Page:The Book of the Homeless (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1916).djvu/246

 Aeschylus to the Hecuba of Euripides, is taken up with the tale of retribution that came to this man and that for his arrogance or folly. So are consolation and admonition bound together. If their union in ancient ethics seems paradoxical, or even contradictory, it is nevertheless confirmed by the teaching of Christianity: For evil must come into the world, but woe unto him through whom it comes.

It is a curious and disquieting fact that the poet who was able to compress the moral of Greek tragedy into a single memorable stanza, belongs to the people who, if there is any truth in that moral, must shortly reckon with the nemesis appointed for sins of presumption and cruelty.

Ihr zieht ins Leben uns hinein; Ihr lasst den armen schuldig werden; Dann überlasst ihr ihn der Pein; Denn alle Schuld racht sich auf Erden.