Laius, king of the Cadmeans, was warned by the oracle of Delphi that he
should not beget a child. But he disobeyed this command, and when a son
was born to him, he cast the child away, that he might perish on
Cithaeron. But a herdsman found the babe yet alive, and he was
nourished in Corinth and grew to manhood, not knowing his true
parentage, and was named Oedipus; and he slew, unknowingly, his father,
Laius, and afterwards saved the town of the Cadmeans from a devouring
monster, and married the widowed queen, Iocaste, and begat sons and
daughters. But when he learned what he had wrought unwittingly, he fell
into despair, and the queen slew herself. But before Oedipus died, he
laid a curse upon his male children, Eteocles and Polynices, that they
should make even division of the kingdom by the sword; and it fell out
even so, for the two brothers strove together for the inheritance, and
Polynices brought an army, from Argos, against Eteocles; and the
brothers fought, and fell each by the other’s hand, and the curse was
fulfilled.