All good things to make perfect; next, meet it is to pour
To earth and to the Manes, libations; but thy spouse,
Darius, whom thou sayest in dream to have beheld,
Entreat to send up blessings, for thee and for thy son,
From neath the earth to daylight, while inauspicious things,
Held under earth in durance, may fade away in gloom,
Thus we, with mind presageful, counsel with kind intent,
Trustful that from these omens the issue fair will prove.
Atossa.
Well thou, the first expounder of these my dreams, hast given
An explanation friendly toward my son and house.
May the good find fulfilment? The rites which to the gods
And to our buried dear ones thou biddest, we will pay
Soon as we gain the palace. Meanwhile, I fain would know
Where on the earth stands Athens,[1] as men report, my friends.
Chorus.
Far to the west, where waneth our sovereign lord, the sun.
- ↑ Herodotus relates that Darius, on hearing of the burning of Sardis, inquired who the Athenians were.
