“With shouts hemmed in” follows “me” and so seems to describe more the Chorus than Ares, although “brazen-shouted” is an epithet for Ares. In fact, hearing this line, the audience could easily picture the Chorus and Ares in proximity to one another, so that both are surrounded by cries, not from the din of arms crashing together in opposition, but of the sick and dying. The jumble of images, which includes a firebrand, and the awkwardness of the alpha-privative kenning combined with the uncertainty of Ares’ anticipated place among the cited gods all give expression to the confusion of a populace frenzied by its sufferings. The Athenian audience knowing firsthand what such despair was like would, from its place of relative safety in the theater, find itself now advocating a more rational calm. Ares, it would realize, has no place in the Theban context; Thebes should not beseech him but concentrate on Apollo’s clearly indicated disposition to help. On the other hand, Athens, which has decided upon a course of war, and where plague is a secondary manifestation, does need to concern itself with Ares. The prophecy binding war and, implicitly, plague, suggests, however, that, like Thebes, Athens would similarly do well to focus on Apollo’s clearly indicated disposition to thwart its war effort. [Ad]