§641ἢ γῆς ἀπῶσαι πατρίδος ἢ κτεῖναι λαβών.
Either to banish me from my native land, or to capture and kill me.
I agree; for, my wife, I have caught him plotting evil against my person with an evil art.
May I enjoy no blessing, but die accursed, if I have done anything of which you accuse me of doing.
§646ὦ πρὸς θεῶν πίστευσον, Οἰδίπους, τάδε, §647μάλιστα μὲν τόνδʼ ὅρκον αἰδεσθεὶς θεῶν, §648ἔπειτα κἀμὲ τούσδε θʼ οἳ πάρεισί σοι.
Oh, by the gods, believe this, Oedipus, respecting above all this oath sworn before the gods, and then me, and these people who stand before you.
§649πιθοῦ θελήσας φρονήσας τʼ, ἄναξ, λίσσομαι.
Consent, be willing and wise, my king, I beseech you.
§650τί σοι θέλεις δῆτʼ εἰκάθω;
What then do you want me to yield to you?
§651τὸν οὔτε πρὶν νήπιον νῦν τʼ ἐν ὅρκῳ μέγαν καταίδεσαι.
Respect him who was not foolish before and is now great through his oath.
§652οἶσθʼ οὖν ἃ χρῄζεις;
Do you know, then, what you desire?
§653οἶδα.
I know.
§654φράζε δὴ τί φής.
Tell me, then, what you mean.
That you should never cast a friend bound by oath under accusation and dishonor on an unproved charge.
Know well, then, that when you seek this, you are seeking my destruction or my banishment from this land.
ἐπεὶ ἄθεος ἄφιλος ὅ τι πύματον §662ὀλοίμαν, φρόνησιν εἰ τάνδʼ ἔχω.
For may I die the worst of deaths, godless and friendless, if I have this intent.
§665ἀλλά μοι δυσμόρῳ γᾶ φθινὰς §666τρύχει ψυχάν, τάδʼ εἰ κακοῖς κακὰ §667προσάψει τοῖς πάλαι τὰ πρὸς σφῷν.
But for unhappy me, the wasting land wears away my soul, if to the old evils those that arise from you two are to be added.
Then let him go, even if I must utterly die, or be thrust out by force from this land in dishonor.
For it is your voice, not his, that I pity as lamentable; but he, wherever he may be, shall be hated.
§673στυγνὸς μὲν εἴκων δῆλος εἶ, βαρὺς δʼ, ὅταν §674θυμοῦ περάσῃς· αἱ δὲ τοιαῦται φύσεις §675αὑταῖς δικαίως εἰσὶν ἄλγισται φέρειν.
You are clear to be sullen in yielding, and heavy when you pass beyond the limit of your wrath; but such natures are justly most painful for themselves to bear.
§676οὔκουν μʼ ἐάσεις κἀκτὸς εἶ;
Will you not then let me be and go outside?
I will go, having found you ignorant, but equal in the eyes of these men.
§679γύναι, τί μέλλεις κομίζειν δόμων τόνδʼ ἔσω;
Lady, why do you delay to take this man inside the house?
§680μαθοῦσά γʼ ἥτις ἡ τύχη.
I will do so, once I have learned what the matter is.
§681δόκησις ἀγνὼς λόγων ἦλθε, δάπτει δὲ καὶ τὸ μὴ ʼνʼδικον.
An ignorant suspicion of words arose, and even that which is unjust gnaws.
§682ἀμφοῖν ἀπʼ αὐτοῖν;
From both of them?
§683ναίχι.
Yes.
§684καὶ τίς ἦν λόγος;
And what was the talk?
Enough, enough it seems to me, when the land is already troubled, to let the matter rest where it has ended.
Do you see where you have come, though you are a man of good intent, in letting go of my interest and blunting my heart?
§690ὦναξ, εἶπον μὲν οὐχ ἅπαξ μόνον, §691ἴσθι δὲ παραφρόνιμον, ἄπορον ἐπὶ φρόνιμα §692πεφάνθαι μʼ ἄν, εἴ σʼ ἐνοσφιζόμαν, §693ὅς τʼ ἐμὰν γᾶν φίλαν ἐν πόνοις §695ἀλύουσαν κατʼ ὀρθὸν οὔρισας, §696τανῦν τʼ εὔπομπος, ἂν γένοιο.
O king, I have said it not once alone, but know that I should show myself mad, and helpless in wise council, if I were to turn away from you, you who, when my beloved land was tossing in distress, guided her on a straight course, and may you now again prove a favorable guide.
By the gods, tell me too, my king, for what cause you have conceived such a great anger over this matter.
I will tell you; for I respect you, my wife, more than these men; it is because of Creon, and the kind of things he has plotted against me.
§702λέγʼ, εἰ σαφῶς τὸ νεῖκος ἐγκαλῶν ἐρεῖς.
Speak, if you can state clearly what the quarrel is about, charging him.
§703φονέα με φησὶ Λαΐου καθεστάναι.
He says that I am the murderer of Laius.
§704αὐτὸς ξυνειδὼς ἢ μαθὼν ἄλλου πάρα;
Of his own knowledge, or having learned it from another?
Rather, by sending a villainous seer; for as for himself, he keeps his own mouth entirely free of the charge.
§707σύ νυν ἀφεὶς σεαυτὸν ὧν λέγεις πέρι §708ἐμοῦ ʼπάκουσον, καὶ μάθʼ οὕνεκʼ ἐστί σοι §709βρότειον οὐδὲν μαντικῆς ἔχον τέχνης.
Do you then release yourself from the things you speak of, listen to me, and learn that you have nothing of mortal race that shares in the art of prophecy.
§710φανῶ δέ σοι σημεῖα τῶνδε σύντομα.
And I will show you brief proof of these things.
§711χρησμὸς γὰρ ἦλθε Λαΐῳ ποτʼ, οὐκ ἐρῶ §712Φοίβου γʼ ἄπʼ αὐτοῦ, τῶν δʼ ὑπηρετῶν ἄπο, §713ὡς αὐτὸν ἕξοι μοῖρα πρὸς παιδὸς θανεῖν, §714ὅστις γένοιτʼ ἐμοῦ τε κἀκείνου πάρα.
For an oracle once came to Laius—I will not say from Phoebus himself, but from his ministers— that a fate would overtake him to die by the hand of a child who should be born from me and him.
And him, indeed, as the report goes, foreign robbers killed at a place where three roads meet.
§717παιδὸς δὲ βλάστας οὐ διέσχον ἡμέραι §718τρεῖς, καί νιν ἄρθρα κεῖνος ἐνζεύξας ποδοῖν §719ἔρριψεν ἄλλων χερσὶν ἄβατον εἰς ὄρος.
And as for the child, not three days had passed since his birth, when he, having bound his ankles together, cast him out by the hands of others onto a trackless mountain.
§720κἀνταῦθʼ Ἀπόλλων οὔτʼ ἐκεῖνον ἤνυσεν §721φονέα γενέσθαι πατρὸς οὔτε Λάϊον §722τὸ δεινὸν οὑφοβεῖτο πρὸς παιδὸς θανεῖν.
And so Apollo did not bring it to pass that he should become the murderer of his father, nor that Laius should die by his child's hand, which was the dread he feared.
§723τοιαῦτα φῆμαι μαντικαὶ διώρισαν, §724ὧν ἐντρέπου σὺ μηδέν· ὧν γὰρ ἂν θεὸς §725χρείαν ἐρευνᾷ, ῥᾳδίως αὐτὸς φανεῖ.
Such were the things that the voices of prophecy defined; of which you should heed nothing; for whatever the god searches out for use, he will easily reveal himself.
What a distraction of soul and stir of mind possesses me now, having just heard you.
§728ποίας μερίμνης τοῦθʼ ὑποστραφεὶς λέγεις;
What is the anxiety that makes you turn back and speak thus?
§729ἔδοξʼ ἀκοῦσαι σοῦ τόδʼ, ὡς ὁ Λάϊος
I thought I heard you say this, that Laius...