Philoctetes

Sophocles

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

  1. Then I am not to be the conqueror, as you said?
Odysseus
  1. Neither will you be without them, nor they without you.
Neoptolemus
  1. It would seem, then, that we must track them down, if things stand as you say.
Odysseus
  1. Know that by doing this task, you win two rewards.
Neoptolemus
  1. What are they? If I knew, I would not refuse the deed.
Odysseus
  1. You will be celebrated in the same breath as clever and as noble.
Neoptolemus
  1. So be it! I will do it, and cast off all shame.
Odysseus
  1. Do you remember, then, the story that I recommended?
Neoptolemus
  1. Be sure of it, since once and for all I have consented.
Odysseus
  1. You stay here, then, to wait for him. Meanwhile I will go away, so as not to be observed here with you,
  2. and I will send our lookout back to your ship. And, if in my view you seem to linger at all beyond the due time, I will send that same man back again, after disguising him as the captain of a merchant-ship, so that secrecy may be on our side.