He was lord too of the sea-girt" isles situate midway between the continents, Lemnos, and the dwelling of Icarus, and Rhodes, Cnidus too, and the cities of Venus, Paphi, and Soli, and Salamis, the mother city of which is now the authoress of these sighings of ours. He ruled too, by his prudence, over the opulent populous cities of the Greeks in the Ionian district. And there was at hand an unconquerable power of armed men, and of allies gathered from every nation. But now, on the contrary, we have to endure the overthrow of these things beyond all dispute from the hand of the gods, after having been terribly beaten down by wars, and by disasters on the deep. Enter XERXES*. Alas! wretched that I am, now that I have met with this hateful doom beyond all possible conjecture;-how ruthlessly hath the dæmon assailed the race of the Persians! What will become of me miserable? for the vigour of my limbs has been relaxed as I look upon this aged company of citizens here before me. Would to heaven, O Jove! that the doom of death could cover me also along with the men that are departed. CHORUS.-Well-a-day, my liege! for the goodly armament, and the great honour accruing to the Persians from their vassal states, and the fair array of men, whom now the dæmon hath mowed down. And the land wails for her indigenous youth that have been brought to death by So Dr. Butler interprets this strange epithet. It is applied to Peparethus in the Homeric hymn to Apollo, to Tenedos by Q. Calaber, and to Salamis by Sophocles, Aj. 135. where Lobeck explains it of an island lying near the continent, and Hermann is rather inclined to confine it to the city Salamis. * Those who have censured the exode of this drama would have done well to recollect, that the descent from tragic dignity, with which they charge it, is intentional. To burlesque the Persians before an Athenian audience was perfectly natural; and "the tattered plight of the beaten Xerxes, and obsequious wailings of the Chorus," could not fail to please them. On the other hand, the muse of tragedy can boast perhaps of fewer grander scenes than that in which the shade of Darius appears. Xerxes, who crams Hades with Persians". **** for many [for absolutely countless was the race of men] flower of the realm, that, vanquished with the bow, have utterly perished. XERXES.-Alas! alas! alas! alas for the force that was in vain. CHORUS. And the land of Asia, O monarch of the country, hath sunk piteously, piteously on her knee. XERXES.-I here before you, alas! alas! meet subject for wailing, hapless was then born an evil to my family, and my father-land. CHORUS.-I will utter, by way of greeting to thy return, the ill-omened exclamation, the voice of a Mariandynian wailer that sings of woe, a very tearful outcry. XERXES. Pour ye forth a loathly, and all-lamentable, dismally-resounding voice; for this dæmon hath again recoiled upon me. CHORUS.-I will, in truth, utter even an all-lamentable outery, honouring [with a wail] burthens of calamities of the race of the city endured by the people, inflicted by the lashing of the sea; and again will I utter the extremely tearful moan of a mourner. For our ship-fenced Mars, yielding the victory to others, hath reaped mischief from the Ionians, after laying waste the darkling surface of the main and the ill-fated shore". So Wellauer points and explains. To the various substitutes for the unintelligible word which I have not ventured to furnish with a representative, provided for their selection in Dr. Blomfield's note, v. 921. my readers may add adoßáraι, a conjectural emendation which Wellauer, much more sanguine than usual, has admitted into the text, and which, as we learn from professor Scholefield, was once favoured by his lamented predecessor. In v. 923. the proposed emendation of Dr. Blomfield would excellently suit the motley army of Xerxes. * Dr. Blomfield would fain read kakoμédɛtov, (see Gloss. v. 932.) I have taken the sense which Dr. Maltby gives. Heath, however, explains it, vocem malis enuntiandis occupatam, a μέλομαι, non a μελός. a Compare with this compliance of the Chorus St. Matthew, xi. 17. and Bp. Jebb's Sacred Literature, p. 242. b Compare Dr. Blomfield's Glossary, v. 944. I have followed the common interpretation, though without much faith in its soundness. XERXES.-Oh! oh! oh! cry, and enquire exactly into all the particulars. CHORUS. And where is the rest of the multitude of thy friends? and where are those who stood by thy side in the battle? such as was Pharandaces, Susas, Pelagon, Dotamas, and Agdabatas, Psammis, and Susiscanes, that left Ecbatana? XERXES.-I left them perishing in utter destruction out of a Tyrian ship on the shores of Salamis, dashing on the rugged headland. CHORUS.-Oh! oh! and what has become of thy Pharnuchus * * * and of valiant Ariomardus? and where is prince Seualces, or Lilæus sprung from a high-born sire, Memphis, Tharybis, and Masistras, Artembares too, and Hystæchmas? These things would I again enquire from thee. XERXES.-Alas for me! after having beheld the hateful antique Athens, all in one shock of fight, ah! ah! ah! wretched, lie panting on the ground. CHORUS.-What didst thou also leave, didst thou leave him of thy Persians, thine own eye in all things faithful, that numbered thy tens of thousands, tens of thousands, Alpistus, son of Batanochus, son of Sesamas, son of Megabatas, Parthus too, and mighty Ebares. Alas! for them wretched. Thou tellest horrors that presage horrors to the renowned Persians. XERXES.-Thou dost in sooth call to my mind a lament for my excellent friends, while thou speakest of baleful, hateful, exceeding horrors. My heart within me moans aloud, moans aloud for them unhappy. CHORUS.-And, sooth to say, we miss another too, Xanthus, leader of ten thousand Mardians, and warlike Anchares, Diæxis too, and Arsames, chiefs of the cavalry, Cigdates and Lythimnes, and Tolmus that was never satisfied with the spear. See Dr. Blomfield's interesting collection of illustrations in Gloss. v. 973. XERXES. They were buried, they were buried, not following in our train, in hearses mounted on wheels". -- CHORUS.-What! are they that were commanders of the host gone ? XERXES. They are gone, alas! inglorious. Woe! woe! woe! CHORUS.-Woe! woe! ye divinities have brought upon us an unlooked-for exceeding evil, as ever Atè hath witnessed. XERXEs.–We have been smitten, alas! alas! after a long interval, by fortune. CHORUS.-We have been smitten, for 'tis full plain, (there are new calamities, new calamities,) having with no good success encountered the Ionian mariners. Ill-fated in truth is the race of the Persians. XERXES.-And how can it be but that I wretched have been smitten in the article of so great an army? CHORUS.—And what wonder? have not the mighty of the Persians fallen? XERXES.-Seest thou this remnant of CHORUS.I see it, I see it. my vesture? CHORUS.-What is this that thou sayest hath been saved? XERXES. -a receptacle for shafts? CHORUS.-Little enough assuredly, as from much. XERXES. -We have been reft of our supporters. CHORUS.-The host of the Ionians shrinks not from the spear. XERXES.-Valiant are they'; and I witnessed an unlooked-for calamity. CHORUS.-'Tis of the rout of the naval host that thou art speaking. d Wellauer continues this to the Chorus, and explains it, sepulti jacent, neque currum tuum comitantur, post eum incedentes. e sc. of prosperity. f Professor Scholefield has admitted into the text ayav apelos, the conjectural emendation of Wellauer. XERXES.—It is—and I rent my robe at the visitation. XERXES.-Aye—and more than alas. CHORUS.-Yes, for double and threefold are our woes. CHORUS.-And our prowess too hath been maimed. CHORUS.- -In consequence of the disasters of thy friends on the deep. XERXES.-Deplore, deplore the calamity, and move toward the house. CHORUS.-Ah! ah! alas! woe! woe! XERXES.-Shriek now in response to me. CHORUS.-A wretched offering from the wretched to the wretched". XERXES.-Wail forth a strain, making it harmonize. CHORUS.-Woe worth the day! woe worth the day! XERXES.-Heavy indeed is this calamity of ours. CHORUS.-Alas! and very much do I sorrow over it. XERXES.-Smite thy breast, smite thy breast", and sigh for my sake. CHORUS.-I am drenched with tears, being full of sorrow. XERXES.-Shriek now in response to me. CHORUS.-'Tis my present concern, my liege! XERXES.-Wail aloud now with groans. CHORUS.-Woe worth the day! woe worth the day! XERXES. Beat thy breast too, and loudly pour forth too the Mysian lament. CHORUS.-Woe! woe! woe! XERXES. And at my entreaty make havoc of the white hair of thy chin. sc. from the Chorus to Xerxes; so Dr. Butler. h Stanley expresses his belief that the scholiast read aparσe: see Dr. Blomfield's note. i According to Schutz, the Chorus here suit the action to the word. |