"The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an eye for resemblance." -Aristotle, Poetics 1459

A) Aeschylus, Agamemnon 40-71: This is now the tenth year since Priam's mighty adversary, King Menelaos, and with him King Agamemnon, the mighty pair of Atreus' sons, joined in honor of throne and scepter by Zeus, set forth from this land with an army of a thousand ships manned by Argives, a warrior force to champion their cause. Loud rang the battle-cry they uttered in their rage, just as eagles scream which, in lonely grief for their brood, rowing with the oars of their wings, wheel high over their nests, because they have wasted the toil [ponos] of guarding their nurslings' nest. But some one of the powers supreme - Apollo perhaps or Pan, or Zeus - hears the shrill wailing scream of the clamorous birds, these sojourners in his realm, and against the transgressors sends an Erinys at last though late. Even so Zeus, whose power is over all, Zeus lord of xenoi, sends the sons of Atreus against Alexander, so that for the sake of a woman with many a husband he may inflict many and wearying struggles - when the knee is pressed in the dust and the spear is splintered in the onset - on Danaans and on Trojans alike. The case now stands where it stands - it moves to fulfillment at its destined end. Not by offerings burned in secret, not by secret libations, not by tears, shall man soften the stubborn wrath of unsanctified sacrifices.

B) Aeschylus, Agamemnon 104ff: I have the authority to proclaim the augury of power given on their way to princely men - since my age still breathes Persuasion upon me from the gods, the strength of song - how the twin-throned power of the Achaeans, the single-minded captains of Hellas' youth, with avenging spear and arm against the Trojan land, was sent off by the inspiriting omen appearing to the kings of the ships - kingly birds, one black, one white of tail, near the palace, on the spear-hand, in a conspicuous place, devouring a hare with offspring unborn caught in the last effort to escape.

Sing the song of woe [aiai, Linus!], the song of woe, but may the good prevail!

Then the wise seer of the host, noticing how the two warlike sons of Atreus were two in temper, recognized the devourers of the hare as the leaders of the army, and thus interpreted the portent and spoke: "In time those who here issue forth shall seize Priam's town, and fate shall violently ravage before its towered walls all the public store of cattle. Only may no jealous god-sent wrath glower upon the embattled host, the mighty bit forged for Troy's mouth, and strike it before it reaches its goal! For, in her pity, holy Artemis is angry at the winged hounds of her father, for they sacrifice a wretched timorous thing, together with her young, before she has brought them forth. An abomination to her is the eagles' feast."

Sing the song of woe [aiai, Linus!], the song of woe, but may the good prevail!

"Although, O Lovely One, you are so gracious to the tender whelps of fierce lions, and take delight in the suckling young of every wild creature that roams the field, promise that the issue be brought to pass in accordance with these signs [sumbola], portents auspicious yet filled with ill. And I implore Paean, the healer, that she may not raise adverse gales with long delay to stay the Danaan fleet from putting forth, urging another sacrifice, one that knows no law, unsuited for feast, worker of family strife, dissolving wife's reverence for husband. For there abides mênis - terrible, not to be suppressed, a treacherous guardian of the home, a wrath that never forgets and that exacts vengeance for a child." Such utterances of doom, derived from auguries on the march, together with many blessings, did Kalkhas proclaim to the royal house; and in accord with this,

Sing the song of woe [aiai, Linus!], the song of woe, but may the good prevail!

C) Aeschylus, Agamemnon 716-736: Even so a man reared in his house a lion's whelp, robbed of its mother's milk yet still desiring the breast. Gentle it was in the prelude of its life, kindly to children, and a delight to the old. Much did it get, held in arms like a nursling child, with its bright eye turned toward his hand, and fawning under compulsion of its belly's need. But brought to full growth by time it demonstrated the nature it had from its parents. Unbidden, in return [kharis] for its fostering, it prepared a feast with a slaughter of destruction [atê] inflicted on the flocks; so that the house was defiled with blood, and they that lived there could not control their anguish, and great was the carnage far and wide. A priest of Derangement [atê], by order of a god, it was reared in the house.

D) Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 246-263
Orestes: O Zeus, O Zeus, become a sacred observer of our cause! Behold the orphaned brood of a father eagle that perished in the meshes, in the coils of a fierce viper. They are utterly orphaned, 250 gripped by the famine of hunger: for they are not grown to full strength [telos] to bring their father's quarry to the nest. So you see both me and poor Electra here, children bereft of their father, both outcasts alike from our home. 255 If you destroy these nestlings of a father who made sacrifice and gave you great tîmê, from what like hand will you receive the homage of rich feasts? Destroy the brood of the eagle and you cannot again send signals [sêmata] that mortals will trust; 260 nor, if this royal stock should wither utterly away, will it serve your altars on days when oxen are sacrificed. Oh foster it, and you may raise our house from low estate to great, though now it seems utterly overthrown.

E) Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 500-507
Electra: So listen, father, to this last appeal of mine as you behold these fledglings crouching at your tomb. Have compassion on a song of lament performed by a woman and by a man as well, and let not this seed of Pelops' line be blotted out: for then, in spite of death, you are not dead. 505 For children are voices of salvation [sôtêriâ] to a man, though he is dead; like corks, they buoy up the net, saving [sôzô] the flaxen cord from out of the deep. Hear! For your own sake we make this lament. By honoring this plea of ours you save [sôzô] yourself.

F) Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 526-550
Orestes And have you learned the nature of the dream so as to tell it properly?

Chorus She dreamed she gave birth to a serpent: that is her own account.

Orestes And where does the tale come full circle [telos], where is it completed?

Chorus She laid it to rest as if it were a child, in swaddling clothes.

Orestes What food did it crave, the newborn viper?

Chorus In her dream she offered it her own breast.

Orestes Surely her nipple was not unwounded by the loathsome beast?

Chorus No: it drew in clotted blood with the milk.

Orestes Truly this vision is not without meaning! …I pray to this earth and to my father's grave that this dream may come to its fulfillment [telos] in me. As I sort it out, it fits at every point. For if the snake left the same place as I; if it was furnished with my swaddling clothes; 545 if it sought to open its mouth to take the breast that nourished me and mixed the philon milk with clotted blood while she shrieked for terror at this pathos, then surely, as she has nourished an ominous thing of horror, she must die by force. 550 For I, turned serpent, am her killer, as this dream declares.

G) Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 924-928: Take care: beware the hounds of wrath that avenge a mother… Oh no! I myself bore and nourished this serpent!

H) Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 935-938: As to Priam and his sons dikê came at last in crushing retribution, so to Agamemnon's house came a twofold lion, twofold slaughter [Ares].

I) Aeschylus Libation Bearers 1053-1054:To me these are no imagined troubles. For there indeed are the hounds of wrath to avenge my mother.

To read more about metaphor, see Ronnie Manolo Ruiz' overview of metaphor and its power.