Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) Read Free

apart,Two hundred more, and seven, for speed renowned! —So stands the reckoning, and who shall dareTo say we Persians had the lesser host?
    ATOSSA Nay, we were worsted by an unseen powerWho 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 springEach to his galley-bench, in furtive flight,Softly contriving safety for their life .Thy son believed the word and missed the craftOf 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 linesTo bar the passage from the seething strait,This way and that: let other ships surroundThe isle of Ajax, with this warning word —That if the Greeks their jeopardy should scapeBy wary craft, and win their ships a road.Each Persian captain shall his failure payBy 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 purveyedThe meal of afternoon: each rower thenOver the fitted rowlock looped his oar.Then, when the splendour of the sun had set,And night drew on, each master of the oarAnd 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 fleetKept their crews moving up and down the strait.So the night waned, and not one Grecian shipMade effort to elude and slip away.But as dawn came and with her coursers whiteShone in fair radiance over all the earth,First from the Grecian fleet rang out a cry,A song of onset! and the island cragsRe-echoed to the shrill exulting sound.Then on us Eastern men amazement fellAnd fear in place of hope; for what we heardWas not a call to flight! the Greeks rang outTheir holy, resolute, exulting chant,Like men come forth to dare and do and dieTheir trumpets pealed, and fire was in that sound,And with the dash of simultaneous oarsReplying to the war-chant, on they came,Smiting the swirling brine, and in a triceThey flashed upon the vision of the foe!The right wing first in orderly advanceCame 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 saveWives, children, temples of ancestral gods,Graves of your fathers! now is all at stake .Then from our side swelled up the mingled dinOf Persian tongues, and time brooked no delay —Ship into ship drave hard its brazen beakWith speed of thought, a shattering blow! and firstOne Grecian bark plunged straight, and sheared awayBowsprit and stem of a Phoenician ship.And then each galley on some other’s prowCame crashing in. Awhile our stream of shipsHeld onward, till within the narrowing creekOur jostling vessels were together driven,And none could aid another: each on eachDrave hard their brazen beaks, or brake awayThe 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 soonThe 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 hostHurried to flee, in utter disarray.Thereon the foe closed in