It seems thy going was not favoured by heaven. Adrastus Worse; I went in spite even of Amphiaraus. Theseus And so heaven lightly turned Reiske conjectures ἀπεστράφης , and omits σ’ . its face from thee. Adrastus I was carried away by the clamour of younger men. Theseus Thou didst favour courage instead of discretion. Adrastus Dindorf condemns this line. Paley brackets it as spurious. Nauck assigns it to Theseus, and retains it. True; and many a general owes defeat to that. O king of Athens , bravest of the sons of Hellas , I blush to throw myself upon the ground and clasp thy knees, I a grey-haired king, blest in days gone by; yet needs must I yield to my misfortunes. I pray thee save the dead; have pity on my sorrows and on these, the mothers of the slain, whom hoary eld finds reft of their sons; yet they endured to journey hither and tread a foreign soil with aged tottering steps, bearing no embassy to Demeter’s mysteries; only seeking burial for their dead, which lot should have been theirs,