And what a number of cities he captured!—without crossing the stream of Halys or even stirring from his own hearth: such as the AcheloanIf Acheloan is used, as some report, only of fresh water, the poet may have in mind the pile-dwellings of the Paeonians on Lake Prasias (mentioned by Hdt. 5.16); if Acheloan includes also salt water, the reference may be to the islands off Thrace—Imbros, Thasos, and Samothrace.cities on the Strymonian sea which is located besidethe Thracian settlements.

ChorusAnd those outside the lake, the cities on the mainland, surrounded with a rampart, obeyed him as their king;those, too, that boast to be on both sides of the broad Hellespont and Propontis, deeply-recessed, and the outlet of Pontus.

ChorusThe sea-washed islands, also, off the projecting armof the sea, lying close to this land of ours, such as Lesbos, and olive-planted Samos, Chios and Paros, Naxos, Mykonos,and Andros which lies adjacent to Tenos.

ChorusAnd he held under his sway the sea-girt islands midway between the continents,Lemnos, and the settlement of Icarus, and Rhodes, and Cnidos, and the Cyprian cities Paphos, Soli, and Salamis,whose mother-city is now the cause of our lament.

ChorusAnd the rich and populous cities of the Hellenes in the Ionian heritagehe controlled by his own will; and at his command he had an unwearied strength of men-at-arms and of allies from every nation. But now,worsted completely in war through disasters on the sea, we endure this change of fortune no doubt from the hand of god.

Enter Xerxes in tattered robes, and attended by a scanty retinueXerxesAlas, wretched am I who have met this cruel doomwhich did not give the faintest sign of its coming! In what savage mood has Fortune trampled upon the Persian race? What misery is yet in store for me, unhappy wretch? The strength of my limbs is loosened as I look upon this aged group of citizens.Ah, Zeus,I wish that the doom of death had buried me, too, together with the men who have been laid low! ChorusAlas, my king, for our noble army, for the high honor of Persia’s rule,and for the splendor of the men now cut off by Fate! The land bewails her native youth, slaughtered for Xerxes, who has crowded Hades with Persian slain.Many warriors, masters of the bow, our country’s pride, a great multitude of men, have perished. Alas, alas, for our trusty defence! The land of Asia, the leading power of the earth,has piteously, yes piteously, been bowed to her knees.

XerxesBehold me, alas, a fitting subject for lamentation, born a source of ruin to my race and fatherland. ChorusAs a greeting for your return home I will lift up an ill-omened cry of woe, the voice, versed in lamentation, of a Mariandynian mourner,a wail attended by many a tear.

XerxesUtter a strain of lamentation, plaintive and discordant. For Fortune has now veered and turned against me. ChorusI will indeed utter the song of lamentationin commemoration of your sufferings and of our strongly-manned ships, buffeted by waves; the plaintive strain of our land which mourns its sons. And I will cry aloud in lamentation, shedding many a tear.

XerxesYes, for the Ionian naval force, turning the tide of battle, swept them away, the Ionian host, ravaging the dark sea and the shore of doom. ChorusWoe! woe! cry aloud, learn about the whole disaster. Where is the rest of the multitude of your comrades? Where are those who stood by your side, such as Pharandaces, Susas, Pelagon, Dotamas, andAgdabatas, Psammis, and Susiscanes of Agbatana?