“Sole cure of wrong is silence.”
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 548 (tr. E. D. A. Morshead)
“And she who, like a swan,
Has chanted out her last and dying song,
Lies, loved by him.”
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 1444–1446 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
“Only when man's life comes to its end in prosperity can one call that man happy.”
Call no man happy till he is dead.
Also attributed to Sophocles in "Oedipus The King".
Hold him alone truly fortunate who has ended his life in happy well-being.
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 928–929. Variant translations:
opening lines
Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 1388–1392 (tr. Ian Johnston)
“Prolific truly is the impious deed;
Like to the evil stock, the evil seed.”
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 758–760 (tr. Anna Swanwick)
“Old men are always young enough to learn.”
Variant translation: Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old. <br class="br">Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 584 ( line 583 of Richmond Lattimore's translation http://books.google.com/books?id=3duN7nP3OQYC&q=%22old+men+are+always+young+enough+to+learn%22&pg=PA40#v=onepage)
“Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.”
Variant translation: Death is softer by far than tyranny.
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 1364
“Justice turns the scale
For those to whom through pain
At last comes wisdom's gain.”
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 250–251 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
“None of their own will choose a bond-slave's life.”
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 953 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
“When we know clearly, then should we discuss:
To guess is one thing, and to know another.”
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, lines 1368–1369 (tr. E. H. Plumptre)
“She [Helen] brought to Ilium her dowry, destruction.”
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 406
“Be boastful and be bold, like cock beside his partner.”
Kόμπασον θαρσῶν, ἀλέκτωρ ὥστε θηλείας πέλας.
Source: Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon, line 1671 (tr. Anna Swanwick)
“God’s best gift Is a mind free from folly”
Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 ( Google Books https://books.google.com.au/books?id=tuRiOESBVjkC) <br class="br">Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon
“Glances whose gentle fire Bestowed both wound and balm;”
Phillip Vellacott, The Oresteian Trilogy, Penguin 1973 ( Google Books https://books.google.com.au/books?id=tuRiOESBVjkC) <br class="br">Oresteia (458 BC), Agamemnon
