Characters

CHORUS of Persian elders of the King’s council

QUEEN, widow of Darius and mother of Xerxes

MESSENGER

GHOST OF DARIUS, the late King of Persia

XERXES, the present King of Persia

[Scene: Susa. Twelve chairs are set out for a meeting of the royal council. A mound (ignored until attention is drawn to it) represents the tomb of Darius. One side-passage is imagined as leading to the city and palace, the other towards the west and Greece. Enter CHORUS from the direction of the city.]

CHORUS:
	Of the Persians, who have departed
	for the land of Greece, we are called the Trusted,
	the guardians of the wealthy palace rich in gold,
4–5	whom our lord himself, King Xerxes
	son of Darius, chose by seniority
	to supervise the country.
8–10	But by now the spirit within me,
	all too ready to foresee evil, is troubled
	about the return of the King
	and of his vast army of men;
	for all the strength of the Asiatic race
	has departed, and <in every house
	the woman left behind>¹ howls for her young husband;
	and no messenger, no horseman,
15	has come to the Persian capital.
	They left the walls of Susa and Agbatana²
	and the ancient ramparts of Cissia³
	and went, some on horseback,
	some on board ship, and the marching infantry
20	providing the fighting masses.
	Such were Amistres and Artaphrenes
	and Megabates and Astaspes,⁴
	marshals of the Persians,
	kings subordinate to the Great King,
25	who have sped away – overseers of a great army,
	slayers with the bow or riders of the horse,
	terrifying to behold and fearsome in battle
	in the steadfast self-confidence of their hearts;
	and Artembares the charioteer
30	and Masistres, and brave Himaeus
	the archer, and Pharandaces,
	and Sosthanes, driver of horses.
	The great, nurturing stream
	of Nile sent others: Susiscanes;
35	the Egyptian-born Pegastagon;
	great Arsames, the ruler
	of holy Memphis, and Ariomardus
	who governs ancient Thebes;
	and dwellers in the marshes,⁵ rowing ships,
40	formidable and in numbers past counting.
	Following them are a mass of Lydians
	of luxurious lifestyle, who control every race
	born on the mainland;⁶ Mitragathes
	and brave Arcteus, kingly commanders,
45	and Sardis, rich in gold, urge them forth,
	riding in many chariots,
	squadrons with two poles and with three,⁷
	a fearsome sight to behold;
	and those who dwell near holy Tmolus⁸ are eager
50	to impose the yoke of slavery on Greece,
	Mardon and Tharybis, anvils of the spear,⁹
	and the javelin-men of Mysia.¹⁰ And Babylon,
	rich in gold, sends forth a mixed multitude
	in a long, trailing column, men on board ships
55	and men trusted for their bravery as archers;
	and the sabre-carrying host
	from all Asia follows
	at the awesome summons of the King.
	Such is the flower of the men of Persia’s land
60	that has departed,
	for whom the whole land of Asia,
	which reared them, sighs with a longing that burns,
	and parents and wives count the days
	and tremble as the time stretches out.

65	The city-sacking¹¹ army of the King
	has now passed over to the neighbour land on the other side of the water,
68–70	crossing the strait of Helle,¹² daughter of Athamas,
	by means of a boat-bridge tied together with flaxen cables,
	placing a roadway, fastened with many bolts, as a yoke on the neck of the sea.

	The bold ruler of populous Asia
75	drives his divine flock over the whole world
	on both elements, trusting in commanders stout and rugged,
	those who govern the land force and those at sea –
80	a man equal to the gods, from the race begotten of gold.¹³

	With the dark glance
	of a deadly serpent in his eyes,
	with many hands and many ships,
	driving a swift Syrian chariot,
85–6	he leads a war-host that slays with the bow
	against men renowned for spear-fighting.

	No one can be counted on to withstand
	this great flood of men
	and be a sturdy barrier to ward off
90	the irresistible waves of the sea:
	none dare come near the army
92	of the Persians and their valiant host.

102	For Destiny long ago prevailed
	by divine decree, and imposed on the Persians
105–6	the fate of conducting wars
	that destroy towered walls, clashes
	of chariots in battle and the uprooting of cities;

109–11	and they have learned to cross the level expanse
	of the sea, when its broad waters
	are whitened by rough winds,
	trusting in cables made of thin strands
113	and in devices for transporting an army.¹⁴

93	But what mortal man can escape
	the guileful deception of a god?
95	Who is so light of foot
	that he has power to leap easily away?
	For Ruin begins by fawning on a man in a friendly way
	and leads him astray into her net,
100–101	from which it is impossible for a mortal to escape and flee.

114–15	For that reason, my mind
	is clothed in black and torn with fear:
	‘Woe for the Persian army!’ –
	I dread that our city may hear this cry –
	‘The great capital of Susiana is emptied of its manhood!’ –

120	and that the city of the Cissians
	will sing in antiphon,
	a vast throng of women
	howling out that word ‘Woe!’
125	and their linen gowns will be rent and torn.

	For all the horse-driving host
	and the infantry too,
	like a swarm of bees, have left the hive with the leader of their army,
130	passing over the projecting spur¹⁵ that belongs to both continents
	and yokes them together across the sea.
	And beds are filled with tears
	because the men are missed and longed for:
	Persian women, grieving amid their luxury, every one,
135	loving and longing for her husband,
	having sent on his way the bold warrior who was her bedfellow,
	is left behind, a partner unpartnered.

140	But come, Persians, let us sit down
	in this ancient building¹⁶
	and take good thought and deep counsel –
	for there is pressing need to do so.
	[They take their seats.]
	So how is King Xerxes
145	son of Darius faring?
	Is the bent bow victorious,
	or has the power
	of the spearhead’s point conquered?
	[A carriage is seen approaching. Seated in it is the QUEEN, magnificently attired and attended. The CHORUS rise.]
CHORUS:
150	But look, here comes the mother of the King,
	my Queen, a light as brilliant as that which shines
	in the eyes of the gods! I fall down before her –
	[The CHORUS prostrate themselves.]
	and it is right that we all address her
	with words of greeting.
	[The CHORUS rise to their feet, and their leader addresses the QUEEN as she descends from her carriage.]

155	All hail, my Queen, most exalted among the slim-waisted women of Persia, venerable mother of Xerxes and wife of Darius! You were the spouse of one who was a god to the Persians, and you are the mother of their god too, unless our old protecting power has now changed sides against our army.
160 QUEEN: It is for that reason that I have come here, leaving my gold-bedecked palace and the bedchamber I once shared with Darius, and that my heart is torn by anxiety. I will tell you a saying which is not my own creation <but has come down from our ancestors, and which causes me to be> very fearful, my friends: that great wealth may make the dust rise from the ground by tripping up the prosperity ¹⁷ that Darius, not
165	without the aid of some god, had built up. For that reason there is in my mind an indescribable anxiety, a twofold one. For those who are without wealth, the light of success does not shine in proportion to their physical power; but neither do men revere and honour an accumulation of wealth without men to defend it.¹⁸ Our wealth is ample, but I fear for
170	our very eye; for I consider the master, when present, to be the eye of his house. In view of this, considering the situation to be as I have said, be my counsellors about this matter, you venerable, trusty Persians; for all the good advice I receive comes from you.
175 CHORUS: Be well assured, Queen of this land, that you do not
	have to tell us twice to do any service in word or deed, so far as our ability permits: we on whom you call for advice are your loyal friends.
180 QUEEN: Dreams of the night have been my frequent companions
	ever since my son led out his army and departed in order to lay waste the land of the Ionians;¹⁹ but never yet have I had one that was so plain as during the night just past. I will tell you about it. There seemed to come into my sight two finely dressed women, one arrayed in Persian, the other in Doric robes,²⁰ outstandingly superior in stature to the
185	women of real life, of flawless beauty and sisters of the same stock: one, by the fall of the lot, was a native and inhabitant of the land of Greece, the other of the Orient.²¹ I seemed to see these two raising some kind of strife between themselves;
190	my son, perceiving this, tried to restrain and calm them, yoked them under his chariot, and passed the yoke-strap under their necks. One of them, thus arrayed, towered up
194–5	proudly and kept her jaw submissively in harness, but the other began to struggle, tore the harness from the chariot with her hands, dragged it violently along without bridle or bit, and smashed the yoke in half. My son fell out. His father, Darius, appeared, standing beside him and showing pity; but when Xerxes saw him, he tore the robes that clothed his
200	body. That, I say, is what I saw in the night. When I had risen and washed my hands in a fair-flowing spring, I approached the altar with offerings in my hand, wishing to pour a rich libation to the deities who avert evil, for whom
205	such rites are appropriate. Then I saw an eagle fleeing for refuge to the altar of Phoebus²² – and I was rooted speechless to the spot with terror, my friends. Next I saw a hawk swooping on him at full speed with beating wings and tearing at his head with its talons – and he simply cowered and
210	submitted. This was terrifying for me to behold, and must be terrifying for you to hear; for you know well that if my son were successful he would be a very much admired man, but were he to fail – well, he is not accountable to the community,²³ and if he comes home safe he remains ruler of this land.
215 CHORUS: Mother, we do not wish to say what would make
	you either unduly fearful or unduly optimistic. You should approach the gods with supplications and ask them, if there was anything sinister in what you saw, to ensure that it is averted but that what was good should be fulfilled for you, for your children, for the community and for everyone that
219–20	you care for. Secondly, you should pour drink-offerings to Earth and to the dead, and propitiate them with this prayer: that your husband Darius, whom you say you saw in the night, should send up to the light, from beneath the earth, blessings for you and your son, but that whatever is contrary to them be kept under the earth, ineffective, in the darkness. Using my intelligence ²⁴ to prophesy for you, I give you this
225	advice in all good will, and our interpretation of these signs is that things will turn out well for you in every way.
QUEEN: Yes, as the first interpreter of this dream you have
	shown yourself loyal to my son and my house in the very definite words you have spoken. May what was good indeed be fulfilled! We shall make all these arrangements as you
230	advise, towards the gods and towards our friends beneath the earth, when we return home. But there is something I wish to learn, my friends. Where in the world do they say that Athens is situated?
CHORUS: Far away, near the place where the Lord Sun declines and sets.
QUEEN: And yet my son had a desire to conquer that city?
CHORUS: Yes, because all Greece would then become subject to the King.
235 QUEEN: Do they have such great numbers of men in their army?
236 CHORUS: And an army of a quality that has already done the Medes²⁵ a great deal of harm.²⁶
239 QUEEN: Why, are they distinguished for their wielding of the drawn bow and its darts?
240 CHORUS: Not at all; they use spears for close combat and carry shields for defence.
237 QUEEN: And what else apart from that? Is there sufficient wealth in their stores?
238 CHORUS: They have a fountain of silver, a treasure in their soil.²⁷
241 QUEEN: And who is the shepherd, master and commander over their host?
CHORUS: They are not called slaves or subjects to any man.
QUEEN: How then can they resist an invading enemy?
CHORUS: Well enough to have destroyed the large and splendid army of Darius.
245 QUEEN: What you say is fearful to think about for the parents of those who have gone there.
	[A MESSENGER is seen approaching from the west, in great haste.]
CHORUS: Well, it seems to me that you will soon know the
	whole story precisely. The way this man runs²⁸ clearly identifies him as Persian, and he will be bringing some definite news, good or bad, for us to hear.
250 MESSENGER: O you cities of the whole land
	of Asia! O land of Persia, repository of great wealth! How all your great prosperity has been destroyed in a single blow, and the flower of the Persians are fallen and departed! [To the CHORUS:] Ah me, it is terrible to be the first to announce terrible news,
255	but I have no choice but to reveal the whole sad tale, Persians: the whole of the Oriental army has been destroyed!
CHORUS:
	Painful, painful, unheard of,
	calamitous! Aiai, let your tears flow, Persians,
	on hearing this grievous news!
260 MESSENGER: I assure you, all those forces are annihilated, and I myself never expected to see the day of my return.

CHORUS:
	Truly this old life of ours
	has proved itself too long,²⁹ when we hear
265	this sorrow beyond all expectation!
MESSENGER: And I can also tell you, Persians, what kinds of horrors came to pass; I was there myself, I did not merely hear the reports of others.

CHORUS:
	Otototoi! It was all in vain
	that those many weapons, all mingled together,
270	went from the land of Asia to the country
271	of Zeus,³⁰ the land of Hellas!
278 MESSENGER: Yes, our archery was of no avail; the whole host
279	perished, destroyed by the ramming of ships.

CHORUS:
274	Otototoi, you are saying
275	that the dead bodies of our loved ones
	are floating, soaked and constantly buffeted by salt water,
277	shrouded in mantles that drift in the waves!³¹
272 MESSENGER: The shores of Salamis, and all the region near
273	them, are full of corpses wretchedly slain.

CHORUS:
280	Raise a crying voice of woe
	for the wretched fate of <our loved ones>,
	for the way <the gods> have caused
	total disaster! Aiai, for our destroyed army!

285 MESSENGER: How utterly loathsome is the name of Salamis to my ears! Ah, how I groan when I remember Athens!³²

CHORUS:
	She is indeed hateful to her foes:
	we can remember well
	how many Persian women they caused
	to be bereaved and widowed, all for nothing.³³

QUEEN [to the MESSENGER]: I have been silent all this time
290	because I was struck dumb with misery by this catastrophe. The event is so monstrous that one can neither speak nor ask about the sufferings it involved. Still, we mortals have no choice but to endure the sorrows the gods send us; so
294–5	compose yourself and speak, revealing all that has happened, even if you are groaning under the weight of the disaster. Who has survived, and which of the leaders of the host must we mourn, who after being assigned to hold a staff of command perished and so left his post deserted and unmanned?
MESSENGER: Well, Xerxes himself is alive and sees the light of day –
300 QUEEN: To my house at least your words come as a great relief,
	like bright day shining out after a pitch-dark night.
MESSENGER: But Artembares, the commander of ten thousand
	horse, is being pounded against the rugged shores of Sileniae;³⁴ Dadaces, commander of a thousand, was struck
305	by a spear and took an effortless leap out of his ship; and the excellent Tenagon, a noble of the Bactrians,³⁵ now wanders³⁶
308–10	around the wave-beaten island of Ajax. Lilaeus, Arsames and Argestes, these three vanquished men, were beating their heads against the hard rocks round the island where doves breed,³⁷ as were Pharnuchus, whose home was near the stream of Egyptian Nile, and three who fell from one ship,
314–15	Arcteus, Adeues and Pheresseues, leader of thirty thousand dark-skinned horsemen. Matallus of Chrysa,³⁸ commander of ten thousand, perished; his full, bushy, reddish beard got a soaking, and a purple dye³⁹ changed the colour of his skin. And Magus the Arab and Artabes the Bactrian, now a permanent resident in a harsh country, perished there too;
320	and Amistris, and Amphistreus, who wielded a spear that caused much trouble, and brave Ariomardus, who dispensed grief with his arrows, and Seisames the Mysian; and Tharybis, admiral of five times fifty ships, a Lyrnaean by
325	birth⁴⁰ and a handsome man, lies wretchedly dead, having enjoyed no very good fortune. And Syennesis,⁴¹ foremost in courage, the leader of the Cilicians, who gave more trouble to the enemy than any other single man, met a glorious end.
330	All this I report about the commanders; but I have mentioned only a small part of the great suffering that there was.
QUEEN: Aiai, this is truly the most towering disaster I have ever
	heard of, a cause for shame and for shrill wailing to the Persians! But go back to the beginning and tell me this: how
335	great were the actual numbers of the Greek ships, that they thought themselves capable of joining battle with the Persian fleet and ramming their vessels?
MESSENGER: I assure you that, so far as numbers are concerned,
	the fleet of the Easterners would have prevailed. The Greeks had a grand total of about three hundred ships,⁴² and ten of
340	these formed a special select squadron, whereas Xerxes – I know this for sure – had a thousand under his command, and those of outstanding speed numbered two hundred and seven.⁴³ Such is the reckoning; I hardly imagine you’ll consider
345	we were inferior in that respect in the battle! It was some divinity that destroyed our fleet like this, weighting the scales so that fortune did not fall out even: the gods have saved the city of the goddess Pallas.⁴⁴
QUEEN: Then the city of Athens is still unsacked?
MESSENGER: While she has her men, her defences are secure.⁴⁵
350 QUEEN: But tell me how the naval battle began. Who started the
	fight? Was it the Greeks or was it my son, proudly confident in the superior numbers of his fleet?
MESSENGER: The start of all our sorrows, mistress, was the appearance from somewhere of an avenging demon or an
335	evil spirit. A Greek man came from the Athenian fleet⁴⁶ and told your son Xerxes that when the gloom of black night should come on, the Greeks would not stay where they were but would leap on to the benches of their ships and seek to
359–60	save their lives by taking flight in all directions under cover of the darkness. As soon as he heard this, not understanding the deceit of the Greek or the jealousy of the gods, he proclaimed
364–5	the following order to all his admirals. When the sun ceased to burn the earth with its rays, and darkness took hold of the celestial regions, they were to arrange the mass of their ships in three lines and guard the exits⁴⁷ and the surging straits, while stationing others so as to surround the
370	island of Ajax completely;⁴⁸ because if the Greeks should escape grim death by finding some means of escaping unnoticed with their ships, it was decreed that all the admirals were to lose their heads. So much he said, speaking from a very cheerful heart, because he did not understand what the gods were about to do; and they, obediently and in good
375	order, prepared their supper, and each crew member fastened his oar by its loop to a thole-pin well designed for good rowing. When the light of the sun disappeared and night
380	came on, every master of the oar and every man-at-arms⁴⁹ went on board his ship; one rank encouraged another all along each vessel, and they sailed as each captain had been directed. All through the night, the masters of the fleet kept the whole naval host sailing to and fro. The night wore on, but the Greek force did not attempt a clandestine breakout in any direction at all. Instead, when Day with her white
385	horses spread her brilliant light over all the earth, first of all
389–91	there rang out loudly a joyful sound of song from the Greeks, and simultaneously the echo of it resounded back from the cliffs of the island. All we Easterners were terrified, because we had been deceived in our expectation: the Greeks were now raising the holy paean-song,⁵⁰ not with a view to taking
395	flight but in the act of moving out to battle, with cheerful confidence, and the call of the trumpet was setting the whole place ablaze. At once, on a word of command, they all pulled their oars together, struck the deep seawater and made it roar – and then suddenly they were all there in plain sight. First there was the right wing, leading the way with good order
400	and discipline, and then the whole fleet coming on behind, and from all of them together one could hear a great cry: ‘Come on, sons of the Greeks, for the freedom of your home-land, for the freedom of your children, your wives, the
405	temples of your fathers’ gods, and the tombs of your ancestors! Now all is at stake!’ And likewise from our side there was a surge of Persian speech in reply; the time for delay was past. At once one ship began to strike another with its
410	projecting bronze beak; the first to ram was a Greek ship, which sheared off the whole stern of a Phoenician vessel, and then each captain chose a different enemy ship at which to run his own. At first the streaming Persian force resisted firmly, but when our masses of ships were crowded into a
415	narrow space, they had no way to come to each other’s help, they got struck by their own side’s bronze-pointed rams, they had the whole of their oarage smashed, and the Greek ships, with careful coordination, surrounded them completely and went on striking them. The hulls of our ships turned keel-up,
420	and the sea surface was no longer visible, filled as it was with the wreckage of ships and the slaughter of men; the shores and reefs were also full of corpses. Every remaining ship of the Eastern armada was being rowed away in disorderly
424–6	flight; meanwhile the enemy were clubbing men and splitting their spines with broken pieces of oars and spars from the wreckage, as if they were tunny⁵¹ or some other catch of fish, and a mixture of shrieking and wailing filled the expanse of
429–30	the sea, until the dark face of night blotted it out. Our sufferings were so multitudinous that I could not describe them fully to you if I were to talk for ten days on end: you can be certain that never have so vast a number of human beings perished in a single day.
QUEEN: Aiai, what a great sea of troubles has burst upon the
	Persians and the whole Eastern race!
435 MESSENGER: Well, be sure of this, the tale of disaster is not yet
	even half told: such a calamitous event has occurred, on top of what I have told you, that it outweighs that in the scale fully twice over.
QUEEN: What possible misfortune could be even more hateful
439–40	than the one we have heard of? Tell us what you say is this further disaster that has come upon the army that weighs even more heavily in the scale of evil.
MESSENGER: All those Persians who were in their bodily
	prime, outstanding in courage, notable for high birth, and who always showed the highest degree of loyalty to the person of the King, have perished shamefully by a most ignoble fate.
445 QUEEN: Ah wretched me, my friends, this terrible catastrophe! By what kind of death do you say they have perished?
MESSENGER: There is an island in front of Salamis,⁵² small and
	offering no good anchorage for ships, whose seashore is a
450	haunt of Pan,⁵³ lover of dances. Xerxes sent these men there so that, when shipwrecked enemy men were trying to reach safety on the island, they could kill the Greek warriors when they were an easy prey while rescuing their own men from the straits of the sea; he was reading the future badly. When
455	god had given the triumph in the naval battle to the Greeks, that same day they clad themselves in stout bronze armour, leaped off their ships and landed all around the island, so that the Persians had no idea which way to turn. They were
460	being heavily battered by hand-thrown stones, and hit and killed by arrows shot from the bowstring, until finally the Greeks charged them in a simultaneous rush and struck them down, hacking the wretched men’s limbs until they had extinguished
465	the life of every one of them. Xerxes wailed aloud when he saw this depth of disaster; he was seated in plain sight of the whole army, on a high cliff close to the sea. He tore his robes, uttered a piercing cry of grief and immediately
470	gave an order to the land army, sending them off in helterskelter flight. Such, I tell you, is the disaster you have to mourn, in addition to the previous one.
QUEEN: O cruel divinity, how I see you have beguiled the minds
474–5	of the Persians! My son has found his vengeance upon famous Athens to be a bitter one; the Eastern lives that Marathon had already destroyed were not enough for him. My son, in the belief that he was going to inflict punishment for that, has drawn upon himself this great multitude of sorrows. But tell me – those of the ships that escaped destruction – where did you leave them? Do you know enough to give us clear information?
480 MESSENGER: The commanders of the remaining ships took to headlong, disorderly flight, running before the wind. The rest of the host⁵⁴ suffered continual losses, first of all in the land of the Boeotians, some of them prostrated by thirst when close to a sparkling spring, <others by hunger>, while we survivors, out of breath and panting, passed on into the
485	country of the Phocians and the land of Doris and came to the Malian Gulf, where the Spercheius waters the plain and
488–90	provides drink bountifully. From there the soil of Achaea⁵⁵ received us, and then the cities of Thessaly; we were very short of food, and very many died in those parts from thirst and hunger – we had both of them. Then we reached the land of Magnesia⁵⁶ and entered the country of the Macedonians,
495	coming to the river Axius,⁵⁷ the reed swamps of Lake Bolbe⁵⁸ and Mount Pangaeum⁵⁹ in the land of Edonia. That night the god brought on an unseasonable cold snap and froze the whole stream of holy Strymon; and those who had never before paid any regard to the gods now addressed them with prayers, making obeisance to earth and heaven. When the
500	army had finished its many invocations of the gods, it began to cross the river, now solid ice. Those of us who started across before the Sun god scattered his rays got over safely; for the brilliant orb of the Sun, with his blazing beams, parted
505	the ice in the middle of the channel, heating it with his flames. The men fell one on top of another, and he was lucky, I tell you, who broke off the breath of life soonest. Those who
509–10	were left and had gained safety crossed Thrace and have now, after escaping with difficulty and with much hard toil, returned to the land of their hearth and home – but not many of them; so that the city of the Persians must grieve, longing vainly for the beloved youth of the land. All this is true; and there is much that I have omitted in my speech of the evils that a god has brought down upon the Persians.
	[Exit.]
515 CHORUS: O you god who has caused such toil and grief, how very heavily you have leaped and trampled on the entire Persian race!
QUEEN: Ah wretched me, our army annihilated! O you clear dream-vision of the night,
	how very plainly you revealed these disasters to me – and you [turning to the CHORUS], in
520	interpreting the dream, took it far too lightly! All the same, since this was your firm advice, I intend first to pray to the gods; then I will return, bringing from my palace a rich
525	libation as a gift to Earth and the dead. I know that this is after the event, but it is in the hope that there may be something better to come in the future. For your part, it is your duty, in the light of these events, to offer trusty counsel to us who trust you; and if my son comes here before I return,
530	comfort him and escort him home, for fear that he may add some further harm to the harm he has suffered.⁶⁰
	[She leaves by the way she came.]

CHORUS:
	O Zeus the King, now, now by destroying
	the army of the boastful
	and populous Persian nation
535	you have covered the city of Susa and Agbatana
	with a dark cloud of mourning.
	Many <mothers in a piteous plight>
	are rending their veils with their delicate hands
	and wetting the folds of their garments till they are soaked through
540	with tears, as they take their share in the sorrow;
	and the soft, wailing Persian women who yearn
	to see the men they lately wedded,
	abandoning the soft-coverleted beds they had slept in,
	the delight of their pampered youth,
545	grieve with wailing that is utterly insatiable.
	And I too shoulder the burden of the death of the departed,
	truly a theme for mourning far and wide.

	For now all, yes all, the emptied land
	of Asia groans:
550	Xerxes took them – popoi!
	Xerxes lost them – totoi!
	Xerxes handled everything unwisely,
	he and his sea- boats.
	Why did Darius for his part
555	do so little harm when he was the bowmaster
	who ruled over the citizenry,
	the dear leader of Susiana?

	Land-soldiers and seamen –
	the dark-faced, equal-winged⁶¹
560	ships brought them – popoi!–
	ships destroyed them – totoi!–
	ships, with ruinous ramming,
	and driven by Ionian hands!
564–5	And the King himself,
	so we hear, barely escaped,
	over the wide plains
	and wintry tracks of Thrace.

	But those who were seized – pheu!–
	by Necessity and made to die first – ehhh-e!–
570–71	now lie smashed – o-aaah!–
	around the shores of Cychreus’⁶² island. Groan
	and bite your lips, and utter a deep cry
	of towering woe – o-aaah!–
	a terrible, long-drawn-out howl,
575	a screaming voice of sorrow.

	Terribly lacerated by the sea – pheu!–
	they are being savaged by the voiceless children – ehhh-e!–
	of the Undefiled⁶³ – o- aaah!
	Bereaved houses mourn their men,
580–82	and aged parents,
	now childless – o- aaah!–
	lament their god-sent woes
	as they hear the news that brings ultimate pain.

584–5	Not long now will those in the land of Asia
	remain under Persian rule,
	nor continue to pay tribute
	under the compulsion of their lords,
	nor fall on their faces to the ground
589–90	in awed obeisance; for the strength of the monarchy
	has utterly vanished.

	Nor do men any longer keep their tongue
	under guard; for the people
	have been let loose to speak with freedom,
	now the yoke of military force no longer binds them.
595	In its blood-soaked soil
	the sea-washed isle of Ajax
	holds the power of Persia.
	[The QUEEN returns, plainly dressed, on foot and alone, carrying offerings in a tray or basket.]
QUEEN: My friends, anyone who has experience of misfortune
600	knows that in human affairs, when one is assailed by a surge of troubles, one is apt to be afraid of anything; whereas when divine favour is flowing your way, you tend to be sure that the breeze of good fortune will always continue to blow from astern. So for me now, everything is full of fear: before my eyes there appear hostile visions from the gods, and in my
605	ears there resounds a din that is not a song of cheer – such is the stunning effect of these misfortunes that terrifies my mind. That is why I have retraced my path, coming back from my house without my carriage and without my former luxury,
609–10	bringing propitiatory drink-offerings for the father of my child, such as serve to soothe the dead: white milk, good to drink, from a pure⁶⁴ cow; the distilled product of the flower-worker,⁶⁵ gleaming honey, together with a libation of water
614–15	from a virgin spring; a drink that has come unsullied from its wild-growing mother, this juice of an old vine; and also here are the sweet-smelling produce⁶⁶ of the tree whose foliage never ceases to live and flourish, the blond olive tree, and a woven garland of flowers, the children of Earth the bearer
619–20	of all life. Now, friends, accompany these drink-offerings to the nether powers with auspicious songs and call up the divine Darius; meanwhile I will send these honours on their way to the gods below, by letting the earth drink them up.

CHORUS:
	Royal lady, first in honour among the Persians, while you send the drink-offerings down to earth’s inner chambers,
625	we in song will beseech
	those with power to send up the dead
	to be kind to us in their home beneath the earth.
	[During the rest of this chant and song by the CHORUS, the QUEEN is pouring the drink- offerings at Darius’ tomb, with appropriate ritual actions.]

	Now, you holy divinities of the underworld,
	Earth and Hermes and you, King of the Shades,⁶⁷
630	send that soul up from below into the light;
	for if he knows any further remedy for our troubles,
	he, alone of mortals, will tell us how to end them.

	Does he hearken to me – the blessed King, equal to a god –
635	as I send forth clearly in Eastern speech
	my variegated, grief-laden
	cries that tell of woe?
	Let me try to reach him, voicing loudly
	our wretched sufferings:
	does he hear me from below?

640	I pray you, Earth and you other rulers of the underworld,
	consent to this proud divine being
	emerging from your abode –
	the Persians’ god, born in Susa –
	and send him up here,
645	one like no other
	whom Persian soil has ever covered.

	Truly we love the man, we love the mound;
	for it conceals a man of lovable character.
650	May Aidoneus release him and send him up, Aidoneus –
	the godlike ruler Darian!⁶⁸ Ehhh-e!

	For he was never one to lose many men
	by disastrous slaughters in war;
	the Persians called him ‘divine counsellor’, and a divine
655	counsellor
	he was, for he guided the people well. Ehhh-e!
	[During the next two stanzas the CHORUS are on their knees, beating and furrowing the ground with their hands.]

	Ballên, our ancient ballên,⁶⁹ come, come to us!
	Come to the very summit of your tomb mound,
660	lifting up your feet in their saffron-dyed slippers,
	revealing the peak of your royal hat:⁷⁰
	come hither, father Darian who never harmed us – oi!–

665	so that you may hear of terrible recent sorrows.
	Master, master, show yourself !
	A cloud of Stygian gloom hovers over us,
670	for now all of our young men have perished!
	Come hither, father Darian who never harmed us – oi!

	[The CHORUS rise to their feet.]
	Aiai, aiai!
	You whose death was so much bewailed by those who loved you,
675	our lord, our lord, what does it mean, what does it mean,
	this ever-to-be- lamented twin failure⁷¹ that has befallen us?
	All the triple-oared ships⁷² this land possessed have vanished away –
680	they are ships no more, ships no more!

	[The GHOST OF DARIUS appears above his tomb.]
GHOST OF DARIUS: Trusted of the trusted, contemporaries of my youth, elders of Persia, what distress is our state suffering?
	The earth is groaning, having been beaten and furrowed; the
685	sight of my wife close by my tomb causes me fear, though I have gladly accepted her drink-offerings; and you are standing round my tomb singing songs of grief, lifting up your voices in wailing to raise my spirit, and calling on me in piteous tones. It has not been easy to gain egress; apart from
690	anything else, the gods below the earth are better at taking people in than at letting them go; nevertheless, holding as I do a position of power among them, I have come here. But be speedy so that I am not blamed for the time I have taken: What is the heavy recent disaster that has happened to Persia?
	[The CHORUS prostrate themselves.]
CHORUS:
	I am too awed to look upon you;
695	I am too awed to speak before you,
	because I feared you of old.
GHOST OF DARIUS:
	But since it is your laments that have induced me to come up from below, speak now, not in long-winded words but putting it concisely and covering everything, setting your awe of me aside.

CHORUS [rising again to their feet]:
700	I am afraid to gratify your wish;
	I am afraid to speak plainly,
	saying things that are hard to say to a friend.
GHOST OF DARIUS: Well, since your old fear is standing guard over your mind – [turning to the QUEEN, who seems wrapped up in her grief] I ask you, my noble wife, old companion of
705	my bed, to end this crying and wailing and speak plainly to me. Human beings, you know, are bound to experience human sufferings; there are many evils that befall mortals, both by sea and by land, if their life is prolonged to a great span.
710 QUEEN: You whose fortunate fate surpassed all mortals in bliss, how enviable you were when you saw the light of the sun and led a life of such happiness that Persians looked on you as a god! And now too I envy you, because you died before seeing the depths of our present suffering. It will take you very little time, Darius, to hear the whole story: to all intents and purposes, the fortunes of Persia are utterly ruined.
715 GHOST OF DARIUS: How has it happened? Has our state been stricken by a virulent plague, or by civil strife?
QUEEN: Not at all; what has happened is that our entire army has been destroyed in the region of Athens.
GHOST OF DARIUS: And tell me, which of my sons led the army there?
QUEEN: The bold Xerxes; he emptied the whole expanse of the continent.
GHOST OF DARIUS: And did the wretched boy make this foolish attempt by land or by sea?
720 QUEEN: Both; it was a double front composed of two forces.
GHOST OF DARIUS: And how did a land army of that size manage to get across the water?
QUEEN: He contrived means to yoke the strait of Helle, so as to create a pathway.
GHOST OF DARIUS: He actually carried that out, so as to close up the mighty Bosporus?⁷³
QUEEN: It is true. Some divinity must have touched his wits.
725 GHOST OF DARIUS: Ah, it was a powerful divinity that came upon him, to put him out of his right mind!
QUEEN: Yes, one can see by the outcome what a disaster he managed to create.
GHOST OF DARIUS: And what in fact was the outcome for them over which you are grieving so?
QUEEN: The naval force was savaged, and that doomed the land army to destruction.
GHOST OF DARIUS: Was the whole host so utterly and completely destroyed by the spear?⁷⁴
730 QUEEN: So that on account of this, the whole city of Susa is grieving because it is empty of men –
GHOST OF DARIUS: Ah me, our army, our valiant aid and protector!
QUEEN: And the whole community of the Bactrians is perished and gone, with not one survivor.
GHOST OF DARIUS: Poor fellow, what young manhood of our allies he has lost!
QUEEN: And Xerxes himself, they say, alone and forlorn, with only a few men –
735 GHOST OF DARIUS: How did he finish up, and where? Is there any chance of his being safe?
QUEEN: – has arrived, to his relief, at the bridge that joins the two lands together.
GHOST OF DARIUS: And has come safe back to our continent? Is that really true?
QUEEN: Yes, that is the prevalent and definite report; there is no dispute about it.
GHOST OF DARIUS: Ah, how swiftly the oracles have come
739–40	true! Zeus has launched the fulfilment of the prophecies against my son. I used to think confidently, ‘I suppose the gods will fulfil them in some distant future’; but when a man is in a hurry himself, the god will lend him a hand. Now, it seems, there has been discovered a fountain of sorrow for all who are dear to me – and it is my son, by his youthful
745–6	rashness, who has achieved this without knowing what he was doing. He thought he could stop the flow of the Hellespont, the divine stream of the Bosporus, by putting chains on it, as if it were a slave; he altered the nature of its passage,⁷⁵ put hammered fetters upon it and created a great pathway
749–50	for a great army. He thought, ill-counselled as he was, that he, a mortal, could lord it over all the gods and over Poseidon. Surely this was a mental disease that had my son in its grip! I am afraid that the great wealth I gained by my labours may be overturned and become the booty of the first comer.
QUEEN: The rash Xerxes, I should tell you, was taught this way of thinking by associating with wicked men. They said that
754–5	whereas you had acquired great wealth for your children by warfare, he, from unmanliness, was being a stay-at-home warrior and doing nothing to increase the riches he had inherited. It was because he had heard taunts like that, over and over again, from these wicked men that he planned this military expedition against Greece.
759–60 GHOST OF DARIUS: And so he has completed an immense, never-to-be-forgotten achievement; nothing else that has befallen this city of Susa has ever emptied it like this, since Lord Zeus first granted us this honour, that one man should be supreme over the whole of sheep-rearing Asia, wielding the sceptre of directive authority. Medus ⁷⁶ was the first leader
765	of our host, and his son also achieved this position. The third ruler in the succession from him was Cyrus,⁷⁷ a man blessed by the gods, who gave peace to all those he cared for, since
770	his intelligence was in control of his fighting spirit; he gained mastery over the peoples of Lydia and Phrygia, and overran all of Ionia by force. God did not hate him, because he was wise. The son of Cyrus⁷⁸ was the fourth to direct the host.
775	The fifth ruler was Mardus,⁷⁹ a disgrace to his country and to his ancient throne. He was killed in his palace, by means of a crafty plot, by the admirable Artaphrenes⁸⁰ together with some friends who took on this duty, and with myself; and I
780	gained by chance the lot I desired.⁸¹ And I invaded many lands with great armies, but I never inflicted on my state such harm as this. My son Xerxes, though, is still a young man, thinking young men’s thoughts, and he has not kept my
785	instructions in mind. I tell you this plainly, my old contemporaries: take all of us together who have held this kingship, and we will not be found to have caused this much suffering.
CHORUS: What then, Lord Darius? To what conclusion do your words lead? After this, how can we, the Persian people, get the best possible outcome for the future?
790 GHOST OF DARIUS: By not invading the land of the Greeks, not even with a Median army still greater than before! Their country itself fights as their ally.
CHORUS: How do you mean? In what way does it fight as their ally?
GHOST OF DARIUS: By starving to death a multitude that is too vastly numerous.
795 CHORUS: Well, we’ll raise a picked, well-equipped expedition.
GHOST OF DARIUS: No, not even the army that has now been left in the land of Greece will gain a safe return home.
CHORUS: What do you mean? Hasn’t the whole of the Eastern army crossed back from Europe over the strait of Helle?
800 GHOST OF DARIUS: Few out of many, if one is to place any credence in the oracles of the gods, looking at what has now happened – for oracles are not fulfilled by halves. If that is indeed so, Xerxes, seduced by vain hopes, has left behind a
805	large, select portion of his army. They remain where the Asopus⁸² waters the plain with its stream, bringing welcome enrichment to the soil of the Boeotians. There the destiny awaits them of suffering a crowning catastrophe, in requital for their outrageous actions and their godless arrogance. When they came to the land of Greece, they did not scruple
810	to plunder the images of the gods and set fire to temples: altars have vanished, and the abodes of deities have been ruined, uprooted, wrenched from their foundations. Because of this evil they have done, they are suffering evil to match it in full measure, and have still to suffer more: the fountain of
815	suffering has not stopped flowing – more of it is still gushing forth, so great will be the clotted libation of slain men’s blood on the soil of the Plataeans, shed by the Dorian spear.⁸³ The heaps of corpses will voicelessly proclaim to the eyes of men,
820	even to the third generation, that one who is a mortal should not think arrogant thoughts: outrage has blossomed and has produced a crop of ruin, from which it is reaping a harvest of universal sorrow. Look on the price that is being paid for these actions, and remember Athens⁸⁴ and Greece: let no one
825	despise the fortune he possesses and, through lust for more, let his great prosperity go to waste. Zeus, I tell you, stands over all as a chastiser of pride that boasts itself to excess, calling it to stern account. With this in mind, please advise
830	him to show good sense; warn him, with well-spoken admonitions, to stop offending the gods with his boastful rashness. And you, dear, aged mother of Xerxes, go to your palace, take such attire as is fitting, and go to meet your son. Because
835	of his grief at the disaster, all the threads of his richly decorated garments are torn and in rags around his body. Calm him with kindly words; I know that you are the only person he will be able to endure listening to. For myself, I am going away under the earth, down into the darkness. Farewell to
840	you, old friends, and even amid these troubles, see you give your hearts pleasure day by day: wealth is of no benefit to the dead.
	[The GHOST disappears.]
CHORUS: How it pains me to hear of these many sufferings, present and still to come, of the people of the East!
845 QUEEN: O god, how many dire sorrows are coming upon me! But the misfortune that stings me most of all is to hear of the dishonourable state of the garments that clothe my son’s body. I am going now, and I will take proper attire from the
850	palace and try to meet my son. We will not fail those who are dearest to us when they are in trouble.
	[Exit.]
CHORUS:
	O popoi! What a great and good life we enjoyed
	in our well-run city, when our old
855	never-failing, never-harming, invincible king,
	godlike Darius, ruled the country!

	In the first place, we produced armies of proven worth,
860	and high- towered cities <we put totally to sack>;
	and, marching back from war, <our men> came unscathed,
	unfatigued, to flourishing homes.

865	And how many cities he took, without crossing the stream of the river Halys⁸⁵
	or stirring from his hearth!
869–71	Such were the freshwater dwellings of the Thracians⁸⁶
	that neighbour the Strymonian gulf;

	and, beyond the lake, the mainland cities, each surrounded by a high wall,
875	obeyed this King,
	as did those spread around the broad strait of Helle, and the Propontis⁸⁷ with its deep bays,
	and the mouth of the Black Sea;

880	and the sea-girt islands that lay near this land⁸⁸
	by the promontory that runs into the sea,⁸⁹
	such as Lesbos, olive-growing Samos,
885	and Chios; and Paros, Naxos, Myconos
	and Andros, the near neighbour that adjoins Tenos;

890	and he also ruled the sea-lands midway between the two shores,⁹⁰
	Lemnos and the habitations of Icaros,
	and Rhodes and Cnidus, and the cities of Cyprus,
895	Paphos and Soli and Salamis⁹¹ –
	whose mother-city is the cause of our present lamentation;

898–900	and the wealthy, populous <cities> of the Greeks
	in the Ionian domain he ruled by his wisdom.
	He had available to him the tireless strength of men-at-arms
	and of a mixed multitude of allies.
905	But now we are experiencing the decisive reversal of all this by the gods in war,
	mightily smitten by blows struck at sea.
	[Enter XERXES from the west. He is alone, on foot, his royal robes in rags, and carrying nothing but an empty quiver.]
XERXES:
	Ió, ió!
905–10	Hapless that I am, to have met
	this dreadful fate, so utterly unpredictable!
	How cruelly the god has trodden
	on the Persian race! What am I to do, wretched me?

	The strength is drained out of my limbs
	when I see these aged citizens.⁹²
915	Would to Zeus that the fate of death
	had covered me over too
	together with the men who are departed!

CHORUS:
	Ototoi, my King, for that fine army,
920	and for the great honour of Persian empire
	and the men who adorned it,
	whom now the god has scythed away!
	[They shift from chant to song.]
	The land laments its native youth
	killed by Xerxes, who crammed Hades
924–5	with Persians: many men
	who were marched away, the flower of the land,
	slayers with the bow, thronging
	myriads of men, have perished and gone.
	Aiai, aiai, for our brave defenders!
	King of our country, the land of Asia
930	is terribly, terribly down on her knees!

XERXES:
	Here am I – oioi! – one to grieve for:
	wretch that I am, I see I have been a bane
	to my nation and my fatherland.
CHORUS:
935	In response to your return
936–40	I shall send forth, send forth with many tears,
	the shout of woeful words, the cry of woeful thoughts
	of a Mariandynian dirge-singer.⁹³

XERXES:
941	Utter words of grief and sorrow,
	full of lamentation; for this divinity
	has turned right round against me.
CHORUS:
	I shall do so indeed, I tell you,
945	honouring the sufferings of the army and the grievous blows struck at sea
	to the city and the nation: truly I shall cry forth
	the tearful wail of a mourner.

XERXES:
950	It was the Ionian, the Ionian war spirit,
	giving victory to their embattled ships, that robbed us of our men,
	cutting a swathe across the night-dark expanse of the sea and the ill-starred shore.
CHORUS:
955	Cry ‘Oioioi!’ and learn it all.
	Where are the rest, your multitude of friends?
	Where are those who stood beside you,
	men such as Pharandaces was,
	Susas, Pelagon and Datamas,
960	and Psammis and Susiscanes
	who went from Agbatana?

XERXES:
	I left them dead,
	fallen out of a Tyrian ship off the shores
965	of Salamis, striking against a rugged cape.
CHORUS:
	Cry ‘Oioioi!’ Where did you leave Pharnuchus,
	yes, and the brave Ariomardus?
	Where is the lord Seualces
970	or the nobly born Lilaeus,
	Memphis, Tharybis and Masistras,
	Artembares and Hystaechmas?
	I ask you this again!

XERXES:
	Ió, ió, ah me!
975	After setting eyes on ancient Athens,
	hateful Athens, all of them in one stroke –
	[repeated sobs] gasp their life out wretchedly on the shore!
CHORUS:
	And what of that flower of Persia,
	your ever-faithful Eye,⁹⁴
980	who counted the numberless tens of thousands,⁹⁵
	< >, the favourite son
	of Batanochus,⁹⁶
	the son of Seisames, the son of Megabates,
	and great Parthus and Oebares –
985	did you leave them, did you leave them? Oh, oh, hapless ones!
	You speak of evils beyond evils for noble Persians.

XERXES:
	You do stir up in me
	a longing for my brave comrades,
990	speaking of unforgettable, unforgettable things, hateful beyond hatefulness.
	My heart cries out, cries out, within my body!
CHORUS:
	And there are others too whom we miss,
	Xanthes, the commander of ten thousand Mardians,⁹⁷
	and Anchares of the Arians,⁹⁸
995	and Diaïxis and Arsaces,
	lords of the cavalry,
	and Egdadates and Lythimnas
	and Tolmus, never surfeited with battle.
1000	I am amazed, amazed, that they are not following
	behind your wheeled tent.⁹⁹

XERXES:
	Yes, those who were marshals of my army have gone.
CHORUS:
	They have gone – oi! – without a name.
XERXES:
	Ieh, ieh! Ió, ió!
CHORUS:
1005	Ió, ió, you gods,
	you have caused suffering that no one expected
	for all to behold! What an evil eye Ruin has cast upon us!

XERXES:
	Oi, we have been struck down from our age-old good fortune –
CHORUS:
	We have been struck down, that is all too plain –
XERXES:
1010	– by new agony, new agony!
CHORUS:
	– by an ill-starred encounter
	with Ionian sailors.
	The Persian race is luckless in war.

XERXES:
1014–15	Indeed it is: I am stricken to misery
	in the loss of this great army.
CHORUS:
	You who have brought such great ruin to Persia – what is not lost?
XERXES:
	Do you see these remnants of my attire?
CHORUS:
	I do, I do!
XERXES:
1020	[displaying his quiver] And this arrow-holding –
CHORUS:
	What is this that you say was saved?
XERXES:
	– repository for missiles?
CHORUS:
	Little indeed, out of so much.
XERXES:
	Our defenders have been decimated.
CHORUS:
1025	The Ionian people are not cowardly in battle.

XERXES:
	They are all too martial! I have witnessed
	a disaster I never expected.
CHORUS:
	You mean the rout of our mass of ships?
XERXES:
1030	I ripped my robe at the terrible event.
CHORUS:
	Papai, papai!
XERXES:
	No, ‘papai’ is too mild!
CHORUS:
	Yes, the disaster was twice and thrice as great.
XERXES:
	Painful, and a delight to our enemies!
CHORUS:
1035	Cut short, too, was the strength –
XERXES:
	I am denuded of escorts!
CHORUS:
	– of our friends, by calamities at sea.

XERXES:
	Wet, wet your cheeks in grief, and go with me to the palace.
CHORUS:
	I wet my cheeks in mourning.
XERXES:
1040	Cry out now in response to my cries.
CHORUS:
	A sad answer of sad sound to sad sound.
XERXES:
	Raise a song of woe, joining it together with mine.
XERXES: and CHORUS:
	Ototototoi!
CHORUS:
	How grievous is this disaster!
1045	Oi, it truly does give me pain!
	[Through the next three stanzas the CHORUS successively perform the actions that XERXES prescribes.]
XERXES:
	Row, row with your arms, and groan for my sake.
CHORUS:
	Aiai, aiai! Sorrow, sorrow!
XERXES:
	Cry out now in response to my cries.
CHORUS:
	I can take care to do that, master.
XERXES:
1050	Now raise a high-pitched wail.
XERXES: and CHORUS:
	Ototototoi!
CHORUS:
	And mixed in with my groans will be –
	oi! – black, violent blows.¹⁰⁰

XERXES:
	Beat your breasts too, and accompany the action with a Mysian cry.
CHORUS:
1055	Painful, painful!
XERXES:
	Now, please, ravage the white hairs of your beard.
CHORUS:
	With clenched hands, with clenched hands, very mournfully!
XERXES:
	And raise a piercing shriek.
CHORUS:
	I shall do that too.

XERXES:
1060	Tear the folds of your robe with your hands.
CHORUS:
	Painful, painful!
XERXES:
	And pluck your hair, and voice your pity for the army.
CHORUS:
	With clenched hands, with clenched hands, very mournfully!
XERXES:
	And make your eyes moist.
CHORUS:
1065	I assure you I am moistening them.
	[A mournful procession now sets itself slowly in motion, as the CHORUS escort XERXES away towards his palace.]
XERXES:
	Cry out now in response to my cries.
CHORUS:
	Oioi, oioi!
XERXES:
	Go wailing to the palace.
CHORUS:
	Ió, ió!
XERXES:
1070	Let ‘ió’ indeed be heard throughout the city –
CHORUS:
	Let ‘ió’ be heard indeed, yes, yes!
XERXES:
	– as you lament while you walk delicately.
CHORUS:
	Ió, ió, Persian ground is hard to tread on!¹⁰¹
XERXES:
	< >
CHORUS:
	< >.
XERXES:
	Ehhh-ehhh, ehhh-ehhh – the triple-oared –
CHORUS:
1075	Ehhh-ehhh, ehhh-ehhh – boats destroyed them!
XERXES:
	<Escort me now to my palace.>
CHORUS:
	Yes, I will escort you, with loud wails of grief.
	[Exeunt.]