An isle there is in face of Salamis,
Small and without a haven, on whose strand
Dance-loving Pan his measure often treads.
Thither the King despatched these chosen bands
That when from sinking ships crews swam ashore,
They of their foes might make an easy prey,
And their friends rescue from a watery grave,
Ill the event foreseeing. For when heaven
Gave the Hellenes victory on the sea,
At once their bodies they in armour sheathed,
Leaped from their galleys forth, and all the isle
With arms encircled. Outlet for escape
Our hopeless bands had none. A ceaseless storm
Of stones was rained upon them, and the shafts,
Whistling from many a bowstring, scattered death.
At last, combining in one charge, the foe
Fell on them, stabbed them, hacked them limb from limb,
Nor stayed the butchery till the last was slain.
Xerxes, when he such utter ruin saw
From the high throne where, on an eminence
Hard by the sea, he overlooked the scene,
Sent forth a piercing cry and rent his clothes;
Then gave his troops the order to retreat
And headlong took to flight. Now thou dost know
The harvest and the aftermath of woe.
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES.
The unnatural brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, are competitors for the lordship of Thebes. Eteocles is in possession. Polynices, having married the daughter of Adrastus, King of Argos, leads an army, raised by the help of his father-in-law, against Thebes.
In this army there are seven champions. The Argive army is drawn out in array against the city in seven divisions, each division facing one of the seven gates of Thebes, and with a champion at its head. The champions are described to Eteocles by a Theban, who has been sent to watch the movements of the enemy. Under the name of Amphiaraus lurks a description of Aristides "the just," the head of the conservative party to which Aeschylus belonged, whose conscientiousness and moderation are obliquely contrasted with the revolutionary violence of the ultra-democratic party headed by Themistocles. The chorus consists of Theban maidens.
* * * * *
THE CHAMPIONS.
LINES 370-673.
MESSENGER.
The order of our foemen you shall hear,
And at which gate each champion has his post.
Tydeus stands ready at the Proetian gate,
Fuming, for still the seer forbids to ford
Ismenus, since the omens are not fair.
Thereat the chieftain, mad with warlike rage
As is a snake with heat at noonday, raves;
And on the prudent seer Oeclides heaps
Taunts of faint-heartedness and craven fear.
While thus he storms, wild on his helmet waves,
The shaggy crest threefold, and on his shield
The brazen bells ring out a fearful note.
Upon that shield a proud device he wears,
A firmament all luminous with stars,
While in the centre shines the moon full-orbed,
Empress of constellations, eye of night.
Thus in his boastful panoply he stalks
Along the river panting for the fray,
As a proud charger at the trumpet sound
Frets, paws the earth, and flecks his bit with foam.
Think whom thou hast to cope with this dread chief,
Who of that gate unbarred shall warder be.