EPODE. O woe! and woe! and yet again Woe, and misery, and pain! Why should'st thou die, and leave the land Thou master of the mighty hand? Why should thy son with foolish venture Shake thy sure Empire to its centre?[n25] And why must we deplore The countless triremes on the sea-swept shore Triremes no more?[n26] [_The Shade of_ DARIUS _rises from the Tomb._ DARIUS. O faithfullest of my faithful friends, compeers Of my fair youth, elders of Persia, say With what sore labour labours now the state? Pierced is the Earth, and rent with sounds of woe! And I my spouse beholding near the tomb Am troubled, and her offerings I receive Propitious. Ye with her this cry have raised Of shrill lament to bring the dead from Hades, No easy climb; the gods beneath the ground Are readier to receive than to dismiss;[f31] But I was lord above them. I am come To meet your questioning. Ask, while yet the time Chides not my stay. What ill weighs Persia down? STROPHE CHORUS. I cannot speak before thee; I tremble to behold thee; The ancient awe subdues me. DARIUS. Not to hold a long discourse, but swift to grant a short reply, I have left the homes of Hades, by your waitings deeply moved. What thou hast to ask me, therefore ask, and throw all fear aside. {321} ANTISTROPHE. CHORUS. I tremble to obey thee. Such sorrows to unfold thee, My powerless lips refuse me. DARIUS. Since the ancient reverence holds thee, and enchains thy mind, to thee I will speak, the aged partner of my bed, my high-born spouse. Cease thy weepings and thy waitings; tell me what mischance hath hapt. 'Tis most human that mischances come to mortal man, not few Woes by seas, not few by land, if the Fates prolong his span. ATOSSA. O all men in bliss surpassing while thine eyes beheld the day, Of all Persians envied, living like a god on earth, no less Happy wert thou in thy dying, ere thou didst behold the depth Of this present woe, Darius. Thou, in short phrase shalt hear all. Persia's strength is gone: the army lost: all ruined. I have said. DARIUS. How? Did pestilence smite the city, or did foul sedition rise? ATOSSA. Neither. Near far Athens routed was the Persian host. DARIUS. Who marched? Which of my children marched the host to Athens? ATOSSA. Thy impetuous son Xerxes. Xerxes of her children drained wide Asia's plains. DARIUS. On foot, Or with triremes did he risk this foolish venture? ATOSSA. With two fronts, One by sea, by land the other. DARIUS. But so vast an army how? ATOSSA. With rare bonds of wood and iron, Helle's streaming frith they crossed.