aeschylus - Conscious Evolution TV

In Priam's house a hated face,
A curse with settled sorrow dowered;
On Zeus the Guest-God's word swift-borne
Erinys that makes brides to mourn.
I know how well the saying wears,
Stricken in years, but still held wise,
That boundless Wealth is blest with heirs
And Grandeur not unchilded dies;
Boon Fortune's bud and branch is she,
The hungry-hearted Misery.
False doctrine; though I stand alone,
I hold that from one wicked deed
A countless family is sown,
And, as the parent, so the seed.
But Justice hands fair Fortune ()n
And godly sire hath goodly son.
Yea, that old beldame, Pride
Who to her lustful side
Draws evil men,.anon, or else anon,
When Fate with hand of power
Beckons the destined hour
Brings forth young Pride, her Mother's minion;
Daughter of Darkness, sabled-hued
As the Tartarean pit, for vengeance armed and
thewed.
A Power no stroke can fell,
Nor stubborn warfare quell,
A hag, a goblin, an unholy form,
The Soul of hardihood,
Swift to.shed guiltless blood,
Dark Angel of Destruction's whirling storm,
She dances on the roofs of kings,
And by her shape men know from what foul
loins she springs.
Oh, in the smoky air
Of poor men's homes, how fair,
How like a star the lamp ofJustice shines!
Justice, that most approves
The faithful life, that moves
In the fixed path her Providence assigns;
And constant to that strict control,
Forceful as Fate, pursues the orbit of his soul.
But, where in Splendour'S halls,
Gold glitters on the walls,
And on men's hands is filth and foul offence,
With looks averse and cold
She quits the gaies of gold,
And hails the hut of humble Innocence.
Wealth's coin of spurious die,
Usurping Sovereignty,
No image bears whereto she bends;
She guides and governs all, and all begun she
ends.
Enter AGAMEMNON, with CASSANDRA and his
train, seated in chariqts.
AESCHYLUS
60
Hail to thee, monarch I Conqueror of Troy!
Offspring of Atreus! How shall I con ten t
Thy spirit in thy triumph and thy joy?
Rise to the height of honour's argument,
And yet a chastened gratulation give?
There are of rogues enough, ay, and to spare,
Who in the shows of things are pleased to live,
And thrive on falsehood as their native air.
There's little faith in man; scarce one that breathes
But with misfortune will heave up a sigh;
And yet the cruel sting sorrow unsheathes,
'Fore God, his tender parts it comes not nigh.
And other some, be sure of this, 0 king,
Can simulate a joy they do not feel;
Come with forced smiles and fulsome welcoming;
And crafty faces cruel thoughts conceal.
But him whose business is with droves and herds
The gipsy's arts can captivate no whit;
Not easy duped with warrantable words
And protestations fair in water writ.
Sir, in all honesty, when thou didst arm
In Helen's cause, to save her launch thy ships,
My portrait of thee lacked the Muses' charm,
And "Wisdom's helm," I said, "a madman grips."
"She doth consent thrice o'er, the wanton I Why
For her make sacrifice of heroes' blood?"
Now from the bottom of my heart I cry,
"Grief, thou wast welcome, since the end is
good."
Howbeit, Time hath something yet to say
(Though now he clap a finger to his lip),
Touching this land, when you were far away;
Who well, who ill, discharged his stewardship.
Agamemnon. To Argos and her Gods let me speak
first,
Joint aurhors with me of our safe return
And of that justice I did execute
On Priam's city. Not by the tongues of men,
But by their deaths have the Gods judged our
cause,
Nor haltingly, 'twixt two opinions, cast,
For Ilium's overthrow, their suffrages
Into the urn of blood: the other Hope
Drew nigh, but not a pebble dropped. And now
Her smoke discovereth her; death's whirlblasts live;
Her ashes dying wi th her gasp her wealth
In unctuous evanishings away.
Long should our memory be and large our thanks
To Heaven, for humbled pride and rape revenged;
A kingdom for a wench ground up sand-small;
Whenas the broody horse hatched out her young,
Our basilisk, our Argive bucklermen,
Vaulting to earth, what time the Pleiads sank;
And Argos' Lion, ravening for meat,