Sophocles Philoctetes 1073

Philoctetes

Hollow in the caverned rock, now hot, now frosty, how true it seems, then, that I was sadly fated never to leave you!

No, you will witness my death, too. Ah, ah, me! Sad dwelling, so long filled with the pain welling from my flesh, what will be my daily portion hereafter?

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Where, from what provision, shall I, unhappy, find any hope of sustenance? Above my head the tremulous doves will go on their way through the whistling wind. I can stop their flight no more.

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Chorus

It was you, you, I say, doomed one, that chose this fate; and this fortune to which you are captive comes from no other source, nor from a stronger man’s compulsion. For when in fact it was in your power to show sense,

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you chose to reject the better fate, and to accept the worse.

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Philoctetes

Ah, miserable, miserable, then, am I, and shamed by hardship, who next must hereafter dwell in my misery here,

with no man for companion in the days to come, and waste away. I can no longer bring food to my home, no

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longer gain it by the winged weapons held in my strong hands. But the unsuspected and stealthy fictions of a treacherous mind deceived me. If only I could watch him, the contriver of this plot, doomed to endure my anguish for as long a time!

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Chorus

Doom, god-sent doom constrained you to suffer this, not, I tell you, any treachery to which my hand was lent.

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Aim your hate-filled, baneful curse elsewhere, since I prefer that you not reject my friendship.

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Philoctetes

Alas! No doubt sitting on the white ocean shore

he mocks me, brandishing the weapon that nourished my unhappy life, the weapon which no one else had carried! Cherished bow, ah, friend forced from my loving hands,

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if you have the power to feel, surely you see with pity that the comrade of Heracles will now no longer use you anymore!

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Now you are handled by another, a man of craftiness; you see the shameless deceptions and the face of that hated enemy by whom countless wrongs, springing from shameless designs, have been contrived against me. O Zeus!

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Chorus

A man must always assert what is right. But, when he has done so, he must not let loose malignant, stinging taunts. The man was the sole representative of the whole army, and at their mandate

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he achieved a universal benefit for his friends.

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Philoctetes

Ah, my winged prey, and you tribes of bright-eyed creatures held by this place in its upland pastures, leap no more

in flight from your lairs, for I do not grasp in my hands those shafts which were once my strength—but now, gone, are my undoing! Roam at will now; the place has no more terrors—for you!

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The time is ripe for you to take blood for blood, to sate yourselves to your heart’s desire on my discolored flesh! Soon I will leave life, for from what source can I find the means to live? Who can feed, as I will have to,

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on the winds, when he no longer owns any of the bounty that the life-giving earth supplies?

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Chorus

In the name of the gods, if you have any reverence for a friend who approaches you in all kindness, approach him!

But know this, and know it well: it is in your power to escape this plague. Cruel is it that you feed it with your own flesh, and that there is no way for you to learn to endure the countless torments that dwell with it.

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Philoctetes

Again, again, you have recalled the old agony to my thoughts—kindest though you are of all who have visited before! Why have you ruined me? What have you done to me?

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Chorus

What do you mean?

Philoctetes

That it was your hope to take

me to that Trojan land I abhor.

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Chorus

Yes, I believe that to be the best course.

Philoctetes

Leave me, then—immediately!

Chorus

Pleasant, pleasant, indeed, is the task you set me, and I am ready to obey.

Come, let us be going, each to his station in the ship!

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Philoctetes

By Zeus who hears men’s curses, do not go, I implore you!

Chorus

Be moderate.

Philoctetes

Friends, in the name of the gods, stay!

Chorus

Why do you call?

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Philoctetes

Ayee, ayee! Doom, Doom! My suffering kills me! Foot, my foot, what shall I do with you in the days to come?

O friends, return, come back to me!

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Chorus

To do what that has a different spirit from that of your former commands?

Philoctetes

There is no reason for indignation when the words of one crazed

by a storm of pain are senseless.

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Chorus

Come with us, then, poor man, as we bid you.

Philoctetes

Never, never—of that be certain! Not even if the lord of the fiery lightning comes to wrap me in the blaze of his thunderbolts!

Ilium be damned, and as many of the men before its walls as dared reject this foot of mine! But oh, friends, grant me one wish!

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Chorus

What would you ask?

Philoctetes

A sword, if you can find one, or an axe, or any weapon—

please, pass it to me!

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Chorus

That you may execute what scheme?

Philoctetes

Mangle all this body, and sever limb from limb with my own hand! Death, death is my thought now!

Chorus

Why, why ever would you—

Philoctetes

I am seeking my father—

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Chorus

In what land?

Philoctetes

In Hades; he dwells in the sunlight no more. Ah, my city, city of my fathers! I crave to see you, unhappy man that I truly am

for leaving your sacred stream and going to help the Danaans, my enemies! I am nothing now, nothing anymore! Exit Philoctetes into the cave.

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