Quotes from Ajax

Quotations follow the Robert Fagles translation (Penguin Classics, 1984) — our recommended edition.

1. 2

   All things the long and countless lapse of time Brings forth, displays, then hides once more in gloom. Nought is too strange to look for; but the event May mock the sternest oath, the firmest will.

2. 3

   I pity him, though he is my enemy, because he is yoked to a terrible doom.

3. 4

   For I see well, nought else are we but mere Phantoms, all we that live, mere fleeting shadows.

4. 5

   Nobly to live, or else nobly to die Befits proud birth. There is no more to say.

5. 6

   Woman, silence is the grace of woman.

6. 7

   For a day can bring all mortal greatness low, And a day can lift it up. But the gods love The wise of heart, the froward they abhor.

7. 8

   Foes' gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none.

8. 9

   For kindness begets kindness evermore, But he from whose mind fades the memory Of benefits, noble is he no more.

9. 10

   For 'tis base for a man to crave long life Who endures never-varying misery.

10. 11

    O my lord Ajax, of all human ills Greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.

11. 12

    To mock foes, is not that the sweetest mockery?

12. 13

    Goddess, stand thou beside the other Greeks. Where I am stationed, no foe shall break through.

13. 14

    'Tis toil on toil, and toil again.