THE BOOK WAS DRENCHED - OUDL Home

ULYSSES
No; I mean to place thee
E'en with the noblest, e'en with those by whom
Proud Troy must perish.
PHILOCTETES
Never will I go,
Befall what may, whilst this deep cave is open
To bury all my sorrows.
ULYSSES
What wouldst do?
PHILOCTETES
Here throw me down, dash out my desperate brains
Against this rock, and sprinkle it with my blood.
ULYSSES {to the CHORUS)
Seize, and prevent him!
{They seize him.)
PHILOCTETES
Manacled! O hands!
How helpless are you now! those arms, which once
Protected, thus torn from you! (To ULYSSES)
Thou abandoned,
Thou shameless wretch! from whom nor truth nor justice,
Naught that becomes the generous mind, can flow,
How hast thou used me! how betrayed! Suborned
This stranger, this poor youth, who, worthier far
To be my friend than thine, was only here
Thy instrument; he knew not what he did,
And now, thou seest, repents him of the crime
Which brought such guilt on him, such woes on me.
But thy foul soul, which from its dark recess
Trembling looks forth, beheld him void of art,
Unwilling as he was, instructed him,
And made him soon a master in deceit.
I am thy prisoner now; e'en now thou meanst
To drag me hence, from this unhappy shore,
Where first thy malice left me, a poor exile,
Deserted, friendless, and though living, dead
To all mankind. Perish the vile betrayer!
Oh! I have cursed thee often, but the gods
Will never hear the prayers of Philoctetes.