I'm searching the work of Aeschylus and I can't find this popular and often used quote: "To tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of the world." I've also tried doing a Google search for it and all I can find is its use in a Robert F. Kenendy speech and not the source location. Does anyone know what source this quotation is from?
I greatly appreciate any help!
"Tame the savageness of man..." Quote
Moderator: pothos moderators
Re: "Tame the savageness of man..." Quote
Try this thread from a blog called Disinvoltura:
It attributes the quote to Edith Hamilton - something I also saw on other threads. However this one has more information and the blog's author even seeks out Hamilton's sources.
Best regards,
It attributes the quote to Edith Hamilton - something I also saw on other threads. However this one has more information and the blog's author even seeks out Hamilton's sources.
Best regards,
Amyntoros
Pothos Lunch Room Monitor
Pothos Lunch Room Monitor
- rocktupac
- Pezhetairos (foot soldier)
- Posts: 199
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:52 am
- Location: Wisconsin, USA
- Contact:
Re: "Tame the savageness of man..." Quote
Thank you so much! This was very helpful and answered my questionsamyntoros wrote:Try this thread from a blog called Disinvoltura:
It attributes the quote to Edith Hamilton - something I also saw on other threads. However this one has more information and the blog's author even seeks out Hamilton's sources.
Best regards,

-Scott B.
Re: "Tame the savageness of man..." Quote
The link "this" is now null. Disinvoltura is closed.
See png screenshot, attached
-
- Strategos (general)
- Posts: 1447
- Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 11:16 am
- Has thanked: 8 times
- Been thanked: 42 times
Re: "Tame the savageness of man..." Quote
Try this article by Joseph Casazza on jstor.org https://www.jstor.org/stable/4352738?se ... b_contents, which states that rather than being from Aeschylus, this phrase is Edith Hamilton's own, but it was Gilbert Murray who served as her inspiration to combine an inscription at Delphi and a quote from Dionysus of Halicarnassus, De Thucydide 41. In the inscription Athens is praised because she "won mankind from the life of beasts to gentleness". Dionysus's quote describes the Athenians as "they who made gentle the life of the world." The phrase "to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of the world" appears to be Edith Hamilton's own, but it was Murray who linked the two original phrases together.