instruct him with admonitions of reason to cease from drawing the punishment of Heaven on himself by his vaunting rashness. And as for you, beloved and venerable mother of Xerxes, withdraw to the palace and bring from there clothing which is suitable for him, and prepare to meet your son. Forthrough grief at his misfortunes, the embroidered apparel which he was wearing has been torn into tattered shreds. Soothe him with words of kindness; for it is to your voice alone, I know, that he will listen. As for me, I depart to the darkness beneath the earth.Farewell, Elders, and despite your troubles, rejoice while each day is yours; for wealth does not profit the dead at all. The ghost of Darius descends
ChorusI grieve as I hear the many misfortunes that are now, and are yet to be, the lot of the barbarians.
AtossaO God! How much grief assails me! But most of all this sorrow wounds me, to hear of the shameful clothes which are now worn by my son. But I will depart, and when I have brought appropriate garments from the palace,I will make attempt to meet my son; for I will not forsake him whom I love so well in his affliction. Exit
ChorusOh yes, it was in truth a glorious and good life under civil government that we enjoyed so long as our agedand all-powerful king, who did no wrong and did not favor war, god-like Darius, ruled the realm.
ChorusIn the first place we showed to the world armies worthy of our fame, and civil institutions, like towers in strength,regulated all the state; and our return from war brought back our men, unworn and unsuffering, to happy homes.
ChorusAnd what a number of cities he captured!—without crossing the stream of Halys or even stirring from his own hearth: such as the AcheloanIf Acheloan
is used, as some report, only of fresh water, the poet may have in mind the pile-dwellings of the Paeonians on Lake Prasias (mentioned by Hdt. 5.16); if Acheloan
includes also salt water, the reference may be to the islands off Thrace—Imbros, Thasos, and Samothrace.cities on the Strymonian sea which is located besidethe Thracian settlements.
ChorusAnd those outside the lake, the cities on the mainland, surrounded with a rampart, obeyed him as their king;those, too, that boast to be on both sides of the broad Hellespont and Propontis, deeply-recessed, and the outlet of Pontus.
ChorusThe sea-washed islands, also, off the projecting armof the sea, lying close to this land of ours, such as Lesbos, and olive-planted Samos, Chios and Paros, Naxos, Mykonos,and Andros which lies adjacent to Tenos.
ChorusAnd he held under his sway the sea-girt islands midway between the continents,Lemnos, and the settlement of Icarus, and Rhodes, and Cnidos, and the Cyprian cities Paphos, Soli, and Salamis,