THE BOOK WAS DRENCHED - OUDL Home

Sophocles [1060-1085]
What could thy presence do? Let Lemnos keep thee.
Farewell! perhaps the honours once designed
For thee may be reserved to grace Ulysses.
PHILOCTETES
Alas! shall Greece then see my deadliest foe
Adorned with arms which I alone should bear?
ULYSSES
No more! I must be gone.
PHILOCTETES {to NEOPTOLEMUS)
Son of Achilles,
Thou wilt not leave me too? I must not lose
Thy converse, thy assistance.
ULYSSES (to NEOPTOLEMUS)
Look not on him;
Away, I charge thee! 'Twould be fatal to us.
PHILOCTETES {to the CHORUS)
Will you forsake me, friends? Dwells no compassion
Within your breasts for me?
LEADER (pointing to NEOPTOLEMUS)
He is our master;
We speak and act but as his will directs.
NEOPTOLEMUS
I know he will upbraid me for this weakness,
But 'tis my nature, and I must consent,
Since Philoctetes asks it. Stay you with him,
Till to the gods our pious prayers we offer,
And all things are prepared for our departure;
Perhaps, meantime, to better thoughts his mind
May turn relenting. We must go. Remember,
When we shall call you, follow instantly.
(NEOPTOLEMUS, still with the bow in his hands, goes out with
ULYSSES. The lines in the following scene between PHIL­
OCTETES and the CHORUS are chanted responsively.)
PHILOCTETES
O my poor hut! and is it then decreed
Again I come to thee to part no more,
To end my wretched days in this sad cave,