itSCHYLUS 183 



I complete the tale for thee. For be thou well 

 assured of this, that there never fell in a single day 

 a multitude of men of such number. . . . 



There is a certain island lying off the shores of 

 Salamis, small, a dangerous station for ships, 

 which Pan, who delights in the dance, haunts on 

 its beach. Thither Xerxes sends these men, in 

 order that, when the foemen, wandering out of their 

 ships, should make their escape to the island, they 

 might slay the soldiery of the Greeks, an easy 

 prey, and rescue their comrades from the streams 

 of the sea, ill knowing of the future ; for when 

 God gave the glory of the naval battle to the 

 Greeks, on that ver)' day having fortified their 

 bodies in the armour well wrought of brass, they 

 leaped out of their vessels and encompassed the 

 whole island around, so that they were at a loss 

 whither they should betake themselves ; for often 

 were they smitten by stones from their hands, and 

 arrows, falling on them from the bowstring, de- 

 stroyed them. And at last, having charged them 

 with one onslaught, they smite, they hew in pieces 

 the limbs of the wretches, until they had utterly 

 destroyed the life of all of them. And Xerxes 

 shrieked aloud, when he saw the depth of his 

 calamities ; for he had a seat that afforded a clear 

 prospect of the whole armament, a high hill near 



the ocean brine. 



^'Eschylus. 



