Specimens of Greek Tragedy — Aeschylus and Sophocles

O wealth, O sovereignty, O art of arts That givest victory in the race of life, How are ye still by envious malice dogged! This place of power, which now I hold, by me Unsought,...

Give me the boy; he will not be afraid To look upon this bloody slaughter-house, If verily he is his father's son. At once we must in his sire's rugged ways Train the young colt...

Zeus, Zeus, look down on what is passing here, Take pity on the eagle's brood, whose sire, Trapped in the coils of a most deadly snake, Was stung to death and left his orphan br...

There I agree with thee. No more delay. Slaves, take her in, and henceforth let these maids Be women, and no more be left at large. The stoutest hearts are apt to think of fligh...

Then spake the elder King: "To disobey were dire, Yet dire it is to slay My child, the pride and beauty of my home, And at the altar stain A father's hand with blood of virgin s...

Child of a blind old man, Antigone, Unto what land, whose city, have we come? Who is there for this day to entertain With scanty fare the wanderer, Oedipus, Who asks but little...

Friend, if that urn indeed Orestes holds, Give it, I do conjure thee, to my hands, That I may weep my own calamities, And those of our whole race, with this dear dust.

Artembares, that led ten thousand horse, Lies slain upon the rough Silenian shore; And Dadaces, that led a thousand more, Pierced by a spear plunged headlong from his barque; An...

Electra's Sister Chrysothemis, having found the offerings of Orestes on his Father's Tomb, brings what she deems glad Tidings to Electra, who meets her with the Announcement tha...

Greek drama, forerunner of ours, had its origin in the festival of Dionysus, god of wine, which was celebrated with dance, song, and recitative. The recitative, being in charact...

Beguile the mind Of Philoctetes by thy wily words. When he asks who thou art, and whence, reply Achilles' son; no lie is needed here. But say thou'rt sailing homeward, having le...