128 quotes
The will of Zeus,
The hand of his Hephæstus.
Necessity is stronger far than art.
For love unlovely, when its evil spell
'Mong brutes or men the feebler sex befools,
Conjugial bands o'errules. (tr. A. Swanwick)
Oresteia (-458)
You shall come back again to the light
Ah state of mortal man! in time of weal,
A line, a shadow! and if ill fate fall,
One wet sponge-sweep wipes all our trace away. (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)
Oresteia (-458)
Seek neither licence, where no laws compel,
Nor slavery beneath a tyrant’s rod;
Where liberty and rule are balanced well
Success will follow as the gift of God. (tr. P. Vellacott)
Oresteia (-458)
Old men are always young enough to learn. (tr. R. Lattimore [l. 583])
Oresteia (-458)
Of all the gods, Death only craves not gifts:
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. (tr. Ε. Η. Plumptre)
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.
And she who, like a swan,
Has chanted out her last and dying song,
Lies, loved by him. (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
Oresteia (-458)
Thou shalt learn,
Late though it be, the lesson to be wise. (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
Oresteia (-458)
None of their own will choose a bond-slave's life. (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
Oresteia (-458)
The man who does ill, ill must suffer too. (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
For to a dead man his children are the fame that preserves him; like corks they bear the net up, keeping safe the spun flax that stretches up from the depths. (tr. A. H. Sommerstein)
Oresteia (-458)
Dangerous is a people's voice charged with wrath. (tr. H. W. Smyth)
Oresteia (-458)
Sole cure of wrong is silence. (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)
Oresteia (-458)
But ancient Arrogance, or soon or late,
When strikes the hour ordained by Fate,
Breedeth new Arrogance, which still
Revels, wild wantoner in human ill. (tr. A. Swanwick)
Oresteia (-458)
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? (tr. P. Vellacott)
Oresteia (-458)
When we know clearly, then should we discuss:
To guess is one thing, and to know another. (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
Oresteia (-458)
Then he put on
The harness of Necessity. (tr. P. Vellacott)
Oresteia (-458)