Aeschylus

Aeschylus (Greek: Αἰσχύλος; 525 BC – 456 BC) was a playwright of ancient Greece, the earliest of the three greatest Greek tragedians, the others being Sophocles and Euripides.

Quotes


That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft, "With our own feathers, not by others' hands, Are we now smitten."
 * So in the Libyan fable it is told
 * Fragment 63 (trans. by E. H. Plumptre), reported in Theoi

Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed By hymns of praise. From him alone of all The powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.
 * Of all the gods, Death only craves not gifts:
 * Fragment 146 (trans. by Plumptre), reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

ποία ξυνωρὶς τῆσδε καρτερωτέρα What pair is stronger than this?
 * ὅπου γὰρ ἰσχὺς συζυγοῦσι καὶ δίκη
 * For where might and justice are yoke-fellows—
 * Fragment 209

To come to me: of cureless ills thou art The one physician. Pain lays not its touch Upon a corpse.
 * O Death the Healer, scorn thou not, I pray,
 * Fragment 250 (trans. by Plumptre), reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)


 * The man who does ill, ill must suffer too.
 * Fragment 267 (trans. by Plumptre)


 * A prosperous fool is a grievous burden.
 * Fragment 383, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)


 * Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine, of the heart.
 * Fragment 384, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)


 * It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.
 * Fragment 385, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

The Persians (472 BC)

 * The English translations are by Christopher Collard (Oxford University Press, 2008), Janet Lembke and C. J. Herington (Oxford University Press, 1981), S. G. Benardete (University of Chicago Press, 1956) and Robert Potter (1777).

ὄμμα γὰρ δόμων νομίζω δεσπότου παρουσίαν.
 * Ἔστι γὰρ πλοῦτός γ᾽ ἀμεμφής, ἀμφὶ δ᾽ ὀφθαλμῷ φόβος·
 * Wealth itself is blameless, but there can be fear for its precious eye; for I consider the presence of a house's master to be its saving light.
 * lines 168–169 (tr. Christopher Collard)


 * Ὤμοι, κακὸν μὲν πρῶτον ἀγγέλλειν κακά.
 * Bitter, being first to tell you bitter news.
 * line 253 (tr. Janet Lembke and C. J. Herington)

Their firmest bulwarks her heroic sons.
 * Ἀνδρῶν γὰρ ὄντων ἕρκος ἐστὶν ἀσφαλές.
 * The walls of Athens are impregnable,
 * line 349 (tr. Robert Potter)

ἐπίσταται βροτοῖσιν ὡς, ὅταν κλύδων κακῶν ἐπέλθῃ, πάντα δειμαίνειν φίλον, ὅταν δ᾽ ὁ δαίμων εὐροῇ, πεποιθέναι τὸν αὐτὸν αἰὲν ἄνεμον οὐριεῖν τύχας.
 * Φίλοι, κακῶν μὲν ὅστις ἔμπειρος κυρεῖ,
 * My friends, anyone with real experience of trouble knows how, when a surge of it comes upon them, they are apt to fear everything; but when fortune's tide is good, they trust that the same breeze will blow favourably for ever.
 * lines 598–602 (tr. Christopher Collard)

speeds toward his own ruin, a god gives him help.
 * Ἀλλ᾽, ὅταν σπεύδῃ τις αὐτός, χὠ θεὸς συνάπτεται.
 * But when a man
 * line 742 (tr. Janet Lembke and C. J. Herington)

ἄφωνα σημανοῦσιν ὄμμασιν βροτῶν ὡς οὐχ ὑπέρφευ θνητὸν ὄντα χρὴ φρονεῖν. Mute, even to the century to come, Before the eyes of men, that never, being Mortal, ought we cast our thoughts too high.
 * θῖνες νεκρῶν δὲ καὶ τριτοσπόρῳ γονῇ
 * And corpses, piled up like sand, shall witness,
 * lines 818–820 (tr. S. G. Benardete)

ἄτης, ὅθεν πάγκλαυτον ἐξαμᾷ θέρος.
 * Ὕβρις γὰρ ἐξανθοῦσ᾽ ἐκάρπωσεν στάχυν
 * Arrogance in full bloom bears a crop of ruinous folly from which it reaps a harvest all of tears.
 * lines 821–822 (tr. Christopher Collard)

The Suppliants
πόνου δ᾽ ἴδοις ἂν οὐδαμοῦ ταὐτὸν πτερόν.
 * Αἰόλ᾽ ἀνθρώπων κακά,
 * Mankind's troubles flicker about, and you'll nowhere see misery fly on the same wings.
 * lines 328–329 (tr. Christopher Collard)

βροτῶν.
 * Φύλακα πολυπόνων
 * The guardian of poor suffering mankind.
 * lines 382–383 (tr. Christopher Collard)

γένοιτο μύθου μῦθος ἂν θελκτήριος.
 * Καὶ γλῶσσα τοξεύσασα μὴ τὰ καίρια,
 * When a tongue at the wrong moment shoots off sharp-pointed words to rouse and hurt the spirit, speech may well soothe speech.
 * lines 446–447 (tr. Christopher Collard)


 * I would far rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evil.
 * line 453; comparable to "where ignorance is bliss, / 'Tis folly to be wise", Thomas Gray, On a Distant Prospect of Eton College, stanza 10


 * "Reverence for parents" stands written among the three laws of most revered righteousness.
 * line 707; alternately reported with "Honour thy father and thy mother" in place of "Reverence for parents", in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Prometheus Bound



 * Ἅπας δὲ τραχὺς ὅστις ἂν νέον κρατῇ.
 * New-made kings are cruel.
 * line 35 (tr. Elizabeth Barrett Browning)


 * Ἐλεύθερος γὰρ οὔτις ἐστὶ πλὴν Διός.
 * For none is free but Zeus.
 * line 50 (tr. Henry David Thoreau)


 * Innumerable twinkling of the waves of the sea.
 * line 89

αἶσαν φέρειν ὡς ῥᾷστα, γιγνώσκονθ' ὅτι τὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης ἔστ' ἀδήριτον σθένος. Bear, as I can, I must, knowing the might Of strong Necessity is unconquerable.
 * Τὴν πεπρωμένην δὲ χρὴ
 * What's determined
 * lines 103–105 (tr. G. M. Cookson)

νόσημα, τοῖς φίλοισι μὴ πεποιθέναι. This poison, that he cannot trust a friend.'''
 * ἔνεστι γάρ πως τοῦτο τῇ τυραννίδι
 * For somehow this is tyranny's disease, to trust no friends.
 * lines 224–225
 * Variant translation: '''In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end

ἔχει παραινεῖν νουθετεῖν τε τοὺς κακῶς πράσσοντας. Foot, to admonish and remind those faring Ill.
 * Ἐλαφρὸν ὅστις πημάτων ἔξω πόδα
 * Easy, whoever out of trouble holds his
 * lines 263–265 (tr. Henry David Thoreau)

νέους. νέος γὰρ καὶ τύραννος ἐν θεοῖς. And, as the times, so let thy manners change, For by the law of change a new God rules.
 * Γίγνωσκε σαυτὸν καὶ μεθάρμοσαι τρόπους
 * Learn to know thy heart,
 * lines 309–310 (tr. G. M. Cookson)

πρὸς κέντρα κῶλον ἐκτενεῖς. Thou shalt not kick against the pricks.
 * Οὔκουν ἔμοιγε χρώμενος διδασκάλῳ
 * Therefore, while thou hast me for schoolmaster,
 * lines 322–323 (tr. G. M. Cookson)

γλώσσῃ ματαίᾳ ζημία προστρίβεται. On a vain tongue punishment is inflicted?
 * Ἢ οὐκ οἶσθ' ἀκριβῶς ὢν περισσόφρων ὅτι
 * Know'st thou not well, with thy superior wisdom, that
 * lines 328–329 (tr. Henry David Thoreau)

ἢ σαυτόν. ἔργῳ κοὐ λόγῳ τεκμαίρομαι. Than to thyself:—I judge by deeds not words.
 * Πολλῷ γ' ἀμείνων τοὺς πέλας φρενοῦν ἔφυς
 * Thou are a better counsellor to others
 * lines 335–336 (tr. G. M. Cookson)

θέλοιμ' ἂν ὡς πλείστοισι πημονὰς τυχεῖν. I do not therefore wish to multiply The griefs of others.
 * Ἐγὼ γὰρ οὐκ εἰ δυστυχῶ, τοῦδ' εἵνεκα
 * If I grieve,
 * lines 345–346 (tr. Elizabeth Barrett Browning)


 * ὀργῆς νοσούσης εἰσὶν ἰατροὶ λόγοι
 * Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.
 * line 378; compare: "Apt words have power to suage / The tumours of a troubl'd mind", John Milton, Samson Agonistes.

Should seem not wise at all.
 * Κέρδιστον εὖ φρονοῦντα μὴ φρονεῖν δοκεῖν.
 * Since it most profits that the truly wise
 * line 385 (tr. Elizabeth Barrett Browning)


 * Μνήμην ἁπάντων, μουσομήτορ' ἐργάνην.
 * Memory, Muse-mother, doer of all things.
 * line 461 (tr. Henry David Thoreau)

Of reason, nor neglect thy wretched state: So my fond hope suggests thou shalt be free From these base chains, nor less in power than Jove. These things should end; crush'd with a thousand wrongs, A thousand woes, I shall escape these chains. Necessity is stronger far than art. Now to disclose that which requires the seal Of strictest secresy; by guarding which I shall escape the misery of these chains.'''
 * Chorus: Let not thy love to man o'erleap the bounds
 * Prometheus: Not thus — it is not in the Fates that thus
 * Chorus: Who then is ruler of necessity?
 * Prometheus: The triple Fates and unforgetting Furies.
 * Chorus: Must Jove then yield to their superior power?
 * Prometheus: He no way shall escape his destined fate.
 * Chorus: What, but eternal empire, is his fate?
 * Prometheus: Thou mayst not know this now: forbear to inquire.
 * Chorus: Is it of moment what thou keep'st thus close?
 * Prometheus: No more of this discourse; '''it is not time
 * lines 510–524, as translated by R. Potter (1860)

The hand of his Hephæstus.
 * βούλευμα μὲν τὸ Δῖον, Ἡφαίστου δὲ χείρ.
 * The will of Zeus,
 * line 619 (tr. Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

ἐνταῦθ', ὅπου μέλλοι τις οἴσεσθαι δάκρυ πρὸς τῶν κλυόντων, ἀξίαν τριβὴν ἔχει. And mourn out grief, where it is possible To draw a tear from the audience, is a work That pays its own price well.
 * Ὡς τἀποκλαῦσαι κἀποδύρασθαι τύχας
 * Since to open out
 * lines 637–639 (tr. Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

Than thus to drag sick life."
 * κρεῖσσον γὰρ εἰσάπαξ θανεῖν ἢ τὰς ἁπάσας ἡμέρας πάσχειν κακῶς.
 * For it would be better to die once and for all than to suffer pain for all one's life.
 * lines 750–751
 * Variant translation by John Stuart Blackie (1850): "Life and life's sorrows? Once to die is better


 * Τὸ κηδεῦσαι καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀριστεύει μακρῷ.
 * True marriage is the union that mates Equal with equal.
 * line 890 (tr. G. M. Cookson)

ὁ μῦθός ἐστιν, ὡς θεῶν ὑπηρέτου. In th' utterance, and full-minded in the sense, As doth befit a servant of the gods!
 * Σεμνόστομός γε καὶ φρονήματος πλέως
 * A speech well-mouthed
 * lines 953–954 (tr. Elizabeth Barrett Browning)


 * Ἀλλ' ἐκδιδάσκει πάνθ' ὁ γηράσκων χρόνος.
 * Time waxing old can many a lesson teach.
 * line 981 (tr. E. H. Plumptre).
 * Variant translations:
 * Time brings all things to pass.
 * Time as he grows old teaches all things.

πῶλος βιάζῃ καὶ πρὸς ἡνίας μάχῃ. Who bites against the new bit in his teeth, And tugs and struggles against the new-tried rein.
 * Δακὼν δὲ στόμιον ὡς νεοζυγὴς
 * Like a young horse
 * lines 1009–1010 (tr. Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

αὐτὴ καθ' αὑτὴν οὐδενὸς μεῖζον σθένει. Is in itself weaker than naught at all.
 * Αὐθαδία γὰρ τῷ φρονοῦντι μὴ καλῶς
 * For stubborness, if one be in the wrong,
 * lines 1012–1013 (tr. G. M. Cookson)

τὸ Δῖον, ἀλλὰ πᾶν ἔπος τελεῖ.
 * Ψευδηγορεῖν γὰρ οὐκ ἐπίσταται στόμα
 * God's mouth knows not how to speak falsehood, but he brings to pass every word.
 * lines 1032–1033


 * On me the tempest falls. It does not make me tremble. O holy Mother Earth, O air and sun, behold me. I am wronged.
 * line 1089

Seven Against Thebes (467 BC)
τἄξωθεν· ἔνδον δ᾽ οὖσα μὴ βλάβην τίθει. Be loud in council! for the things without, A man must care; let women keep within— Even then is mischief all too probable!
 * Μέλει γὰρ ἀνδρί, μὴ γυνὴ βουλευέτω,
 * Let not a woman's voice
 * lines 200–201 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

μήτηρ, γυνὴ σωτῆρος. Sure pledge of safety.
 * Πειθαρχία γάρ ἐστι τῆς εὐπραξίας
 * Obedience mother is of good success,
 * lines 224–225 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

πολλάκι δ᾽ ἐν κακοῖσι τὸν ἀμάχανον κἀκ χαλεπᾶς δύας ὕπερθ᾽ ὀμμάτων κρημναμενᾶν νεφελᾶν ὀρθοῖ. And oft, in direst strait, It lifteth from the lowest depths of ill Him who, with cloud-veiled eyes, was desperate.
 * Ἔστι· θεοῦ δ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἰσχὺς καθυπερτέρα·
 * True, but the strength of god is mightier still,
 * lines 226–229 (tr. Anna Swanwick)


 * Ἀψυχίᾳ γὰρ γλῶσσαν ἁρπάζει φόβος.
 * Through want of heart fear seizes on my tongue.
 * line 259 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

οὐδ᾽ ἑλκοποιὰ γίγνεται τὰ σήματα λόφοι δὲ κώδων τ᾽ οὐ δάκνουσ᾽ ἄνευ δορός. Shall e'er present a fear! such pointed threats Are powerless to wound; his plumes and bells, Without a spear, are snakes without a sting.
 * κόσμον μὲν ἀνδρὸς οὔτιν᾽ ἂν τρέσαιμ᾽ ἐγώ,
 * To me, no blazon on a foeman's shield
 * lines 397–399 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)


 * Καὶ τῷδε κέρδει κέρδος ἄλλο τίκτεται.
 * Gain upon gain, and interest to boot!
 * line 437 (tr. G. M. Cookson)

But with a hand which sees the thing to do.
 * Ἀνὴρ ἄκομπος, χεὶρ δ᾽ ὁρᾷ τὸ δράσιμον.
 * No boaster he,
 * line 554 (tr. Anna Swanwick)


 * Oὐ γὰρ δοκεῖν ἄριστος, ἀλλ᾽ εἶναι θέλει
 * His resolve is not to seem, but to be, the best.
 * line 592; compare: esse quam videri.


 * ἐν παντὶ πράγει δ᾽ ἔσθ᾽ ὁμιλίας κακῆς κάκιον οὐδέν
 * In every enterprise is no greater evil than bad companionship
 * lines 599–600 (tr. David Grene)

Brings forth the fruits of Death.
 * Ἄτης ἄρουρα θάνατον ἐκκαρπίζεται.
 * The field of Sin
 * line 601 (tr. G. M. Cookson)


 * φιλεῖ δὲ σιγᾶν ἢ λέγειν τὰ καίρια.
 * He or silence keeps or speaks in season.
 * line 619 (tr. Anna Swanwick)


 * γέροντα τὸν νοῦν, σάρκα δ᾽ ἡβῶσαν φύει
 * He has the wisdom of an old man, but his body is at its prime
 * line 622 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth)

ἔστω· μόνον γὰρ κέρδος ἐν τεθνηκόσι· κακῶν δὲ κᾀσχρῶν οὔτιν᾽ εὐκλείαν ἐρεῖς. Without disgrace, sole profit to the dead; On base and evil deeds no glory waits.
 * Εἴπερ κακὸν φέροι τις, αἰσχύνης ἄτερ
 * If any one bear evil, let it be
 * lines 683–685 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

Agamemnon


And end this weary job. One long full year I've been lying here, on this rooftop, The palace of the sons of Atreus, Resting on my arms, just like a dog. I've come to know the night sky, every star, The powers we see glittering in the sky, Bringing winter and summer to us all, As the constellations rise and sink.
 * I pray the gods will give me some relief
 * opening lines

βέβηκεν.
 * βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσῃ μέγας
 * A great ox stands on my tongue.
 * lines 36–37

μαθοῦσιν αὐδῶ κοὐ μαθοῦσι λήθομαι. To others, nought remember nor discern.
 * Ὡς ἑκὼν ἐγὼ
 * I, of set will, speak words the wise may learn,
 * lines 38–39 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

οὔθ' ὑποκαίων οὔτ' ἐπιλείβων οὔτε δακρύων ἀπύρων ἱερῶν ὀργὰς ἀτενεῖς παραθέλξει. And woes, by heaven ordained, must fall— Unsoothed by tears or spilth of wine Poured forth too late, the wrath divine Glares vengeance on the flameless shrine.
 * Τελεῖται δ' ἐς τὸ πεπρωμένον·
 * But as he willed 'tis ordered all,
 * lines 68–71 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

σαντα, τὸν πάθει μάθος θέντα κυρίως ἔχειν. στάζει δ᾽ ἔν θ᾽ ὕπνῳ πρὸ καρδίας μνησιπήμων πόνος: καὶ παρ᾽ ἄ- κοντας ἦλθε σωφρονεῖν. δαιμόνων δέ που χάρις βίαιος σέλμα σεμνὸν ἡμένων. has established his fixed law— wisdom comes through suffering. Trouble, with its memories of pain, drips in our hearts as we try to sleep, so men against their will learn to practice moderation. Favours come to us from gods seated on their solemn thrones— such grace is harsh and violent. the Helmsman lays it down as law that we must suffer, suffer into truth. We cannot sleep, and drop by drop at the heart the pain of pain remembered comes again, and we resist, but ripeness comes as well. From the gods enthroned on the awesome rowing-bench there comes a violent love. The sole way where wisdom lies; Ordered one eternal plan: Man must suffer to be wise. Head-winds heavy with past ill Stray his course and cloud his heart. Sorrow takes the blind soul’s part — Man grows wise against his will. For powers who rule from thrones above By ruthlessness commend their love. that he who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, '''and in our own despite, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.''' falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.'''
 * τὸν φρονεῖν βροτοὺς ὁδώ-
 * Zeus, who guided mortals to be wise,
 * lines 176–183, as translated by Ian Johnston (Google Books)
 * Variant translations:
 * Zeus has led us on to know,
 * Robert Fagles, The Oresteia (1975)
 * Zeus, whose will has marked for man
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)
 * God, whose law it is
 * Edith Hamilton, The Greek Way (1930), pp. 61 and 194 (Google Books)
 * Robert F. Kennedy quoted these lines in his speech announcing the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on 4 April 1968. His version:
 * '''Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
 * Variant translations of πάθει μάθος:
 * By suffering comes wisdom.
 * The reward of suffering is experience.
 * Wisdom comes alone through suffering.
 * Then he put on The harness of Necessity.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)
 * Least said is soonest mended.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

σιν μαθεῖν ἐπιῤῥέπει· τὸ μέλλον. For those to whom through pain At last comes wisdom's gain.
 * Δίκα δὲ τοῖς μὲν παθοῦ-
 * Justice turns the scale
 * lines 250–251 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
 * But Justice with her shining eyes Lights the smoke-begrimed and mean Dwelling; honours those who prize Honour; searches far to find All whose hearts and hands are clean; Passes with averted gaze Golden palaces which hide Evil armed in insolence; Power and riches close combined, Falsely stamped with all men’s praise, Win from her no reverence.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

ἕως γένοιτο μητρὸς εὐφρόνης πάρα. Bearing glad tidings from his mother Night!
 * Εὐάγγελος μέν, ὥσπερ ἡ παροιμία,
 * May Morning, as the proverb runs, appear
 * lines 264–265 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)

διχοστατοῦντ' ἂν οὐ φίλως † προσεννέποις. And look! unblent, unreconciled, they war.
 * Ὄξος τ' ἄλειφά τ' ἐγχέας ταὐτῷ κύτει
 * Within one cup pour vinegar and oil,
 * lines 322–323 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)


 * She [Helen] brought to Ilium her dowry, destruction.
 * line 406

ταχύπορος· ἀλλὰ ταχύμορον γυναικογήρυτον ὄλλυται κλέος. The limit which a woman sets to trust Advances evermore; And with swift doom of death A rumour spread by woman perishes.
 * Πιθανὸς ἄγαν ὁ θῆλυς ὅρος ἐπινέμεται
 * Quickly, with rapid steps, too credulous,
 * line 485–487 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)


 * Πάλαι τὸ σιγᾶν φάρμακον βλάβης ἔχω.
 * Sole cure of wrong is silence.
 * line 548 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)


 * Dangerous is a people's voice charged with wrath.
 * line 456 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth)


 * I think the slain care little if they sleep or rise again.
 * trans. Gilbert Murray


 * ἀεὶ γὰρ ἥβη τοῖς γέρουσιν εὐμαθεῖν.
 * Old men are always young enough to learn.
 * line 584 (line 583 of Richmond Lattimore's translation)
 * Variant translation: Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old.
 * Old and ready to learn Is always young.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)


 * δίχα δ' ἄλλων μονόφρων εἰμί
 * I hold my own mind and think apart from other men.
 * line 757

μετὰ μὲν πλείονα τίκτει, σφετέρᾳ δ' εἰκότα γέννᾳ. Like to the evil stock, the evil seed.
 * Τὸ δυσσεβὲς γὰρ ἔργον
 * Prolific truly is the impious deed;
 * lines 758–760 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

μὲν παλαιὰ νεά- ζουσαν ἐν κακοῖς βροτῶν Ὕβριν τότ' ἢ τόθ', ὅτε τὸ κύριον μόλῃ. When strikes the hour ordained by Fate, Breedeth new Arrogance, which still Revels, wild wantoner in human ill.
 * Glances whose gentle fire Bestowed both wound and balm;
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)
 * Φιλεῖ δὲ τίκτειν Ὕβρις
 * But ancient Arrogance, or soon or late,
 * lines 763–766 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

πᾶς τις ἑτοῖμος· δῆγμα δὲ λύπης οὐδὲν ἐφ' ἧπαρ προσικνεῖται· καὶ ξυγχαίρουσιν ὁμοιοπρεπεῖς, ἀγέλαστα πρόσωπα βιαζόμενοι. To the forlorn will all men pay, But of the grief their eyes display, Nought to the heart doth pierce its way. And, with the joyous, they beguile Their lips unto a feigned smile.
 * Τῷ δυσπραγοῦντί τ' ἐπιστενάχειν
 * The show of weeping and of ruth
 * lines 790–794 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

φίλον τὸν εὐτυχοῦντ' ἄνευ φθόνων σέβειν.
 * Παύροις γὰρ ἀνδρῶν ἐστι συγγενὲς τόδε,
 * It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.
 * lines 832–833
 * There are few whose inborn love Warms without envy to a friend’s prosperity.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

ἄχθος διπλοίζει τῷ πεπαμένῳ νόσον· τοῖς τ' αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ πήμασιν βαρύνεται καὶ τὸν θυραῖον ὄλβον εἰσορῶν στένει. Tortures with twofold pang whom it infects; By his own griefs oppressed, the envious man Groans also to behold another's joy.
 * Now, dearest husband, come, step from your chariot. But do not set to earth, my lord, the conquering foot That trod down Troy. Servants, do as you have been bidden; Make haste, carpet his way with crimson tapestries, Spread silk before your master’s feet; Justice herself Shall lead him to a home he never hoped to see.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books) Thought to be the earliest known reference to "red carpet"
 * Δύσφρων γὰρ ἰὸς καρδίαν προσήμενος
 * The jealous poison, lodged within the heart,
 * lines 834–837


 * God’s best gift Is a mind free from folly
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

βίον τελευτήσαντ' ἐν εὐεστοῖ φίλῃ.
 * Ὀλβίσαι δὲ χρὴ
 * Only when man's life comes to its end in prosperity can one call that man happy.
 * lines 928–929. Variant translations:
 * Hold him alone truly fortunate who has ended his life in happy well-being.
 * Call no man happy till he is dead.
 * Also expressed by Sophocles at the end of "Oedipus The King".


 * Ὁ δ' ἀφθόνητός γ' οὐκ ἐπίζηλος πέλει.
 * Life envy-free is life unenviable.
 * line 939 (tr. Anna Swanwick)
 * Greatness wins hate. Unenvied is unenviable.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

θεὸς πρόσωθεν εὐμενῶς προσδέρκεται. Looks graciously on him whom triumph's hour Has made not pitiless.
 * Τὸν κρατοῦντα μαλθακῶς
 * God on high
 * lines 951–952 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)


 * Ἑκὼν γὰρ οὐδεὶς δουλίῳ χρῆται ζυγῷ.
 * None of their own will choose a bond-slave's life.
 * line 953 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
 * Prophets find bad news useful. Why, the primary aim Of all their wordy wisdom is to make men gape.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)
 * CHORUS: Courage and destiny in you Are proudly matched. CASSANDRA: The happy never hear such praise. CHORUS: Yet a brave death lends brightness to mortality.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

σκιᾷ τις ἂν πρέψειεν· εἰ δὲ δυστυχοῖ, βολαῖς ὑγρώσσων σπόγγος ὤλεσεν γραφήν. A line, a shadow! and if ill fate fall, One wet sponge-sweep wipes all our trace away.
 * Ἰὼ βρότεια πράγματ'· εὐτυχοῦντα μὲν
 * Ah state of mortal man! in time of weal,
 * lines 1327–1329 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)
 * Alas for human destiny! Man’s happiest hours Are pictures drawn in shadow. Then ill fortune comes, And with two strokes the wet sponge wipes the drawing out. And grief itself’s hardly more pitiable than joy.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

πᾶσι βροτοῖσιν. With bliss is never satiate.
 * Of fortune no man tastes his fill. While pointing envy notes his store, And tongues extol his happiness, Man surfeited will hunger still. For who grows weary of success, Or turns good fortune from his door Bidding her trouble him no more?
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)
 * Τὸ μὲν εὖ πράσσειν ἀκόρεστον ἔφυ
 * Too true it is! our mortal state
 * lines 1331–1332 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)


 * Oh me, I have been struck a mortal blow right inside.
 * line 1343


 * Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.
 * line 1364
 * Variant translation: Death is softer by far than tyranny.

τὸ γὰρ τοπάζειν τοῦ σάφ' εἰδέναι δίχα. To guess is one thing, and to know another.
 * Σάφ' εἰδότας χρὴ τῶνδε θυμοῦσθαι πέρι·
 * When we know clearly, then should we discuss:
 * lines 1368–1369 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)

spitting great gobs of blood all over me, drenching me in showers of his dark blood. And I rejoiced—just as the fecund earth rejoices when the heavens send spring rains
 * Clytemnestra: He collapsed, snorting his life away,
 * lines 1388–1392 (tr. Ian Johnston)

Late though it be, the lesson to be wise.
 * Γνώσῃ διδαχθεὶς ὀψὲ γοῦν τὸ σωφρονεῖν.
 * Thou shalt learn,
 * line 1425 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)

τὸν ὕστατον μέλψασα θανάσιμον γόον κεῖται † φιλήτως τοῦδ'. Has chanted out her last and dying song, Lies, loved by him.
 * Ἡ δέ τοι κύκνου δίκην
 * And she who, like a swan,
 * lines 1444–1446 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)


 * Zeus, first cause, prime mover; for what thing without Zeus is done among mortals?
 * line 1485


 * Πρὸς κέντρα μὴ λάκτιζε.
 * Do not kick against the pricks.
 * line 1624


 * I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope.
 * line 1668
 * Old as you are, you shall be taught some wisdom yet.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)


 * Kόμπασον θαρσῶν, ἀλέκτωρ ὥστε θηλείας πέλας.
 * Be boastful and be bold, like cock beside his partner.
 * line 1671 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

The Libation Bearers

 * Time was, when one creed ruled the people’s mind: Reverence for royal power Unquestioned, firm as love could bind. Now reverence has resigned Her faith; fear has his hour. Success is now men’s god, men’s more than god.
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)
 * Good fortune is a god among men, and more than a god.
 * line 59
 * Variant translation: Success is man's god.


 * Destiny waits alike for the free man as well as for him enslaved by another's might.
 * line 103


 * For a deadly blow let him pay with a deadly blow; it is for him who has done a deed to suffer.
 * line 312

θανόντι. The dead from wholly dying.
 * Παῖδες γὰρ ἀνδρὶ κληδόνες σωτήριοι
 * Children are memory's voices, and preserve
 * lines 505–506 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

κνωδάλων τε καὶ βροτῶν. 'Mong brutes or men the feebler sex befools, Conjugial bands o'errules.
 * θηλυκρατὴς ἀπέρωτος ἔρως παρανικᾷ
 * For love unlovely, when its evil spell
 * lines 600–601 (tr. Anna Swanwick)


 * What is pleasanter than the tie of host and guest?
 * line 702

Eumenides
ἔνερθε χθονός, δελτογράφῳ δὲ πάντ᾽ ἐπωπᾷ φρενί. Exactest auditor of human kind, Graved on the tablet of his mind Doth every trespass read.
 * Μέγας γὰρ Ἅιδης ἐστὶν εὔθυνος βροτῶν
 * For Hades, ruler of the nether sphere,
 * lines 273–275 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

Must somewhere reign enthroned, And watch men’s ways, and teach them, Through self-inflicted sorrow, That sin is not condoned. What man, no longer nursing Fear at his heart – what city, Once fear is cast away, Will bow the knee to Justice As in an earlier day?
 * For fear, enforcing goodness,
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

Nor slavery beneath a tyrant’s rod; Where liberty and rule are balanced well Success will follow as the gift of God
 * Seek neither licence, where no laws compel,
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

Justice' high altar; let no sight of gain Tempt you to spurn with godless insolence This sanctity. Cause and effect remain; From sin flows sorrow
 * This above all I bid you: reverence
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

πολλοὺς καθαρμούς, καὶ λέγειν ὅπου δίκη σιγᾶν θ᾽ ὁμοίως. Divers lustrations; when to speak I know, When to be silent.
 * Ἐγὼ διδαχθεὶς ἐν κακοῖς ἐπίσταμαι
 * To me, long disciplined in woe, are known
 * lines 276–278 (tr. Anna Swanwick)


 * Χρόνος καθαιρεῖ πάντα γηράσκων ὁμοῦ.
 * Time, waxing old, doth all things purify.
 * line 286 (tr. Anna Swanwick)


 * καὶ ζῶν με δαίσεις οὐδὲ πρὸς βωμῷ σφαγείς
 * Chorus of Furies: Living, you will be my feast, not slain at an altar
 * line 305 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth)


 * Chorus of Furies: We claim to be just and upright. No wrath from us will come stealthily to the one who holds out clean hands, and he will go through life unharmed; but whoever sins, as this man has, and hides his blood-stained hands, as avengers of bloodshed we appear against him to the end, presenting ourselves as upright witnesses for the dead.
 * lines 312–320 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth)


 * Κλύειν δίκαιος μᾶλλον ἢ πρᾶξαι θέλεις.
 * Repute of justice, not just act, thou wishest.
 * line 430 (tr. Anna Swanwick)


 * Ὅρκοις τὰ μὴ δίκαια μὴ νικᾶν λέγω.
 * I say that oaths shall not enforce the wrong.
 * line 432 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

μήτε δεσποτούμενον αἰνέσῃς. παντὶ μέσῳ τὸ κράτος θεὸς ὤπασεν. Nor that which bows unto a tyrant's sway. Know that the middle way Is dearest unto God, and they, thereon who wend, They shall achieve the end.
 * Μήτ᾽ ἀνάρχετον βίον
 * Praise not, O man, the life beyond control,
 * lines 526–530 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

Which will eschew alike licence and slavery; And from your polity do not wholly banish fear. For what man living, freed from fear, will still be just? Hold fast such upright fear of the law’s sanctity
 * Guard well and reverence that form of government
 * Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 (Google Books)

ας φρενῶν ὁ πάμφιλος καὶ πολύευκτος ὄλβος. Beloved of all, true bliss which mortals seek.
 * Ἐκ δ᾽ ὑγιεί-
 * While from inward health doth flow,
 * lines 535–537 (tr. Anna Swanwick)

οὐκ ἄνολβος ἔσται· πανώλεθρος δ᾽ οὔποτ᾽ ἂν γένοιτο.
 * ἑκὼν δ᾽ ἀνάγκας ἄτερ δίκαιος ὢν
 * Whoever is just willingly and without compulsion will not lack happiness; he will never be utterly destroyed.
 * lines 550–552 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth)

ἅπαξ θανόντος, οὔτις ἔστ᾽ ἀνάστασις.
 * ἀνδρὸς δ᾽ ἐπειδὰν αἷμ᾽ ἀνασπάσῃ κόνις
 * But when the dust has drawn up the blood of a man, once he is dead, there is no return to life.
 * lines 647–648 (tr. Herbert Weir Smyth)

βαλοῦσά τ᾽ οἶκον ψῆφος ὤρθωσεν μία. Of one vote only bringeth ruin deep, One, cast aright, may stablish house and home.
 * Γνώμης δ᾽ ἀπούσης πῆμα γίγνεται μέγα,
 * The default
 * lines 750–751 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

Misattributed

 * Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen.
 * Anaxagoras, frg. B 21a


 * Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.
 * This is usually attributed to Emiliano Zapata, but sometimes to Aeschylus, who is credited with expressing similar sentiments in Prometheus Bound: "For it would be better to die once and for all than to suffer pain for all one's life".


 * In war, truth is the first casualty.
 * This is often attributed to U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson, but does not appear anywhere in his speeches. Arthur Ponsonby quoted: "When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty", but the first recorded use seems to be by Philip Snowden in his introduction to Truth and the War, by E. D. Morel. London, July 1916: "'Truth,' it has been said, 'is the first casualty of war.'" Samuel Johnson expressed a similar idea: "Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages."

Quotes about Aeschylus

 * My favorite poet was Aeschylus.
 * Robert F. Kennedy, "On the Death of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." (4 April 1968), quoted in "Robert Kennedy: Delivering News of King's Death", National Public Radio (4 April 2008)


 * Aeschylus is not impersonal but transpersonal, a believer in fate and moral responsibility at the same time.
 * Rollo May, Love and Will (1969), p. 136


 * He raised everything he touched to grandeur. The characters in his hands became heroic; the conflicts became tense and fraught with eternal issues.
 * Gilbert Murray, Aeschylus: The Creator of Tragedy (1940), p. 205

imperfect. Now and then its constituents, epic and lyric, are not properly fused. He is often abrupt, immoderate, hard. To succeed him with a more artful tragedy was easy; in his almost superhuman greatness he is likely to remain unexcelled. . ..
 * The tragic style of Aeschylus is still
 * August Wilhelm Schlegel, as quoted in The Art of Aeschylus (1982) by Thomas G. Rosenmeyer


 * I regard the Oresteia as probably on the whole the greatest spiritual work of man.
 * Algernon Charles Swinburne, letter to Walter Headlam (2 October 1900), in The Swinburne Letters, ed. Cecil Y. Lang, Vol. 6 (Yale University Press, 1962), p. 147


 * Æschylus is above all things the poet of righteousness. "But in any wise, I say unto thee, revere thou the altar of righteousness": this is the crowning admonition of his doctrine, as its crowning prospect is the reconciliation or atonement of the principle of retribution with the principle of redemption, of the powers of the mystery of darkness with the coeternal forces of the spirit of wisdom, of the lord of inspiration and of light.
 * Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Age of Shakespeare (1908)