"Ye shrink from me as from a guilty man. And yet (καίτοι),— evil as were my acts (in themselves),— how have I shown an evil disposition (“φύσιν”), or incurred moral guilt? Before I struck my father, he had struck me (“παθὼν ἀντέδρων”: see O. T. 809). Even if I had been aware (“φρονῶν”) who he was, I might plead this in my defence: but, in fact, I did not know. Nor did I recognise my mother. They, on the other hand, had deliberately tried to kill their babe." — Note that the clause “ὥστ᾽ εἰ φρονῶν … κακός”, which could not apply to the incest, limits the reference of “ἀντέδρων” to the parricide; while “ἱκόμην” (273) refers to both stains.
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
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