Not so; this weather is against them also.PhiloctetesNo wind stands in the way of pirates who sense a chance to steal and plunder by force.NeoptolemusWell, if you are so resolved, let us go, once you have taken from the cave whatever you need or desire most.PhiloctetesYes, there are some things that I need, though the choice is not large.NeoptolemusWhat is there that will not be available on board my ship?PhiloctetesI have a store of a certain herb, whereby I can alwaysbest lull this wound, until it is wholly tamed.NeoptolemusFetch it, then. Now, what else do you wish to take?PhiloctetesAny of these arrows that may have been forgotten, and may have slipped away from me, so that I not leave it for another to take.NeoptolemusIs that indeed the famous bow which you hold?PhiloctetesThis, and no other, that I carry in my hand.NeoptolemusIs there any way that I might have a closer view of it—and handle it, and salute it as divine?PhiloctetesTo you alone, my son, this shall be granted, along with anything else in my power that is in your interest.NeoptolemusI do indeed crave to touch it, but my craving takes this form: if it is lawful, I would be glad. If not, think no more of it.PhiloctetesYour words are reverent, son, and your wish is lawful. For you alone have given to my eyes the light of life and the hope of seeing the land of Oeta, of seeingmy aged father and my friends; and you alone, when I lay beneath the feet of my enemies, have lifted me beyond their reach. Be bold. The bow shall be yours to handle and to return to the hand that gave it, and you will be able to boast aloud that in reward for your goodness, you alone of mortals have touched it.Yes, it was by a good deed that I myself won it.NeoptolemusI am not sorry that I found you and have gained your friendship, since whoever knows how to render benefit for a benefit received must prove a friend more valuable than any possession. Please, do go inside.PhiloctetesAgreed, and I will bring you also.My sickness craves the comfort of your presence. Philoctetes and Neoptolemus enter the cave.

ChorusI have heard a rumor, but never seen with my eyes, how the man who once approached the bed of Zeus was bound upon aswift wheel by the almighty son of Cronus. But of no other mortal do I know, either by hearsay or by sight, that has encountered a doom so repugnant as this of Philoctetes. For though he had wronged no one by force or thievery,but conducted himself fairly towards the fair, he was left to perish so undeservedly. I truly marvel how—how in the world—as he listened in solitude to the breakers rushing around him,he kept his hold upon a life so full of grief.

ChorusHere, he alone was his own neighbor, powerless to walk, with no one in the land to be his companion while he suffered—no one to whom he could cry out a lament that would be answeredfor the plague that gnawed his flesh and drained his blood—no one to lull with healing herbs gathered from the nourishing earth the burning blood which oozed from the ulcers of hisenvenomed foot, whenever the torment attacked him. Instead he would then creep this way or that, stumbling like a child without his kind nurse, to any place from where his needsmight be supplied, whenever the devouring anguish withdrew.

ChorusFor food he did not gather the fruit of holy Earth, nor anything else that we mortals feed on by our labor,except when on occasion he obtained food to ease his hunger by means of feathered shafts from his swift-striking bow. Ah, joyless was his life, who for ten years never knew the delight of wine,