LXVI Laius
Laio Labdaci filio ab Apolline erat responsum, de filii sui manu mortem ut caveret. Itaque Iocasta Menoecei filia uxor eius cum peperisset, iussit exponi. Hunc Periboea Polybi regis uxor cum vestem ad mare lavaret expositum sustulit Polybo sciente. ⟨quem⟩ quod orbi erant liberis pro suo educaverunt eumque quod pedes transiectos haberet Oedipum nominaverunt.
66. Laius
It had been told to Laius, son of Labdacus, by Apollo that he should beware of death at his son's hand. So when his wife Iocasta, daughter of Menoeceus, had given birth, he ordered the child exposed. Periboea, wife of King Polybus, while washing clothes by the sea, picked him up when he was exposed, with Polybus' knowledge. Because they were childless they brought him up as their own, and named him Oedipus, because he had his feet pierced through.
LXVII Oedipus
Postquam Oedipus Lai et Iocastes filius ad puberem aetatem pervenit, fortissimus praeter c[a]eteros erat, eique per invidiam aequales obiiciebant, eum subditum esse Polybo, eo quod Polybus tam clemens esset et ille impudens. quod Oedipus sensit non falso sibi obiici. itaque Delphos est profectus sciscitatum de . . . . . in prodigiis ostendebatur, mortem ei adesse de nati manu. idem cum Delphos iret, obviam ei Oedipus venit. quem satellites cum viam regi dari iuberent, neglexit. rex equos immisit et rota pedem eius oppressit: Oedipus iratus inscius patrem suum de curru detraxit et occidit. Laio occiso Creon Menoecei filius regnum occupavit. Interim Sphinx Typhonis in Boeotiam est missa, quae agros Thebanorum vexabat. ea regi Creonti simultatem constituit, si carmen quod posuisset aliquis interpretatus esset, se inde abire: si autem datum carmen non solvisset, eum se consumpturam dixit, neque aliter de finibus excessuram. Rex re audita per Graeciam edixit, qui Sphingae carmen solvisset, regnum se et Iocasten sororem ei in coniugium daturum promisit. cum plures ‘regni cupidine’ venissent et a Sphinge essent consumpti, Oedipus Lai filius venit et carmen est interpretatus. illa se praecipitavit: Oedipus regnum paternum et Iocasten matrem inscius accepit uxorem ex qua procreavit Eteoclen et Polynicen Antigonam et Ismenen. [Interim Thebis sterilitas frugum et penuria incidit ob Oedipodis scelera, interrogatusque Tiresias quid ita Thebae vexarentur respondit: si quis ex Draconteo genere superesset et pro patria interiisset * pestilentia liberaturum. tum Menoeceus Iocastae pater se de muris praecipitavit.] Dum haec Thebis geruntur Corintho Polybus decedit. quo audito Oedipus moleste ferre coepit existimans patrem suum obisse. cui Periboea de eius suppositione palam fecit. †id itemales senex qui eum exposuerat ex pedum cicatricibus et talorum agnovit Lai filium esse. Oedipus re audita postquam vidit se tot scelera nefaria fecisse ex veste matris fibulas detraxit et se luminibus privavit regnumque filiis suis alternis annis tradidit et a Thebis Antigona filia duce profugit.
67. Oedipus
When Oedipus, son of Laius and Iocasta, reached puberty, he was the bravest beyond all others, and out of envy his peers threw it in his teeth that he was a foundling of Polybus, because Polybus was so mild and he himself so shameless. Oedipus perceived that this was not said falsely against him. So he set out for Delphi to enquire about . . . . . ; it was shown him in omens that death at the hand of his son was approaching. The same man, when he was going to Delphi, was met by Oedipus. When the attendants ordered him to give way to the king, he took no notice. The king drove his horses at him and crushed his foot with the wheel; Oedipus, angry and not knowing it was his father, dragged him from the chariot and killed him. When Laius had been killed, Creon, son of Menoeceus, seized the kingdom. Meanwhile the Sphinx, daughter of Typhon, was sent to Boeotia, and was ravaging the lands of the Thebans. She set King Creon a contest: if anyone interpreted a riddle which she posed, she would go away from there; but if he did not solve the riddle given, she said she would devour him and would depart from the territory in no other way. When the king had heard this, he proclaimed through Greece that whoever solved the Sphinx's riddle he promised to give the kingdom and his sister Iocasta in marriage. When many had come ‘from desire of the kingdom’ and had been devoured by the Sphinx, Oedipus, son of Laius, came and interpreted the riddle. She hurled herself down. Oedipus unwittingly received his father's kingdom and his mother Iocasta as wife, by whom he fathered Eteocles and Polynices, Antigone and Ismene. [Meanwhile barrenness and scarcity of crops fell on Thebes on account of Oedipus' crimes, and Tiresias, when asked why Thebes was being thus afflicted, replied that if anyone of the Dragon's stock survived and died for his country * it would be freed from the plague. Then Menoeceus, Iocasta's father, threw himself from the walls.] While this was happening in Thebes, Polybus died at Corinth. When he heard this Oedipus began to grieve, thinking that his father had died. Periboea told him openly of his substitution. †id itemales the old man who had exposed him recognised from the scars of his feet and of his ankles that he was the son of Laius. When Oedipus heard it and saw that he had committed so many unspeakable crimes, he took the brooches from his mother's dress and blinded himself, handed the kingdom to his sons for alternate years, and fled from Thebes with his daughter Antigone as guide.
LXVIII Polynices
Polynices Oedipodis filius anno peracto regnum ab Eteocle fratre * repetit: ille cedere noluit. itaque Polynices Adrasto rege adiuvante cum septem ductoribus Thebas oppugnatum venit. [Ibi * Capaneus quod contra Iovis voluntatem Thebas se capturum diceret cum murum ascenderet, fulmine * est percussus. Amphiaraus * terra est devoratus. Eteocles et Polynices inter se pugnantes alius alium interfecerunt. His cum Thebis parenta⟨re⟩tur etsi ventus vehemens es⟨se⟩t, tamen fumus se nunquam in unam partem convertit, sed alius alio seducitur. C[a]eteri] cum Thebas oppugnarent et Thebani rebus suis diffiderent, Tiresias Eueris filius augur praemonuit, si ex dracontea progenie aliquis interiisset, oppidum ea clade liberari. Menoeceus cum vidit se unum civium salutem posse redimere ⟨de⟩ muro se praecipitavit. Thebani victoria sunt potiti.
68. Polynices (main version)
Polynices, son of Oedipus, when the year was over, demanded back the kingdom from his brother Eteocles *; he refused to yield. So Polynices, with King Adrastus' help, with seven leaders, came to attack Thebes. [There * Capaneus, because he said he would take Thebes against the will of Zeus, was struck by lightning * as he climbed the wall. Amphiaraus * was swallowed by the earth. Eteocles and Polynices, fighting each other, killed one another. When funeral offerings were made to them at Thebes, even if there was a violent wind, the smoke never turned in one direction, but one part was drawn away from the other. The rest] as they were attacking Thebes and the Thebans despaired of their situation, the seer Tiresias, son of Eueres, warned them that if any of the dragon's stock had died, the city would be freed from that disaster. Menoeceus, when he saw that he alone could buy the safety of the citizens, threw himself from the wall. The Thebans gained the victory.
LXXI^b Polynices (parallel version)
Polynices Oedipodis filius anno peracto regnum ab Et[h]eocle fratre * Adrasto Talai filio adiutore repetit cum septem ductoribus, et Thebas oppugnarunt. Ibi Adrastus beneficio equi profugit *. Capaneus contra Iovis voluntatem Thebas se capturum dixit, et cum murum ascenderet fulmine ab Iove est percussus. Amphiaraus cum quadriga terra est devoratus. Eteocles et Polynices inter se pugnantes alius alium interfecerunt. His inferiae communes cum fiunt Thebis, fumus separatur, quod alius alium interfecerunt. [reliqui perierunt.]
68b. Polynices (second version)
Polynices, son of Oedipus, when the year was over, demanded back the kingdom from his brother Eteocles * with Adrastus, son of Talaus, as helper, with seven leaders, and they attacked Thebes. There Adrastus escaped by favour of his horse *. Capaneus said that he would take Thebes against the will of Zeus, and as he climbed the wall was struck by lightning by Zeus. Amphiaraus was swallowed by the earth with his chariot. Eteocles and Polynices, fighting each other, killed one another. When the common funeral offerings are made to them at Thebes, the smoke divides, because they killed one another. [The rest perished.]
LXVIIII Adrastus
Adrasto Talai et Eurynomes filio responsum ab Apolline fuit, eum filias suas Argiam et Deipylam apro et leoni daturum in coniugium. [Sub eodem tempore Polynices Oedipodis filius expulsus ab Eteocle fratre ad Adrastum devenit et Tydeus simul Oenei et Periboeae captivae filius a patre, quod fratrem Menalippum in venatione occiderat [fere sub eodem tempore venit.]] Quod cum satellites Adrasto nunciassent duos iuvenes incognita veste venisse unus enim aprinea pelle opertus alter leonina tunc Adrastus memor sortium suarum iubet eos ad se perduci atque [ita] interrogavit quid ita hoc cultu in regna sua venissent. Cui Polynices indicat se a Thebis [venisse et iccirco se pellem leoninam operuisse quod Hercules a Thebis] genus ducere[t] et insignia gentis suae secum portare[t.] Tydeus autem dicit se Oenei filium esse et a Calydone genus ducere [ideo pelle aprinea se opertum significans aprum Calydonium.] Tunc rex responsi memor Argiam maiorem dat Polynici ex qua nascitur Thersander, Deipylam minorem dat Tydeo ex qua nascitur Diomedes qui apud Troiam pugnavit. At Polynices rogat Adrastum, ut sibi exercitum commodaret ad paternum regnum recuperandum a fratre: cui Adrastus non tantum exercitum dedit, sed etiam ipse cum aliis * ducibus profectus est, quoniam Thebae septem portis claudebantur. Amphion enim qui Thebas muro cinxit septem filiarum †nomine portas constituit. [hae autem fuerunt: Thera Cleodoxe Astynome Astycratia Chias Ogygia Chloris.]
69. Adrastus
Adrastus, son of Talaus and Eurynome, had received an oracle from Apollo that he would give his daughters Argia and Deipyle in marriage to a boar and a lion. [About the same time Polynices, son of Oedipus, driven out by his brother Eteocles, came to Adrastus, and Tydeus, son of Oeneus and of Periboea the captive, driven out by his father because he had killed his brother Menalippus in a hunt [came at nearly the same time]]. When the attendants told Adrastus that two young men had come in strange dress — one covered with a boar's skin, the other with a lion's — Adrastus, mindful of his oracles, ordered them to be brought to him and [thus] asked why they had come to his kingdom in such attire. Polynices told him that [he had come from Thebes and had covered himself with a lion's skin because Heracles] traced his descent from Thebes, and that he carried with him the insignia of his people. Tydeus said he was the son of Oeneus and traced his descent from Calydon [meaning by the boar's skin the Calydonian boar]. Then the king, mindful of the oracle, gave the elder, Argia, to Polynices, by whom Thersander was born, and the younger, Deipyle, to Tydeus, by whom Diomedes was born, who fought at Troy. Polynices asked Adrastus to lend him an army to recover his father's kingdom from his brother; Adrastus gave him not only an army but himself set out with other * leaders, since Thebes was closed by seven gates. For Amphion, who surrounded Thebes with a wall, set up seven gates †nomine of his seven daughters. [They were: Thera, Cleodoxe, Astynome, Astycratia, Chias, Ogygia, Chloris.]
LXX Reges septem Thebas profecti
Adrastus Talai filius ex Eurynome Iphiti filia Argivus Capaneus Hipponoi filius ex Astynome Talai filia sorore Adrasti Argivus
Amphiaraus Oeclei ⟨filius⟩ vel ut alii auctores dicunt Apollinis ex Hypermnestra Thestii filia Pylius
Polynices Oedipodis filius ex Iocasta Menoecei filia Thebanus Hippomedon ⟨M⟩nesimachi filius ex †Mythidice Talai filia sorore Adrasti Argivus
Tydeus Oenei filius ex Periboea captiva Calydonius Parthenopaeus Meleagri filius ex Atalanta Iasii filia ex monte Parthenio Arcas
Hi omnes duces apud Thebas perierunt praeter Adrastum Talai filium: is enim equi beneficio ereptus est. qui postea filios eorum armatos ad Thebas expugnandas misit ut iniurias paternas vindicarent eo quod insepulti iacuerant Creontis iussu, qui Thebas occuparat, fratris Iocastes.
70. The seven kings who marched on Thebes
Adrastus, son of Talaus, by Eurynome, daughter of Iphis, an Argive; Capaneus, son of Hipponous, by Astynome, daughter of Talaus and sister of Adrastus, an Argive.
Amphiaraus, ⟨son⟩ of Oecles, or as other authors say of Apollo, by Hypermnestra, daughter of Thestius, a Pylian.
Polynices, son of Oedipus, by Iocasta, daughter of Menoeceus, a Theban; Hippomedon, son of Mnesimachus, by †Mythidice, daughter of Talaus and sister of Adrastus, an Argive.
Tydeus, son of Oeneus, by Periboea the captive, a Calydonian; Parthenopaeus, son of Meleager, by Atalanta, daughter of Iasius, from Mount Parthenius, an Arcadian.
All these leaders perished at Thebes except Adrastus, son of Talaus, for he was saved by the favour of his horse. He afterwards sent their sons in arms to take Thebes, to avenge their fathers' wrongs, because they had lain unburied by order of Creon, brother of Iocasta, who had seized Thebes.
LXXI^a Septem epigoni id est filii
Aegialeus Adrasti filius ex Demo⟨a⟩nassa Argivus. hic solus periit ex septem, qui exierant: quia pater ex ⟨septem s⟩uperaverat pro patre vicariam vitam dedit. Ceteri sex victores redierunt: Thersander Polynicis filius ex Argia Adrasti filia Argivus ** Alcmaeon Amphiarai filius ex Eriphyle Talai filia Argivus, Polydorus Hippomedontis filius ex Euanippe Elati filia Argivus, †Thesimenes Parthenopaei filius ex Clymene nympha Nysius.
71. The Epigoni
Aegialeus, son of Adrastus by Demoanassa, an Argive. He alone of the seven who had set out died: because his father had survived out of the seven, he gave his life in his father's place. The other six returned victorious: Thersander, son of Polynices by Argia, daughter of Adrastus, an Argive ** ; Alcmaeon, son of Amphiaraus by Eriphyle, daughter of Talaus, an Argive; Polydorus, son of Hippomedon by Euanippe, daughter of Elatus, an Argive; †Thesimenes, son of Parthenopaeus by the nymph Clymene, a Nysian.
LXXII Antigona
Creon Menoecei filius edixit ne quis Polynicen aut qui una venerunt sepulturae traderet, quod patriam oppugnatum venerint. Antigona soror et Argia coniunx clam noctu Polynicis corpus sublatum in eadem pyra qua Eteocles sepultus est imposuerunt. quae cum a custodibus deprehensae essent Argia profugit, Antigona ad regem est perducta. ille eam Haemoni filio cuius sponsa fuerat dedit interficiendam. Haemon amore captus patris imperium neglexit et Antigonam ad pastores demandavit, ementitusque est se eam interfecisse. Quae cum filium procreasset et ad puberem aetatem venisset, Thebas ad ludos venit. hunc Creon rex, quod ex draconteo genere omnes in corpore insigne habebant, cognovit. cum Hercules pro Haemone deprecaretur ut ei ignosceret non impetravit. Haemon se et Antigonam coniugem interfecit. at Creon Megaram filiam suam Herculi dedit in coniugium: ex qua nati sunt Therimachus et Diopithes.
72. Antigone
Creon, son of Menoeceus, proclaimed that no one should bury Polynices or those who had come with him, because they had come to attack their country. His sister Antigone and his wife Argia secretly at night took up Polynices' body and placed it on the same pyre on which Eteocles was buried. When they were caught by the guards, Argia fled, and Antigone was brought to the king. He gave her to his son Haemon, to whom she had been betrothed, to be killed. Haemon, seized by love, ignored his father's order and entrusted Antigone to shepherds, and falsely said that he had killed her. When she had borne a son, and he had reached puberty, he came to Thebes for the games. King Creon recognised him because all of the dragon stock had a mark on the body. When Heracles pleaded with Creon on Haemon's behalf that he should forgive him, he did not obtain it. Haemon killed himself and his wife Antigone. Creon gave his daughter Megara in marriage to Heracles; from her were born Therimachus and Diopithes.
LXXIII Amphiaraus Eriphyla et Alcmaeon
Amphiaraus Oeclei et Hypermnestrae Thestii filiae filius augur, qui sciret si ad Thebas oppugnatum isset se inde non rediturum, itaque celavit se conscia Eriphyle coniuge sua Talai filia. Adrastus autem ut eum investigaret monile aureum ex gemmis fecit et muneri dedit sorori suae Eriphylae, quae doni cupida coniugem prodidit. Amphiaraus Alcmaeoni filio suo praecepit, ut post suam mortem poenas a matre exequeretur. qui postquam apud Thebas terra est devoratus, Alcmaeon memor patris praecepti Eriphylen matrem suam interfecit. quem postea furiae exagitarunt.
73. Amphiaraus, Eriphyle and Alcmaeon
Amphiaraus, a seer, son of Oecles and of Hypermnestra, daughter of Thestius, since he knew that if he went to attack Thebes he would not return from there, hid himself, his wife Eriphyle, daughter of Talaus, being privy to it. Adrastus, to track him down, made a golden necklace of gems and gave it as a present to his sister Eriphyle, who, desirous of the gift, betrayed her husband. Amphiaraus instructed his son Alcmaeon to take vengeance on his mother after his death. When he had been swallowed up by the earth at Thebes, Alcmaeon, mindful of his father's instruction, killed his mother Eriphyle. The Furies afterwards drove him mad.
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