Agamemnon

Aeschylus

Aeschylus. The poetical works of Robert Browning, Volume 13. Browning, Robert, translator; Berdoe, Edward, editor. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1889.

  1. Leaving, — to holy seats she hies,
  2. Not worshipping the power of wealth
  3. Stamped with applause by stealth:
  4. And to its end directs each thing begun.
  1. Approach then, my monarch, of Troia the sacker, of Atreus the son!
  2. How ought I address thee, how ought I revere thee, — nor yet overhitting
  3. Nor yet underbending the grace that is fitting?
  4. Many of mortals hasten to honour the seeming-to-be —
  5. Passing by justice: and, with the ill-faring, to groan as he groans all are free.
  6. But no bite of the sorrow their liver has reached to:
  7. They say with the joyful, — one outside on each, too,
  8. As they force to a smile smileless faces.
  9. But whoever is good at distinguishing races
  10. In sheep of his flock — it is not for the eyes
  11. Of a man to escape such a shepherd’s surprise,
  12. As they seem, from a well-wishing mind,