Saturday, August 28, 2021
Muddy Water
Aeschylus, Eumenides 690-695 (tr. Alan H. Sommerstein; it = the Areopagus):
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Upon it the respect and inborn fear of the citizens hill prevent any wrong being done, alike by day and by night, if the citizens themselves do not make innovative additions to the laws: if you sully clear water with foul infusions of mud, you will never get a drink.
ἐν δὲ τῷ σέβας 690
ἀστῶν φόβος τε ξυγγενὴς τὸ μὴ ἀδικεῖν
σχήσει τό τ᾽ ἦμαρ καὶ κατ᾽ εὐφρόνην ὁμῶς,
αὐτῶν πολιτῶν μὴ ᾽πιχραινόντων νόμους·
κακαῖς ἐπιρροαῖσι βορβόρῳ θ᾽ ὕδωρ
λαμπρὸν μιαίνων οὔποθ᾽ εὑρήσεις ποτόν. 695
