"DRAMATIS PERSONAE\n\nOdysseus\nChorus\nTrader (Spy)\nNeoptolemos\nPhiloktetes\nHerakles\n\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\n\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nThis is the shore of jagged Lemnos,\na land bound by waves, untrodden, lonely.\nHere I abandoned Poias's son,\nPhiloktetes of Melos, years ago.\nNeoptolemos, child of Lord Achilles,\nthe greatest by far of our Greek fighters,\nI had to cast him away here:\nour masters, the princes, commanded me to,\nfor disease had conquered him, and his foot\nwas eaten away by festering sores.\nWe had no recourse. At our holy feasts,\nwe could not reach for meat and wine.\nHe would not let us sleep;\nhe howled all night, wilder than a wolf.\nHe blanketed our camp with evil cries,\nmoaning, screaming.\n\nBut there is no time to talk of such things:\nno time for long speeches and explanations.\nHe might hear us coming\nand foil my scheme to take him back.\n\nYour orders are to serve me,\nto spy out the cave I found for him here---\na two-mouthed cave, exposed to the sun\nfor warmth in the cold months,\nadmitting cool breezes in summer's heat;\nto the left, nearby it, a sweet-running spring,\nif it is still sweet.\nIf he still lives in this cave or another place,\nthen I'll reveal more of my plan.\nListen: both of us have been charged with this.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nLord Odysseus, what you speak of is indeed nearby.\nThis is his place.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nWhere? Above or below us? I cannot tell.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAbove, and with no sound of footsteps or talking.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nGo and see if he's sleeping inside.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI see an empty dwelling. There is no one within.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nAnd none of the things that distinguish a house?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nA pallet of trampled leaves, as if for a bed.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nAnd what else? Is there nothing more inside the cave?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nA wooden mug, carelessly made,\nand a few sticks of kindling.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nSo this is the man's empty treasure-vault.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nLook here. Rags lie drying in the sun,\nfull of pieces of skin and pus from his sores.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nThen clearly he still lives here.\nHe can't be far off.\nWeakened as he is by long years of disease,\nhe can't stray far from home.\nHe is probably out scratching up a meal\nor an herb he knows will relieve his pain.\nSend a guard to keep close watch on this place\nso he doesn't take me by surprise--\nfor he'd rather have me than any other Greek.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThe path will be guarded.\nNow tell me the rest.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nSon of Achilles, we are here for a reason.\nYou must be like your father, and not in strength alone.\nIf any of this sounds strange to you,\nno matter. You must still serve those who are over you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat must I do?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nEntangle Philoktetes with clever words.\nIn order to trick him, say, when he asks you,\n\"I am Achilles's son\"--there's no lie in that--\nsay you're on your way back home,\nthat you have abandoned the Greeks and all their ships,\nyou hate them so.\nSpeaking to him piously, as though to the gods of Olympos,\ntell him they convinced you to leave your home,\nby swearing that you alone could storm Troy.\nAnd when you claimed your dead father's weapons,\nas is your birthright, say they scorned you,\ncalled you unworthy of them, and gave them to me,\nalthough you had been demanding them. Say whatever you want to\nagainst me. Say the worst that comes to mind.\nNone of it will insult me. If you do not match this task,\nyou will cast endless sorrow and suffering on the Greeks.\nIf we do not return with this poor man's bow,\nyou will not take the holy city of Troy.\nYou may wonder whether you can do this safely,\nand why he would trust you. I'll tell you why:\nyou have come here willingly, without having been forced,\nand you had nothing to do with what happened before.\nI cannot say the same.\nIf Philoktetes, bow in hand, should see me,\nI would be dead in an instant.\nSo would you, being in my company.\nWe must come up with a scheme.\nYou must learn to be cunning,\nand steal away his invincible bow.\n\nI know, son, that by nature you are unsuited\nto tell such lies and work such evil.\nBut the prize of victory is a sweet thing to have.\nGo through with it. The end justifies the means, they'll say.\nFor a few short, shameless hours, yield to me.\nFrom then on you'll be hailed as the most virtuous of men.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nSon of Laertes, what pains me to hear\npains me more to do. It is not my nature, as you say,\nto take what I want by tricks and schemes.\nMy father, as I hear it, was of the same mind.\nI will gladly fight Philoktetes, capture him,\nand make him our hostage, but not like this.\nHow can a one-legged man, alone, win against us?\nI know I was sent to carry out these orders.\nI do not want to make things hard for you.\nBut I far prefer failure, if it is honest,\nto victory earned by treachery.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nYou are the son of a great and noble man.\nWhen I was young, I held my tongue back\nand let my hand do my work.\nNow, as you're tested by life--as men live it--\nyou will see as I have that everywhere\nit is our words that win, and not our deeds.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat are your orders, apart from telling lies?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nI order you to capture him,\nto take him with trickery, however deceitful.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAnd why not by persuasion\nafter telling him the truth?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nPersuasion is impossible. So is force.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIs he so sure of his strength?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nYes, if he carries his unswerving arrows,\nblack death's escorts.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nEven to meet him, then, is unsafe.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nNot if you win him over by guile,\nas I have said.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAnd you do not find such lying disgusting?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nNot if a lie ends with our salvation.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nHow could one say such things\nand keep a straight face?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nWhat you do is for our gain.\nHe who hesitates is lost.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat good would it do me for him to come to Troy?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nOnly Philoktetes can conquer the city.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThen I will not take it after all,\nas I have been promised.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nNot without his arrows, nor they without you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThen I must have them, if what you say is true.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nYou will bring back two prizes, if only you'll act.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat are they? If I know,\nI will not refuse the deed.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nYou will be called wise because of your trick,\nand brave for the sack of Troy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThen let it be so. I will do what you order,\nputting aside my sense of shame.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nDo you remember all the counsel I have given?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nEvery word of it. I will follow it all.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nStay here at the cave and wait for him.\nI will leave so he doesn't know I have been here.\nI will take the guard and go back to the ship;\nif I think you're in trouble I will send him back,\ndisguised as a merchant sailor, a captain.\nWhatever story he tells you, use it to advantage.\nI am going now. The rest is up to you.\nMay our guides be Hermes, who instructs us in guile,\nand Athena, goddess of victory, goddess of our cities,\nwho aids me at all times.\n\n\nCHORUS\n\nI am a stranger in a foreign land.\nWhat shall I say to Philoktetes? What shall I hide?\nTell me. Knowledge that surpasses all others' knowledge\nand greatest wisdom falls to him who rules\nwith Zeus's divine scepter.\nTo you, child, this ancient strength has come,\nall the power of your ancestors. Tell me\nwhat must be done to serve you well.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nLook now, without any fear:\nhe sleeps on the seacliff,\nso take courage.\nWhen he awakes it will be terrible.\nMuster up your courage, and aid me then.\nFollow my lead. Help as you can.\n\nCHORUS\n\nAs you command, my lord Neoptolemos.\nMy duty to you is always first in my thoughts.\nMy eye is fixed on your best interests.\nNow show me the place that he inhabits,\nand where he sleeps.\nI should know this lest he take me in ambush.\nI am frightened and yet fascinated,\nas though by a snake or a scorpion's lair.\nWhere does he live? Where does he sleep?\nWhere does he walk?\nIs he inside or outside?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nLook. You will see a cave with two mouths.\nThat is his house.\nThat is his rocky sleeping-place.\n\nCHORUS\n\nWhere is he now, the unlucky man?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIt is clear to me that he claws his way\nto find food nearby.\nHe struggles now to bring down birds with his arrows,\nto fuel this wretched way of life.\nHe knows no balm to heal his wounds.\n\nCHORUS\n\nI pity him for all his woes,\nfor his distress, for his loneliness,\nwith no countryman at his side;\nhe is accursed, always alone,\nbrought down by bitter illness;\nhe wanders, distraught,\nthrown off balance by simple needs.\nHow can he withstand such ceaseless misfortune?\n\nO, the violent snares laid out by the gods!\nO, the unhappy human race,\nliving always on the edge,\nalways in excess.\nHe might have been a well-born man,\nsecond to none of the noble Greek houses.\nNow he has no part of the good life,\nand he lies alone, apart from others,\namong spotted deer and shaggy, wild goats.\nHis mind is fixed on pain and hunger.\nHe groans in anguish,\nand only a babbling echo answers,\npoured out from afar,\nin answer to his lamentations.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nNone of this amazes me.\nIt is the work of divine Fate,\nif I understand rightly.\nSavage Chryse set these sufferings on him,\nthe share of sufferings he must now endure.\nHis torments are not random.\nThe gods, surely, must heap them on him,\nso that he cannot bend the invincible bow\nuntil the right time comes, decreed by Zeus,\nand as it is promised, Troy is made to fall.\n\nCHORUS\n\nBe quiet, boy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat is it?\n\nCHORUS\n\nA clear groan---\nthe steadfast companion of one walking in pain.\nWhere is it?\nNow comes a noise:\na man writhes along his path,\nfrom afar comes the sigh of a burdened man---\nthe cry has carried.\n\nPay attention, boy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nTo what?\n\nCHORUS\n\nTo my second explanation. He is not so far away.\nHe is inside his cave. He is not walking abroad\nto his panpipe's doleful song,\nlike a shepherd wandering with his flocks.\nRather he has bumped his wounded leg and shouts\nas if to someone far away,\nas if to someone he has seen at the harbor.\nThe cry he makes is terrible.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou there, you strangers:\nwho are you who have landed from the sea\non an island without houses or fair harbor?\nFrom what country should I think you,\nand guess it correctly? You look Greek to me.\nYou wear Greek clothes, and I love to see them.\nI want to hear you speak my tongue.\nDo not shun me, amazed\nto face a man who has become so wild.\nPity one who is damned and alone,\nwasted away by his sufferings.\nSpeak. Speak, if you come as friends.\nAnswer me. It is unreasonable\nnot to answer each other's questions.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWe are Greeks. You wanted to know.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO, beloved tongue! I understand you!\nThat I should hear Greek words after so many years!\nWho are you, boy? Who sent you? What brought you?\nWhat urged you here? What lucky wind?\nAnswer. Let me know who you are.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nMy people are from wavebound Skyros, an island.\nI am sailing homeward.\nI am called Neoptolemos, Achilles's son.\nNow you know everything.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nSon of a man whom I once loved,\nson of my beloved country,\nnursed by ancient Lykomedes---\nwhat business brought you here?\nWhere is it that you sail from?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI sail from Troy.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWhat? You sail away from Troy?\nYou were not there with us at the start.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nDid you take part in that misery?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nThen you do not know who stands before you?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI have never seen you before. How could I know you?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou do not know my name?\nThe fame my woes have given me?\nThe men who brought me to my ruin?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYou see one who knows nothing of your story.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nThen I am truly damned. The gods must surely hate me\nfor not even a rumor to have come to Greece\nof how I live here.\nThe wicked men who abandoned me\nkeep their secret, then, and laugh,\nwhile the disease that dwells within me grows,\nand grows stronger.\nMy son, child of great Achilles,\nyou may yet have heard of me somehow:\nI am Philoktetes, Poias's son,\nthe master of Herakles's weapons.\nAgamemnon, Menelaos, and Odysseus\nmarooned me here, with no one to help me,\nas I wasted away with a savage disease,\nstruck down by a viper's hideous bite.\n\nAfter I was bitten, we put in here\non the way from Chryse to rejoin the fleet\nand they cast me ashore.\nAfter our rough passage, they were glad to see me\nfall asleep on the seacliffs, inside this cave.\nThen they went off, leaving with me\nrags and breadcrumbs, and few of each.\nMay the same soon befall them.\n\nThink of it, child: how I awoke\nto find them gone and myself left alone.\nThink of how I cried, how I cursed myself,\nwhen I knew my ship had gone off with them,\nand not a man was left to help me\novercome this illness.\nI could see nothing before me but grief and pain,\nand those in abundance.\n\nTime ran its course.\nI have had to make my own life,\nto be my own servant in this tiny cave.\nI seek out birds to fill my stomach,\nand shoot them down.\nAfter I let loose a tautly drawn bolt,\nI drag myself along on this stinking foot.\nWhen I had to drink the water that pours from this spring,\nin icy winter, I had to break up wood,\ncrippled as I am,\nand melt the ice alone.\nI dragged myself around and did it.\nAnd if the fire went out, I had to sit,\nand grind stone against stone\nuntil a spark sprang up to save my life.\nThis roof, if I have fire, at least gives me a home,\ngives me all that I need to stay alive\nexcept release from my anguish.\n\nCome, child, let me tell you of this island.\nNo one comes here willingly.\nThere is no anchorage here, nor any place\nto land, profit in trade, and be received.\nIntelligent people know not to come here,\nbut sometimes they do, against their will.\nIn the long time I have been here, it was bound to happen.\nWhen those people put in, they pitied me---\nor pretended to, at least---and gave me new clothes\nand a bit of food. But when I asked for a homeward passage,\nthey would never take me with them.\n\nIt is my tenth year of hunger and the ravaging illness\nthat I feed with my flesh.\nThe Atreids and Odysseus did this to me.\nMay the Olympian gods give them pain in return.\n\nCHORUS\n\nI am like those who came here before.\nI pity you, unlucky Philoktetes.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAnd I am a witness to your words.\nI know you speak truly, for I have known them,\nthe evil Atreids and violent Odysseus.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nDo you too have a claim\nagainst the all-destroying house of Atreus?\nHave they made you suffer? Is that why you are angry?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nMay the anger I carry be avenged by this hand,\nso that Mycenae and Sparta, too, may know\nthat mother Skyros bears brave men.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWell spoken, boy.\nWhat wrath have they incited in you?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nPhiloketetes, I will tell you everything,\nalthough it pains me to remember.\nWhen I came to Troy, they heaped dishonor on me,\nafter Achilles had met his death in battle....\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nTell me no more until I am sure I've heard rightly:\nis Achilles, son of Peleus, dead?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYes, dead, shot down by no living man,\nbut by a god, so I've been told.\nHe was laid low by Lord Apollo's arrows.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nThe two were noble, the killer and the killed.\nI am not sure what to do now---\nto hear out your story or mourn your father.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIt seems to me that your woes are enough\nwithout taking on the woes of others.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou speak rightly. Now tell me more,\nwhat they did---that is, how they insulted you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThey came for me in their mighty warships\nwith painted prows and streaming battle flags.\nOdysseus and my father's tutor were the ones.\nThey came with a story, true or a lie,\nthat the gods had decreed, since my father had died,\nthat I alone could storm Troy's walls.\nSo they said.\nYou can be sure that I lost no time\nin gathering my things and sailing with them,\nout of love for my father, whom I wanted to see\nbefore the earth swallowed him.\nI had never seen him alive.\nAnd I would be proved brave if I captured Troy.\n\nWe had a good wind. In two days we made bitter Sigeion.\nA mass of soldiers raised a cheer,\nsaying dead Achilles still walked among them.\nThey had not yet buried him.\nI wept for my father. And then I went\nto the Atreids, my father's supposed friends,\nas was fitting, and I asked for my father's weapons\nand his other things.\nThey said with feigned sorrow, \"Son of Achilles,\nyou may have the other things,\nbut not Achilles's weapons.\nThose now belong to Laertes's son.\"\nI leapt up then, crying in grief and anger,\nand said, \"You bastards, how dare you\ngive the things that are mine to other men\nwithout asking me first?\"\n\nThen Odysseus, who happened to be there, said, \"Listen, boy.\nWhat they did was right. After all, I was the one\nwho rescued them and your father's body.\"\nEnraged, I cursed him with all the curses I could think of,\nleaving nothing out, curses that would be set in motion\nif he were truly to rob me.\nOdysseus is not a quarrelsome man,\nbut what I said stung him. He replied,\n\"Boy, you're a newcomer. You have been at home,\nout of harm's way. You judge me too harshly.\nYou cannot keep a civil tongue.\nFor all that, you will not take his weapons home.\"\nYou see, I took abuse from both sides. I lost\nthe things that were mine, and I sailed home.\nOdysseus, the bastard son of bastards,\nrobbed me. But I blame him less than the generals.\nThey rule whole cities and a mighty army.\nBad men become so by watching bad teachers.\nI have told you all. May he who hates the Atreids\nbe as dear to the gods as he is to me.\n\nCHORUS\n\nO mountainous, all-nourishing Mother Earth,\nMother of Zeus, our lord, himself,\nyou who range the golden Paktolos,\nMother of pain and sorrow, I begged you,\nBlessed Mother, borne by bull-slaying lions,\non that day when the arrogant Atreids\ninsulted him, when they gave away his weapons\nto the son of Laertes.\nHail, goddess, the highest object of our awe.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou have sailed here, clearly, with a just cause of pain.\nYour share of grief almost matches mine. What you say\nharmonizes with what I know of them---\nthe evil doings of the Atreids and Odysseus.\nI know that Odysseus spins out lies\nwith his evil tongue, which he uses\nto create all manner of injustice;\nhe brings no good to pass, I know.\nStill, it amazes me to learn\nthat Ajax, seeing these things, should permit them.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nHe is dead now, friend. If he lived,\nthey would never have stolen the weapons from me.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nSo Ajax, too, is dead.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nDead. Think of it.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIt saddens me. But the son of Tydeus, and Odysseus,\nwhom Sisyphos, I have heard, sold to Laertes,\nthey who merited death are still alive.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYou are right, of course. They are flourishing.\nThey live in high glory among the Greeks.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nAnd my old friend, that honest man, Nestor of Pylos?\nDoes he still live?\nHe used to contain their evil with his wise counsel.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nNestor has fallen on evil times.\nHis son, Antilochos, who was with him, is dead.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO!\nYou have told me of two deaths that hurt me most.\nWhat can I hope for, now that Ajax and Antilochos\nare dead and in the ground, while Odysseus walks,\nwhile he should be the one who is dead?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThat one is a clever wrestler. Still,\neven the clever stumble.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nTell me, by the gods, how was it with Patroklos,\nyour father's most beloved friend?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nHe was dead, too. I will tell you in a word what happened:\nWar never takes a bad man on purpose,\nbut good men always.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou are right. Let me ask you, then, of one who is worthless,\nbut cunning and clever with the words he uses.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYou can mean only Odysseus.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNo, not him. I mean Thersites,\nwho was never content to speak just once,\nalthough no one allowed him to speak at all.\nIs he alive?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI do not know him, but I have heard that he lives.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nHe would be. No evil man has died.\nThe gods, it seems, must care for them well.\nIt pleases them to keep villains and traitors\nout of death's hands; but they always send\ngood men out of the living world.\nHow can I make sense of what goes on,\nwhen, praising the gods, I discover that they're evil?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nFor my part, Philoktetes, I will be more cautious.\nI'll keep watch on the Atreids\nand on Troy from afar.\nI will have no part of their company,\nwhere the worse is stronger than the better,\nwhere noble men die while cowards rule.\nI shall not acquiesce to the will of such men.\nRocky Skyros will do very well\nfor the future. I'll be content to stay at home.\n\nNow I'll go to my ship. Philoktetes,\nmay the gods keep you. Farewell, then,\nand may the gods lift this illness from you\nas you have long wished. Let us be off, men,\nto make ready for sailing\nwhen the gods permit it.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nAre you leaving already?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThe weather is clearing.\nOpportunity knocks but once, you know.\nWe must be provisioned and ready when it does.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI beg you by your father, by your dear mother,\nby all you have ever loved at home:\ndo not leave me here\nto live on in suffering, now that you have seen me,\nand heard what others have said about me.\nI am not important to you.\nThink of me anyway.\nI know that I will be a troublesome cargo for you,\nbut accept that.\nTo you and your noble kind, to be cruel\nis shameful; to be decent, honorable.\nIf you leave me, it will make for an awful story.\nBut if you take me, you'll have the best of men's praise,\nthat is, if I live to see Oeta's fields.\nCome. Your trouble will last scarcely a day.\nYou can manage that.\nTake me and stow me where you want,\nin the hold, on the prow, on the stern, anywhere\nthat I will least offend you.\nSwear by Zeus, lord of suppliants,\nboy, that you will take me.\nI am trying to kneel before you, a cripple,\nlame. Do not leave me in this lonely place,\nwhere no one passes by.\nTake me to your home,\nor to the harbor of Euboean Chalkis.\nIt is a short journey from there to Oeta,\nto the ridges of Trachis and smooth-flowing Spercheios.\nShow me there to my beloved father.\nI have long feared that he is dead,\nor else he would have come for me:\nI sent prayerful messages to him through travelers\nwho happened along here, begging him\nto come himself and take me home.\nHe is dead, then, or more likely\nthe messengers held me in little regard,\nas messengers do, and hurried along to their homes.\nIn you I have a guard and a herald.\nSave me. Have pity.\nLook how dangerously we mortals live,\nexperiencing good, experiencing evil.\nIf you are out of harm's way, expect horrible things,\nand when you live well, take extra care\nlest you be caught napping and be destroyed.\n\nCHORUS\n\nTake pity on him, lord.\nHe has told us of many horrible torments.\nMay such troubles fall on none of my friends.\nIf, lord, you hate the terrible Atreids,\nput their treatment of him to your advantage.\nI would carry him, as he has asked,\naway with you on your swift-running ship,\nfleeing the gods' cruel punishment.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nBe sure you are not too quick to plead,\nthat when you have had your fill of the company\nthat his illness will provide you,\nyou do not stand by your words.\n\nCHORUS\n\nNo. You will not be able to reproach me with that\nand still speak truly.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThen I would be ashamed\nto be less willing than you to serve this man.\nIf you are sure, let us sail quickly.\nMake the man hurry. I won't refuse him my ship.\nMay the gods keep us safe in leaving this land\nand give us safe passage where we wish to sail.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO blessed day and dearest of men,\nand you, friend sailors, how can I make it clear to you,\nhow closely you have bound me in your friendship.\nLet us go, my son. But first let us bow down\nand kiss the earth in gratitude,\nthe earth of my home that is no home.\nLook inside and you will see\nhow brave I must be by my very nature.\nTo endure even the sight of such a place\nwould have been too much for most men.\nBut I have had to learn to withstand its evils.\n\nCHORUS\n\nWait, and watch! Two men approach,\none of our crew and a stranger to me---\nlet us hear from them. Then you may go inside.\n\nTRADER\n\nSon of Achilles, I ordered this sailor,\nwho was guarding your ship with two other men,\nto tell me where you were.\nI came to this island not meaning to.\nAccident drove me to this place.\nI sail as captain of a cargo vessel\nfrom Ilium, to a place not far away---\nPeparethos, rich in grapes and wine.\nI learned that these men are your companions\nand decided to stay until I'd spoken with you\nand received my reward.\nPerhaps you do not know your own concerns,\nthe new things the Greeks have in store for you,\nno longer mere plans, but onrushing actions.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nA blessing on you for thinking of me.\nIf I do not grow evil, your concern will keep you my friend.\nTell me more of what you said:\nI want to know more of these new Greek tricks.\n\nTRADER\n\nPhoenix and Theseus's sons have sailed from Troy\nand are following you with an armed flotilla.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nDo they plan to take me with violence\nor persuade me to return with them?\n\nTRADER\n\nI do not know. I tell you only what I have heard.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAre Phoenix and his friends so eager\nto jump when the Atreids tell them to?\n\nTRADER\n\nThey have already jumped.\nThey're not wasting a second.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAnd Odysseus would not bring the message himself?\nDoes some fear now act upon his spirit?\n\nTRADER\n\nWhen I left, he and Tydeus's son\nwere off chasing down another man.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWho is the man they now pursue?\n\nTRADER\n\nHe is---wait. First tell me\nwho that man is, and tell me quietly.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThe man is great Philoktetes, friend.\n\nTRADER\n\nThen ask no more questions. Get out of here,\nand quickly. Run away from this place.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWhat is he saying to you, boy?\nWhy does he bargain in the shadows,\nhiding his words from me?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI'm not sure what he means by all this.\nBut he'll have to speak openly to all of us.\n\nTRADER\n\nSon of Achilles, do not upbraid me\nbefore your men. I do much for them\nand get much in return,\nas a poor man must.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI am the Atreids' enemy.\nHe also hates them and so is my greatest friend.\nYou have come in friendship,\nand you must speak openly.\nDo not hide what you have heard.\n\nTRADER\n\nThink of what you're doing, boy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI have been thinking.\n\nTRADER\n\nThen I will make this your responsibility.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nVery well. Now speak.\n\nTRADER\n\nThe two men you have heard of,\nTydeus's son and Odysseus,\nhunt for Philoktetes.\nThey are bound by oath to bring him back\nby persuasion or naked violence.\nAnd all the Greeks heard Odysseus swear to this,\nsince he loudly boasted of sure success.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat can they hope to win, those men,\nto turn their thoughts after so many years\nto Philoktetes, whom they made an outcast?\nDo they miss him now? Or have the gods\nbrought vengeance upon them, since they punish crime?\n\nTRADER\n\nI will tell you. You may not know this story.\nThere was a seer from a noble family,\none of Priam's sons, in fact, called Helenos.\nHe was captured one night on a reconnaissance\nby Odysseus himself, who bears all our curses\nas a badge of dishonor.\nOdysseus tricked him, and paraded him\nbefore the whole Greek army.\nHelenos then poured out a flood of prophesy,\nespecially about Troy, and how the Greeks\nwould never take it until they were able\nto persuade Philoktetes to come to their aid,\nafter he had been rescued from this place.\nThe minute Odysseus heard him say this,\nhe promised to fetch this man,\neither by persuasion or by force.\nIf he failed, he said, they could punish him.\nBoy, now you know\nwhy I've urged you and those whom you care for to leave.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nAh! He swore he would persuade me\nto sail off with him, the bastard?\nHe'd sooner persuade me to come back from the grave,\nwhen I am dead, to rise up,\nas his father did.\n\nTRADER\n\nI don't know that story. I must leave you now.\nMay the gods help you all.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIsn't it shameful, boy, that Odysseus\nthinks his words are wondrous enough to persuade me\nto let him cart me back to Troy, and parade me too\nbefore the whole Greek army?\nI would sooner trust my enemy, the viper that bit me\nand crippled me at Chryse.\nLet him try what he will, now that I know he's coming.\nLet us go now, boy, and hope\nthat a great seaswell will rise and crest\nand keep our ship from Odysseus's.\nTo be quick at the right occasion, you know,\nmakes for untroubled sleep when work is done.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhen the headwind dies down, we will sail.\nThe powers of the air work against us now.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWhenever you flee evil men, that is good sailing.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nTrue, but the wind is against them as well.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIn the minds of pirates, no wind is against them\nso long as they can steal and pillage.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nLet us go away, then. Fetch from your cave\nthe few things you most need or want.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI do need a few things. I don't have many to choose from.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThings that we do not have on board?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI have an herb to ease my pain,\nto put it to sleep.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nGet it, then. What else do you want?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nAny arrows I may have left lying around.\nI cannot leave any for another man to find.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIs that your famous bow?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYes. I have never set it aside.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nMay I hold it? May I cradle it in my hands?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nOnly you. Hold it,\nand take whatever is useful to you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI would love to hold it, if that is no violation,\nif it is lawful. If not, let it be.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou speak piously, child. It is lawful,\nfor you alone have granted me\nthe light of the sun that shines above us\nand the sight of Oeta, my beloved land,\nthe sight of my father, and of my dear friends.\nYou have taken me away from my enemies,\nwho stood above me. Courage, boy.\nHold this bow, then give it back to me,\nand proclaim to everyone that you alone could hold it,\na merit won by strength of character.\nThat is how I won it myself:\nfor an act of kindness long ago.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI am glad I found you and became your friend.\nOne who knows how to give and receive kindness\nis a friend worth more than any possession.\nGo inside.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nCome inside with me. My sickness desires\nto have you alongside as its helper.\n\nCHORUS\n\nI have heard the story, although I did not see it myself,\nof the one who stole up to Zeus's bed, where Hera slept;\nhow Zeus caught him and chained him to a whirring fiery wheel.\nBut I have seen or heard of no other man\nwhom destiny treated with such enmity\nas it did Philoktetes, who killed no one,\nnor robbed, but lived justly,\na fair man to all who treated him fairly,\nand who fell into evils he did not deserve.\nIt amazes me that he, alone,\nlistening to the rushing waves pounding on the shore,\ncould cling to life\nwhen life brought him pain, and so many tears.\n\nHe was crippled and had no one near him.\nHe was made to suffer, and no one could ease his burden,\nanswer his cries,\nmourn with him the savage, blood-poisoning illness\nthat was devouring him.\nHe had no neighbor to gather soft leaves\nto staunch the bleeding, hideous sore\nthat ran, suppurating, maggoty, on his foot.\nHe writhed and scrawled upon the hard ground,\ncrying like a motherless child,\nto wherever he might find relief\nwhen the spirit-killing illness attacked him.\n\nHe gathered no grain sown in holy earth,\nnor the food that living men enjoy,\nexcept when he shot his feathered arrows\nand filled his stomach with what he took.\nIn ten years, he has had no succoring wine;\nhe searched for puddles and drank from them instead.\nBut now fortune has come with victory for him. He has found\nthe son of a great man, who will himself be great,\nwhen this is over. Our lord will carry him over the seas,\nafter these ten years, to his father's home\nin the land of the nymphs of Malia,\nby the banks of sweet-running Spercheios,\nwhere Herakles the archer ascended to Olympos,\nbronze-armored, engulfed in holy fire,\nthere above the hills of Oeta.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nCome on, then, if you want to. Why do you stand there,\nseized by silence?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nAh! Ah! Ah!\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat is it?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNothing to fear. Come now, boy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nDoes your illness now bring you pain?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNo. I seem to be better now. O, gods!\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhy do you cry out to the gods in anguish?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI cry that they might come and soothe me.\nAh! Ah! Ah!\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat is it? Tell me! I can see you're in pain.\nDo not keep it from me.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI am destroyed, child. I am unable\nto hide this evil from you any longer.\nAaaah! Aaaah! It sears through my blood!\nI am destroyed! I am being devoured!\nAaaah! Aaaah! Aaaah!\nBy the gods, boy, if you have a sword,\ncut off my foot! Cut it off now! You cannot save me!\nDo it, boy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat is this terrible thing that attacks you,\nand makes you scream in such misery?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nDon't you know?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat is it?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nHow can you not know? Aaaah! Aaaah!\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIt is the terrible pain the disease sets upon you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nTerrible indeed, more than words can tell. Pity me.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat should I do?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nDo not be afraid. Do not leave me.\nThe disease comes and goes, perhaps when it has gorged itself\nin its other wanderings.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nPoor man. You have endured such miseries,\nand still you live on. Should I help you up?\nDo you want me to hold you?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nOf all things, do not touch me. Take my bow instead,\nas you asked a while ago, until my pain\ndiminishes. Keep the bow, keep it safe, my boy.\nSleep overtakes me when the spell has passed;\nuntil then I'll have pain.\nYou must let me sleep for a while.\nIf my enemies come while I lie sleeping,\nI beg you, by the gods, do not give up my bow,\nwillingly or unwillingly, by force or some trick.\nIf you do, boy, you'll be a murderer,\nyour own and mine, your suppliant.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nDo not worry. I will be on my guard.\nNo one but we will touch your bow.\nGive it to me now, and may the gods' fortune go with it.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nTake it, boy. Pray to the gods, lest they be jealous,\nand the bow become your sorrow, as it has been mine\nand its former master's.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nO gods, grant what he asks, and grant us also\na swift journey home on a sheltering wind,\nhome, where Zeus bids us to go.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYour prayer, I'm afraid, will be in vain.\nThe murderous blood is running now\nfrom its deep well. I expect a new attack.\nIt comes. Aaaah! Aaaah! It comes!\nO, foot, you do me evil!\nYou have the bow, boy. You know what is happening.\nDo not leave me! Aaaah! Aaaah!\nO, Odysseus, I wish it were you,\nI wish it were your spirit that these pains now gripped!\nAaaah!\nAgamemnon, Menelaus, I hope it is you,\nyour two bodies, generals,\nthat this savage pain holds for as many years.\n\nDeath, black death, how can I call on you again,\nand you not come to take me away?\nBoy, take my body and burn it away\non a Lemnian pyre, in the volcano's heart.\nI did this for a man, a child of Zeus,\nand won the weapons you now keep safe.\nWill you do it, boy? Why don't you speak?\nWhere are you, boy?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI grieve for you, sir. Your pain is mine.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNo, boy, be brave. The disease\ncomes quickly and leaves me with equal speed.\nI beg you, do not leave me here.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nDon't worry. We will stay here with you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou'll stay?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nSurely.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI find it unfitting to make you swear to it.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI cannot leave this place without you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nGive me your hand on that.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI give it to you, and with you it stays.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNow take me away.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat do you mean?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nUp there...\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat madness is now upon you?\nWhy do you look at the summit above us?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nLet me go!\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhere?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nLet me go.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI cannot allow it.\n\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nTouch me, and you kill me.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI am letting go. You are saner now.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO Earth, take my body from me now.\nThe illness no longer allows me to stand.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nSoon, I think, sleep will overcome him.\nHe nods his head.\nSweat drenches his body, and a black\nbitter flood of pus and blood has broken\nand runs from his foot.\nLet us leave him to sleep, friends.\nLet us leave him quietly.\n\nCHORUS\n\nSleep, stranger to pain and suffering,\ndescend upon us kindly now.\nCover his eyes with your radiance,\ncome down, Healer, come down.\n\nBoy, look now at where you stand,\nat where you are going, at what I hold for the future.\nDo you see him?\nHe sleeps. Why are we waiting?\nThe right moment decides everything\nand wins many sudden victories.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYes, he hears nothing. But we have needlessly hunted,\ncaptured nothing if we take the bow, and sail without him.\nThe crown of victory belongs to the one\nwhom Zeus commanded that we bring back.\nA boast that cannot be carried out\nis a lie. That boast is a shameful disgrace.\n\nCHORUS\n\nZeus will attend to such things, my boy.\nAnswer me now;\nwhisper softly.\nThe sleep of a sick man, aware of all things,\nsees all. It is a sleep that is no sleep.\n\nThink as far ahead as you can\nof how you might secretly do as I say.\nYou know of whom I am thinking now.\nIf your decision is the same as his,\nthen anyone with eyes can see trouble ahead.\nA fair wind is rising.\nThe man is blind and helpless now,\nstretched out in the darkness---\nhe is master not of hand, not of foot, not of anything.\nHe is one lying down in Hades's chambers.\nLook to see if the time is right\nfor what you intend:\nthe best work is that which causes no fear.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nQuiet, now! Have you lost your senses?\nThe man's eyes are opening. He raises his head.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nBlessed is the light that follows sleep,\nblessed is a friend's protection.\nThese things are beyond my wildest hopes,\nthat you would pity me and care for my sorrows,\nthat you would remain by me and endure my woes.\nThe Atreids, the noble generals, would not do this.\nThey would have no tolerance for my distress.\nYour nature is truly noble, for it comes from noble parents.\nYou took this burden easily, a burden heavy with howls\nand foul smells. Now I can put aside this illness.\nI can rest. Raise me up in your arms, my boy,\nput me on my feet, and let me gather my strength,\nso that we can go to your ship\nand sail off immediately.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI am glad to see you\nwith open eyes, unpained, alive.\nYour symptoms seemed those of a dead man,\nwhen taken with your sufferings.\nArise now. If you wish,\nthese men will lift you.\nThey will do all they can for you\nnow that you and I are shipmates.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nThank you. But lift me up yourself,\nas you once suggested. Do not trouble the men.\nLet the stench not disturb them so early on---\nmy being aboard will be bother enough.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nStand up, then. Hold on to me.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNo need. I am used to it.\nOnce I am up, I can manage.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIt is time.\nWhat must I do?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYour words stray off course. What is it, boy?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI do not know where to turn my powerless words.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nPowerless? Do not say such things.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nBut I am mired in powerless thoughts.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nDoes this come from nausea\nat the sight of my illness?\nDoes this push you not to take me?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nEverything is nauseating to one who casts off his nature\nto do things that are out of character.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIt would not have been out of character\nfor your father, the man who gave you your nature,\nto help a good man, both in word and in deed.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI will be shown to be evil.\nThe very thought of it frightens me.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nThe things you do now are not ignoble.\nThe words you speak, though, give me pause.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nZeus, what will I do? Will I twice be proven evil,\nhiding what I should not, saying the worst?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIf I am not a poor judge, it seems to me\nthat this man will abandon me, and sail away.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI will not abandon you. It's the trip you'll be making\nthat will be ample cause for grief.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI do not follow you. What are you saying?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI won't keep it from you any longer. You must sail to Troy,\nto the Achaeans, to the armies of the Atreids.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nAh! What are you saying?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nDo not groan until you learn.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWhat must I learn?\nWhat are you planning to do with me?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nFirst, to cure you of this misery. Then\nyou and I will destroy the Trojan nation.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIs this the truth? Is this what you wanted?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nA great need forces these things upon us.\nQuell your anger.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI am destroyed. I am betrayed.\nWhy, stranger, have you done these things?\nGive me back my bow.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI cannot. Duty and my own ambition\nforce me to obey those men who command me.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO fire, o utter terror, o terrible craftsman\nof all wickedness, the things you have done to me!\nHow you have betrayed me! Are you not ashamed\nto look down on me, who have kneeled to you,\nthe suppliant, you bitter ones?\n\nYou have taken away my life with my bow.\nReturn it. I beg you, boy, return it now.\nBy your ancestral gods, do not take my life.\n\nHe does not speak. He merely turns away,\nas though he will never give it back.\n\nCaves, promontories, hordes of wild beasts,\nrocky headlands, I speak to you now,\nfor there is no one else to whom I can speak.\nYou have always been at my side and heard me.\nHear what Achilles's son has done!\nHe promised to take me home. Instead\nhe will take me to Troy. He gave me his hand\nand then robbed me of my holy bow,\nHerakles's bow, the son of Zeus's,\nto hold it up to the Greeks and boast\nthat he had taken it from a strong opponent,\nthat he had taken it from his prisoner.\nHe is killing someone who is already dead,\na corpse, a smoky shadow, a ghost. Were I strong\nhe would not have won. Even so,\nhe had to trick me to get it away.\nI have been tricked, and I am destroyed.\nWhat is left for me to do?\n\nReturn my bow. Recall your nature. No?\nYou are silent, and I am nothing.\n\nDouble-doored rock, I come back to you\nunarmed, unable to capture my sustenance.\nWithin that cave I will wither, unable\nto bring down birds or beasts from the mountains\nwith my bow. Now I will be the food of those who fed me.\nThose I hunted once will hunt me now.\nI will repay with my life the lives I took\nbecause of the hypocrite I took into my trust,\na boy who seemed to know no evil.\n\nA curse upon you. No, not until I know\nif you'll change your mind.\nIf you will not, may you die in all misery.\n\nCHORUS\n\nWhat will we do now? Shall we sail away,\nor do what he asks us? It is in your hands.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nA terrible pity comes over me.\nI have felt it all along.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nBy the gods, do take pity.\nDo not put on the mantle of infamy\nfor having deceived me.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat will I do? I wish I had never left Skyros.\nI hate the things that are happening here.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou are not a bad man. By watching others\nwho are bad you have learned these terrible tricks.\nLeave evil to them. Let us sail away.\nReturn my weapons to me, boy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat will we do now?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nYou coward, what are you thinking of doing?\nAre you not going to give me the bow?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWho is that? Is that Odysseus's voice I hear?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nOdysseus's, yes. Now you can see me clearly.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI am truly betrayed, truly destroyed.\nIt is all becoming clear to me:\nIt was he who tricked me and robbed me of my weapons.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nNone other. I proclaim it to you now.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nGive me my bow. Give it to me now, boy.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nHe could not do that even if he wanted to.\nYou must come with the bow, too, or these men will take you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYour evil nature is beyond belief.\nWill they take me off against my will?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nIf you don't crawl along on your own, they will.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO land of Lemnos and the all-powerful fire,\ncreated by Hephaistos in the great volcano,\nmust I submit to this?\nMust I let him force me to go with them?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nZeus rules this island. Zeus has ordered this.\nI am his servant. I obey his commands.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO despicable man, the lies you spin! You call on the gods\nand you make the gods liars.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nThe gods speak truly. This course must be followed.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI say no.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nAnd I say yes. You must obey.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nClearly we are slaves, and not freeborn men.\nThis is what our fathers brought us up to be.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nNo, as equals of the noblest men, with whom\nyou must storm Troy's walls\nand demolish the city, as destiny proclaims.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNo, I'll do anything but that, Odysseus.\nI still have my seacliff.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nWhat did you have in mind?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nTo throw myself from the rocks above\nand break myself on the rocks below.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nTake him! Keep him from jumping!\n\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO hands, what you suffer for lack of a bowstring,\nthe prey of that man!\n\nYou whose thoughts are sick and slavelike,\nhow you have hunted me!\nHow you tricked me, how you stole up\nwith this boy as a shield, unknown to me.\nHe deserved a better master than you.\nHe is at a loss to do anything but what he's told,\nand he suffers now for his mischief\nand the things he has brought upon my head.\nYour evil, harmful soul has taught him\nto be a wily criminal,\nunwilling and unsuited though he was for that.\nNow you have bound me and plan to take me\noff from this place where you had cast me away,\nfriendless, homeless, a living corpse.\n\nI curse you. I have cursed you many times before,\nbut the gods have granted me nothing I want,\nand so you live happily, while I live in this pain,\nand you and the Atreids mock my anguish,\nthose two generals, for whom you perform this deed.\nYou were yoked to the cause by deceit and force,\nwhile I willingly went with my seven ships,\nwillingly to dishonor and my own destruction,\nto being cast away on this lonely shore.\nYou say they did it, and they blame you.\n\nWhy must you take me?\nI am nothing. For you, I've been dead for years.\nBlasphemous man, could it be I don't stink now;\nam I no longer a cripple? If I sail with you,\nhow can you offer burnt sacrifices?\nHow can you pour your libations to the gods?\nThat was your reason for abandoning me.\n\nMay a horrible death overtake you.\nIt will for your crimes against me, if the gods\nstill care for justice. I know they do,\nfor you would not have come for my sake alone;\nthe gods' urging must have brought you here.\nAncestral land and you gods who look on mortal crimes,\ntake vengeance on these men when the time is right,\ntake vengeance on them all, if you pity me.\nIf I could see them die, then I could also dream\nthat the sickness within me has fled my body.\n\nCHORUS\n\nHe is bitter, this stranger; his words are, too,\nfor they do not bend to suffering.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nThere is no time to say the things I should,\nand there are many things I could say to him.\nJust this: I am a man who responds to occasion\nand adapts himself to the situation.\nIn times of crisis among good and just men,\nI can be the noblest-minded of all.\nTo win is my overarching wish---\nexcept against you. For you I will stand aside.\n\nLet him go. We don't need him.\nLet him stay in this place. We have his bow.\nTeuker is with us, and he is skillful,\nand I can master those weapons too.\nI aim straight as well. Why would we need you?\nGoodbye. Goodbye to Lemnos.\nLet's go. Perhaps soon I'll win\nthe prize and fame that belong to you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nOh, what will I do? Will you stand before the Greeks\ncloaked in the glory of my weapons?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nDon't speak to me. We are leaving now.\n\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou have nothing to say to me, son of Achilles?\nWill you leave without a word?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nCome along now, boy. Don't look at him,\neven though your spirit prompts you to.\nThat may destroy the advantage we have won.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou sailors, will you leave me?\nDo you have no pity?\n\nCHORUS\n\nThe young lord is our master. His words are ours.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nOdysseus will chide me for pitying him.\nYou men stay here until the other sailors make ready\nand we have prayed to the gods of this place.\nPhiloktetes may think better of us.\nLet us go, Odysseus. You men, come quickly\nas soon as we call for you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nRock hollow, cave, sunny, icy,\nIt is true that I was not meant to leave you.\nYou will be a witness to my life and death.\nRock walls, filled with my cries of anguish,\nwhat will my daily ration be now?\nWhat hope have I of dealing with my fate,\nnow that the birds that fled from me above\nwill come down through the winds to destroy me?\nI have no strength left.\n\nCHORUS\n\nYou brought this on yourself, unbending man.\nYou could have found a way out\nwhen it was possible to make a sensible choice,\nbut you took the worse over the better fate.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nSorrow and sadness are mine. I am broken\nby suffering, and now I must live alone;\nI will live and die in this place.\nI cannot feed myself by my winged arrows\nor my strong hands. Unexpectedly,\nhis tricky words overtook my judgment.\nI wish the one who set this trap\nwere given pains to match my own.\n\nCHORUS\n\nThe gods' will brought you down, not guile,\nnot tricks in which I have had a hand.\nLet loose your hatred, set aside your curses.\nI have only the fear that you'll refuse my friendship.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nHe sits laughing on the shores of the wine-dark sea.\nHe holds in his hands the bow that sustained me,\nwhich no mortal but I had ever touched.\nBeloved bow, made by caring hands,\nthe prize of Herakles, who'll never use you again,\nif you could see, you would pity me.\nYou have a new master, a guileful man.\nHe will bend you now.\nYou will know treachery, know my hated enemy,\nand know countless evils rising from his deceit.\n\nCHORUS\n\nOne should take care to say what is just,\nand having said it, keep his tongue from ire.\nOdysseus follows the orders of many,\nand he has done this in obedience to his friends.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nO birds, o beasts that feed upon the hills,\nyou no longer need run away from my cave.\nI no longer have my killing weapons.\nCome down. The time is right for you to feed\non my ravaged, quivering body;\nI will soon die. How can I keep myself alive?\nWho can live on breezes and not earthly food?\n\nCHORUS\n\nBy the gods, if you still hold the gods in respect,\ncome to a stranger who approaches with good heart.\nThink closely of what you are doing.\nIt is up to you to flee your destruction.\nTo feed fate with your flesh is pitiful.\nYour body will never learn to endure the pains,\nthe ten thousand pains of the sickness possessing you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou pour salt on old wounds. Still, you are better\nthan any of those who came to me before.\nWhy have you also wounded me?\n\nCHORUS\n\nWhat do you mean?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou wanted to take me to hateful Troy.\n\nCHORUS\n\nI think that is best.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nThen leave me, and now.\n\nCHORUS\n\nThat is good news indeed.\nI'll willingly obey your command.\nLet us go, men, back to our stations.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNo, strangers, by the gods, stay here!\nI beg you!\n\nCHORUS\n\nBe still.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI beg you, stay with me.\n\nCHORUS\n\nWhy do you beseech us now?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI am destroyed.\nMy foot, what will I do with you\nfor what remains of my life?\nCome back to me, friends.\n\nCHORUS\n\nCome back to do what? Have you changed your mind?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIt is not just to be angry\nwhen a man driven mad by stormy anguish\nspeaks thoughtlessly.\n\nCHORUS\n\nCome with us, poor man, as we have asked.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNever. Not even if the lord of lightning\ndevours me in thunderous fire!\nLet Troy be ruined and all those before its walls\nwho cast me away here in my lameness!\nFriends, grant me one last request.\n\nCHORUS\n\nWhat is it?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIf you have a sword, or an axe, or a knife,\nthen bring it to me.\n\nCHORUS\n\nWhat will you do with it?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI will cut off my head, cut off my foot,\ncut myself apart with my own hand.\nMy mind wants nothing but death.\n\nCHORUS\n\nWhy?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI want to find my father.\n\nCHORUS\n\nWhere?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIn Hades. Surely he no longer stands in light.\nAncestral city, I wish I could see you,\nI who deserted your holy waters\nto help the Greeks, my enemies.\nI am nothing now.\n\nCHORUS\n\nI should have been back to the ship by now.\nHere comes Odysseus\nwith the son of Achilles.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nWhy are you returning so quickly, boy?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI hurry to undo the evil I have done.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nYou speak strangely. What evil is that?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI was wrong to obey you and the generals.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nWhat did we order you to do that was wrong?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI worked guile and deceit, and successfully.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nWhat more do you want now?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nNothing new. I have Philoktetes's bow.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nAnd what will you do with it? I am afraid to ask.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI am giving it back to its rightful owner.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nYou mean you'll return it?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYes. I got it by shameful tricks.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nDo you really mean it?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI am telling the truth.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nWhat are you saying, son of Achilles?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nMust we go over the same ground twice?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nI wish we had not gone over it the first time.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYou have heard everything now.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nSomeone will keep you from doing it.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWho?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nThe whole Greek army, and I among them.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYou are clever, Odysseus, but what you say is not.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nNeither your words nor your acts are clever.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nBut they are just. That is better.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nHow can it be just to give away\nwhat you have won with my counsel?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI have committed injustice and strayed off course.\nI must undo all that.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nAnd you have no fear of what the Greeks will do?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI am not afraid of any of you, since I act\nwith justice. You will not force me.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nThen we will fight not Troy, but you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nSo be it.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nDo you see my hand drawing out this sword?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYou'll see me do the same, and right away.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nI will leave you to it, then.\nI'll return to Troy and tell the Greeks,\nand they will come here to punish you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIt is a cautious thing you do. Remain as cautious,\nand perhaps you'll keep clear of future danger.\n\nPhiloktetes, son of Poias,\ncome out of your cave. I call on you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWhat do you want? Why do you call me?\nIt bodes ill. Some new trouble is at hand,\nsome new grief to heap on my miseries.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nBe calm. I simply ask that you listen.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI listened to you once, and you spoke well then.\nMy troubles came from sweet words, when I believed them.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIs it not possible, then, to apologize?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou spoke as smoothly as you do now when you stole my bow,\ntrustworthy on the surface, but treacherous below.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThat is not the case now. Are you resolved\nto stay here as before, or will you come with us?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nStop. Your words will be wasted on me.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAre you resolved?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nMore resolved than words can say.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI wish that I could make you change your mind.\nBut if my words are pointless, then I am finished.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYour words are useless. You will never win me\nwith words to your friendship. You have destroyed me\nwith deceitful talk, and then you come to make speeches,\nbastard son of a noble father. A curse on you,\non the Atreids and Odysseus, but especially on you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nCurse no more. Take your bow.\nI give it back to you now, Philoktetes.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIs this yet another of your tricks?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nNo. I swear it by almighty Zeus.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYour words are good, if they are true.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThey are. Reach out, and take the bow.\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nI forbid you, as the gods are my witnesses,\nin the name of the Atreids and all their armies.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nBoy, whose voice is that? Odysseus's?\n\nODYSSEUS\n\nNone other, and very near you now.\nI will bring you to wide Troy myself,\nagainst your will, whether or not the boy approves.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou will suffer for your words\nif this arrow flies true.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nDon't shoot, by the gods!\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nLet go of my hand now, boy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nNo. I will not let go.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWhy do you keep me from killing my enemy?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIt would not be a brave act for you or me.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nThe lords of the army, the false heralds of the Greeks,\nare cowards in battle, however brave their words.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nThat may well be. You have your bow.\nYou have no further cause to be angry with me.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNo. You have shown your true, nobly bred nature.\nYou are the son of Achilles, not Sisyphos.\nYour father, when he lived, was the most famous man of all,\nand now he is most the famous of the dead.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIt pleases me to hear you speak kindly of my father,\nand of me. Now listen to what I want from you.\nThe gods' will is given to us mortals, and we\nmust bear that will of necessity.\nAnd those who choose to clutch their miseries\nand not release them deserve no pity.\nYou have become a savage through your anger;\nyou refuse good advice and hate him who offers it,\nas though he were your enemy.\n\nI will speak freely. May Zeus, god of vows, be my witness.\nListen to me; let my words be engraved in your mind:\nyou are diseased, and your pain has been sent by the gods\nbecause you came close to the guardian of Chryse,\nthe viper who silently watches over\nher roofless temple to keep invaders out.\nYour pain will have no relief in this place,\nwhere this sun rises, and this sun sets:\nyou must first go willingly with us to Troy\nand there be taken by the Asklepiades,\nwho will relieve your disease. And then, beside me,\nyou must take your bow and conquer Troy.\n\nI know that it must be this way.\nA Trojan man was taken prisoner. His name\nis Helenos, and he is a trustworthy prophet.\nHe told us of how this year it would pass,\nhow it was fated that Troy would fall to the Greeks.\nIf he was wrong, he said, then we should kill him.\nYou know it all now. Yield, and obey.\nYou will get much more than you asked for:\nyou will be healed by knowing hands, and then\nyou will gain the greatest glory of our people,\nbecoming the most famous of us all, conquering\nTroy, the city that has drained us of blood and tears.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nHateful life, why should I still live and see?\nWhy have I not descended into darkness?\nWhat will I do? How can I mistrust\nthe one who gives me this kindly advice?\nMust I give in? If I do, how shall I go\ninto the light? An outcast, mistreated,\nto whom should I talk?\nMy eyes, can you bear to see me\nliving alongside those who tried to kill me,\nthe Atreids and that bastard Odysseus?\nI worry not about the evils they have done,\nbut the evils they will do as these things unfold.\nOnce men have learned to hatch evil crimes,\nthey cannot help but be criminals again.\n\nI wonder, and I keep on wondering.\nYou should not be going off to Troy,\nand you should keep me from going there.\nThose men have wronged you, robbed you\nof your father's weapons. Will you still help them,\nand make me do the same?\nNo. Take me home as you have promised,\nand then stay in Skyros.\nLet these men die badly, as they deserve.\nYour father and I will be grateful to you,\nfor by helping the wicked\nyou become like them.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYour words have merit. Still, you must trust\nthe gods, and my word, and come as my friend.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nCome to the bitter plains of Troy,\nto the accursed Atreids with my foot like this?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nNo, not to enemies, but to those who can help,\nwho can save you and your foot from this savage disease.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nWhat you urge is terrible.\nCan I believe what you tell me?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIt will be to our mutual benefit.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nAre you not ashamed to talk so, in full sight of the gods?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhy should I feel shame to do acts of good?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nActs of good for me, or the Atreids?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nI am your friend. My words are of friendship.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nHow will you betray me to my enemies?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nYou must learn to extract yourself from this anguish.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYour words are clear. You intend to destroy me.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nNo. You have not understood.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nIs it not true that the Atreids marooned me here?\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nOnce they marooned you. Let us see if they'll save you.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nNot if salvation means going to Troy.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat will we do, then, since I cannot convince you?\nIt is better, it seems, that I stop talking,\nand you go on living without hope of a cure.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nLet me suffer the things I must.\nBut what you promised, touching my hand,\nyou must do. Take me home without delay.\nForget Troy.\nI am tired of lamenting here.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAll right. Let us sail.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nYou speak nobly.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nPlant your feet firmly, and arise.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI will do so, as firmly as I am able.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nHow will I avoid the scorn of the Greeks?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nPay it no mind.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nAnd what if they come in war against my country?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI will be with you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat kind of help could you give me?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nThe help of Herakles's bow.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nWhat do you mean?\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nI will drive them out of your fatherland.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nIf you will do this, then come\nand kiss this ground, and we will go.\n\nHERAKLES\n\nNot yet. Not until you have heard me, Philoktetes.\nKnow that I am the voice of Herakles;\nyou hear it with your ears and you see my body.\nI have come from the dead to give you my help.\nI come to reveal Zeus's plans to you, and to stop\nthe journey which you now intend.\nListen to me.\n\nLet me tell you first of my own fate,\ntell you of the hardships and sufferings that were mine,\nand of the undying fame that I later won.\nI gained immortality, as you can see. So will you,\nafter all this misery you will have endless glory.\nGo with this child to the plains of Troy.\n\nThere you will have a cure for your disease,\nand win fame as the best of the Greek warriors.\nYou will kill Paris Alexander, who started it all;\nyou will kill him with your bow, once mine.\nYou will conquer Troy.\nYou will win the prize of glory from the armies\nand spoils of war that you will take home\nto Poias your father, and Oeta your country.\nTake some of those spoils and make an offering\non a pyre in commemoration of my bow.\n\nSon of Achilles, hear me too.\nYou alone are not strong enough to conquer Troy,\nnot without this man, nor he without you.\nYou must act like two lions in a pride,\nguarding each other as you hunt.\nI will send Asklepios to Troy to heal his disease.\nTroy will fall twice before my bow.\nRemember this, though: when you go to sack Troy,\nstay holy. Zeus puts everything else below that.\nPiety does not die with men;\nwhether they live or die, piety remains.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nVoice that moves me, long-gone body,\nI will not disobey you.\n\nNEOPTOLEMOS\n\nNor will I.\n\nHERAKLES\n\nDo not delay, then.\nThe time is right, and the tides are calling.\n\nPHILOKTETES\n\nHear me, hated Lemnos.\nFarewell, cave that shared my watch,\nnymphs of the water-meadows, farewell,\nthundering beat of waves on the headland,\nthat wetted my head with spray on the cliffs,\nand the volcano that groaned in echo to my voice\nwhen I was tossed by storms.\nSprings and the well of Lykeios, I leave you.\nI had lost all hope of doing so.\nFarewell, Lemnos, bound by waves,\ngive me no further cause to mourn, but send me\noff on fair seas to win my glory\nwhere fate now carries me, to the judgment of friends\nand the all-governing spirit that rules these events.\n\nCHORUS\n\nLet us all go now,\nafter we have prayed to the nymphs of the sea\nto grant us safe passage over the waters."