The Seven Plays in English Verse Part 53

NEO. And is not lying shameful to thy soul?

OD. Not if by lying I can save my soul.

NEO. How must one look in speaking such a word?

OD. Where gain invites, this shrinking is not good.

NEO. What gain I through his coming back to Troy?

OD. His arms alone have power to take Troy-town.

NEO. Then am not I the spoiler, as ye said?

OD. Thou without them, they without thee, are powerless.

NEO. If it be so, they must be sought and won.

OD. Yea, for in this two prizes will be thine.

NEO. What? When I learn them, I will not refuse.

OD. Wisdom and valour joined in one good name.

NEO. Shame, to the winds! Come, I will do this thing.

OD. Say, dost thou bear my bidding full in mind?

NEO. Doubt not, since once for all I have embraced it.

OD. Thou, then, await him here. I will retire, For fear my hated presence should be known, And take back our attendant to the s.h.i.+p.

And then once more, should ye appear to waste The time unduly, I will send again This same man hither in disguise, transformed To the strange semblance of a merchantman; From dark suggestion of whose crafty tongue, Thou, O my son, shalt gather timely counsel.

Now to my s.h.i.+p. This charge I leave to thee.

May secret Hermes guide us to our end, And civic Pallas, named of victory, The sure protectress of my devious way.

CHORUS (_entering_).

Strange in the stranger land, I 1 What shall I speak? What hide From a heart suspicious of ill?

Tell me, O master mine!

Wise above all is the man, Peerless in searching thought, Who with the Zeus-given wand Wieldeth a Heaven-sent power.

This unto thee, dear son, Fraught with ancestral might, This to thy life hath come.

Wherefore I bid thee declare, What must I do for thy need?

NEO. Even now methinks thou longest to espy Near ocean's marge the place where he doth lie.

Gaze without fear. But when the traveller stern, Who from this roof is parted, shall return, Advancing still as I the signal give, To serve each moment's mission thou shalt strive.

CH. That, O my son, from of old I 2 Hath been my care, to take note What by thy beck'ning is told; Still thy success to promote.

But for our errand to-day Behoves thee, master, to say Where is the hearth of his home; Or where even now doth he roam?

O tell me, lest all unaware He spring like a wolf from his lair And I by surprise should be ta'en, Where doth he move or remain, Here lodging, or wandering away?

NEO. Thou seest yon double doorway of his cell, Poor habitation of the rock.

CH. 2. But tell Where is the pain-worn wight himself abroad?

NEO. To me 'tis clear, that, in his quest for food, Here, not far off, he trails yon furrowed path.

For, so 'tis told, this mode the sufferer hath Of sustenance, oh hardness! bringing low Wild creatures with wing'd arrows from his bow; Nor findeth healer for his troublous woe.

CH. I feel his misery. II 1 With no companion eye, Far from all human care, He pines with fell disease; Each want he hourly sees Awakening new despair.

How can he bear it still?

O cruel Heavens! O pain Of that afflicted mortal train Whose life sharp sorrows fill!

Born in a princely hall, II 2 Highest, perchance, of all, Now lies he comfortless Alone in deep distress, 'Mongst rough and dappled brutes, With pangs and hunger worn; While from far distance shoots, On airy pinion borne, The unbridled Echo, still replying To his most bitter crying.

NEO. At nought of this I marvel--for if I Judge rightly, there a.s.sailed him from on high That former plague through Chrysa's cruel sting[1]: And if to-day he suffer anything With none to soothe, it must be from the will Of some great G.o.d, so caring to fulfil The word of prophecy, lest he should bend On Troy the shaft no mortal may forfend, Before the arrival of Troy's destined hour, When she must fall, o'er-mastered by their power.

CH. 1. Hush, my son! III 1

NEO. Why so?

CH. 1. A sound Gendered of some mortal woe, Started from the neighbouring ground.

Here, or there? Ah! now I know.

Hark! 'tis the voice of one in pain, Travelling hardly, the deep strain Of human anguish, all too clear, That smites my heart, that wounds mine ear.

CH. 2. From far it peals. But thou, my son! III 2

NEO. What?

CH. 2. Think again. He moveth nigh: He holds the region: not with tone Of piping shepherd's rural minstrelsy, But belloweth his far cry, Stumbling perchance with mortal pain, Or else in wild amaze, As he our s.h.i.+p surveys Unwonted on the inhospitable main.

_Enter_ PHILOCTETES.

PHILOCTETES. Ho!

What men are ye that to this desert sh.o.r.e, Harbourless, uninhabited, are come On s.h.i.+pboard? Of what country or what race Shall I p.r.o.nounce ye? For your outward garb Is Grecian, ever dearest to this heart That hungers now to hear your voices' tune.

Ah! do not fear me, do not shrink away From my wild looks: but, pitying one so poor, Forlorn and desolate in nameless woe, Speak, if with friendly purpose ye are come.

Oh answer! 'Tis not meet that I should lose This kindness from your lips, or ye from mine.

NEO. Then know this first, O stranger, as thou wouldest, That we are Greeks.

PHI. O dear, dear name! Ah me!

In all these years, once, only once, I hear it!

My son, what fairest gale hath wafted thee?

What need hath brought thee to the sh.o.r.e? What mission?

Declare all this, that I may know thee well.

NEO. The sea-girt Scyros is my native home.

Thitherward I make voyage:--Achilles' son, Named Neoptolemus.--I have told thee all.

PHI. Dear is that sh.o.r.e to me, dear is thy father O ancient Lycomedes' foster-child, Whence cam'st thou hither? How didst thou set forth?

NEO. From Troy we made our course in sailing hither.