Agamemnon
Aeschylus
Aeschylus. The poetical works of Robert Browning, Volume 13. Browning, Robert, translator; Berdoe, Edward, editor. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1889.
- Not — whosoever was the great of yore,
- Bursting to bloom with bravery all round —
- Is in our mouths: he was, but is no more.
- And who it was that after came to be,
- Met the thrice-throwing wrestler, — he
- Is also gone to ground.
- But Zeus — if any, heart and soul, that name —
- Shouting the triumph-praise — proclaim,
- Complete in judgment shall that man be found.
- Zeus, who leads onward mortals to be wise,
- Appoints that suffering masterfully teach.
- In sleep, before the heart of each,
- A woe-remembering travail sheds in dew
- Discretion, — ay, and melts the unwilling too
- By what, perchance, may be a graciousness
- Of gods, enforced no less, —
- As they, commanders of the crew,
- Assume the awful seat.
- And then the old leader of the Achaian fleet,
- Disparaging no seer —