CHORUS OF PERSIAN ELDERS, who compose the Persian Council of State(SCENE:-Before the Council-Hall of the Persian Kings at Susa. Thetomb of Darius the Great is visible. The time is 480 B.C., shortlyafter the battle of Salamis. The play opens with the CHORUS OFPERSIAN ELDERS singing its first choral lyric.)CHORUSWhile o'er the fields of Greece the embattled troopsOf Persia march with delegated sway,We o'er their rich and gold-abounding seatsHold faithful our firm guard; to this high chargeXerxes, our royal lord, the imperial sonOf great Darius, chose our honour'd age.
But for the king's return, and his arm'd hostBlazing with gold, my soul presaging illSwells in my tortured breast: for all her forceHath Asia sent, and for her youth I sigh.
Nor messenger arrives, nor horseman spursWith tidings to this seat of Persia's kings.
The gates of Susa and Ecbatana
Pour'd forth their martial trains; and Cissia seesHer ancient towers forsaken, while her youth,Some on the bounding steed, the tall bark someAscending, some with painful march on foot,Haste on, to arrange the deep'ning files of war.
Amistres, Artaphernes, and the might
Of great Astaspes, Megabazes bold,
Chieftains of Persia, kings, that, to the powerOf the great king obedient, march with theseLeading their martial thousands; their proud steedsPrance under them; steel bows and shafts their arms,Dreadful to see, and terrible in fight,Deliberate valour breathing in their souls.
Artembares, that in his fiery horse
Delights; Masistress; and Imaeus bold,
Bending with manly strength his stubborn bow;Pharandaces, and Sosthanes, that drivesWith military pomp his rapid steeds.
Others the vast prolific Nile hath sent;
Pegastagon, that from Aegyptus draws
His high birth; Susiscanes; and the chiefThat reigns o'er sacred Memphis, great Arsames;And Ariomardus, that o'er ancient ThebesBears the supreme dominion; and with these,Drawn from their watery marshes, numbers train'dTo the stout oar. Next these the Lycian troops,Soft sons of luxury; and those that dwellAmid the inland forests, from the sea
Far distant; these Metragathes commands,
And virtuous Arceus, royal chiefs, that shineIn burnish'd gold, and many a whirling carDrawn by six generous steeds from Sardis lead,A glorious and a dreadful spectacle.
And from the foot of Tmolus, sacred mount,Eager to bind on Greece the servile yoke,Mardon and Tharybis the massy spear
Grasp with unwearied vigour; the light lanceThe Mysians shake. A mingled multitude
Swept from her wide dominions skill'd to drawThe unerring bow, in ships Euphrates sendsFrom golden Babylon. With falchions arm'dFrom all the extent of Asia move the hostsObedient to their monarch's stern command.
Thus march'd the flower of Persia, whose loved youthThe world of Asia nourish'd, and with sighsLaments their absence; many an anxious lookTheir wives, their parents send, count the slow days,And tremble at the long-protracted time.
strophe 1
Already o'er the adverse strand
In arms the monarch's martial squadrons spread;The threat'ning ruin shakes the land,And each tall city bows its tower'd head.
Bark bound to bark, their wondrous way
They bridge across the indignant sea;
The narrow Hellespont's vex'd waves disdain,His proud neck taught to wear the chain.
Now has the peopled Asia's warlike lord,
By land, by sea, with foot, with horse,
Resistless in his rapid course,
O'er all their realms his warring thousands pour'd;Now his intrepid chiefs surveys,And glitt'ring like a god his radiant state displays.