Messenger
Know, if mere count of ships could win the day,
The Persians had prevailed. The Greeks, in sooth,
Had but three hundred galleys at the most,
And other ten, select and separate.
But—I am witness—Xerxes held command
Of full a thousand keels, and, those apart,
Two hundred more, and seven, for speed renowned!—
So stands the reckoning, and who shall dare
To say we Persians had the lesser host?
Atossa
Nay, we were worsted by an unseen power
Who swayed the balance downward to our doom!
Messenger
In ward of heaven doth Pallas' city stand.
Atossa
How then? is Athens yet inviolate?
Messenger
While her men live, her bulwark standeth firm!
Atossa
Say, how began the struggle of the ships?
Who first joined issue? did the Greeks attack,
Or Xerxes, in his numbers confident?
