And to th' Immortals all address'd his pray'r :
'Grant, Jove, and all ye Gods, that this my son
May be, as I, the foremost man of Troy,
For valour fam'd, his country's guardian King;
That men may say, "This youth surpasses far
His father," when they see him from the fight,
From slaughter'd foes, with bloody spoils of war
Returning, to rejoice his mother's heart!'
Thus saying, in his mother's arms he plac'd
His child; she to her fragrant bosom clasp'd,
Smiling through tears; with eyes of pitying love
Hector beheld, and press'd her hand, and thus
Address'd her- Dearest, wring not thus my heart!
For till my day of destiny is come,
No man may take my
life;
and when it comes,
Nor brave nor coward can escape that day.
But go thou home, and ply thy household cares,
The loom and distaff, and appoint thy maids
Their sev'ral tasks; and leave to men of Troy
And, chief of all to me, the toils of war.'
Thus as he spoke, his horsehair-plumèd helm
Great Hector took; and homeward turn'd his wife
With falt'ring steps, and shedding scalding tears.
Arriv'd at valiant Hector's well-built house,
Her maidens press'd around her; and in all
Arose at once the sympathetic grief.
For Hector, yet alive, his household mourn'd,
Deeming he never would again return,
Safe from the fight, by Grecian hands unharm'd.
[ρξεν μέν, ὦ δέσποινα, τοῦ παντὸς κακοῦ φανεὶς ἀλάστωρ ἢ κακὸς δαίμων ποθέν. ἀνὴρ γὰρ Ἕλλην ἐξ ̓Αθηναίων στρατοῦ ἐλθὼν ἔλεξε παιδὶ σῷ Ξέρξῃ τάδε,
ὡς εἰ μελαίνης νυκτὸς ἕξεται κνέφας,
Ελληνες οὐ μενοῖεν, ἀλλὰ σέλμασιν
ναῶν ἐπενθορόντες ἄλλος ἄλλοσε
δρασμῷ κρυφαίῳ βίοτον ἐκσωσοίατο.
ὁ δ ̓ εὐθὺς ὡς ἤκουσεν, οὐ ξυνεὶς δόλον
Έλληνος ἀνδρὸς οὐδὲ τὸν θεῶν φθόνον,
πᾶσιν προφωνεῖ τόνδε ναυάρχοις λόγον,
εἶτ ̓ ἂν φλέγων ἀκτῖσιν ἥλιος χθόνα
λήξῃ, κνέφας δὲ τέμενος αἰθέρος λάβῃ,
τάξαι νεῶν μὲν στῖφος ἐν στοίχοις τρισὶν
ἔκπλους φυλάσσειν καὶ πόρους ἁλιρρόθους,
ἄλλας δὲ κύκλῳ νῆσον Αἴαντος πέριξ·
ὡς εἰ μόρον φευξοίαθ' Ἕλληνες κακόν,
ναυσὶν κρυφαίως δρασμὸν εὑρόντες τινά,
πᾶσιν στέρεσθαι κρατὸς ἦν προκείμενον.
τοσαῦτ ̓ ἔλεξε κάρθ ̓ ὑπ ̓ εὐθύμου φρενός
οὐ γὰρ τὸ μέλλον ἐκ θεῶν ἠπίστατο.
οἱ δ ̓ οὐκ ἀκόσμως, ἀλλὰ πειθάρχῳ φρενὶ
δεῖπνόν τ ̓ ἐπορσύνοντο, ναυβάτης τ ̓ ἀνὴρ
τροποῦτο κώπην σκαλμὸν ἀμφ' εὐήρετμον.
ἐπεὶ δὲ φέγγος ἡλίου κατέφθιτο
καὶ νὺξ ἐπγει, πᾶς ἀνὴρ κώπης ἄναξ
TEEN, our whole
QUEEN, our whole disaster thus befell,
O Through intervention of some fiend or fate—
I know not what-that had ill-will to us.
From the Athenian host some Greek came o'er,
To thy son Xerxes whispering this tale-
Once let the gloom of night have gathered in,
The Greeks will tarry not, but swiftly spring
Each to his galley-bench, in furtive flight,
Softly contriving safety for their life.
Thy son believed the word and missed the craft
Of that Greek foeman, and the spite of Heaven,
And straight to all his captains gave this charge-
As soon as sunlight warms the ground no more,
And gloom enwraps the sanctuary of sky,
Range we our fleet in triple serried lines
To bar the passage from the seething strait,
This way and that: let other ships surround
The isle of Ajax, with this warning word-
That if the Greeks their jeopardy should scape
By wary craft, and win their ships a road,
Each Persian captain shall his failure pay
By forfeit of his head. So spake the king,
Inspired at heart with over-confidence,
Unwitting of the gods' predestined will.
Thereon our crews, with no disordered haste,
Did service to his bidding and purveyed
The meal of afternoon: each rower then
Over the fitted rowlock looped his oar.
Then, when the splendour of the sun had set,
And night drew on, each master of the oar
ἐς ναῦν ἐχώρει πᾶς θ ̓ ὅπλων ἐπιστάτης" τάξις δὲ τάξιν παρεκάλει νεὼς μακράς πλέουσι δ ̓ ὡς ἕκαστος ἦν τεταγμένος, καὶ πάννυχοι δὴ διάπλοον καθίστασαν ναῶν ἄνακτες πάντα ναυτικὸν λεών· καὶ νὺξ ἐχώρει, κοὐ μάλ ̓ Ἑλλήνων στρατὸς κρυφαῖον ἔκπλουν οὐδαμῇ καθίστατο ἐπεί γε μέντοι λευκόπωλις ἡμέρα πᾶσαν κατέσχε γαῖαν εὐφεγγὴς ἰδεῖν, πρῶτον μὲν ἠχῇ κέλαδος Ελλήνων πάρα μολπηδὸν ηὐφήμησεν, ὄρθιον δ ̓ ἅμα ἀντηλάλαξε νησιώτιδος πέτρας ἠχώ· φόβος δὲ πᾶσι βαρβάροις παρῆν γνώμης ἀποσφαλεῖσιν· οὐ γὰρ ὡς φυγῇ παιᾶν ἐφύμνουν σεμνὸν Ἕλληνες τότε, ἀλλ' ἐς μάχην ὁρμῶντες εὐψύχῳ θράσει σάλπιγξ δ ̓ ἀυτῇ πάντ ̓ ἐκεῖν ̓ ἐπέφλεγεν. εὐθὺς δὲ κώπης ῥοθιάδος ξυνεμβολῇ ἔπαισαν άλμην βρύχιον ἐκ κελεύματος, θοῶς δὲ πάντες ἦσαν ἐκφανεῖς ἰδεῖν. τὸ δεξιὸν μὲν πρῶτον εὐτάκτως κέρας ἡγεῖτο κόσμῳ, δεύτερον δ ̓ ὁ πᾶς στόλος ἐπεξεχώρει, καὶ παρὴν ὁμοῦ κλύειν πολλὴν βοήν, ὦ παιδες Ελλήνων ἴτε, ἐλευθεροῦτε πατριδ', ἐλευθεροῦτε δὲ παιδας, γυναῖκας, θεῶν τε πατρῴων ἕδη, θήκας τε προγόνων· νῦν ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀγών. καὶ μὴν παρ' ἡμῶν Περσίδος γλώσσης ῥόθος ὑπηντίαζε, κοὐκέτ ̓ ἦν μέλλειν ἀκμή.
And each armed warrior straightway went aboard. Forward the long ships moved, rank cheering rank, Each forward set upon its ordered course.
And all night long the captains of the fleet
Kept their crews moving up and down the
So the night waned, and not one Grecian ship
Made effort to elude and slip away.
But as dawn came and with her coursers white
Shone in fair radiance over all the earth,
First from the Grecian fleet rang out a cry,
song of onset! and the island crags
Re-echoed to the shrill exulting sound.
Then on us Eastern men amazement fell
And fear in place of hope; for what we heard
Was not a call to flight! the Greeks
Their holy, resolute, exulting chant,
Like men come forth to dare and do and die! Their trumpets pealed, and fire was in that
And with the dash of simultaneous oars
Replying to the war-chant, on they came,
Smiting the swirling brine, and in a trice
They flashed upon the vision of the foe!
The right wing first in orderly advance
Came on, a steady column; following then,
The rest of their array moved out and on,
And to our ears there came a burst of sound,
A clamour manifold.-On, sons of Greece!
On for your country's freedom! strike to save
Wives, children, temples of ancestral gods,
Graves of your fathers! now is all at stake.
Then from our side swelled up the mingled din
Of Persian tongues, and time brooked no delay-
|