John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
Aeshylus 525-456 BC John Bartlett
| 1 | |
| I would far rather be ignorant than wise in the foreboding of evil. 1 | |
| Suppliants, 453. | |
| 2 | |
| “Honour thy father and thy mother” stands written among the three laws of most revered righteousness. 2 | |
| Suppliants, 707. | |
| 3 | |
| Words are the physicians of a mind diseased. 3 | |
| Prometheus, 378. | |
| 4 | |
| Time as he grows old teaches many lessons. | |
| Prometheus, 981. | |
| 5 | |
| God’s mouth knows not to utter falsehood, but he will perform each word. 4 | |
| Prometheus, 1032. | |
| 6 | |
| Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old. 5 | |
| Agamemnon, 584. | |
| 7 | |
| Few men have the natural strength to honour a friend’s success without envy…. I well know that mirror of friendship, shadow of a shade. | |
| Agamemnon, 832. | |
| 8 | |
| Exiles feed on hope. | |
| Agamemnon, 1668. | |
| 9 | |
| Success is man’s god. | |
| Choephoræ, 59. | |
| 10 | |
| 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.” 6 | |
| Frag. 135 (trans. by Plumptre). | |
| 11 | |
| 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. | |
| Frag. 146 (trans. by Plumptre). | |
| 12 | |
| 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. | |
| Frag. 250 (trans. by Plumptre). | |
| 13 | |
| A prosperous fool is a grievous burden. | |
| Frag. 383. | |
| 14 | |
| Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine, of the heart. | |
| Frag. 384. | |
| 15 | |
| It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath. | |
| Frag. 385. |
| Note 1. See Gray, Quotation 10. [back] |
| Note 2. The three great laws ascribed to Triptolemus are referred to,—namely, to honour parents; to worship the gods with the fruits of the earth; to hurt no living creature. The first two laws are also ascribed to the centaur Cheiron. [back] |
| Note 3. Apt words have power to suage The tumours of a troubl’d mind. John Milton: Samson Agonistes. [back] |
| Note 4. God is not a man that he should lie;… hath he said, and shall he not do it?—Numbers xxiii. 19. [back] |
| Note 5. See Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Quotation 58. [back] |
| Note 6. See Waller, Quotation 2. [back] |