EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY II
REFLECTIONS ON GODS AND MEN
The Condition of the Gods (T1–T6) Zeus (T1–T3)T1 (≠ DK) Aesch. Ag. 160–83
[χο.] Ζεύς, ὅστις ποτ᾽ ἐστίν, εἰ τόδ᾽ αὐ- τῷ φίλον κεκλημένῳ, τοῦτό νιν προσεννέπω· οὐκ ἔχω προσεικάσαι πάντ᾽ ἐπισταθμώμενος 165πλὴν Διός, εἰ τὸ μάταν ἀπὸ φροντίδος ἄχθος χρὴ βαλεῖν ἐτητύμως.
οὐδ᾽ ὅστις πάροιθεν ἦν μέγας, παμμάχῳ θράσει βρύων, 170οὐδὲ λέξεται πρὶν ὤν· ὃς δ᾽ ἔπειτ᾽ ἔφυ, τρια- κτῆρος οἴχεται τυχών. Ζῆνα δέ τις προφρόνως ἐπινίκια κλάζων 175τεύξεται φρενῶν τὸ πᾶν,
τὸν φρονεῖν βροτοὺς ὁδώ- σαντα, τὸν πάθει μάθος
REFLECTIONS ON GODS AND MEN
REFLECTIONS ON GODS AND MEN
The Condition of the Gods (T1–T6) Zeus (T1–T3)T1 (≠ DK) Aeschylus, Agamemnon
[chorus:] Zeus, whoever he is, if this is what pleases him to be called, I call upon him as this. For I am not able to compare, pondering everything, 165Except for Zeus, if I am to cast truthfully The futile weight from my thought.
Neither whoever earlier was great, bursting with all-battling force, 170Will be even spoken of as having existed formerly; And as for him who was born later, he is gone, having encountered a victor. That man will hit completely upon wisdom (phrenes) 175Who eagerly proclaims Zeus victorious—
Zeus, who sets men on the path to wisdom (phronein), Who has established the law that learning