Note 89 — THE SEVEN WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THEBES
E. H. (Edward Hayes) Plumptre translation
The thought thus expressed was, that the Gods, yielding to the mightier law of destiny, or in their wrath at the guilt of men, left the city before its capture. The feeling was all but universal. Its two representative instances are found in Virgil, Æn. 351—
“Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis
Di quibus imperium hoc steterat;”
and the narrative given alike by Tacitus (Hist. v. 13), and Josephus (Bell. Jud. vi. 5, 3), that the cry “Let us depart hence,” was heard at midnight through the courts of the Temple, before the destruction of Jerusalem.