The greatest crime of Thebes is mother's love. O fatherland, 'tis not the wrath of heaven, 630 But sin of man by which thou art undone. No plague-fraught south wind with its deadly blast, Nor yet the parchéd earth with its dry breath, Is harming thee; but 'tis thy bloody king, Who, as the prize of savage murder done, Hath seized his father's scepter and his bed. 635 An impious son (but far more impious, The mother who in most unhallowed womb Bore children once again), he forced his way Back to his source of life, and there begot Upon his mother offspring horrible, Got brothers to himself, a custom base, Whence e'en the very beasts of prey are free. 640 Oh, base entanglement, more monstrous far Than that fell Sphinx which he himself hath slain. Thee, thee, who dost the bloody scepter hold, Thee will thy sire, still unavenged, pursue, With all thy town; and with me will I bring Th' attendant fury of my wedding night-- I'll bring her with her loud-resounding[4] lash! 645 Thy house, polluted, will I overthrow, And thy Penates will I trample down In fratricidal strife! Then quickly drive Thy king, O Thebes, from out thy boundaries! For when his baleful step shall leave the land, In vernal green shall it renew itself, 650 The air shall give again pure springs of life, And to the woods their beauty shall return. Destruction, Pestilence and Death, Distress, Disease, Despair--his fitting company-- Shall all depart with him. And he, indeed, Will seek with eager haste to flee his realm, But him will I hedge round with barriers, 655 And hold him back. Uncertain of his way, And with his staff to guide his faltering steps, He'll creep along his sad and darkened path. Do ye the land deny him; I, his sire, Will take away from him the light of heaven." _Oedipus:_ A chilling tremor penetrates my bones; The very thing which I have feared to do, 660 They say that I have done it. But the charge That in unholy wedlock I am joined, My mother Merope refutes, for she To Polybus, my sire, is wedded still; And my hands from stain of father's blood are clean, Since Polybus in safety lives and reigns. Since both my parents free me from the guilt Of murder and that base, incestuous crime, What room is there for accusation more? And as for Laius, Thebes his death deplored 665 Long 'ere I set my feet upon her soil. What shall we say then? Was the seer deceived, Or does the hand of God afflict the state? No! now we see these two confederates Deep in a crafty plot: that priest of thine With lying tongue pretends the will of heaven, And promises my sovereignty to thee. 670