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I Pray The Gods Will Give Me Some Relief 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.

-Aeschylus

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I Pray The Gods

Aeschylus

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I Pray The Gods Will Give Me Some Relief 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.

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Nought Is There In Wealth That Serves As Bulwark 'gainst The Subtle Stealth Of Destiny And Doom.

For There Below Ground Sits The Dark God, Strong To Call Men To Judgment; He Sees All, And Writes It In His Memory.

It Is Like A Woman Indeed To Take Rapture Before The Fact Is Shown For True. They Believe Too Easily, Are Too Quick To Shift From Ground To Ground; And Swift Indeed The Rumor Voiced By A Woman Dies Again.

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

It Is Always The Season For The Old To Learn.

Watchful Are The Gods Of All Hands With Slaughter Stained. The Black Furies Wait, And When A Man Has Grown By Luck, Not Justice, Great, With Sudden Overturn Of Chance They Wear Him To A Shade, And, Cast Down To Perdition, Who Shall Save Him?

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

Truth Is Always The First Casualty Of War.

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

Delay Not To Seize The Hour!

Procrastination

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

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

The Man Whose Authority Is Recent Is Always Stern.

Out Of Respect, A Man Must Veil His Words When Talking With A Woman, But With A Man He Can Frankly Say Whatever's On His Mind.

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.

[hermes Addresses Prometheus :] To You, The Clever And Crafty, Bitter Beyond All Bitterness, Who Has Sinned Against The Gods In Bestowing Honors Upon Creatures Of A Day--to You, Thief Of Fire, I Speak.

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

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

By Time And Age Full Many Things Are Taught.

No One Can Count The Terrors That The Earth Spawns, Catastrophic, Gruesome, And The Vast Arms Of The Sea Swarm With Brute Monsters Bent On Harm, And Everywhere Between The Sky And Ground Lights Bloom By Day In Flares And Sudden Bolts; And Birds And Beasts Alike Can Tell Of The Whirlwind's Whirling Wrath.

A People's Wrath Voiced Abroad Bringeth Grave Danger, No Less Than Public Curse Pronounced.

O Death The Healer, Scorn Thou Not, I Pray, To Come To Me: Of Cureless Ills Thou Art The One Physician. Pain Lays Not Its Touch Upon A Corpse.

The Reward Of Pain Is Experience.

The Future You Shall Know When It Has Come; Before Then, Forget It.

Old Men, What Are They? Fast Fading The Leaf, Three-footed They Walk, Yet Frail As A Child, As A Dream Set Afloat In The Daylight.

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

Even The Old Should Learn.

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

There Are Times When Fear Is Good. It Must Keep Its Watchful Place At The Heart's Controls.

And One Who Is Just Of His Own Free Will Shall Not Lack For Happiness; And He Will Never Come To Utter Ruin.

When The Black And Mortal Blood Of Man Has Fallen To The Ground ... Who Then Can Sing Spells To Call It Back Again?

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.

He Hears But Half Who Hears One Party Only.

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.

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

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

The Field Of Doom Bears Death As Its Harvest.

Many Men Who Transgress Justice, Honor Appearance Over Reality.

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

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

For There Is No Defense For A Man Who, In The Excess Of His Wealth, Has Kicked The Great Altar Of Justice Out Of Sight.

Few Men Have The Natural Strength To Honor A Friend's Success Without Envy.

Time Brings All Things To Pass.

Time Management

Learning Is Ever In The Freshness Of Its Youth, Even For The Old.

For Know That No One Is Free, Except Zeus.

Rumours Voiced By Women Come To Nothing.

Words Are The Physicians Of A Mind Diseased.

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.

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

Base Men Who Prosper Are Unenviable.

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

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.

We Spoil Ourselves With Scruples Long As Things Go Well.

My Friends, Whoever Has Had Experience Of Evils Knows How Whenever A Flood Of Ills Comes Upon Mortals, A Man Fears Everything; But Whenever A Divine Force Cheers On Our Voyage, Then We Believe That The Same Fate Will Always Blow Fair.

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

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

Simple Is The Speech Of Truth.

What Is There More Kindly Than The Feeling Between Host And Guest?

Number, The Most Excellent Of All Inventions.

Chorus: Zeus, Who Guided Men To Think Who Laid It Down That Wisdom Comes Alone Through Suffering. Still There Drips In Sleep Against The Heart Grief Of Memory; Against Our Pleasure We Are Temperate.

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

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.

Everyone's Quick To Blame The Alien.

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

They Who Prosper Take On Airs Of Vanity.

Pain Lays Not Its Touch Upon A Corpse.

Every Ruler Is Harsh Whose Laws Is New.

Too Few Rejoice At A Friend's Good Fortune.

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.

When A Match Has Equal Partners Then I Fear Not.

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

Time, Waxing Old, Doth All Things Purify.

Call No Man Happy Till He Is Dead.

Mourn For Me Rather As Living Than As Dead.

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

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

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

For Wherein Is Life Sweet To Him Who Suffers Grief?

Time Waxing Old Can Many A Lesson Teach.

The Moving Light, Rejoicing In Its Strength, Sped From The Pyre Of Pine, And Urged Its Way, In Golden Glory, Like Some Strange New Sun.

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

There Is A Time When Fear Is Good And Ought To Remain Seated As A Guardian Of The Heart.

The Burning Gaze Of A Young Woman, Such As Hath Tasted Man, Shall Not Escape Me; For I Have A Spirit Keen To Mark These Things.

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

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

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!'.

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

It Is The Nature Of Mortals To Kick A Fallen Man.

Remember To Be Submissive, Thou Art Analien, A Fugitive, And In Need.

The Misfortunes Of Mankind Are Of Varied Plumage.

Of Prosperity Mortals Can Never Have Enough.

The Wisest Of The Wise May Err.

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

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

Truly Upon Mortals Cometh Swift Of Foot Their Evil And His Offence Upon Him That Trespasseth Against Right.

But When Once The Earth Has Sucked Up A Dead Man's Blood, There Is No Way To Raise Him Up.

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

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

Everyone Is Ready To Speak Ill Of A Stranger.

Whoever Is New To Power Is Always Harsh.

Only Through Suffering Do We Learn

By Suffering Comes Wisdom.

Time Cleanses What It Touches Over Time.

It Is Always In Season For Old Men To Learn.

As Long As There Are Men The Bulwark Is Safe.

This Is The Law: Blood Spilt Upon The Ground Cries Out For More.

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

For It Would Be Better To Die Once And For All Than To Suffer Pain For All One's Life.

You Shall Learn, Though Late, The Lesson Of How To Be Discreet.

The High Strength Of Men Knows No Content With Limitation.

For The Mighty, Even To Give Away Is Grace.

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.

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

For In Pure Maidens, Knowing Not The Marriage-bed, The Glance Of The Eyes Sinks From Shame.

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

Old Men Are Always Young Enough To Learn With Profit.

Suffering Brings Experience.

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

Old Age Hath Stronger Sense Of Right Than Youth.

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

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

The Tongue Of Slander Is Too Prompt With Wanton Malice To Wound The Stranger.

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

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

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

It's A Man's Jobno Place For Women's Plans Here!what Lies Outside. Stay Home And Cause No Trouble.

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

A Great Ox Stands On My Tongue.

Whoever Is Just Willingly And Without Compulsion Will Not Lack Happiness; He Will Never Be Utterly Destroyed.

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

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.

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

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

In The Sinews Of The Dead There Is No Blood.

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

Keeping Promises

There Is Advantage In The Wisdom Won From Pain.

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

I Would Rather Be Ignorant Than Knowledgeable Of Evils.

For The Lips Of Zeus Do Not Know How To Lie, But Bring To Fulfilment Every Word.

Necessity Is Stronger Far Than Art.

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

Do Not Kick Against The Pricks.

To Many Mortals Silence Great Gain Brings.

Fear Is Stronger Than Arms.

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

A God Implants In Mortal Guilt Whenever He Wants Utterly To Confound A House.

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

Wiles And Deceit Are Female Qualities.

Courage! Suffering, When It Climbs Highest, Lasts Not Long.

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

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

For Hostile Word Let Hostile Word Be Paid.

The Words Of Truth Are Simple.

Search Well And Be Wise, Nor Believe That Self-willed Pride Will Ever Be Better Than Good Counsel.

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

It Is A Light Thing For Whoever Keeps His Foot Outside Trouble To Advise And Counsel Him That Suffers.

Success Is Man's God.

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

There Is No Disgrace In An Enemy Suffering Ill At An Enemy's Hand, When You Hate Mutually.

Art Is Far Feebler Than Necessity.

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

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

God Is Not Averse To Deceit In A Holy Cause.

Old Men Are Children Once Again A Dream That Sways And Wavers Into The Hard Light Of Day.

But I Will Place This Carefully Fed Pig Within The Crackling Oven; And, I Pray, What Nicer Dish Can E'er Be Given To Man.

Black Smoke, The Flickering Sister Of Fire.

Wrong Must Not Win By Technicalities.

The Man Who Does Ill, Ill Must Suffer Too.

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.

Justice Inclines Her Scales So That Wisdom Comes At The Price Of Suffering.

The So-called Mother Of The Child Isn't The Child's Begetter, But Only A Sort Of Nursing Soil For The New-sown Seed. The Man, The One On Top, Is The True Parent, While She, A Stranger, Foster's A Stranger's Sprout.

The Force Of Necessity Is Irresistible.

For A Single Path Leads To The House Of Hades.

Memory Is The Mother Of All Wisdom.

The Gods At Will Can Shape A Gladder Strain, And From The Lamentations At The Graveside, A Song Of Triumph May Arise.

The Adulterer Dies. An Old Custom, Justice.

Making It A Valid Law To Learn By Suffering.

When A Man Takes The Road To Destruction, The Gods Help Him Along.

Honor Modesty More Than Your Life.

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

Words Are The Parents Of A Causeless Wrath.

A Prosperous Fool Is A Grievous Burden.

I, Schooled In Misery, Know Many Purifying Rites, And I Know Where Speech Is Proper And Where Silence.

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

Athena: There Are Two Sides To This Dispute. I've Heard Only One Half The Argument. (...) So You Two Parties, Summon Your Witnesses, Set Out Your Proofs, With Sworn Evidence To Back Your Stories. Once I've Picked The Finest Men In Athens, I'll Return. They'll Rule Fairly In This Case, Bound By A Sworn Oath To Act With Justice.

Happiness Is A Choice That Requires Effort At Times.

Sweet Is A Grief Well Ended.

There's Only Few People Who Have Strength To Honor Someone's Achievement Without Envy.

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

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.

Ares Gives His Verdict Without Witnesses.

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

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

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

Alas For The Affairs Of Men! When They Are Fortunate You Might Compare Them To A Shadow; And If They Are Unfortunate, A Wet Sponge With One Dash Wipes The Picture Away.

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.

From A Just Fraud God Turneth Not Away.

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.

In Few Men Is It Part Of Nature To Respect A Friend's Prosperity Without Begrudging Him.

I Pray The Gods Will Give Me Some Relief 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.

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