Invoking the sacred fire...

Scene 6The Reckoning
The Return of Xerxes
The king who commanded millions comes home alone, in torn robes, holding an almost-empty quiver. In the kommos — the great antiphonal lament that closes the play — Xerxes and the elders call the roll of the dead, name by name, and answer each other shriek for shriek as the broken king is led weeping into his palace.