(I say not that it came from Phœbos' self,
But from his servants,) that his fate was fixed
By his son's hand to fall—his own and mine;
And him, so rumour runs, a robber band
Of aliens slay, where meet the three great roads.
Nor did three days succeed the infant's birth,
Before, by other hands, he cast him forth,
Piercing his ancles, on a lonely hill.
Here, then, Apollo failed to make the boy 720
His father's murderer; nor by his son's hands,
Doom that he dreaded, did our Laios die;
Such things divining oracles proclaimed;
Therefore regard them not. Whate'er the God
Desires to search He will himself declare.
Œdip. [Trembling.] Ah, as but now I heard thee speak, my queen,
Strange whirl of soul, and rush of thoughts o'ercome me.
Joc. What vexing care bespeaks this sudden change?
Œdip. I thought I heard thee say that Laios fell,
Smitten to death, where meet the three great roads. 730
Joc. So was it said, and still the rumours hold.
Œdip. Where was the spot in which this matter passed?
Joc. They call the country Phocis, and the roads[1]
From Delphi and from Daulia there converge.
Œdip. And what the interval of time since then?
Joc. But just before thou camest to possess
And rule this land the tidings reached our city.
Œdip. Great Zeus! what fate hast thou decreed for me?
- ↑ The meeting place of the three roads is now the site of a decayed Turkish village, the Stavrodrom of Mparpanas.
In Æschylos (Fragm. 160), the scene of the murder was laid at Potniæ, on the road between Thebes and Platæa. As the name indicates, the Erinnyes were worshipped there.
