Revenge Begets Revenge
Aeschylus on the limits of justice.
Revenge begets revenge,
Truth spins and evaporates
As blood drains from the head.
It is the law of Zeus:
A life for a life.
What is human life worth?
More than itself, more than a life,
Or less? Or precisely the same?
The law of Zeus demands
A life for a life.
All - for all.
But this law of Zeus
Is a kind of disease
Inherited through the blood.
See how it has crazed
Every member of this house.
Aeschylus from Agamemnon (translated by Ted Hughes)
Justice is vital to society - 'It is the law of Zeus' - yet Justice can easily become a disease. Is there an answer: only forgiveness and mercy can end the craziness that Justice creates when it is unleashed without limits.