§1455τίνʼ ἀνὰ χεῖρα δόμον ἔβα Λοξίου;
By whose hand did it come to the house of Loxias?
This is divine; but for the rest of our fortune, may we be happy, just as we were unfortunate before.
Child, you were not brought forth without tears, and with laments you were separated from your mother's arms.
But now, beside your cheeks, I breathe, having obtained the most blessed pleasure.
§1462τοὐμὸν λέγουσα καὶ τὸ σὸν κοινῶς λέγεις.
In speaking of my case, you speak of yours and mine in common.
We are no longer childless or without offspring; the house is provided with a hearth, and the land has its rulers.
§1465ἀνηβᾷ δʼ Ἐρεχθεύς, §1466ὅ τε γηγενέτας δόμος οὐκέτι νύκτα δέρκεται, §1467ἀελίου δʼ ἀναβλέπει λαμπάσιν.
Erechtheus grows young again, and the earth-born house no longer looks upon the night, but looks up at the rays of the sun.
Mother, let my father also be present and share in this pleasure which I have given to you both.
§1470ὦ τέκνον,
O child, what do you say?
§1471τί φῄς; οἷον οἷον ἀνελέγχομαι.
How, how I am being cross-examined!
§1472πῶς εἶπας;
How do you mean?
§1472aἄλλοθεν γέγονας, ἄλλοθεν.
You are born from elsewhere, from elsewhere.
§1473ὤμοι·
Alas!
νόθον με παρθένευμʼ ἔτικτε σόν;
Did your maidenhood bear me as a bastard?
Not by torches, nor by dances, did my wedding bear your head, my child.
§1477αἰαῖ·
Alas!
πέφυκα δυσγενής.
I am born of low birth.
μῆτερ, πόθεν;
Mother, from whom?
§1479ἃ σκοπέλοις ἐπʼ ἐμοῖς §1480τὸν ἐλαιοφυῆ πάγον §1481θάσσει §1481bλέγεις μοι δόλια κοὐ σαφῆ τάδε.
she who upon my rocks sits on the olive-growing hill — You speak to me in deceitful and unclear words.
Beside the nightingale's rock, with Phoebus — Why do you speak of Phoebus?
§1484κρυπτόμενον λέχος ηὐνάσθην
I was laid in a secret union.
§1485λέγʼ· ὡς ἐρεῖς τι κεδνὸν εὐτυχές τέ μοι.
Speak; for you will tell something noble and fortunate for me.
And in the tenth circle of the month, I bore you, a secret labor, to Phoebus.
§1488ὦ φίλτατʼ εἰποῦσʼ, εἰ λέγεις ἐτήτυμα.
O you who have said the dearest thing, if indeed you speak the truth!
§1489παρθένια δʼ ἐμᾶς λάθρα ματέρος §1490σπάργανʼ ἀμφίβολά σοι τάδʼ ἐνῆψα, κερ- §1491κίδος ἐμᾶς πλάνους.
And secretly from my mother, I tied these maidenly swaddling-bands around you, the wanderings of my shuttle.
§1492γάλακτι δʼ οὐκ ἐπέσχον, οὐδὲ μαστῷ §1493τροφεῖα ματρὸς οὐδὲ λουτρὰ χειροῖν, §1494ἀνὰ δʼ ἄντρον ἔρημον οἰωνῶν §1495γαμφηλαῖς φόνευμα θοίναμά τʼ εἰς §1496Ἅιδαν ἐκβάλλῃ.
And I did not hold milk to you, nor nourishment of a mother's breast, nor baths from my hands, but in a deserted cave you were cast out, a prey and a feast for the beaks of birds, for Hades.
§1497ὦ δεινὰ τλᾶσα μῆτερ.
O mother, who endured terrible things!
Bound by fear, my child, I cast away your life; I killed you unwillingly.
§1502ἰώ·
Ah!
δειναὶ μὲν τότε τύχαι, §1503δεινὰ δὲ καὶ τάδʼ· ἑλισσόμεσθʼ ἐκεῖθεν §1505ἐνθάδε δυστυχίαισιν εὐτυχίαις τε πάλιν, §1506μεθίσταται δὲ πνεύματα.
Terrible indeed was our fortune then, and terrible is this too; we are tossed from there to here, back in misfortunes and fortunes, and the winds shift.
§1508μενέτω· τὰ πάροιθεν ἅλις κακά·
Let it remain so; the past evils are enough.
νῦν δὲ §1509γένοιτό τις οὖρος ἐκ κακῶν, ὦ παῖ.
Now, child, may there be some favorable wind out of our evils.
Let no one of humans ever think that anything is unexpected, in light of what is happening now.
§1512ὦ μεταβαλοῦσα μυρίους ἤδη βροτῶν §1513καὶ δυστυχῆσαι καὖθις αὖ πρᾶξαι καλῶς, §1514Τύχη, παρʼ οἵαν ἤλθομεν στάθμην βίου §1515μητέρα φονεῦσαι καὶ παθεῖν ἀνάξια.
O Fortune, who have already changed countless mortals to suffer misfortune and then again to fare well, along what a narrow line of life have we come, almost to murder my mother and to suffer unworthy things.
§1516φεῦ·
Ah!
Is it possible to learn all these things day by day in the bright embraces of the sun?
§1518φίλον μὲν οὖν σʼ εὕρημα, μῆτερ, ηὕρομεν, §1519καὶ τὸ γένος οὐδὲν μεμπτόν, ὡς ἡμῖν, τόδε· §1520τὰ δʼ ἄλλα πρὸς σὲ βούλομαι μόνην φράσαι.
Mother, we have found you as a dear find, and this lineage of ours is not to be blamed; but the rest I wish to speak to you alone.
Come here; for I want to speak words into your ear and wrap the matters in darkness.
§1523ὅρα σύ, μῆτερ· μὴ σφαλεῖσʼ ἃ παρθένοις §1524ἐγγίγνεται νοσήματʼ ἐς κρυπτοὺς γάμους, §1525ἔπειτα τῷ θεῷ προστίθης τὴν αἰτίαν, §1526καὶ τοὐμὸν αἰσχρὸν ἀποφυγεῖν πειρωμένη, §1527Φοίβῳ τεκεῖν με φῄς, τεκοῦσʼ οὐκ ἐκ θεοῦ;
Watch out, mother; lest, having stumbled in those diseases that happen to virgins in secret unions, you then lay the blame on the god, and trying to escape my disgrace, you say you bore me to Phoebus, when you did not bear me from a god?
§1528μὰ τὴν παρασπίζουσαν ἅρμασίν ποτε §1529Νίκην Ἀθηνᾶν Ζηνὶ γηγενεῖς ἔπι, §1530οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις σοι πατὴρ θνητῶν, τέκνον, §1531ἀλλʼ ὅσπερ ἐξέθρεψε, Λοξίας ἄναξ.
By Athena of Victory, who once stood with her shield beside Zeus's chariot against the earth-born, there is no mortal who is your father, my child, but the king Loxias himself, who reared you.
How then did he give his own son to another father, and says that I am born as Xuthus's son?
§1534πεφυκέναι μὲν οὐχί, δωρεῖται δέ σε §1535αὑτοῦ γεγῶτα· καὶ γὰρ ἂν φίλος φίλῳ §1536δοίη τὸν αὑτοῦ παῖδα δεσπότην δόμων.
Not that you were born from him, but he presents you who are his own; for a friend might give his own son to a friend to be master of his house.
Whether the god is true or prophesies in vain, mother, naturally troubles my mind.
§1539ἄκουε δή νυν ἅμʼ ἐσῆλθεν, ὦ τέκνον·
Listen now to what has entered my mind, child.
§1540εὐεργετῶν σε Λοξίας ἐς εὐγενῆ §1541δόμον καθίζει· τοῦ θεοῦ δὲ λεγόμενος, §1542οὐκ ἔσχες ἄν ποτʼ οὔτε παγκλήρους δόμους §1543οὔτʼ ὄνομα πατρός.
Loxias, doing you a favor, settles you in a noble house; but if you were called the god's son, you would never have had an inheritance of the house, nor a father's name.
πῶς γάρ, οὗ γʼ ἐγὼ γάμους §1544ἔκρυπτον αὐτὴ καί σʼ ἀπέκτεινον λάθρα;
For how could you, when I myself was hiding my union and was killing you in secret?
§1545ὃ δʼ ὠφελῶν σε προστίθησʼ ἄλλῳ πατρί.
But he, wishing to help you, attributes you to another father.
§1546οὐχ ὧδε φαύλως αὔτʼ ἐγὼ μετέρχομαι,
I do not pursue this matter so lightly.