THE PERSIANS Essay Example For Students

THE PERSIANS Essay A monologue from the play by Aeschylus NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from The Dramas of Aeschylus. Trans. Anna Swanwick. London: George Bell and Sons, 1907. ATOSSA: Ever have nightly visions manifoldBeset me, since, intent on ravagingIonias soil, my son led forth his power.But never saw I dream so manifestAs that of yesternight;Ill tell it thee;Methought two women came before my sight,Richly apparelled, this in Persian robesWas habited, and that in Dorian garb;In height above their sex pre-eminent,Faultless in beauty, sisters of one race.As Fatherland the one by lot had gainedHellas, the other the Barbaric land.Between these twain, for so methought I saw,Some feud arose, which learning, straight my sonStrove to appease and soothe; he to his carYoked them, and placed the collar on their necks.Proudly the one exulted in this gear,And kept her mouth submissive to the reins;Restive the other was; she with her handsThe chariot-harness rends, then, without bit,Whirls it along, snapping the yoke asunder.Prone falls my son, and close at hand his sire,Darius, pitying stands, whom when he sees,The robes about his person Xerxes rends.Such was, I sa y, my vision of the night.When I arose and with my hands had touchedFountain clear-flowing, I the altar nearedWith sacrificial hand, wishing to payTo the averting gods, to whom belongSuch rites, oblations; forthwith I beholdAn eagle fleeing straight to Phoebus hearth.Speechless I stood through terror, friends; anon,A kite I see borne forward on swift wing,Tearing with talons fierce the eagles head;Meanwhile the eagle nothing did but cower,His body tamely yielding to the foe.Dreadful these portents are to me who sawAnd you who hear: for well ye know, my son,If victor, were a man with glory crowned,Yet worsted, to the state gives no account,And saved, he none the less this realm will sway. We will write a custom essay on THE PERSIANS specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now