Alas! a huge wave of calamity
Has broken on our universal realm.

MESSENGER.

Thou art but half way through this tale of woe,
For a disaster on our army fell
Which twice outweighed all this that I have told.

ATOSSA.

Can fortune's spite what thou hast told surpass?
Go on, recount this new calamity
Which in thy estimation outweighs all.

MESSENGER.

The very flower of all our Persian host,
The trusted pillars of our monarchy,
Have met a piteous and a shameful end.

ATOSSA.

Ah! woe is me for this dire history.
Recount, then, how our noblest warriors fell.

MESSENGER.

An isle there is in face of Salamis,