§497invideo vestro? veni ut arcerem nefas §498an ut viderem propius? hic ferrum abdidit, §499reclinis hasta est, arma defixa incubant.
Do I begrudge your embrace? I came to ward off crime, or to see it from closer? This one has hidden his sword, the spear is leaned back, the fixed weapons rest.
§500ad te preces nunc, nate, maternas feram, §501sed ante lacrimas, teneo longo tempore §502petita votis ora.
To you now, son, I shall bring a mother's prayers, but first, tears; I hold, after a long time, the face sought by vows.
te profugum solo §503patrio penates regis externi tegunt.
You, a fugitive from your native soil, the household gods of a foreign king shelter.
§504te maria tot diversa, tot casus vagum §505egere, non te duxit in thalamos parens §506comitata primos nec sua festas manu §507ornavit aedes nec sacra laetas faces §508vitta revinxit; dona non auro graves §509gazas socer, non arva, non urbes dedit: §510dotale bellum est.
So many different seas, so many misfortunes drove you, a wanderer, your mother did not lead you to your first marriage chamber accompanying you, nor with her own hand did she adorn the festive house, nor did she bind the joyous torches with sacred ribbons; your father-in-law did not give treasures heavy with gold as gifts, nor fields, nor cities: the dowry is war.
hostium es factus gener, §511patria remotus hospes alieni laris, §512externa consecutus, expulsus tuis, §513sine crimine exul.
You have become the son-in-law of enemies, removed from your country, a guest of another's hearth, having attained foreign things, expelled by your own people, an exile without crime.
ne quid e fatis tibi §514desset paternis, hoc quoque ex illis habes, §515errasse thalamis, nate post multos mihi
Lest anything of your father's fate should be lacking to you, this too you have from them, to have erred in marriage.
§516remissa soles, nate suspensae metus §517et spes parentis, cuius aspectum deos §518semper rogavi, cum tuus reditus mihi §519tantum esset erepturus, adventu tuo §520quantum daturus: 'quando pro te desinam' §521dixi 'timere?' dixit inridens deus: §522'ipsum timebis. ' nempe nisi bellum foret, §523ego te carerem; nempe si tu non fores, §524bello carerem.
O son, restored to me after many suns, son, the fear and hope of your anxious mother, whose sight I always asked of the gods, although your return was going to snatch away from me as much as it was going to give by your arrival: 'When shall I cease,' I said, 'to fear for you?' The god said, laughing: 'You will fear the man himself.' Surely, unless there were war, I would be without you; surely, if you were not, I would be without war.
a, triste conspectus datur §525pretium tui durumque, sed matri placet.
Ah, a sad and harsh price is given for seeing you, but it pleases your mother.
Only let arms recede from here, while savage Mars dares no crime; this too is a great crime, to have been so near.
§528tam prope fuisse, stupeo et exsanguis tremo, §529cum stare fratres hinc et hinc video duos §530sceleris sub ictu.
I am stunned and tremble bloodless, when I see two brothers standing on this side and that under the blow of crime.
membra quassantur metu: §531quam paene mater maius aspexi nefas. §532quam quod miser videre non potuit pater.
My limbs are shaken with fear: how nearly did I, a mother, behold a greater crime than that which your wretched father could not see.
§533licet timore facinoris tanti vacem §534videamque iam nil tale, sum infelix tamen §535quod paene vidi.
Though I may be free from the fear of so great a crime, and may now see nothing of the sort, yet I am unhappy because I almost saw it.
per decem mensum graves §536uteri labores perque pietatem inclitae §537precor sororis et per irati sibi §538genas parentis, scelere quas nullo nocens, §539erroris a se dira supplicia exigens, §540hausit: nefandas moenibus patriis faces §541averte, signa bellici retro agminis §542flecte— ut recedas, magna pars sceleris tamen §543vestri peracta est: vidit hostili grege §544campos repleri patria, fulgentes procul §545armis catervas vidit, equitatu levi §546Cadmea frangi prata et excelsos rotis §547volitare proceres, igne flagrantes trabes §548fumare, cineri quae petunt nostras domos, §549fratresque (facinus quod novum et Thebis fuit) §550in se ruentes: totus hoc exercitus, §551hoc populus omnis, utraque hoc vidit soror §552genetrixque vidi: nam pater debet sibi
By the heavy labors of the womb for ten months, and by the piety of your renowned sister I pray, and by the cheeks of your parent angry at himself, which, guilty of no crime, exacting dreadful punishments from himself for his error, he scooped out: turn away the unspeakable torches from your native walls, turn back the standards of your warlike army— even though you withdraw, nevertheless a great part of your crime has been accomplished: our country saw the plains filled with a hostile herd, it saw squadrons gleaming from afar with weapons, it saw the Cadmean meadows crushed by light cavalry and high nobles flying on wheels, beams blazing with fire smoking, which seek our homes to reduce them to ashes, and brothers (a crime which was new even to Thebes) rushing against each other: the entire army, all the people saw this, both sisters saw this, and I, your mother, saw it: for your father owes it to himself that he did not behold these things.
§553quod ista non spectavit, occurrat tibi §554nunc Oedipus, quo iudice erroris quoque §555poenae petuntur.
Let Oedipus now occur to you, with whom as judge, punishments are demanded even for error.
Do not, I pray, destroy with the sword your country and household gods, nor overthrow Thebes, which you desire to rule.
quis tenet mentem furor?
What madness possesses your mind?
§558petendo patriam perdis? ut fiat tua,.
In seeking your country, do you destroy it?
§559vis esse nullam? quin tuae causae nocet
In order that it may become yours, do you wish it to be non-existent?
§560ipsum hoc quod armis uris infestis solum §561segetesque adultas sternis et totos fugam §562edis per agros: nemo sic vastat sua; §563quae corripi igne. quae meti gladio iubes
Nay, this very thing hurts your cause, that you burn the soil with hostile arms, and lay low the grown crops, and cause flight through all the fields: no one thus devastates his own things; the things which you order to be seized by fire, to be reaped by the sword, you believe to be another's.
§564aliena credis, rex sit ex vobis uter, §565manente regno quaerite, haec telis petis §566flammisque tecta? poteris has Amphionis §567quassare moles? nulla quas struxit manus
Which of you is to be king, seek while the kingdom remains; do you attack these homes with weapons and flames? Will you be able to shake these structures of Amphion?
§568stridente tardum machina ducens onus, §569sed convocatus vocis et citharae sono §570per se ipse summas venit in turres lapis: §571haec saxa franges? victor hinc spolia auferes §572vinctosque duces patris aequales tui, §573matresque ab ipso coniugum raptas sinu §574saevus catena miles imposita trahet?
Which no hand built, drawing a heavy load with a creaking machine, but summoned by the sound of voice and lyre, the stone came of its own accord into the highest towers: will you break these stones? Will you, as victor, carry away spoils from here, and bound leaders, equals of your father, and mothers snatched from the very bosom of their husbands, will the cruel soldier drag them away with chains put upon them?
Will the grown maiden, mixed with the captive herd, go as a Theban gift to Argive daughters-in-law?
Or shall I myself, with hands bound behind my back, be carried as the mother, the prey of a brotherly triumph?
§579potesne cives leto et exilio datos
Can you [behold] citizens given to death and exile...