INTRODUCTION.

THIS drama, founded upon the Persian War, and produced only seven years after its termination (B.C. 472), is invested with peculiar interest, not only as the earliest Æschylean drama which has come down to us, but also as our earliest extant Greek history, the first recorded recitation of Herodotus having taken place at the great Panathenæa at Athens (B.C. 446). It exhibits, moreover, the same principles of dramatic art, and the same conceptions respecting the divine government which characterise the purely imaginative productions of the "warrior-bard." For its full appreciation we must endeavour to realise the magnitude of the struggle which it commemorates, together with the momentous consequences to Hellas and to the world which resulted from the Hellenic victory.

About eighty years before the battle of Salamis (fought B.C. 480) the Persians had made their first appearance in history, when, under their leader, Cyrus, they overthrew the empire of the Medes (B.C. 559). Within this comparatively brief interval they had brought under subjection not only the native peoples of Asia, but also large areas of Europe and Africa. At the time of our drama their empire extended southward over Egypt to Cyrenaica, while to the north it comprised Maritime Thrace, Pæonea, and apparently Macedonia, as far as the borders of Thessaly, besides nearly all the islands of the Ægean, north of Krete and east of Euboea. Their ambition expanded with their conquests, till, at length, they aspired to universal dominion. "The conquest of Greece was represented by Xerxes as carrying with it that of all Europe, so that the Persian empire would become coextensive with the Æther of Zeus, and the limits of the Sun's course."

The idea upon which this colossal empire was based was that of the despotic force of personal will, involving obligation of universal personal service, especially in war. During the expedition of Xerxes the tributaries of the Persian king were virtually slaves, working under the lash, and driven on to the charge in battle with the scourge. The profound humiliation of the subject peoples is forcibly depicted by the Chorus, in the ode wherein they lament the overthrow of the Persian power (v. 586).

Meanwhile, in the heart of Hellas, a new phase of political life had been developed; Athens had thrown off the yoke of her tyrants, the Pisistratids, and the world saw, for the first time, a state composed of free and equal citizens. The revolution of Kleisthenes had established the principles of free speech and equal law, while as yet this new-born liberty had not degenerated into licence. Adverting to the Athenian con- stitution at the time when the Persians made their attack on Hellas, Plato says, "Reverence was then our queen and mistress, and made us willing to live in obedience to the laws." The strength of patriotic sentiment generated by the new constitution inspired the amazing courage required in the Athenians to encounter the hitherto unconquered hosts of Persia; upon the plain of Marathon they triumphed, and their glorious victory arrested, for a time, the encroachments of the Persian king.

His son Xerxes undertook to avenge the disaster which had befallen the Persian arms: after enormous preparations, he set forth on his expedition, at the head of an army composed of forty-six different nations, each with its distinct national costume and local leaders, while eight other nations furnished the fleet. Well might the contemporary world be overawed by the spectacle of so prodigious an armament, and regard the cause of Hellenic independence as desperate.

The victory of Salamis shattered the power of the barbarians, and changed the destiny of the world. " ' Let there be light!' said Liberty, And, like sunrise from the sea, Athens arose."

In celebration of the victory thus achieved by struggling and triumphant freedom, and in honour of the city of Pallas, which had won immortal glory at Salamis, Æschylus composed his drama of "The Persians." It has been justly remarked that "Æschylus is the prophet of Greek tragedy." "A single episode, a single generation, was insufficient for the display of the dependence of life upon life, and the moral infinitude of action which it was his design to exhibit. Thus he habitually composed groups of three connected plays, which gave full scope for the development of thought and work."*

Unfortunately, we possess only the second member of the trilogy, which, consisting of three separate dramas, severally entitled, Phineus, The Persians, and Glaukos,† appears to have been known among the ancients by the general name of "The Persians." To this trilogy was appended the Satyric drama of “Prometheus, the Fire-kindler." Though the second member of this trilogy is alone based upon history, while the first and third, together with the Satyric drama, draw their materials from mythological sources, it appears almost certain that these apparently incongruous elements constituted together one grand poetic whole; the leading idea giving unity to the detached dramas being the struggle between Asia and Europe, which, originated in the dim ages of mythology, had at length culminated in the triumph of Hellas over the non-Hellenic races. In the same manner Herodotus has based his history upon the notion of a primeval enmity subsisting between the Hellenes and the nations of the East. This apparent incongruity vanishes when we remember that the contemporaries of Æschylus cherished the firmest belief in the existence of their legendary heroes, whose protection and assistance were continually invoked, while their appearance on the scene of action, with superhuman stature and imposing mien, was hailed as an omen of victory. Æschylus has, moreover, in the second member of the trilogy, so treated the events of contemporary history as to bring them into harmony with the occurrences of the mythical past, invested, as it was, in the popular imagination, with a halo of glory and sublimity. This was rendered possible by the remoteness of Persia, which was selected as the scene of the drama; by the gorgeous splendour which surrounded Oriental life; by the vastness of the armies assembled under the sceptre of the great king, together with the strangeness of the barbaric physiognomy and costume. "These, exaggerated to still greater proportions in the popular imagination, produced an impression of dim and indefinite greatness, not unlike that in which the midst of time veiled the heroes of mythology."*

Another feature of the Æschylean age is the importance attached to prophecy, which, as we learn from Herodotus, not unfrequently determined the judgments of men, both Greeks and Asiatics; which also we find employed by our poet as the most convenient link for connecting the separate members of his trilogies. Thus, in the Oresteia, the Agamemnon is connected with the Choephori through Cassandra's prophecy of the vengeance which was speedily to fall upon the guilty pair. If we turn now to the drama of "The Persians," we find the Ghost of Darius referring in the most emphatic manner to certain ancient oracles (v. 739), of which the calamities which had befallen the Persians were the recognised fulfilment. It has been remarked by Welcker that in this passage allusion is obviously made to something which had been brought before the minds of the spectators in the previous drama, and this hypothesis is confirmed by the prophetic character of Phineus, from whom the first member of the trilogy derives its name.

Phineus is represented in mythological story as one of the sons of Agenor,† the father of the beautiful Europa; and it is related of Agenor by Ovid, and other classical writers, that he sent forth his sons in quest of their sister, whose abduction by Zeus was represented by Persian literati as the first act of the conflict between the Eastern and the Western world: this version of the Phineus legend would offer, as remarked by Gruppe, an obvious link of connection with the Persian war. There are other versions of the story which, notwithstanding some discrepancies as to the genealogy of Phineus, and the circumstances of his blindness, agree in investing him with the prophetic character, and in bringing him into connection with the Argonauts, the grand national adventurers of Hellas.

In the single extant fragment of the Æschylean Phineus reference appears to be made to the Harpies: Καὶ ψευδόδειπνα πολλὰ μαργώσῃς γνάθου ἐρρυσίαζον στόματος ἐν πρώτῃ χαρᾷ. Phineus, according to the ancient legend, was delivered from the Harpies by the Boreades;* and it is related by Apollonius (xi. 317) that, after his deliverance, he prophesied, and foretold to the Argonauts the successful issue of their enterprise. In accordance with the spirit of the age, which linked together the successive conflicts between Europe and Asia, the expedition of the Argonauts, with that of the Hellenes against Ilium, is associated, by Herodotus, with the Persian war: Æschylus would probably give greater scope to the prophecies of Phineus, and would thus have an opportunity of carrying back the imagination of the audience to the traditionary commencement of the great struggle which had recently been brought to so glorious a termination. Thus, according to Welcker, the mythological drama of Phineus would form a kind of prophetic prelude to the historical drama of “The Persians."

Reference has already been made to the tendency of Æschylus to group together a long series of events, having reference to some connecting principle. It might therefore excite surprise that, in treating so momentous a subject as the Persian war, he should have contented himself with celebrating the battle of Salamis alone, which, however glorious for Athens, left the fate of Hellas still undecided. This would be brought home with peculiar force to the Athenians who, only ten months after the retreat of Xerxes, had been obliged to migrate a second time to Salamis, while Athens became once more the head-quarters of their dreaded foe. The victory of Platea, which insured the final deliverance of Hellas, would therefore be regarded as second in importance only to Salamis. Moreover, in the drama of "The Persians," the ghost of Darius alludes to the battle-field of Platea on which the ruin of the Persian host was to be consummated, as the just punishment inflicted by Zeus upon their impiety and overweening thoughts.

This prophecy alone would suggest the probability of some reference being made to this important victory in the third member of the trilogy, the Glaukos Potnieus. According to popular tradition Glaukos was a fisherman, who became a marine demigod by eating of the divine life-giving herb sown by Kronos: one version of the legend represents him to have been one of the Argonauts, who, having fallen from his galley, suffered this transformation. The so-called grotto of Glaukos was situated near the little town of Anthedon in Bœotia: this marine deity, accompanied by strange monsters of the sea, was accustomed, once a year, to visit the surrounding coasts and islands, and there to prophesy impending calamity. His approach was anticipated by the fishermen, by whom he was held in peculiar veneration, who also offered sacrifice and prayers to avert the threatened woe. It is mentioned by Pausanias (ix. 22, 6), that what Pindar and Æschylus heard from the dwellers at Anthedon concerning this marine deity had furnished materials to both poets, and had sufficed to Æschylus for the creation of a drama. According to Welcker, the extant fragments of this drama seem to indicate that Glaukos describes a voyage which he made from Anthedon to Sicily. Passing the promontory of Euboea, the shore of Zeus Kenæus, and the tomb of the unhappy Lichas (frag. 27), he came to Rhegium (frag. 31, 189; Herm. p. 12), and arrived finally at Himera (frag. 28) in Sicily. In the neighbourhood of this city was fought the battle of Himera, on which occasion the Sicilian Hellenes repulsed the Carthaginian invaders, whose attack took place simultaneously with that of Xerxes upon Hellas. It is hardly to be supposed that Æschylus would introduce into his drama the name of Himera without commemorating a victory, which his contemporary, Pindar (Pyth. i. 152), represents as not inferior in importance to those of Salamis and Platea, the circumstances of which also were peculiarly susceptible of poetic treatment. The Bœotian sea-god, moreover, would form the most appropriate herald of the Bœotian victory, and thus, in his third drama, Æschylus would have the opportunity of bringing the battles of Himera and Platea into connection with that of Salamis, which formed the main feature in the Persian trilogy.

The plastic art of the Hellenes illustrates their tendency to regard the successive victories of Hellas over Oriental barbarism as phases of the great struggle between the higher and lower elements of civilization, which formed so prominent a feature in their mythology. Thus, in the temple of Hera, at Mycenæ (Paus. xi. 17, 3), and in that of Zeus at Agrigentum (Diod. xi. 82), the capture of Ilium was associated with the overthrow of the giants by the Olympian gods.* Their recent splendid victories would doubtless be similarly regarded by them as the ultimate triumph of civilization over barbarism, brought about by the intervention of the higher powers. This conception has found artistic expression in the beautiful painting on the so-called Darius vase, “ on which the celestial deities are represented as consoling the terrified Hellas in face of the threatening purposes and preparations of the mighty king of Asia." Moreover, "out of the gigantic block of Persian marble at Rhamnus, three leagues from Marathon, which the Persians are said to have intended for a trophy, Phidias (also a prophet) created one of the most sublime of the Greek statues of the gods, that of Nemesis, whose stern form and gesture admonished the Greeks: ' Be not lifted up; to God alone belongs the glory!'"*

It may be remarked, in conclusion, that this drama, by the profound humiliation of Xerxes, strikingly enforces the Hellenic principle that the supreme intelligence, which Æschylus invariably identifies with the will of Zeus, cannot suffer any inferior power, human or divine, to overpass its legitimate limits, and thus interfere with the harmonious working of the whole. At the same time the dignity of the Persian empire is vindicated by the description of the glorious and happy life which the Persians enjoyed under the rule of Darius, which had been forfeited by their impiety in acting in opposition to the divine decrees; moreover, by introducing the ghost of the mighty king, not only as the stern rebuker of his son's overweening pride, but also as deprecating in the most emphatic manner any subsequent invasion of Hellas, we see, in this early historical drama, an approach to the great principle of classical dramatic art, which finds its perfect fulfilment in the Oresteian trilogy, namely, the final re-establishment of harmony between the contending powers whose collision has formed the main action of the drama.

The Satyric drama, which invariably followed the trilogy, was a relic of the original dithyrambic chorus sung at the festival of Dionysos by groups of Satyrs who followed the chariot of the vintage-god; it was probably intended to relieve the serious impression produced by the tragedy, and to furnish amusement to the populace. It is doubtful whether these Satyric pieces were ever in such organic connection with the three dramas which they followed as to justify calling them a tetralogy; the significance of the "Prometheus,” as the concluding member of "The Persians," must however be admitted. Welcker has shown that we must distinguish between "Prometheus the fire-bringer," and "Prometheus the fire-kindler;" the latter being the title of the Satyric drama in question, which he maintains had reference to the establishment of the Promethea, the torch-race, at Athens, an artisan festival of which Prometheus was regarded as the founder. The kindling of the sacred fire might well be hailed as the symbol not only of victory, but also of the brighter day which had just dawned for the Hellenic race; while the association of the poorer classes, by the introduction of their favourite festival, would impart to the drama a peculiarly popular character, and render it the appropriate expression of the national enthusiasm.

* The thymele was a raised platform in the centre of the orchestra, which served as resting-place for the Chorus when it took up a stationary position.-K. O. Müller. * “ Æschylus as a Religious Teacher."-Brook F. Westcott. † The ancient Greek argument informs us that ἐπí Μένωνος τραγῳδῶν Αἰσχύλος ἐνίκα Φινεῖ, Πέρσαις, Γλαυκῷ Ποτνιεῖ, Пpoμnei. Fragments, however, exist of another Æschylean drama, entitled Glaukos Pontios, and various arguments are adduced by Welcker and Gruppe to prove that this drama, rather than the Glaukos Potnieus, formed the third member of the Persian trilogy. This view is supported by W. v. Humboldt, Schlegel, K. O. Müller, and other learned men. It seems, I confess, hard to understand why the error should have been made on several different occasions by several different writers. The principal reason for regarding Glaukos Potnieus as wrong seems to be the difficulty of discovering any link of connection between that legendary hero, the father of Bellerophontes, and the termination of the Persian war. In the text I have adopted the hypothesis of Welcker and Gruppe, and have given a brief epitome of their views respecting the Glaukos Pontios. * "Eschylus."-Reginald S. Coplestone. † Apollonius; Argonauts (ii. v. 237); Gruppe. * Gruppe refers to two paintings upon ancient Greek vases, where Phineus is represented surrounded by the Argonauts, with the Harpies driven away by the Boreades. In Ruskin's 'Queen of the Air' (p. 24), the reader will find an interesting exposition of the signification of the Harpies, and of the antagonism subsisting between them and the Boreades. * Welcker. * Bunsen's God in History.' Translated by Miss Winkworth.

THE PERSIANS. CHORUS THE Faithful these, advisers old Of Persians, gone to Hellas' strand, Guards of these halls and plenteous gold Here treasured, whom, as elders' meed, Lord Xerxes, King, Darius' seed, Chose wardens of the land. But touching now the safe return Of King and gold-trickt host, Bodeful of mischief, sore afraid, My heart within doth yearn, And for our youthful hero moans; For all the martial strength is gone, Nurtur'd in Asia: news is none; Nor horseman reacheth yet nor post Our Persia's central home. But they forsaking Susa's walls, Agbatana and Kissia's hold Right ancient, forth to battle sped, Some borne on steeds, in galleys some, Others in march, with measured tread, War's serried ranks displayed. Such were Amistres, Artaphren, Astasp and Megabazes,—they, Marshals of Persia, kings themselves, But to the mighty King submiss, Speed forth, o'erseers of vast array, With arrow puissant, borne on steeds, Fearful to sight and dread in fight, Through their high-souled resolve. And steed-exultant Artembar, Masistres and Imaeus brave, Puissant with bow; Pharandakes, Sosthānes too, steed-driver; Others Nile's vast, life-teeming wave Sent to the war; Susiskănes, And Pegastágon, Egypt-born, Him too who sacred Memphis sways, Mighty Arsámes; Ariomard, Whose rule Ogygian Thebes obeys; And rowers from the marshy shore, Their barks who guide with sturdy oar, Well-skilled, a countless host. And Lydians, a luxurious train, Who the whole native people hold, Of Asia's mainland; these the twain, Metragathes and Arkteus brave, Kingly commanders, lead to war, Sent forth by Sardis rich in gold, Mounted upon full many a car, With steeds yoked three and four abreast, Terrific to behold. And dwellers sacred Tmolos near On Hellas rush the yoke to cast Of bondage;—Mardon, Tharubis, Dread anvils of the spear; And Mysians skilled the dart to throw; While Babylon, the golden, sends Her motley throng, which sweeps along, Some upon galleys borne, and those Whose valour trusts the bow. Thus 'neath the King's commandment dread Each sabre-wielding race has sped From Asia's every reign. Such bloom of men from Persia's plain Hath gone, and all the Asian earth, Yearning for those whom from their birth She fostered, groans amain; While wives and parents count each day, Still trembling at the long delay.

STROPHE I. Already hath the royal host, Spoiler of cities, gained the adverse coast; O'er cordage-fastened raft* the channel they Of Athamantid Helle passed, What time their many-bolted way On the sea's neck, as servile yoke, they cast. * Darius, about thirty-five years before, had caused a bridge to be thrown over the Thracian Bosphorus, and crossed it in his march to Scythia; but this bridge, though constructed by the Ionians, and by a Samian Greek, having had reference only to distant regions, seems to have been little known or little thought of among the Greeks generally, as we may infer from the fact that the poet Æschylus1 speaks as if he had never heard of it, while the bridge of Xerxes was ever remembered both by Persians and by Greeks as a most imposing display of Asiatic omnipotence. —GROTE'S History of Greece.

ANTISTROPHE I. Thus the fierce king, who holds command O'er populous Asia, drives through all the land, In twofold armament, his flock divine, Land troops, and those who stem the brine; Strong in his stalwart captains, he Of gold-born* race the god-like progeny. * An allusion is here made to the popular belief that the name of Persia was derived from Perseus, the son of Danae by Zeus, who visited her in a shower of gold. An interesting exposition of the original signification of the legend will be found in Cox's 'Mythology of the Aryan Nations.' 1 Pers. 731, 754, 873.

STROPHE II. From eyes like deadly dragon's, flashing a lurid gleam, With men and galleys countless, driving his Syrian car, 'Gainst spear-famed men he leadeth his arrow-puissant war.

ANTISTROPHE II. And none of valour proven against the mighty stream May stand, a living bulwark, and that fierce billow stem; For Persia's host resistless is, and her stout-hearted men.

MESODE. But ah! what mortal baffle may* A god's deep-plotted snare,— Who may o'erleap with foot so light? Até at first, with semblance fair, Into her toils allures her prey, Whence no mere mortal wight May break away. * The sudden transition of the Chorus from unbounded confidence to gloomy foreboding is characteristic of the religious conception common alike to Greek and Persian in the Æschylean age, namely, that the gods cherished a jealous enmity towards vast power and overweening aspirations in men.

STROPHE III. In olden time by Heaven's decree Fixed was the Persians' destiny;— Tower-battering war was theirs by Fate, The turmoil when steed-mounted foes In shock of battle fiercely close, And cities to make desolate.

ANTISTROPHE III. Now have they learned firm gaze to cast On the vext sea, what time the blast Makes hoary its broad-furrowed plain. Confide they now in naval craft, Cables fine-wove, device to waft Armies across the main.

STROPHE IV. Hence, swartly robed, my heart by fear Is tortured, lest ere long the State— Woe for the Persian army! hear That Susa's mighty fort is desolate.

ANTISTROPHE IV. And Kissia's stronghold shall reply Beat unto beat on doleful breast, While crowds of women raise the cry, Woe! woe! and rend their flaxen-tissued vest.

STROPHE V. For all the troops that draw the rein, And all who tread the dusty plain, Like swarming bees, with him who led Their martial host, abroad have sped, The bridge-joined headlands crossing o'er, Washed by the sea, that link each adverse shore.

ANTISTROPHE V. And yearning love with many a tear The couch bedeweth, lone and drear; The wives of Persia, steeped in woe, Lament, of their dear lords bereft, For her fierce spouse against the foe Each sent spear-armed, and mourns unmated left.

But Persian elders, come, And seated in our ancient hall of state Devise we counsel, with deep-thoughted care, For great in sooth the need;— How haply fares our king, Darius' seed, Xerxes, from him derived whose name we bear. On bending of the bow doth conquest wait? Or hath the might Of iron-headed spear-shaft won the day? [ATOSSA is seen approaching in a royal chariot, attended by a numerous train.] But lo, in brightness like the eyes of gods, Comes forth a light— The mother of my royal lord, my queen. Do we obeisance, falling at her feet; Yea, it behoves us all With words of salutation her to greet. [They prostrate themselves before her, touching the earth with their foreheads.] Of Persia's deep-zoned daughters supreme in rank, O Queen, Hoar mother of King Xerxes, spouse of Darius, hail! Once consort, now the mother of Persia's god art thou, Unless our ancient fortune abandons now the host. ATOSSA Therefore I come forsaking our gold-tricked palace halls, The common nuptial chamber, Darius' and mine own. Me too at heart care rendeth: my thoughts to you I'll speak, Being by no means fearless touching myself, O friends, Lest mighty wealth retreating, o'erturn with foot of haste, Fortune which great Darius not without Heav'n upreared. Hence care, all words surpassing, twofold my bosom rends, For small the honour yielded to wealth, if men be lost, And light to strength proportioned, shines not where riches fail. Our wealth may none disparage, but for our Eye we fear, For I the master's presence esteem the eye of home. Wherefore since Fate hath ordered that thus affairs should stand, Be my advisers, Persians, mine aged, trusty, friends; For all my hope of counsel is centred now in you. CHORUS Queen of this land, know surely, thou needest not speak twice, Or word, or deed, if warrant our will gave of our power; For we to counsel summoned, devoted are to thee. ATOSSA Ever by nightly visions, manifold* Have I been haunted, since, intent to raze Ionia's land, my son led forth his power. But never saw I dream so manifest As that of yesternight;—I'll tell it thee. Methought two women came before my sight, Richly apparelled, this in Persian robes Was habited, but that in Doric garb; In height above their sex pre-eminent, Faultless in beauty, sisters of one race. As Fatherland the one by lot had gained Hellas, the other the Barbaric land. Between these twain, for so methought I saw, Some feud arose, which learning, straight my son Strove to appease and soothe; he to his car Yoked them, and placed the collar on their necks. Proudly the one exulted in this gear, And kept her mouth submissive to the reins; Restive the other was; she with her hands The chariot-harness rends, then, without bit, Whirls it along, snapping the yoke asunder. Prone falls my son, and close at hand his sire, Darius, pitying stands, whom when he sees, The robes about his person Xerxes rends. Such was, I say, my vision of the night. When I arose and with my hands had touched Fountain clear-flowing, I the altar neared With sacrificial hand, wishing to pay To the averting gods, to whom belong Such rites, oblations; forthwith I behold An eagle fleeing straight to Phobos' hearth. Speechless I stood through terror, friends; anon, A kite I see borne forward on swift wing, Tearing with talons fierce the eagle's head; Meanwhile the eagle nothing did but cower, His body tamely yielding to the foe. Dreadful these portents are to me who saw And you who hear: for well ye know, my son, If victor, were a man with glory crowned, Yet worsted, to the state gives no account, And saved, he none the less this realm will sway. * The narrative of Atossa recalls the premonitory dream which, according to Herodotus, was sent by the gods to Xerxes and Artabanus prior to their expedition against Greece. CHORUS Thee neither would we, mother, o'erfrighten by our words, Nor yet too much encourage; but, prayerful, seek the gods; If aught hast seen of evil, that pray them to avert, But for thyself and children, the state, and all thy friends, All good things to make perfect; next, meet it is to pour To earth and to the Manes, libations; but thy spouse, Darius, whom thou sayest in dream to have beheld, Entreat to send up blessings, for thee and for thy son, From 'neath the earth to daylight, while inauspicious things, Held 'neath the earth in durance, may fade away in gloom. Thus we, with mind presageful, counsel with kind intent, Trustful that from these omens the issue fair will prove. ATOSSA Well thou, the first expounder of these my dreams, hast given An explanation friendly toward my son and house. May the good find fulfilment! The rites which to the gods And to our buried dear ones thou biddest, I will pay Soon as I gain the palace. Meanwhile, I fain would know Where on the earth stands Athens,* as men report, my friends. * Herodotus relates that Darius, on hearing of the burning of Sardis, inquired who the Athenians were. CHORUS Far to the west, where waneth our sovereign lord, the sun. ATOSSA

What! hath my son then hankered this town to make his prey?

CHORUS

Ay, to our king all Hellas would then submissive prove.

ATOSSA

Of men then in their army have they so vast array?

CHORUS

Of such sort was their army, it wrought the Medes great bale.

ATOSSA And what besides? Wealth have they sufficient in their homes? CHORUS A fount is theirs of silver; a treasure of their soil.* ATOSSA Is the bow-stretching arrow conspicuous in their hands? CHORUS Nay, lances for close fighting, and equipage of shield. ATOSSA And who then is their shepherd? Who lords it o'er their host? CHORUS To no man are they vassals, nor yield they to command. ATOSSA How then, if foe invade them, may they the shock sustain? CHORUS So that Darius' army, gallant and large, they quelled. ATOSSA Dreadful thy words to parents whose sons to war are sped. CHORUS But soon, if I mistake not, thou the whole truth shalt learn, For here a courier speedeth whose gait proclaimeth him Persian, and he will bring us clear news of weal or woe. [Enter MESSENGER.] MESSENGER O fenced homes of all the Asian earth, O soil of Persia, haven of vast wealth, How by one stroke our full prosperity Hath shatter'd been, and blighted Persia's flower. Woeful his office first who heralds woe! Yet all our sorrow must I needs unfold.— Persians! the whole barbaric host is lost. CHORUS

STROPHE I. Grievous, O grievous woe, Strange, dismal overthrow, Weep, Persians, hearing of this dreadful blow.

MESSENGER Yonder our all is ruined utterly Myself, past hope returning, view the light. CHORUS

ANTISTROPHE I. Oppressed by weight of years, Too long our life appears, When this unlooked-for woe assails our ears.

MESSENGER Present myself, not hearing others' words, Persians! I can report what ills befel. CHORUS

STROPHE II. In vain, alas, in vain, That many-nationed, diverse-weaponed band, Against illustrious Hellas' land, From Asia sped amain.

MESSENGER Corpses of men ill-fated choke the coasts Of Salamis, and all the region near. CHORUS

ANTISTROPHE II. Woe for their end forlorn! The bodies, thou dost say, of dear ones lost, Full oft immersed, in death are tost, By floating robes upborne.*

MESSENGER Nothing our bows availed; but all our host Perished, by shock o'ercome of naval prows. CHORUS

STROPHE III. Shriek out a bitter wail For those in death laid low; How have the gods in all things wrought us bale!† Woe for the perished army! woe!

MESSENGER O, Salamis, most hateful name to hear! Athens, alas! remembering thee I groan. CHORUS

ANTISTROPHE III. O Athens, name of dread To foes! For we recall How many wives of Persia vainly wed, By her are widows made, bereft of all.

ATOSSA Long have I silence kept, struck down by ills, Wretched:—for so transcendent this mischance, Our grief may be nor told nor questioned of. Yet mortals needs must bear calamities Sent by the gods; wherefore, our sum of loss Unfolding, though thou groanest at our ills, Yet in well-ordered narrative rehearse Who hath from death escaped; whom must we wail Of princely leaders that the truncheon held Who now, by death hath left his post unmanned. MESSENGER Xerxes himself still lives and sees the light. ATOSSA Great light, in sooth, thou speakest to my house, And day clear shining, after murky night. MESSENGER But Artembares, lord of myriad horse, 'Gainst the Sileni's rugged shores is dashed; And Dadaces, the chiliarch, spear-struck, Forth from his galley leapt with nimble bound. And Tenagon, of Bactria's true stock Bravest, the sea-lash'd isle of Ajax haunts. Lilaios, Arsames, Argestes, these Round the dove-nurturing island overpowered, On the hard coast lay butting to and fro. Neighbour to Egypt's Nile-springs, Arkteus too, Adeues, Pheresseues, Pharnuchos, All these together from one vessel fell. Chrysian Matallos, captain of vast hosts, Leader of thrice ten thousand sable horse, In death his ruddy beard, bushy and thick, With purple gore distaining, changed its hue. The Magian Arabos, and Artames, From Bactria, settler on a rugged soil, There perished. Wielder of no idle spear, Amphistreus, and the doughty Ariomard, By Sardis mourned; Amistris, Seisames, The Mysian;—of five times fifty ships Commander, Tharybis, in Lyrna born, A comely man, no mark for envy now, Prone lies in death. Foremost in valour too, Syennesis, Cilicia's host who led, Whose single prowess wrought the foe most bale, A glorious end hath found. I of such chiefs Now make report; but mid the throng of ills Which overwhelm us, I relate but few. ATOSSA Woe! woe! The very crown of ills, I hear, To Persians shame and matter for shrill wail; But on thy track returning, tell me this, How great the number of the Hellenès' fleet, That they with Persia's armament should dare Battle to join in shock of naval prows? MESSENGER Had conquest waited upon numbers, queen, Then Persia's ships were victor, for the fleet Of Hellas counted but three hundred ships,* And other ten selected, in reserve. But Xerxes, this I know, led fifty score, While those for swiftness most pre-eminent Two hundred were and seven: such the tale. Seem we to thee the weaker in this battle? Rather some power divine destroyed the host, The scale depressing with unequal fortune. Gods save the city of the goddess, Pallas. ATOSSA Is then the Athenians' city still unsack'd?† MESSENGER Her sons surviving, she firm bulwark hath. ATOSSA What the commencement of the sea-fight? Say. Did the Hellenès first the onset lead, Or did my son, proud of innumerous ships? MESSENGER All our disaster, Queen! from spirit of ill Or vengeful power, none knoweth whence, began. For a Hellene from out the Athenian host Came to thy son, to Xerxes, with this tale,* That when the gloom of dusky night set in, The Hellenès would not stay, but, springing straight On to the benches of their ships, would seek, Some here, some there, safety by secret flight. But he, when he had heard, perceiving not The Hellenic guile, or envy of the gods, To all his captains issues this command; When with his beams the sun to scorch the earth Should cease, and darkness hold the expanse of sky, Their squadrons they should marshal in three lines, Guarding the outlets and the billowy straits, And others station around Aias' isle:— For did the Hellenès 'scape a wretched fate, Finding by stealth an outlet for their ships, Stern was the warning,-every head should fall.—* Such words he spake from mind infatuate, For what impended from the gods he knew not. And they, without disorder, but with minds Obedient to command, their meal prepared, And round true-fitting lock each mariner Strapp'd well his oar. But when the sunlight waned And night came on, each master of an oar‡ Went to his ship, and each one versed in arms; Of the long galleys line still cheering line, Forth sail they, as to each had been prescribed. And through the live-long night the admirals, With naval force entire, cruised to and fro. Darkness advanced, yet not in secret flight Ionia's host was minded to escape; But when white-steeded Day, bright to behold, Held the wide earth, from the Hellenes first, Like joyous chant, rang out their battle-cry, And forthwith Echo, from the island rocks, Sent back responsive an inspiring shout. On all the Persians, cheated in their hopes, Fell terror; for by no means as in flight Their solemn pæan did th' Hellenes sing, But with stout courage speeding to the fray. The trumpet's blare fired all their ranks, and straight, With simultaneous dip of sounding oar, They at the signal smote the surging brine, And instant all conspicuous were to sight. First the right wing, well marshall'd, took the lead: Then their whole naval force in fair array Bore down against us. All at once was heard A mighty shout: "Sons of Hellenès, on, Your country free, your children free, your wives, The temples of your fathers' deities, Your tombs ancestral; for your all ye fight." And from our side clamour of Persian speech In answer rose; no time was then for pause, But instant galley against galley dashed Her armature of brass. A ship of Hellas Led the encounter, and from Punic barque Sheared her high crest. Thereon as fortune led, Ship drave on ship; at first the Persian host, A mighty flood, made head; but soon their ships Thronged in the strait, of mutual aid bereft, Each against other dashed with brazen beak, Crushing the oar-banks of their proper fleet; While the Hellenès ships, not without skill, Circling around them smote: dead hulks of ships Floated keel-upwards, and, with wrecks o'erstrewn And slaughtered men, lost was the sea from sight, Ay, shores and reefs were crowded with the dead. In flight disordered every ship was rowed, Poor remnant of the Persian armament. Then as men strike at tunnies, or a haul Of captured fishes, the Hellenès, armed With splint of oar, or fragment from the wreck, Batter'd, and clave with dislocating blows. Shrieks and loud wailing filled the ocean brine, Till all 'neath eye of swarthy night was lost. But all our losses, though for ten whole days I told them over, could I not recount. Of this be sure, that never in one day Perished of men so vast a multitude. ATOSSA Woe! Woe! Of ills a mighty sea hath burst On Persia, and on all the Asian race. MESSENGER Be thou assured, but half our loss thou knowest; Upon them came calamity so vast As twice to overweigh the ills yet told. ATOSSA What Fortune could than this more hostile be? Say, what this woe which came, as thou dost state, Upon the host, charged with still heavier bale? MESSENGER All Persia's sons, in fairest bloom of life, Bravest of soul, pre-eminent by birth, And to the king himself still first in trust,— These died ignobly, by inglorious doom. ATOSSA Ah wretched me, my friends, for deadly chance! But say, what form of ruin these o'erwhelm'd? MESSENGER An isle there is that fronteth Salamis, Small, with bad anchorage, whose sea-washed beach Dance-loving Pan doth haunt; thither the King Sendeth these chiefs, that, when the worsted foe Should in the isle seek safety, Persia's sons Might slay the host of Hellas, easy prey, And from the briny channels save their friends, Ill-guessing the to-come: for when the god The Hellenès crowned with glory of the fight, On that same day, with shields of well-wrought brass Fencing their bodies, from their ships they leapt, And the whole isle encompassed; so our men Knew not which way to turn; oft time by stones Pelted from foeman's hand, while arrows keen, Thick raining from the bow-string, smote them down; Rushing at last with simultaneous shout, The Hellenès hacked and carved the victims' limbs, Till they, poor wretches, all of life were reaved. But Xerxes groaned, seeing the depth of ills; For on a lofty height, hard by the sea, His seat he held, o'erlooking all the host. His garments rending, a shrill cry he raised, To his land troops forthwith dispatch'd command, And sped in flight disordered. Thine it is To wail this sorrow added to the first. ATOSSA O hateful Demon, how thou hast belied The hopes of Persians! Bitter punishment 'Gainst famous Athens hath my son devised; Nor did the deaths suffice of Asia's host Whom Marathon destroyed; for them my son Thought to exact requital, but instead, Upon himself hath drawn this host of ills. But speak, the ships that have destruction 'scaped,— Where didst thou leave them? This canst clearly tell? * πλαγκτοῖς ἐν διπλάκεσσιν. These words have given rise to a variety of interpretations. They have been supposed to refer to the ebbing and flowing surface of the tide; to the two opposite shores of the strait; to the twofold surface of land and sea; to fragments of wrecked ships, &c. The word δίπλαξ is however known in Homer as a double cloak (cloak with cape), and in the context most probably refers to the floating mantles of the slain. † πάντα. So Hermann for παντα, and he also adds θεοι, to complete both sense and metre, from a gloss in one MS.—Paley. * The combined fleet which had now got together at Salamis consisted of 366 ships. ... We may doubt, however, whether this total, borrowed from Herodotus, be not larger than that which actually fought a little afterwards at the battle of Salamis, and which Æschylus gives decidedly as consisting of 300 sail, in addition to ten prime and chosen ships. That great poet, himself one of the combatants, and speaking in a drama represented only seven years after the battle, is better authority on the point even than Herodotus.—GROTE'S History of Greece. † The sufferings endured by the Athenians in consequence of the Persian occupation of Attica, when the temples of the Acropolis were pillaged, and all its buildings, sacred as well as profane, were consigned to the flames, were so recent and terrible, that any direct allusion to them would have jarred upon the feelings of a large portion of the audience. We cannot but admire the skill of the poet in evading the question which he attributes to the Persian queen. * Allusion is here made to the desperate stratagem of Themistoklês, by which he thwarted the resolution of the Grecian leaders to remove the fleet to the Isthmus, a resolution which, if taken, would have involved the ruin of the Hellenic cause. * In illustration of this command, reference may be made to the wrath of Xerxes when apprised of the destruction of the first bridge of boats thrown over the Hellespont, when he caused the heads of the chief engineers to be struck off. ‡ The phrase in the original probably means "each boatswain of a crew."