Doom, god-sent doom constrained you to suffer this, not, I tell you, any treachery to which my hand was lent.Aim your hate-filled, baneful curse elsewhere, since I prefer that you not reject my friendship.

PhiloctetesAlas! No doubt sitting on the white ocean shorehe 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,if you have the power to feel, surely you see with pity that the comrade of Heracles will now no longer use you anymore!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!ChorusA 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 mandatehe achieved a universal benefit for his friends.

PhiloctetesAh, my winged prey, and you tribes of bright-eyed creatures held by this place in its upland pastures, leap no morein 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!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,on the winds, when he no longer owns any of the bounty that the life-giving earth supplies?ChorusIn 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.

PhiloctetesAgain, 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?ChorusWhat do you mean?PhiloctetesThat it was your hope to takeme to that Trojan land I abhor.ChorusYes, I believe that to be the best course.PhiloctetesLeave me, then—immediately!ChorusPleasant, 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!PhiloctetesBy Zeus who hears men’s curses, do not go, I implore you!ChorusBe moderate.PhiloctetesFriends, in the name of the gods, stay!ChorusWhy do you call?PhiloctetesAyee, 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!ChorusTo do what that has a different spirit from that of your former commands?PhiloctetesThere is no reason for indignation when the words of one crazed