An Anthology of Czechoslovak Literature/The Deathbed of Æschylus
The Deathbed of Æschylus
Æschylus the Athenian, and the son of
Euphorion the vine-dresser from Eleusis,
Died here in distant, corn-abounding Gela.
The grove of Marathon will evermore
Attest his life. . . . This only, if ye will. . . .
What of those seventy tragedies of mine?
Poetic glory?―Things that pass away.
Nor are they mine, I was God’s implement.
Once, when a boy, I watched over our vineyard
There in Eleusis. I remissly slept.
’Twas noon. Swelter. And from the dusky grapes
Red moisture gleamed. His radiant, smiling self
Did Dionysus to my head incline,
And bade me write these divers happenings
Of gods and men. I wrote. And that is all.
He prompted my obedient soul with verses,
He fashioned scenes,—’tis all the work of him,
I was but his devoted scrivener.
To others likewise he was gracious. Ever
Unfathomed in their plans are the immortals
And unrelentingly they cast aside
Him upon whom they once bestowed their favour.
That he contemned me was no fault of mine,
E’en as his favour before was not my merit.
My trembling hand wrote on, perchance it was
Through former custom,—but of this enough,
Bitter as gall is such a memory. . . .
But blossom of my life was Marathon
And it shall be pride of my bones. All else
Is strange, is strange.—Write this upon my grave. . . .
In the Gleam of Hellenic Sun (1906)
This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.
| Original: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1931. The longest-living author of this work died in 1942, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 83 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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| Translation: |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1931. The longest-living author of this work died in 1970, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 55 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse |
