In the son's cause; delicious milk, that foamsWhite from the sacred heifer; liquid honey,Extract of flowers; and from its virgin fountThe running crystal; this pure draught, that flow'dFrom the ancient vine, of power to bathe the spiritsIn joy; the yellow olive's fragrant fruit,That glories in its leaves' unfading verdure;With flowers of various hues, earth's fairest offspringInwreathed. But you, my friends, amid these ritesRaise high your solemn warblings, and invokeYour lord, divine Darius; I meanwhile
Will pour these off'rings to the infernal gods.
CHORUS (chanting)
Yes, royal lady, Persia's honour'd grace,To earth's dark chambers pour thy off'rings: weWith choral hymns will supplicate the powersThat guide the dead, to be propitious to us.
And you, that o'er the realms of night extendYour sacred sway, thee mighty earth, and theHermes; thee chief, tremendous king, whose throneAwes with supreme dominion, I adjure:
Send, from your gloomy regions, send his shadeOnce more to visit this ethereal light;That he alone, if aught of dread event
He sees yet threat'ning Persia, may discloseTo us poor mortals Fate's extreme decree.
Hears the honour'd godlike king?
These barbaric notes of wo,
Taught in descant sad to ring,
Hears he in the shades below?
Thou, O Earth, and you, that lead
Through your sable realms the dead,
Guide him as he takes his way,
And give him to the ethereal light of day!
Let the illustrious shade arise
Glorious in his radiant state,
More than blazed before our eyes,
Ere sad Susa mourn'd his fate.
Dear he lived, his tomb is dear,
Shrining virtues we revere:
Send then, monarch of the dead,
Such as Darius was, Darius' shade.
He in realm-unpeopling war
Wasted not his subjects' blood,
Godlike in his will to spare,
In his councils wise and good.
Rise then, sovereign lord, to light;
On this mound's sepulchral height
Lift thy sock in saffron died,
And rear thy rich tiara's regal pride!
Great and good, Darius, rise:
Lord of Persia's lord, appear:
Thus involved with thrilling cries
Come, our tale of sorrow hear!
War her Stygian pennons spreads,
Brooding darkness o'er our heads;
For stretch'd along the dreary shore
The flow'r of Asia lies distain'd with gore.
Rise, Darius, awful power;
Long for thee our tears shall flow.
Why thy ruin'd empire o'er
Swells this double flood of wo?
Sweeping o'er the azure tide
Rode thy navy's gallant pride:
Navy now no more, for all
Beneath the whelming wave-
(While the CHORUS Sings, ATOSSA performs her ritual by the tomb.
As the song concludes the GHOST OF DARIUS appears from the tomb.)GHOST OF DARIUSYe faithful Persians, honour'd now in age,Once the companions of my youth, what illsAfflict the state? The firm earth groans, it opes,Disclosing its vast deeps; and near my tombI see my wife: this shakes my troubled soulWith fearful apprehensions; yet her off'ringsPleased I receive. And you around my tombChanting the lofty strain, whose solemn airDraws forth the dead, with grief-attemper'd notesMournfully call me: not with ease the wayLeads to this upper air; and the stern gods,Prompt to admit, yield not a passage backBut with reluctance: much with them my powerAvailing, with no tardy step I come.
Say then, with what new ill doth Persia groan?
CHORUS (chanting)
My wonted awe o'ercomes me; in thy presenceI dare not raise my eyes, I dare not speak.
GHOST OF DARIUS
Since from the realms below, by thy sad strainsAdjured, I come, speak; let thy words be brief;Say whence thy grief, tell me unawed by fear.
I dread to forge a flattering tale, I dreadTo grieve thee with a harsh offensive truth.
GHOST OF DARIUS
Since fear hath chained his tongue, high-honour'd dame,Once my imperial consort, check thy tears,Thy griefs, and speak distinctly. Mortal manMust bear his lot of wo; afflictions riseMany from sea, many from land, if life
Be haply measured through a lengthen'd course.
ATOSSA
O thou that graced with Fortune's choicest giftsSurpassing mortals, while thine eye beheldYon sun's ethereal rays, lived'st like a godBless'd amid thy Persians; bless'd I deem thee nowIn death, ere sunk in this abyss of ills,Darius, hear at once our sum of wo;
Ruin through all her states hath crush'd thy Persia.
GHOST OF DARIUS
By pestilence, or faction's furious storms?
ATOSSA
Not so: near Athens perish'd all our troops.
GHOST OF DARIUS
Say, of my sons, which led the forces thither?
ATOSSA
The impetuous Xerxes, thinning all the land.
GHOST OF DARIUS
By sea or land dared he this rash attempt?
ATOSSA
By both: a double front the war presented.
GHOST OF DARIUS
A host so vast what march conducted o'er?
ATOSSA
From shore to shore he bridged the Hellespont.
GHOST OF DARIUS
What! could he chain the mighty Bosphorus?
ATOSSA
Ev'n so, some god assisting his design.
GHOST OF DARIUS
Some god of power to cloud his better sense.
ATOSSA
The event now shows what mischiefs he achieved.
GHOST OF DARIUS
What suffer'd they, for whom your sorrows flow?
ATOSSA
His navy sunk spreads ruin through the camp.
GHOST OF DARIUS
Fell all his host beneath the slaught'ring spear?
ATOSSA
Susa, through all her streets, mourns her lost sons.
GHOST OF DARIUS
How vain the succour, the defence of arms?
ATOSSA
In Bactra age and grief are only left.
GHOST OF DARIUS
Ah, what a train of warlike youth is lost!
ATOSSA
Xerxes, astonished, desolate, alone-
GHOST OF DARIUS
How will this end? Nay, pause not. Is he safe?
ATOSSA
Fled o'er the bridge, that join'd the adverse strands.
GHOST OF DARIUS
And reach'd this shore in safety? Is this true?
ATOSSA
True are thy words, and not to be gainsay'd.
GHOST OF DARIUS
With what a winged course the oracles
Haste their completion! With the lightning's speedJove on my son hath hurled his threaten'd vengeance: