The Isles of Greece – Stanzas 4 and 5.

I could not do these 2 stanzas separately because they deal with the same event in history, The Battle of Salamis.

A king* sate on the rocky brow
Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis*;
And ships, by thousands, lay below,
And men in nations;—all were his!
He counted them at break of day—
And when the sun set where were they?

And where are they? and where art thou,
My country? On thy voiceless shore
The heroic lay is tuneless now—
The heroic bosom beats no more!
And must thy lyre, so long divine,
Degenerate into hands like mine?


*The King referred to by Byron was *King Xerxes who sat on the rocks and watched as the Greek Navy led by King Themistocles fought and won one of the most epic battles of Greece (see pic); *The Battle of Salamis, in which he overpowered and forced back the Persian fleet led by Xerses.

This was the 2nd time the Persians had declared war with Greece, The first one being the battle of Marathon in which King Darius, Xerxes’s father led the Persians.

The gap between the 2 was 20 years.

Xerxes raised an army of over 100,000 men (an astronomical figure in the ancient world). He kept his army close to the coast and supplied by sea. To ensure he kept his sea lanes opened, he had a fleet of over 1200 battleships outfitted for this adventure. The Persian fleet had to destroy the Greek Navy if they were to gain supremacy. This set the stage for the battle of Salamis.

The aftermath of Salamis left the Athenians the greatest naval power in the Mediterranean.

Xerxes comes down to Western History as the man who entered Greece with over 100,000 men and more than 1200 ships only to be stymied by the cunning and courage of the Greeks.

Thus:

“And ships, by thousands, lay below,
And men in nations;—all were his!
He counted them at break of day—
And when the sun set where were they?”

- Refers to the plight of Xerxes whose 1200 ships were overpowered and he was left with unbearable losses.

And so again the poet calls out to the Greeks reminding them of these heroes, urging Greece forward; and at the same time showing regret that if a small man such as he would be left the job of taking such culture, art, music, poetry and tradition as that of the Greeks and keeping it alive, it would be a shame, because no one could capture the essence of Greece and do justice to it, not even he; he would fail miserably. Here again, the panic, the sadness of the poet is very strongly visible as is his frustration and at not being able to do anything, except watch as Greece was torn apart piece by piece.