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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 purp... |
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 ... |
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 o... |
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 libati... |
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, ... |
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— T... |
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, unw... |
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’ s... |
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, Asty... |
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 t... |
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 ... |
[_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, br... |
[_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 ... |
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... |
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 cramm... |
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 Ea... |
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... |
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 ers... |
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._] THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES 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 no... |
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... |
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. |
Enter a SPY. 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 swo... |
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’ ho... |
[_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 heral... |
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 grac... |
Re-enter ETEOCLES. ETEOCLES Hark to my question, things detestable! Is this aright and for the city’s weal, And helpful to our army thus beset, That ye before the statues of our gods Should fling yourselves, and scream and shriek your fears? Immodest, uncontrolled! Be this my lot— Never in troublous nor in peaceful day... |
CHORUS. Ah, but I shudder, child of Oedipus! I heard the clash and clang! The axles rolled and rumbled; woe to us Fire-welded bridles rang! |
ETEOCLES. Say—when a ship is strained and deep in brine, Did e’er a seaman mend his chance, who left The helm, t’invoke the image at the prow? |
CHORUS. Ah, but I fled to the shrines, I called to our helpers on high, When the stone-shower roared at the portals! I sped to the temples aloft, and loud was my call and my cry, _Look down and deliver. Immortals!_ |
ETEOCLES. Ay, pray amain that stone may vanquish steel! Were not that grace of gods? ay, ay—methinks, When cities fall, the gods go forth from them! |
CHORUS. Ah, let me die, or ever I behold The gods go forth, in conflagration dire! The foemen’s rush and raid, and all our hold Wrapt in the burning fire! |
ETEOCLES. Cry not: on Heaven, in impotent debate! What saith the saw?—_Good saving Strength, in verity, Out of Obedience breeds the babe Prosperity_. |
CHORUS. ’Tis true: yet stronger is the power divine, And oft, when man’s estate is overbowed With bitter pangs, disperses from his eyne The heavy, hanging cloud! |
ETEOCLES. Let men with sacrifice and augury Approach the gods, when comes the tug of war; Maids must be silent and abide within. |
CHORUS. By grace of the gods we hold it, a city untamed of the spear, And the battlement wards from the wall the foe and his aspect of fear! What need of displeasure herein? |
ETEOCLES. Ay, pay thy vows to Heaven; I grudge them not, But—so thou strike no fear into our men— Have calm at heart, nor be too much afraid. |
CHORUS. Alack, it is fresh in mine ears, the clamour and crash of the fray, And up to our holiest height I sped on my timorous way, Bewildered, beset by the din! |
ETEOCLES. Now, if ye hear the bruit of death or wounds, Give not yourselves o’ermuch to shriek and scream, For Ares ravens upon human flesh. |
CHORUS. Ah, but the snorting of the steeds I hear! ETEOCLES. Then, if thou hearest, hear them not too well! CHORUS. Hark, the earth rumbles, as they close us round! |
ETEOCLES. Enough if I am here, with plans prepared. CHORUS. Alack, the battering at the gates is loud! ETEOCLES. Peace! stay your tongue, or else the town may hear! |
CHORUS. O warders of the walls, betray them not! ETEOCLES. Bestrew your cries! in silence face your fate. CHORUS. Gods of our city, see me not enslaved! |
ETEOCLES. On me, on all, thy cries bring slavery. CHORUS. Zeus, strong to smite, turn upon foes thy blow! ETEOCLES. Zeus, what a curse are women, wrought by thee! |
CHORUS. Weak wretches, even as men, when cities fall. ETEOCLES. What! clasping gods, yet voicing thy despair? CHORUS. In the sick heart, fear machete prey of speech. |
ETEOCLES. Light is the thing I ask thee—do my will! CHORUS. Ask swiftly: swiftly shall I know my power. ETEOCLES. Silence, weak wretch! nor put thy friends in fear. |
CHORUS. I speak no more: the general fate be mine! ETEOCLES. I take that word as wiser than the rest. Nay, more: these images possess thy will— Pray, in their strength, that Heaven be on our side! Then hear my prayers withal, and then ring out The female triumph-note, thy privilege— Yea, utter forth the usage Hellas kn... |
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