Perseus · Tufts
All Greek and Roman Materials
Collections: Classics · Papyri · Renaissance · London · California · Upper Midwest · Chesapeake · Boyle · Tufts History
Configure display · Help · Tools · Copyright · FAQ · Publications · Collaborations · Support Perseus
Classics:
Classics collection contents
About the Classics collection
Greek Hist. Overview
Art & Arch. Catalogs

Other Tools & Lexica
Plot:
  • sites on this page
  • sites in this document
    Contents:
  • Episode 1
  • Choral 1
  • Episode 2
  • Choral 2
  • Episode 3
  • Choral 3
  • Episode 4
  • Choral 4
  • Episode 5
  • Choral 5
  • Episode 6
  • Choral 6
  • Episode 7
  • Choral 7
    		•

    Aeschylus, Persians (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)

    Atossa

    Editions and translations: Greek (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D.) | English (ed. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D.)
    Your current position in the text is marked in red. Click anywhere on the line to jump to another position.
    line=1 line=35 line=70 line=87 line=93 line=100 line=115 line=120 line=130 line=140 line=155 line=159 line=175 line=195 line=215 line=232 line=235 line=240 line=240 line=249 line=256 line=262 line=272 line=275 line=280 line=290 line=300 line=325 line=335 line=350 line=360 line=395 line=430 line=435 line=445 line=480 line=510 line=520 line=535 line=548 line=558 line=570 line=591 line=598 line=623 line=633 line=640 line=647 line=664 line=673 line=681 line=694 line=703 line=715 line=720 line=720 line=725 line=730 line=730 line=750 line=765 line=787 line=790 line=820 line=843 line=852 line=858 line=865 line=888 line=898 line=909 line=925 line=932 line=941 line=950 line=962 line=975 line=990 line=1002 line=1005 line=1008 line=1014 line=1015 line=1020 line=1025 line=1026 line=1030 line=1035 line=1038 line=1040 line=1046 line=1046 line=1054 line=1055 line=1060 line=1060 line=1066 line=1066 line=1070

    Table of ContentsGo to Previous Next

    Darius

    Alas! The fulfilment of the oracles has indeed come swiftly, and it is my son upon whom [740] Zeus has caused their issue to descend. Yet I was confident that, only after long lapse of time, the gods would in some way bring them to accomplishment; nevertheless, when man hastens to his own undoing, the god too participates with him. A fountain of misfortune has now, I think, been discovered for all I love. A son of mine it was who, in his ignorance, brought these things to pass through youthful recklessness; [745] for he conceived the hope that he could by shackles, as if it were a slave, restrain the current of the sacred Hellespont, the Bosporus, a stream divine; he set himself to fashion a roadway of a new type, and, by casting upon it hammer-wrought fetters, made a spacious causeway for his mighty host. Mortal though he was, he thought in his folly that he would gain the mastery of all the gods, [750] yes, even over Poseidon. Must this not have been a disease of the soul that possessed my son? I fear that the plenteous treasure amassed by my toil may become the prey of the spoiler.

    Atossa

    This lesson impetuous Xerxes learned through conversation with evil men. For they kept telling him that, whereas you [755] won plentiful treasure for your children by your spear, he, on his part, through lack of manly spirit, played the warrior at home and did not increase his father's wealth. Hearing such taunts many a time from evil counsellors, he planned this expedition and army against Hellas.


    There is one comment on or cross reference to this page.

    Cross references from Sir Richard Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Philoctetes:
    * [1081-1217]

    Preferred URL for linking to this page: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Aesch.+Pers.+739

    The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.

    This text is based on the following book(s):
    Aeschylus. Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. in two volumes. 1. Persians. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926.
    OCLC: 13109528
    ISBN: 0674991605

    Buy a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com.

    Previous Next