Part 2 Summary

Eteocles comes on and expresses his disgust with the chorus for giving in to their fears, saying it is an "outrage" to the soldiers going off to war. He accuses the women of bringing down the city's morale. He complains about women in general: that when they are brave, they are insolent and intolerable, and when they are frightened, they are rash and dangerous. He promises to put any citizen, male or female, in prison if they do not obey him and bravely face the danger. Eteocles asks if they think a sailor steering a ship runs away just because he is frightened.

The Chorus says they just came to the square to pray to the Gods to reach and defend the city. Eteocles suggests that instead, they should pray that the walls remain standing. The Chorus then prays to die before the...