flight,
A little falcon dashed in winged pursuit,
Plucking with claws the eagle’s
head, while he
Could only crouch and cower and yield
himself.
Scared was I by that sight, and eke to
you
No less a terror must it be to hear!
For mark this well—if Xerxes
have prevailed,
He shall come back the wonder of the world:
If not, still none can call him to account—
So he but live, he liveth Persia’s
King!
CHORUS
Queen, it stands not with my purpose to
abet these fears of thine,
Nor to speak with glazing comfort! nay,
betake thee to the shrine!
If thy dream foretold disaster, sue to
gods to bar its way,
And, for thyself, son, state, and friends,
to bring fair fate
to-day.
Next, unto Earth and to the Dead be due
libation poured,
And by thee let Darius’ soul be
wistfully implored—
I saw thee, lord, in last night’s
dream, a phantom from the grave,
I pray thee, lord, from earth beneath
come forth to help and save!
To me and to thy son send up the bliss
of triumph now,
And hold the gloomy fates of ill, dim
in the dark below!
Such be thy words! my inner heart good
tidings doth foretell,
And that fair fate will spring thereof,
if wisdom guide us well.
Loyal thou that first hast read this dream,
this vision of the
night,
With loyalty to me, the queen—be
then thy presage right!
And therefore, as thy bidding is, what
time I pass within
To dedicate these offerings, new prayers
I will begin,
Alike to gods and the great dead who loved
our lineage well.
Yet one more word—say, in what
realm do the Athenians dwell?
CHORUS
Far hence, even where, in evening land,
goes down our Lord the Sun.
Say, had my son so keen desire, that region
to o’errun?
CHORUS
Yea—if she fell, the rest of
Greece were subject to our sway!
Hath she so great predominance, such legions
in array?
CHORUS
Ay—such a host as smote us
sore upon an earlier day.
And what hath she, besides her men? enow
of wealth in store?
CHORUS
A mine of treasure in the earth, a fount
of silver ore!
Is it in skill of bow and shaft that Athens’
men excel?
CHORUS
Nay, they bear bucklers in the fight,
and thrust the spear-point
well.
And who is shepherd of their host and
holds them in command?
