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I Pray The Gods Some Respite From The Weary Task Of This Long Year's Watch That Lying On The Atreidae's Roof On Bended Arm, Dog- Like, I Have Kept, Marking The Conclave Of All Night's Stars, Those Potentates Blazing In The Heavens That Bring Winter And Summer To Mortal Men, The Constellations, When They Wane, When They Rise.

-Aeschylus

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I Pray The Gods

Aeschylus

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I Pray The Gods Some Respite From The Weary Task Of This Long Year's Watch That Lying On The Atreidae's Roof On Bended Arm, Dog- Like, I Have Kept, Marking The Conclave Of All Night's Stars, Those Potentates Blazing In The Heavens That Bring Winter And Summer To Mortal Men, The Constellations, When They Wane, When They Rise.

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For Somehow This Is Tyranny's Disease, To Trust No Friends.

In The Sinews Of The Dead There Is No Blood.

God Lends A Helping Hand To The Man Who Tries Hard.

Who, Except The Gods, Can Live Time Through Forever Without Any Pain?

Of All The Gods Only Death Does Not Desire Gifts.

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But From The Good Health Of The Mind Comes That Which Is Dear To All And The Object Of Prayer-happiness.

Sweet Is A Grief Well Ended.

No Man Looks With Love On Deeds That To The High Gods Hateful Prove.

Time, Waxing Old, Doth All Things Purify.

Married Love Between Man And Woman Is Bigger Than Oaths Guarded By Right Of Nature.

Who Holds A Power But Newly Gained Is Ever Stern Of Mood.

Don't Try To Make Intelligent Decisions When Your Brain Is Hyped

Many Men Who Transgress Justice, Honor Appearance Over Reality.

Still To The Sufferer Comes, As Due From God, A Glory That To Suffering Owes Its Birth.

Jars Neither Of Wine Nor Of Water Shall Fail In The Houses Of The Rich.

When A Man Dies, Flesh Is Frayed And Broken In The Fire, But Not His Will.

Delay Not To Seize The Hour!

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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 Despair, Against Our Will, Comes Wisdom To Us By The Awful Grace Of God.

But Still The Block Of Vengeance Firm Doth Stand, And Fate, As Swordsmith, Hammers Blow On Blow.

If You Are Not Envied, You Are Not Enviable.

Death Is Easier Than A Wretched Life; And Better Never To Have Born Than To Live And Fare Badly.

Black Smoke, The Flickering Sister Of Fire.

His Resolve Is Not To Seem The Bravest, But To Be.

A Great Ox Stands On My Tongue.

On Him Who Wields Power Gently, The God Looks Favorably From Afar.

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.

For The Marriage Bed Ordained By Fate For Men And Women Is Stronger Than An Oath And Guarded By Justice.

When Strength Is Yoked With Justice, Where Is A Mightier Pair Than They?

Wisdom Comes Alone Through Suffering.

World Suffering

In The Lack Of Judgment Great Harm Arises, But One Vote Cast Can Set Right A House.

Necessity Is Stronger Far Than Art.

For Know That No One Is Free, Except Zeus.

Justice Turns The Scale, Bringing To Some Learning Through Suffering.

A Man Dies Not For The Many Wounds That Pierce His Breast, Unless It Be That Life's End Keep Pace With Death, Nor By Sitting On His Hearth At Home Doth He The More Escape His Appointed Doom.

By Suffering Comes Wisdom.

Better To Die On Your Feet Than Live On Your Knees.

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.

Death Hath A Fairer Fame Than A Life Of Toil.

The People's Awe And Innate Fear Will Hold Injustice Back By Day, By Night, So Long As The People Leave The Laws Intact, Just As They Are: Muddy The Cleanest Spring, And All You'll Have To Drink Is Muddy Water.

The Cure Is In The House, Not Brought By Other Hands From Distant Places, But By Its Own, In Agony And Blood.

I Willingly Speak To Those Who Know, But For Those Who Do Not Know I Forget.

The Saying Goes That The Gods Leave A Town Once It Is Captured.

Joy Steals Upon Me, Such Joy As Calls Forth Tears.

For A Single Path Leads To The House Of Hades.

Base Men Who Prosper Are Unenviable.

Making It A Valid Law To Learn By Suffering.

From A Just Fraud God Turneth Not Away.

But I Must Bear My Destiny As Best I Can, Knowing Well That There Is No Resisting The Strength Of Necessity.

When A Tongue Fails To Send Forth Appropriate Shafts, There Might Be A Word To Act As Healer Of These.

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It Is Through Suffering That Learning Comes.

But Let The Good Prevail.

I Warn The Marauder Dragging Plunder, Chaotic, Rich Beyond All Rights: He'll Strike His Sails, Harried At Long Last, Stunned When The Squalls Of Torment Break His Spars To Bits.

The Field Of Doom Bears Death As Its Harvest.

Many Among Men Are They Who Set High The Show Of Honor, Yet Break Justice.

Be It Mine To Draw From Wisdom's Fount, Pure As It Flows, That Calm Of Soul Which Virtue Only Knows.

Mourn For Me Rather As Living Than As Dead.

For Hostile Word Let Hostile Word Be Paid.

It Is Easy When We Are In Prosperity To Give Advice To The Afflicted.

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.

If You Will Take Me As Your Teacher, You Will Not Kick Against The Pricks.

In War The First Casualty Is The Truth.

What Good Is It To Live A Life That Brings Pains?

The Air Is Zeus, Zeus Earth, And Zeus The Heaven, Zeus All That Is, And What Transcends Them All.

Athena: You Wish To Be Called Righteous Rather Than Act Right. [...] I Say, Wrong Must Not Win By Technicalities.

But When The Dust Has Drunk The Blood Of Men, No Resurrection Comes For One Who's Dead.

For In The Voyage Of The Heart, There Is A Freight Of Hatred, And The Wind Of Wrath Blows Shrill.

Overly Persuasive A Woman's Ordinance Spreads Far, Traveling Fast; But Fast Dying A Rumor Voiced By A Woman Perishes.

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Memory Is The Mother Of All Wisdom.

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The Act Of Evil Breeds Others To Follow, Young Sins In Its Own Likeness.

Know Yourself And Fit Yourself To New Fashions. For There Is A New Ruler Among The Gods.

The Seed Of Mortals Broods O'er Passing Things, And Hath Nought Surer Than The Smoke-cloud's Shadow.

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The Anvil Of Justice Is Planted Firm, And Fate Who Makes The Sword Does The Forging In Advance.

Ares Ever Loves To Pluck All The Fairest Flower Of An Armed Host.

This Is A Sickness Rooted And Inherent In The Nature Of A Tyranny: That He That Holds It Does Not Trust His Friends.

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The Unenvied Man Is Not Enviable.

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Once To Die Is Better Than Length Of Days In Sorrow Without End.

Only When A Man's Life Comes To Its End In Prosperity Dare We Pronounce Him Happy.

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I Would Rather Be Ignorant Than Knowledgeable Of Evils.

Bronze Is The Mirror Of Form, Wine Of The Heart.

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For The Impious Act Begets More After It, Like To The Parent Stock.

When A Man's Willing And Eager The God's Join In.

You Have Been Trapped In The Inescapable Net Of Ruin By Your Own Want Of Sense.

Those Who Would Learn Must Suffer. In Our Own Despair, Against Our Will, Wisdom Comes To Us.

Destiny Waits Alike For The Free Man As Well As For Him Enslaved By Another's Might.

The Reward Of Pain Is Experience.

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A Prosperous Fool Is A Grievous Burden.

We Must Pronounce Him Fortunate Who Has Ended His Life In Fair Prosperity.

Oh, It Is Easy For The One Who Stands Outside The Prison-wall Of Pain To Exhort And Teach The One Who Suffers.

For Mortal Kind Taketh Thought Only For The Day, And Hath No More Surety Than The Shadow Of Smoke.

Since Long I've Held Silence A Remedy For Harm.

Long Tarries Destiny, But Comes To Those Who Pray.

Truly Even He Errs That Is Wiser Than The Wise.

We Spoil Ourselves With Scruples Long As Things Go Well.

The Holy Heaven Yearns To Wound The Earth, And Yearning Layeth Hold On The Earth To Join In Wedlock; The Rain, Fallen From The Amorous Heaven, Impregnates The Earth, And It Bringeth Forth For Mankind The Food Of Flocks And Herds And Demeter's Gifts; And From That Moist Marriage-rite The Woods Put On Their Bloom.

Justice Shines In Very Smoky Homes, And Honors The Righteous; But The Gold-spangled Mansions Where The Hands Are Unclean She Leaves With Eyes Averted.

Zeus, First Cause, Prime Mover; For What Thing Without Zeus Is Done Among Mortals?

. . . It Is Yours Women's To Be Silent And Stay Within Doors.

Obedience Is The Mother Of Success And Is Wedded To Safety.

The Truth Has To Be Melted Out Of Our Stubborn Lives By Suffering. Nothing Speaks The Truth, Nothing Tells Us How Things Really Are, Nothing Forces Us To Know What We Do Not Want To Know Except Pain. And This Is How The Gods Declare Their Love.

From Him [death] Alone Of All The Powers Of Heaven Persuasion Holds Aloof.

The Misfortunes Of Mankind Are Of Varied Plumage.

Rumours Voiced By Women Come To Nothing.

Respect The Altar Of Justice And Do Not, Looking To Profit, Dishonor It By Spurning With Godless Foot; For Punishment Will Come Upon You.

Wiles And Deceit Are Female Qualities.

Let There Be Wealth Without Tears; Enough For The Wise Man Who Will Ask No Further.

Self-will In The Man Who Does Not Reckon Wisely Is By Itself The Weakest Of All Things.

Suffering Brings Experience.

If A Man Should Wanton Walk With Crime ... He Shall Find In Death No Great Deliverance.

The Best By Far Is To Marry In One's Own Rank.

Bonds And The Pangs Of Hunger Are Excellent Prophet Doctors For The Wits.

But Who Can Describe The Overweening Pride Of Men? Or Women Mad With Passion, Reckless In Their Hearts, Soulmates To Every Kind Of Ruin That Befalls Us? Wild Passion, Unrestrained, Boundless, That Overcomes The Women, Perverts The Yoke Of Wedlock For Beasts And Men Alike.

There Is No Pain So Great As The Memory Of Joy In Present Grief.

Arrogance Is Truly The Child Of Impiety, But From Health Of Soul Comes Happiness, Dear To All, Much Prayed For.

Time Cleanses What It Touches Over Time.

For The Mighty, Even To Give Away Is Grace.

Know Not To Revere Human Things Too Much.

It Is An Ill Thing To Be The First To Bring News Of Ill.

Misfortune Wandering The Same Track Lights Now Upon One And Now Upon Another.

God Planteth In Mortal Men The Cause Of Sin Whensoever He Wills Utterly To Destroy A House.

Beyond Age, Leaf Withered, Man Goes Three Footed No Stronger Than A Child Is, A Dream That Falters In Daylight.

Whenever A Man Makes Haste, God Too Hastens With Him.

When A Match Has Equal Partners Then I Fear Not.

Hungry Wailing Standeth Not Aloof.

The Will Was Of Zeus, The Hand Of Hephaestus.

To Be Fortunate Is God, And More Than God To Mortals.

With Our Own Feathers, Not By Others' Hands, Are We Now Smitten.

God's Mouth Knows Not How To Speak Falsehood, But He Brings To Pass Every Word.

It Is In The Character Of Very Few Men To Honor Without Envy A Friend Who Has Prospered.

Human Prosperity Never Rests But Always Craves More, Till Blown Up With Pride It Totters And Falls. From The Opulent Mansions Pointed At By All Passers-by None Warns It Away, None Cries, 'let No More Riches Enter!'.

For The Poison Of Hatred Seated Near The Heart Doubles The Burden For The One Who Suffers The Disease; He Is Burdened With His Own Sorrow, And Groans On Seeing Another's Happiness.

In Every Tyrant's Heart There Springs In The End This Poison, That He Cannot Trust A Friend.

If You Pour Oil And Vinegar Into The Same Vessel, You Would Call Them Not Friends But Opponents.

Time Waxing Old Can Many A Lesson Teach.

Against Necessity, Against Its Strength, No One Can Fight And Win.

High Fortune, This In Man's Eye Is God And More Than God Is This.

There Is No Sickness Worse For Me Than Words That To Be Kind Must Lie.

The Great And Amorous Sky Curved Over The Earth, And Lay Upon Her As A Pure Lover. The Rain, The Humid Flux Descending From Heaven For Both Man And Animal, For Both Thick And Strong, Germinated The Wheat, Swelled The Furrows With Fecund Mud And Brought Forth The Buds In The Orchards. And It Is I Who Empowered These Moist Espousals, I The Great Aphrodite.

Oaths Are Not The Credit Of Men But Men Of Oaths.

To Be Free From Evil Thoughts Is God's Best Gift.

Time In His Aging Overtakes All Things Alike.

Yet Though A Man Gets Many Wounds In Breast, He Dieth Not, Unless The Appointed Time, The Limit Of His Life's Span, Coincide; Nor Does The Man Who By The Hearth At Home Sits Still, Escape The Doom That Fate Decrees.

From A Small Seed A Mighty Trunk May Grow.

Justice, Voiceless, Unseen, Seeth Thee When Thou Sleepest And When Thou Goest Forth And When Thou Liest Down. Continually Doth She Attend Thee, Now Aslant Thy Course, Now At A Later Time. These Lines Are From A Section Of Doubtful Or Spurious Fragments.

It Is Not The Oath That Makes Us Believe The Man, But The Man The Oath.

Keeping Promises

It Is An Easy Thing For One Whose Foot Is On The Outside Of Calamity To Give Advice And To Rebuke The Sufferer.

When We Sleep The Soul Is Lit Up... By Many Eyes, And With Them, We Can See Everything That We Cannot See In The Daytime.

To Many Mortals Silence Great Gain Brings.

Nothing Forces Us To Know What We Do Not Want To Know Except Pain

I Have Learned To Hate All Traitors, And There Is No Disease That I Spit On More Than Treachery.

If A Man Suffers Ill, Let It Be Without Shame; For This Is The Only Profit When We Are Dead. You Will Never Say A Good Word About Deeds That Are Evil And Disgraceful.

Pain Lays Not Its Touch Upon A Corpse.

Ares Gives His Verdict Without Witnesses.

Words Are Healers Of The Sick Tempered.

By Time And Age Full Many Things Are Taught.

Art Is Far Feebler Than Necessity.

It Is Always In Season For Old Men To Learn.

Obstinacy Standing Alone Is The Weakest Of All Things In One Whose Mind Is Not Possessed By Wisdom.

Unanimous Hatred Is The Greatest Medicine For A Human Community.

Do Not Kick Against The Pricks.

In War, Truth Is The First Casualty.

Wisdom Cometh By Suffering.

The One Knowing What Is Profitable, And Not The Man Knowing Many Things, Is Wise.

For Sufferers It Is Sweet To Know Before-hand Clearly The Pain That Still Remains For Them.

Good Fortune Is A God Among Men, And More Than A God.

In Visions Of The Night, Like Dropping Rain, Descend The Many Memories Of Pain.

It Is Best For The Wise Man Not To Seem Wise.

May Dawn, As The Proverb Goes, Bring Happy Tidings Coming From Her Mother Night.

And Though All Streams Flow From A Single Course To Cleanse The Blood From Polluted Hand, They Hasten On Their Course In Vain.

Nor Does Night Conceal Men's Deeds Of Ill, But Whatsoe'er Thou Dost, Think That Some God Beholds It.

Take Courage; Pain's Extremity Soon Ends.

Pleasantest Of All Ties Is The Tie Of Host And Guest.

For Hades Is Mighty In Calling Men To Account Below The Earth, And With A Mind That Records In Tablets He Surveys All Things.

God Is Not Averse To Deceit In A Holy Cause.

So In The Libyan Fable It Is Told 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.

God's Most Lordly Gift To Man Is Decency Of Mind.

Call No Man Happy Till He Is Dead.

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