§440ἐμοὶ πέφυκε τῆς ἐμῆς σωτηρίας.
than my own safety.
You, yes you, bowing your head to the ground, do you admit or deny that you did this?
§443καὶ φημὶ δρᾶσαι κοὐκ ἀπαρνοῦμαι τὸ μή.
I both admit I did it, and I do not deny it.
You may take yourself wherever you wish, free and clear of this heavy charge.
But you, tell me not at length, but briefly, did you know that this had been forbidden by proclamation?
§448ᾔδη· τί δʼ οὐκ ἔμελλον;
I knew it; how could I not?
ἐμφανῆ γὰρ ἦν.
For it was clear.
§449καὶ δῆτʼ ἐτόλμας τούσδʼ ὑπερβαίνειν νόμους;
And yet you dared to transgress these laws?
§450οὐ γάρ τί μοι Ζεὺς ἦν ὁ κηρύξας τάδε, §451οὐδʼ ἡ ξύνοικος τῶν κάτω θεῶν Δίκη §452τοιούσδʼ ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ὥρισεν νόμους.
Yes, for it was not Zeus who made this proclamation to me, nor did Justice, who dwells with the gods below, establish such laws among mortals.
§453οὐδὲ σθένειν τοσοῦτον ᾠόμην τὰ σὰ §454κηρύγμαθʼ, ὥστʼ ἄγραπτα κἀσφαλῆ θεῶν §455νόμιμα δύνασθαι θνητὸν ὄνθʼ ὑπερδραμεῖν.
Nor did I think your proclamations had such power, that they could enable a mortal to override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of the gods.
For these live not today or yesterday, but forever, and no one knows when they first appeared.
§458τούτων ἐγὼ οὐκ ἔμελλον, ἀνδρὸς οὐδενὸς §459φρόνημα δείσασʼ, ἐν θεοῖσι τὴν δίκην §460δώσειν· θανουμένη γὰρ ἐξῄδη, τί δʼ οὔ; §461κεἰ μὴ σὺ προὐκήρυξας.
I was not going, out of fear of any man's pride, to pay the penalty to the gods for breaking these; for I knew that I must die—how could I not?— even if you had not proclaimed it.
εἰ δὲ τοῦ χρόνου §462πρόσθεν θανοῦμαι, κέρδος αὔτʼ ἐγὼ λέγω.
And if I am to die before my time, I count that a gain.
For whoever lives in many evils, as I do, how does he not win a gain by dying?
§465οὕτως ἔμοιγε τοῦδε τοῦ μόρου τυχεῖν §466παρʼ οὐδὲν ἄλγος· ἀλλʼ ἄν, εἰ τὸν ἐξ ἐμῆς §467μητρὸς θανόντʼ ἄθαπτον ἠνσχόμην νέκυν, §468κείνοις ἂν ἤλγουν· τοῖσδε δʼ οὐκ ἀλγύνομαι.
So for me to meet this fate is a pain of no account; but if I had endured that my own mother's dead son should lie an unburied corpse, at that I would have grieved; but at this I do not grieve.
And if I seem to you now to be acting foolishly, it is perhaps a fool who convicts me of folly.
The daughter shows her stubborn nature from her stubborn father, she does not know how to yield to misfortunes.
§473ἀλλʼ ἴσθι τοι τὰ σκλήρʼ ἄγαν φρονήματα §474πίπτειν μάλιστα, καὶ τὸν ἐγκρατέστατον §475σίδηρον ὀπτὸν ἐκ πυρὸς περισκελῆ §476θραυσθέντα καὶ ῥαγέντα πλεῖστʼ ἂν εἰσίδοις·
Yet know that the over-stubborn spirits are most prone to fall, and the hardest iron, baked in the fire till exceeding hard, you would see most often shattered and broken.
§477σμικρῷ χαλινῷ δʼ οἶδα τοὺς θυμουμένους §478ἵππους καταρτυθέντας· οὐ γὰρ ἐκπέλει §479φρονεῖν μέγʼ ὅστις δοῦλός ἐστι τῶν πέλας.
And I know that spirited horses are disciplined by a small bit; for it is not permitted to think proudly for one who is the slave of others.
§480αὕτη δʼ ὑβρίζειν μὲν τότʼ ἐξηπίστατο, §481νόμους ὑπερβαίνουσα τοὺς προκειμένους· §482ὕβρις δʼ, ἐπεὶ δέδρακεν, ἥδε δευτέρα, §483τούτοις ἐπαυχεῖν καὶ δεδρακυῖαν γελᾶν.
This girl was already well practiced in insolence then, transgressing the established laws; and this is her second insolence, now that she has done it, to boast of these deeds and to laugh at having done them.
Now indeed I am no man, but she is the man, if this victory is to remain with her unpunished.
§486ἀλλʼ εἴτʼ ἀδελφῆς εἴθʼ ὁμαιμονεστέρα §487τοῦ παντὸς ἡμῖν Ζηνὸς ἑρκείου κυρεῖ, §488αὐτή τε χἠ ξύναιμος οὐκ ἀλύξετον §489μόρου κακίστου· καὶ γὰρ οὖν κείνην ἴσον §490ἐπαιτιῶμαι τοῦδε βουλεῦσαι τάφου.
But whether she is my sister's child, or closer in blood than all who worship Zeus at our household altar, she and her sister shall not escape the worst of deaths; for indeed I charge the other equally with having plotted this burial.
Go, call her; for I saw her just now inside, raving and not mistress of her senses.
The mind of those who plot mischief in the dark is usually convicted of its stealthy crime beforehand.
Yet truly I hate it also when someone is caught in evil and then wishes to make it look beautiful.
§497θέλεις τι μεῖζον ἢ κατακτεῖναί μʼ ἑλών;
Do you want anything more than to take and kill me?
§498ἐγὼ μὲν οὐδέν· τοῦτʼ ἔχων ἅπαντʼ ἔχω.
I want nothing more; having that, I have everything.
§499τί δῆτα μέλλεις;
Why then do you delay?
ὡς ἐμοὶ τῶν σῶν λόγων §500ἀρεστὸν οὐδὲν μηδʼ ἀρεσθείη ποτέ· §501οὕτω δὲ καὶ σοὶ τἄμʼ ἀφανδάνοντʼ ἔφυ.
Since to me none of your words is pleasing, and may they never become so; and likewise my words are naturally displeasing to you.
And yet, from what could I have won a more glorious fame than by placing my own brother in his grave?
τούτοις τοῦτο πᾶσιν ἁνδάνειν §505λέγοιτʼ ἄν, εἰ μὴ γλῶσσαν ἐγκλῄοι φόβος.
All these here would say they approve of this, if fear did not lock their tongues.
But tyranny has many other privileges, and especially the power to do and say what it wishes.
§508σὺ τοῦτο μούνη τῶνδε Καδμείων ὁρᾷς.
You alone of these Cadmeans see it thus.
§509ὁρῶσι χοὖτοι, σοὶ δʼ ὑπίλλουσιν στόμα.
They see it too, but they curb their tongues for you.
§510σὺ δʼ οὐκ ἐπαιδεῖ, τῶνδε χωρὶς εἰ φρονεῖς;
And are you not ashamed to think differently from them?
§511οὐδὲν γὰρ αἰσχρὸν τοὺς ὁμοσπλάγχνους σέβειν.
No, for there is nothing shameful in honoring one's own flesh and blood.
§512οὔκουν ὅμαιμος χὠ καταντίον θανών;
Was he not also your brother who died on the opposite side?
§513ὅμαιμος ἐκ μιᾶς τε καὶ ταὐτοῦ πατρός.
My brother indeed, from the same mother and the same father.
§514πῶς δῆτʼ ἐκείνῳ δυσσεβῆ τιμᾷς χάριν;
How then do you render a tribute that is impious to him?
§515οὐ μαρτυρήσει ταῦθʼ ὁ κατθανὼν νέκυς.
The dead corpse will not bear witness to that.
§516εἴ τοί σφε τιμᾷς ἐξ ἴσου τῷ δυσσεβεῖ.
Yes he will, if you honor him equally with the impious one.