Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (1908) Morshead.djvu/120

90 Alas, Darius! one brief word must tell thee all the tale—

The Persian power is in the dust, gone down in blood and bale!

Speak—by what chance? did man rebel, or pestilence descend?

Neither! by Athens' fatal shores our army met its end.

Which of my children led our host to Athens? speak and say.

The froward Xerxes, leaving all our realm to disarray.

Was it with army or with fleet on folly's quest he went?

With both alike, a twofold front of double armament.

And how then did so large a host on foot pass o'er the sea?

He bridged the ford of Helle's strait by artful carpentry.