_Mess._ There is an isle that lies off Salamis,[40] Small, with bad anchorage for ships, where Pan, 450 Pan the dance-loving, haunts the sea-washed coast. There Xerxes sends these men, that when their foes, Being wrecked, should to the islands safely swim, They might with ease destroy th' Hellenic host, And save their friends from out the deep sea's paths; But ill the future guessing: for when God Gave the Hellenes the glory of the battle, In that same hour, with arms well wrought in bronze Shielding their bodies, from their ships they leapt, And the whole isle encircled, so that we 460 Were sore distressed,[41] and knew not where to turn; For here men's hands hurled many a stone at them; And there the arrows from the archer's bow Smote and destroyed them; and with one great rush, At last advancing, they upon them dash And smite, and hew the limbs of these poor wretches, Till they each foe had utterly destroyed. [And Xerxes when he saw how deep the ill,[42] Groaned out aloud, for he had ta'en his seat, With clear, wide view of all the army round, On a high cliff hard by the open sea; And tearing then his robes with bitter cry, 470 And giving orders to his troops on shore, He sends them off in foul retreat. This grief 'Tis thine to mourn besides the former ills.] _Atoss._ O hateful Power, how thou of all their hopes Hast robbed the Persians! Bitter doom my son Devised for glorious Athens, nor did they, The invading host who fell at Marathon, Suffice; but my son, counting it his task To exact requital for it, brought on him So great a crowd of sorrows. But I pray, As to those ships that have this fate escaped, 480 Where did'st thou leave them? Can'st thou clearly tell?