Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/301

Rh Xerxes led forth, woe! woe!

Xerxes hath all laid low!

Xerxes hath wrought malignant overthrow

To many a sea-borne raft.

Why did Darius rule unharmed the state,

Lord of the archers' craft,

Susa's beloved leader?

Landmen and seamen flax-winged galleys bare:

Galleys led forth; woe! woe!

Galleys wrought overthrow,

Galleys, by deadly crash of blue-faced prow,

But through Ionian hands.

The king hath 'scaped, we hear, by fortune rare,

Through Thracia's wide-spread lands;

Paths swept by storms of winter.

The first, alas! laid low,

Perforce unurned, woe! woe!

Around Kychreia's shores spray-drenchèd lie.

Pour the lament, uplift on high

To heaven deep notes of pain;

Raising the dismal cry,

Your voices strain.

By eddying currents torn,

Gnawed are their limbs, woe! woe!