I forbid you, as the gods are my witnesses, in the name of the Atreids and all their armies. PHILOKTETES Boy, whose voice is that? Odysseus's? ODYSSEUS None other, and very near you now. I will bring you to wide Troy myself, against your will, whether or not the boy approves. PHILOKTETES You will suffer for your words if this arrow flies true. NEOPTOLEMOS Don't shoot, by the gods! PHILOKTETES Let go of my hand now, boy. NEOPTOLEMOS No. I will not let go. PHILOKTETES Why do you keep me from killing my enemy? NEOPTOLEMOS It would not be a brave act for you or me. PHILOKTETES The lords of the army, the false heralds of the Greeks, are cowards in battle, however brave their words. NEOPTOLEMOS That may well be. You have your bow. You have no further cause to be angry with me. PHILOKTETES No. You have shown your true, nobly bred nature. You are the son of Achilles, not Sisyphos. Your father, when he lived, was the most famous man of all, and now he is most the famous of the dead. NEOPTOLEMOS It pleases me to hear you speak kindly of my father, and of me. Now listen to what I want from you. The gods' will is given to us mortals, and we must bear that will of necessity. And those who choose to clutch their miseries and not release them deserve no pity. You have become a savage through your anger; you refuse good advice and hate him who offers it, as though he were your enemy. I will speak freely. May Zeus, god of vows, be my witness. Listen to me; let my words be engraved in your mind: you are diseased, and your pain has been sent by the gods because you came close to the guardian of Chryse, the viper who silently watches over her roofless temple to keep invaders out. Your pain will have no relief in this place, where this sun rises, and this sun sets: you must first go willingly with us to Troy and there be taken by the Asklepiades, who will relieve your disease. And then, beside me, you must take your bow and conquer Troy. I know that it must be this way. A Trojan man was taken prisoner. His name is Helenos, and he is a trustworthy prophet. He told us of how this year it would pass, how it was fated that Troy would fall to the Greeks. If he was wrong, he said, then we should kill him. You know it all now. Yield, and obey. You will get much more than you asked for: you will be healed by knowing hands, and then you will gain the greatest glory of our people, becoming the most famous of us all, conquering Troy, the city that has drained us of blood and tears. PHILOKTETES