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
dream children men
Beyond age, leaf withered, man goes three footed no stronger than a child is, a dream that falters in daylight.
shadow kind mortals
For mortal kind taketh thought only for the day, and hath no more surety than the shadow of smoke.
hands agony blood
The cure is in the house, not brought by other hands from distant places, but by its own, in agony and blood.
men blood black
When the black and mortal blood of man has fallen to the ground ... who then can sing spells to call it back again?
heart guardian ought
There is a time when fear is good and ought to remain seated as a guardian of the heart.
song shapes may
The gods at will can shape a gladder strain, and from the lamentations at the graveside, a song of triumph may arise.
struggle men hot-headed
The man who boldly transgresses, amassing a great heap unjustly--by force, in time, he will strike his sail, when trouble seizes him as the yardarm is splintered. He calls on those who hear nothing and he struggles in the midst of the whirling waters. The god laughs at the hot-headed man, seeing him, who boasted that this would never happen, exhausted by distress without remedy and unable to surmount the cresting wave. He wrecks the happiness of his earlier life on the reef of Justice, and he perishes unwept, unseen.
men house causes
God planteth in mortal men the cause of sin whensoever he wills utterly to destroy a house.
mouths speak knows
God's mouth knows not how to speak falsehood, but he brings to pass every word.
time aging all-things
Time in his aging overtakes all things alike.
strong memories writing
For there below ground sits the Dark God, strong to call men to judgment; he sees all, and writes it in his memory.
adversity light track
Misfortune wandering the same track lights now upon one and now upon another.
heart blow wind
For in the voyage of the heart, there is a freight of hatred, and the wind of wrath blows shrill.
winning tears fortune
To make wail and lament for one's ill fortune, when one will win a tear from the audience, is well worthwhile.