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of Atreus' evil sons and strong Odysseus.
Philoctetes
What? do you also bear a grudge against
these cursed sons of Atreus? Do you hate them?
Neoptolemus
320 Would that this hand could satisfy my hatred!
Then would Mycenae and Sparta come to know
that Skyros too has fathered valiant men.
Philoctetes
Good, child! But what foul crime have you endured
to come with such a mighty wrath against them?
Neoptolemus
325 Ah, son of Poeas, it is hard, but I
will tell you how I suffered at their hands.
After Achilles met his destined end . . .
Philoctetes
Oh wait! say nothing more until you tell me,
has he, the glorious son of Peleus, died?
Neoptolemus
330 He has - not killed by any man, but struck (so they say) by the arrow of Apollo.
Philoctetes
Well, both the slayer and the slain were noble.
My child, I cannot say if I should first
ask of your suffering or mourn for him.
Neoptolemus
Unhappy man! your own misfortunes are
335enough - you need not mourn for any other.
Philoctetes
Yes, you are right. Go on, then, with your story
of how these violent men have done you wrong.
Neoptolemus
Mighty Odysseus and old Phoenix came
to fetch me in a painted ship, and said -
340either sincerely or with false intent -
that, since my father died, it was decreed
that Troy be taken by no hand but mine.
The women of Trachis and Philoctetes. A new translation in verse by Robert Torrance. Houghton Mifflin. 1966.
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