“Ah state of mortal man! in time of weal,
A line, a shadow! and if ill fate fall,
One wet sponge-sweep wipes all our trace away.”

—  Aeschylus , Agamemnon

Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 1327–1329 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)

Original

Ἰὼ βρότεια πράγματ'· εὐτυχοῦντα μὲν σκιᾷ τις ἂν πρέψειεν· εἰ δὲ δυστυχοῖ, βολαῖς ὑγρώσσων σπόγγος ὤλεσεν γραφήν.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Aeschylus 119
ancient Athenian playwright -525–-456 BC

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