Neoptolemus Please, come on. Why so silent with no apparent cause? And why are you paralyzed?
Philoctetes Ai, ai!
Neoptolemus What is the matter?
Philoctetes Nothing serious—go on, son.
Neoptolemus Are you in pain from the disease that frequents you?
Philoctetes No, indeed no. I think it is better now.—Gods, oh!
Neoptolemus Why do you groan like this and call on the gods?
Philoctetes That they may come to me with power to save and soothe.—Ai! Ai!
Neoptolemus What troubles you? Speak, do not keep so silent. It is plain enough that you are suffering somehow.
Philoctetes I am destroyed, boy—I can never conceal my suffering when you are close. Ah! Ah! It shoots through me, shoots straight through! Oh, the pain, the misery! I am destroyed, boy—I am devoured! Ah, by the gods I beg you, if you have a sword ready to hand, strike at my ankle—cut it off now! Do not spare my life! Quick, boy, quick!
Neoptolemus What new thing has come on you so suddenly that you wail for yourself with these loud shrieks?
Philoctetes You know, son.
Neoptolemus What is it?
Philoctetes You know, boy.
Neoptolemus What ails you? I do not know.
Philoctetes How could you not know? Oh, oh!
Neoptolemus Yes, terrible is the burden of your disease.
Philoctetes Terrible beyond telling! Oh, pity me!
Neoptolemus What shall I do?
Philoctetes Do not betray me because of fear. This plague comes only now and then,—perhaps when she has been sated with her roamings elsewhere.
Neoptolemus Ah, poor wretch! Poor man, truly for all your sufferings! Shall I support you, or somehow offer a helping hand?
Philoctetes No, no. But take this bow of mine—as you earlier asked of me—and keep it in your care and safe until this present bout with my disease is past. For indeed sleep takes me as soon as this pain passes away, nor can it cease before then. But you must allow me to sleep in peace. And if those men come in the meantime, then by the gods I forbid you willingly or unwillingly, or by any skilled trickery, to give up this bow to them, lest you bring destruction at once on yourself and on me, who am your suppliant.
Neoptolemus Have no fears as to my caution. The bow shall pass into no hands but yours and mine. Give it to me, and may good luck accompany it!
Philoctetes There, take it boy. And humble yourself before the jealous gods, so that the bow may not prove baneful for you, as it did for me and for him who owned it before me.
Neoptolemus O gods, grant this to the two of us! And grant us a voyage prosperous and unimpeded, to whatever goal the god may deem right and that our mission provides!
Philoctetes
Futile, I fear, are your prayers, boy. Look, once again the dark blood is oozing drop by drop from deep in the wound, and I look for worse to come. Ah, me, oh, oh! Cursed foot, what torment you cause me! It creeps on me, it is coming near! Ah, misery! Now you know my condition. Do not flee, no! Oh, alas! Odysseus of Cephallene, once my friend, would that this anguish might stick to you, and pierce your chest! Ah, me! Ah, me! O you twin marshalls, Agamemnon, and you, Menelaus, may your flesh instead of mine nourish this plague, and for as long! Oh, Ah, me! O Death, Death, though I am always summoning you day after day, why do you never come? O son, noble youth, seize me, burn me up, true friend, in that fire famed as Lemnian. I, too, once deemed it lawful to do that very service for the son of Zeus, in return for which I received these same arms, which are now in your keeping. What do you say, boy, what do you say? Why this silence? Where are your thoughts, son?
Neoptolemus My heart has long been aching for your load of pain.
Philoctetes Stop, then, and take courage; this visitor comes sharply, but goes quickly. Yet, I beg you, do not leave me alone.
Neoptolemus Take heart, we will remain.
Philoctetes Will you?
Neoptolemus Be sure of it.
Philoctetes Indeed, I do not think it right to put you under oath.
Neoptolemus Rest assured; it is not lawful for me to leave without you.
Philoctetes Give me your hand in pledge!
Neoptolemus I give it—to stay.
Philoctetes Now take me there, over there!
Neoptolemus Where do you mean?
Philoctetes Up there!
Neoptolemus What is this new delirium? Why do you gaze at the dome above us?
Philoctetes Let me go, let me go!
Neoptolemus Where will you go, if I do so?
Philoctetes Let me go, I say!
Neoptolemus I will not.
Philoctetes You will kill me, if you touch me further.
Neoptolemus There, then, I release you—if in fact you believe it is for the better.
Philoctetes Wide Earth, embrace me now on the verge of death! This pain no longer lets me stand up.
Neoptolemus Sleep, I think, will take him before long. See, his head sinks backward. Yes, a sweat runs over his whole body, and a dark, hemorrhaging vein has burst from his heel. Come, friends, let us leave him in quietness, so that he may fall asleep.
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