Classic Poem

" THE P ERSIANS . "

The author of the mischief, O my mistress,
Was some foul fiend or Power on evil bent;
For lo! a Hellene from the Athenian host
Came to thy son, to Xerxes and spake thus:
" That should the shadow of the dark night come,
The Hellenes would not wait him, but would lean
Into their rowers' benches, here and there,
And save their lives in secret, hasty flight.
And he forthwith this hearing, knowing not
The Hellene's guile, nor yet the gods' great wrath,
Gave this command to all his admirals,
Soon as the sun should cease to burn the earth
With his bright rays and darkness thick invade
The firmament of Heaven, to set their ships
In threefold lines, to hinder all escape,
And guard the billowy straits and others place
In circuit round about the isle of Aias:
For if the Hellenes 'scaped an evil doom
And found a way of secret, hasty flight,
It was ordained that all should lose their heads.
Such things he spoke from soul o'erwrought with pride,
For he knew not what fate the Gods' would send;
And they, not mutinous, but prompt to serve,
Then made their supper ready, and each sailor
Fastened his oar around true-fitting thole,
And when the sunlight vanisht, and the night
Had come, then each man, master of an oar,
Went to his ship, and all men bearing arms,
And thro the long ships rank cheered loud to rank;
And so they sailed, as 't was appointed each,
And all night long the captains of the fleet
Kept their men working, rowing to and fro;
So night wore on and the Hellenic host
In no wise sought to take to secret flight.
And when day, bright to look on with white steeds,
O'erspread the earth, then rose from the Hellenes
Loud chant of cry of battle, and forthwith
Echo gave answer from each island rock;
And terror then on all the Persians fell,
Of fond hopes disappointed. Not in flight
The Hellenes then their solemn paeans sang;
But with brave spirit hasting on to battle.
With martial sound the trumpet fired those ranks;
And straight with sweep of oars that flew thro foam,
They smote the loud waves at the boatswain's call;
And swiftly all were manifest to sight.
Then first their right wing moved in order meet;
Next the whole line its forward course began,
And all at once we heard a mighty shout, —
" O sons of Hellenes, forward free your country;
Free, too, your wives, your children, and the shrines
Built to your fathers' gods and holy tombs
Your ancestors now rest in. Now the fight
Is for our all. " And on our side indeed
Arose in answer din of Persian speech,
And time to wait was over; ship on ship
Dasht its bronze-pointed beak, and first a barque
Of Hellas did the encounter fierce begin,
And from Phoinikian vessel crashes off
Her carved prow. And each against his neighbour
Steered his own ship; and first the mighty flood
Of Persian hosTheld out. But when the ships
Were crowded in the straits, nor could they give
Help to each other, they with mutual shocks,
With beaks of bronze went crushing each the other,
Shivering their rowers' benches. And the ships
Of Hellas, with manaeuvring not unskilful,
Charged circling round them. And the hulls of ships
Floated capsized, nor could the sea be seen,
Strown as it was with wrecks and carcases;
And all the shores and rocks were full of corpses,
And every ship was wildly rowed in flight
All that composed the Persian armament.
And they, as men spear tunnies, or a haul
Of other fishes, with the shafts of oars,
Or spars of wrecks went smiting, cleaving down;
And bitter groans and wailings overspread
The wide sea-waves, till eye of swarthy Night
Bade it all cease: and for the mass of ills,
Not tho my tale should run for ten full days,
Could I in full recount them. Be assured
That never yet so great a multitude
Died in a single day as died in this.
Atossa . Ah me! Great then the sea of ills that breaks
On Persia and the whole barbaric host.
Messenger . Be sure our evil fate is but half o'er;
On this has supervened such bulk of woe,
As more than twice to outweigh what I've told.
Atossa . And yet what fortune could be worse than this?
Say, what is this disaster which thou tell'st,
That turns the scale to greater evils still?
Messenger . Those Persians that were in the bloom of life,
Bravest in heart and noblest in their blood,
And by the King deemed worthiest trust,
Basely and by most shameful death have died.
Atossa . Ah! woe is me, my friends, for our ill fate!
What was the death by which thou say'st they perisht?
Messenger . There is an isle that lies off Salamis,
Small, with bad anchorage for ships, where Pan,
Pan, the dance-loving, haunts the sea-washt coast.
There Xerxes sent these men, that when their foes,
Being wreckt, should to the islands safely swim,
They might with ease destroy the Hellenic host,
And save their friends from out the deep sea's paths;
But ill the future guessing: for when God
Gave the Hellenes the glory of the battle,
In that same hour, with arms well wrought in bronze
Shielding their bodies, from their ships they leapt,
And the whole isle encircled, so that we
Were sore-distrest and knew not where to turn;
For here men's hands hurled many a stone at them;
And there the arrows from the archers' bows
Smote and destroyed them; and with one great rush
At last advancing, they upon them dasht
And smote and hewed the limbs of those poor wretches
Till they each foe had utterly destroyed. ...

The captains of the vessels that were left
With a fair wind, but not in meet array
Took flight: and all the remnant of the army
Fell in Boiotia — some for stress of thirst
About the fountain clear, and some of us,
Panting for breath, crost to the Phokians' land,
The soil of Doris and the Melian gulf,
Where fair Spercheios waters all the plains
With kindly flood, and then the Achaian fields
And city of the Thessaloi received us
Famisht for lack of food; and many died
Of thirst and hunger, for both ills we bore;
And then to the Magnetian land we came,
And that of Macedonians, to the stream
Of Axios, and Bolbe's reed-grown marsh,
And Mount Pangaios and the Edonian land.
And on that night God sent a mighty frost,
Unwonted at that season, sealing up
The whole course of the Strymon's pure, clear flood;
And they who erst had deemed the gods as naught,
Then prayed with hot entreaties, worshipping
Both Earth and Heaven. And after that the host
Ceast from its instant calling on the gods,
It crost upon the glassy frozen stream;
And whosoe'er set forth before the rays
Of the bright God were shed abroad, was saved;
For soon the glorious sun with burning blaze
Reacht the mid-stream and warmed it with his flame
And they confused, each on the other fell.
Blest then was he whose soul most speedily
Breathed out its life. And those who yet survived
And gained deliverance, crossing with great toil
And many a pang thro Thrake, now are come,
Escaped from perils, no great numbers they,
To this our sacred land, and so it groans,
This city of the Persians missing much
Our country, dear-loved youth. Too true my tale,
And many things I from speech omit,
Ills which the Persians suffer at God's hand.