Philoctetes

Sophocles

Sophocles the plays and fragments, Part 4: The Philoctetes. Jebb, Richard Claverhouse, Sir, translator. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898.

  1. He will never listen; and by force you cannot take him.
Neoptolemus
  1. Has he strength so terrific to make him bold?
Odysseus
  1. Yes, shafts inevitable, escorts of death.
Neoptolemus
  1. Then one does not dare even approach him?
Odysseus
  1. No, unless he takes the man by deceit, as I prescribe.
Neoptolemus
  1. Then you think it brings no shame to speak what is false?
Odysseus
  1. No, not if the falsehood yields deliverance.
Neoptolemus
  1. And with what expression on his face will anyone dare mouth those lies?
Odysseus
  1. When what you do promises gain, it is wrong to shrink back.
Neoptolemus
  1. And what gain is it for me that he should come to Troy?
Odysseus
  1. His arrows alone will capture Troy.