Philoctetes (774-818)

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!

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.

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!

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?

My heart has long been aching for your load of pain.

Stop, then, and take courage; this visitor comes sharply, but goes quickly. Yet, I beg you, do not leave me alone.

Take heart, we will remain.

Will you?

Be sure of it.

Indeed, I do not think it right to put you under oath.

Rest assured; it is not lawful for me to leave without you.

Give me your hand in pledge!

I give it—to stay.

Now take me there, over there!

Where do you mean?

Up there!

What is this new delirium? Why do you gaze at the dome above us?

Let me go, let me go!

Where will you go, if I do so?

Let me go, I say!

I will not.

You will kill me, if you touch me further.

There, then, I release you—if in fact you believe it is for the better.