Aeschylus: Tragedies (Oresteia, Prometheus Bound, etc.)

Take thou this gift from out the grave of Time. The urns of Greece lie shattered, and the cup That for Athenian lips the Muses filled, And flowery crowns that on Athenian hair Hid the cicala, freedom’s golden sign, Dust in the dust have fallen. Calmly sad, The marble dead upon Athenian tombs Speak from their eyes “Farewell”: and well have fared They and the saddened friends, whose clasping hands Win from the solemn stone eternity. Yea, well they fared unto the evening god, Passing beyond the limit of the world, Where face to face the son his mother saw, A living man a shadow, while she spake Words that Odysseus and that Homer heard,— I too, O child, I reached the common doom, The grave, the goal of fate, and passed away. —Such, Anticleia, as thy voice to him, Across the dim gray gulf of death and time Is that of Greece, a mother’s to a child,— Mother of each whose dreams are grave and fair— Who sees the Naiad where the streams are bright And in the sunny ripple of the sea Cymodoce with floating golden hair: And in the whisper of the waving oak Hears still the Dryad’s plaint, and, in the wind That sighs through moonlit woodlands, knows the horn Of Artemis, and silver shafts and bow. Therefore if still around this broken vase, Borne by rough hands, unworthy of their load, Far from Cephisus and the wandering rills, There cling a fragrance as of things once sweet, Of honey from Hymettus’ desert hill, Take thou the gift and hold it close and dear; For gifts that die have living memories— Voices of unreturning days, that breathe The spirit of a day that never dies.

ARGUMENT Io, the daughter of Inachus, King of Argos, was beloved of Zeus. But Hera was jealous of that love, and by her ill will was Io given over to frenzy, and her body took the semblance of a heifer: and Argus, a many-eyed herdsman, was set by Hera to watch Io whithersoever she strayed. Yet, in despite of Argus, did Zeus draw nigh unto her in the shape of a bull. And by the will of Zeus and the craft of Hermes was Argus slain. Then Io was driven over far lands and seas by her madness, and came at length to the land of Egypt. There was she restored to herself by a touch of the hand of Zeus, and bare a child called Epaphus. And from Epaphus sprang Libya, and from Libya, Belus; and from Belus, Aegyptus and Danaus. And the sons of Aegyptus willed to take the daughters of Danaus in marriage. But the maidens held such wedlock in horror, and fled with their father over the sea to Argos; and the king and citizens of Argos gave them shelter and protection from their pursuers.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE DANAUS. THE KING OF ARGOS. HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Chorus of the Daughters of Danaus. Attendants. Scene.—A sacred precinct near the gates of Argos: statue and shrines of Zeus and other deities stand around. CHORUS. Zeus! Lord and guard of suppliant hands! Look down benign on us who crave Thine aid—whom winds and waters drave From where, through drifting shifting sands, Pours Nilus to the wave. From where the green land, god-possest, Closes and fronts the Syrian waste, We flee as exiles, yet unbanned By murder’s sentence from our land; But—since Aegyptus had decreed His sons should wed his brother’s seed,— Ourselves we tore from bonds abhorred, From wedlock not of heart but hand, Nor brooked to call a kinsman lord!

And Danaus, our sire and guide, The king of counsel, pond’ring well The dice of fortune as they fell, Out of two griefs the kindlier chose, And bade us fly, with him beside, Heedless what winds or waves arose, And o’er the wide sea waters haste, Until to Argos’ shore at last Our wandering pinnace came— Argos, the immemorial home Of her from whom we boast to come— Io, the ox-horned maiden, whom, After long wandering, woe, and scathe, Zeus with a touch, a mystic breath, Made mother of our name. Therefore, of all the lands of earth, On this most gladly step we forth, And in our hands aloft we bear— Sole weapon for a suppliant’s wear— The olive-shoot, with wool enwound! City, and land, and waters wan Of Inachus, and gods most high, And ye who, deep beneath the ground, Bring vengeance weird on mortal man, Powers of the grave, on you we cry! And unto Zeus the Saviour, guard Of mortals’ holy purity! Receive ye us—keep watch and ward Above the suppliant maiden band! Chaste be the heart of this your land Towards the weak! but, ere the throng, The wanton swarm, from Egypt sprung, Leap forth upon the silted shore, Thrust back their swift-rowed bark again, Repel them, urge them to the main! And there, ’mid storm and lightning’s shine, And scudding drift and thunder’s roar, Deep death be theirs, in stormy brine! Before they foully grasp and win Us, maiden-children of their kin, And climb the couch by law denied, And wrong each weak reluctant bride. And now on her I call,

Mine ancestress, who far on Egypt’s shore A young cow’s semblance wore,— A maiden once, by Hera’s malice changed! And then on him withal, Who, as amid the flowers the grazing creature ranged, Was in her by a breath of Zeus conceived; And, as the hour of birth drew nigh, By fate fulfilled, unto the light he came; And Epaphus for name, Born from the touch of Zeus, the child received. On him, on him I cry, And him for patron hold— While in this grassy vale I stand, Where Io roamed of old! And here, recounting all her toil and pain, Signs will I show to those who rule the land That I am child of hers; and all shall understand, Hearing the doubtful tale of the dim past made plain. And, ere the end shall be, Each man the truth of what I tell shall see. And if there dwell hard by One skilled to read from bird-notes augury, That man, when through his ears shall thrill our tearful wail, Shall deem he hears the voice, the plaintive tale Of her, the piteous spouse of Tereus, lord of guile— Whom the hawk harries yet, the mourning nightingale. She, from her happy home and fair streams scared away, Wails wild and sad for haunts beloved erewhile. Yea, and for Itylus—ah, well-a-day! Slain by her own, his mother’s hand, Maddened by lustful wrong, the deed by Tereus planned. Like her I wail and wail, in soft Ionian tones, And as she wastes, even so Wastes my soft cheek, once ripe with Nilus’ suns And all my heart dissolves in utter woe Sad flowers of grief I cull,

Fleeing from kinsmen’s love unmerciful— Yea, from the clutching hands, the wanton crowd, I sped across the waves, from Egypt’s land of cloud Gods of the ancient cradle of my race, Hear me, just gods! With righteous grace On me, on me look down! Grant not to youth its heart’s unchaste desire, But, swiftly spurning lust’s unholy fire, Bless only love and willing wedlock’s crown The war-worn fliers from the battle’s wrack Find refuge at the hallowed altar-side, The sanctuary divine,— Ye gods! such refuge unto me provide— Such sanctuary be mine! Though the deep will of Zeus be hard to track, Yet doth it flame and glance, A beacon in the dark, ’mid clouds of chance That wrap mankind Yea, though the counsel fall, undone it shall not be, Whate’er be shaped and fixed within Zeus’ ruling mind— Dark as a solemn grove, with sombre leafage shaded, His paths of purpose wind, A marvel to man’s eye

Smitten by him, from towering hopes degraded, Mortals lie low and still Tireless and effortless, works forth its will The arm divine! God from His holy seat, in calm of unarmed power, Brings forth the deed, at its appointed hour! Let Him look down on mortal wantonness! Lo! how the youthful stock of Belus’ line Craves for me, uncontrolled— With greed and madness bold— Urged on by passion’s sunless stress— And, cheated, learns too late the prey has ’scaped their hold! Ah, listen, listen to my grievous tale, My sorrow’s words, my shrill and tearful cries! Ah woe, ah woe! Loud with lament the accents use, And from my living lips my own sad dirges flow! O Apian land of hill and dale, Thou kennest yet, O land, this faltered foreign wail— Have mercy, hear my prayer! Lo, how again, again, I rend and tear My woven raiment, and from off my hair Cast the Sidonian veil! Ah, but if fortune smile, if death be driven away, Vowed rites, with eager haste, we to the gods will pay! Alas, alas again! O wither drift the waves? and who shall loose the pain?

O Apian land of hill and dale, Thou kennest yet, O land, this faltered foreign wail! Have mercy, hear my prayer! Lo, how again, again, I rend and tear My woven raiment, and from off my hair Cast the Sidonian veil! The wafting oar, the bark with woven sail, From which the sea foamed back, Sped me, unharmed of storms, along the breeze’s track— Be it unblamed of me! But ah, the end, the end of my emprise! May He, the Father, with all-seeing eyes, Grant me that end to see! Grant that henceforth unstained as heretofore I may escape the forced embrace Of those proud children of the race That sacred Io bore. And thou, O maiden-goddess chaste and pure— Queen of the inner fane,— Look of thy grace on me, O Artemis, Thy willing suppliant—thine, thine it is, Who from the lustful onslaught fled secure, To grant that I too without stain The shelter of thy purity may gain! Grant that henceforth unstained as heretofore I may escape the forced embrace Of those proud children of the race That sacred Io bore!

Yet if this may not be, We, the dark race sun-smitten, we Will speed with suppliant wands To Zeus who rules below, with hospitable hands Who welcomes all the dead from all the lands: Yea by our own hands strangled, we will go, Spurned by Olympian gods, unto the gods below! Zeus, hear and save! The searching, poisonous hate, that Io vexed and drave, Was of a goddess: well I know The bitter ire, the wrathful woe Of Hera, queen of heaven— A storm, a storm her breath, whereby we yet are driven! Bethink thee, what dispraise Of Zeus himself mankind will raise, If now he turn his face averted from our cries! If now, dishonoured and alone, The ox-horned maiden’s race shall be undone, Children of Epaphus, his own begotten son— Zeus, listen from on high!—to thee our prayers arise. Zeus, hear and save! The searching poisonous hate, that Io vexed and drave, Was of a goddess: well I know The bitter ire, the wrathful woe Of Hera, queen of heaven— A storm, a storm her breath, whereby we yet are driven!

DANAUS. Children, be wary—wary he with whom Ye come, your trusty sire and steersman old: And that same caution hold I here on land, And bid you hoard my words, inscribing them On memory’s tablets. Lo, I see afar Dust, voiceless herald of a host, arise; And hark, within their grinding sockets ring Axles of hurrying wheels! I see approach, Borne in curved cars, by speeding horses drawn, A speared and shielded band. The chiefs, perchance, Of this their land are hitherward intent To look on us, of whom they yet have heard By messengers alone. But come who may, And come he peaceful or in ravening wrath Spurred on his path, ’twere best, in any case, Damsels, to cling unto this altar-mound Made sacred to their gods of festival,— A shrine is stronger than a tower to save, A shield that none may cleave. Step swift thereto, And in your left hands hold with reverence The white-crowned wands of suppliance, the sign Beloved of Zeus, compassion’s lord, and speak To those that question you, words meek and low And piteous, as beseems your stranger state, Clearly avowing of this flight of yours The bloodless cause; and on your utterance See to it well that modesty attend; From downcast eyes, from brows of pure control, Let chastity look forth; nor, when ye speak, Be voluble nor eager—they that dwell Within this land are sternly swift to chide. And be your words submissive: heed this well; For weak ye are, outcasts on stranger lands, And froward talk beseems not strengthless hands.

CHORUS. O father, warily to us aware Thy words are spoken, and thy wisdom’s best My mind shall hoard, with Zeus our sire to aid. DANAUS. Even so—with gracious aspect let him aid. CHORUS. Fain were I now to seat me by thy side. DANAUS. Now dally not, but put our thought in act. CHORUS. Zeus, pity our distress, or e’er we die. DANAUS. If so he will, your toils to joy will turn. CHORUS. Lo, on this shrine, the semblance of a bird. DANAUS. Zeus’ bird of dawn it is; invoke the sign. CHORUS. Thus I invoke the saving rays of morn. DANAUS. Next, bright Apollo, exiled once from heaven. CHORUS. The exiled god will pity our exile. DANAUS. Yea, may he pity, giving grace and aid. CHORUS. Whom next invoke I, of these other gods? DANAUS. Lo, here a trident, symbol of a god. CHORUS. Who gave sea-safety; may he bless on land! DANAUS. This next is Hermes, carved in Grecian wise. CHORUS. Then let him herald help to freedom won.

DANAUS. Lastly, adore this altar consecrate To many lesser gods in one; then crouch On holy ground, a flock of doves that flee, Scared by no alien hawks, a kin not kind, Hateful, and fain of love more hateful still. Foul is the bird that rends another bird, And foul the men who hale unwilling maids, From sire unwilling, to the bridal bed. Never on earth, nor in the lower world, Shall lewdness such as theirs escape the ban: There too, if men say right, a God there is Who upon dead men turns their sin to doom, To final doom. Take heed, draw hitherward, That from this hap your safety ye may win. Enter the KING OF ARGOS. THE KING OF ARGOS. Speak—of what land are ye? No Grecian band Is this to whom I speak, with Eastern robes And wrappings richly dight: no Argive maid, No woman in all Greece such garb doth wear. This too gives marvel, how unto this land, Unheralded, unfriended, without guide, And without fear, ye came? yet wands I see, True sign of suppliance, by you laid down On shrines of these our gods of festival. No land but Greece can read such signs aright. Much else there is, conjecture well might guess, But let words teach the man who stands to hear.

CHORUS. True is the word thou spakest of my garb; But speak I unto thee as citizen, Or Hermes’ wandbearer, or chieftain king?

THE KING OF ARGOS. For that, take heart and answer without fear. I am Pelasgus, ruler of this land, Child of Palaichthon, whom the earth brought forth; And, rightly named from me, the race who reap This country’s harvests are Pelasgian called. And o’er the wide and westward-stretching land, Through which the lucent wave of Strymon flows I rule; Perrhaebia’s land my boundary is Northward, and Pindus’ further slopes, that watch Paeonia, and Dodona’s mountain ridge. West, east, the limit of the washing seas Restrains my rule—the interspace is mine. But this whereon we stand is Apian land, Styled so of old from the great healer’s name; For Apis, coming from Naupactus’ shore Beyond the strait, child of Apollo’s self And like him seer and healer, cleansed this land From man-devouring monsters, whom the earth, Stained with pollution of old bloodshedding, Brought forth in malice, beasts of ravening jaws, A grisly throng of serpents manifold. And healings of their hurt, by knife and charm, Apis devised, unblamed of Argive men, And in their prayers found honour, for reward. —Lo, thou hast heard the tokens that I give: Speak now thy race, and tell a forthright tale; In sooth, this people loves not many words.

CHORUS. Short is my word and clear. Of Argive race We come, from her, the ox-horned maiden who Erst bare the sacred child. My word shall give Whate’er can ’stablish this my soothfast tale. THE KING OF ARGOS. O stranger maids, I may not trust this word, That ye have share in this our Argive race. No likeness of our country do ye bear, But semblance as of Libyan womankind. Even such a stock by Nilus’ banks might grow; Yea and the Cyprian stamp, in female forms, Shows to the life, what males impressed the same. And, furthermore, of roving Indian maids Whose camping-grounds by Aethiopia lie, And camels burdened even as mules, and bearing Riders, as horses bear, mine ears have heard; And tales of flesh-devouring mateless maids Called Amazons: to these, if bows ye bare, I most had deemed you like. Speak further yet, That of your Argive birth the truth I learn. CHORUS. Here in this Argive land—so runs the tale— Io was priestess once of Hera’s fane. THE KING OF ARGOS. Yea, truth it is, and far this word prevails: Is’t said that Zeus with mortal mingled love? CHORUS. Ay, and that Hera that embrace surmised. THE KING OF ARGOS. How issued then this strife of those on high?

CHORUS. By Hera’s will, a heifer she became. THE KING OF ARGOS. Held Zeus aloof then from the horned beast? CHORUS. ’Tis said, he loved, in semblance of a bull. THE KING OF ARGOS. And his stern consort, did she aught thereon? CHORUS. One myriad-eyed she set, the heifer’s guard. THE KING OF ARGOS. How namest thou this herdsman many-eyed? CHORUS. Argus, the child of Earth, whom Hermes slew. THE KING OF ARGOS. Still did the goddess vex the beast ill-starred? CHORUS. She wrought a gadfly with a goading sting. THE KING OF ARGOS. Thus drave she Io hence, to roam afar? CHORUS. Yea—this thy word coheres exact with mine. THE KING OF ARGOS. Then to Canopus and to Memphis came she? CHORUS. And by Zeus’ hand was touched, and bare a child. THE KING OF ARGOS. Who vaunts him the Zeus-mated creature’s son? CHORUS. Epaphus, named rightly from the saving touch. THE KING OF ARGOS. And whom in turn did Epaphus beget? CHORUS. Libya, with name of a wide land endowed. THE KING OF ARGOS. And who from her was born unto the race? CHORUS. Belus: from him two sons, my father one. THE KING OF ARGOS. Speak now to me his name, this greybeard wise. CHORUS. Revere the gods thus crowned, who steer the State.

THE KING OF ARGOS. Awe thrills me, seeing these shrines with leafage crowned. CHORUS. Yea, stern the wrath of Zeus, the suppliants’ lord. Child of Palaichthon, royal chief Of thy Pelasgians, hear! Bow down thine heart to my relief— A fugitive, a suppliant, swift with fear, A creature whom the wild wolves chase O’er toppling crags; in piteous case Aloud, afar she lows, Calling the herdsman’s trusty arm to save her from her foes! THE KING OF ARGOS. Lo, with bowed heads beside our city shrines Ye sit ’neath shade of new-plucked olive-boughs. Our distant kin’s resentment Heaven forefend! Let not this hap, unhoped and unforeseen, Bring war on us: for strife we covet not. CHORUS. Justice, the daughter of right-dealing Zeus, Justice, the queen of suppliants, look down, That this our plight no ill may loose Upon your town! This word, even from the young, let age and wisdom learn: If thou to suppliants show grace, Thou shalt not lack Heaven’s grace in turn, So long as virtue’s gifts on heavenly shrines have place. THE KING OF ARGOS. Not at my private hearth ye sit and sue; And if the city bear a common stain, Be it the common toil to cleanse the same: Therefore no pledge, no promise will I give, Ere counsel with the commonwealth be held.

CHORUS. Nay, but the source of sway, the city’s self, art thou, A power unjudged! thine, only thine, To rule the right of hearth and shrine! Before thy throne and sceptre all men bow! Thou, in all causes lord, beware the curse divine! THE KING OF ARGOS. May that curse fall upon mine enemies! I cannot aid you without risk of scathe, Nor scorn your prayers—unmerciful it were. Perplexed, distraught I stand, and fear alike The twofold chance, to do or not to do. CHORUS. Have heed of him who looketh from on high, The guard of woeful mortals, whosoe’er Unto their fellows cry, And find no pity, find no justice there. Abiding in his wrath, the suppliants’ lord Doth smite, unmoved by cries, unbent by prayerful word. THE KING OF ARGOS. But if Aegyptus’ children grasp you here, Claiming, their country’s right, to hold you theirs As next of kin, who dares to counter this? Plead ye your country’s laws, if plead ye may, That upon you they lay no lawful hand. CHORUS. Let me not fall, O nevermore, A prey into the young men’s hand; Rather than wed whom I abhor, By pilot-stars I flee this land; O king, take justice to thy side, And with the righteous powers decide!

THE KING OF ARGOS. Hard is the cause—make me not judge thereof. Already I have vowed it, to do nought Save after counsel with my people ta’en, King though I be; that ne’er in after time, If ill fate chance, my people then may say— In aid of strangers thou the state hast slain. CHORUS. Zeus, lord of kinship, rules at will The swaying balance, and surveys Evil and good; to men of ill Gives evil, and to good men praise. And thou—since true those scales do sway— Shall thou from justice shrink away? THE KING OF ARGOS. A deep, a saving counsel here there needs— An eye that like a diver to the depth Of dark perplexity can pass and see, Undizzied, unconfused. First must we care That to the State and to ourselves this thing Shall bring no ruin; next, that wrangling hands Shall grasp you not as prey, nor we ourselves Betray you thus embracing sacred shrines, Nor make the avenging all-destroying god, Who not in hell itself sets dead men free, A grievous inmate, an abiding bane.— Spake I not right, of saving counsel’s need?

CHORUS. Yea, counsel take and stand to aid At Justice’ side and mine. Betray not me, the timorous maid Whom far beyond the brine A godless violence cast forth forlorn. O King, wilt thou behold— Lord of this land, wilt thou behold me torn From altars manifold? Bethink thee of the young men’s wrath and lust, Hold off their evil pride; Steel not thyself to see the suppliant thrust From hallowed statues’ side, Haled by the frontlet on my forehead bound, As steeds are led, and drawn By hands that drag from shrine and altar-mound My vesture’s fringed lawn. Know thou that whether for Aegyptus’ race Thou dost their wish fulfil, Or for the gods and for each holy place— Be thy choice good or ill, Blow is with blow requited, grace with grace Such is Zeus’ righteous will.

THE KING OF ARGOS. Yea, I have pondered: from the sea of doubt Here drives at length the bark of thought ashore; Landward with screw and windlass haled, and firm, Clamped to her props, she lies. The need is stern; With men or gods a mighty strife we strive Perforce, and either hap in grief concludes. For, if a house be sacked, new wealth for old Not hard it is to win—if Zeus the lord Of treasure favour—more than quits the loss, Enough to pile the store of wealth full high; Or if a tongue shoot forth untimely speech, Bitter and strong to goad a man to wrath, Soft words there be to soothe that wrath away: But what device shall make the war of kin Bloodless? that woe, the blood of many beasts, And victims manifold to many gods, Alone can cure. Right glad I were to shun This strife, and am more fain of ignorance Than of the wisdom of a woe endured. The gods send better than my soul foretells! CHORUS. Of many cries for mercy, hear the end. THE KING OF ARGOS. Say on, then, for it shall not ’scape mine ear. CHORUS. Girdles we have, and bands that bind our robes. THE KING OF ARGOS. Even so; such things beseem a woman’s wear.

CHORUS. Know, then, with these a fair device there is— THE KING OF ARGOS. Speak, then: what utterance doth this foretell? CHORUS. Unless to us thou givest pledge secure— THE KING OF ARGOS. What can thy girdles’ craft achieve for thee? CHORUS. Strange votive tablets shall these statues deck. THE KING OF ARGOS. Mysterious thy resolve—avow it clear. CHORUS. Swiftly to hang me on these sculptured gods! THE KING OF ARGOS. Thy word is as a lash to urge my heart. CHORUS. Thou seest truth, for I have cleared thine eye

THE KING OF ARGOS. Yea, and woes manifold, invincible, A crowd of ills, sweep on me torrent-like. My bark goes forth upon a sea of troubles Unfathomed, ill to traverse, harbourless. For if my deed shall match not your demand, Dire, beyond shot of speech, shall be the bane Your death’s pollution leaves unto this land. Yet if against your kin, Aegyptus’ race, Before our gates I front the doom of war, Will not the city’s loss be sore? Shall men For women’s sake incarnadine the ground? But yet the wrath of Zeus, the suppliants’ lord I needs must fear: most awful unto man The terror of his anger. Thou, old man, The father of these maidens, gather up Within your arms these wands of suppliance, And lay them at the altars manifold Of all our country’s gods, that all the town Know, by this sign, that ye come here to sue. Nor, in thy haste, do thou say aught of me. Swift is this folk to censure those who rule; But, if they see these signs of suppliance, It well may chance that each will pity you, And loathe the young men’s violent pursuit; And thus a fairer favour you may find: For, to the helpless, each man’s heart is kind.

DANAUS. To us, beyond gifts manifold it is To find a champion thus compassionate; Yet send with me attendants, of thy folk, Rightly to guide me, that I duly find Each altar of your city’s gods that stands Before the fane, each dedicated shrine; And that in safety through the city’s ways I may pass onwards: all unlike to yours The outward semblance that I wear—the race that Nilus rears is all dissimilar That of Inachus. Keep watch and ward Lest heedlessness bring death: full oft, I ween, Friend hath slain friend, not knowing whom he slew. THE KING OF ARGOS. Go at his side, attendants,—he saith well. On to the city’s consecrated shrines! Nor be of many words to those ye meet, The while this suppliant voyager ye lead. [Exit DANAUS with attendants.] CHORUS. Let him go forward, thy command obeying. But me how biddest, how assurest thou? THE KING OF ARGOS. Leave there the new-plucked boughs, thy sorrow’s sign. CHORUS. Thus beckoned forth, at thy behest I leave them. THE KING OF ARGOS. Now to this level precinct turn thyself. CHORUS. Unconsecrate it is, and cannot shield me. THE KING OF ARGOS. We will not yield thee to those falcons’ greed. CHORUS. What help? more fierce they are than serpents fell.

THE KING OF ARGOS. We spake thee fair—speak thou them fair in turn. CHORUS. What marvel that we loathe them, scared in soul? THE KING OF ARGOS. Awe towards a king should other fears transcend. CHORUS. Thus speak, thus act, and reassure my mind. THE KING OF ARGOS. Not long thy sire shall leave thee desolate. But I will call the country’s indwellers, And with soft words th’ assembly will persuade, And warn your sire what pleadings will avail. Therefore abide ye, and with prayer entreat The country’s gods to compass your desire; The while I go, this matter to provide, Persuasion and fair fortune at my side. [Exit the KING OF ARGOS.]

CHORUS. O King of Kings, among the blest Thou highest and thou happiest, Listen and grant our prayer, And, deeply loathing, thrust Away from us the young men’s lust, And deeply drown In azure waters, down and ever down, Benches and rowers dark, The fatal and perfidious bark! Unto the maidens turn thy gracious care; Think yet again upon the tale of fame, How from the maiden loved of thee there sprung Mine ancient line, long since in many a legend sung! Remember, O remember, thou whose hand Did Io by a touch to human shape reclaim. For from this Argos erst our mother came Driven hence to Egypt’s land, Yet sprung of Zeus we were, and hence our birth we claim. And now have I roamed back Unto the ancient track Where Io roamed and pastured among flowers, Watched o’er by Argus’ eyes, Through the lush grasses and the meadow bowers. Thence, by the gadfly maddened, forth she flies Unto far lands and alien peoples driven And, following fate, through paths of foam and surge, Sees, as she goes, the cleaving strait divide Greece, from the Eastland riven. And swift through Asian borders doth she urge Her course, o’er Phrygian mountains’ sheep-clipt side; Thence, where the Mysian realm of Teuthras lies Towards Lydian lowlands hies, And o’er Cilician and Pamphylian hills And ever-flowing rills, And thence to Aphrodite’s fertile shore, The land of garnered wheat and wealthy store And thence, deep-stung by wild unrest, By the winged fly that goaded her and drave, Unto the fertile land, the god-possest, (Where, fed from far-off snows, Life-giving Nilus flows, Urged on by Typho’s strength, a fertilizing wave) She roves, in harassed and dishonoured flight Scathed by the blasting pangs of Hera’s dread despite. And they within the land With terror shook and wanned, So strange the sight they saw, and were afraid— A wild twy-natured thing, half heifer and half maid. Whose hand was laid at last on Io, thus forlorn, With many roamings worn? Who bade the harassed maiden’s peace return? Zeus, lord of time eterne. Yea, by his breath divine, by his unscathing strength, She lays aside her bane, And softened back to womanhood at length Sheds human tears again. Then, quickened with Zeus’ veritable seed, A progeny she bare, A stainless babe, a child of heavenly breed. Of life and fortune fair. His is the life of life—so all men say,— His is the seed of Zeus. Who else had power stern Hera’s craft to stay, Her vengeful curse to loose?

Yea, all from Zeus befell! And rightly wouldst thou tell That we from Epaphus, his child, were born: Justly his deed was done; Unto what other one, Of all the gods, should I for justice turn? From him our race did spring; Creator he and King, Ancient of days and wisdom he, and might. As bark before the wind, So, wafted by his mind, Moves every counsel, each device aright. Beneath no stronger hand Holds he a weak command, No throne doth he abase him to adore; Swift as a word, his deed Acts out what stands decreed In counsels of his heart, for evermore. Re-enter DANAUS. DANAUS. Take heart, my children: the land’s heart is kind, And to full issue has their voting come. CHORUS. All hail, my sire; thy word brings utmost joy. Say, to what issue is the vote made sure, And how prevailed the people’s crowding hands?

DANAUS. With one assent the Argives spake their will, And, hearing, my old heart took youthful cheer, The very sky was thrilled when high in air The concourse raised right hands and swore their oath:— _Free shall the maidens sojourn in this land. Unharried, undespoiled by mortal wight: No native hand, no hand of foreigner Shall drag them hence; if any man use force— Whoe’er of all our countrymen shall fail To come unto their aid, let him go forth, Beneath the people’s curse, to banishment_. So did the king of this Pelasgian folk Plead on behalf of us, and bade them heed That never, in the after-time, this realm Should feed to fulness the great enmity Of Zeus, the suppliants’ guard, against itself! A twofold curse, for wronging stranger-guests Who are akin withal, confrontingly Should rise before this city and be shown A ruthless monster, fed on human doom. Such things the Argive people heard, and straight, Without proclaim of herald, gave assent: Yea, in full conclave, the Pelasgian folk Heard suasive pleas, and Zeus through them resolved.

CHORUS. Arouse we now to chant our prayer For fair return of service fair And Argos’ kindly will. Zeus, lord of guestright, look upon The grace our stranger lips have won. In right and truth, as they begun, Guide them, with favouring hand, until Thou dost their blameless wish fulfil! Now may the Zeus-born gods on high Hear us pour forth A votive prayer for Argos’ clan!— Never may this Pelasgian earth, Amid the fire-wrack, shrill the dismal cry On Ares, ravening lord of fight, Who in an alien harvest mows down man! For lo, this land had pity on our plight, And unto us were merciful and leal, To us, the piteous flock, who at Zeus’ altar kneel! They scornèd not the pleas of maidenhood, Nor with the young men’s will hath their will stood. They knew right well. Th’ unearthly watching fiend invincible, The foul avenger—let him not draw near! For he, on roofs ill-starred, Defiling and polluting, keeps a ghastly ward! They knew his vengeance, and took holy heed To us, the sister suppliants, who cry To Zeus, the lord of purity: Therefore with altars pure they shall the gods revere.

Thus, through the boughs that shade our lips, fly forth in air, Fly forth, O eager prayer! May never pestilence efface This city’s race, Nor be the land with corpses strewed, Nor stained with civic blood! The stem of youth, unpluckt, to manhood come, Nor Ares rise from Aphrodité’s bower, The lord of death and bane, to waste our youthful flower. Long may the old Crowd to the altars kindled to consume Gifts rich and manifold— Offered to win from powers divine A benison on city and on shrine: Let all the sacred might adore Of Zeus most high, the lord Of guestright and the hospitable board, Whose immemorial law doth rule Fate’s scales aright: The garners of earth’s store Be full for evermore, And grace of Artemis make women’s travail light; No devastating curse of fell disease This city seize; No clamour of the State arouse to war Ares, from whom afar Shrinketh the lute, by whom the dances fail— Ares, the lord of wail. Swarm far aloof from Argos’ citizens All plague and pestilence, And may the Archer-God our children spare! May Zeus with foison and with fruitfulness The land’s each season bless, And, quickened with Heaven’s bounty manifold, Teem grazing flock and fold. Beside the altars of Heaven’s hallowing Loud let the minstrels sing, And from pure lips float forth the harp-led strain in air! And let the people’s voice, the power That sways the State, in danger’s hour Be wary, wise for all; Nor honour in dishonour hold, But—ere the voice of war be bold— Let them to stranger peoples grant Fair and unbloody covenant— Justice and peace withal; And to the Argive powers divine The sacrifice of laurelled kine, By rite ancestral, pay. Among three words of power and awe, Stands this, the third, the mighty law— Your gods, your fathers deified, Ye shall adore. Let this abide For ever and for aye.

DANAUS. Dear children, well and wisely have ye prayed; I bid you now not shudder, though ye hear New and alarming tidings from your sire. From this high place beside the suppliants’ shrine The bark of our pursuers I behold, By divers tokens recognized too well. Lo, the spread canvas and the hides that screen The gunwale; lo, the prow, with painted eyes That seem her onward pathway to descry, Heeding too well the rudder at the stern That rules her, coming for no friendly end. And look, the seamen—all too plain their race— Their dark limbs gleam from out their snow-white garb; Plain too the other barks, a fleet that comes All swift to aid the purpose of the first, That now, with furled sail and with pulse of oars Which smite the wave together, comes aland. But ye, be calm, and, schooled not scared by fear, Confront this chance, be mindful of your trust In these protecting gods. And I will hence, And champions who shall plead your cause aright Will bring unto your side. There come perchance Heralds or envoys, eager to lay hand And drag you captive hence; yet fear them not; Foiled shall they be. Yet well it were for you (If, ere with aid I come, I tarry long), Not by one step this sanctuary to leave. Farewell, fear nought: soon shall the hour be born When he that scorns the gods shall rue his scorn

CHORUS. Ah but I shudder, father!—ah, even now, Even as I speak, the swift-winged ships draw nigh! I shudder, I shiver, I perish with fear: Overseas though I fled, Yet nought it avails; my pursuers are near! DANAUS. Children, take heart; they who decreed to aid Thy cause will arm for battle, well I ween. CHORUS. But desperate is Aegyptus’ ravening race, With fight unsated; thou too know’st it well. In their wrath they o’ertake us; the prow is deep-dark In the which they have sped, And dark is the bench and the crew of the bark! DANAUS. Yea but a crew as stout they here shall find, And arms well steeled beneath a noon-day sun. CHORUS. Ah yet, O father, leave us not forlorn! Alone, a maid is nought, a strengthless arm. With guile they pursue me, with counsel malign, And unholy their soul; And as ravens they seize me, unheeding the shrine! DANAUS. Fair will befall us, children, in this chance, If thus in wrath they wrong the gods and you. CHORUS. Alas, nor tridents nor the sanctity Of shrines will drive them, O my sire, from us! Unholy and daring and cursed is their ire, Nor own they control Of the gods, but like jackals they glut their desire!

DANAUS. Ay, but Come wolf, flee jackal, saith the saw; Nor can the flax-plant overbear the corn. CHORUS. Lustful, accursèd, monstrous is their will As of beasts ravening—’ware we of their power! DANAUS. Look you, not swiftly puts a fleet to sea, Nor swiftly to its moorings; long it is Or e’er the saving cables to the shore Are borne, and long or e’er the steersmen cry, The good ship swings at anchor—all is well. Longest of all, the task to come aland Where haven there is none, when sunset fades In night. To pilot wise, the adage saith, Night is a day of wakefulness and pain. Therefore no force of weaponed men, as yet Scatheless can come ashore, before the bank Lie at her anchorage securely moored. Bethink thee therefore, nor in panic leave The shrine of gods whose succour thou hast won I go for aid—men shall not blame me long, Old, but with youth at heart and on my tongue. [Exit DANAUS.] CHORUS. O land of hill and dale, O holy land, What shall befall us? whither shall we flee, From Apian land to some dark lair of earth?

O would that in vapour of smoke I might rise to the clouds of the sky, That as dust which flits up without wings I might pass and evanish and die! I dare not, I dare not abide: my heart yearns, eager to fly; And dark is the cast of my thought; I shudder and tremble for fear. My father looked forth and beheld: I die of the sight that draws near. And for me be the strangling cord, the halter made ready by Fate, Before to my body draws nigh the man of my horror and hate. Nay, ere I will own him as lord, as handmaid to Hades I go! And oh, that aloft in the sky, where the dark clouds are frozen to snow, A refuge for me might be found, or a mountain-top smooth and too high For the foot of the goat, where the vulture sits lonely, and none may descry The pinnacle veiled in the cloud, the highest and sheerest of all, Ere to wedlock that rendeth my heart, and love that is loveless, I fall! Yea, a prey to the dogs and the birds of the mount will I give me to be,— From wailing and curse and pollution it is death, only death, sets me free: Let death come upon me before to the ravisher’s bed I am thrust; What champion, what saviour but death can I find, or what refuge from lust? I will utter my shriek of entreaty, a prayer that shrills up to the sky, That calleth the gods to compassion, a tuneful, a pitiful cry, That is loud to invoke the releaser. O father, look down on the fight; Look down in thy wrath on the wronger, with eyes that are eager for right. Zeus, thou that art lord of the world, whose kingdom is strong over all, Have mercy on us! At thine altar for refuge and safety we call. For the race of Aegyptus is fierce, with greed and with malice afire; They cry as the questing hounds, they sweep with the speed of desire. But thine is the balance of fate, thou rulest the wavering scale, And without thee no mortal emprise shall have strength to achieve or prevail.

Alack, alack! the ravisher— He leaps from boat to beach, he draweth near! Away, thou plunderer accurst! Death seize thee first, Or e’er thou touch me—off! God, hear our cry, Our maiden agony! Ah, ah, the touch, the prelude of my shame. Alas, my maiden fame! O sister, sister, to the altar cling, For he that seizeth me, Grim is his wrath and stern, by land as on the sea. Guard us, O king! Enter the HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Hence to my barge—step swiftly, tarry not. CHORUS. Alack, he rends—he rends my hair! O wound on wound! Help! my lopped head will fall, my blood gush o’er the ground! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Aboard, ye cursèd—with a new curse, go! CHORUS. Would God that on the wand’ring brine Thou and this braggart tongue of thine Had sunk beneath the main— Thy mast and planks, made fast in vain! Thee would I drive aboard once more, A slayer and a dastard, from the shore! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Be still, thou vain demented soul; My force thy craving shall control. Away, aboard! What, clingest to the shrine? Away! this city’s gods I hold not for divine.

CHORUS. Aid me, ye gods, that never, never I may again behold The mighty, the life-giving river, Nilus, the quickener of field and fold! Alack, O sire, unto the shrine I cling— Shrine of this land from which mine ancient line did spring! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Shrines, shrines, forsooth!—the ship, the ship be shrine! Aboard, perforce and will-ye nill-ye, go! Or e’er from hands of mine Ye suffer torments worse and blow on blow. CHORUS. Alack, God grant those hands may strive in vain With the salt-streaming wave, When ’gainst the wide-blown blasts thy bark shall strain To round Sarpedon’s cape, the sandbank’s treach’rous grave. HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Shrill ye and shriek unto what gods ye may, Ye shall not leap from out Aegyptus’ bark, How bitterly soe’er ye wail your woe. CHORUS. Alack, alack my wrong! Stern is thy voice, thy vaunting loud and strong. Thy sire, the mighty Nilus, drive thee hence Turning to death and doom thy greedy violence! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Swift to the vessel of the double prow, Go quickly! let none linger, else this hand Ruthless will hale you by your tresses hence.

CHORUS. Alack, O father! from the shrine Not aid but agony is mine. As a spider he creeps and he clutches his prey, And he hales me away. A spectre of darkness, of darkness. Alas and alas! well-a-day! O Earth, O my mother! O Zeus, thou king of the earth, and her child! Turn back, we pray thee, from us his clamour and threatenings wild! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Peace! I fear not this country’s deities. They fostered not my childhood nor mine age. CHORUS. Like a snake that is human he comes, he shudders and crawls to my side; As an adder that biteth the foot, his clutch on my flesh doth abide. O Earth, O my mother! O Zeus, thou king of the earth, and her child! Turn back, we pray thee, from us his clamour and threatenings wild! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Swift each unto the ship; repine no more, Or my hand shall not spare to rend your robe. CHORUS. O chiefs, O leaders, aid me, or I yield! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Peace! if ye have not ears to hear my words, Lo, by these tresses must I hale you hence. CHORUS. Undone we are, O king! all hope is gone. HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Ay, kings enow ye shall behold anon, Aegyptus’ sons—Ye shall not want for kings.

Enter the KING OF ARGOS. THE KING OF ARGOS. Sirrah, what dost thou? in what arrogance Darest thou thus insult Pelasgia’s realm? Deemest thou this a woman-hearted town? Thou art too full of thy barbarian scorn For us of Grecian blood, and, erring thus, Thou dost bewray thyself a fool in all! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Say thou wherein my deeds transgress my right. THE KING OF ARGOS. First, that thou play’st a stranger’s part amiss. HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Wherein? I do but search and claim mine own. THE KING OF ARGOS. To whom of our guest-champions hast appealed? HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. To Hermes, herald’s champion, lord of search. THE KING OF ARGOS. Yea, to a god—yet dost thou wrong the gods! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. The gods that rule by Nilus I revere. THE KING OF ARGOS. Hear I aright? our Argive gods are nought? HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. The prey is mine, unless force rend it from me. THE KING OF ARGOS. At thine own peril touch them—’ware, and soon! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. I hear thy speech, no hospitable word. THE KING OF ARGOS. I am no host for sacrilegious hands. HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. I will go tell this to Aegyptus’ sons. THE KING OF ARGOS. Tell it! my pride will ponder not thy word.

HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Yet, that I have my message clear to say (For it behooves that heralds’ words be clear, Be they or ill or good), how art thou named? By whom despoilèd of this sister-band Of maidens pass I homeward?—speak and say! For lo, henceforth in Ares’ court we stand, Who judges not by witness but by war: No pledge of silver now can bring the cause To issue: ere this thing end, there must be Corpse piled on corpse and many lives gasped forth. THE KING OF ARGOS. What skills it that I tell my name to thee? Thou and thy mates shall learn it ere the end. Know that if words unstained by violence Can change these maidens’ choice, then mayest thou, With full consent of theirs, conduct them hence. But thus the city with one voice ordained— No force shall bear away the maiden band. Firmly this word upon the temple wall Is by a rivet clenched, and shall abide: Not upon wax inscribed and delible, Nor upon parchment sealed and stored away.— Lo, thou hast heard our free mouths speak their will: Out from our presence—tarry not, but go! HERALD OF AEGYPTUS. Methinks we stand on some new edge of war: Be strength and triumph on the young men’s side!

THE KING OF ARGOS. Nay but here also shall ye find young men, Unsodden with the juices oozed from grain. [Exit HERALD OF AEGYPTUS.] But ye, O maids, with your attendants true, Pass hence with trust into the fencèd town, Ringed with a wide confine of guarding towers. Therein are many dwellings for such guests As the State honours; there myself am housed Within a palace neither scant nor strait. There dwell ye, if ye will to lodge at ease In halls well-thronged: yet, if your soul prefer, Tarry secluded in a separate home. Choose ye and cull, from these our proffered gifts, Whiche’er is best and sweetest to your will: And I and all these citizens whose vote Stands thus decreed, will your protectors be. Look not to find elsewhere more loyal guard.

CHORUS. O godlike chief, God grant my prayer: Fair blessings on thy proffers fair, Lord of Pelasgia’s race! Yet, of thy grace, unto our side Send thou the man of courage tried, Of counsel deep and prudent thought,— Be Danaus to his children brought; For his it is to guide us well And warn where it behoves to dwell— What place shall guard and shelter us From malice and tongues slanderous: Swift always are the lips of blame A stranger-maiden to defame— But Fortune give us grace! THE KING OF ARGOS. A stainless fame, a welcome kind From all this people shall ye find: Dwell therefore, damsels, loved of us, Within our walls, as Danaus Allots to each, in order due, Her dower of attendants true. Re-enter DANAUS.

DANAUS High thanks, my children, unto Argos con, And to this folk, as to Olympian gods, Give offerings meet of sacrifice and wine; For saviours are they in good sooth to you. From me they heard, and bitter was their wrath, How those your kinsmen strove to work you wrong, And how of us were thwarted: then to me This company of spearmen did they grant, That honoured I might walk, nor unaware Die by some secret thrust and on this land Bring down the curse of death, that dieth not. Such boons they gave me: it behoves me pay A deeper reverence from a soul sincere. Ye, to the many words of wariness Spoken by me your father, add this word, That, tried by time, our unknown company Be held for honest: over-swift are tongues To slander strangers, over-light is speech To bring pollution on a stranger’s name. Therefore I rede you, bring no shame on me Now when man’s eye beholds your maiden prime. Lovely is beauty’s ripening harvest-field, But ill to guard; and men and beasts, I wot, And birds and creeping things make prey of it. And when the fruit is ripe for love, the voice Of Aphrodite bruiteth it abroad, The while she guards the yet unripened growth. On the fair richness of a maiden’s bloom Each passer looks, o’ercome with strong desire, With eyes that waft the wistful dart of love. Then be not such our hap, whose livelong toil Did make our pinnace plough the mighty main: Nor bring we shame upon ourselves, and joy Unto my foes. Behold, a twofold home— One of the king’s and one the people’s gift— Unbought, ’tis yours to hold,—a gracious boon. Go—but remember ye your sire’s behest, And hold your life less dear than chastity.

CHORUS. The gods above grant that all else be well. But fear not thou, O sire, lest aught befall Of ill unto our ripened maidenhood. So long as Heaven have no new ill devised, From its chaste path my spirit shall not swerve. SEMI-CHORUS. Pass and adore ye the Blessed, the gods of the city who dwell Around Erasinus, the gush of the swift immemorial tide. SEMI-CHORUS. Chant ye, O maidens; aloud let the praise of Pelasgia swell; Hymn we no longer the shores where Nilus to ocean doth glide. SEMI-CHORUS. Sing we the bounteous streams that ripple and gush through the city; Quickening flow they and fertile, the soft new life of the plain. SEMI-CHORUS. Artemis, maiden most pure, look on us with grace and with pity— Save us from forced embraces: such love hath no crown but a pain. SEMI-CHORUS. Yet not in scorn we chant, but in honour of Aphrodite; She truly and Hera alone have power with Zeus and control. Holy the deeds of her rite, her craft is secret and mighty, And high is her honour on earth, and subtle her sway of the soul.

SEMI-CHORUS. Yea, and her child is Desire: in the train of his mother he goeth— Yea and Persuasion soft-lipped, whom none can deny or repel: Cometh Harmonia too, on whom Aphrodite bestoweth The whispering parley, the paths of the rapture that lovers love well. SEMI-CHORUS. Ah, but I tremble and quake lest again they should sail to reclaim! Alas for the sorrow to come, the blood and the carnage of war. Ah, by whose will was it done that o’er the wide ocean they came, Guided by favouring winds, and wafted by sail and by oar? SEMI-CHORUS. Peace! for what Fate hath ordained will surely not tarry but come; Wide is the counsel of Zeus, by no man escaped or withstood: Only I pray that whate’er, in the end, of this wedlock he doom, We as many a maiden of old, may win from the ill to the good. SEMI-CHORUS. Great Zeus, this wedlock turn from me— Me from the kinsman bridegroom guard! SEMI-CHORUS. Come what come may, ’tis Fate’s decree. SEMI-CHORUS. Soft is thy word—the doom is hard. SEMI-CHORUS. Thou know’st not what the Fates provide. SEMI-CHORUS. How should I scan Zeus’ mighty will, The depth of counsel undescried? SEMI-CHORUS. Pray thou no word of omen ill. SEMI-CHORUS. What timely warning wouldst thou teach?

SEMI-CHORUS. Beware, nor slight the gods in speech. SEMI-CHORUS. Zeus, hold from my body the wedlock detested, the bridegroom abhorred! It was thou, it was thou didst release Mine ancestress Io from sorrow: thine healing it was that restored, The touch of thine hand gave her peace. SEMI-CHORUS. Be thy will for the cause of the maidens! of two ills, the lesser I pray— The exile that leaveth me pure. May thy justice have heed to my cause, my prayers to thy mercy find way! For the hands of thy saving are sure. [Exeunt omnes.] “ἀερίας ἀπὸ γᾶς.” This epithet may appear strange to modern readers accustomed to think of Egypt as a land of cloudless skies and pellucid atmosphere. Nevertheless both Pindar (Pyth iv 93) and Apollonius Rhodius (iv 267) speak of it in the same way as Aeschylus. It has been conjectured that they allude to the fog banks that often obscure the low coasts—a phenomenon likely to impress the early navigators and to be reported by them.

The whole of this dialogue in alternate verses is disarranged in the MSS. The re-arrangement which has approved itself to Paley has been here followed. It involves, however, a hiatus, instead of the line to which this note is appended. The substance of the lost line being easily deducible from the context, it has been supplied in the translation. Poseidon. Here one verse at least has been lost. The conjecture of Bothe seems to be verified, as far as substance is concerned, by the next line, and has consequently been adopted. Cyprus. For this curious taunt, strongly illustrative of what Browning calls “nationality in drinks,” see Herodotus, ii. 77. A similar feeling may perhaps be traced in Tacitus’ description of the national beverage of the Germans: “Potui humor ex hordeo aut frumento, in quandam similitudinem vini corruptus” (Germania, chap, xxiii). The ambiguity of these two lines is reproduced from the original. The Semi-Chorus appear to pray, in one aspiration, that the threatened wedlock may never take place, and, if it does take place, may be for weal, not woe.

ARGUMENT Xerxes, son of Darius and of his wife Atossa, daughter of Cyrus, went forth against Hellas, to take vengeance upon those who had defeated his father at Marathon. But ill fortune befell the king and his army both by land and sea; neither did it avail him that he cast a bridge over the Hellespont and made a canal across the promontory of Mount Athos, and brought myriads of men, by land and sea, to subdue the Greeks. For in the strait between Athens and the island of Salamis the Persian ships were shattered and sunk or put to flight by those of Athens and Lacedaemon and Aegina and Corinth, and Xerxes went homewards on the way by which he had come, leaving his general Mardonius with three hundred thousand men to strive with the Greeks by land: but in the next year they were destroyed near Plataea in Boeotia, by the Lacedaemonians and Athenians and Tegeans. Such was the end of the army which Xerxes left behind him. But the king himself had reached the bridge over the Hellespont, and late and hardly and in sorry plight and with few companions came home unto the Palace of Susa. DRAMATIS PERSONAE

CHORUS OF PERSIAN ELDERS. ATOSSA, WIDOW OF DARIUS AND MOTHER OF XERXES. A MESSENGER. THE GHOST OF DARIUS. XERXES. The Scene is laid at the Palace of Susa. CHORUS. Away unto the Grecian land Hath passed the Persian armament: We, by the monarch’s high command, We are the warders true who stand, Chosen, for honour and descent, To watch the wealth of him who went— Guards of the gold, and faithful styled By Xerxes, great Darius’ child!

But the king went nor comes again— And for that host, we saw depart Arrayed in gold, my boding heart Aches with a pulse of anxious pain, Presageful for its youthful king! No scout, no steed, no battle-car Comes speeding hitherward, to bring News to our city from afar! Erewhile they went, away, away, From Susa, from Ecbatana, From Kissa’s timeworn fortress grey, Passing to ravage and to war— Some upon steeds, on galleys some, Some in close files, they passed from home, All upon warlike errand bent— Amistres, Artaphernes went, Astaspes, Megabazes high, Lords of the Persian chivalry, Marshals who serve the great king’s word Chieftains of all the mighty horde! Horsemen and bowmen streamed away, Grim in their aspect, fixed to slay, And resolute to face the fray! With troops of horse, careering fast, Masistes, Artembáres passed: Imaeus too, the bowman brave, Sosthánes, Pharandákes, drave— And others the all-nursing wave Of Nilus to the battle gave; Came Susiskánes, warrior wild, And Pegastágon, Egypt’s child: Thee, brave Arsámes! from afar Did holy Memphis launch to war; And Ariomardus, high in fame, From Thebes the immemorial came, And oarsmen skilled from Nilus’ fen, A countless crowd of warlike men: And next, the dainty Lydians went— Soft rulers of a continent— Mitragathes and Arcteus bold In twin command their ranks controlled, And Sardis town, that teems with gold, Sent forth its squadrons to the war— Horse upon horse, and car on car, Double and triple teams, they rolled, In onset awful to behold. From Tmolus’ sacred hill there came The native hordes to join the fray, And upon Hellas’ neck to lay The yoke of slavery and shame; Mardon and Tharubis were there, Bright anvils for the foemen’s spear! The Mysian dart-men sped to war, And the long crowd that onward rolled From Babylon enriched with gold— Captains of ships and archers skilled To speed the shaft, and those who wield The scimitar;—the eastern band Who, by the great king’s high command, Swept to subdue the western land!

Gone are they, gone—ah, welladay! The flower and pride of our array; And all the Eastland, from whose breast Came forth her bravest and her best, Craves longingly with boding dread— Parents for sons, and brides new-wed For absent lords, and, day by day, Shudder with dread at their delay!

Ere now they have passed o’er the sea, the manifold host of the king— They have gone forth to sack and to burn; ashore on the Westland they spring! With cordage and rope they have bridged the sea-way of Helle, to pass O’er the strait that is named by thy name, O daughter of Athamas! They have anchored their ships in the current, they have bridled the neck of the sea— The Shepherd and Lord of the East hath bidden a roadway to be! From the land to the land they pass over, a herd at the high king’s best; Some by the way of the waves, and some o’er the planking have pressed. For the king is a lord and a god: he was born of the golden seed That erst upon Danae fell—his captains are strong at the need! And dark is the glare of his eyes, as eyes of a serpent blood-fed, And with manifold troops in his train and with manifold ships hath he sped— Yea, sped with his Syrian cars: he leads on the lords of the bow To meet with the men of the West, the spear-armed force of the foe! Can any make head and resist him, when he comes with the roll of a wave? No barrier nor phalanx of might, no chief, be he ever so brave! For stern is the onset of Persia, and gallant her children in fight. But the guile of the god is deceitful, and who shall elude him by flight? And who is the lord of the leap, that can spring and alight and evade? For Até deludes and allures, till round him the meshes are laid, And no man his doom can escape! it was writ in the rule of high Heaven, That in tramp of the steeds and in crash of the charge the war-cry of Persia be given: They have learned to behold the forbidden, the sacred enclosure of sea, Where the waters are wide and in stress of the wind the billows roll hoary to lee! And their trust is in cable and cordage, too weak in the power of the blast, And frail are the links of the bridge whereby unto Hellas they passed.

Therefore my gloom-wrapped heart is rent with sorrow For what may hap to-morrow! Alack, for all the Persian armament— Alack, lest there be sent Dread news of desolation, Susa’s land Bereft, forlorn, unmanned— Lest the grey Kissian fortress echo back The wail, Alack, Alack! The sound of women’s shriek, who wail and mourn, With fine-spun raiment torn! The charioteers went forth nor come again, And all the marching men Even as a swarm of bees have flown afar, Drawn by the king to war— Crossing the sea-bridge, linked from side to side, That doth the waves divide: And the soft bridal couch of bygone years Is now bedewed with tears, Each princess, clad in garments delicate, Wails for her widowed fate— Alas my gallant bridegroom, lost and gone, And I am left alone! But now, ye warders of the state, Here, in this hall of old renown, Behoves that we deliberate In counsel deep and wise debate, For need is surely shown! How fareth he, Darius’ child, The Persian king, from Perseus styled? Comes triumph to the eastern bow, Or hath the lance-point conquered now? Enter ATOSSA.

See, yonder comes the mother-queen, Light of our eyes, in godlike sheen, The royal mother of the king!— Fall we before her! well it were That, all as one, we sue to her, And round her footsteps cling! Queen, among deep-girded Persian dames thou highest and most royal, Hoary mother, thou, of Xerxes, and Darius’ wife of old! To godlike sire, and godlike son, we bow us and are loyal— Unless, on us, an adverse tide of destiny has rolled! ATOSSA. Therefore come I forth to you, from chambers decked and golden, Where long ago Darius laid his head, with me beside, And my heart is torn with anguish, and with terror am I holden, And I plead unto your friendship and I bid you to my side. Darius, in the old time, by aid of some Immortal, Raised up the stately fabric, our wealth of long-ago: But I tremble lest it totter down, and ruin porch and portal, And the whirling dust of downfall rise above its overthrow! Therefore a dread unspeakable within me never slumbers, Saying, _Honour not the gauds of wealth if men have ceased to grow, Nor deem that men, apart from wealth, can find their strength in numbers_— We shudder for our light and king, though we have gold enow!

No light there is, in any house, save presence of the master— So runs the saw, ye aged men! and truth it says indeed— On you I call, the wise and true, to ward us from disaster, For all my hope is fixed on you, to prop us in our need! CHORUS. Queen-Mother of the Persian land, to thy commandment bowing, Whate’er thou wilt, in word or deed, we follow to fulfil— Not twice we need thine high behest, our faith and duty knowing, In council and in act alike, thy loyal servants still!

ATOSSA. Long while by various visions of the night Am I beset, since to Ionian lands With marshalled host my son went forth to war. Yet never saw I presage so distinct As in the night now passed.—Attend my tale!— A dream I had: two women nobly clad Came to my sight, one robed in Persian dress, The other vested in the Dorian garb, And both right stately and more tall by far Than women of to-day, and beautiful Beyond disparagement, and sisters sprung Both of one race, but, by their natal lot, One born in Hellas, one in Eastern land. These, as it seemed unto my watching eyes, Roused each the other to a mutual feud: The which my son perceiving set himself To check and soothe their struggle, and anon Yoked them and set the collars on their necks; And one, the Ionian, proud in this array, Paced in high quietude, and lent her mouth, Obedient, to the guidance of the rein. But restively the other strove, and broke The fittings of the car, and plunged away With mouth un-bitted: o’er the broken yoke My son was hurled, and lo! Darius stood In lamentation o’er his fallen child. Him Xerxes saw, and rent his robe in grief.

Such was my vision of the night now past; But when, arising, I had dipped my hand In the fair lustral stream, I drew towards The altar, in the act of sacrifice, Having in mind to offer, as their due, The sacred meal-cake to the averting powers, Lords of the rite that banisheth ill dreams. When lo! I saw an eagle fleeing fast To Phoebus’ shrine—O friends, I stayed my steps, Too scared to speak! for, close upon his flight, A little falcon dashed in winged pursuit, Plucking with claws the eagle’s head, while he Could only crouch and cower and yield himself. Scared was I by that sight, and eke to you No less a terror must it be to hear! For mark this well—if Xerxes have prevailed, He shall come back the wonder of the world: If not, still none can call him to account— So he but live, he liveth Persia’s King!

CHORUS. Queen, it stands not with my purpose to abet these fears of thine, Nor to speak with glazing comfort! nay, betake thee to the shrine! If thy dream foretold disaster, sue to gods to bar its way, And, for thyself, son, state, and friends, to bring fair fate to-day. Next, unto Earth and to the Dead be due libation poured, And by thee let Darius’ soul be wistfully implored— _I saw thee, lord, in last night’s dream, a phantom from the grave, I pray thee, lord, from earth beneath come forth to help and save! To me and to thy son send up the bliss of triumph now, And hold the gloomy fates of ill, dim in the dark below!_ Such be thy words! my inner heart good tidings doth foretell, And that fair fate will spring thereof, if wisdom guide us well. ATOSSA. Loyal thou that first hast read this dream, this vision of the night, With loyalty to me, the queen—be then thy presage right! And therefore, as thy bidding is, what time I pass within To dedicate these offerings, new prayers I will begin, Alike to gods and the great dead who loved our lineage well. Yet one more word—say, in what realm do the Athenians dwell?

CHORUS. Far hence, even where, in evening land, goes down our Lord the Sun. ATOSSA. Say, had my son so keen desire, that region to o’errun? CHORUS. Yea—if she fell, the rest of Greece were subject to our sway! ATOSSA. Hath she so great predominance, such legions in array? CHORUS. Ay—such a host as smote us sore upon an earlier day. ATOSSA. And what hath she, besides her men? enow of wealth in store? CHORUS. A mine of treasure in the earth, a fount of silver ore! ATOSSA. Is it in skill of bow and shaft that Athens’ men excel? CHORUS. Nay, they bear bucklers in the fight, and thrust the spear-point well. ATOSSA. And who is shepherd of their host and holds them in command? CHORUS. To no man do they bow as slaves, nor own a master’s hand. ATOSSA. How should they bide our brunt of war, the East upon the West? CHORUS. That could Darius’ valiant horde in days of yore attest! ATOSSA. A boding word, to us who bore the men now far away! CHORUS. Nay—as I deem, the very truth will dawn on us to-day. A Persian by his garb and speed, a courier draws anear— He bringeth news, of good or ill, for Persia’s land to hear. Enter a MESSENGER.

MESSENGER. O walls and towers of all the Asian realm, O Persian land, O treasure-house of gold! How, by one stroke, down to destruction, down, Hath sunk our pride, and all the flower of war That once was Persia’s, lieth in the dust! Woe on the man who first announceth woe— Yet must I all the tale of death unroll! Hark to me, Persians! Persia’s host lies low. CHORUS. O ruin manifold, and woe, and fear! Let the wild tears run down, for the great doom is here! MESSENGER. This blow hath fallen, to the utterance, And I, past hope, behold my safe return! CHORUS. Too long, alack, too long this life of mine, That in mine age I see this sudden woe condign! MESSENGER. As one who saw, by no loose rumour led, Lords, I would tell what doom was dealt to us. CHORUS. Alack, how vainly have they striven! Our myriad hordes with shaft and bow Went from the Eastland, to lay low Hellas, beloved of Heaven! MESSENGER. Piled with men dead, yea, miserably slain, Is every beach, each reef of Salamis! CHORUS. Thou sayest sooth—ah well-a-day! Battered amid the waves, and torn, On surges hither, thither, borne, Dead bodies, bloodstained and forlorn, In their long cloaks they toss and stray!

MESSENGER. Their bows availed not! all have perished, all, By charging galleys crushed and whelmed in death. CHORUS. Shriek out your sorrow’s wistful wail! To their untimely doom they went; Ill strove they, and to no avail, And minished is their armament! MESSENGER. Out on thee, hateful name of Salamis, Out upon Athens, mournful memory! CHORUS. Woe upon this day’s evil fame! Thou, Athens, art our murderess; Alack, full many a Persian dame Is left forlorn and husbandless! ATOSSA. Mute have I been awhile, and overwrought At this great sorrow, for it passeth speech, And passeth all desire to ask of it. Yet if the gods send evils, men must bear. (To the MESSENGER) Unroll the record! stand composed and tell, Although thy heart be groaning inwardly, Who hath escaped, and, of our leaders, whom Have we to weep? what chieftains in the van Stood, sank, and died and left us leaderless? MESSENGER. Xerxes himself survives and sees the day. ATOSSA. Then to my line thy word renews the dawn And golden dayspring after gloom of night!

MESSENGER. But the brave marshal of ten thousand horse, Artembares, is tossed and flung in death Along the rugged rocks Silenian. And Dadaces no longer leads his troop, But, smitten by the spear, from off the prow Hath lightly leaped to death; and Tenagon, In true descent a Bactrian nobly born, Drifts by the sea-lashed reefs of Salamis, The isle of Ajax. Gone Lilaeus too, Gone are Arsames and Argestes! all, Around the islet where the sea-doves breed, Dashed their defeated heads on iron rocks; Arcteus, who dwelt beside the founts of Nile, Adeues, Pheresseues, and with them Pharnuchus, from one galley’s deck went down. Matallus, too, of Chrysa, lord and king Of myriad hordes, who led unto the fight Three times ten thousand swarthy cavaliers, Fell, with his swarthy and abundant beard Incarnadined to red, a crimson stain Outrivalling the purple of the sea! There Magian Arabus and Artames Of Bactra perished—taking up, alike, In yonder stony land their long sojourn. Amistris too, and he whose strenuous spear Was foremost in the fight, Amphistreus fell, And gallant Ariomardus, by whose death Broods sorrow upon Sardis: Mysia mourns For Seisames, and Tharubis lies low— Commander, he, of five times fifty ships, Born in Lyrnessus: his heroic form Is low in death, ungraced with sepulchre. Dead too is he, the lord of courage high, Cilicia’s marshal, brave Syennesis, Than whom none dealt more carnage on the foe, Nor perished by a more heroic end. So fell the brave: so speak I of their doom, Summing in brief the fate of myriads!

ATOSSA. Ah well-a-day! these crowning woes I hear, The shame of Persia and her shrieks of dole! But yet renew the tale, repeat thy words, Tell o’er the count of those Hellenic ships, And how they ventured with their beakèd prows To charge upon the Persian armament. MESSENGER. Know, if mere count of ships could win the day, The Persians had prevailed. The Greeks, in sooth, Had but three hundred galleys at the most, And other ten, select and separate. But—I am witness—Xerxes held command Of full a thousand keels, and, those apart, Two hundred more, and seven, for speed renowned!— So stands the reckoning, and who shall dare To say we Persians had the lesser host? ATOSSA. Nay, we were worsted by an unseen power Who swayed the balance downward to our doom! MESSENGER. In ward of heaven doth Pallas’ city stand. ATOSSA. How then? is Athens yet inviolate? MESSENGER. While her men live, her bulwark standeth firm! ATOSSA. Say, how began the struggle of the ships? Who first joined issue? did the Greeks attack, Or Xerxes, in his numbers confident?

MESSENGER. O queen, our whole disaster thus befell, Through intervention of some fiend or fate— I know not what—that had ill will to us. From the Athenian host some Greek came o’er, To thy son Xerxes whispering this tale— _Once let the gloom of night have gathered in, The Greeks will tarry not, but swiftly spring Each to his galley-bench, in furtive flight, Softly contriving safety for their life_. Thy son believed the word and missed the craft Of that Greek foeman, and the spite of Heaven, And straight to all his captains gave this charge— _As soon as sunlight warms the ground no more, And gloom enwraps the sanctuary of sky, Range we our fleet in triple serried lines To bar the passage from the seething strait, This way and that: let other ships surround The isle of Ajax, with this warning word— That if the Greeks their jeopardy should scape By wary craft, and win their ships a road. Each Persian captain shall his failure pay By forfeit of his head_. So spake the king, Inspired at heart with over-confidence, Unwitting of the gods’ predestined will. Thereon our crews, with no disordered haste, Did service to his bidding and purveyed The meal of afternoon: each rower then Over the fitted rowlock looped his oar. Then, when the splendour

of the sun had set, And night drew on, each master of the oar And each armed warrior straightway went aboard. Forward the long ships moved, rank cheering rank, Each forward set upon its ordered course. And all night long the captains of the fleet Kept their crews moving up and down the strait. So the night waned, and not one Grecian ship Made effort to elude and slip away. But as dawn came and with her coursers white Shone in fair radiance over all the earth, First from the Grecian fleet rang out a cry, A song of onset! and the island crags Re-echoed to the shrill exulting sound. Then on us Eastern men amazement fell And fear in place of hope; for what we heard Was not a call to flight! the Greeks rang out Their holy, resolute, exulting chant, Like men come forth to dare and do and die Their trumpets pealed, and fire was in that sound, And with the dash of simultaneous oars Replying to the war-chant, on they came, Smiting the swirling brine, and in a trice They flashed upon the vision of the foe! The right wing first in orderly advance Came on, a steady column; following then, The rest of their array moved out and on, And to our ears there came

a burst of sound, A clamour manifold.—_On, sons of Greece! On, for your country’s freedom! strike to save Wives, children, temples of ancestral gods, Graves of your fathers! now is all at stake_. Then from our side swelled up the mingled din Of Persian tongues, and time brooked no delay— Ship into ship drave hard its brazen beak With speed of thought, a shattering blow! and first One Grecian bark plunged straight, and sheared away Bowsprit and stem of a Phoenician ship. And then each galley on some other’s prow Came crashing in. Awhile our stream of ships Held onward, till within the narrowing creek Our jostling vessels were together driven, And none could aid another: each on each Drave hard their brazen beaks, or brake away The oar-banks of each other, stem to stern, While the Greek galleys, with no lack of skill, Hemmed them and battered in their sides, and soon The hulls rolled over, and the sea was hid, Crowded with wrecks and butchery of men. No beach nor reef but was with corpses strewn, And every keel of our barbarian host Hurried to flee, in utter disarray. Thereon the foe closed in upon the wrecks And hacked and hewed, with oars and splintered planks, As fishermen hack tunnies or a cast Of netted dolphins, and the

briny sea Rang with the screams and shrieks of dying men, Until the night’s dark aspect hid the scene. Had I a ten days’ time to sum that count Of carnage, ’twere too little! know this well— One day ne’er saw such myriad forms of death!

ATOSSA. Woe on us, woe! disaster’s mighty sea Hath burst on us and all the Persian realm! MESSENGER. Be well assured, the tale is but begun— The further agony that on us fell Doth twice outweigh the sufferings I have told! ATOSSA. Nay, what disaster could be worse than this? Say on! what woe upon the army came, Swaying the scale to a yet further fall? MESSENGER. The very flower and crown of Persia’s race, Gallant of soul and glorious in descent, And highest held in trust before the king, Lies shamefully and miserably slain. ATOSSA. Alas for me and for this ruin, friends! Dead, sayest thou? by what fate overthrown?

MESSENGER. An islet is there, fronting Salamis— Strait, and with evil anchorage: thereon Pan treads the measure of the dance he loves Along the sea-beach. Thither the king sent His noblest, that, whene’er the Grecian foe Should ’scape, with shattered ships, unto the isle, We might make easy prey of fugitives And slay them there, and from the washing tides Rescue our friends. It fell out otherwise Than he divined, for when, by aid of Heaven, The Hellenes held the victory on the sea, Their sailors then and there begirt themselves With brazen mail and bounded from their ships, And then enringed the islet, point by point, So that our Persians in bewilderment Knew not which way to turn. On every side, Battered with stones, they fell, while arrows flew From many a string, and smote them to the death. Then, at the last, with simultaneous rush The foe came bursting on us, hacked and hewed To fragments all that miserable band, Till not a soul of them was left alive. Then Xerxes saw disaster’s depth, and shrieked, From where he sat on high, surveying all— A lofty eminence, beside the brine, Whence all his armament lay clear in view. His robe he rent, with loud and bitter wail, And to his land-force swiftly gave command And fled, with shame beside him! Now, lament That second woe, upon the first imposed!

ATOSSA. Out on thee, Fortune! thou hast foiled the hope And power of Persia: to this bitter end My son went forth to wreak his great revenge On famous Athens! all too few they seemed, Our men who died upon the Fennel-field! Vengeance for them my son had mind to take, And drew on his own head these whelming woes. But thou, say on! the ships that ’scaped from wreck— Where didst thou leave them? make thy story clear.

MESSENGER. The captains of the ships that still survived Fled in disorder, scudding down the wind, The while our land-force on Boeotian soil Fell into ruin, some beside the springs Dropping before they drank, and some outworn, Pursued, and panting all their life away. The rest of us our way to Phocis won, And thence to Doris and the Melian gulf, Where with soft stream Spercheus laves the soil. Thence to the northward did Phthiotis’ plain, And some Thessalian fortress, lend us aid, For famine-pinched we were, and many died Of drought and hunger’s twofold present scourge. Thence to Magnesia came we, and the land Where Macedonians dwell, and crossed the ford Of Axius, and Bolbe’s reedy fen, And mount Pangaeus, in Edonian land. There, in the very night we came, the god Brought winter ere its time, from bank to bank Freezing the holy Strymon’s tide. Each man Who heretofore held lightly of the gods, Now crouched and proffered prayer to Earth and Heaven! Then, after many orisons performed, The army ventured on the frozen ford: Yet only those who crossed before the sun Shed its warm rays, won to the farther side. For soon the fervour of the glowing orb Did with its keen rays pierce the ice-bound stream, And men sank through and thrust each other down— Best was his lot whose breath was stifled first! But all who struggled through and gained the bank, Toilfully wending through the land of Thrace Have made their way, a sorry, scanted few, Unto this homeland. Let the city now Lament and yearn for all the loved and lost. My tale is truth, yet much untold remains Of ills that Heaven hath hurled upon our land.

CHORUS. Spirit of Fate, too heavy were thy feet, Those ill to match! that sprang on Persia’s realm. ATOSSA. Woe for the host, to wrack and ruin hurled! O warning of the night, prophetic dream! Thou didst foreshadow clearly all the doom, While ye, old men, made light of woman’s fears! Ah well—yet, as your divination ruled The meaning of the sign, I hold it good, First, that I put up prayer unto the gods, And, after that, forth from my palace bring The sacrificial cake, the offering due To Earth and to the spirits of the dead. Too well I know it is a timeless rite Over a finished thing that cannot change! But yet—I know not—there may come of it Alleviation for the after time. You it beseems, in view of what hath happed, T’ advise with loyal hearts our loyal guards: And to my son—if, ere my coming forth, He should draw hitherward—give comfort meet, Escort him to the palace in all state, Lest to these woes he add another woe! [Exit ATOSSA.]

CHORUS. Zeus, lord and king! to death and nought Our countless host by thee is brought. Deep in the gloom of death, to-day, Lie Susa and Ecbatana: How many a maid in sorrow stands And rends her tire with tender hands! How tears run down, in common pain And woeful mourning for the slain! O delicate in dole and grief, Ye Persian women! past relief Is now your sorrow! to the war Your loved ones went and come no more! Gone from you is your joy and pride— Severed the bridegroom from the bride— The wedded couch luxurious Is widowed now, and all the house Pines ever with insatiate sighs, And we stand here and bid arise, For those who forth in ardour went And come not back, the loud lament! Land of the East, thou mournest for the host, Bereft of all thy sons, alas the day! For them whom Xerxes led hath Xerxes lost— Xerxes who wrecked the fleet, and flung our hopes away! How came it that Darius once controlled, And without scathe, the army of the bow, Loved by the folk of Susa, wise and bold? Now is the land-force lost, the shipmen sunk below!

Ah for the ships that bore them, woe is me! Bore them to death and doom! the crashing prows Of fierce Ionian oarsmen swept the sea, And death was in their wake, and shipwreck murderous! Late, late and hardly—if true tales they tell— Did Xerxes flee along the wintry way And snows of Thrace—but ah, the first who fell Lie by the rocks or float upon Cychrea’s bay! Mourn, each and all! waft heavenward your cry, Stung to the soul, bereaved, disconsolate! Wail out your anguish, till it pierce the sky, In shrieks of deep despair, ill-omened, desperate! The dead are drifting, yea, are gnawed upon By voiceless children of the stainless sea, Or battered by the surge! we mourn and groan For husbands gone to death, for childless agony! Alas the aged men, who mourn to-day The ruinous sorrows that the gods ordain! O’er the wide Asian land, the Persian sway Can force no tribute now, and can no rule sustain. Yea, men will crouch no more to fallen power And kingship overthrown! the whole land o’er, Men speak the thing they will, and from this hour The folk whom Xerxes ruled obey his word no more.

The yoke of force is broken from the neck— The isle of Ajax and th’ encircling wave Reek with a bloody crop of death and wreck Of Persia’s fallen power, that none can lift nor save! Re-enter ATOSSA, in mourning robes.

ATOSSA. Friends, whosoe’er is versed in human ills, Knoweth right well that when a wave of woe Comes on a man, he sees in all things fear; While, in flood-tide of fortune, ’tis his mood To take that fortune as unchangeable, Wafting him ever forward. Mark me now— The gods’ thwart purpose doth confront mine eyes, And all is terror to me; in mine ears There sounds a cry, but not of triumph now— So am I scared at heart by woe so great. Therefore I wend forth from the house anew, Borne in no car of state, nor robed in pride As heretofore, but bringing, for the sire Who did beget my son, libations meet For holy rites that shall appease the dead— The sweet white milk, drawn from a spotless cow, The oozing drop of golden honey, culled By the flower-haunting bee, and therewithal Pure draughts of water from a virgin spring; And lo! besides, the stainless effluence, Born of the wild vine’s bosom, shining store Treasured to age, this bright and luscious wine. And eke the fragrant fruit upon the bough Of the grey olive-tree, which lives its life In sprouting leafage, and the twining flowers, Bright children of the earth’s fertility. But you, O friends! above these offerings poured To reconcile the dead, ring out your dirge To summon up Darius from the shades, Himself a shade; and I will pour these draughts, Which earth shall drink, unto the gods of hell.

CHORUS. Queen, by the Persian land adored, By thee be this libation poured, Passing to those who hold command Of dead men in the spirit-land! And we will sue, in solemn chant, That gods who do escort the dead In nether realms, our prayer may grant— Back to us be Darius led! O Earth, and Hermes, and the king Of Hades, our Darius bring! For if, beyond the prayers we prayed, He knoweth aught of help or aid, He, he alone, in realms below, Can speak the limit of our woe! Doth he hear me, the king we adored, who is god among gods of the dead? Doth he hear me send out in my sorrow the pitiful, manifold cry, The sobbing lament and appeal? is the voice of my suffering sped To the realm of the shades? doth he hear me and pity my sorrowful sigh? O Earth, and ye Lords of the dead! release ye that spirit of might, Who in Susa the palace was born! let him rise up once more to the light!

There is none like him, none of all That e’er were laid in Persian sepulchres! Borne forth he was to honoured burial, A royal heart! and followed by our tears. God of the dead, O give him back to us, Darius, ruler glorious! He never wasted us with reckless war— God, counsellor, and king, beneath a happy star! Ancient of days and king, awake and come— Rise o’er the mounded tomb! Rise, plant thy foot, with saffron sandal shod Father to us, and god! Rise with thy diadem, O sire benign, Upon thy brow! List to the strange new sorrows of thy line, Sire of a woeful son! A mist of fate and hell is round us now, And all the city’s flower to death is done! Alas, we wept thee once, and weep again! O Lord of lords, by recklessness twofold The land is wasted of its men, And down to death are rolled Wreckage of sail and oar, Ships that are ships no more, And bodies of the slain! The GHOST OF DARIUS rises.

GHOST OF DARIUS. Ye aged Persians, truest of the true, Coevals of the youth that once was mine, What troubleth now our city? harken, how It moans and beats the breast and rends the plain! And I, beholding how my consort stood Beside my tomb, was moved with awe, and took The gift of her libation graciously. But ye are weeping by my sepulchre, And, shrilling forth a sad, evoking cry, Summon me mournfully, Arise, arise. No light thing is it, to come back from death, For, in good sooth, the gods of nether gloom Are quick to seize but late and loth to free! Yet among them I dwell as one in power— And lo, I come! now speak, and speed your words, Lest I be blamed for tarrying overlong! What new disaster broods o’er Persia’s realm? CHORUS. With awe on thee I gaze, And, standing face to face, I tremble as I did in olden days! GHOST OF DARIUS. Nay, but as I rose to earth again, obedient to your call, Prithee, tarry not in parley! be one word enough for all— Speak and gaze on me unshrinking, neither let my face appal! CHORUS. I tremble to reveal, Yet tremble to conceal Things hard for friends to feel!

GHOST OF DARIUS. Nay, but if the old-time terror on your spirit keeps its hold, Speak thou, O royal lady who didst couch with me of old! Stay thy weeping and lamenting and to me reveal the truth— Speak! for man is born to sorrow; yea, the proverb sayeth sooth! ’Tis the doom of mortal beings, if they live to see old age, To suffer bale, by land and sea, through war and tempest’s rage. ATOSSA. O thou whose blissful fate on earth all mortal weal excelled— Who, while the sunlight touched thine eyes, the lord of all wert held! A god to Persian men thou wert, in bliss and pride and fame— I hold thee blest too in thy death, or e’er the ruin came! Alas, Darius! one brief word must tell thee all the tale— The Persian power is in the dust, gone down in blood and bale! GHOST OF DARIUS. Speak—by what chance? did man rebel, or pestilence descend? ATOSSA. Neither! by Athens’ fatal shores our army met its end. GHOST OF DARIUS. Which of my children led our host to Athens? speak and say. ATOSSA. The froward Xerxes, leaving all our realm to disarray. GHOST OF DARIUS. Was it with army or with fleet on folly’s quest he went?

ATOSSA. With both alike, a twofold front of double armament. GHOST OF DARIUS. And how then did so large a host on foot pass o’er the sea? ATOSSA. He bridged the ford of Helle’s strait by artful carpentry. GHOST OF DARIUS. How? could his craft avail to span the torrent of that tide? ATOSSA. ’Tis sooth I say—some unknown power did fatal help provide! GHOST OF DARIUS. Alas, that power in malice came, to his bewilderment! ATOSSA. Alas, we see the end of all, the ruin on us sent. GHOST OF DARIUS. Speak, tell me how they fared therein, that thus ye mourn and weep? ATOSSA. Disaster to the army came, through ruin on the deep! GHOST OF DARIUS. Is all undone? hath all the folk gone down before the foe? ATOSSA. Yea, hark to Susa’s mourning cry for warriors laid low! GHOST OF DARIUS. Alas for all our gallant aids, our Persia’s help and pride! ATOSSA. Ay! old with young, the Bactrian force hath perished at our side! GHOST OF DARIUS. Alas, my son! what gallant youths hath he sent down to death! ATOSSA. Alone, or with a scanty guard—for so the rumour saith— GHOST OF DARIUS. He came—but how, and to what end? doth aught of hope remain?

ATOSSA. With joy he reached the bridge that spanned the Hellespontine main. GHOST OF DARIUS. How? is he safe, in Persian land? speak soothly, yea or nay! ATOSSA. Clear and more clear the rumour comes, for no man to gainsay. GHOST OF DARIUS. Woe for the oracle fulfilled, the presage of the war Launched on my son, by will of Zeus! I deemed our doom afar In lap of time; but, if a king push forward to his fate, The god himself allures to death that man infatuate! So now the very fount of woe streams out on those I loved, And mine own son, unwisely bold, the truth hereof hath proved! He sought to shackle and control the Hellespontine wave, That rushes from the Bosphorus, with fetters of a slave!— To curb and bridge, with welded links, the streaming water-way, And guide across the passage broad his manifold array! Ah, folly void of counsel! he deemed that mortal wight Could thwart the will of Heaven itself and curb Poseidon’s might! Was it not madness? much I fear lest all my wealth and store Pass from my treasure-house, to be the snatcher’s prize once more!

ATOSSA. Such is the lesson, ah, too late! to eager Xerxes taught— Trusting random counsellors and hare-brained men of nought, Who said Darius mighty wealth and fame to us did bring, But thou art nought, a blunted spear, a palace-keeping king! Unto those sorry counsellors a ready ear he lent, And led away to Hellas’ shore his fated armament.

GHOST OF DARIUS. Therefore through them hath come calamity Most huge and past forgetting; nor of old Did ever such extermination fall Upon the city Susa. Long ago Zeus in his power this privilege bestowed, That with a guiding sceptre one sole man Should rule this Asian land of flock and herd. Over the folk a Mede, Astyages, Did grasp the power: then Cyaxares ruled In his sire’s place, and held the sway aright, Steering his state with watchful wariness. Third in succession, Cyrus, blest of Heaven, Held rule and ’stablished peace for all his clan: Lydian and Phrygian won he to his sway, And wide Ionia to his yoke constrained, For the god favoured his discretion sage. Fourth in the dynasty was Cyrus’ son, And fifth was Mardus, scandal of his land And ancient lineage. Him Artaphrenes, Hardy of heart, within his palace slew, Aided by loyal plotters, set for this. And I too gained the lot for which I craved, And oftentimes led out a goodly host, Yet never brought disaster such as this Upon the city. But my son is young And reckless in his youth, and heedeth not The warnings of my mouth. Mark this, my friends, Born with my birth, coeval with mine age— Not all we kings who held successive rule Have wrought, combined, such ruin as my son!

CHORUS. How then, O King Darius? whitherward Dost thou direct thy warning? from this plight How can we Persians fare towards hope again? GHOST OF DARIUS. By nevermore assailing Grecian lands, Even tho’ our Median force be double theirs— For the land’s self protects its denizens. CHORUS. How meanest thou? by what defensive power? GHOST OF DARIUS. She wastes by famine a too countless foe. CHORUS. But we will bring a host more skilled than huge. GHOST OF DARIUS. Why, e’en that army, camped in Hellas still, Shall never win again to home and weal! CHORUS. How say’st thou? will not all the Asian host Pass back from Europe over Helle’s ford?

GHOST OF DARIUS. Nay—scarce a tithe of all those myriads, If man may trust the oracles of Heaven When he beholds the things already wrought, Not false with true, but true with no word false If what I trow be truth, my son has left A chosen rear-guard of our host, in whom He trusts, now, with a random confidence! They tarry where Asopus laves the ground With rills that softly bless Boeotia’s plain— There is it fated for them to endure The very crown of misery and doom, Requital for their god-forgetting pride! For why? they raided Hellas, had the heart To wrong the images of holy gods, And give the shrines and temples to the flame! Defaced and dashed from sight the altars fell, And each god’s image, from its pedestal Thrust and flung down, in dim confusion lies! Therefore, for outrage vile, a doom as dark They suffer, and yet more shall undergo— They touch no bottom in the swamp of doom, But round them rises, bubbling up, the ooze! So deep shall lie the gory clotted mass Of corpses by the Dorian spear transfixed Upon Plataea’s field! yea, piles of slain To the third generation shall attest By silent eloquence to those that see— Let not a mortal vaunt him overmuch. For pride grows rankly, and to ripeness brings The curse of fate, and reaps, for harvest, tears! Therefore when ye behold, for deeds like these, Such stern requital paid, remember then Athens and Hellas. Let no mortal wight, Holding too lightly of his present weal And passionate for more, cast down and spill The mighty cup of his prosperity! Doubt not that over-proud and haughty souls Zeus lours in wrath, exacting the account. Therefore, with wary warning, school my son, Though he be lessoned by the gods already, To curb the vaunting that affronts high Heaven! And thou, O venerable Mother-queen, Beloved of Xerxes, to the palace pass And take therefrom such raiment as befits Thy son, and go to meet him: for his garb In this extremity of grief hangs rent Around his body, woefully unstitched, Mere tattered fragments of once royal robes! Go thou to him, speak soft and soothing words— Thee, and none other, will he bear to hear, As well I know. But I must pass away From earth above, unto the nether gloom; Therefore, old men, take my farewell, and clasp, Even amid the ruin of this time, Unto your souls the pleasure of the day, For dead men have no profit of their gold!

[The GHOST OF DARIUS sinks.] CHORUS. Alas, I thrill with pain for Persia’s woes— Many fulfilled, and others hard at hand! ATOSSA. O spirit of the race, what sorrows crowd Upon me! and this anguish stings me worst, That round my royal son’s dishonoured form Hang rags and tatters, degradation deep! I will away, and, bringing from within A seemly royal robe, will straightway strive To meet and greet my son: foul scorn it were To leave our dearest in his hour of shame. [Exit ATOSSA.]

CHORUS. Ah glorious and goodly they were, the life and the lot that we gained, The cities we held in our hand when the monarch invincible reigned, The king that was good to his realm, sufficing, fulfilled of his sway, A lord that was peer of the gods, the pride of the bygone day! Then could we show to the skies great hosts and a glorious name, And laws that were stable in might; as towers they guarded our fame! There without woe or disaster we came from the foe and the fight, In triumph, enriched with the spoil, to the land and the city’s delight. What towns ere the Halys he passed! what towns ere he came to the West, To the main and the isles of the Strymon, and the Thracian region possess’d! And those that stand back from the main, enringed by their fortified wall, Gave o’er to Darius, the king, the sceptre and sway over all! Those too by the channel of Helle, where southward it broadens and glides, By the inlets, Propontis! of thee, and the strait of the Pontic tides, And the isles that lie fronting our sea-board, and the Eastland looks on each one, Lesbo and Chios and Paros, and Samos with olive-trees grown, And Naxos, and Myconos’ rock, and Tenos with Andros hard by, And isles that in midmost Aegean, aloof from the continent, lie— And Lemnos and Icaros’ hold—all these to his sceptre were bowed, And Cnidos and neighbouring Rhodes, and Soli, and Paphos the proud, And Cyprian Salamis, name-child of her who hath wrought us this wrong! Yea, and all the Ionian tract, where the Greek-born inhabitants throng, And the cities are teeming with gold—Darius was lord of them all, And, great by his wisdom, he ruled, and ever there came to his call, In stalwart array and unfailing, the warrior chiefs of our land, And mingled allies from the tribes who bowed to his conquering hand! But now there are none to gainsay that the gods are against us; we lie Subdued in the havoc of wreck, and whelmed by the wrath of the sky!

Enter XERXES in disarray. XERXES. Alas the day, that I should fall Into this grimmest fate of all, This ruin doubly unforeseen! On Persia’s land what power of Fate Descends, what louring gloom of hate? How shall I bear my teen? My limbs are loosened where they stand, When I behold this aged band— Oh God! I would that I too, I, Among the men who went to die, Were whelmed in earth by Fate’s command! CHORUS. Ah welladay, my King! ah woe For all our heroes’ overthrow— For all the gallant host’s array, For Persia’s honour, pass’d away, For glory and heroic sway Mown down by Fortune’s hand to-day! Hark, how the kingdom makes its moan, For youthful valour lost and gone, By Xerxes shattered and undone! He, he hath crammed the maw of hell With bowmen brave, who nobly fell, Their country’s mighty armament, Ten thousand heroes deathward sent! Alas, for all the valiant band, O king and lord! thine Asian land Down, down upon its knee is bent! XERXES. Alas, a lamentable sound, A cry of ruth! for I am found A curse to land and lineage, With none my sorrow to assuage!

CHORUS. Alas, a death-song desolate I send forth, for thy home-coming! A scream, a dirge for woe and fate, Such as the Asian mourners sing, A sorry and ill-omened tale Of tears and shrieks and Eastern wail! XERXES. Ay, launch the woeful sorrow’s cry, The harsh, discordant melody, For lo, the power, we held for sure, Hath turned to my discomfiture! CHORUS. Yea, dirges, dirges manifold Will I send forth, for warriors bold, For the sea-sorrow of our host! The city mourns, and I must wail With plashing tears our sorrow’s tale, Lamenting for the loved and lost! XERXES. Alas, the god of war, who sways The scales of fight in diverse ways, Gives glory to Ionia! Ionian ships, in fenced array, Have reaped their harvest in the bay, A darkling harvest-field of Fate, A sea, a shore, of doom and hate! CHORUS. Cry out, and learn the tale of woe! Where are thy comrades? where the band Who stood beside thee, hand in hand, A little while ago? Where now hath Pharandákes gone, Where Psammis, and where Pelagon? Where now is brave Agdabatas, And Susas too, and Datamas? Hath Susiscanes past away, The chieftain of Ecbatana? XERXES. I left them, mangled castaways, Flung from their Tyrian deck, and tossed On Salaminian water-ways, From surging tides to rocky coast!

CHORUS. Alack, and is Pharnuchus slain, And Ariomardus, brave in vain? Where is Seualces’ heart of fire? Lilaeus, child of noble sire? Are Tharubis and Memphis sped? Hystaechmas, Artembáres dead? And where is brave Masistes, where? Sum up death’s count, that I may hear! XERXES. Alas, alas, they came, their eyes surveyed Ancestral Athens on that fatal day. Then with a rending struggle were they laid Upon the land, and gasped their life away! CHORUS. And Batanochus’ child, Alpistus great, Surnamed the Eye of State— Saw you and left you him who once of old Ten thousand thousand fighting-men enrolled? His sire was child of Sesamas, and he From Megabates sprang. Ah, woe is me, Thou king of evil fate! Hast thou lost Parthus, lost Oebares great? Alas, the sorrow! blow succeedeth blow On Persia’s pride; thou tellest woe on woe! XERXES. Bitter indeed the pang for comrades slain, The brave and bold! thou strikest to my soul Pain, pain beyond forgetting, hateful pain. My inner spirit sobs and sighs with dole!

CHORUS. Another yet we yearn to see, And see not! ah, thy chivalry, Xanthis, thou chief of Mardian men Countless! and thou, Anchares bright, And ye, whose cars controlled the fight, Arsaces and Diaixis wight, Kegdadatas, Lythimnas dear, And Tolmus, greedy of the spear! I stand bereft! not in thy train Come they, as erst! ah, ne’er again Shall they return unto our eyes, Car-borne, ’neath silken canopies! XERXES. Yea, gone are they who mustered once the host! CHORUS. Yea, yea, forgotten, lost! XERXES. Alas, the woe and cost! CHORUS. Alas, ye heavenly powers! Ye wrought a sorrow past belief, A woe, of woes the chief! With aspect stern, upon us Ate looms! XERXES. Smitten are we—time tells no heavier blow! CHORUS. Smitten! the doom is plain! XERXES. Curse upon curse and pang on pang we know! CHORUS. With the Ionian power We clashed, in evil hour! Woe falls on Persia’s race, yea, woe again, again! XERXES. Yea, smitten am I, and my host is all to ruin hurled! CHORUS. Yea verily—in mighty wreck hath sunk the Persian world! XERXES. (holding up a torn robe and a quiver) See you this tattered rag of pride? CHORUS. I see it, welladay! XERXES. See you this quiver? CHORUS. Say, hath aught survived and ’scaped the fray?

XERXES. A store for darts it was, erewhile! CHORUS. Remain but two or three! XERXES. No aid is left! CHORUS. Ionian folk such darts, unfearing, see! XERXES. Right resolute they are! I saw disaster unforeseen. CHORUS. Ah, speakest thou of wreck, of flight, of carnage that hath been? XERXES. Yea, and my royal robe I rent, in terror at their fall! CHORUS. Alas, alas! XERXES. Yea, thrice alas! CHORUS. For all have perished, all! XERXES. Ah woe to us, ah joy to them who stood against our pride! CHORUS. And all our strength is minishèd and sundered from our side! XERXES. No escort have I! CHORUS. Nay, thy friends are whelmed beneath the tide! XERXES. Wail, wail the miserable doom, and to the palace hie! CHORUS. Alas, alas, and woe again! XERXES. Shriek, smite the breast, as I! CHORUS. An evil gift, a sad exchange, of tears poured out in vain! XERXES. Shrill out your simultaneous wail! CHORUS. Alas the woe and pain! XERXES. O, bitter is this adverse fate! CHORUS. I voice the moan with thee! XERXES. Smite, smite thy bosom, groan aloud for my calamity! CHORUS. I mourn and am dissolved in tears! XERXES. Cry, beat thy breast amain! CHORUS. O king, my heart is in thy woe! XERXES. Shriek, wail, and shriek again! CHORUS. O agony!

XERXES. A blackening blow— CHORUS. A grievous stripe shall fall! XERXES. Yea, beat anew thy breast, ring out the doleful Mysian call! CHORUS. An agony, an agony! XERXES. Pluck out thy whitening beard! CHORUS. By handfuls, ay, by handfuls, with dismal tear-drops smeared! XERXES. Sob out thine aching sorrow! CHORUS. I will thine best obey. XERXES. With thine hands rend thy mantle’s fold— CHORUS. Alas, woe worth the day! XERXES. With thine own fingers tear thy locks, bewail the army’s weird! CHORUS. By handfuls, yea, by handfuls, with tears of dole besmeared! XERXES. Now let thine eyes find overflow— CHORUS. I wend in wail and pain! XERXES. Cry out for me an answering moan— CHORUS. Alas, alas again! XERXES. Shriek with a cry of agony, and lead the doleful train! CHORUS. Alas, alas, the Persian land is woeful now to tread! XERXES. Cry out and mourn! the city now doth wail above the dead! CHORUS. I sob and moan! XERXES. I bid ye now be delicate in grief! CHORUS. Alas, the Persian land is sad and knoweth not relief! XERXES. Alas, the triple banks of oars and those who died thereby! CHORUS. Pass! I will lead you, bring you home, with many a broken sigh! [Exeunt.]

ARGUMENT Laius, king of the Cadmeans, was warned by the oracle of Delphi that he should not beget a child. But he disobeyed this command, and when a son was born to him, he cast the child away, that he might perish on Cithaeron. But a herdsman found the babe yet alive, and he was nourished in Corinth and grew to manhood, not knowing his true parentage, and was named Oedipus; and he slew, unknowingly, his father, Laius, and afterwards saved the town of the Cadmeans from a devouring monster, and married the widowed queen, Iocaste, and begat sons and daughters. But when he learned what he had wrought unwittingly, he fell into despair, and the queen slew herself. But before Oedipus died, he laid a curse upon his male children, Eteocles and Polynices, that they should make even division of the kingdom by the sword; and it fell out even so, for the two brothers strove together for the inheritance, and Polynices brought an army, from Argos, against Eteocles; and the brothers fought, and fell each by the other’s hand, and the curse was fulfilled. DRAMATIS PERSONAE ETEOCLES. A SPY. CHORUS OF CADMEAN MAIDENS. ANTIGONE. ISMENE. A HERALD.

ETEOCLES. Clansmen of Cadmus, at the signal given By time and season must the ruler speak Who sets the course and steers the ship of State With hand upon the tiller, and with eye Watchful against the treachery of sleep. For if all go aright, thank Heaven, men say, But if adversely—which may God forefend!— One name on many lips, from street to street, Would bear the bruit and rumour of the time, Down with Eteocles!—a clamorous curse, A dirge of ruin. May averting Zeus Make good his title here, in Cadmus’ hold! You it beseems now boys unripened yet To lusty manhood, men gone past the prime And increase of the full begetting seed, And those whom youth and manhood well combined Array for action—all to rise in aid Of city, shrines, and altars of all powers Who guard our land; that ne’er, to end of time, Be blotted out the sacred service due To our sweet mother-land and to her brood. For she it was who to their guest-right called Your waxing youth, was patient of the toil, And cherished you on the land’s gracious lap, Alike to plant the hearth and bear the shield In loyal service, for an hour like this. Mark now! until to-day, luck rules our scale; For we, though long beleaguered, in the main Have with our sallies struck the foemen hard. But now the seer, the feeder of the birds, (Whose art unerring and prophetic skill Of ear and mind divines their utterance Without the lore of fire interpreted) Foretelleth, by the mastery of his art, That now an onset of Achaea’s host Is by a council of the night designed To fall in double strength upon our walls. Up and away, then, to the battlements, The gates, the bulwarks! don your panoplies, Array you at the breast-work, take your stand On floorings of the towers, and with good heart Stand firm for sudden sallies at the gates, Nor hold too heinous a respect for hordes Sent on you from afar: some god will guard! I too, for shrewd espial of their camp, Have sent forth scouts, and confidence is mine They will not fail nor tremble at their task, And, with their news, I fear no foeman’s guile.

THE SPY. Eteocles, high king of Cadmus’ folk, I stand here with news certified and sure From Argos’ camp, things by myself descried. Seven warriors yonder, doughty chiefs of might, Into the crimsoned concave of a shield Have shed a bull’s blood, and, with hands immersed Into the gore of sacrifice, have sworn By Ares, lord of fight, and by thy name, Blood-lapping Terror, _Let our oath be heard— Either to raze the walls, make void the hold Of Cadmus—strive his children as they may— Or, dying here, to make the foemen’s land With blood impasted_. Then, as memory’s gift Unto their parents at the far-off home, Chaplets they hung upon Adrastus’ car, With eyes tear-dropping, but no word of moan. For their steeled spirit glowed with high resolve, As lions pant, with battle in their eyes. For them, no weak alarm delays the clear Issues of death or life! I parted thence Even as they cast the lots, how each should lead, Against which gate, his serried company. Rank then thy bravest, with what speed thou may’st, Hard by the gates, to dash on them, for now, Full-armed, the onward ranks of Argos come! The dust whirls up, and from their panting steeds White foamy flakes like snow bedew the plain. Thou therefore, chieftain! like a steersman skilled, Enshield the city’s bulwarks, ere the blast Of war comes darting on them! hark, the roar Of the great landstorm with its waves of men! Take Fortune by the forelock! for the rest, By yonder dawn-light will I scan the field Clear and aright, and surety of my word Shall keep thee scatheless of the coming storm.

ETEOCLES. O Zeus and Earth and city-guarding gods, And thou, my father’s Curse, of baneful might, Spare ye at least this town, nor root it up, By violence of the foemen, stock and stem! For here, from home and hearth, rings Hellas’ tongue. Forbid that e’er the yoke of slavery Should bow this land of freedom, Cadmus’ hold! Be ye her help! your cause I plead with mine— A city saved doth honour to her gods! [Exit ETEOCLES, etc.] Enter the CHORUS OF MAIDENS.

CHORUS. I wail in the stress of my terror, and shrill is my cry of despair. The foemen roll forth from their camp as a billow, and onward they bear! Their horsemen are swift in the forefront, the dust rises up to the sky, A signal, though speechless, of doom, a herald more clear than a cry! Hoof-trampled, the land of my love bears onward the din to mine ears. As a torrent descending a mountain, it thunders and echoes and nears! The doom is unloosened and cometh! O kings and O queens of high Heaven, Prevail that it fall not upon us: the sign for their onset is given— They stream to the walls from without, white-shielded and keen for the fray. They storm to the citadel gates— what god or what goddess can stay The rush of their feet? to what shrine shall I bow me in terror and pray? O gods high-throned in bliss, we must crouch at the shrines in your home! Not here must we tarry and wail: shield clashes on shield as they come— And now, even now is the hour for the robes and the chaplets of prayer! Mine eyes feel the flash of the sword, the clang is instinct with the spear! Is thy hand set against us, O Ares, in ruin

and wrath to o’erwhelm Thine own immemorial land, O god of the golden helm? Look down upon us, we beseech thee, on the land that thou lovest of old, And ye, O protecting gods, in pity your people behold! Yea, save us, the maidenly troop, from the doom and despair of the slave, For the crests of the foemen come onward, their rush is the rush of a wave Rolled on by the war-god’s breath! almighty one, hear us and save From the grasp of the Argives’ might! to the ramparts of Cadmus they crowd, And, clenched in the teeth of the steeds, the bits clink horror aloud! And seven high chieftains of war, with spear and with panoply bold, Are set, by the law of the lot, to storm the seven gates of our hold! Be near and befriend us, O Pallas, the Zeus-born maiden of might! O lord of the steed and the sea, be thy trident uplifted to smite In eager desire of the fray, Poseidon! and Ares come down, In fatherly presence revealed, to rescue Harmonia’s town! Thine too, Aphrodite, we are! thou art mother and queen of our race, To thee we cry out in our need, from thee let thy children have grace! Ye too, to scare back the foe, be your cry as

a wolf’s howl wild, Thou, O the wolf-lord, and thou, of she-wolf Leto the child! Woe and alack for the sound, for the rattle of cars to the wall, And the creak of the grinding axles! O Hera, to thee is our call! Artemis, maiden beloved! the air is distraught with the spears, And whither doth destiny drive us, and where is the goal of our fears? The blast of the terrible stones on the ridge of our wall is not stayed, At the gates is the brazen clash of the bucklers—Apollo to aid! Thou too, O daughter of Zeus, who guidest the wavering fray To the holy decision of fate, Athena! be with us to-day! Come down to the sevenfold gates and harry the foemen away! O gods and O sisters of gods, our bulwark and guard! we beseech That ye give not our war-worn hold to a rabble of alien speech! List to the call of the maidens, the hands held up for the right, Be near us, protect us, and show that the city is dear in your sight! Have heed for her sacrifice holy, and thought of her offerings take, Forget not her love and her worship, be near her and smite for her sake!