§292ἐμῶν τυράννων, ὧν ἀπεστάλην ὕπο — §293γονυπετεῖς ἕδρας προσπίτνω σʼ, ἄναξ, §294τὸν οἴκοθεν νόμον σέβουσʼ — §295ἔβας ὢ χρόνῳ γᾶν πατρῴαν.
Of my rulers, by whom I was sent— I fall before you in knee-falling supplication, lord, revering the custom from my home— you have come, oh at last, to your ancestral land.
§296ἰὼ ἰώ·
Io, io!
πότνια, μόλε πρόδομος, §297ἀμπέτασον πύλας.
Lady, come before the house, fling open the gates!
§298κλύεις, ὦ τεκοῦσα τόνδε μᾶτερ;
Do you hear, mother who bore him?
Why do you delay to pass through the roofed palace and to touch with your arms your child?
Jocasta: Hearing the Phoenician cry, O young maidens, my aged foot I drag, a trembling step.
O child, at last, after countless days, your face I behold!
ἀμφίβαλλε μα- §307στὸν ὠλέναισι ματέρος, §308παρηίδων τʼ ὄρεγμα βο- §308aστρύχων τε κυανόχρωτα χαί- §309τας πλόκαμον, δέραν σκιάζων ἁμάν.
Throw your arms around your mother's breast, and the reaching out of your cheeks, and the dark-colored locks of your curly hair, shadowing my neck.
§310ἰὼ ἰώ, μόλις φανεὶς
Io, io!
§311ἄελπτα κἀδόκητα ματρὸς ὠλέναις.
Having appeared at last, unexpectedly and unlooked-for to your mother's arms.
§312τί φῶ σε;
What shall I say to you?
πῶς ἅπαντα §313καὶ χερσὶ καὶ λόγοισι §314πολυέλικτον ἁδονὰν §316περιχορεύουσα τέρψιν παλαιᾶν λάβω §317χαρμονᾶν;
How can I, both with hands and with words, this complex, winding pleasure, dancing around, receive the joy of old delights?
ἰὼ τέκος, §318ἔρημον πατρῷον ἔλιπες δόμον §319φυγὰς ἀποσταλεὶς ὁμαίμου λώβᾳ, §320ἦ ποθεινὸς φίλοις, §321ἦ ποθεινὸς Θήβαις.
O child, you left your ancestral home desolate, sent away into exile by the outrage of your brother, truly longed for by your friends, truly longed for by Thebes.
§322ὅθεν ἐμάν τε λευκόχροα κείρομαι §323δακρυόεσσʼ ἀνεῖσα πένθει κόμαν, §324ἄπεπλος φαρέων λευκῶν, ὦ τέκνον, §325δυσόρφναια δʼ ἀμφὶ τρύχη τάδε §326σκότιʼ ἀμείβομαι.
Because of which, my white hair I cut off, letting it fall with tears in grief, stripped of white robes, my child, and around me these dark, gloomy rags I exchange.
§327ὁ δʼ ἐν δόμοισι πρέσβυς ὀμματοστερὴς §328ἀπήνας ὁμοπτέρου τᾶς ἀπο- §329ζυγείσας δόμων §330πόθον ἀμφιδάκρυτον ἀεὶ κατ- §331έχων ἀνῇξε μὲν ξίφους §332ἐπʼ αὐτόχειρά τε σφαγάν, §333ὑπὲρ τέραμνά τʼ ἀγχόνας, §334στενάζων ἀρὰς τέκνοις· §335σὺν ἀλαλαῖσι δʼ αἰὲν αἰαγμάτων §336σκότια κρύπτεται.
And the old man in the house, deprived of eyes, ever since the twin yoke-team of brothers was unyoked from the house, always keeping a tearful longing, rushed indeed for the sword and for self-slaying slaughter, and for hanging over the rafters, groaning curses upon his children; and with wailings of lamentations ever he is hidden in darkness.
§337σὲ δʼ, ὦ τέκνον, γάμοισι δὴ §338κλύω ζυγέντα παιδοποιὸν ἁδονὰν §339ξένοισιν ἐν δόμοις ἔχειν §340ξένον τε κῆδος ἀμφέπειν, §341ἄλαστα ματρὶ τᾷδε Λα- §342ίῳ τε τῷ παλαιγενεῖ, §343γάμων ἐπακτὸν ἄταν.
And you, O child, by marriage indeed I hear having been joined, child-begetting pleasure to have in a foreign house, and to cherish a foreign alliance, painful things for this mother and for Laius the ancient-born, an imported curse of marriage.
§344ἐγὼ δʼ οὔτε σοι πυρὸς ἀνῆψα φῶς §345νόμιμον ἐν γάμοις §346ματέρι μακαρίᾳ· §347ἀνυμέναια δʼ Ἰσμηνὸς ἐκηδεύθη §348λουτροφόρου χλιδᾶς, ἀνὰ δὲ Θηβαίαν §349πόλιν ἐσιγάθη σᾶς ἔσοδοι νύμφας.
And I neither kindled for you the light of fire, customary in marriages, as is fitting for a happy mother; and without hymeneal songs, Ismenus was deprived of its care of the luxury of the water-carrying bath, and through the Theban city, the entry of your bride was kept silent.
§350ὄλοιτο, τάδʼ εἴτε σίδαρος §351εἴτʼ ἔρις εἴτε πατὴρ ὁ σὸς αἴτιος, §352εἴτε τὸ δαιμόνιον κατεκώμασε §353δώμασιν Οἰδιπόδα· §354πρὸς ἐμὲ γὰρ κακῶν ἔμολε τῶνδʼ ἄχη.
May they perish, whether iron or strife, or your father is the cause of these things, or whether the divinity revelled in the house of Oedipus; for to me has come the pain of these evils.
A terrible thing for women is childbirth with its pangs, and somehow all womankind is fond of children.
§357μῆτερ, φρονῶν εὖ κοὐ φρονῶν ἀφικόμην §358ἐχθροὺς ἐς ἄνδρας· ἀλλʼ ἀναγκαίως ἔχει §359πατρίδος ἐρᾶν ἅπαντας· ὃς δʼ ἄλλως λέγει, §360λόγοισι χαίρει τὸν δὲ νοῦν ἐκεῖσʼ ἔχει.
Polyneices: Mother, wise and yet not wise I came among hostile men; but it is necessary for all to love their fatherland; and whoever says otherwise, takes pleasure in words, but his mind is there.
§361οὕτω δʼ ἐτάρβουν ἐς φόβον τʼ ἀφικόμην, §362μή τις δόλος με πρὸς κασιγνήτου κτάνῃ, §363ὥστε ξιφήρη χεῖρʼ ἔχων διʼ ἄστεως §364κυκλῶν πρόσωπον ἦλθον.
And so I was afraid and came to such fear, lest some plot by my brother should kill me, so that, with sword in hand, through the city, turning my face around, I went.
ἓν δέ μʼ ὠφελεῖ, §365σπονδαί τε καὶ σὴ πίστις, ἥ μʼ ἐσήγαγε §366τείχη πατρῷα· πολύδακρυς δʼ ἀφικόμην, §367χρόνιος ἰδὼν μέλαθρα καὶ βωμοὺς θεῶν §368γυμνάσιά θʼ οἷσιν ἐνετράφην Δίρκης θʼ ὕδωρ· §369ὧν οὐ δικαίως ἀπελαθεὶς ξένην πόλιν §370ναίω, διʼ ὄσσων νᾶμʼ ἔχων δακρύρροον.
But one thing helps me, the truce and your good faith, which brought me inside my ancestral walls; and with many tears I came, seeing after a long time the palace and the altars of the gods, and the gymnasia in which I was reared, and the water of Dirce; from which, unjustly driven out, a foreign city I inhabit, having a tear-flowing stream through my eyes.
But indeed from grief, grief again I see you having, alas for my misfortunes!
How terrible, mother, is the enmity of close friends!
For what does my old father do in the house, looking at darkness?
τί δὲ κασίγνηται δύο;
And what of my two sisters?
§378ἦ που στένουσι τλήμονες φυγὰς ἐμάς;
Do they indeed groan, unhappy ones, over my exile?
§379κακῶς θεῶν τις Οἰδίπου φθείρει γένος· §380οὕτω γὰρ ἤρξατʼ, ἄνομα μὲν τεκεῖν ἐμέ, §381κακῶς δὲ γῆμαι πατέρα σὸν φῦναί τε σέ.
Cruelly some of the gods is destroying the race of Oedipus; for so it began: to bear me unlawfully, and for your father to marry evilly and you to be born.
§382ἀτὰρ τί ταῦτα;
But why these things?
δεῖ φέρειν τὰ τῶν θεῶν.
One must bear the things of the gods.
But how I may ask, lest I sting your mind, I fear, those things I desire; but I have come through longing.
Jocasta: But ask, leave nothing lacking; for what you wish, the same is dear to me, mother.
Polyneices: And indeed I ask you first of those things I desire to obtain, What is it to be deprived of one's fatherland?
ἦ κακὸν μέγα;
Is it indeed a great evil?
§389μέγιστον· ἔργῳ δʼ ἐστὶ μεῖζον ἢ λόγῳ.
The greatest; and in deed it is greater than in word.