Stasimon 5
[Choral 1]
Oh yes, it was in truth a glorious and good life under civil government that we enjoyed so long as our aged
Chorus
and all-powerful king, who did no wrong and did not favor war, god-like Darius, ruled the realm.
855
In the first place we showed to the world armies worthy of our fame, and civil institutions, like towers in strength,
regulated all the state; and our return from war brought back our men, unworn and unsuffering, to happy homes.
860
[Choral 2]
And what a number of cities he captured!—
Chorus
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 beside
865
the Thracian settlements.
870
And 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.
875
[Choral 3]
The sea-washed islands, also, off the projecting arm
Chorus
of the sea, lying close to this land of ours, such as Lesbos, and olive-planted Samos, Chios and Paros, Naxos, Mykonos,
880
and Andros which lies adjacent to Tenos.
885
And 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,
890
whose mother-city is now the cause of our lament.
895
[Choral]
And the rich and populous cities of the Hellenes in the Ionian heritage
Chorus
he 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,
900
worsted completely in war through disasters on the sea, we endure this change of fortune no doubt from the hand of god.
905