§1201χώρᾳ πύργος ἀνέστα· §1201aἐξ οὗ καὶ βασιλεὺς καλεῖ §1202ἐμὸς καὶ τὰ μέγιστʼ ἐτιμάθης, ταῖς μεγάλαισιν ἐν §1203Θήβαισιν ἀνάσσων.
stood as a tower for our land; wherefore you were also called my king and received the greatest honors, ruling in great Thebes.
§1204τανῦν δʼ ἀκούειν τίς ἀθλιώτερος;
But now, who is more wretched to hear of?
Who is a companion to savage ruin, who to labors in the change of life?
§1207ἰὼ κλεινὸν Οἰδίπου κάρα, §1208ἦ στέγας λιμὴν §1208aαὑτὸς ἤρκεσεν §1209παιδὶ καὶ πατρὶ θαλαμηπόλῳ πεσεῖν;
Alas, famous head of Oedipus, for whom the selfsame harbor of the chamber sufficed to fall into as bridegroom, both for child and father?
How ever, how ever could the paternal furrows, wretched man, have been able to bear you in silence for so long?
§1212ἐφηῦρέ σʼ ἄκονθʼ ὁ πάνθʼ ὁρῶν χρόνος, §1213δικάζει τʼ ἄγαμον γάμον πάλαι §1215τεκνοῦντα καὶ τεκνούμενον.
The all-seeing Time found you out against your will; it judges the marriage that is no marriage, which long since brings forth and was brought forth.
Alas, O child of Laius, would that, would that I had never seen you.
To speak the truth, I received breath from you, and I closed my eyes in sleep.
§1223ὦ γῆς μέγιστα τῆσδʼ ἀεὶ τιμώμενοι, §1224οἷʼ, ἔργʼ ἀκούσεσθʼ, οἷα δʼ εἰσόψεσθʼ, ὅσον δʼ §1225ἀρεῖσθε πένθος, εἴπερ ἐγγενῶς ἔτι §1226τῶν Λαβδακείων ἐντρέπεσθε δωμάτων.
O you who are always held in greatest honor in this land, what deeds you will hear, what deeds you will behold, and how great a grief you will take upon yourselves, if still like kinsmen you care for the house of the Labdacids.
§1227οἶμαι γὰρ οὔτʼ ἂν Ἴστρον οὔτε Φᾶσιν ἂν §1228νίψαι καθαρμῷ τήνδε τὴν στέγην, ὅσα §1229κεύθει, τὰ δʼ αὐτίκʼ εἰς τὸ φῶς φανεῖ κακὰ §1230ἑκόντα κοὐκ ἄκοντα.
For I think that neither Ister nor Phasis could wash this house clean, so many evils it conceals; but soon it will reveal into the light evils voluntary and not involuntary.
τῶν δὲ πημονῶν §1231μάλιστα λυποῦσʼ αἳ φανῶσʼ αὐθαίρετοι.
And of pains, those hurt most which are shown to be self-chosen.
What we saw before does not fail to be heavily grievous; but what do you say in addition to those?
The speediest of words both to speak and to learn: the divine head of Jocasta is dead.
§1236ὦ δυστάλαινα, πρὸς τίνος ποτʼ αἰτίας;
O wretched woman, by what cause?
§1237αὐτὴ πρὸς αὑτῆς.
By herself.
τῶν δὲ πραχθέντων τὰ μὲν §1238ἄλγιστʼ ἄπεστιν· ἡ γὰρ ὄψις οὐ πάρα.
Of what was done, the most painful part is absent, for the sight is not here.
Yet, as far as memory is in me, you shall learn the sufferings of that wretched woman.
§1241ὅπως γὰρ ὀργῇ χρωμένη παρῆλθʼ ἔσω §1242θυρῶνος, ἵετʼ εὐθὺ πρὸς τὰ νυμφικὰ §1243λέχη, κόμην σπῶσʼ ἀμφιδεξίοις ἀκμαῖς.
For when she passed in rage inside the vestibule, she rushed straight to the bridal bed, tearing her hair with the fingers of both hands.
§1244πύλας δʼ, ὅπως εἰσῆλθʼ, ἐπιρράξασʼ ἔσω §1245καλεῖ τὸν ἤδη Λάϊον πάλαι νεκρόν, §1246μνήμην παλαιῶν σπερμάτων ἔχουσʼ, ὑφʼ ὧν §1247θάνοι μὲν αὐτός, τὴν δὲ τίκτουσαν λίποι §1248τοῖς οἷσιν αὐτοῦ δύστεκνον παιδουργίαν.
And when she had entered, slamming the doors from within, she called upon Laius, who has long been dead, having memory of the ancient seed, by which he himself died, and left the mother to his own offspring for a wretched breeding of children.
And she wailed over the bed where, wretched woman, she brought forth a double offspring, a husband from a husband, and children from children.
§1251χὤπως μὲν ἐκ τῶνδʼ οὐκέτʼ οἶδʼ ἀπόλλυται· §1252βοῶν γὰρ εἰσέπαισεν Οἰδίπους, ὑφʼ οὗ §1253οὐκ ἦν τὸ κείνης ἐκθεάσασθαι κακόν, §1254ἀλλʼ εἰς ἐκεῖνον περιπολοῦντʼ ἐλεύσσομεν.
And how she perished after this, I no longer know; for Oedipus burst in shouting, by whom it was impossible to watch her evil to the end, but we looked upon him as he wheeled around.
§1255φοιτᾷ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἔγχος ἐξαιτῶν πορεῖν, §1256γυναῖκά τʼ οὐ γυναῖκα, μητρῴαν δʼ ὅπου §1257κίχοι διπλῆν ἄρουραν οὗ τε καὶ τέκνων.
For he roamed about, asking us to give him a sword, and where he might find his wife who was no wife, the mother's double field of himself and his children.
And as he raved, some deity showed it to him; for it was none of the men who were present nearby.
§1260δεινὸν δʼ ἀύσας ὡς ὑφηγητοῦ τινος §1261πύλαις διπλαῖς ἐνήλατʼ, ἐκ δὲ πυθμένων §1262ἔκλινε κοῖλα κλῇθρα κἀμπίπτει στέγῃ.
And crying out terribly, as if guided by someone, he leaped against the double doors, and from their sockets he bent back the hollow bolts and fell into the room.
There indeed we beheld the woman hanging, entangled in the twisted noose.
And he, when he saw her, bellowing terribly, wretched man, loosened the hanging rope.
ἐπεὶ δὲ γῇ §1267ἔκειτο τλήμων, δεινὰ δʼ ἦν τἀνθένδʼ ὁρᾶν.
And when she lay on the ground, wretched woman, what followed was terrible to behold.
§1268ἀποσπάσας γὰρ εἱμάτων χρυσηλάτους §1269περόνας ἀπʼ αὐτῆς, αἷσιν ἐξεστέλλετο, §1270ἄρας ἔπαισεν ἄρθρα τῶν αὑτοῦ κύκλων, §1271αὐδῶν τοιαῦθʼ, ὁθούνεκʼ οὐκ ὄψοιντό νιν §1272οὔθʼ οἷʼ ἔπασχεν οὔθʼ ὁποῖʼ ἔδρα κακά, §1273ἀλλʼ ἐν σκότῳ τὸ λοιπὸν οὓς μὲν οὐκ ἔδει §1274ὀψοίαθʼ, οὓς δʼ ἔχρῃζεν οὐ γνωσοίατο.
For tearing away the golden brooches from her garments, with which she was adorned, he lifted them and struck the joints of his own eye-sockets, saying such things: that they should not see him nor the evils he suffered, nor the evils he did, but in darkness henceforth they should see those they should not, and should not know those they desired.
Chanting such things many times and not once he struck his eyes, lifting his eyelids.
φοίνιαι δʼ ὁμοῦ §1277γλῆναι γένειʼ ἔτελλον, οὐδʼ ἀνίεσαν §1278φόνου μυδώσας σταγόνας, ἀλλʼ ὁμοῦ μέλας §1279ὄμβρος χαλάζης αἱματοῦς ἐτέγγετο.
And the bloody pupils bedewed his beard, nor did they send forth dripping drops of blood, but all at once a black rain of bloody hail was poured.
These things have burst forth from two, not from one alone, but mixed evils for man and woman.