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Zeus’s Council to Themistocles Before the Battle of Salamis (480 BC) by Ken Weene
When over Poseidon’s stormy seas you sail, raise your ensign high.
Confront the trident squall, defy the waves, command your heart be brave!
When battle batters, take aim at Ares with weapons as you dare.
Loose javelin and arrow; take heavy-hefted spear in hand.
May Elpis, daemon hope, guide your aim with care.
Raise billowed topsails. Defy tempests’ dark sulfuric fury!
When the beat of battle wearies, when war has waged too long,
gather your fallen comrades. Commend their souls to Hades;
may he grant them flower in Elysium. Send them with prayers
beyond the reach of Nemesis. Sing Nike’s honored songs.
Prepare to write that splendid story which will emboss Athena’s graceful pots
and fill the lyric voice of blind Homer, Apollo’s greatest bard.