NEO. Ah, friend, he was no more. Had he but lived,
This robbery had ne’er been wrought on me.
PHI. What? Is he too departed?
NEO. He is dead.
The light no more beholds him.
PHI. Oh! alas!
But Tydeus’ offspring, and the rascal birth
Laërtes bought of Sisyphus, they live:
I know it. For their death were to be wished.
NEO. Yea, be assured, they live and flourish high
Exalted in the host of Argive men.
PHI. And Nestor, my old friend, good aged man,
Is he yet living? Oft he would prevent
Their evils, by the wisdom of his thought.
[page 229][424-461] NEO. He too is now in trouble, having lost
Antilochus, the comfort of his age.
PHI. There, there! In one brief word thou hast revealed
The mournful case of twain, whom I would last
Have chosen to hear of as undone. Ah me!
Where must one look? when these are dead, and he,
Odysseus, lives,—and in a time like this,
That craves their presence, and his death for theirs.
NEO. He wrestles cleverly; but, O my friend,
Even ablest wits are ofttimes snared at last.
PHI. Tell me, I pray, what was become of him,
Patroclus, whom thy father loved so well?