Philoktetes Part 21

And what if they come in war against my country?

PHILOKTETES

I will be with you.

NEOPTOLEMOS

What kind of help could you give me?

PHILOKTETES

The help of Herakles's bow.

NEOPTOLEMOS

What do you mean?

PHILOKTETES

I will drive them out of your fatherland.

NEOPTOLEMOS

If you will do this, then come and kiss this ground, and we will go.

HERAKLES

Not yet. Not until you have heard me, Philoktetes.

Know that I am the voice of Herakles; you hear it with your ears and you see my body.

I have come from the dead to give you my help.

I come to reveal Zeus's plans to you, and to stop the journey which you now intend.

Listen to me.

Let me tell you first of my own fate, tell you of the hards.h.i.+ps and sufferings that were mine, and of the undying fame that I later won.

I gained immortality, as you can see. So will you, after all this misery you will have endless glory.

Go with this child to the plains of Troy.

There you will have a cure for your disease, and win fame as the best of the Greek warriors.

You will kill Paris Alexander, who started it all; you will kill him with your bow, once mine.

You will conquer Troy.

You will win the prize of glory from the armies and spoils of war that you will take home to Poias your father, and Oeta your country.

Take some of those spoils and make an offering on a pyre in commemoration of my bow.

Son of Achilles, hear me too.

You alone are not strong enough to conquer Troy, not without this man, nor he without you.

You must act like two lions in a pride, guarding each other as you hunt.

I will send Asklepios to Troy to heal his disease.

Troy will fall twice before my bow.

Remember this, though: when you go to sack Troy, stay holy. Zeus puts everything else below that.

Piety does not die with men; whether they live or die, piety remains.

PHILOKTETES

Voice that moves me, long-gone body, I will not disobey you.

NEOPTOLEMOS

Nor will I.

HERAKLES

Do not delay, then.

The time is right, and the tides are calling.

PHILOKTETES

Hear me, hated Lemnos.

Farewell, cave that shared my watch, nymphs of the water-meadows, farewell, thundering beat of waves on the headland, that wetted my head with spray on the cliffs, and the volcano that groaned in echo to my voice when I was tossed by storms.

Springs and the well of Lykeios, I leave you.

I had lost all hope of doing so.

Farewell, Lemnos, bound by waves, give me no further cause to mourn, but send me off on fair seas to win my glory where fate now carries me, to the judgment of friends and the all-governing spirit that rules these events.

CHORUS

Let us all go now, after we have prayed to the nymphs of the sea to grant us safe pa.s.sage over the waters.