The Argives now mount a full on assault on the fortress of Thebes. Within the city, Tiresias consults the gods and is given an omen: Menoeceus, the son of the leading Theban and brother of Jocasta Creon, must be sacrificed to attain be peace. The young man receives the omen happily, scales the walls of the city and kills himself in front of both armies. On the Argive side, Capaneus climbs the walls himself and, in an excess of hubris, vows to challenge Jupiter himself; the god, in turn, strikes him down with a thunderbolt.