48 HISTORICAL TALES.

the feet of his love, already dead. His mother, on
learning of his fatal act, also killed herself by her
own hand, and Creon was left alone to suffer the
consequences of his unnatural act.

The story goes on to relate that Adrastus, with
the disconsolate mothers of the fallen chieftains,
sought the hero Theseus at Athens, and begged his
aid in procuring the privilege of interment for the
slain warriors whose bodies lay on the plain of
Thebes. The Thebans persisting in their refusal
to permit burial, Theseus at length led an army
against them, defeated them in the field, and forced
them to consent that their fallen foes should be
interred, that last privilege of the dead which was
deemed so essential by all pious Greeks. The tomb
of the chieftains was shown near Hleusis within late
historical times.

But the Thebans were to suffer another reverse.
The sons of the slain chieftains raised an army,
which they placed under the leadership of Adrastus,
and demanded to be led against Thebes. Alkmzon,
the son of Amphiaraiis, who had been commanded to
revenge him, played the most prominent part in the
succeeding war. As this new expedition marched,
the gods, which had opposed the former with hostile
signs, now showed their approval with favorable
portents. Adherents joined them on their march.
At the river Glisas they were met by a Theban
army, and a battle was fought, which ended in a
complete victory over the Theban foe. A prophet
now declared to the Thebans that the gods were
against them, and advised them to surrender the