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Neoptolemus
The praise thou givest my father and myself
Is grateful to me: but what I desire
From thee t' obtain, now hear. The ills, on men
Inflicted by the gods, they must sustain :
But miseries on themselves by choice derived,
And self-will'd waywardness, have no just claim
To pardon, or to pity. All thy thoughts
Are wild and fierce; thy soul disdains advice;
And when with warm benevolence a friend
Glows to direct thee right, thy hatred flames,
And treats him as a foe: yet I will speak,
And call almighty Jove t' attest the truth.
Hear thou my words, and write them on thy heart.
The anguish of this wound was by the gods
Assign'd thee, when thy foot too near approach'd
The fatal place, where lay conceal'd from view
The serpent, guardian of th' uncover'd shrine
At Chryse. From this fierce disease no pause,
Be thou assured, is thine, whilst in the east
Yon sun shall rise, and rolling its bright course
Sink in the west, till it beholds thee tread
With williug steps the plains of Ilium: there
The sons of Esculapius shalt thou find,...
1375
And of thy wound be heal'd: then shall thy bow,
1375
Join'd by my arms, lay waste the Phrygian state.
1375
How I know this, attend, and thou shalt hear...
1375
Amidst the Grecian camp there is a man
1375
From Troy, a captive, Helenus, a seer
1375
Of high renown: the fates he thus declared;
1375
Adding that ere the present summer yields
1375
To autumn its dominion, Troy must falli:
1375
That this is true he sets his life at gageb
1375
Assured of this, let thy reluctance cease,
1375
Embark with us. What honour to be rank'd
1375
First'mongst the Grecian heroes, by the sons
1375
Of Pæan to be heal'd, to storm the tow'rs
1375
Of Troy lamenting with deep groans her fall,
1375
And grasp the highest meed that glory gives!
1375
PHII.. Oh hated life, why in the light of heav'ni
1375
Dost thou detain me? Why not sink me down
1375
To the dark mansions of the dead? Ah me
1375
To his monitions shall I still be deaf?e
1375
They flow from generous friendship. Should I yield,
1375
How in the face of day could I appear?
1375
With whom hold converse? How, ye eyes that view
All things around me, would ye bear these things?
How bear to see me friendly with the sons
Of Atreus, authors of these cruel wrongs?
How with Ulysses, that destructive pest?
Yet not the just resentment of past griefs
Pierces so deep as that presaging sense
Of what I yet must suffer: for the mind,
That to base deeds gives birth, assiduous trains,
Like an ill parent, other deeds as base.
At thee indeed I marvel much; to Trey
Thou never shou'dst steer back thy course, and me
Thou shou'dst keep far from those, who basely wrong'd,
And robb'd thee of thy father's glorious arms *.
Yet wilt thou go, confederate in the war
With these, compelling me to join their arms.
Not so, my son; me to my country send,
I have thy oath, do thou at Scyros stay,
And let them vilely perish in return
For their vile deeds; a double grace to me,
And to thy father; to the base afford
No aid, but show thou art not base like them.
The praise thou givest my father and myself
Is grateful to me: but what I desire
From thee t' obtain, now hear. The ills, on men
Inflicted by the gods, they must sustain :
But miseries on themselves by choice derived,
And self-will'd waywardness, have no just claim
To pardon, or to pity. All thy thoughts
Are wild and fierce; thy soul disdains advice;
And when with warm benevolence a friend
Glows to direct thee right, thy hatred flames,
And treats him as a foe: yet I will speak,
And call almighty Jove t' attest the truth.
Hear thou my words, and write them on thy heart.
The anguish of this wound was by the gods
Assign'd thee, when thy foot too near approach'd
The fatal place, where lay conceal'd from view
The serpent, guardian of th' uncover'd shrine
At Chryse. From this fierce disease no pause,
Be thou assured, is thine, whilst in the east
Yon sun shall rise, and rolling its bright course
Sink in the west, till it beholds thee tread
With williug steps the plains of Ilium: there
The sons of Esculapius shalt thou find,...
1375
And of thy wound be heal'd: then shall thy bow,
1375
Join'd by my arms, lay waste the Phrygian state.
1375
How I know this, attend, and thou shalt hear...
1375
Amidst the Grecian camp there is a man
1375
From Troy, a captive, Helenus, a seer
1375
Of high renown: the fates he thus declared;
1375
Adding that ere the present summer yields
1375
To autumn its dominion, Troy must falli:
1375
That this is true he sets his life at gageb
1375
Assured of this, let thy reluctance cease,
1375
Embark with us. What honour to be rank'd
1375
First'mongst the Grecian heroes, by the sons
1375
Of Pæan to be heal'd, to storm the tow'rs
1375
Of Troy lamenting with deep groans her fall,
1375
And grasp the highest meed that glory gives!
1375
PHII.. Oh hated life, why in the light of heav'ni
1375
Dost thou detain me? Why not sink me down
1375
To the dark mansions of the dead? Ah me
1375
To his monitions shall I still be deaf?e
1375
They flow from generous friendship. Should I yield,
1375
How in the face of day could I appear?
1375
With whom hold converse? How, ye eyes that view
All things around me, would ye bear these things?
How bear to see me friendly with the sons
Of Atreus, authors of these cruel wrongs?
How with Ulysses, that destructive pest?
Yet not the just resentment of past griefs
Pierces so deep as that presaging sense
Of what I yet must suffer: for the mind,
That to base deeds gives birth, assiduous trains,
Like an ill parent, other deeds as base.
At thee indeed I marvel much; to Trey
Thou never shou'dst steer back thy course, and me
Thou shou'dst keep far from those, who basely wrong'd,
And robb'd thee of thy father's glorious arms *.
Yet wilt thou go, confederate in the war
With these, compelling me to join their arms.
Not so, my son; me to my country send,
I have thy oath, do thou at Scyros stay,
And let them vilely perish in return
For their vile deeds; a double grace to me,
And to thy father; to the base afford
No aid, but show thou art not base like them.
Philoctetes. Sophocles. Robert Potter (Translator). London. 1820.