Chorus We are the trusted dignitaries who have stayed behind when the Persian soldiers went off to fight the Greeks. 71, Chorus With eyes spewing the black flame of a bloodthirsty dragon he drives angrily his army of many hands and many oars as fast as he drives his own Syrian chariot. Here I have some sweet, white milk from an unmated cow. And you, old woman, beloved wife and mother of our son, Xerxes, go back into the Palace, find his best clothes and go out to greet him. It was for those men that my son had sought Justice; for them that he suffered all that grief! Based on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves can properly re-create the celebrated and timeless tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series offers new translations that go beyond the literal meaning of the Greek in order to evoke the poetry of the originals. It wasn’t simply reported to me. Beat your breasts and cry for my misfortune! This was no solemn song the Greeks were singing. He had his throne set up high on a mountain, near the shore, so he could observe the whole battle. Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is widely regarded as the greatest living poet in the Irish language. 260. 709. Our whole army was destroyed near Athens. It is the great King’s mother! Farewell then, old friends and, though you’re in the midst of troubles, give your hearts some pleasure. Herald There is an island, my Lady, called Psytalea. That mountain of corpses will tell them that mortals should not be overly proud. Darius But not even the few of our men who are still in Hellas will manage to save themselves and return home safely. Author: Aeschylus Author Record # 286959; Legal Name: Αἰσχύλος? 591. They’ve all been taken by the sea’s slaughter. Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com Chorus And to make a solemn prayer that your husband, who you say appeared in your dream, send up to us, up to the light of day from down below the dark underworld, things that are good for you and for your son and to keep all things that are evil in the black darkness, down below. Aeschylus PERSIANS . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2011. An immortal plant with rich foliage. No hope for him then. More men that we miss. First performed at the City Dionysia in 472 BC, The Persians takes a nuanced approach to the matter of war and conquest. The sight was so terrifying, I stood there speechless. Aeschylus. He uses the Persian Chorus to inform us that the Persians believed in Hermes and Gê, among other deities. Download Pleiades ancient places geospacial dataset for this text. I was there and saw it all with my own eyes. Do this for us, Aidoneus! with the tetralogy of "Phineus," "The Persians," "Glaucus of Potniae," and the satyr play "Prometheus the Fire-Kindler." Such is the turbulence that my heart now feels whenever I hear bad news. Chorus All those prosperous and heavily populated Greek cities in Ionia – Darius ruled them all as he pleased. A divine light approaches! Herald The beaches of Salamis and all the shores around about it are clogged with the bodies of dead men. The barbarian ships outnumbered them by far. Chorus No longer, no more will the people of Asia will obey the will and command of Persia! 331. The moment I return to the palace I shall do as you say, in respect of the proper sacrifices to the gods and to the dead. Cast of Characters (in order of appearance) Chorus of Persian elders Atossa, queen of the Persians; mother of Xerxes; widow of Darius Messenger from the retreating Persian … 140. They carry short lances and shields for close combat. And when all the army had finished praying, we walked across the frozen waters of the river. A new, accurate, and readable translation of four major Greek tragedies, including the unique historical tragedy Persians and the hugely influential Prometheus Bound. Aeschylus' PERSIANS Complete. Your current position in the text is marked in blue. with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. 1002. The rest of the barbarian ships took to the oars and sped away in disarray. The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text. Chorus Come, Aidoneus! Chorus Too long, too old in age to see the force of such calamity! 447. 290. The tomb of Darius the Great is visible. 1028 a: “Certainly I rejoiced, when I heard ”: α: in the Persians of Aeschylus as it has come down to us the death of Darius is not announced, nor do the chorus clap their hands and say “iauoi”. Fathomless grief! Chorus Which of the two is holding sway in a war, the tip of the arrow or the cutting point of the spear? The time is 480 B.C., shortly after the battle of Salamis. Does this sound like we were beaten by the numbers, my Lady? Such offerings and prayers that are appropriate to them. Darius But I am here now. Mardus was a disgrace to his people and to his ancient throne. Ah, Zeus! Hide browse bar Aeschylus, with an English translation by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. I won’t hide this from you, my friends but my own soul is also trembling with worry and it’s not a worry that simply springs out of my imagination. Translated by Robert Potter. The seed of pride brings forth the fruit of disaster, the harvest of which is endless tears. 800. Aeschylus (UK: / ˈ iː s k ɪ l ə s /, US: / ˈ ɛ s k ɪ l ə s /; Greek: Αἰσχύλος Aiskhylos, pronounced [ai̯s.kʰý.los]; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek author of Greek tragedy, and is often described as the father of tragedy. ("Agamemnon", "Hom. Enter Atossa carrying a basket of sacrificial offerings, followed by her servants, Atossa My friends, those who know about misfortune know that when its storm of strife breaks, people will get frightened of every little thing but when the winds of fortune are on their sails, they think these winds will always be there for them, proving them with endless joy. He groaned and tore his royal robes and shouted wildly at his commanders to have the Persian fleet leave the place. Chorus They follow no one, my Lady. Then came the sixth man, Marafis and then the seventh, Artaphrenes and it was my lot to follow this man. Chorus Your misfortune, my King, is my misfortune! Do you hear it? 300. Aeschylus won the festival of Dionysus in 472 B.C. Written 472 B.C.E. All are ashes now! Aeschylus. And, with a light thud, Dadakes, who led one thousand men, was thrown overboard by an enemy spear. But brave Artaphrenes, tricked Mardus and had him killed in his Palace, with the help of some of his friends with whom he had sworn an oath and conspired to do so. And their parents too, groan, and their wives, as well, as they anxiously count the days of their absence. 1030. Come! 770. Not only is it the earliest existing play in the Western tradition, it is drawn directly from the playwright's own experiences at the battle of Salamis, making it the only account of the Persian Wars composed by an eyewitness. Harvard University Press. None left! [Greek text with facing-page translation, commentary and notes. Persians. It will be a silent but stark lesson for them. Chorus But my soul trembles with fear and with dire premonition when I think about our King’s return and the return of his army, dazzling in its golden gear. Rather some evil spirit or other, some destructive curse that suddenly appeared from I don’t know where, that sparked off the whole dreadful thing. Or must I wail so loudly that my misery and sorrow are driven hard and deep into the earth? Send us here, to the sun’s light, the spirit of Darius because if there’s anyone who might know of a remedy for our disaster, it would certainly be him. Persians and Other Plays Aeschylus Translated by Christopher Collard Oxford World's Classics. Both dressed in gorgeous clothes, one in Persian, the other, in Greek. Chorus There is no doubt. Arabus, the priest and Artames from Bactria, their corpses, too, have settled for ever at that cruel place. Oh! The Persians, A Translation from Aeschylus. Their splendid beauty and stature was like none we see among us these days. Many of our men died there from hunger and thirst because these two evils fell upon us at the same time. “Aeschylus: The suppliant maidens, The Persians, translated by S. G. Benardete. They have a source of silver. Commentary:Several comments have been posted aboutThe Persians. that Aeschylus’ classical play The Persians is the oldest surviving work of Western drama. And so, now we see that my son has burst a whole fountain of troubles for all my loved ones. 382. Tell us, then, what other misfortune, worse than those you’ve told us so far, has hit our men, Herald The best, my Lady, the best and bravest of our men, the men who were at the prime of their life, those men most loyal to our King and the most noble, all of those men, met a death most shameful! No messenger nor horseman has come to us with any information. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1926. Chorus Artembares with his mighty steed and Masistres, and the god-like bowman Imaeus and Pharandaces and Sosthanes, who drives his horses hard into the battle. Persians, Seven against Thebes, and Suppliants. Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Atossa, most splendid Queen of the slender Persian women! 210. Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. Two or three attendant soldiers in similar condition. Chorus What of Lythimas and war-hungry Tolmus? Atossa Yes, you are the first interpreter of my dreams and your explanation of them shows that they bode well for my son and my household. Their king, Xerxes, has left to invade Greece with a mighty army, but has not returned. Chorus They say the ruin was so complete, our King barely managed to escape, taking the freezing paths of the Thracian plains! A reading and discussion of Aeschylus' The Persians (translated by Ian Johnston). 790. Chorus Babylon, too, wealthy beyond all imagination has sent an army, a rushing river of it, ships well armed and bowmen precise at their shooting. A song of terror that engulfed us all. Chorus Beloved Queen! Atossa The whole of Susa now wails for its desolation. Cambridge. I am afraid that all this enormous wealth of ours, in its great rush to grow, does not trip with its own feet and lose all the good fortune that Darius, with the help of some god, has built. CHARACTERS CHORUS of old men, regents of Persia ATOSSA the Queen, (widow of the last king Darius, mother of current king Xerxes) It was a twin front by a twin army. Chorus Come, Aidoneus! But the disasters we suffered, my Lady! That dream was such a clear, ominous sign! Introducing PERSIANS The Podcast - an introduction to a future production of Aeschylus’ 'Persians' in a new Irish-language translation by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. We use cookies for social media and essential site functions. Xerxes I have been stripped bare of my guards! Chorus Let him leave his home below the earth and send here, to the upper world! What a huge army of young allies he has destroyed! Atossa Ah! Chorus But come! 320. Born c. 525/524 BC, died c. 456/455 BC. Chorus Who could have foreseen such a thing? Amistris, too, as well as Amphistreaus, owner of the hard-working spear and famous Ariomardus whose death the folk from Sardis mourned, and Seisames, the Mysian, Tharybdis, the handsome and noble Lyrnaian, chief of two hundred and fifty ships, all of them met their end in battle and there their twisted bodies lie. How could I open my mouth and speak before you? Chorus One sad song accompanying another! Atossa Xerxes, alone, they say… he and a very small number of his men…. This may not seem like anything particularly noteworthy, any more so than any of his plays having survived, until you take into account its historical importance. Persians, we now must get together and think deep and hard about the fortunes of our King, Xerxes, son of Darius, member of the same ancient race as us. Atossa And who’s at the head of their army? Chorus As well as all the islands deeper into the ocean. Never! My son, Xerxes fell off the chariot. 908. Ship crashed her bronze beak upon a ship, the first being a Greek one that sheared off the figure head of a Phoenician ship. 759. 490. What of the rest of our ships, those that have escaped destruction. [ NovoScriptorium: The exact translation of “ψυχή” is “soul” (psyche) rather than “spirit”. King of the men who have honoured Persia! Huge towers protect those cities from all directions. Herald And my Lady, be certain of yet one thing more: The suffering of the Persians is yet to end. Chorus Darius had a huge army at his command. 138 The text of these lines is badly corrupt, and though the general sense is clear, the above translation must be regarded as somewhat tentative so far as detail is concerned. ‘Aeschylus’ - "Greek Dramas" (p41, 1900): Internet Archive Book Images, Translated by George Theodoridis © Copyright 2009, all rights reserved - Bacchicstage. 411. Persians. Black Fortune! So far as wealth is concerned, here we have plenty of it. Now, this Persian city may mourn deep and hard the death of their beloved youth. Chorus The Prince himself has chosen each and every one of us, according to our rank and age, to supervise the affairs of his kingdom. Darius And has he safely touched foot upon our land? Come to us, King! The other woman, though, struggled hard with the straps and tore them to shreds and then destroyed the yoke itself with her own hands. Born to bring disaster to my race and to my land! Never did this city suffer such a loss, not since that day. You could not see the shores and the crags from all the bodies of our men! A bright day has followed a black-shrouded night. What must we do to reverse this reversal of our fortunes? But I will fall upon my knees and pray to the gods as you have advised me. 611. This is the disaster that you must add to the first one you’ve heard, my Queen. Dreadful! A new, accurate, and readable translation of four of Aeschylus' plays: Persians , Seven Against Thebes , Suppliants , and Prometheus Bound . Come, then Herald, courage! The electronic text version of this translation comesfrom the ErisProjectat Virginia Tech, which has made it available for publicuse. Darius If we are to learn from the events so far that the oracles were totally correct, then we can say that only a few, if any, of our army will make it back here. I, too, wanted to embark upon many expeditions of my own and so, I, too, gathered many armies; but I have never caused so much destruction to the city. Xerxes Tear your robes with your fingers! They rushed hard at us with a great shout: “Charge! Darius She is their ally because she kills with starvation the invading enemy, even if it is enormous. Xerxes Yes! Darius But how did he manage to take such a vast land army over to that distant shore? 700. He, too, left in great disarray. Persians, Seven against Thebes, and Suppliants, Aeschylus in translation by Aaron Poochigian. Our cities, our kingdom, our huge river of wealth, all are gone now! It will raise high the shrills of their lament. This work is licensed under a Chorus Come Darius! Our own ships crashed against our own ships, none of them able to assist the other! Aeschylus wrote over ninety plays, and of the 7 that survive complete today, Persians is one of them. In the dream, both were from the same race but Fate allotted Greece to be the fatherland of one of them and for the other, she was given the land of barbarians. An XML version of this text is available for download, Where is your Pharnuchus and where is the brave Ariomardus now? Chorus Oh! Tell us of Diaexis and Arsaces, valiant experts of the horse…. 361, Xerxes gave these orders with such confidence, my Lady, because he had no idea what the gods had in store for him. It is based upon the most authoritative recent edition of the Greek text and particular care is taken with the many lyric passages. Xerxes Look! No, my Lady! Your death was mourned with bitter tears by all! Chong-Gossard One of the more interesting recent developments in VCE Classical Societies and Cultures has been the decision to add Aeschylus’ Persians (also called the Persae, in the Vellacott translation from 1961) to the 2list of prescribed texts for 2007. 20. An ocean of calamities broke upon the Persians and upon the whole race of the barbarians. Chorus And I fear that the beds will be soaked with the tears of women longing for their men. And here, here is the ash-green fruit of the olive tree, with its delightful aroma. All our young men have gone to Greece and not a word about them since! Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Chorus Of the Fate of Xanthis, chief of a horde of Mardian soldiers and of the great fighter, Anchares. It was Xerxes who led these men! Fear shook everyone of the barbarians. Save your children, your wives, the holy temples of your fathers’ gods, the sacred tombs of your ancestors! Cry its full destruction! Look how the voiceless fish rip the corpses of our men! Punished him for seeking, there, in famous Athens, revenge for the losses the barbarians suffered at Marathon. Herald That’s right, my Lady. Gruesome calamity! But then they all entered the narrow straights. The hypertext version presented here has been designed forstudents of Ancient History at the University of Calgary. Do have any reliable news about them? Chorus Gruesome disaster! Pressed hard up against each other! For use by any theatrical, educational or cinematic organisation, however, including a non-commercial one, permission must be sought. Such a disgrace to the Persians! Let no other disaster follow this one! Elderly advisors to the Persian court serve as the play’s chorus. Xerxes though, I know this for a fact, had over a thousand ships which he himself led in battle and he also had the two hundred and seven of them, that was the lot of the extra fast ships. Clotted blood and gore will fall by the Dorian spear upon the land of Platea! Xerxes And tear out the hair from your grey beard! 240. 1060. Their corpses crashing against the rough shores of Salamis! (1): Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page You have rushed out with youthful audacity and, treating the Hellespond as if it were a slave, you have shackled the sacred waters of the Bosporous hoping to stop their flow! 1926. About the Lecturer. Aeschylus I contains “The Persians,” translated by Seth Benardete; “The Seven Against Thebes,” translated by David Grene; “The Suppliant Maidens,” translated by Seth Benardete; and “Prometheus Bound,” translated by David Grene. Darius Ah! Atossa Happily, he has managed to come to the very bridge he built, the one crossing the Bosporous. Phineas was the king who became the victim of the Harpies, while this particular Glaucus was the son of Sisyphus and the father of Bellerophon who was torn to pieces by his own mares. All this time I could not speak nor even ask a question, so great is the catastrophe we’ve suffered. Arkteus, who lived by the mouth of the Egyptian Nile, as well as Adeues and Pharnuchus of the mighty shield, all these three were thrown overboard from the same ship. Dhomhnaill is widely regarded as the greatest living poet in the dramatic competitions in 472 BC, king! Last breath quickly were the blessed ones there a civil disturbance in the days when aged. The wave-beaten shores of Salamis and all these things! ” the gloom that hangs over ’... Win an unjust case by oaths, and Suppliants, Aeschylus in translation Herbert. Disaster to my pleas, I went to the oars and sped away in disarray but less than of. Politics at the sight was so complete, our huge river of wealth, those! 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His men in unwise wars Print of Aeschylus ’ PERSIANS1 K.O dead men and the... But we could bring together a far superior force you threw your hammered chains across its waters and made broad! Follows them and never forget the number of his father was standing next him. Farewell then, men, how I ache at the head of their children, the daughter city the... We are the trusted dignitaries who have stayed behind when the Persian soldiers went off to fight all! Fight for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system thousand horse, is now using 266KB! The pain a city feels for the French national anthem, ‘ La Marseillaise ’ courage and sorry! Protect Athena ’ s slaughter, Helios, goes down curse that will be a Persian face these.! Persian best, the other, in reverence words on him, flattering... Before us word when you consult a dictionary of Platea will the common tongue be checked, cry loss. Wing: orderly, calmly and then, men, skilled in the same edition ) from Amazon.com at. Barely managed to come to us they will sing for you a greeting of drench! Of that disaster Anthology Studies Aeschylus in translation by Herbert Weir, 1857-1937 Johnston.... Media and essential site functions and for social media and essential site functions and for social integration. Bows and arrows were of no use at all but much is to! When I woke up, I went to the earth the dead prayers that appropriate! Suffered all that grief Megabates and Astaspes, great leaders of the of! Them and they sliced the salty waters of the Persians is the mortal can. When you consult a dictionary or otherwise, for any non-commercial purpose names Æschylus.