Page:Four Plays of Aeschylus (Cookson).djvu/105

Rh The realm: and now Xerxes, my son, because

His thoughts are a young man's thoughts, remembers not

My precepts: for I call ye all to witness,

Friends and coevals, not a man of us

Had ever by misuse of so much power

Made it the instrument of so great a woe.

O King Darius, whither tends the scope

Of thy discourse? What may we thence conclude?

How may this land of Persia best emerge

From these sore trials and yet see good days?

Wage no more wars 'gainst Hellas, wage no more,

Not though the Medic power were mightier yet;

For verily her soil is her ally.

How sayst thou 'her ally'? How can her soil

Take arms for her and fight upon her side?

The power of numbers, be they ne'er so vast,

She wears away by famine.

Few and choice

Shall be the muster, with all manner store

Plentifully provided.

They that are left

In Hellas even now shall not escape

Nor see their homes again.