MESSENGER

Be now well assured of this, that the evil hath not yet reached its half. Such a visitation of ills hath come upon them, as to overbalance these even twice over.

ATOSSA

And what event can have befallen that is yet more hateful than this? Say what misfortune this is, which, thou sayest, hath farther come upon the host, verging to greater horrors.

MESSENGER

As many of the Persians as were in the very bloom of life, most valiant in their spirit, and distinguished by their high birth, and were ever foremost in faithfulness to our monarch himself, have fallen foully by a most inglorious doom.

ATOSSA

Alas! the wretch that I am, my friends, by this evil hap. And by what kind of doom sayest thou that these of whom thou speakest perished?

MESSENGER

There is a certain island lying off the shores of Salamis, small, a dangerous station for ships, which Pan, who delights in the dance, haunts on its beach. Thither [Xerxes] sends these men, in order that, when the foeman wandering out of their ships should make their escape to the island, they might slay the soldiery of the Greeks, an easy prey, and rescue their comrades from the streams of the sea, ill knowing of the future; for when God gave the glory of the naval battle to the Greeks, on that very day having fortified their bodies in their armour well-wrought of brass, they leaped out of their vessels, and encompassed the whole island around, so that they were at a loss whither they should betake themselves; for often were they smitten by stones from their hands, and arrows falling on them from the bowstring destroyed them. And at last, having charged them with one onslaught, they smite, they how in pieces the limbs of the wretches, until they had utterly destroyed the life of all of them. And Xerxes shrieked aloud, when he saw the depth of his calamities; for he had a seat that afforded a clear prospect 1

of the whole armament, a high hill near the ocean brine; and having rent his clothes, and uttered a shrill wail, after issuing orders quickly to the land forces, he dismisses them in disorderly flight. Such a misfortune is it thine to wail over, in addition to the aforementioned.

ATOSSA

LA REINE

Hélas ! quel océan de maux a débordé sur les Perses et sur toute la race barbare !

LE MESSAGER

Sache-le bien : ce n'est même pas là la moitié de notre malheur. Un douloureux désastre s'est abattu sur eux, deux fois plus lourd que les maux déjà connus de toi ¹ .

LA REINE

Et quel sort plus cruel pourrait-il être encore ? Quel nouveau désastre a, dis-moi, frappé notre
armée, pour accroître le poids de nos misères ?

LE MESSAGER

Ceux qui, parmi les Perses, étaient à la fois en pleine vigueur, au premier rang pour le courage,

LE MESSAGER

le plus en vue pour la naissance et, auprès du prince, des modèles constants de loyauté, ont succombé honteusement, de la plus ignominieuse mort.

LA REINE

Hélas ! infortunée, quel sort cruel, amis, est donc le mien ! Mais quelle est la mort dont ils auraient péri ?

LE MESSAGER

Il est, dans les parages en avant de Salamine, une île étroite, sans mouillage, dont, seul, Pan, le dieu des chœurs, hante le rivage marin. C'est là que Xerxès les
envoie, afin que, si des naufragés ennemis étaient portés vers l'île, ils eussent à massacrer les Grecs, ici aisés à vaincre, en sauvant les leurs au contraire des courants de la mer. C'était bien mal connaître l'avenir ! Car, dès que le Ciel eut donné
la victoire à la flotte des Grecs, ceux-ci, le même jour, ayant cuirassé leurs poitrines d'airain, sautaient hors des vaisseaux et enveloppaient l'île entière, de façon que le Perse ne sût plus où se tourner. Et d'abord des milliers de pierres
parties de leurs mains l'accablaient, tandis que, jaillis de la corde de l'arc, des traits portaient la mort dans ses rangs. Enfin, bondissant d'un même élan, ils frappent, ils taillent en pièces les corps de ces malheureux, jusqu'à ce qu'à tous
ils eussent pris la vie. — Xerxès pousse une longue plainte devant ce gouffre de douleurs. Il avait pris place en un point d'où il découvrait toute l'armée, un tertre élevé près de la plaine marine ² : il déchire ses vêtements, lance un sanglot aigu, puis soudain donne un ordre à son armée de terre et
se précipite dans une fuite éperdue. —

ATOSSA.

Ah, what a boundleſs ſea of woe hath burſt

On Perſia, and the whole barbaric race!

530

MESSENGER.

ARALDO

Sappi che il mal non è finora al mezzo:

490

tanti danni sovra essi ancor piombarono,

che al tratto della lance gli altri uguagliano.

ATOSSA

Qual sorte piú nemica esser potrebbe?

Dimmi, quale è questo esito di mali

che tracollar fece ancor piú la lance?

495

ARALDO

Quanti dei Persïani eran piú prodi,

d'animo insigni, nobili di stirpe,

e per fede al sovrano ognor fra i primi,

morte han trovata senza gloria, turpe.

ATOSSA

Misera me! Che tristi eventi, amici!

500

E a qual destino, dici, soccombettero?

ARALDO

Sorge, vicina a Salamina, un'isola

breve, né rade ha pei navili, dove

su la spiaggia del mar viene sovente

Pan de le danze amico.

505

E qui mandati

Serse li avea, perché, quando i nemici

disfatti omai, balzino giú dai legni

nell'isoletta, a scampo, i nostri possano

facile scempio far di tutti gli Elleni,

510

e dai gorghi gli amici in salvo trarre.

Ma lesse male nel futuro.

Appena

concesse un Nume agli Elleni la gloria

della battaglia, subito recinte

515

le membra con le belle armi di bronzo,

balzar giú dalle navi, ed inondarono

l'isola tutta:

e i nostri ove rivolgersi

non sapevano piú. Molti cadevano

520

sotto i sassi scagliati: altri, le frecce

volavan dai vibranti archi a trafiggerli ;

e infine, con un solo impeto mossi,

colpi addensano, sbranano le membra

degli infelici, insino a che la vita

525

di tutti ebbero spenta.

Ululi alzava

Serse, vedendo il baratro dei mali:

ché sedea sopra eccelso clivo, presso

al mare aperto, donde a lui visibile

530

era tutto l'esercito.

E, strappandosi

via le vesti, levando acuti stridi,

tosto raccoglie le pedestri schiere,

e si gitta con quelle a sconcia fuga.

535

Questa sciagura oltre alla prima or piangi.

ATOSSA

Nun.

Illud bene ſcias, nunquam mediu horŭ malorum extitiſse,

Talis in ipfos calamitas mali uenit,

Vt his ficrependeret momento.

410

Ato.

Que'nam erit fortuna hac inimicitior?

Dicito,quam ais calamitatem excrcitui

Veniffe, malorum repentem ad maiora?

Nun.

Perſarum quicunq;

erant fortes natura,

415

Animoq; optimi, et nobilitate decori,

ipsi regi fide inter primos ſemper

Occubuerunt, turpiter ignominioſa morte.

Ato.

Heuamici, ego mifera mala calamitate:

Qua'nam uerò morte ais hos interijſſe?

420

Nun.

Infula aliqua Salaminis eregione est locoru,

Parua, malefida carinis, quam amans choros

Pan adit, in littore Pontico.

Inde mittit aliquot, ut si nauium

Corruptores hoftes in infulam uenirent,

425

Trucidarent fortißimum Græcorum exercitum,

Amicos feruaret àmarimo meatu.

Male futura confiderans, quemadmodum Deus

Grecis gloriam pugne nauium dedit.

Ipfa die munientes corpus aneis

430

Armis, in naues exilierunt.circum uerò

Circundederunt totam infulam,ut dubitarent

Perfe, quo'nam se uerterent.diu enim ex manibus

Lapidibus percutiebantur ab arcus

Chorda fagitte procidentes cos interfecerunt.

435

Poftremò moti Greci uno impetu

Feriunt, laniant membra infoœlicium Perfarum,

Donec omnium uitam corruperint.

Xerxes lamentatus est, uidens immensa mala.

Nam fedem puram totius exercitus habuit,

440

Altißimum tumulum propè Pelasgicum mare,

Licerans ueflimenta,& flens acriter.

Repentè hortatus pedestrem exercitum

Diſceßit inornata fuga.hanc quoq; tibi

Ad anteacłam calamitatem licet lugere.

445

Ato.

Messenger

Be well assured, the tale is but begun—

The further agony that on us fell

450

Doth twice outweigh the sufferings I have told!

Atossa

Nay, what disaster could be worse than this?

Say on! what woe upon the army came,

Swaying the scale to a yet further fall?

Messenger

The very flower and crown of Persia's race,

455

Gallant of soul and glorious in descent,

And highest held in trust before the king,

Lies shamefully and miserably slain.

Atossa

Alas for me and for this ruin, friends!

Dead, sayest thou? by what fate overthrown?

460

Messenger

An islet is there, fronting Salamis—

Strait, and with evil anchorage: thereon

Pan treads the measure of the dance he loves

Along the sea-beach. Thither the king sent

His noblest, that, whene'er the Grecian foe

465

Should 'scape, with shattered ships, unto the isle,

We might make easy prey of fugitives

And slay them there, and from the washing tides

Rescue our friends. It fell out otherwise

Than he divined, for when, by aid of Heaven,

470

The Hellenes held the victory on the sea,

Their sailors then and there begirt themselves

With brazen mail and bounded from their ships,

And then enringed the islet, point by point,

So that our Persians in bewilderment

475

Knew not which way to turn. On every side,

Battered with stones, they fell, while arrows flew

From many a string, and smote them to the death.

Then, at the last, with simultaneous rush

The foe came bursting on us, hacked and hewed

480

To fragments all that miserable band,

Till not a soul of them was left alive.

Then Xerxes saw disaster's depth, and shrieked,

From where he sat on high, surveying all—

A lofty eminence, beside the brine,

485

Whence all his armament lay clear in view.

His robe he rent, with loud and bitter wail,

And to his land-force swiftly gave command

And fled, with shame beside him! Now, lament

That second woe, upon the first imposed!

490

Atossa

Der Bote.

Doch wisse, noch nicht wurde dir die Hälfte kund.

Ein andres jammervolles Leid kam über sie,

Das jenes zwiefach überwog mit seiner Last.

Atoffa.

Und welches Unheil wäre denn noch feindlicher?

420

Sprich, welches andre Mißgeschick traf Persis' Heer,

Das tiefer noch des Leides Schale niederzog?

Der Bote.

Die Perser alle, die geblüht in Jugendkraft,

An Muth die kühnsten, an Geschlecht die edelsten,

Dem König selbst am treusten allzeit zugethan,

425

Sie gingen schmachvoll unter in ruhmlosem Tod.

Atoſſa.

O Freunde, weh mir Armen! Unglückselig Loos!

Und welch ein Todesschicksal, sprich, entraffte sie?

Der Bote.

Es liegt ein kleines Inselland vor Salamis,

Von rauher Anfurt, wo der reigenfrohe Pan

430

Unfern dem steilen Meeresstrand zu wandeln liebt.

Dahin entbot sie Xerxes, daß, sobald der Feind

Zur Insel sich aus lecken Schiffen rettete,

Sie leichten Fangs erschlügen Hellas' Heeresmacht,

Den Freunden aber hülfen aus der Meeresfurt:

435

Was kommen sollte, sah er schlecht! Denn als ein Gott

Im Kampf der Schiffe Hellas' Volk den Sieg verlich,

Da stürzten sie desselben Tages noch, mit Erz

Umgürtet, aus den Schiffen, und umschlossen rings

Das Inselland, die Perser wußten keinen Nath,

440

Wohin sich wenden? Aus den Händen prasselten

Felsstücke ringsher nieder, und vom Sehnendrat

Des Bogens schwirrten Pfeile rings und mordeten.

Zulegt heran sich stürzend all' in Einem Strom,

Zerhaut, verstümmelt Hellas' Volk die Elenden,

445

Bis aller Leben grausam hingemordet war.

Des Leides Tiefe sehend, schrie der König auf;

Denn oben saß er, weitgeseh'n von allem Volk,

Auf steilen Hügels Höhe, nah' am Meeresstrand.

Und sein Gewand zerreißend, stöhnt' er laut empor,

450

Gebot der Landmacht ungesäumt Aufbruch und floh

Voraus in ordnungsloser Flucht. Das ist das Leid,

Das du zum ersten Leide noch beklagen mußt.

Atossa.