How the utter destruction of our host distresses me! O vivid vision of my dreams at night, how clearly did you signify misfortune to me! And all too lightly did you in turn interpret it. However, since your explanation determined thus, first of all I wish to offer prayers to the gods, and then I will return after I have brought from the palace a sacrificial cake as a gift to Earth and the dead. I know indeed that it is for what cannot be undone, yet I do this in the hope that something more auspicious may come to pass in the future. But you should confer faithfully with the faithful counsellors in view of what has befallen. And as for my son, if he should come here before I return, comfort him and escort him to the palace, so that he will not inflict on himself some further ill to crown those already ours. Exit 
 
 Chorus O sovereign Zeus, by destroying the army of the haughty and multitudinous Persians, you have shrouded in the gloom of grief the city of Susa and of Agbatana ! Many a woman, who has a share in this sorrow, tears her veil with tender hands and moistens with drenching tears the robe covering her bosom. And the Persian wives, indulging in soft wailing through longing to behold their lords and abandoning the daintily wrought coverlets of their couches, the delight of their youth, mourn with complainings that know no end. So I too sustain the truly woeful fate of those who are gone.
 Chorus For now in truth the whole land of Asia , decimated, moans: Xerxes led forth (woe!), Xerxes laid low (woe!), Xerxes disposed all things imprudently with his sea-going vessels. Why then was Darius in his time so unscathed by disaster, he who was ruler of archers, to the men of Susa a beloved leader?
 Chorus For infantry and seamen both, the ships, dark-eyed The great eye that was often painted on each bow made a Greek ship seem a thing of life. Cp. Aesch. Supp. 716 . and linen-winged, led forth (woe!), the ships laid them low (woe!), the ships, under the deadly impact of the foe and by the hands of Ionians. The King himself, as we learn, has barely made his escape over the wintry paths which traverse the plains of Thrace .
 Chorus And they who were first to meet their doom (alas!), left behind by dire necessity (alas!), are swept along the Cychrean strand (woe!). Groan and gnash your teeth; in grievous strain shout forth our woes till they reach the heavens (alas!), raise high your wailing clamor in cries of misery.
 Chorus Lacerated by the swirling waters (alas!) they are gnawed (alas!) by the voiceless children of the undefiled sea (alas!). The home, bereaved of his presence, laments its head; and parents, bereft of their children, in their old age bewail their heaven- sent woes (alas!), now that they learn the full measure of their afflictions.
 Chorus Not now for long will those who dwell throughout the length and breadth of Asia 
 abide under the sway of the Persians, nor will they pay further tribute at the compulsion of their lord, nor will they prostrate themselves to the earth and do him reverence; for the royal power has perished utterly.
 No longer will men keep a curb upon their tongues; for the people are set free to utter their thoughts at will, now that the yoke of power has been broken. The blood-stained soil of Ajax’ sea-washed isle holds all that once was Persia .
 Enter Atossa Atossa My friends, whoever has experience of misery knows that when a sea of troubles comes upon mortal men, they view all things with alarm; but when fortune flows with prosperous tide, they believe that this same fortune will forever bring them success. Now in my case everything seems full of dread; before my eyes appears the enmity of the gods, and in my ears there rings a sound that has no note of joy; such is my consternation at the evil tidings which terrify my soul.
 It is for this reason that I have come here from the palace once again, without my chariot and my former pomp, and bring, as propitiatory libations for the father of my son, offerings that soothe the dead, both white milk, pleasant to drink, from an unblemished cow, and bright honey, distillation wrought from blossoms by the bee, together with lustral water from a virgin spring; and from a rustic source, this unmixed draught, the quickening juice of an ancient vine. Here too is the fragrant fruit of the pale-green olive that lives the entirety of its life in luxuriant foliage; and garlanded flowers, produce of the bounteous earth.
 But come, my friends, chant solemn songs as I make these libations to the dead, and summon forth the divine spirit of Darius, while I convey, in honor of the gods, these offerings for the earth to drink.