Persians

Aeschylus

Aeschylus, Volume 1. Smyth, Herbert Weir, translator. London; New York: William Heinemann; G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1922.

  1. whose mother-city is now the cause of our lament.
Chorus
  1. And the rich and populous cities of the Hellenes in the Ionian heritage
  2. he controlled by his own will; and at his command he had an unwearied strength of men-at-arms and of allies from every nation. But now,
  3. worsted completely in war through disasters on the sea, we endure this change of fortune no doubt from the hand of god.
Enter Xerxes in tattered robes, and attended by a scanty retinue
Xerxes
  1. Alas, wretched am I who have met this cruel doom
  2. which did not give the faintest sign of its coming! In what savage mood has Fortune trampled upon the Persian race? What misery is yet in store for me, unhappy wretch? The strength of my limbs is loosened as I look upon this aged group of citizens.
  3. Ah, Zeus,I wish that the doom of death had buried me, too, together with the men who have been laid low!
Chorus
  1. Alas, my king, for our noble army, for the high honor of Persia’s rule,
  2. and for the splendor of the men now cut off by Fate! The land bewails her native youth, slaughtered for Xerxes, who has crowded Hades with Persian slain.
  3. Many warriors, masters of the bow, our country’s pride, a great multitude of men, have perished. Alas, alas, for our trusty defence! The land of Asia, the leading power of the earth,
  4. has piteously, yes piteously, been bowed to her knees.
Xerxes
  1. Behold me, alas, a fitting subject for lamentation, born a source of ruin to my race and fatherland.
Chorus
  1. As a greeting for your return home I will lift up an ill-omened cry of woe, the voice, versed in lamentation, of a Mariandynian mourner,
  2. a wail attended by many a tear.
Xerxes
  1. Utter a strain of lamentation, plaintive and discordant. For Fortune has now veered and turned against me.
Chorus
  1. I will indeed utter the song of lamentation
  2. in commemoration of your sufferings and of our strongly-manned ships, buffeted by waves; the plaintive strain of our land which mourns its sons. And I will cry aloud in lamentation, shedding many a tear.
Xerxes
  1. Yes, for the Ionian naval force, turning the tide of battle, swept them away, the Ionian host, ravaging the dark sea and the shore of doom.
Chorus
  1. Woe! woe! cry aloud, learn about the whole disaster. Where is the rest of the multitude of your comrades? Where are those who stood by your side, such as Pharandaces, Susas, Pelagon, Dotamas, and
  2. Agdabatas, Psammis, and Susiscanes of Agbatana?