The foe, as 'twere a haul of tunny fish, With splintered oars and fragments of the wreck Assailed and slaughtered them; the waters rang With mingled cries of death and victory, Till night's dark veil descending closed the scene. The sum of our disasters, though I spoke For ten long days, I never could unfold. Know in a word, so vast a multitude Has never fallen in one disastrous day. ATOSSA. Alas! a huge wave of calamity Has broken on our universal realm. MESSENGER. Thou art but half way through this tale of woe, For a disaster on our army fell Which twice outweighed all this that I have told. ATOSSA. Can fortune's spite what thou hast told surpass? Go on, recount this new calamity Which in thy estimation outweighs all. MESSENGER. The very flower of all our Persian host, The trusted pillars of our monarchy, Have met a piteous and a shameful end. ATOSSA. Ah! woe is me for this dire history. Recount, then, how our noblest warriors fell. MESSENGER. An isle there is in face of Salamis, Small and without a haven, on whose strand Dance-loving Pan his measure often treads. Thither the King despatched these chosen bands That when from sinking ships crews swam ashore, They of their foes might make an easy prey, And their friends rescue from a watery grave, Ill the event foreseeing. For when heaven Gave the Hellenes victory on the sea, At once their bodies they in armour sheathed, Leaped from their galleys forth, and all the isle With arms encircled. Outlet for escape Our hopeless bands had none. A ceaseless storm Of stones was rained upon them, and the shafts, Whistling from many a bowstring, scattered death. At last, combining in one charge, the foe Fell on them, stabbed them, hacked them limb from limb, Nor stayed the butchery till the last was slain. Xerxes, when he such utter ruin saw From the high throne where, on an eminence Hard by the sea, he overlooked the scene, Sent forth a piercing cry and rent his clothes; Then gave his troops the order to retreat And headlong took to flight. Now thou dost know The harvest and the aftermath of woe. THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. The unnatural brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, are competitors for the lordship of Thebes. Eteocles is in possession. Polynices, having married the daughter of Adrastus, King of Argos, leads an army, raised by the help of his father-in-law, against Thebes.