Agamemnon:
- There is not any armor
- In gold against perdition
- For him who spurns the high altar
- Of Justice down into the darkness.
- My fate is angry if I obey these,
- But angry if I slaughter
- This child, the beauty of my house,
- With maiden blood shed staining
- These father's hands beside the altar.
- What of these things goes now without disaster?
- How shall I fail my ships
- And lose my faith of battle?
A great ox stands on my tongue.
- 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.
Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.
It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.
Call no man happy till he is dead.
I well know that mirror of friendship, shadow of a shade.
Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.
- 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.
When the black and mortal blood of man has fallen to the ground ... who then can sing spells to call it back again?
Exiles feed on hope.
- And Righteousness is a shining in
- The smoke of mean houses.
- Her blessing is on the just man.
- From high hills starred with gold by reeking hands
- She turns back
- With eyes that glance away into the simple in heart,
- Spurning the strength of gold
- Stamped with false flattery.
- And all things she steers to fulfillment.
Willingly no one chooses the yoke of slavery.
