Epeisodion 1
Adrastus
To confer that favour on the husbands of my daughters twain.
Theseus
To which of the Argives didst thou give thy daughters in marriage?
Adrastus
I made no match for them with kinsmen of my family.
Theseus
What! didst give Argive maids to foreign lords?
135
Adrastus
Yea, to Tydeus, and to Polynices, who was Theban-born.
Theseus
What induced thee to select this alliance?
Adrastus
Dark riddles of Phoebus stole away my judgment.
Theseus
What said Apollo to determine the maidens’ marriage?
Adrastus
That I should give my daughters twain to a wild boar and a lion.
140
Theseus
How dost thou explain the message of the god?
Adrastus
One night came to my door two exiles.
Theseus
The name of each declare; thou art speaking of both together.
Adrastus
They fought together, Tydeus with Polynices.
Theseus
Didst thou give thy daughters to them as to wild beasts?
145
Adrastus
Yea, for, as they fought, I likened them to those monsters twain.
Theseus
Why had they left the borders of their native land and come to thee?
Adrastus
Tydeus was exiled for the murder of a kinsman.
Theseus
Wherefore had the son of Oedipus left Thebes?
Adrastus
By reason of his father’s curse, not to spill his brother’s blood.
150
Theseus
Wise no doubt that voluntary exile.
Adrastus
But those who stayed at home were for injuring the absent.
Theseus
What! did brother rob brother of his inheritance?
Adrastus
To avenge this I set out; hence my ruin.
Theseus
Didst consult seers, and gaze into the flame of burnt-offerings?
155
Adrastus
Ah me! thou pressest on the very point, wherein I most did fail.
Theseus
It seems thy going was not favoured by heaven.
Adrastus
Worse; I went in spite even of Amphiaraus.
Theseus
And so heaven lightly turnedReiske conjectures ἀπεστράφης, and omits σ’. its face from thee.
Adrastus
I was carried away by the clamour of younger men.
160
Theseus
Thou didst favour courage instead of discretion.
