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Philoctetes
My hateful life, why do you keep me here
instead of letting me go down to Hades?
1350What shall I do? how can I disobey
his words, when he has counseled me in friendship?
Shall I submit? But then, in my misfortune,
how could I face the light? whom could I speak to?
My eyes, who have beheld my many wrongs,
1355how could you ever bear to see me with
the sons of Atreus, who have ruined me,
or with that villainous son of Laertes?
Resentment for the past is not what hurts me,
but thinking on the pains that I must suffer
1360hereafter: for when men have given birth
to evil thoughts once, they will soon learn others.
Your actions, too, surprise me: you should never
have thought of going back to Troy or taking
my bow: for these men have insulted you
1365and robbed your father's arms. Can you intend
to go and fight for them, and force me also?
No, child, not that! You must fulfill your promise
to take me home; and you must stay in Skyros
and let those evil men die and be damned.
1370Thus you will win a double gratitude,
mine and my father's; and though you have served
bad men, your nature will not seem like theirs.
Neoptolemus
You speak with reason; yet I hope that you
will put your trust in God and in my words,
1375and sail from here with me, who am your friend.
Philoctetes
What, sail to Troy and to the hated son
of Atreus with this cursèd foot of mine?
Neoptolemus
To those who will relieve your pus-filled limb
from suffering, and cure you of your illness.
The women of Trachis and Philoctetes. A new translation in verse by Robert Torrance. Houghton Mifflin. 1966.
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