Daily Inspiration Quote by Aeschylus

Silence, here, isnt a virtue; its a tactic. Aeschylus is writing from a culture where speech is never just self-expression but a public act with consequences: testimony in court, oaths before gods, boasts that invite nemesis. "Remedy for harm" frames quiet not as passivity, but as triage - what you administer when words would make the wound worse. The line carries the hard-earned pragmatism of someone who has watched talk inflame feuds, turn private grief into civic crisis, or trigger the divine bookkeeping that Greek tragedy loves to balance.

The phrasing matters. "Since long" signals experience, almost a scar: this is learned behavior, not a moral pose. The speaker isnt claiming that silence is noble; theyre admitting it is safer. That subtle self-protection is the subtext of many tragic characters who know that truth can be lethal. In Aeschylus, speech often functions like a weapon you cant un-swing. Once uttered, it binds you (through oath), exposes you (through accusation), or provokes retaliation (through insult). Silence becomes a form of agency for the vulnerable: the ability to withhold the match from the tinderbox.

Contextually, Aeschylean drama is obsessed with the transition from vendetta to law, from blood speech (curse, threat, prophecy) to regulated speech (trial, argument, verdict). This line sits on that fault line. Its not advocating muteness; its warning that language, in a world governed by honor and gods, is combustible. Sometimes the wisest move is to refuse to feed the fire.