ATOSSA. The city? is it safe? does Athens stand? MESSENGER. It stands without the fence of walls. Men wall it. ATOSSA. But say, who first commenced the fight--the Greeks Or, in his numbers strong, my kingly son. MESSENGER. Some evil god, or an avenging spirit,[f24] Began the fray. From the Athenian fleet There came a Greek,[n15] and thus thy son bespoke. "Soon as the gloom of night shall fall, the Greeks No more will wait, but, rushing to their oars, Each man will seek his safety where he may, By secret flight." This Xerxes heard, but knew not The guile of Greece, nor yet the jealous gods, And to his captains straightway gave command That, when the sun withdrew his burning beams, And darkness filled the temple of the sky,[n16] In triple lines their ships they should dispose, Each wave-plashed outlet guarding, fencing round The isle of Ajax surely. Should the Greeks Deceive this guard, or with their ships escape In secret flight, each captain with his head Should pay for his remissness. These commands With lofty heart, thy son gave forth, nor thought What harm the gods were weaving. They obeyed. Each man prepared his supper, and the sailors Bound the lithe oar to its familiar block. Then, when the sun his shining glory paled, And night swooped down, each master of the oar, Each marshaller of arms, embarked; and then Line called on line to take its ordered place. All night they cruised, and, with a moving belt, Prisoned the frith, till day 'gan peep, and still No stealthy Greek the expected flight essayed. But when at length the snowy-steeded Day Burst o'er the main, all beautiful to see, First from the Greeks a tuneful shout uprose, Well-omened, and, with replication loud, Leapt the blithe echo from the rocky shore. Fear seized the Persian host, no longer tricked By vain opinion; not like wavering flight {313} Billowed the solemn pæan of the Greeks, But like the shout of men to battle urging, With lusty cheer. Then the fierce trumpet's voice Blazed[f25] o'er the main; and on the salt sea flood Forthwith the oars, with measured plash, descended, And all their lines, with dexterous speed displayed, Stood with opposing front. The right wing first, Then the whole fleet bore down, and straight uprose A mighty shout. "SONS OF THE GREEKS, ADVANCE! YOUR COUNTRY FREE, YOUR CHILDREN FREE, YOUR WIVES! THE ALTARS OF YOUR NATIVE GODS DELIVER, AND YOUR ANCESTRAL TOMBS--ALL'S NOW AT STAKE!" A like salute from our whole line back-rolled In Persian speech. Nor more delay, but straight Trireme on trireme, brazen beak on beak Dashed furious. A Greek ship led on the attack,[f26] And from the prow of a Phœnician struck The figure-head; and now the grapple closed Of each ship with his adverse desperate. At first the main line of the Persian fleet Stood the harsh shock; but soon their multitude Became their ruin; in the narrow frith They might not use their strength, and, jammed together,