The same play contains a fine choric passage upon the equality of human souls at birth, their after inequality through fortune:
ἓν φῦλον ἀνθρώπων μί' ἔδειξε πατρὸς καὶ ματρὸς ἡμᾶς
ἁμέρα τοὺς πάντας· οὐδεὶς ἔξοχος ἄλλος ἔβλαστεν ἄλλου.
βόσκει δὲ τοὺς μὲν μοῖρα δυσαμερίας τοὺς δ' ὄλβος ἡμῶν
τοὺς δὲ δουλείας ζυγὸν ἔσχεν ἀνάγκας.[33]
Among the fragments that deal with the commonplaces of Greek tragedy, the following, from the Tyndareus, may be cited as a brilliant expression of the Solonian proverb:
οὐ χρή ποτ' εὖ πράσσοντος ὀλβίσαι τύχας
ἀνδρὸς πρὶν αὐτῷ παντελῶς ἤδη βίος
διεκπερανθῇ καὶ τελευτήσῃ βίον.
ἐν γὰρ βραχεῖ καθεῖλε κὠλίγῳ χρόνῳ
πάμπλουτον ὄλβον δαίμονος κακοῦ δόσις,
ὅταν μεταστῇ καὶ θεοῖς δοκῇ τάδε.[34]
A play called the Scyrian Women furnishes two excellent apothegmatic passages upon the misery of old age and the inutility of mourning:
οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄλγος οἷον ἡ πολλὴ ζόη.
πάντ' ἐμπέφυκε τῷ μακρῷ γήρᾳ κακά,
νοῦς φροῦδος ἔργ' ἀχρεῖα φροντίδες κεναί.
ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἦν κλαίουσιν ἰᾶσθαι κακὰ
καὶ τὸν θανόντα δακρύοις ἀνιστάναι,
ὁ χρυσὸς ἧσσον κτῆμα τοῦ κλαίειν ἂν ἦν.
νῦν δ' ὦ γεραιὲ ταῦτ' ἀνηνύτως ἔχει
τὸν μὲν τάφῳ κρυφθέντα πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἄγειν·
κἀμοὶ γὰρ ἂν πατήρ γε δακρύων χάριν
ἀνῆκτ' ἂν εἰς φῶς.[35]
Two lines from a lost play on the tale of Odysseus illustrate the celebrated pun of Ajax on his own name:
ἀρθῶς δ' Ὀδυσσεύς εἰμ' ἐπώνυμος κακοῖς·
πολλοὶ γὰρ ὠδύσαντο δυσσεβεῖς ἐμοί.[36]