Philoctetes

Sophocles

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

  1. to lead me from his ship and show me in the middle of the Greeks? No! I would sooner listen to that greatest and worst of my enemies, the viper which made me crippled as I am! But there is nothing that he would not say or dare. And now I know that he is coming here.
  2. Come, son, let us be moving, so that a wide sea may part us from the ship of Odysseus. Let us go! Good speed in good season brings sleep and rest when toil is finished.
Neoptolemus
  1. Then as soon as the wind is not at our prow,
  2. we will sail. At present it blows against us.
Philoctetes
  1. The sailing is always fair, when you flee trouble.
Neoptolemus
  1. Not so; this weather is against them also.
Philoctetes
  1. No wind stands in the way of pirates who sense a chance to steal and plunder by force.
Neoptolemus
  1. Well, if you are so resolved, let us go, once you have taken from the cave whatever you need or desire most.
Philoctetes
  1. Yes, there are some things that I need, though the choice is not large.
Neoptolemus
  1. What is there that will not be available on board my ship?
Philoctetes
  1. I have a store of a certain herb, whereby I can always