Sophocles: Philoktetes Read online

The very thought of it frightens me.

  PHILOKTETES

  The things you do now are not ignoble.

  The words you speak, though, give me pause.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  Zeus, what will I do? Will I twice be proven evil,

  hiding what I should not, saying the worst?

  PHILOKTETES

  If I am not a poor judge, it seems to me

  that this man will abandon me, and sail away.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I will not abandon you. It's the trip you'll be making

  that will be ample cause for grief.

  PHILOKTETES

  I do not follow you. What are you saying?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I won't keep it from you any longer. You must sail to Troy,

  to the Achaeans, to the armies of the Atreids.

  PHILOKTETES

  Ah! What are you saying?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  Do not groan until you learn.

  PHILOKTETES

  What must I learn?

  What are you planning to do with me?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  First, to cure you of this misery. Then

  you and I will destroy the Trojan nation.

  PHILOKTETES

  Is this the truth? Is this what you wanted?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  A great need forces these things upon us.

  Quell your anger.

  PHILOKTETES

  I am destroyed. I am betrayed.

  Why, stranger, have you done these things?

  Give me back my bow.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I cannot. Duty and my own ambition

  force me to obey those men who command me.

  PHILOKTETES

  O fire, o utter terror, o terrible craftsman

  of all wickedness, the things you have done to me!

  How you have betrayed me! Are you not ashamed

  to look down on me, who have kneeled to you,

  the suppliant, you bitter ones?

  You have taken away my life with my bow.

  Return it. I beg you, boy, return it now.

  By your ancestral gods, do not take my life.

  He does not speak. He merely turns away,

  as though he will never give it back.

  Caves, promontories, hordes of wild beasts,

  rocky headlands, I speak to you now,

  for there is no one else to whom I can speak.

  You have always been at my side and heard me.

  Hear what Achilles's son has done!

  He promised to take me home. Instead

  he will take me to Troy. He gave me his hand

  and then robbed me of my holy bow,

  Herakles's bow, the son of Zeus's,

  to hold it up to the Greeks and boast

  that he had taken it from a strong opponent,

  that he had taken it from his prisoner.

  He is killing someone who is already dead,

  a corpse, a smoky shadow, a ghost. Were I strong

  he would not have won. Even so,

  he had to trick me to get it away.

  I have been tricked, and I am destroyed.

  What is left for me to do?

  Return my bow. Recall your nature. No?

  You are silent, and I am nothing.

  Double-doored rock, I come back to you

  unarmed, unable to capture my sustenance.

  Within that cave I will wither, unable

  to bring down birds or beasts from the mountains

  with my bow. Now I will be the food of those who fed me.

  Those I hunted once will hunt me now.

  I will repay with my life the lives I took

  because of the hypocrite I took into my trust,

  a boy who seemed to know no evil.

  A curse upon you. No, not until I know

  if you'll change your mind.

  If you will not, may you die in all misery.

  CHORUS

  What will we do now? Shall we sail away,

  or do what he asks us? It is in your hands.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  A terrible pity comes over me.

  I have felt it all along.

  PHILOKTETES

  By the gods, do take pity.

  Do not put on the mantle of infamy

  for having deceived me.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  What will I do? I wish I had never left Skyros.

  I hate the things that are happening here.

  PHILOKTETES

  You are not a bad man. By watching others

  who are bad you have learned these terrible tricks.

  Leave evil to them. Let us sail away.

  Return my weapons to me, boy.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  What will we do now?

  ODYSSEUS

  You coward, what are you thinking of doing?

  Are you not going to give me the bow?

  PHILOKTETES

  Who is that? Is that Odysseus's voice I hear?

  ODYSSEUS

  Odysseus's, yes. Now you can see me clearly.

  PHILOKTETES

  I am truly betrayed, truly destroyed.

  It is all becoming clear to me:

  It was he who tricked me and robbed me of my weapons.

  ODYSSEUS

  None other. I proclaim it to you now.

  PHILOKTETES

  Give me my bow. Give it to me now, boy.

  ODYSSEUS

  He could not do that even if he wanted to.

  You must come with the bow, too, or these men will take you.

  PHILOKTETES

  Your evil nature is beyond belief.

  Will they take me off against my will?

  ODYSSEUS

  If you don't crawl along on your own, they will.

  PHILOKTETES

  O land of Lemnos and the all-powerful fire,

  created by Hephaistos in the great volcano,

  must I submit to this?

  Must I let him force me to go with them?

  ODYSSEUS

  Zeus rules this island. Zeus has ordered this.

  I am his servant. I obey his commands.

  PHILOKTETES

  O despicable man, the lies you spin! You call on the gods

  and you make the gods liars.

  ODYSSEUS

  The gods speak truly. This course must be followed.

  PHILOKTETES

  I say no.

  ODYSSEUS

  And I say yes. You must obey.

  PHILOKTETES

  Clearly we are slaves, and not freeborn men.

  This is what our fathers brought us up to be.

  ODYSSEUS

  No, as equals of the noblest men, with whom

  you must storm Troy's walls

  and demolish the city, as destiny proclaims.

  PHILOKTETES

  No, I'll do anything but that, Odysseus.

  I still have my seacliff.

  ODYSSEUS

  What did you have in mind?

  PHILOKTETES

  To throw myself from the rocks above

  and break myself on the rocks below.

  ODYSSEUS

  Take him! Keep him from jumping!

  PHILOKTETES

  O hands, what you suffer for lack of a bowstring,

  the prey of that man!

  You whose thoughts are sick and slavelike,

  how you have hunted me!

  How you tricked me, how you stole up

  with this boy as a shield, unknown to me.

  He deserved a better master than you.

  He is at a loss to do anything but what he's told,

  and he suffers now for his mischief

  and the things he has brought upon my head.

  Your evil, harmful soul has taught him

  to be a wily criminal,

  unwilling and unsuited though he was for that.

  Now you have bound me and plan to take me

&n
bsp; off from this place where you had cast me away,

  friendless, homeless, a living corpse.

  I curse you. I have cursed you many times before,

  but the gods have granted me nothing I want,

  and so you live happily, while I live in this pain,

  and you and the Atreids mock my anguish,

  those two generals, for whom you perform this deed.

  You were yoked to the cause by deceit and force,

  while I willingly went with my seven ships,

  willingly to dishonor and my own destruction,

  to being cast away on this lonely shore.

  You say they did it, and they blame you.

  Why must you take me?

  I am nothing. For you, I've been dead for years.

  Blasphemous man, could it be I don't stink now;

  am I no longer a cripple? If I sail with you,

  how can you offer burnt sacrifices?

  How can you pour your libations to the gods?

  That was your reason for abandoning me.

  May a horrible death overtake you.

  It will for your crimes against me, if the gods

  still care for justice. I know they do,

  for you would not have come for my sake alone;

  the gods' urging must have brought you here.

  Ancestral land and you gods who look on mortal crimes,

  take vengeance on these men when the time is right,

  take vengeance on them all, if you pity me.

  If I could see them die, then I could also dream

  that the sickness within me has fled my body.

  CHORUS

  He is bitter, this stranger; his words are, too,

  for they do not bend to suffering.

  ODYSSEUS

  There is no time to say the things I should,

  and there are many things I could say to him.

  Just this: I am a man who responds to occasion

  and adapts himself to the situation.

  In times of crisis among good and just men,

  I can be the noblest-minded of all.

  To win is my overarching wish---

  except against you. For you I will stand aside.

  Let him go. We don't need him.

  Let him stay in this place. We have his bow.

  Teuker is with us, and he is skillful,

  and I can master those weapons too.

  I aim straight as well. Why would we need you?

  Goodbye. Goodbye to Lemnos.

  Let's go. Perhaps soon I'll win

  the prize and fame that belong to you.

  PHILOKTETES

  Oh, what will I do? Will you stand before the Greeks

  cloaked in the glory of my weapons?

  ODYSSEUS

  Don't speak to me. We are leaving now.

  PHILOKTETES

  You have nothing to say to me, son of Achilles?

  Will you leave without a word?

  ODYSSEUS

  Come along now, boy. Don't look at him,

  even though your spirit prompts you to.

  That may destroy the advantage we have won.

  PHILOKTETES

  You sailors, will you leave me?

  Do you have no pity?

  CHORUS

  The young lord is our master. His words are ours.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  Odysseus will chide me for pitying him.

  You men stay here until the other sailors make ready

  and we have prayed to the gods of this place.

  Philoktetes may think better of us.

  Let us go, Odysseus. You men, come quickly

  as soon as we call for you.

  PHILOKTETES

  Rock hollow, cave, sunny, icy,

  It is true that I was not meant to leave you.

  You will be a witness to my life and death.

  Rock walls, filled with my cries of anguish,

  what will my daily ration be now?

  What hope have I of dealing with my fate,

  now that the birds that fled from me above

  will come down through the winds to destroy me?

  I have no strength left.

  CHORUS

  You brought this on yourself, unbending man.

  You could have found a way out

  when it was possible to make a sensible choice,

  but you took the worse over the better fate.

  PHILOKTETES

  Sorrow and sadness are mine. I am broken

  by suffering, and now I must live alone;

  I will live and die in this place.

  I cannot feed myself by my winged arrows

  or my strong hands. Unexpectedly,

  his tricky words overtook my judgment.

  I wish the one who set this trap

  were given pains to match my own.

  CHORUS

  The gods' will brought you down, not guile,

  not tricks in which I have had a hand.

  Let loose your hatred, set aside your curses.

  I have only the fear that you'll refuse my friendship.

  PHILOKTETES

  He sits laughing on the shores of the wine-dark sea.

  He holds in his hands the bow that sustained me,

  which no mortal but I had ever touched.

  Beloved bow, made by caring hands,

  the prize of Herakles, who'll never use you again,

  if you could see, you would pity me.

  You have a new master, a guileful man.

  He will bend you now.

  You will know treachery, know my hated enemy,

  and know countless evils rising from his deceit.

  CHORUS

  One should take care to say what is just,

  and having said it, keep his tongue from ire.

  Odysseus follows the orders of many,

  and he has done this in obedience to his friends.

  PHILOKTETES

  O birds, o beasts that feed upon the hills,

  you no longer need run away from my cave.

  I no longer have my killing weapons.

  Come down. The time is right for you to feed

  on my ravaged, quivering body;

  I will soon die. How can I keep myself alive?

  Who can live on breezes and not earthly food?

  CHORUS

  By the gods, if you still hold the gods in respect,

  come to a stranger who approaches with good heart.

  Think closely of what you are doing.

  It is up to you to flee your destruction.

  To feed fate with your flesh is pitiful.

  Your body will never learn to endure the pains,

  the ten thousand pains of the sickness possessing you.

  PHILOKTETES

  You pour salt on old wounds. Still, you are better

  than any of those who came to me before.

  Why have you also wounded me?

  CHORUS

  What do you mean?

  PHILOKTETES

  You wanted to take me to hateful Troy.

  CHORUS

  I think that is best.

  PHILOKTETES

  Then leave me, and now.

  CHORUS

  That is good news indeed.

  I'll willingly obey your command.

  Let us go, men, back to our stations.

  PHILOKTETES

  No, strangers, by the gods, stay here!

  I beg you!

  CHORUS

  Be still.

  PHILOKTETES

  I beg you, stay with me.

  CHORUS

  Why do you beseech us now?

  PHILOKTETES

  I am destroyed.

  My foot, what will I do with you

  for what remains of my life?

  Come back to me, friends.

  CHORUS

  Come back to do what? Have you changed your mind?

  PHILOKTETES

  It is not just to b
e angry

  when a man driven mad by stormy anguish

  speaks thoughtlessly.

  CHORUS

  Come with us, poor man, as we have asked.

  PHILOKTETES

  Never. Not even if the lord of lightning

  devours me in thunderous fire!

  Let Troy be ruined and all those before its walls

  who cast me away here in my lameness!

  Friends, grant me one last request.

  CHORUS

  What is it?

  PHILOKTETES

  If you have a sword, or an axe, or a knife,

  then bring it to me.

  CHORUS

  What will you do with it?

  PHILOKTETES

  I will cut off my head, cut off my foot,

  cut myself apart with my own hand.

  My mind wants nothing but death.

  CHORUS

  Why?

  PHILOKTETES

  I want to find my father.

  CHORUS

  Where?

  PHILOKTETES

  In Hades. Surely he no longer stands in light.

  Ancestral city, I wish I could see you,

  I who deserted your holy waters

  to help the Greeks, my enemies.

  I am nothing now.

  CHORUS

  I should have been back to the ship by now.

  Here comes Odysseus

  with the son of Achilles.

  ODYSSEUS

  Why are you returning so quickly, boy?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I hurry to undo the evil I have done.

  ODYSSEUS

  You speak strangely. What evil is that?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I was wrong to obey you and the generals.

  ODYSSEUS

  What did we order you to do that was wrong?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I worked guile and deceit, and successfully.

  ODYSSEUS

  What more do you want now?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  Nothing new. I have Philoktetes's bow.

  ODYSSEUS

  And what will you do with it? I am afraid to ask.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I am giving it back to its rightful owner.

  ODYSSEUS

  You mean you'll return it?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  Yes. I got it by shameful tricks.

  ODYSSEUS

  Do you really mean it?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I am telling the truth.

  ODYSSEUS

  What are you saying, son of Achilles?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  Must we go over the same ground twice?

  ODYSSEUS

  I wish we had not gone over it the first time.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  You have heard everything now.

  ODYSSEUS

  Someone will keep you from doing it.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  Who?

  ODYSSEUS

  The whole Greek army, and I among them.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  You are clever, Odysseus, but what you say is not.

  ODYSSEUS

  Neither your words nor your acts are clever.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  But they are just. That is better.

  ODYSSEUS

  How can it be just to give away

  what you have won with my counsel?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I have committed injustice and strayed off course.

  I must undo all that.

  ODYSSEUS

  And you have no fear of what the Greeks will do?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  I am not afraid of any of you, since I act

  with justice. You will not force me.

  ODYSSEUS

  Then we will fight not Troy, but you.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  So be it.

  ODYSSEUS

  Do you see my hand drawing out this sword?

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  You'll see me do the same, and right away.

  ODYSSEUS

  I will leave you to it, then.

  I'll return to Troy and tell the Greeks,

  and they will come here to punish you.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  It is a cautious thing you do. Remain as cautious,

  and perhaps you'll keep clear of future danger.

  Philoktetes, son of Poias,

  come out of your cave. I call on you.

  PHILOKTETES

  What do you want? Why do you call me?

  It bodes ill. Some new trouble is at hand,

  some new grief to heap on my miseries.

  NEOPTOLEMOS

  Be calm. I simply ask that you listen.

  PHILOKTETES

  I listened to you once, and you spoke well then.

  My troubles came from sweet words, when I believed them.

  NEOPTOLEMOS