§712πιθοῦ γυναιξί, καίπερ οὐ στέργων ὅμως.
[Chorus] Obey the women, although you do not like it.
§713λέγοιτ᾽ ἂν ὧν ἄνη τις: οὐδὲ χρὴ μακράν.
[Eteocles] Speak then of what can be accomplished; and there is no need for a long speech.
§714μὴ ʼλθῃς ὁδοὺς σὺ τάσδ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ἑβδόμαις πύλαις.
[Chorus] Do not go on this path to the seventh gates.
§715τεθηγμένον τοί μ᾽ οὐκ ἀπαμβλυνεῖς λόγῳ.
[Eteocles] You will not blunt me, whetted as I am, with a speech.
§716νίκην γε μέντοι καὶ κακὴν τιμᾷ θεός.
[Chorus] Yet still, even a bad victory is honored by a god.
§717οὐκ ἄνδρ᾽ ὁπλίτην τοῦτο χρὴ στέργειν ἔπος.
[Eteocles] A hoplite soldier ought not to accept this word.
§718ἀλλ᾽ αὐτάδελφον αἷμα δρέψασθαι θέλεις;
[Chorus] But do you wish to reap the blood of your own brother?
§719θεῶν διδόντων οὐκ ἂν ἐκφύγοις κακά.
[Eteocles] When the gods grant evils, you cannot escape them.
§720πέφρικα τὰν ὠλεσίοικον §721θεόν, οὐ θεοῖς ὁμοίαν, §722παναλαθῆ, κακόμαντιν §723πατρὸς εὐκταίαν Ἐρινὺν §724τελέσαι τὰς περιθύμους §725κατάρας Οἰδιπόδα βλαψίφρονος: §726παιδολέτωρ δ᾽ ἔρις ἅδ᾽ ὀτρύνει.
[Chorus] I shudder at the thought of the house-destroying goddess, unlike the other gods, completely true, a prophet of evil, the Fury invoked by a father's prayer, fulfilling the wrathful curses of Oedipus, mad in mind; and this child-destroying strife urges on.
§727ξένος δὲ κλήρους ἐπινωμᾷ, §728Χάλυβος Σκυθῶν ἄποικος, §729κτεάνων χρηματοδαίτας §730πικρός, ὠμόφρων σίδαρος, §731χθόνα ναίειν διαπήλας, §732ὁπόσαν καὶ φθιμένοισιν κατέχειν, §733τῶν μεγάλων πεδίων ἀμοίρους.
And a stranger distributes the shares, a Chalybian emigrant from the Scythians, a bitter divider of possessions, the raw-minded iron, having allotted them to dwell in the earth, as much as even the dead possess, without share in the great plains.
§734ἐπειδὰν αὐτοκτόνως §735αὐτοδάικτοι θάνωσι, §736καὶ γαΐα κόνις πίῃ §737μελαμπαγὲς αἷμα φοίνιον, §738τίς ἂν καθαρμοὺς πόροι, §739τίς ἄν σφε λούσειεν;
When in a self-slaying manner they die, slaughtered by their own hands, and the dust of the earth drinks the black-clotted bloody blood, who could provide purifications, who could wash them?
O new troubles of the house mixed with ancient evils.
§742παλαιγενῆ γὰρ λέγω §743παρβασίαν ὠκύποινον: §744αἰῶνα δ᾽ ἐς τρίτον μένει: §745Ἀπόλλωνος εὖτε Λάιος §746βίᾳ, τρὶς εἰπόντος ἐν §747μεσομφάλοις Πυθικοῖς §748χρηστηρίοις θνᾴσκοντα γέν- §749νας ἄτερ σῴζειν πόλιν, §750κρατηθεὶς δ᾽ ἐκ φίλων ἀβουλιᾶν §751ἐγείνατο μὲν μόρον αὑτῷ, §752πατροκτόνον Οἰδιπόδαν, §753ὅστε ματρὸς ἁγνὰν §754σπείρας ἄρουραν, ἵν᾽ ἐτράφη, §755ῥίζαν αἱματόεσσαν, §756ἔτλα: παράνοια συνᾶγε §757νυμφίους φρενώλεις.
For I speak of an ancient transgression, swift-punished; and it remains into the third generation: when Laius, against Apollo's will, though he spoke thrice in the mid-navel Pythian oracles, that by dying without offspring he would save the city, but mastered by his dear folly, begot indeed a death for himself, the father-slaying Oedipus, who dared to sow his mother's sacred field, where he was reared, a bloody root; madness brought together the frenzied bride and groom.
§758κακῶν δ᾽ ὥσπερ θάλασσα κῦμ᾽ ἄγει: §759τὸ μὲν πίτνον, ἄλλο δ᾽ ἀείρει §760τρίχαλον, ὃ καὶ περὶ πρύμ- §761ναν πόλεως καχλάζει.
And evils bring a wave like a sea: one falling, another it raises triple-crested, which also splashes about the stern of the city.
And between, a defense for a short space, a wall stretches in width.
And I fear, along with the kings, lest the city be subdued.
For heavy is the reconciliation of ancient curses when fulfilled; and destructive things when they come do not pass away.
And the too heavily fattened wealth of industrious men brings a casting out from the stern.
§772τίν᾽ ἀνδρῶν γὰρ τοσόνδ᾽ ἐθαύμασαν §773θεοὶ καὶ ξυνέστιοι πόλεος ὁ §774πολύβατός τ᾽ ἀγὼν βροτῶν, §775ὅσον τότ᾽ Οἰδίπουν τίον, §776τὰν ἁρπαξάνδραν §777κῆρ᾽ ἀφελόντα χώρας;
For whom of men did the gods and the fellow-dwellers of the city and the much-trodden assembly of mortals admire so much, as they then honored Oedipus, who removed the man-snatching pest from the land?
§778ἐπεὶ δ᾽ ἀρτίφρων §779ἐγένετο μέλεος ἀθλίων §780γάμων, ἐπ᾽ ἄλγει δυσφορῶν §781μαινομένᾳ κραδίᾳ §782δίδυμα κάκ᾽ ἐτέλεσεν: §783πατροφόνῳ χερὶ τῶν §784κρεισσοτέκνων [δ᾽ ἀπ᾽] ὀμμάτων ἐπλάγχθη: §785τέκνοις δ᾽ ἀγρίας §786ἐφῆκεν ἐπικότους τροφᾶς, §787αἰαῖ, πικρογλώσσους ἀράς, §788καί σφε σιδαρονόμῳ §789διὰ χερί ποτε λαχεῖν §790κτήματα: νῦν δὲ τρέω §791μὴ τελέσῃ καμψίπους Ἐρινύς,
But when he became conscious of his wretched marriage, impatient with pain in his raging heart he accomplished double evils: with his father-slaying hand he was deprived of his eyes, more precious than children; and upon his children, out of wrath at their harsh rearing, alas, he sent bitter-tongued curses, that they, with iron-apportioning hand, should some day divide their possessions; and now I tremble lest the swift-footed Fury fulfill them.
§792θαρσεῖτε, παῖδες μητέρων τεθραμμέναι.
[Messenger] Take courage, children reared by mothers.
§793πόλις πέφευγεν ἥδε δούλιον ζυγόν: §794πέπτωκεν ἀνδρῶν ὀβρίμων κομπάσματα: §795πόλις δ᾽ ἐν εὐδίᾳ τε καὶ κλυδωνίου §796πολλαῖσι πληγαῖς ἄντλον οὐκ ἐδέξατο.
This city has escaped the yoke of slavery; the boastings of the mighty men have fallen; and the city is in a calm, and despite many blows of the wave, it did not take in water.
§797στέγει δὲ πύργος, καὶ πύλας φερεγγύοις §798ἐφραξάμεσθα μονομάχοισι προστάταις: §799καλῶς ἔχει τὰ πλεῖστ᾽ ἐν ἓξ πυλώμασι: §800τὰς δ᾽ ἑβδόμας ὁ σεμνὸς ἑβδομαγέτης §801ἄναξ Ἀπόλλων εἵλετ᾽, Οἰδίπου γένει §802κραίνων παλαιὰς Λαΐου δυσβουλίας.
The wall holds out, and the gates we have blocked with trustworthy single-fighting protectors; most things are well in the six gates; but the seventh, the solemn lord of the seventh, King Apollo, chose for himself, for the race of Oedipus bringing to completion the ancient follies of Laius.
§803τί δ᾽ ἔστι πρᾶγμα νεόκοτον πόλει πλέον;
[Chorus] What new-born matter is there further for the city?
§804πόλις σέσωσται: βασιλέες δ᾽ ὁμόσποροι
[Messenger] The city is saved; but the brother kings...
§805τίνες;
[Chorus] Who?
τί δ᾽ εἶπας;
What did you say?
παραφρονῶ φόβῳ λόγου.
I am out of my mind with fear of your words.
§806φρονοῦσα νῦν ἄκουσον: Οἰδίπου τόκω—
[Messenger] Control your mind and hear: the two sons of Oedipus...
§807οἲ ʼγὼ τάλαινα, μάντις εἰμὶ τῶν κακῶν.
[Chorus] Ah, wretched me, I am a prophet of evils.
[Messenger] Indeed, beyond dispute they are laid low in the dust— [Chorus] Do they lie there?
βαρέα δ᾽ οὖν ὅμως φράσον.
Speak, heavy though it is.
§810ἅνδρες τεθνᾶσιν ἐκ χερῶν αὐτοκτόνων.
[Messenger] The men are dead by self-slaying hands.
§811αὑτοὺς ἀδελφαῖς χερσὶν ἠναίρονθ᾽ ἅμα;
[Chorus] Did they destroy each other with brotherly hands at once?
§812πέπωκεν αἷμα γαῖ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων φόνῳ.
[Messenger] The earth has drunk their blood by mutual slaughter.
§813οὕτως ὁ δαίμων κοινὸς ἦν ἀμφοῖν ἄγαν.
[Messenger] Thus too much was the daemon common to both.
§814αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἀναλοῖ δῆτα δύσποτμον γένος.
[Messenger] And it indeed destroys the ill-fated race.
§815τοιαῦτα χαίρειν καὶ δακρύεσθαι πάρα: §816πόλιν μὲν εὖ πράσσουσαν, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπιστάται, §817δισσὼ στρατηγώ, διέλαχον σφυρηλάτῳ §818Σκύθῃ σιδήρῳ κτημάτων παμπησίαν.
[Messenger] Such things are here to rejoice and to weep over: the city indeed faring well, but its rulers, the two generals, have divided with beaten Scythian iron the whole possession of their wealth.
And they will hold the land they receive in burial, being carried away according to their father's ill-fated prayers.
§821[πόλις σέσωσται: βασιλέοιν δ᾽ ὁμοσπόροιν πέπωκεν αἷμα γαῖ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων φόνῳ. ] §822ὦ μεγάλε Ζεῦ καὶ πολιοῦχοι §823δαίμονες, οἳ δὴ Κάδμου πύργους §824τούσδε ῥύεσθε, §825πότερον χαίρω κἀπολολύξω §826πόλεως ἀσινεῖ †σωτῆρι. . ,
[The city is saved; but the blood of the brother kings has been drunk by the earth by mutual slaughter.] [Chorus] O great Zeus and guardian deities of the city, who indeed protect these towers of Cadmus, shall I rejoice and shout for joy at the unharmed savior of the city, or shall I weep for the wretched and ill-fated childless war-leaders?