Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878)/Fragments
FRAGMENTS.
11.[1]
Hast thou done fearful evil? Thou must bear
Evil as fearful; and the holy light
Of righteousness shines clearly.
12.
Kings wisdom gain, consorting with the wise.
13.
Man is but breath and shadow, nothing more.
14.
The mightiest and the wisest in their minds
Thou may'st see like to him who standeth here,
Giving good counsel to a man distressed;
But when God's will shall send the scourge on one
Who lived till then as fortune's favourite,
All his fine phrases vanish utterly.
35.
'Neath every stone there lies a scorpion hid.
58.
Hark! some one cries. . . . . Or do I vainly call?
The man who fears hears noise on every side.
59.
Be sure, no lie can ever reach old age.
61.
A maiden too, and one of Argive race,
Whose glory lies in fewest words or none.
62.
Short speech becomes the wise of heart and good
To parents who begat and bore and bred.
63.
Be of good cheer, Ο lady: dangers oft,
Though blowing dreams by night, are lulled by day.
64.
None cleave to life so fondly as the old.
65.
Life, Ο my son, is sweetest boon of all:
It is not given to men to taste death twice.
66.
*The living should not glory o'er the dead,
As knowing well that he himself must die.
67.
How all men seek to shun the tyrant's face!
88.
A soul with good intent and purpose just
Discerns far more than lecturer can teach.
89.
Much wisdom often goes with fewest words.
90.
A man whose whole delight is still to talk
Knows not how much he vexes all his friends.
91.
If thou art noble, as thou say'st thyself,
Tell me from whence thou'rt sprung. No speech can stain
What comes of noble nature, nobly born.
92.
Thy speech is worthy, not too harshly said;
A noble stock that bears the test of proof,
Will still gain fair repute beyond all blame.
93.
Who can count man's prosperity as great,
Or small and lowly, or of no account?
None of all this continues in one stay.
94.
Strange is it that the godless, who have sprung
From evil-doers, should fare prosperously,
While good men, born of noble stock, should be
By adverse fortune vexed. It was ill done
For the Gods thus to order lives of men.
What ought to be is this, that godly souls
Should from the Gods gain some clear recompense,
And the unjust pay some clear penalty;
So none would prosper who are base of soul.
98.
Then does men's life become one vast disease,
When once they seek their ills by ills to cure.
99.
Not easy is it to resist the just.
100.
Deceit is base, unfit for noble souls.
101.
A righteous tongue has with it mightiest strength.
102.
Hush, boy! for silence brings a thousand gains.
103.
Why tellest thou thy tale of many words?
Superfluous speech is irksome everywhere.
104.
In some things be not anxious to inquire:
Far better is it oft to leave them hid.
105.
I know not how to answer to these things.
When good men by the base
Are overcome in strife,
What city could endure such deeds as this?
106.
No one, I trow; yet take good heed to this,
Lest it be better, e'en by godless deeds,
To triumph over foes than as a slave
To yield obedience.
107.
Cease thou. Enough for me the name of son
Of such a father, if indeed I'm his:
And if I be not, small the injury;
Repute oft triumphs o'er the truth itself.
108.
The bastard is as strong as lawful sons;
Goodness still claims a rank legitimate.
109.
Riches gain friends, gain honours,—further still,
Gain highest sovereignty for those who sit
In low estate. The rich have no men foes;
And if they have, these still conceal their hate.
A wondrous power has wealth to wind its way
Or on plain ground, or heights that none may tread,
Where one that's poor, although 'twere close at hand
Would fail to gain the thing his heart desires.
The form unsightly and of no esteem
It makes both wise of speech and fair to see:
It only has the power of joy or grief,
It only knows the art of hiding ill.
162.
A pleasant ill is this disease of love,
And 'twere not ill to sketch its likeness thus:
When sharp cold spreads through all the æther clear,
And children seize a crystal icicle,
At first they firmly hold their new-found joy;
But in the end the melting mass nor cares
To slip away, nor is it good to keep:
So those that love, the self-same strong desire
Now leads to action, now to idleness.
202.
What virtue gains alone abides with us.
203.
The hearts of good men are not quickly bowed.
204.
Still where the right of free, true speech is gone,
And the worse counsel in a state prevails,
Blunders make shipwreck of security.
205.
And how can I, a mortal, fight with fate
That comes from heaven, when danger presses hard,
And hope helps not?
206.
| *Since age is on thee, keep | its fair repute. | |
| from evil speech. |
209.
The tongue is held in honour by such men
As reckon words of more account than deeds.
235.
Come, let us quickly go: it cannot be
That any blame should fall on righteous haste.
236.
It brings some pain, I know, but one must try,
As best one may, to bear the ills of life.
Needs must we find some healing from these things.
237.
Some pleasure is there found even in words,
When with them comes forgetfulness of ills.
238.
Though I be old, yet with advance of age
Comes reason's growth, and skill to counsel well.
239.
There stretcheth by the sea
A fair Eubœan shore, and o'er it creeps
The vine of Bacchos, each day's growth complete.
In morning brightness all the land is green
With tendrils fair and spreading. Noontide comes,
And then the unripe cluster forms apace:
The day declines, and purple grow the grapes;
At eve the whole bright vintage is brought in,
And the mixed wine poured out.
255.
I own it true. Right well the proverb runs,
That smallest things make known a man's true bent.
284.
Wherefore conceal thou nothing. Time that sees
And heareth all things bringeth all to light.
288.
No good e'er comes of leisure purposeless;
And Heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act.
298.
'Tis only in God's garden men may reap
True joy and blessing.
302.
Chance never helps the men who do not work.
304.
He who neglects the Muses in his youth
Has wasted all the past, and lost true life
For all the future.
311.
A mortal man should think things fit for men.
321.
This is most grievous, when it might be ours
To set things straight, and we by our own act
Will bring fresh woe and trouble on our heads.
322.
But he who dares to look at danger straight,
His speech is clear, his spirit falters not.
323.
It is not good to lie; but when the truth
Brings on a man destruction terrible,
He may be pardoned though not good his speech.
325.
And wonder not, Ο prince, that thus I cling
So close to gain; for they whose life is long
Still cleave to profit with their might and main,
And men count all things else as less than wealth;
And though there be that praise a life kept free
From all disease, to me no poor man seems
In that blest state, but sick continually.
326.
The noblest life is that of righteousness;
The best, one free from sickness; sweetest far
To have each day the fill of all we wish.
342.
Now in the gates Æneas, Goddess-born,
Is seen, and on his shoulders bears his sire,
Who lets his byssine mantle fall in folds
On back where smote the fiery levin-flash,
And gathers round him all his band of slaves;
Beyond all hope, the multitude draws near
Of Phrygians who would fain be emigrants.
343.
But little count we make of toil gone by.
358.
For those who fare but ill 'tis very sweet
E'en for a moment to forget their ills.
359.
None has no sorrow; happiest who has least.
379.
He[2] 'twas that taught the Argive army first
To build their walls, and found inventions strange
Of measures, weights, and numbers; he the first
To plan the ten that upward rise from one,
And from the tens to fifties pass, and so
From thence to thousands. He alone devised
The army's beacon-lights and nightly watch,
And signals of the morning, and made clear
What he did not devise. He brought to sight
The measures and the motions of the stars,
And all their order, and the heavenly signs,
And for the men who guide their ships on sea,
The Great Bear's circle, and the Dog's cold setting.
380.
Did he not drive away the famine from them;
And, with God's help, discover pastimes wise,
As they sat down, after long toil at sea—
Draughts, and dice too, sweet help for idleness?
419.
But when an oath is added, then the soul
Is made more careful, having then to shun
Both blame of friends and sin against the Gods
434.
The aged man becomes a child again.
436.
'Tis better not to be than vilely live.
498.
War ever takes our young men in its net.
499.
A weary life is that the sailors lead,
To whom no gift from Heaven or Fortune sent
Could offer worthy recompense. Poor souls,
Adventuring traffic far on slender chance,
They save, or gain, or lose all utterly.
500.
All evil things are found in length of years;
Sense gone, work useless, thoughts and counsels vain.
501.
If men by tears could heal their several ills,
And by their weeping bring the dead to life,
Then gold would be of far less price than tears.
512.
Greedy of gain is every barbarous tribe.
513.
Be not afraid: speak thou the truth, and then
Thou shalt not fail.
514.
What man soe'er, in troubles waxing wroth,
Will use a cure that's worse than the disease,
Is no physician skilled to deal with grief.
517.
I by myself am nought; yea, oftentimes
So look I upon all our womankind,
That we are nothing. Young, we lead a life
Of all most joyous, in our father's house,
For want of knowledge is our kindly nurse;
But when we come to marriageable years,
Then are we pushed and bartered for away
From household gods and from our parents dear—
Some unto alien husbands, some to men
Of stranger race, and some to homes full strange,
Or full of turmoil: and when one night binds us,
We needs must bear, and think of it as right.
518.
Among mankind we all are born alike
Of father and of mother. None excels
Another in his nature, but the fate
Of evil chance holds some of us, and some
Good fortune favours, and necessity
Holds some in bondage.
520.
Praise no man much until thou see his death.
535.
Within the tablets of thy mind write this
That I have said to thee.
563.
Well, well, what greater joy could'st thou receive
Than touching land, and then, beneath a roof,
With slumbering mind to hear the pelting storm?
572.
We should not speak of one that prospers well
As happy, till his life have run its course,
And reached its goal. An evil spirit's gift
In shortest time has oft laid low the state
Of one full rich in great prosperity,
When the change comes, and so the Gods appoint.
582.
No one who sins against his will is base.
585.
Tell not to many what Fate sends on thee;
'Tis comelier far in silence to lament.
588.
I mourn for those my locks as young mare doth,
Who, caught by shepherds, in the stable stands,
And with rough hands has all her chestnut mane
Cropped off, and then is led in meadow fair,
Which clear streams water, and when thus she sees
Her likeness, with her hair thus foully cropped,
Ah, one hard-hearted well, might pity her,
Crouching in shame, as maddened with disgrace,
Mourning and weeping o'er the mane that's gone.
606.
Ne'er can a state be well and safely ruled,
In which all justice and all purity
Are trampled under foot, and brawling knave
With cruel goad drives the poor state to death.
607.
Not mortal men alone does Love assail,
No, nor yet women, but it leaves its stamp
Upon the souls of Gods, and passes on
To mighty ocean. Zeus omnipotent
Is powerless to avert it, and submits
And yields full willingly.
608.
No greater evil can a man endure
Than a bad wife, nor find a greater good
Than one both good and wise; and each man speaks
As judging by the experience of his life.
609.
Forgive me, and be silent, patiently;
For that which to us women bringeth shame
One ought in women's presence to conceal.
610.
Would'st thou count up the roll of happy men,
Thou shalt not find one mortal truly blest.
611.
Ah, women! no one can escape disgrace
On whom Zeus sendeth ills in armed array;
And heaven-sent plagues we still must bear perforce.
612.
Sons are the anchors of a mother's life.
622.
Thou art but young; and thou hast much to learn,
And many things to hear and understand:
Seek still to add fresh knowledge profitable.
626.
Death comes, the last great healer of all ills.
649.
Ah, boy! 'tis just the noble and the good
That Ares loves to slay. The bold in tongue,
Shunning all pain, are out of danger's reach;
For Ares careth not for coward souls.
657.
Time, stripping off the veil, brings all to light.
658.
Time, even Time, in all the vast expanse
Of this our human life,
Finds plenteous wisdom for the souls that seek.
659.
But when the Gods would hide the things of heaven,
Thou can'st not learn, although thou travel far.
660.
One wise man is no match for many fools.
661.
A good man still will succour the distressed.
662.
True wisdom ranks among the Gods most high.
663.
They that fare ill become not only deaf,
But, even though they gaze, they see not clear
What lies before them.
******
Sore evil still, and all unmanageable,
Is want of knowledge. Folly proves itself
Of wickedness true sister.
664.
We cannot speak good words of deeds not good.
665.
We should not joy in pleasures that bring shame.
666.
Fortune ne'er helps the man whose courage fails.
667.
Shame brings but little help in evil things;
Your silence is the talker's best ally.
668.
What means this praise? The man who yields to wine
Is void of understanding, slave to wrath,
And wont, though babbling many words and vain,
To hear full loth what eagerly he spoke.
669.
When one is found as taken in the act
Of fraud and wrong, whate'er his skill of speech,
The only course for him is silence then;
Yet that is hard to bear for one who feels
Conscious of innocence.
670.
In vows, forsooth, a woman shuns the pangs
And pains of childbirth ; but the evil o'er,
Once more she comes within the self-same net,
O'ercome by that strong passion of her soul.
671.
No oath weighs aught on one of scoundrel soul.
672.
When trouble ceases e'en our troubles please.
674.
Where fathers are by children overcome,
That is no city of the wise and good.
******
'Tis best, where'er we are, to follow still
The customs of the country.
675.
He to whom men pay honour's noble meed
Has need of noble deeds innumerable,
And out of easy conflict there can come
But little glory.
676.
Counsels are mightier things than strength of hands.
677.
My body is enslaved, my mind is free.
678.
Not Kyprian only, children, is she called,
Who rules o'er Kypros, but bears many names.
Hades is she, and Might imperishable,
And raving Madness, and untamed Desire,
And bitter Lamentation. All is hers,
Or earnest, or in calm, or passionate;
For still where'er is life she winds within
The inmost heart. Where finds this Goddess not
Her easy prey? She masters all the tribe
Of fish that swim the waters, she prevails
O'er all four-footed beasts that walk the earth.
Her wing directs the course of wandering birds,
Mighty o'er beasts, and men, and Gods above.
What God in wrestling throws she not thrice o'er?
Yea, if 'twere lawful to speak all the truth,
She sways the breast of Zeus. All weaponless,
Without or spear or sword, the Kyprian queen
Cuts short the schemes of mortals or of Gods.
679.
What house hath ever gained prosperity,
How swoln soe'er with pride, without the grace
Of woman's nobler nature.
680.
But when bereavement falls upon her house,
A woman has the purpose of a man.
681.
No small disease is poverty for those
Who boast of wealth; than poverty no foe
Is found more hostile.
682.
Ο race of mortal men oppressed with care!
What nothings are we, like to shadows vain,
Cumbering the ground, and wandering to and fro!
683.
None but the Gods may live untouched by ill.
684.
Ο God, we mortals find no way to flee
From evils deeply-rooted, sent from Heaven.
685.
Would one might live, and give the present hour
Its fill of pleasure, while the future creeps
For ever unforeseen.
686.
The skilful gamester still should make the best
Of any throw, and not bemoan his luck.
687.
'Tis hope that feeds the larger half of men.
688.
Ne'er can the wise grow old, in whom there dwells
A soul sustained with light of Heaven's own day;
Great gain to men is forethought such as theirs.
689.
He who in midst of woes desireth life,
Is either coward or insensible.
690.
A. Now he is dead, I yearn to die with him.
B. Why such hot haste? Thou needs must meet thy fate.
691.
Truth evermore surpasseth words in might.
694.
A woman's oaths I write upon the waves.
701.
To drink against one's will
Is not less evil than unwilling thirst.
702.
If thou should'st bring all wisdom of the wise
To one who thirsts, thou could'st not please him more
Than giving him to drink.
703.
Most basely wilt thou die by doom of Heaven,
Who, being as thou art, dost still drain off
Thy pottle-deep potations.
705.
This wanton insolence
Is never brought to self-control in youth,
But still among the young bursts out, and then
Tames down and withers.
707.
I know that God is ever such as this,
Darkly disclosing counsels to the wise;
But to the simple, speaking fewest words,
Plain teacher found.
709.
Thou shalt find a God
Who knoweth not or charity or grace,
But loves strict justice, that and that alone.
711.
Whoso will enter in a monarch's house
Is but his bond-slave, though he come as free.
713.
In many a turning of the wheel of God
My fate revolves and changes all its mood;
E'en as the moon's face never keepeth still
For but two nights in one position fixed,
But from its hiding-place first comes as new,
With brightening face, and thenceforth waxeth full;
And when it gains its noblest phase of all,
Wanes off again, and comes to nothingness.
714.
Counsel of evil travelleth all too quick.
715.
If any man beginneth all things well,
The chances are his ends agree thereto.
717.
Words that are false bring forth no fruit at all.
718.
Though one be poor, his fame may yet stand high.
******
Not one whit worse the poor whose heart is wise.
******
What profit is there from our many goods,
If care, with evil thoughts,
Is still the nurse of fair prosperity?
719.
Thrice happy they, who, having seen these rites,
Then pass to Hades: there to these alone
Is granted life, all others evil find.
723.
What may be taught I learn; what may be found
That I still seek for; what must come by prayer,
For that I asked the Gods.
724.
Go forth, ye people strong of hand, to work,
Who with your balanced baskets of first-fruits
Worship the Working Goddess, child of Zeus,
Whose eyes are dread to look on.
725.
And dost thou mourn the death of mortal man,
Not knowing if the future bringeth gain?
727.
Thou waxest wanton, like a high-fed colt;
For maw and mouth are glutted with excess.
732.
Searching out all things, thou in most men's acts
Wilt find but baseness.
739.
Unlooked for things must once for all begin.
741.
Those who lose such friends lose them to their joy,
And they who have them for deliverance pray.
749.
This is the gift of God, and what the Gods
Shall give, we men, my child, should never shun.
762.
An old man's wrath is like ill-tempered scythe,
Sharp to begin, but quickly blunted off.
763.
The dice of Zeus have ever lucky throws.
772.
Be pitiful, Ο Sun,
Whom the wise name as father of the Gods,
Author of all things.
779.
Since we have rightly made our prayer to God,
Let us now go, Ο boys, to where the wise
Impart their knowledge of the Muses' arts.
Each day we need to take some forward step,
Till we gain power to study nobler things.
Evil a boy will learn without a guide,
With little labour, learning from himself;
But good, not even with his teacher near,
Dwells in his soul, but is full hardly gained:
Let us then, boys, be watchful, and work hard,
Lest we should seem with men untaught to rank,
The children of a father far from home.
780.
The gratitude of one whose memory fails
Is quickly gone.