Aeschylus, Agamemnon 832-833

παύροις γὰρ ἀνδρῶν ἐστι συγγενὲς τόδε,
φίλον τὸν εὐτυχοῦντ’ ἄνευ φθόνου σέβειν.

This is something that comes naturally to few men – to pay respect without jealousy to a friend who has had good fortune.

Aeschylus, Agamemnon 121

The refrain from the chorus’ lengthy first song in the Agamemnon; it not only forms the title of a poem by Oscar Wilde but also provides the motto of Brighton College.

αἵλινον αἵλινον εἰπέ, τὸ δ’ εὖ νικάτω.

Say woe, woe – but may the good prevail!

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 459-461

Prometheus takes credit for giving humans numbers and letters.

καὶ μὴν ἀριθμόν, ἔξοχον σοφισμάτων,
ἐξηῦρον αὐτοῖς, γραμμάτων τε συνθέσεις
μνήμην ἁπάντων, μουσομήτορ’ ἐργάνην.

And indeed for their benefit I found out number, an exceptional thing among ingenious devices; and the combination of letters as a memory of all things, the hard-working mother of the Muses.

Aeschylus, Persians 65-73

The chorus of Persian elders report on the progress of Xerxes’ invasion of Greece.

πεπέρακεν μὲν ὁ περσέπτολις ἤδη
βασίλειος στρατὸς εἰς ἀντίπορον γείτονα χώραν,
λινοδέσμῳ σχεδίᾳ πορθμὸν ἀμείψας
Ἀθαμαντίδος Ἕλλας,
πολύγομφον ὄδισμα ζυγὸν ἀμφιβαλὼν αὐχένι πόντου.

The king’s city-sacking army has already passed across to the neighbouring country on the opposite coast, crossing the strait of Athamas’ daughter Helle on a bridge of boats tied with cords of flax, putting, as a yoke on the neck of the sea, a roadway riveted with many bolts.

Aeschylus, Myrmidons fr. 139

In a much-quoted passage from one of Aeschylus’ lost tragedies, Achilles uses an animal fable to parallel how he caused himself sorrow by sending Patroclus to his death in battle.

ὧδ’ ἐστὶ μύθων τῶν Λιβυστικῶν κλέος,
πληγέντ’ ἀτρακτῷ τοξικῷ τὸν αἰετὸν
εἰπεῖν ἰδόντα μηχανὴν πτερώματος·
“τάδ’ οὐχ ὑπ’ ἄλλων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς αὑτῶν πτεροῖς
ἁλισκόμεσθα.”

This is what people say about a story from Libya: an eagle was shot with an arrow from the bow. Seeing the means by which the arrow was flighted, he said, “This is how we succumb, not at the hands of others, but with our own feathers!”