130 D. E. HILL
In 1.114–96, Tisiphone, in response to Oedipus’ request at 1.56–
87, sets in motion the hatred between Eteocles and Polynices which is
to dominate the epic. By 1.196 the plot is in full swing. Eteocles has
banished Polynices, and an unruly citizen has given us a powerful
denunciation of the alternating kingship together with serious doubts
as to whether Eteocles will relinquish power at the end of the agreed
twelve months or, indeed, ever. Now, at last, Jupiter reacts.
At (1.197 “But”) tells us that the narrative is turning in quite an-
other direction; cf. e.g. Virgil Aeneid 4.1, 12.1
Iouis imperiis “at Jupiter’s commands” the grandiloquent phrase
prepares us for the intervention of Jupiter (hitherto ignored) and cre-
ates the expectation that he will restore order, as he does, for instance,
at Virgil Aeneid 1.223–96. More on this later.
rapidi super atria caeli lectus concilio diuum conuenerat ordo
interiore poli (1.197–9 “over the hall of the rapid sky, the chosen or-
der of the gods had convened in the inner sky”): these words, conjur-
ing up the dignity and importance of the place, reinforce the reader’s
assumption that a council of the gods is about to occur. conuenerat:
the pluperfect, as so often in narrative, suggests that the reader has
somehow stumbled as a spectator into something that had already
started; in this case into the council just as its proceedings were com-
mencing. The divine council, with Zeus/Jupiter presiding, is an impor-
tant feature of ancient epic (e.g. Hom. Il. 1.493–594, Od. 1.26–95,
5.3–42, Verg. A. 1.223–96, Ovid Met. 1.163–244). The gods are
summoned, at least one of them makes a speech demanding something
(though not here), and Zeus/Jupiter decides. It is interesting to note
that immediately after the second Odyssean Council and after the Vir-
gilian council, it is Hermes/Mercury who is sent down to earth to ef-
fect the command of Zeus/Jupiter, as will also occur after this speech
of Jupiter’s.
spatiis hinc omnia iuxta, primaeque occiduaeque domus et fusa
sub omni terra atque unda die (1.199–201 “from here all things are
close in space, both the eastern and the western domains, and the land
and sea spread out under every sky.”): everything, from the gods’
perspective, is close to everything else, thus making omnipotence
convenient and further exciting our expectations. At Silv. 1.4.73 Sta-
tius writes occiduas primasque domos “western and eastern do-
mains” which guarantees the sense of east (from where the sun starts)