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Chorus
At last came Oedipus, the man of sorrow, sent from
Delphi
to this land of
Thebes
, a joy to us then, but afterwards a cause of grief; for, when he guessed the riddle triumphantly, he formed with his mother an unhallowed union, woe to him!
1045
polluting the city; and striking down his sons by his curses, he handed them over to loathsome strife, through blood, the wretched man.
1050
We admire him, we admire him,
who has gone to his death in his country’s cause, leaving tears to Creon, but bringing a crown of victory to our seven fenced towers.
1055
May we be mothers in this way, may we have such fair children, dear PalIas, you who with well-aimed stone spilled the serpent’s blood, rousing Cadmus to brood upon the task,
1060
from which a demon’s curse swooped upon this land and ravaged it.
1065
At last came Oedipus, the man of sorrow, sent from
Delphi
to this land of
Thebes
, a joy to us then, but afterwards a cause of grief; for, when he guessed the riddle triumphantly, he formed with his mother an unhallowed union, woe to him!
1045
polluting the city; and striking down his sons by his curses, he handed them over to loathsome strife, through blood, the wretched man.
1050
We admire him, we admire him,
who has gone to his death in his country’s cause, leaving tears to Creon, but bringing a crown of victory to our seven fenced towers.
1055
May we be mothers in this way, may we have such fair children, dear PalIas, you who with well-aimed stone spilled the serpent’s blood, rousing Cadmus to brood upon the task,
1060
from which a demon’s curse swooped upon this land and ravaged it.
1065
The Phoenician Women. Euripides. Edward P. Coleridge (Translator). London. 1891.
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