Taught to behold with fearless eyes
The whitening billows foam beneath the gale,They bid the naval forests rise,
Mount the slight bark, unfurl the flying sail,And o'er the angry ocean bearTo distant realms the storm of war.
For this with many a sad and gloomy thoughtMy tortured breast is fraught:
Ah me! for Persia's absent sons I sigh;
For while in foreign fields they fight,
Our towns exposed to wild affright
An easy prey to the invader lie:
Where, mighty Susa, where thy powers,
To wield the warrior's arms, and guard thy regal towers?
epode
Crush'd beneath the assailing foe
Her golden head must Cissia bend;
While her pale virgins, frantic with despair,Through all her streets awake the voice of wo;And flying with their bosoms bare,Their purfled stoles in anguish rend:
For all her youth in martial pride,
Like bees that, clust'ring round their king,Their dark imbodied squadrons bring,
Attend their sceptred monarch's side,
And stretch across the watery way
From shore to shore their long array.
The Persian dames, with many a tender fear,In grief's sad vigils keep the midnight hour;Shed on the widow'd couch the streaming tear,And the long absence of their loves deplore.
Each lonely matron feels her pensive breastThrob with desire, with aching fondness glow,Since in bright arms her daring warrior dress'dLeft her to languish in her love-lorn wo.
Now, ye grave Persians, that your honour'd seatsHold in this ancient house, with prudent careAnd deep deliberation, so the stateRequires, consult we, pond'ring the eventOf this great war, which our imperial lord,The mighty Xerxes from Darius sprung,
The stream of whose rich blood flows in our veins,Leads against Greece; whether his arrowy showerShot from the strong-braced bow, or the huge spearHigh brandish'd, in the deathful field prevails.
But see, the monarch's mother: like the godsHer lustre blazes on our eyes: my queen,
Prostrate I fall before her: all advance
With reverence, and in duteous phrase address her,(ATOSSA enters with her retinue. The Elders do their obeisanceto her.)LEADER OF THE CHORUS
Hail, queen, of Persia's high-zoned dames supreme,Age-honour'd mother of the potent Xerxes,Imperial consort of Darius, hail!
The wife, the mother of the Persians' god,If yet our former glories fade not from us.
ATOSSA
And therefore am I come, leaving my houseThat shines with gorgeous ornaments and gold,Where in past days Darius held with meHis royal residence. With anxious care
My heart is tortured: I will tell you, friends,My thoughts, not otherwise devoid of fear,Lest mighty wealth with haughty foot o'erturnAnd trample in the dust that happiness,Which, not unbless'd by Heaven, Darius raised.
For this with double force unquiet thoughtsPast utterance fill my soul; that neither wealthWith all its golden stores, where men are wanting,Claims reverence; nor the light, that beams from power,Shines on the man whom wealth disdains to grace.
The golden stores of wealth indeed are ours;But for the light (such in the house I deemThe presence of its lord) there I have fears.
Advise me then, you whose experienced ageSupports the state of Persia: prudence guidesYour councils, always kind and faithful to me.
LEADER
Speak, royal lady, what thy will, assuredWe want no second bidding, where our powerIn word or deed waits on our zeal: our heartsIn this with honest duty shall obey thee.
ATOSSA
Oft, since my son hath march'd his mighty hostAgainst the lonians, warring to subdueTheir country, have my slumbers been disturb'dWith dreams of dread portent; but most last night,With marks of plainest proof. I'll tell thee then:
Alethought two women stood before my eyesGorgeously vested, one in Persian robes
Adorn'd, the other in the Doric garb.
With more than mortal majesty they moved,Of peerless beauty; sisters too they seem'd,Though distant each from each they chanced to dwell,In Greece the one, on the barbaric coastThe other. 'Twixt them soon dissension rose:
My son then hasted to compose their strife,Soothed them to fair accord, beneath his carYokes them, and reins their harness'd necks. The one,Exulting in her rich array, with prideArching her stately neck, obey'd the reins;The other with indignant fury spurn'd
The car, and dash'd it piecemeal, rent the reins,And tore the yoke asunder; down my sonFell from the seat, and instant at his sideHis father stands, Darius, at his fall
Impress'd with pity: him when Xerxes saw,Glowing with grief and shame he rends his robes.
This was the dreadful vision of the night.
When I arose, in the sweet-flowing streamI bathed my hands, and on the incensed altarsPresenting my oblations to the godsTo avert these ills, an eagle I behold
Fly to the altar of the sun; aghast
I stood, my friends, and speechless; when a hawkWith eager speed runs thither, furious cuffsThe eagle with his wings, and with his talonsUnplumes his head; meantime the imperial birdCowers to the blows defenceless. Dreadful thisTo me that saw it, and to you that hear.
My son, let conquest crown his arms, would shineWith dazzling glory; but should Fortune frown,The state indeed presumes not to arraignHis sovereignty; yet how, his honour lost,How shall he sway the sceptre of this land?
LEADER
We would not, royal lady, sink thy soul
With fear in the excess, nor raise it highWith confidence. Go then, address the gods;If thou hast seen aught ill, entreat their powerTo avert that ill, and perfect ev'ry goodTo thee, thy sons, the state, and all thy friends.
Then to the earth, and to the mighty deadBehooves thee pour libations; gently cal
Him that was once thy husband, whom thou saw'stIn visions of the night; entreat his shadeFrom the deep realms beneath to send to lightTriumph to thee and to thy son; whate'erBears other import, to inwrap, to hide itClose in the covering earth's profoundest gloom.
This, in the presage of my thoughts that flowBenevolent to thee, have I proposed;And all, we trust, shall be successful to thee.
ATOSSA