§613bμολὼν ἐς Ἄργος ἀνακάλει Λέρνης ὕδωρ.
Eteocles: Go to Argos and call upon the water of Lerna.
§614εἶμι, μὴ πόνει· σὲ δʼ αἰνῶ, μῆτερ.
Polyneices: I will go, do not trouble yourself; but I thank you, mother.
§614bἔξιθι χθονός.
Eteocles: Go out of the land!
§615ἔξιμεν· πατέρα δέ μοι δὸς εἰσιδεῖν.
Polyneices: We will go; but grant me to see my father.
§615bοὐκ ἂν τύχοις.
Eteocles: You shall not obtain this.
§616ἀλλὰ παρθένους ἀδελφάς.
Polyneices: But then, my maiden sisters.
§616bοὐδὲ τάσδʼ ὄψῃ ποτέ.
Eteocles: Nor these shall you ever see.
§617ὦ κασίγνηται.
Polyneices: O sisters!
§617bτί ταύτας ἀνακαλεῖς ἔχθιστος ὤν;
Eteocles: Why do you call upon them, being most hated?
§618μῆτερ, ἀλλά μοι σὺ χαῖρε.
Polyneices: Mother, but you at least, farewell.
§618bχαρτὰ γοῦν πάσχω, τέκνον.
Jocasta: Joyful things indeed I suffer, child.
§619οὐκέτʼ εἰμὶ παῖς σός.
Polyneices: I am no longer your child.
§619bἐς πόλλʼ ἀθλία πέφυκʼ ἐγώ.
Jocasta: For many things am I born wretched.
§620ὅδε γὰρ εἰς ἡμᾶς ὑβρίζει.
Polyneices: For this man outrages us.
§620bκαὶ γὰρ ἀνθυβρίζομαι.
Eteocles: Yes, for I too am outraged in turn.
§621ποῦ ποτε στήσῃ πρὸ πύργων;
Polyneices: Where indeed will you stand before the towers?
§621bὡς τί μʼ ἱστορεῖς τόδε;
Eteocles: Why do you ask me this?
§622ἀντιτάξομαι κτενῶν σε.
Polyneices: I will range myself against you to kill you.
§622bκἀμὲ τοῦδʼ ἔρως ἔχει.
Eteocles: And me too a desire for this possesses.
§623ὦ τάλαινʼ ἐγώ·
Jocasta: O wretched me!
τί δράσετʼ, ὦ τέκνα;
What will you do, O children?
§623bαὐτὸ σημανεῖ.
Eteocles: The event itself will show.
§624πατρὸς οὐ φεύξεσθʼ Ἐρινῦς;
Jocasta: Will you not flee the Erinyes of your father?
§624bἐρρέτω πρόπας δόμος.
Eteocles: Let the whole house perish!
§625ὡς τάχʼ οὐκέθʼ αἱματηρὸν τοὐμὸν ἀργήσει ξίφος.
Polyneices: Since soon my bloody sword will no longer be idle.
§626τὴν δὲ θρέψασάν με γαῖαν καὶ θεοὺς μαρτύρομαι, §627ὡς ἄτιμος οἰκτρὰ πάσχων ἐξελαύνομαι χθονός, §628δοῦλος ὥς, ἀλλʼ οὐχὶ ταὐτοῦ πατρὸς Οἰδίπου γεγώς·
And I call to witness the land that nurtured me and the gods, how, dishonored and suffering piteously, I am driven from the land, like a slave, and not as one born of the same father, Oedipus.
§629κἄν τί σοι, πόλις, γένηται, μὴ ἐμέ, τόνδε δʼ αἰτιῶ· §630οὐχ ἑκὼν γὰρ ἦλθον, ἄκων δʼ ἐξελαύνομαι χθονός.
And if anything happens to you, O city, do not blame me, but this man; for I did not come willingly, and unwillingly am I driven from the land.
§631καὶ σύ, Φοῖβʼ ἄναξ Ἀγυιεῦ, καὶ μέλαθρα, χαίρετε, §632ἥλικές θʼ οὑμοί, θεῶν τε δεξίμηλʼ ἀγάλματα.
And you, Lord Apollo, Guardian of the Ways, and the palace, farewell, and my peers, and the sheep-receiving statues of the gods.
§633οὐ γὰρ οἶδʼ εἴ μοι προσειπεῖν αὖθις ἔσθʼ ὑμᾶς ποτε· §634ἐλπίδες δʼ οὔπω καθεύδουσʼ, αἷς πέποιθα σὺν θεοῖς §635τόνδʼ ἀποκτείνας κρατήσειν τῆσδε Θηβαίας χθονός.
For I do not know if it is possible for me ever to address you again; but hopes do not yet sleep, in which I trust, with the gods' help, that having killed this man I shall rule over this Theban land.
§636ἔξιθʼ ἐκ χώρας·
Eteocles: Get out of the country!
ἀληθῶς δʼ ὄνομα Πολυνείκη πατὴρ §637ἔθετό σοι θείᾳ προνοίᾳ νεικέων ἐπώνυμον.
And truly did your father give you the name Polyneices by divine foresight, a name signifying strife.
§638Κάδμος ἔμολε τάνδε γᾶν §639Τύριος, ᾧ τετρασκελὴς §640μόσχος ἀδάματον πέσημα §641δίκε τελεσφόρον διδοῦσα §642χρησμόν, οὗ κατοικίσαι §643πεδία νιν τὸ θέσφατον §644πυροφόρα δόμων ἔχρη, §645καλλιπόταμος ὕδατος ἵνα τε §646νοτὶς ἐπέρχεται γύας, §647Δίρκας χλοηφόρους §648καὶ βαθυσπόρους γύας· §649Βρόμιον ἔνθα τέκετο μά- §650τηρ Διὸς γάμοισι, §651κισσὸς ὃν περιστεφὴς §652ἕλικος εὐθὺς ἔτι βρέφος §653χλοηφόροισιν ἔρνεσιν §654κατασκίοισιν ὀλβίσας ἐνώτισεν, §655Βάκχιον χόρευμα παρθένοισι Θηβαΐαισι §656καὶ γυναιξὶν εὐίοις.
Chorus: Cadmus came to this land, the Tyrian, for whom the four-legged heifer, falling untamed, giving the fulfilling oracle, where the oracle bade him settle the plains wheat-bearing, to make his home, the oracle declared, where the beautiful-flowing moisture of water overspeeds the fields, Dirce's green and deep-sown fields; where the mother bore Bromios by marriage with Zeus, whom the ivy, winding around, with its tendrils, while he was still a baby, with green shoots shaded and blessed him, covering his back, a Bacchic dance for the Theban maidens and the ecstatic women.
§657ἔνθα φόνιος ἦν δράκων §658Ἄρεος ὠμόφρων φύλαξ §659νάματʼ ἔνυδρα καὶ ῥέεθρα §660χλοερὰ δεργμάτων κόραισι §661πολυπλάνοις ἐπισκοπῶν· §662ὃν ἐπὶ χέρνιβας μολὼν §663Κάδμος ὄλεσε μαρμάρῳ· §664κρᾶτα φόνιον ὀλεσίθηρος §665ὠλένας δικὼν βολαῖς, §666δίας ἀμάτορος δʼ §669ἐς βαθυσπόρους γύας §668γαπετεῖς δικὼν ὀδόν- §667τας φραδαῖσιν·
where there was a murderous dragon, the savage-minded guardian of Ares, watching the watery springs and green streams with the wandering glances of his eyes watching with wandering pupils of his eyes; which, having come for water for lustral basins, Cadmus slew with a jagged stone, shattering its murderous head, the beast-slayer, casting blows with his arm, and by the divine, motherless into the deep-sown fields casting the earth-fallen teeth, by her counsels.
§670ἔνθεν ἐξανῆκε γᾶ §671πάνοπλον ὄψιν ὑπὲρ ἄκρων §672ὅρων χθονός· σιδαρόφρων §673δέ νιν φόνος πάλιν ξυνῆψε γᾷ φίλᾳ.
whence the earth sent up a fully armed sight above the topmost borders of the land; but iron-hearted slaughter joined them back to their beloved earth.
And with blood they drenched the earth, which had shown them to the sunny breezes of the upper air.
§676καὶ σέ, τὸν προμάτορος §677Ἰοῦς ποτʼ ἔκγονον §678Ἔπαφον, ὦ Διὸς γένεθλον, §679ἐκάλεσα βαρβάρῳ βοᾷ, §680ἰώ, βαρβάροις λιταῖς·
And you, the offspring of our foremother Io long ago, Epaphus, O child of Zeus, I call upon with foreign cry, O, with foreign prayers!
§681βᾶθι βᾶθι τάνδε γᾶν·
Come, come to this land!
§682— σοί νιν ἔκγονοι κτίσαν §683καὶ διώνυμοι θεαί, §684Περσέφασσα καὶ φίλα §685Δαμάτηρ θεά, §686πάντων ἄνασσα, πάντων δὲ Γᾶ τροφός, §687κτήσαντο — πέμπε πυρφόρους §688θεάς, ἄμυνε τᾷδε γᾷ·
— your descendants founded it for you, and the double-named goddesses, Persephone and beloved Demeter, the goddess, queen of all, and Earth the nourisher of all, have possessed it — send the torch-bearing goddesses, defend this land!
§689πάντα δʼ εὐπετῆ θεοῖς.
All things are easy for the gods.
§690χώρει σὺ καὶ κόμιζε τὸν Μενοικέως §691Κρέοντʼ, ἀδελφὸν μητρὸς Ἰοκάστης ἐμῆς, §692λέγων τάδʼ, ὡς οἰκεῖα καὶ κοινὰ χθονὸς §693θέλω πρὸς αὐτὸν συμβαλεῖν βουλεύματα, §694πρὶν ἐς μάχην τε καὶ δορὸς τάξιν μολεῖν.
Eteocles: Go and bring Creon, son of Menoeceus, Creon, brother of my mother Jocasta, telling him this, that I wish to share private and public plans of the land with him, before going to battle and the array of the spear.
And yet, being present, he releases the labor of your feet; for I see him walking toward my house.
§697ἦ πόλλʼ ἐπῆλθον εἰσιδεῖν χρῄζων σʼ, ἄναξ §698Ἐτεόκλεες, πέριξ δὲ Καδμείων πύλας §699φυλακάς τʼ ἐπῆλθον σὸν δέμας θηρώμενος.
Creon: Truly I have gone to many places wishing to see you, Lord Eteocles, and around the gates of the Cadmeans and the guards I went, seeking your person.
§700καὶ μὴν ἐγὼ σʼ ἔχρῃζον εἰσιδεῖν, Κρέον· §701πολλῷ γὰρ ηὗρον ἐνδεεῖς διαλλαγάς §702ὡς ἐς λόγους συνῆψα Πολυνείκει μολών.
Eteocles: And indeed I wanted to see you, Creon; for I found the reconciliation far lacking, when I went and joined in words with Polyneices.
Creon: I heard that he thinks thoughts too grand for Thebes, trusting in his alliance with Adrastus and his army.
But we must hold these things, depending them on the gods; but the things most immediate, these I have come to tell.
§707τὰ ποῖα ταῦτα;
Eteocles: What kind of things are these?
τὸν λόγον γὰρ ἀγνοῶ.
For I am ignorant of your report.
§708ἥκει τις αἰχμάλωτος Ἀργείων πάρα.
Creon: A certain captive has come from the Argives.