Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (1908) Morshead.djvu/109

Rh 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!

Woe on us, woe! disaster's mighty sea

Hath burst on us and all the Persian realm!

Be well assured, the tale is but begun—

The further agony that on us fell

Doth twice outweigh the sufferings I have told!