Three Sophoklean Fragments on Parents and Children

Fr. 567 (Those Who Dine Together)
“Oh, you have your hands in everything, so much like
Sisyphus in you, and much of your mother’s father.”

ὦ πάντα πράσσων, ὡς ὁ Σίσυφος πολὺς
ἔνδηλος ἐν σοὶ πάντα χὠ μητρὸς πατήρ

Fr. 685 (Phaedra)

“Children are the anchors of a mother’s life”

ἀλλ’ εἰσὶ μητρὶ παῖδες ἄγκυραι βίου

Fr. 932

“A women flees the sharp pains of child birth
On oaths. But when she has stopped feeling the pain,
She is caught in those same nets, conquered
By desires’ present tense”

ὅρκοισι γάρ τοι καὶ γυνὴ φεύγει πικρὰν
ὠδῖνα παίδων• ἀλλ’ ἐπεὶ λήξῃ κακοῦ,
ἐν τοῖσιν αὐτοῖς δικτύοις ἁλίσκεται
πρὸς τοῦ παρόντος ἱμέρου νικωμένη