Philoktetes

I would love to hold it, if that is no violation, if it is lawful. If not, let it be.

You speak piously, child. It is lawful, for you alone have granted me the light of the sun that shines above us and the sight of Oeta, my beloved land, the sight of my father, and of my dear friends. You have taken me away from my enemies, who stood above me. Courage, boy. Hold this bow, then give it back to me, and proclaim to everyone that you alone could hold it, a merit won by strength of character. That is how I won it myself: for an act of kindness long ago.

NEOPTOLEMOS

I am glad I found you and became your friend.
One who knows how to give and receive kindness
is a friend worth more than any possession.
Go inside.

PHILOKTETES

Come inside with me. My sickness desires to have you alongside as its helper.

CHORUS

I have heard the story, although I did not see it myself, of the one who stole up to Zeus's bed, where Hera slept; how Zeus caught him and chained him to a whirring fiery wheel. But I have seen or heard of no other man whom destiny treated with such enmity as it did Philoktetes, who killed no one, nor robbed, but lived justly, a fair man to all who treated him fairly, and who fell into evils he did not deserve. It amazes me that he, alone, listening to the rushing waves pounding on the shore, could cling to life when life brought him pain, and so many tears.

He was crippled and had no one near him. He was made to suffer, and no one could ease his burden, answer his cries, mourn with him the savage, blood-poisoning illness that was devouring him. He had no neighbor to gather soft leaves to staunch the bleeding, hideous sore that ran, suppurating, maggoty, on his foot. He writhed and scrawled upon the hard ground, crying like a motherless child, to wherever he might find relief when the spirit-killing illness attacked him.