Take your luck for granted. Count your blessings
And always be ready to pity other people.
Chorus
Pity him, sir, do.
The man’s at breaking point.
Imagine he was your friend.
And you didn’t take him then?
It would cry out to heaven.
You have it in for the sons of Atreus
So now’s your chance to thwart them.
Take Philoctetes home
In your speedy ship. Do justice
And upset them – all at once.
Neoptolemus
Be sure this just isn’t all loose talk.
Take care that you aren’t going to change your tune
When he’s stinking up the boat, and your stomach’s turning.
Chorus
Trust us. We’re not going to renege.
Neoptolemus
If that’s the case, then, I’ll not have it said
I ever stopped a stranger being helped.
But we have to get a move on.
He’s welcome, he’s in with us, so get him ready
And we’ll be off, to wherever the gods grant
Safe passage and plain sailing.
Philoctetes
This is a happy day! And you, son dear,
And all of you, how will I ever manage
To pay you back? Friends! Friends,
We have to go, but before we go, I want
To kiss this ground … Take one last farewell
Of a home where I never was at home.
You have to realise the way I lived.
Many’s another would have given up.
For most people, one glimpse of the life here
Would have been enough. But I was fit for it.
I matched necessity. I passed the test.
Chorus
Hold on a moment. There are two people here.
The one from the ship I recognise, but not
The other one. We should see what they want.
Enter Merchant (in disguise).
Merchant
Son of Achilles, I was told of your whereabouts
By the watchman at the boat.
Lucky for you
That we landed here at all, in fact.
Pure chance.
Anyhow, I’m a skipper with a fleet
Of merchant vessels, coming back from Troy.
And when I heard from your sailors you were captain
I thought the right thing was to get in touch
Before I sailed – for your own good, that is,
And maybe do myself a good turn too.
Who knows?
Let me just say, then;
There are certain things you should be aware of.
The Greeks have plans for you, and some of them
Are going ahead already as we speak.
Neoptolemus
A good deed should be rewarded, friend,
So you’ll be treated right. I’ll see to that.
But what’s your news exactly? What are these moves?
Merchant
Old Phoenix and two sons of Theseus
Are on the high seas after you.
Neoptolemus
Why this time? To snatch me or negotiate?
Merchant
I’ve no idea. I’m telling you all I know.
Neoptolemus
But why are Phoenix and those two young fellows
In such a hurry to please the leadership?
Merchant
This is it … But you have to realise
This is what you are actually up against.
Neoptolemus
And why not Odysseus this time too?
Was he too scared to volunteer? I can’t believe it!
Merchant
Odysseus? Oh, he was gone already
When I set sail. He and Tydeus’ son
Were away after another, different man.
Neoptolemus
So what about this other man? What sent
Odysseus after him? Who is he?
Merchant
Oh! He’s himself, somewhere …
But you tell me,
And keep your voice down when you do: who’s this?
Neoptolemus
This, friend, is the famous Philoctetes.
Merchant
That’s that, then. End of questions. Time to go.
Get yourself on board and get as far
Away from this island as you ever can.
Philoctetes
What’s he saying there? What bad is this man
Trying to put into your head about me?
Neoptolemus
I can make no sense of it myself. But
Whatever it is, he’ll have to speak it out,
In the open, to you, to me, and everyone.
Merchant
Son of Achilles, don’t report me. Don’t
Get me into trouble with the army.
I’m only a trader and have to trade
In whatever’s going. Like information.
Neoptolemus
Look. This man and I are two fast friends.
Both of us have our knife in that Atreus clan.
But you have come to me as a friend as well,
So keep nothing back, from me or from him.
Merchant
Well. For your own good, you should watch yourself.
Neoptolemus
I can watch myself.
Merchant
All right, then.
Here is the story as I understand it.
Odysseus and the other captain sailed
In pursuit of Philoctetes here.
They have sworn to take him into custody
One way or another. If they can’t
Manage to soft-soap him, they’ll use force.
Odysseus declared all this in public.
He was far more overbearing than the other.
Neoptolemus
But they did their dirty work on Philoctetes
Years ago, so what’s possessed them now?
Why do they all of a sudden want him back?
Fear of the gods? Remorse? I wouldn’t think it.
Merchant
I can see I have to start at the beginning
And get this whole thing clear, once and for all.
All right.
First, you should know about a soothsayer
Called Helenus.
A Trojan.
One of Priam’s sons.
So Odysseus organises a night raid
And with all his usual old dirty dodges
He captures this Helenus and shows him off
In front of the Greek army. But Helenus
Can more than hold his own. He prophesies
And the gist of his prophecy concerns
This man.
He tells the Greeks
That unless they can coax Philoctetes
To leave this island – of his own accord –
They are never going to take the town of Troy.
Well, that was what got Odysseus interested.
His line was simple: he would bring Philoctetes
And make a show of him among the ranks.
If he came willingly, then well and good.
If not, no matter. He would still be forced to come.
And Odysseus makes a vow of this and says,
‘You can take the head off me,’ he says,
‘Cut off my head,
if I don’t deliver Philoctetes.’
So, young man. That’s it. And if you have sense,
You’ll mind yourself – whatever about him –
And make tracks out of here.
Philoctetes
Oh! Desperate! Desperate!
Incredible that he could even imagine it,
Think that he could ever talk me back among them.
There’s about as much chance of that as of me
Rising from the dead.
Merchant
Well, whatever.
I’m away back now to the ship.
The pair of you
Are in the lap of the gods.
I wish you well.
Exit Merchant.
Philoctetes
Can you believe this, child? Odysseus
Thinks it possible he can cajole me
Into a ship, and back to face the Greeks.
I’d sooner meet the snake that poisoned me.
I’d sooner its forked tongue any day than his.
He has the neck for anything, nothing
Is sacrosanct, he’ll say and do the worst.
I know him, and I know he will be here.
So, set sail.
Get as much ocean as you can between
Him and us. It’s action stations now!
Neoptolemus
We need the wind behind us. We can’t move
Till it changes in our favour.
Philoctetes
Everything has to favour any move
Out of harm’s way.
Neoptolemus
True enough.
But what’s against us is also against them.
Philoctetes
It’ll be for them, one way or another.
Neoptolemus
All right. We will go now. But first, think:
Is there anything here you really need?
Philoctetes
Only one thing.
Not much, but still essential.
Neoptolemus
Something we wouldn’t have on board the ship?
Philoctetes
I’ve got this store of herbs put by, for when
The sore gets bad. They ease the pain a bit.
Neoptolemus
Bring them with you, then, and whatever else.
Philoctetes
The only other thing would be the arrows
I might have dropped.
Nobody else must ever
Lay hands on them.
Neoptolemus
And that, in your hands there:
Is that the bow?
Philoctetes
This is the bow.
I inherited this from Hercules
When his body burned on the funeral pyre
And his name became a god’s.
Neoptolemus
The bow
Is like a god itself.
I feel this urge
To touch it.
For its virtue.
Venerate it.
Can I hold it in my hands?
Philoctetes
If you can’t hold it, child,
Then who else can? From now on, what’s mine is yours.
Neoptolemus
I want to take it but I don’t want to
Go beyond the bounds of what is allowed.
Philoctetes
You are allowed, son. Your natural reverence
Gives you the right. You’ve brought back sunlight here.
You’ve lit the world and now I’m fit to see
A way home to my father and my friends.
I was under the heel of enemies
But you raised me up above them.
You of all men have the right to hold
Philoctetes’ bow. What’s mine is yours.
You gave to me, I give to you …
The bow is proffered, elevated and held significantly between them.
You and you alone can tell the world
You touched this weapon, and the reason why
Is the reason I got it from Hercules
In the first place: generous behaviour.
Neoptolemus
There’s a whole economy of kindness
Possible in the world; befriend a friend
And the chance of it’s increased and multiplied.
Come on now. Check the cave.
Philoctetes
But you come too.
I am hardly fit.
Exit Philoctetes and Neoptolemus up to cave.
Chorus
You’ve heard the famous tale
Of Ixion on his wheel:
When he wanted Zeus’s wife
Zeus punished him for life
And bent him like a hoop.
Ixion courted fate
And had to suffer for it.
But Philoctetes, no.
He didn’t seduce or kill.
He was just and dutiful.
Think what that man came through.
What did he ever do
To be cursed with his abscess,
Crippled and deserted,
Doomed in a wilderness?
When he could bear no more,
The pain kept on. His sore
Made him squeal and scream
For somebody to come.
But nobody ever came.
He crept round like an infant.
He wept. And when he hunted
For herbs to soothe the foot,
The foot wept as he dragged it.
His trail was blood and matter.
But when an infant creeps
And hurts himself and weeps,
The helping hand is there.
For Philoctetes, never:
His echo was his neighbour.
No cultivated ground,
No field where crops abound,
No milled grain or bread.
Only what he could kill
But now it is farewell
To the thicket and the pool.
Now it’s wine in the bowl.
Set out in his father’s house –
To give thanks and to bless.
With Neoptolemus
He will voyage to where
He knows each well and river,
And Hercules’s pyre
Blazed once upon the hills.
Neoptolemus and Philoctetes come out of the cave.
Neoptolemus gets down to a lower level. Philoctetes arrested higher up, gradually rocking a little and supported on the bow.
Neoptolemus
All right.
We’d better go.
What’s wrong with you?
Philoctetes
Ahhhhhhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhh. Hohohohohoh.
Neoptolemus
What is this anyway?
Philoctetes
Nothing.
Nothing’s wrong.
You keep going.
Neoptolemus
Is it the ulcer? Is it going to start?
Philoctetes
I don’t think so.
No harm.
You keep going.
Oh gods! O holy gods! Oh! Ohhhhh! Ohhhhhhh!
Neoptolemus
What are we going to do? You’re in awful pain.
Philoctetes
This is the end, son.
This ruins everything.
I’m being cut open! Can you not do anything?
It’s coming now. It’s coming.
Oh! Ah! AHHHHHHH!
Get your sword, son. Take the sword to me.
Cut off that foot.
Destroy it.
Give me peace.
Quick, quick, quick, do something!
I want to die.
A silence.
Neoptolemus
Philoctetes. What has come over you?
What is this turn? Can you still hear me?
Philoctetes
You know …
Neoptolemus
Know what?
Philoctetes
All these spasms of mine …
Neoptolemus
What about them?
Philoctetes
I can’t go on. I’m done.
Neoptolemus
You were at the limit. At the breaking point.
Philoctetes
There are no words for it. Only pity.
Pity.
Neoptolemus
But what am I going to do?
Philoctetes
Whatever you do, don’t leave. Don’t let me
Scare you.
This thing comes over me.
One minute
It’s nowhere and the next I’m squalling.
Neoptolemus
This is terrible. There must be something
I could do. Can I not give you a hand?
Would it not help you just to hold on to me?
Philoctetes
No! No! Don’t touch me. But you can hold the bow.
You’ll have to guard it till this turn is over.
The pain will run its course, and once it eases
I’ll go straight to sleep. Out like a light.
That’ll mean I’m on the mend, so let me sleep.
But if any of them land when I’m like that,
I bind you in the sight of all the gods:
Never part with this bow. Willingly
Or unwillingly. That will be fatal. Fatal
For you, and for me that’s in your power.
Do you understand?
Neoptolemus
Easy, Philoctetes. Rely on me.
No other hands will ever touch this bow
But yours and mine. Trust fate. Give it over.
Philoctetes
Here is the bow for you. Here are the arrows.
Dangerous weapons. And dangerous because
They tempt the gods to be jealous of your luck.