Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschyluswas an ancient Greek tragedian. His plays, alongside those of Sophocles and Euripides, are the only works of Classical Greek literature to have survived. He is often described as the father of tragedy: critics and scholars' knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier tragedies is largely based on inferences from his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in theater to allow conflict among them, whereas characters previously had interacted only...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPoet
men helping destruction
When a man takes the road to destruction, the gods help him along.
past accomplishment mercy
Only one accomplishment is beyond both the power and the mercy of the Gods. They cannot make the past as though it had never been.
war giving witness
Ares gives his verdict without witnesses.
envied ifs
If you are not envied, you are not enviable.
dream children men
Old men are children once again a dream that sways and wavers into the hard light of day.
men justice hypocrisy
Many among men are they who set high the show of honor, yet break justice.
sweet pain hands
For sufferers it is sweet to know before-hand clearly the pain that still remains for them.
party prejudice half
He hears but half who hears one party only.
suffering
By suffering comes wisdom.
hate fate men
For this our task hath Fate spun without fail to last for ever sure, that we on man weighed down with deeds of hate should follow till the earth his life immure. Nor when he dies can he boast of being truly free.
heaven mouths temples
No bribes. Nothing that passes under the roof of a temple Or under the roof of the mouth, can appease heaven's anger Or deflect its aim.
block fate blow
But still the block of Vengeance firm doth stand, and Fate, as swordsmith, hammers blow on blow.
winning technicalities
Wrong must not win by technicalities.
mind standing-alone obstinacy
Obstinacy standing alone is the weakest of all things in one whose mind is not possessed by wisdom.