Ch. O dear son of Œdipus, I felt terror when I heard the din from the clatter of the cars, when the wheel-whirling naves rattled, and [the din] of the fire-wrought bits, the rudders[110] of the horses, passing through their mouths that know no rest.
Et. What then? does the mariner who flees from the stern to the prow[111] find means of escape, when his bark is laboring against the billow of the ocean?
Ch. No; but I came in haste to the ancient statues of the divinities, trusting in the gods, when there was a pattering at our gates of destructive sleet showering down, even then I was carried away by terror to offer my supplications to the Immortals, that they would extend their protection over the city.
Et. Pray that our fortification may resist the hostile spear.
Ch. Shall not this, then, be at the disposal of the gods?
Et. Ay, but 'tis said that the gods of the captured city abandon it.
Ch. At no time during my life may this conclave of gods abandon us: never may I behold our city overrun, and an army firing it with hostile flame.
Et. Do not thou, invoking the gods, take ill counsel; for subordination, woman, is the mother of saving success; so the adage runs.
Ch. But the gods have a power superior still, and oft in adversity does this raise the helpless out of severe calamity, when clouds are overhanging his brow.