§247et iam timebar.
And I was already feared.
protinus quosdam editos §248nox occupavit et novae luci abstulit: §249mors me antecessit; aliquis intra viscera §250materna letum praecoquis fati tulit:
Immediately, some, having been born, night seized and snatched away from the new light: death anticipated me; someone within maternal womb bore the death of a premature fate: but did he also sin?
§251sed numquid et peccavit? abstrusum, abditum §252dubiumque an essem sceleris infandi reum §253deus egit; illo teste damnavit parens §254calidoque teneros transilit ferro pedes §255et in alta nemora pabulum misit feris §256avibusque saevis quas Cithaeron noxius §257cruore saepe regio tinctas alit. ,
That I should be the defendant of an unspeakable crime, hidden, concealed, and doubtful, the god drove; with him as witness, my parent condemned me, and pierced my tender feet with hot iron, and sent me into the deep woods as food for wild beasts and fierce birds, which harmful Cithaeron nourishes, often stained with royal blood.
§258sed quem deus damnavit, abiecit pater, §259mors quoque refugit, praestiti Delphis fidem: §260genitorem adortus impia stravi nece.
But him whom the god condemned, whom the father cast away, whom death also fled, I proved my faith to Delphi: having attacked my parent, I laid him low in impious death.
§261hoc alia pietas redimet: occidi patrem,
Will another piety redeem this? I killed my father, but I loved my mother.
§262sed matrem amavi, proloqui hymenaeum pudet §263taedasque nostras, has quoque invitum pati §264te coge poenas: facinus ignotum efferum §265inusitatum effare quod populi horreant, §266quod esse factum nulla non aetas neget, §267quod parricidam pudeat: in patrios toros §268tuli paterno sanguine aspersas manus §269scelerisque pretium maius accepi scelus.
I am ashamed to speak of the marriage and our torches; force yourself to suffer these punishments also, unwilling though you are: speak of a deed unknown, wild, unusual, at which peoples shudder, which every age would deny could have been done, at which a parricide would be ashamed: into my father's bed I brought hands splattered with fatherly blood, and as the price of crime I received a greater crime.
§270leve est paternum facinus: in thalamos meos §271deducta mater, ne parum sceleris foret, §272fecunda: nullum crimen hoc maius potest §273natura ferre, si quod etiamnum est tamen, §274qui facere possent dedimus, abieci necis '
The crime against my father is light: into my chambers my mother was led, lest there be too little crime, fruitful: nature can bear no greater crime than this; yet, if there is still any, we have given those who could commit it.
§275pretium paternae sceptrum et hoc iterum manus §276armavit alias; optime regni mei §277fatum ipse novi: nemo sine sacro feret §278illud cruore, magna praesagit mala §279paternus animus, iacta iam sunt semina §280cladis futurae: spernitur pacti fides; §281hic occupato cedere imperio negat, §282ius ille et icti foederis testes deos §283invocat et Argos exul atque urbes movet §284Graias in arma: non levis fessis venit §285ruina Thebis; tela flammae vulnera §286instant et istis si quod est maius malum, §287ut esse genitos nemo non ex me sciat.
I cast away the price of my father's death, the sceptre, and this again has armed other hands; best of all do I myself know the fate: no one will bear that without cursed blood; the fatherly mind presages great evils, the seeds of future ruin are already sown: the faith of the pact is despised; this one denies to yield the occupied power, that one invokes justice and the gods as witnesses of the struck treaty, and as an exile moves Argos and Grecian cities to arms: no light ruin comes to weary Thebes; weapons, flames, wounds press hard, and if there is any evil greater than these, that everyone should know they were born from me.
§288Si nulla, genitor, causa vivendi tibi est, §289haec una abunde est, ut pater natos regas §290graviter furentes, tu impii belli minas §291avertere unus tuque vaecordes potes §292inhibere iuvenes, civibus pacem dare, §293patriae quietem, foederi laeso fidem.
If, father, you have no cause for living, this one is abundantly enough, that as a father you may rule your sons grievously raging; you alone can avert the threats of impious war and you alone can restrain the senseless youths, give peace to the citizens, quiet to your country, faith to the broken treaty.
§294vitam tibi ipse si negas, multis negas.
If you deny life to yourself, you deny it to many.
§295Illis parentis ullus aut aequi est amor, §296avidis cruoris imperi armorum doli, §297diris, scelestis, breviter ut dicam meis?
Is there any love of parent or of justice in them, greedy for blood, power, arms, deceit, dreadful, wicked, to speak briefly, my own sons?
§298certant in omne facinus et pensi nihil §299ducunt, ubi illos ira praecipites agit, §300nefasque nullum per nefas nati putant.
They strive in every crime and think nothing of weight, when anger drives them headlong, and those born through wickedness think no wickedness a crime.
The shame of their afflicted father does not touch them, nor does their country: their breast, struck mad by reign, rages.
§303scio quo ferantur, quanta moliri parent, §304ideoque leti quaero maturi viam §305morique propero, dum in domo nemo est mea §306nocentior me.
I know where they are carried, how great things they prepare to build, and therefore I seek the way of a timely death and hasten to die, while in my house no one is more guilty than me.
nata, quid genibus meis
Daughter, why at my knees do you weep, prostrate?
§307fles advoluta? quid prece indomitum domas?
Why do you tame the untamed with prayer?
§308unum hoc habet fortuna quo possim capi, §309invictus aliis: sola tu affectus potes §310mollire duros, sola pietatem in domo §311docere nostra, nil grave aut miserum est mihi §312quod te sciam voluisse; tu tantum impera: §313hic Oedipus Aegaea transnabit freta §314iubente te, flammasque quas Siculo vomit §315de monte tellus igneos volvens globos, §316excipiet ore seque serpenti offeret, §317quae saeva furto nemoris Herculeo furit; §318iubente te praebebit! alitibus iecur— §319iubente te vel vivet.
Fortune holds this one thing by which I can be captured, unconquered by other things: you alone can soften feelings soft, you alone in our house can teach piety; nothing is heavy or wretched to me which I know you have wished; only do you command: this Oedipus will swim across the Aegean seas at your command, and the flames which the earth vomits from the Sicilian mountain, rolling globes of fire, he will receive in his mouth and offer himself to the serpent, which, fierce, rages because of the Herculean theft of the grove; at your command, he will offer his liver to the birds— at your command, he will even live.
§320Exemplum in ingens regia stirpe editum §321Thebae paventes arma fraterna invocant §322rogantque tectis arceas patriis faces, §323non sunt minae, iam propius accessit malum, §324nam regna repetens frater et pactas vices §325in bella cunctos Graeciae populos agit; §326septena muros castra Thebanos premunt, §327succurre, prohibe pariter et bellum et scelus.
[ANTIGONE] O great example born from royal stock, Thebes, fearing the fraternal arms, invokes you and asks that you ward off torches from your native homes; these are not threats, already the evil has approached nearer, for the brother, seeking back the kingdom and the agreed turn, drives all the peoples of Greece to war; seven camps press upon the Theban walls; help, and forbid both war and crime.
[OEDIPUS] Am I that man who would forbid crimes to be committed and teach hands to be kept back from beloved blood?
§330doceam? magister iuris et amoris pii
A teacher of justice and of pious love?