of an avenging Erinnys for the ruin of the house of Laius.[643] [642] Fragm. of the Thêbaïs, ap. Athenæ. xii. p. 465, ὅτι αὐτῷ παρέθηκαν ἐκπώματα ἃ ἀπηγορεύκει, λέγων οὕτως· Αὐτὰρ ὁ διογένης ἥρως ξανθὸς Πολυνείκης Πρῶτα μὲν Οἰδίποδι καλὴν παρέθηκε τράπεζαν Ἀργυρέην Κάδμοιο θεόφρονος· αὐταρ ἔπειτα Χρύσεον ἔμπλησεν καλὸν δέπας ἥδεος οἴνου· Αὐτὰρ ὅγ᾽ ὡς φράσθη παρακείμενα πατρὸς ἑοῖο Τιμήεντα γέρα, μέγα οἱ κακὸν ἔμπεσε θυμῷ. Αἶψα δὲ παισὶν ἑοῖσι μετ᾽ ἀμφοτέροισιν ἐπαρὰς Ἀργαλέας ἠρᾶτο· θεὸν δ᾽ οὐ λάνθαν᾽ Ἐριννύν· Ὡς οὐ οἱ πατρῷα γ᾽ ἐνὶ φιλότητι δάσαιντο, Εἶεν δ᾽ αμφοτέροις αἰεὶ πόλεμοί τε μάχαι τε. See Leutsch, Thebaid. Cycl. Reliq. p. 38. The other fragment from the same Thêbaïs is cited by the Schol. ad Soph. Œdip. Colon. 1378.— Ἴσχιον ὡς ἐνόησε, χαμαὶ βάλεν, εἶπέ τε μῦθον· Ὦ μοι ἐγὼ, παῖδές μοι ὀνειδείοντες ἔπεμψαν. Εὐκτο Διῒ βασιλῆϊ καὶ ἄλλοις ἀθανάτοισι, Χερσὶν ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων καταβήμεναι Ἄϊδος εἴσω. Τὰ δὲ παραπλήσια τῷ ἐποποιῷ καὶ Αἴσχυλος ἐν τοῖς Ἕπτα ἐπι Θήβας. In spite of the protest of Schutz, in his note, I think that the scholiast has understood the words ἐπίκοτος τροφᾶς (Sept. ad Theb. 787) in their plain and just meaning. [643] The curses of Œdipus are very frequently and emphatically dwelt upon both by Æschylus and Sophoklês (Sept. ad Theb. 70-586, 655-697, etc.; Œdip. Colon. 1293-1378). The former continues the same point of view as the Thêbaïs, when he mentions— ... Τὰς περιθύμους Κατάρας βλαψίφρονος Οἰδιπόδα (727); or, λόγου τ᾽ ἄνοια καὶ φρενῶν Ἐριννύς (Soph. Antig. 584). The Scholiast on Sophoklês (Œd. Col. 1378) treats the cause assigned by the ancient Thêbaïs for the curse vented by Œdipus as trivial and ludicrous. The Ægeids at Sparta, who traced their descent to Kadmus, suffered from terrible maladies which destroyed the lives of their children; an oracle directed them to appease the Erinnyes of Laius and Œdipus by erecting a temple, upon which the maladies speedily ceased (Herodot. iv.).