Alas! ye cities all of Asia, Alas! thou Persia, treasure-house of wealth, How at one stroke has your prosperity Been overthrown and Persia's glory lost! Ill-luck has he that evil tidings brings, Yet needs must I my tale of woe unfold. Persians, our host has perished utterly. * * * * * * * ATOSSA. O'erwhelming sorrow has long held me mute. Disaster such as this transcends all thought, Bars all enquiry, chokes all utterance. And yet we mortals must misfortune bear When heaven ordains. Then, though thy heart be wrung, Calm thee and tell us all, that we may know Who of our warriors lives, whom we must mourn Among our chiefs, as having by his death Left void the station of his high command. MESSENGER. Xerxes himself lives and beholds the sun. ATOSSA. Thy word is sunshine to my sorrowing house; A cheerful day after a dismal night. MESSENGER. Artembares, that led ten thousand horse, Lies slain upon the rough Silenian shore; And Dadaces, that led a thousand more, Pierced by a spear plunged headlong from his barque; And Tenagon, Bactria's true son and pride, Lies on the wave-washed beach of Ajax' Isle. Lileus, Arsames, Argestes too, Round the dove-haunted island drifting, struck Its girdling rocks on fell disaster's day. Matallus, that from Chrysa came, has fallen, He that dark horsemen thrice ten thousand led; The flowing beard that graced his cheek in gore Steeped unto crimson turned its russet hue. Arabian Magos, Bactrian Artames, Die in a strange land, never to return; And Tharybis, of five times fifty sail Commander, Lyrna's son, with his fair face By foul mischance of war has been laid low. While, bravest of the brave, Syennesis, Cilicia's admiral, who to the foe Most trouble gave, has met a glorious doom. ATOSSA. Alas! this overtops the height of woe; For Persia naught remains but shame and wail. But now take up thy story, let me hear What was the number of the Hellenic fleet, That thus it dared our Persian armament In battle with encountering prows to brave. MESSENGER. Know that if numbers could have gained the day Victory was ours, for the Hellenic fleet Counted in all but thrice a hundred sail, Of which were ten for swiftness set apart. But with a thousand galleys Xerxes came-- His muster-roll I know--whereof the ships For swiftness picked two hundred were and seven. Think you herein ours was the weaker side? Some deity against us turned the scale, And brought confusion on our armament, The powers of Heaven for Pallas' city fight. ATOSSA. Has Athens then escaped the avenger's hand? MESSENGER. Her walls are scatheless while her men remain. ATOSSA. Recount then how began the naval fight. MESSENGER.