 To Cyrrha's fane on that important day, When Laius bled beneath these impious hands, Where the three paths divide the Phocian lands: If seconded by thee, I durst chastise [prize; Th' insidious Sphinx, and gain'd the glitt'ring Or, by thy fav'ring torch conducted, strove To meet with equal fires Jocasta's love: If studious of thy cause, I now prepare
The Roman helm to feebler hands than thine.
What tho' the stars contract their liquid space,
Well pleas'd to yield thee a serener place;
Tho' Phoebus, conscious of superior blaze,
Would intermix with thine his friendly rays;
And Jove his wide-extended empire share,
Content to rule an equal tract of air;
Yet may thy people's wishes thee detain,
And Jove enjoy an undivided reign.
The time will come, when a diviner flame
Shall prompt me to resound thy ripen'd flame,
Meanwhile permit my Muse to seek renown
In Theban wars, a prelude to thy own.
She sings of souls discordant e'en in death,
And hate, that fled not with the vital breath;
A throne, for which the vengeful fates decreed,
Two rival kings by mutual arms should bleed,
And scepter'd chiefs; who long unbury'd lay,
To birds and beasts an undistinguish'd prey; 50
When Dirce's source was stain'd with kindred gore,
And Thetis from the blood-impurpled shore
Beheid Ismenos roll a mingled heap
Of arms and warriors to the frighted deep.
What first, O Clio, shall adorn thy page,
Th' expiring prophet, or Etolian's rage?
11. How soften'd] The poets feign, Amphion played so sweetly upon the lyre, that the stones and rocks danced into walls, and built the city afterwards called Thebes,
15. When Athamas] He was the father of Palamon, and husband of Ino: but being seized with lunacy through the malice of Juno, pursued his children with his bow and arrows. Whereupon the wretched mother leaped into the sea with one of her sons.
29. Nor thou, commission'd] Virgil and Lucan gave the precedent of this fulsome and almost impious flattery, in compliment to Augustus and Nero. I hope the reader will dispense with my transcribing the passages, as they would swell the compass of these notes beyond what was intended. -See Georgics, lib. I. & Pharsalia, tib. I.
Two sons, whose rising merits claim thy care; 90 And, too impatient of the vital light,
Fore'd from these streaming orbs the balls of sight: Attend, and aid the vengeance I request;
If worthy thee, and what thou would'st suggest, My sons (if sons they are) their sire disown, Spoil'd of his eyes, and driven from his throne;
61. Now Oedipus] This is an extremely fine passage: the latter part of it alludes to the fullowing verse in Euripides.
Το Μήτερ, ικετευώ σε, μὴ πίσεις
Τις αἱματωπες, και δρακοντώδεις κορας.
Αὔται γὰρ, αὗται πλησίον θρώσκουσί μου
Orestes, v. 225.
71. Then strikes] I have rendered inane solum by gaping void, as it is spoken of the sockets of his eyes. Gronovius and Mr. Pope have taken it
in the same sense, in opposition to the opinion of Bernartius and Barclay.
85. If seconded by thee] The curious reader may see the Sphynx's riddle in Greek, prefixed to the Ocdipus Tyraunus of Sophocles, Johnson's edition, volume 2.
95. My sons] The Oedipus of Sophocles complains in like manner of his sons' cruelty, and wishes them a similar punishment.
Αλλ' οἱ θεοί σφι μήτε τὴν πεπρωμένην
Ἔριν κατασβέσειαν, ἐν δ' ἐμοὶ τέλος.
Αὐτοῖν γίνοιτο τῆσδε της μάχης περιο
Ἧς νῦν ἔχονται, κάπαναιρώνται δόρυ.
Ὡς δτ' ἂν ὅς νῦν σκήπίρα, καὶ θρίνες έχει,
Μείνειεν, ἔτ ̓ ἂν ἐξεληλυθὼς πολιν
Ἔλθοι πότ' αὖθις, οἴγε τὸν οὔσαντ' ἐμὲ
Οὕτως ἀτίμως πατρίδος ἐξωθόμενο
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And, while a guideless, helpless wretch I roam,
Deride my groans in pamp'ring case at home.
Such is their pity, such their filial love,
And yet inactive sleep the bolts of Jove.
Then be the place of Jove by thee supply'd,
To check their insults, and reward their pride;
Let them some lasting stroke of vengeance mourn,
Which may extend to ages yet unborn:
Give them the crown, which steep'd in recent gore,
From the cleft temples of my sire Itore.
Go then, dissolve the sacred bonds of peace,
Bid discord rise, and love fraternal cease:
Urge them to dare, what may to latest times
Transmit their guilt, some yet unacted crimes. 110
Soon thou'lt experience (do but lead the way)
Their headstrong wills, impatient of delay;
And in the outlines of their tempers find
The truest portrait of their father's mind."
The list'ning fury now prepares to rise,
And tow'rds the suppliant wretch directs her eyes.
On sad Cocytos' banks she sate reclin'd,
And to the breeze her flowing locks resign'd.
Her snakes, unbound, along the margin glide,
Sport on the waves, or lash the sulph'ry tide. 120
From thence she springs; not swifter light'nings
Or falling stars, that cleave the mid-way sky. [fly,
The phantoms ken her, as she soars in air,
And to the distant shades in haste repair.
'Thro' dreary realms, and Pluto's wide domains
She roams, and soon th' infernal mansion gains.
The day beheld her dire approach, and shrowds
Her sick'ning glories in encircling clouds,
E'en Atlas labour'd with unwonted fears,
And shook beneath the burden of the spheres. 130
From Malea's humble vale she rose in flight,
And sped to Thebes, the monster's chief delight.
Not Hell itself, nor the Tartarean coast
An equal share of her esteem can boast.
A hundred serpents on her visage glare
With horrid scales, and mingle with her hair:
Her eyes, intrench'd within her bristling head,
By fits, a livid, fainty splendour shed.
Thus Cynthia blushes thro' the midnight shade,
When magic charms her lab'ring beams invade. 140
Her bloated skin with gather'd venom teems,
And her foul mouth exhales sulphureous steams.
Disease and death's annihilating force
From hence, as she commissions, bend their course.
Some stiffen'd rags were o'er her shoulders thrown,
And the dire monster by her dress was known.
Οὐκ ἔσκον, ἐδ' ἡμυναν, ἀλλ ̓, ἀνάςατα
Αὐτοῖν ἐπέμφθην, καξεκηρυχθην φυγάς. V. 434.
There is no character in the drama more deserving of our pity, than that of Oedipus. His sins were chiefly involuntary: the gods seem to hare levelled all their vengeance at him. This dreadful imprecation, however, against his own children, blackens his character, and refutes all the arguments which compassion can suggest in his fa
124. And to] Spenser seems to have alluded to this thought in his Fairy Queen, b. 6. canto 6.
Echidna is a monster direful dread,
Whom gods do hate, and Heav'ns abhor to see;
So hideous is her shape, so huge her head,
That e'en the hellish fiends affrighted be
At sight thereof, and from her presence flee.
A crested serpent arm'd her better hand,
And in the left she toss'd a flaming brand.
When now she stood where craggy cliffs arise,
And proud Citharon threats the neighb'ring skies,
Rang'd on her head, the scaly monsters glare, 151
And hiss, entwin'd in her envenom'd hair.
A signal to the Earth the shores resound,
And Greece from far returns the deaf'ning sound.
The distant summons fam'd Parnassus took,
And old Eurotas from it's summit shook:
Huge Oete nods, half sunk with all her pines,
And Isthmos scarce the parted waves disjoins;
While starting at the shock, Leucothoe press'd
The young Palæmon closer to her breast.
The fury to the palace now had come,
And shaded with her wings the splendid dome,
When here and there each furious brother flies,
And rage the place of mutual love supplies:
While jealousy and hate-ingend'ring fears [ears.
Flame in their breasts, and haunt their cred'lous
Their restless minds then wild ambition fires
To break the league, and deadly wrath inspires.
Their haughty souls superior pow'r disown,
And scorn th' alternate splendours of a crown. 170
Such discord rises from divided sway,
When each will rule, and neither will obey.
As two young steers, when first compell'd to bow
Their stubborn necks, and trail the galling plow,
Frisk here and there, impatient of the toil,
And spread disorder o'er the furrowy soil;
Thus Discord arms the brothers in her cause,
And urges them to cancel nature's laws.
First they decreed, that each in turn should wear
The diadem in his successive year.
180
Unhappy youths, no longer doom'd to prove
The joys of friendship, and fraternal love!
While that in exile mourns his present state,
This dreads, alas! the same impending fate.
153. A signal] This beautiful passage is undoubtedly imitated from Virgil, Æneid, lib. 7.
Pastorale canit signum, cornuque recurvo Tartaream intendit vocem: qua protinus omne Coutremuit nemus, & silvæ intonuere profundæ. Audiit & Triviæ longe lacus, audiit amnis Sulfureâ Nar albus aquâ, fontesque Velini: Et trepidæ matres pressere ad pectora natos. Who copied it from Apollonius Rhodius, Argon. 1. 4. v. 129.
-Ροιζει δί πεχωρίον, αμφι δέ μακραι Ηιονες ποταμοιο, και ασπετον ιαχεν αλσος. Εκλυον οἱ καὶ πολλον εκας τιτηνίδος αίης Κολχίδα γην ενέμοντο παρά προχρησε χύκριο, Ος ἀποκιδνάμενος ποταμό κελάδοντος Αραξία, Φασίδι συμφερείαι ἱερον έσον, οἱ δὲ συν αμφω Καυκασιην άλαδ ̓ εἰς ἐν ἐλαυμένοι προχέουσιν, Δειμαίι δ' ἐξιγρονίο λεκωίδες, αμφι δέ παισι Νηπιαχοις, οι εσφιν ὑπ' αγκαλίδεσσιν ιανον Ροιζῳ παλλομένοις, χειρας βαλον ἀσχαλουσαι. This stroke of nature is tender and affecting to the last degree. Others would have been satisfied to have mentioned the effects of this dreadful blast upon the woods and mountains. Virgil knew, that this circumstance of the mothers' catching their infants to their breasts would more touch and interest his readers, than all the other pompous images, great as they are. Warton's Virgil.
Nor long this league withheld their impious | As when two winds contend with adverse force,"
From executing Discord's dire commands:
But ere one year was clos'd, they both gave way
To fierce contention, and desire of sway.
Yet then no gates of iv'ry did unfold
The palace, beaming with barbaric gold;
No polish'd arches, fram'd of Parian stone,
Beneath th' incumbent dome in order shone ;
No guards, reclining on erected spears,
Essay'd to chase the sleepless tyrant's fears;
Nor curious gems, inlaid with art divine,
Flam'd on the brim, and sparkled in the wine.
Mere lust of pow'r the rival brothers arms,
And fills a narrow realm with war's alarms.
But while their claims yet undetermin'd stand,
And none enjoys in peace supreme command;
Law gives a sanction to injurious might,
And pow'r is hallow'd with the name of right.
Say, rivals, why ye rush to mutual death,
And why so lavish of your vital breath?
Not all th' united realms, which Sol surveys,
Adoru'd with orient, or declining rays,
When to the south he bends his rapid course,
Or the bleak north enjoys his temp'rate force;
Not all the wealth that fertile Tyre can boast,
Nor all that glitters on the Phrygian coast; 210
Could claim such deeds, or merit such regard,
Were all those realms the conqueror's reward.
Meanwhile the lots for the first year were
thrown,
And proud Eteocles ascends the throne.
How grateful then, O tyrant, was the day,
When all around were subject to thy sway!
How pleas'd, without contention to devour
The wish'd-for sweets of undivided pow'r!
And influence by turns the vessel's course,
On this side now, obsequious to the blast,
Now there she nods, and still obeys the last :
Thus fares our state, between the doubtful sway
Of either prince, unknowing which t'obey.
190 Distracted, tortur'd with suspense she stands,
While this repeats his threats, and that commands."
Meanwhile the king of Heav'n, imperial Jove,
Convenes a synod of the pow'rs above;
Full in the midst, enthron'd, the thund'rer sate,
Sublime in all the pomp of regal state.
Beneath his piercing eye, in full survey,
The spacious earth, and seas contracted lay.
His brow was void of frowns, serene his look,
Yet at his nod the whole creation shook.
Their heav'nly king the rising senate greet,
And at his word resume their starry seat.
Inferior gods from ev'ry quarter come,
By rank distinguish'd in the starry dome.
None absent were of all whose force can bind,
Or on the deep discharge, the furious wind;
No rosy dryad of the shady wood,
Nor azure sister of the crystal flood.
But here, obedient to their sov'reign's will,
The winds are silent, and the waves lie still.
Thro' Heav'n's expanse a gath’ring horrour rolls,
And huge Olympus trembles to the poles.
With rays serene the wreathed pillars glare,
And a new lustre gilds the fields of air.
Its tremours now the globe began to cease,
And nature lay resign'd to downy peace;
When thus the thund'rer spoke: assenting fate
On ev'ry accent stamp'd resistless weight.
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Say, must I still of human crimes complain, And must the thund'rer's bolts be hurl'd in vain? Why seek they thus my tardy wrath to prove, 220 And scorn my proffer'd clemency and love; While yet the Cyclops ply their arms no more, And Etna weeps for her exhausted store?
And now the disaffected Thebans vent
In whisper'd tales their growing discontent.
To th' absent prince in secret they adhere,
And curse the slow progression of the year.
Then one, by nature ready to complain,
Alike dissatisfy'd with every reign,
Well taught to feel rebellious faction's flame,
And brand with calumny the royal name,
Exclaim'd aloud: "Shall then the Theban state
Feel each vicissitude of cruel fate?
Still must our slavish necks with patience bear
Th' alternate yoke of each tyrannic heir;
Who now reverse our fates, divide the land,
And hold inferior fortune at command?
For e'er shall Thebes her sad condition mourn,
And dread each exil'd tyrant's quick return?
Is this thy fixt decree, almighty Jove,
Is this a proof of thy paternal love?
Was this a curse entail'd upon our race?
Say, from what time the omen we may trace;
When Cadmus sought his sister on the main,
Sow'd with the serpent's teeth the fertile plain, 240
And, forc'd on fair Boeotia's soil by fate,
Laid the foundation of the Theban state?
See, how elate with pride our king appears,
Free from competitors, and void of fears!
What threat'ning looks he wears, as if again
He scorn'd to yield his temporary reign.
Yet none before was easier of access,
More affable, or prone to give redress.
Nor wonder we; he was not then alone,
Nor without dread of a divided throue.
While we stand here, a patient servile band,
Prepar'd to act whate'er our lords command.
253. As when] It has been observed of Statius, that he shines particularly in descriptions and similies; and I will venture to say, this is not the worst of the latter in the whole work. Medie nutat fortuna carinæ, is a fine expression, and its spirit unattainable in English verse. However, if similies are any where unreasonable, they certainly are in speeches, and especially those delivered with any warmth. I have somewhere seen Virgil censured for putting so many similies in Æneas't mouth, during the narration of his adventures to Dido.
261. Meanwhile] This description is every way suitable to those refined ideas our author had of the Supreme Being. The images are as grand as the human mind can conceive, or fancy repre sent of such an assembly; and the harangue of Jove does not baulk the great expectations the preceding description has raised of him.
Grave & immutabile sanctis Pondus adest verbis, & vocem fata sequuntur,
is not more sublime than concise and expressive: the sense of which an Italian or French poet would have scarce comprised in six or eight verses. I should want common justice, if I denied Mr. Pope the praise so justly deserved from the translation of this passage, which the reader may compare with the beginning of the tenth Æneid.
Tho' there thy wiles, and providential care
O'ercame the keeper of the Pharian fair,
And the fam'd Argive was debauch'd of old,
Too fond, alas! of all-bewitching gold.
Yet these obscurer crimes I could forgive,
Did not proud Thebes my stifled ire revive;
Where Jove in all his dazzling glory shone,
300 And hurl'd the bolts to Juno due alone.
Let punish'd Thebes absolve th' injurious deed,
Nor both beneath divided vengeance bleed.
But if, tenacious of thy right divine,
Thou'lt thwart my will, and frustrate my de-
sign,
For this I suffer'd headstrong Phaeton
To mount the car of the reluctant Sun;
And Neptune bade th' imprison'd waters flow,
And hills and vales no more distinction know:
But all in vain; our vengeance they defy,
And triumph o'er the ruler of the sky.
To punish these, I leave the realms above,
A race descended from imperial Jove:
With Perseus Argos' sons alliance claim,
From Cadmus Thebes derives immortal fame.
Who has not heard of wretched Cadmus' fate,
And the long labours of the Theban state;
When from the silent regions of the night,
The furies sprang, and rush'd to mortal fight?
Why should I publish the fierce mother's shame,
And deeds, the pow'rs of Heav'n would blush to
name?
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Yet th' angry pow'rs he satisfies with groans, And gloom eternal for his sins atones. No more he breathes at large our upper air, But feeds the worms of conscience with despair. Yet say, what fury cou'd his sons inspire Thus to torment their old, unhappy sire; To trample on his eyes with impious feet, And hurl him headlong from the regal seat?' Then let us pity him; nor let in vain The wretched king of filial rage complain; Hence shall it be my bus'ness to redress His wrongs, and crown his wishes with success. The day shall come, when discord from afar Shall give whole nations to the waste of war; 330 When the whole guilty race in fight shall fall, And one incircling ruin swallow all. Adrastus shall in dire alliance join With Heaven, and complete the Fates' design. Nor let proud Argos triumph: 'tis decreed, That she amid the gen'ral carnage bleed : The craft of Tantalus, and impious feast, -Yet wake my vengeance, and inflame any breast."
Then Juno, impotent of passion, broke Her sullen silence, and with fury spoke. "Why urge me thus to deeds of martial rage? Shall Juno still in mortal strife engage? Thou know'st, no mortals merit more my grace, Than Argos, and the fam'd Inachian race, By me for e'er enrich'd, and taught to wield With sure success the weapons of the field.
339. Then Juno] The Juno in Statius is the same with that of the Iliad and Æneid. Her summum bonum is of the negative kind, and consists chiefly in the gratification of a contradicting and perverse temper. She has always some favourites to shelter from the just vengeance of Jove, and her entreaties for pardon, or incitements to punishment, are the effects of the blindest partiality, or most inveterate prejudice. She will not permit Argos to partake of the punishment of Thebes, but hurries Jupiter on to put his threats in execution against the latter, which had been an eye-witness of his adultery.
Descend from Heav'n, fulfil thy stern desire,
Raze Samos, wrap Mycena's walls in fire,
The guiltless Spartan race at once confound,
And their fair structures level with the ground.
With incense why should Juno's altars blaze,
And joyful pæans swell the note of praise?
Transfer to more deserving Isis' fane
The fatten'd victim, destin'd to be slain.
For her in Egypt bid the timbrel sound,
And Nile from ev'ry mouth her praise rebound.
But if thou wilt chastise the present age,
And sacrifice whole nations to thy rage,
If thou wilt trace obliterated crimes
From the dark annals of preceding times,
Say, from what period then it is decreed,
And to what times the guilty world shall bleed.
Begin, from whence in many a winding maze
To the Sicilian stream Alpheus strays:
There dire Arcadia's swains presum'd to found
Thy sacred temple on polluted ground;
Where stern Oenomaus' car was wont to stand,
And mould'ring skulls lie scatter'd on the sand. 380
Since such oblations please, since patient Jove
Yet courts the shades of Ida's guilty grove,
And favours Crete, whose impious sons presume
To show the king of Heav'n's fictitious tomb;
In Argos let thy spouse unenvy'd reign,
And share the mystic honours of the fane:
Nor waste in fight a race deriv'd from Jove,
A race, whose merits claim paternal love.
Let more detested realms in wars engage,
And feel the sad effects of filial rage."
Thus strove in vain th' indignant queen of air,
And blended in her speech reproach and prayer;
Unmov'd remains the ruler of the skies,
And thus with calmness from his throne replies. "'Twas thus I deem'd the queen of Heav'n would
Whene'er the fate of Argos was decreed:
Nor less might Bacchus thwart the will of fate,
Bacchus, the guardian of the Theban state,
But he not dares the lifted bolt to stay,
399
Reveres our pow'r and gives the vengeance way.
353. Where Jove] The aspiring Semele would admit the embraces of Jupiter on no other condition, than his coming to her encircled with thunder and lightning, as he was wont to Juno. The unfortunate fair succeeded in her wishes, but perished in the completion of them.
379. Where stern Oenomaus'] Oenomaus was father of Hippodame. His daughter was promised in marriage to any one who should excel him in a chariot-race; but the loss of victory was to be attended with immediate death. The skulls here mentioned were those of the eleven suitors, who had failed in the attempt.
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