Page:The Dramas of Aeschylus (Swanwick).djvu/305

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For ne'er in war's disastrous game

Doom'd he his warriors to the grave;

No; godlike counsellor the name

His Persians gave;

Godlike in sooth was he,

Since still his subject host he governed worthily.

Khan, ancient Khan! oh come, draw near,

Come to the topmost summit of this mound;

Lifting thy foot in saffron slipper dight,

The crest of thy tiara's kingly round

Giving to sight:

Appear, Darius, blameless sire, appear!

O monarch, come, that thou may'st hear

Woes, strange, unheard of, by our monarch borne;

For o'er us now some Stygian gloom doth lour,

Since sunk in utter ruin lies forlorn

Our martial flower.

Appear Darius! blameless sire, appear!

O Thou in death by friends bewailèd sore,

Why, king of kings, say why

Hath dire calamity,

Of blind infatuation born,