Since long I've held silence a remedy for harm.
By polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water.
Death is easier than a wretched life; and better never to have born than to live and fare badly.
For a murderous blow let murderous blow atone.
Who apart from the gods is without pain for his whole lifetime's length?
Chorus: Zeus, who guided men to think who laid it down that wisdom comes alone through suffering. Still there drips in sleep against the heart grief of memory; against our pleasure we are temperate.