Part 11 (1/2)
Know, if mere count of s.h.i.+ps could win the day, The Persians had prevailed. The Greeks, in sooth, Had but three hundred galleys at the most, And other ten, select and separate.
But-I am witness-Xerxes held command Of full a thousand keels, and, those apart, Two hundred more, and seven, for speed renowned!- So stands the reckoning, and who shall dare To say we Persians had the lesser host?
ATOSSA
Nay, we were worsted by an unseen power Who swayed the balance downward to our doom!
MESSENGER
In ward of heaven doth Pallas' city stand.
ATOSSA
How then? is Athens yet inviolate?
MESSENGER
While her men live, her bulwark standeth firm!
ATOSSA
Say, how began the struggle of the s.h.i.+ps?
Who first joined issue? did the Greeks attack, Or Xerxes, in his numbers confident?
MESSENGER
O queen, our whole disaster thus befell, Through intervention of some fiend or fate- I know not what-that had ill will to us.
From the Athenian host some Greek came o'er, To thy son Xerxes whispering this tale- Once let the gloom of night have gathered in, The Greeks will tarry not, but swiftly spring Each to his galley-bench, in furtive flight, Softly contriving safety for their life.
Thy son believed the word and missed the craft Of that Greek foeman, and the spite of Heaven, And straight to all his captains gave this charge- As soon as sunlight warms the ground no more, And gloom enwraps the sanctuary of sky, Range we our fleet in triple serried lines To bar the pa.s.sage from the seething strait, This way and that: let other s.h.i.+ps surround The isle of Ajax, with this warning word- That if the Greeks their jeopardy should scape By wary craft, and win their s.h.i.+ps a road.
Each Persian captain shall his failure pay By forfeit of his head. So spake the king, Inspired at heart with over-confidence, Unwitting of the G.o.ds' predestined will.
Thereon our crews, with no disordered haste, Did service to his bidding and purveyed The meal of afternoon: each rower then Over the fitted rowlock looped his oar.
Then, when the splendour of the sun had set, And night drew on, each master of the oar And each armed warrior straightway went aboard.
Forward the long s.h.i.+ps moved, rank cheering rank, Each forward set upon its ordered course.
And all night long the captains of the fleet Kept their crews moving up and down the strait.
So the night waned, and not one Grecian s.h.i.+p Made effort to elude and slip away.
But as dawn came and with her coursers white Shone in fair radiance over all the earth, First from the Grecian fleet rang out a cry, A song of onset! and the island crags Re-echoed to the shrill exulting sound.
Then on us Eastern men amazement fell And fear in place of hope; for what we heard Was not a call to flight! the Greeks rang out Their holy, resolute, exulting chant, Like men come forth to dare and do and die Their trumpets pealed, and fire was in that sound, And with the dash of simultaneous oars Replying to the war-chant, on they came, Smiting the swirling brine, and in a trice They flashed upon the vision of the foe!
The right wing first in orderly advance Came on, a steady column; following then, The rest of their array moved out and on, And to our ears there came a burst of sound, A clamour manifold.-On, sons of Greece!
On, for your country's freedom! strike to save Wives, children, temples of ancestral G.o.ds, Graves of your fathers! now is all at stake.
Then from our side swelled up the mingled din Of Persian tongues, and time brooked no delay- s.h.i.+p into s.h.i.+p drave hard its brazen beak With speed of thought, a shattering blow! and first One Grecian bark plunged straight, and sheared away Bowsprit and stem of a Phoenician s.h.i.+p.
And then each galley on some other's prow Came cras.h.i.+ng in. Awhile our stream of s.h.i.+ps Held onward, till within the narrowing creek Our jostling vessels were together driven, And none could aid another: each on each Drave hard their brazen beaks, or brake away The oar-banks of each other, stem to stern, While the Greek galleys, with no lack of skill, Hemmed them and battered in their sides, and soon The hulls rolled over, and the sea was hid, Crowded with wrecks and butchery of men.
No beach nor reef but was with corpses strewn, And every keel of our barbarian host Hurried to flee, in utter disarray.
Thereon the foe closed in upon the wrecks And hacked and hewed, with oars and splintered planks, As fishermen hack tunnies or a cast Of netted dolphins, and the briny sea Rang with the screams and shrieks of dying men, Until the night's dark aspect hid the scene.
Had I a ten days' time to sum that count Of carnage, 'twere too little! know this well- One day ne'er saw such myriad forms of death!
ATOSSA
Woe on us, woe! disaster's mighty sea Hath burst on us and all the Persian realm!
MESSENGER
Be well a.s.sured, the tale is but begun- The further agony that on us fell Doth twice outweigh the sufferings I have told!
ATOSSA
Nay, what disaster could be worse than this?
Say on! what woe upon the army came, Swaying the scale to a yet further fall?
MESSENGER