Enter Messenger and Eteocles from opposite sides.
Messenger.
What I have seen I come
To tell; the movements of the foe, the station
That lot hath given each champion at the gates.
First at the Prœtian portal Tydeus stands,[n22]
Storming against the seer, who wise forbids
To pass Ismenus’ wave, before the sacrifice
Auspicious smiles. But he, for battle burning,
Fumes like a fretful snake in the sultry noon,