Chapter 2
They came for me in their mighty warships with painted prows and streaming battle flags. Odysseus and my father's tutor were the ones. They came with a story, true or a lie, that the gods had decreed, since my father had died, that I alone could storm Troy's walls. So they said. You can be sure that I lost no time in gathering my things and sailing with them, out of love for my father, whom I wanted to see before the earth swallowed him. I had never seen him alive. And I would be proved brave if I captured Troy.
We had a good wind. In two days we made bitter Sigeion. A mass of soldiers raised a cheer, saying dead Achilles still walked among them. They had not yet buried him. I wept for my father. And then I went to the Atreids, my father's supposed friends, as was fitting, and I asked for my father's weapons and his other things. They said with feigned sorrow, "Son of Achilles, you may have the other things, but not Achilles's weapons. Those now belong to Laertes's son." I leapt up then, crying in grief and anger, and said, "You bastards, how dare you give the things that are mine to other men without asking me first?"
Then Odysseus, who happened to be there, said, "Listen, boy. What they did was right. After all, I was the one who rescued them and your father's body." Enraged, I cursed him with all the curses I could think of, leaving nothing out, curses that would be set in motion if he were truly to rob me. Odysseus is not a quarrelsome man, but what I said stung him. He replied, "Boy, you're a newcomer. You have been at home, out of harm's way. You judge me too harshly. You cannot keep a civil tongue. For all that, you will not take his weapons home." You see, I took abuse from both sides. I lost the things that were mine, and I sailed home. Odysseus, the bastard son of bastards, robbed me. But I blame him less than the generals. They rule whole cities and a mighty army. Bad men become so by watching bad teachers. I have told you all. May he who hates the Atreids be as dear to the gods as he is to me.
CHORUS
O mountainous, all-nourishing Mother Earth, Mother of Zeus, our lord, himself, you who range the golden Paktolos, Mother of pain and sorrow, I begged you, Blessed Mother, borne by bull-slaying lions, on that day when the arrogant Atreids insulted him, when they gave away his weapons to the son of Laertes. Hail, goddess, the highest object of our awe.
PHILOKTETES
You have sailed here, clearly, with a just cause of pain. Your share of grief almost matches mine. What you say harmonizes with what I know of them--- the evil doings of the Atreids and Odysseus. I know that Odysseus spins out lies with his evil tongue, which he uses to create all manner of injustice; he brings no good to pass, I know. Still, it amazes me to learn that Ajax, seeing these things, should permit them.
NEOPTOLEMOS
He is dead now, friend. If he lived, they would never have stolen the weapons from me.
PHILOKTETES
So Ajax, too, is dead.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Dead. Think of it.
PHILOKTETES
It saddens me. But the son of Tydeus, and Odysseus, whom Sisyphos, I have heard, sold to Laertes, they who merited death are still alive.
NEOPTOLEMOS
You are right, of course. They are flourishing. They live in high glory among the Greeks.
PHILOKTETES
And my old friend, that honest man, Nestor of Pylos? Does he still live? He used to contain their evil with his wise counsel.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Nestor has fallen on evil times. His son, Antilochos, who was with him, is dead.
PHILOKTETES
O! You have told me of two deaths that hurt me most. What can I hope for, now that Ajax and Antilochos are dead and in the ground, while Odysseus walks, while he should be the one who is dead?
NEOPTOLEMOS
That one is a clever wrestler. Still, even the clever stumble.
PHILOKTETES
Tell me, by the gods, how was it with Patroklos, your father's most beloved friend?
NEOPTOLEMOS
He was dead, too. I will tell you in a word what happened: War never takes a bad man on purpose, but good men always.
PHILOKTETES
You are right. Let me ask you, then, of one who is worthless, but cunning and clever with the words he uses.
NEOPTOLEMOS
You can mean only Odysseus.
PHILOKTETES
No, not him. I mean Thersites, who was never content to speak just once, although no one allowed him to speak at all. Is he alive?
NEOPTOLEMOS
I do not know him, but I have heard that he lives.
PHILOKTETES
He would be. No evil man has died. The gods, it seems, must care for them well. It pleases them to keep villains and traitors out of death's hands; but they always send good men out of the living world. How can I make sense of what goes on, when, praising the gods, I discover that they're evil?
NEOPTOLEMOS
For my part, Philoktetes, I will be more cautious. I'll keep watch on the Atreids and on Troy from afar. I will have no part of their company, where the worse is stronger than the better, where noble men die while cowards rule. I shall not acquiesce to the will of such men. Rocky Skyros will do very well for the future. I'll be content to stay at home.
Now I'll go to my ship. Philoktetes, may the gods keep you. Farewell, then, and may the gods lift this illness from you as you have long wished. Let us be off, men, to make ready for sailing when the gods permit it.
PHILOKTETES
Are you leaving already?
NEOPTOLEMOS
The weather is clearing. Opportunity knocks but once, you know. We must be provisioned and ready when it does.
PHILOKTETES
I beg you by your father, by your dear mother, by all you have ever loved at home: do not leave me here to live on in suffering, now that you have seen me, and heard what others have said about me. I am not important to you. Think of me anyway. I know that I will be a troublesome cargo for you, but accept that. To you and your noble kind, to be cruel is shameful; to be decent, honorable. If you leave me, it will make for an awful story. But if you take me, you'll have the best of men's praise, that is, if I live to see Oeta's fields. Come. Your trouble will last scarcely a day. You can manage that. Take me and stow me where you want, in the hold, on the prow, on the stern, anywhere that I will least offend you. Swear by Zeus, lord of suppliants, boy, that you will take me. I am trying to kneel before you, a cripple, lame. Do not leave me in this lonely place, where no one passes by. Take me to your home, or to the harbor of Euboean Chalkis. It is a short journey from there to Oeta, to the ridges of Trachis and smooth-flowing Spercheios. Show me there to my beloved father. I have long feared that he is dead, or else he would have come for me: I sent prayerful messages to him through travelers who happened along here, begging him to come himself and take me home. He is dead, then, or more likely the messengers held me in little regard, as messengers do, and hurried along to their homes. In you I have a guard and a herald. Save me. Have pity. Look how dangerously we mortals live, experiencing good, experiencing evil. If you are out of harm's way, expect horrible things, and when you live well, take extra care lest you be caught napping and be destroyed.
CHORUS
Take pity on him, lord. He has told us of many horrible torments. May such troubles fall on none of my friends. If, lord, you hate the terrible Atreids, put their treatment of him to your advantage. I would carry him, as he has asked, away with you on your swift-running ship, fleeing the gods' cruel punishment.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Be sure you are not too quick to plead, that when you have had your fill of the company that his illness will provide you, you do not stand by your words.
CHORUS
No. You will not be able to reproach me with that and still speak truly.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Then I would be ashamed to be less willing than you to serve this man. If you are sure, let us sail quickly. Make the man hurry. I won't refuse him my ship. May the gods keep us safe in leaving this land and give us safe passage where we wish to sail.
PHILOKTETES
O blessed day and dearest of men, and you, friend sailors, how can I make it clear to you, how closely you have bound me in your friendship. Let us go, my son. But first let us bow down and kiss the earth in gratitude, the earth of my home that is no home. Look inside and you will see how brave I must be by my very nature. To endure even the sight of such a place would have been too much for most men. But I have had to learn to withstand its evils.
CHORUS
Wait, and watch! Two men approach, one of our crew and a stranger to me--- let us hear from them. Then you may go inside.
TRADER
Son of Achilles, I ordered this sailor, who was guarding your ship with two other men, to tell me where you were. I came to this island not meaning to. Accident drove me to this place. I sail as captain of a cargo vessel from Ilium, to a place not far away--- Peparethos, rich in grapes and wine. I learned that these men are your companions and decided to stay until I'd spoken with you and received my reward. Perhaps you do not know your own concerns, the new things the Greeks have in store for you, no longer mere plans, but onrushing actions.
NEOPTOLEMOS
A blessing on you for thinking of me. If I do not grow evil, your concern will keep you my friend. Tell me more of what you said: I want to know more of these new Greek tricks.
TRADER
Phoenix and Theseus's sons have sailed from Troy and are following you with an armed flotilla.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Do they plan to take me with violence or persuade me to return with them?
TRADER
I do not know. I tell you only what I have heard.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Are Phoenix and his friends so eager to jump when the Atreids tell them to?
TRADER
They have already jumped. They're not wasting a second.
NEOPTOLEMOS
And Odysseus would not bring the message himself? Does some fear now act upon his spirit?
TRADER
When I left, he and Tydeus's son were off chasing down another man.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Who is the man they now pursue?
TRADER
He is---wait. First tell me who that man is, and tell me quietly.
NEOPTOLEMOS
The man is great Philoktetes, friend.
TRADER
Then ask no more questions. Get out of here, and quickly. Run away from this place.
PHILOKTETES
What is he saying to you, boy? Why does he bargain in the shadows, hiding his words from me?
NEOPTOLEMOS
I'm not sure what he means by all this. But he'll have to speak openly to all of us.
TRADER
Son of Achilles, do not upbraid me before your men. I do much for them and get much in return, as a poor man must.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I am the Atreids' enemy. He also hates them and so is my greatest friend. You have come in friendship, and you must speak openly. Do not hide what you have heard.
TRADER
Think of what you're doing, boy.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I have been thinking.
TRADER
Then I will make this your responsibility.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Very well. Now speak.
TRADER
The two men you have heard of, Tydeus's son and Odysseus, hunt for Philoktetes. They are bound by oath to bring him back by persuasion or naked violence. And all the Greeks heard Odysseus swear to this, since he loudly boasted of sure success.
NEOPTOLEMOS
What can they hope to win, those men, to turn their thoughts after so many years to Philoktetes, whom they made an outcast? Do they miss him now? Or have the gods brought vengeance upon them, since they punish crime?
TRADER
I will tell you. You may not know this story. There was a seer from a noble family, one of Priam's sons, in fact, called Helenos. He was captured one night on a reconnaissance by Odysseus himself, who bears all our curses as a badge of dishonor. Odysseus tricked him, and paraded him before the whole Greek army. Helenos then poured out a flood of prophesy, especially about Troy, and how the Greeks would never take it until they were able to persuade Philoktetes to come to their aid, after he had been rescued from this place. The minute Odysseus heard him say this, he promised to fetch this man, either by persuasion or by force. If he failed, he said, they could punish him. Boy, now you know why I've urged you and those whom you care for to leave.
PHILOKTETES
Ah! He swore he would persuade me to sail off with him, the bastard? He'd sooner persuade me to come back from the grave, when I am dead, to rise up, as his father did.
TRADER
I don't know that story. I must leave you now. May the gods help you all.
PHILOKTETES
Isn't it shameful, boy, that Odysseus thinks his words are wondrous enough to persuade me to let him cart me back to Troy, and parade me too before the whole Greek army? I would sooner trust my enemy, the viper that bit me and crippled me at Chryse. Let him try what he will, now that I know he's coming. Let us go now, boy, and hope that a great seaswell will rise and crest and keep our ship from Odysseus's. To be quick at the right occasion, you know, makes for untroubled sleep when work is done.
NEOPTOLEMOS
When the headwind dies down, we will sail. The powers of the air work against us now.
PHILOKTETES
Whenever you flee evil men, that is good sailing.
NEOPTOLEMOS
True, but the wind is against them as well.
PHILOKTETES
In the minds of pirates, no wind is against them so long as they can steal and pillage.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Let us go away, then. Fetch from your cave the few things you most need or want.
PHILOKTETES
I do need a few things. I don't have many to choose from.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Things that we do not have on board?
PHILOKTETES
I have an herb to ease my pain, to put it to sleep.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Get it, then. What else do you want?
PHILOKTETES
Any arrows I may have left lying around. I cannot leave any for another man to find.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Is that your famous bow?
PHILOKTETES
Yes. I have never set it aside.
NEOPTOLEMOS
May I hold it? May I cradle it in my hands?
PHILOKTETES
Only you. Hold it, and take whatever is useful to you.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I would love to hold it, if that is no violation, if it is lawful. If not, let it be.
PHILOKTETES
You speak piously, child. It is lawful, for you alone have granted me the light of the sun that shines above us and the sight of Oeta, my beloved land, the sight of my father, and of my dear friends. You have taken me away from my enemies, who stood above me. Courage, boy. Hold this bow, then give it back to me, and proclaim to everyone that you alone could hold it, a merit won by strength of character. That is how I won it myself: for an act of kindness long ago.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I am glad I found you and became your friend. One who knows how to give and receive kindness is a friend worth more than any possession. Go inside.
PHILOKTETES
Come inside with me. My sickness desires to have you alongside as its helper.
CHORUS
I have heard the story, although I did not see it myself, of the one who stole up to Zeus's bed, where Hera slept; how Zeus caught him and chained him to a whirring fiery wheel. But I have seen or heard of no other man whom destiny treated with such enmity as it did Philoktetes, who killed no one, nor robbed, but lived justly, a fair man to all who treated him fairly, and who fell into evils he did not deserve. It amazes me that he, alone, listening to the rushing waves pounding on the shore, could cling to life when life brought him pain, and so many tears.
He was crippled and had no one near him. He was made to suffer, and no one could ease his burden, answer his cries, mourn with him the savage, blood-poisoning illness that was devouring him. He had no neighbor to gather soft leaves to staunch the bleeding, hideous sore that ran, suppurating, maggoty, on his foot. He writhed and scrawled upon the hard ground, crying like a motherless child, to wherever he might find relief when the spirit-killing illness attacked him.
He gathered no grain sown in holy earth, nor the food that living men enjoy, except when he shot his feathered arrows and filled his stomach with what he took. In ten years, he has had no succoring wine; he searched for puddles and drank from them instead. But now fortune has come with victory for him. He has found the son of a great man, who will himself be great, when this is over. Our lord will carry him over the seas, after these ten years, to his father's home in the land of the nymphs of Malia, by the banks of sweet-running Spercheios, where Herakles the archer ascended to Olympos, bronze-armored, engulfed in holy fire, there above the hills of Oeta.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Come on, then, if you want to. Why do you stand there, seized by silence?
PHILOKTETES
Ah! Ah! Ah!
NEOPTOLEMOS
What is it?
PHILOKTETES
Nothing to fear. Come now, boy.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Does your illness now bring you pain?
PHILOKTETES
No. I seem to be better now. O, gods!
NEOPTOLEMOS
Why do you cry out to the gods in anguish?
PHILOKTETES
I cry that they might come and soothe me. Ah! Ah! Ah!
NEOPTOLEMOS
What is it? Tell me! I can see you're in pain. Do not keep it from me.
PHILOKTETES
I am destroyed, child. I am unable to hide this evil from you any longer. Aaaah! Aaaah! It sears through my blood! I am destroyed! I am being devoured! Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaah! By the gods, boy, if you have a sword, cut off my foot! Cut it off now! You cannot save me! Do it, boy.
NEOPTOLEMOS
What is this terrible thing that attacks you, and makes you scream in such misery?
PHILOKTETES
Don't you know?
NEOPTOLEMOS
What is it?
PHILOKTETES
How can you not know? Aaaah! Aaaah!
NEOPTOLEMOS
It is the terrible pain the disease sets upon you.
PHILOKTETES
Terrible indeed, more than words can tell. Pity me.
NEOPTOLEMOS
What should I do?
PHILOKTETES
Do not be afraid. Do not leave me. The disease comes and goes, perhaps when it has gorged itself in its other wanderings.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Poor man. You have endured such miseries, and still you live on. Should I help you up? Do you want me to hold you?
PHILOKTETES
Of all things, do not touch me. Take my bow instead, as you asked a while ago, until my pain diminishes. Keep the bow, keep it safe, my boy. Sleep overtakes me when the spell has passed; until then I'll have pain. You must let me sleep for a while. If my enemies come while I lie sleeping, I beg you, by the gods, do not give up my bow, willingly or unwillingly, by force or some trick. If you do, boy, you'll be a murderer, your own and mine, your suppliant.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Do not worry. I will be on my guard. No one but we will touch your bow. Give it to me now, and may the gods' fortune go with it.
PHILOKTETES
Take it, boy. Pray to the gods, lest they be jealous, and the bow become your sorrow, as it has been mine and its former master's.
NEOPTOLEMOS
O gods, grant what he asks, and grant us also a swift journey home on a sheltering wind, home, where Zeus bids us to go.
PHILOKTETES
Your prayer, I'm afraid, will be in vain. The murderous blood is running now from its deep well. I expect a new attack. It comes. Aaaah! Aaaah! It comes! O, foot, you do me evil! You have the bow, boy. You know what is happening. Do not leave me! Aaaah! Aaaah! O, Odysseus, I wish it were you, I wish it were your spirit that these pains now gripped! Aaaah! Agamemnon, Menelaus, I hope it is you, your two bodies, generals, that this savage pain holds for as many years.
Death, black death, how can I call on you again, and you not come to take me away? Boy, take my body and burn it away on a Lemnian pyre, in the volcano's heart. I did this for a man, a child of Zeus, and won the weapons you now keep safe. Will you do it, boy? Why don't you speak? Where are you, boy?
NEOPTOLEMOS
I grieve for you, sir. Your pain is mine.
PHILOKTETES
No, boy, be brave. The disease comes quickly and leaves me with equal speed. I beg you, do not leave me here.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Don't worry. We will stay here with you.
PHILOKTETES
You'll stay?
NEOPTOLEMOS
Surely.
PHILOKTETES
I find it unfitting to make you swear to it.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I cannot leave this place without you.
PHILOKTETES
Give me your hand on that.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I give it to you, and with you it stays.
PHILOKTETES
Now take me away.
NEOPTOLEMOS
What do you mean?
PHILOKTETES
Up there...
NEOPTOLEMOS
What madness is now upon you? Why do you look at the summit above us?
PHILOKTETES
Let me go!
NEOPTOLEMOS
Where?
PHILOKTETES
Let me go.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I cannot allow it.
PHILOKTETES
Touch me, and you kill me.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I am letting go. You are saner now.
PHILOKTETES
O Earth, take my body from me now. The illness no longer allows me to stand.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Soon, I think, sleep will overcome him. He nods his head. Sweat drenches his body, and a black bitter flood of pus and blood has broken and runs from his foot. Let us leave him to sleep, friends. Let us leave him quietly.
CHORUS
Sleep, stranger to pain and suffering, descend upon us kindly now. Cover his eyes with your radiance, come down, Healer, come down.
Boy, look now at where you stand, at where you are going, at what I hold for the future. Do you see him? He sleeps. Why are we waiting? The right moment decides everything and wins many sudden victories.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Yes, he hears nothing. But we have needlessly hunted, captured nothing if we take the bow, and sail without him. The crown of victory belongs to the one whom Zeus commanded that we bring back. A boast that cannot be carried out is a lie. That boast is a shameful disgrace.
CHORUS
Zeus will attend to such things, my boy. Answer me now; whisper softly. The sleep of a sick man, aware of all things, sees all. It is a sleep that is no sleep.
Think as far ahead as you can of how you might secretly do as I say. You know of whom I am thinking now. If your decision is the same as his, then anyone with eyes can see trouble ahead. A fair wind is rising. The man is blind and helpless now, stretched out in the darkness--- he is master not of hand, not of foot, not of anything. He is one lying down in Hades's chambers. Look to see if the time is right for what you intend: the best work is that which causes no fear.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Quiet, now! Have you lost your senses? The man's eyes are opening. He raises his head.
PHILOKTETES
Blessed is the light that follows sleep, blessed is a friend's protection. These things are beyond my wildest hopes, that you would pity me and care for my sorrows, that you would remain by me and endure my woes. The Atreids, the noble generals, would not do this. They would have no tolerance for my distress. Your nature is truly noble, for it comes from noble parents. You took this burden easily, a burden heavy with howls and foul smells. Now I can put aside this illness. I can rest. Raise me up in your arms, my boy, put me on my feet, and let me gather my strength, so that we can go to your ship and sail off immediately.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I am glad to see you with open eyes, unpained, alive. Your symptoms seemed those of a dead man, when taken with your sufferings. Arise now. If you wish, these men will lift you. They will do all they can for you now that you and I are shipmates.
PHILOKTETES
Thank you. But lift me up yourself, as you once suggested. Do not trouble the men. Let the stench not disturb them so early on--- my being aboard will be bother enough.
NEOPTOLEMOS
Stand up, then. Hold on to me.
PHILOKTETES
No need. I am used to it. Once I am up, I can manage.
NEOPTOLEMOS
It is time. What must I do?
PHILOKTETES
Your words stray off course. What is it, boy?
NEOPTOLEMOS
I do not know where to turn my powerless words.
PHILOKTETES
Powerless? Do not say such things.
NEOPTOLEMOS
But I am mired in powerless thoughts.
PHILOKTETES
Does this come from nausea at the sight of my illness? Does this push you not to take me?
NEOPTOLEMOS
Everything is nauseating to one who casts off his nature to do things that are out of character.
PHILOKTETES
It would not have been out of character for your father, the man who gave you your nature, to help a good man, both in word and in deed.
NEOPTOLEMOS
I will be shown to be evil. The very thought of it frightens me.