In other news...

So I was reading Persians this afternoon (as one does). And between the meters (The first chorus in IONICS and I love ionics!) and trying to puzzle out what the heck was going on, it becomes easy to forget how weird Aeschylus is. That is to say, A.E. Houseman wasn't making it up at all. (You should really click that link, by the way).

Exhibit A: (Department of Redundancy, and this translation is actually a little close to the original word order)

κυάνεον δ᾽ ὄμμασι λεύσσων
φονίου δέργμα δράκοντος,

(a Blue-black [glance] with his eyes gazing,
a bloody snake's look)

Exhibit B: (Or: why I hate spatiality in classical poetry -- can you guess what this refers to?)

τὸν ἀμφίζευκτον ἐξαμείψας
ἀμφοτέρας ἅλιον
πρῶνα κοινὸν αἴας

(Crossing over the yoked-on-both-sides outcrop into the sea common to both lands)

Exhibit C:

πότερον τόξου ῥῦμα τὸ νικῶν,
ἢ δορικράνου
λόγχης ἰσχὺς κεκράτηκεν.

(Whether victory is {in} the drawing back of the bow, or whether the strong point of the spear-helmet will prevail.)