ee,
My sire, the Gods will ne'er reprove my deed.

HER. Thou endest fairly. Now, then, O my son,
Add the performance swiftly, that, before
Some spasm or furious onset of my pain
Have seized me, ye may place me on the pyre.
Come, loiter not, but lift me. Now my end
Is near, the last cessation of my woe.

HYL. Since thy command is urgent, O my sire!
We tarry not, but bear thee to the pyre.

HER. Stubborn heart, ere yet again
Wakes the fierce rebound of pain,
While the evil holds aloof,
Thou, with bit of diamond proof,
Curb thy cry, with forced will
Seeming to do gladly still!

HYL. Lift him, men, and hate not me
For the evil deeds ye see,
Since the Heavens' relentless sway
Recks not of the righteous way.
He who gave life and doth claim
From his seed a Father's name
Can behold this hour of blame.
Though the future none can tell,
Yet the present is not well:
Sore for him who bears the blow,
Sad for us who feel his woe,
Shameful to the Gods, we trow.

CH. Maidens from the palace-hall,
Come ye forth, too, at our call!
Mighty deaths beyond belief,
Many an unknown form of grief,
Ye have seen to-day; and nought
But the power of Zeus hath wrought.

* * * * *

PHILOCTETES

THE PERSONS

ODYSSEUS.
NEOPTOLEMUS.
CHORUS _of Mariners_.
PHILOCTETES.
Messenger, _disguised as a Merchantman_.
HERACLES, _appearing from the sky_.

SCENE. A desert shore of the Island of Lemnos.

It was fated that Troy should be taken by Neoptolemus, the son of
Achilles, assisted by the bow of Heracles in the hands of Philoctetes.

Now Philoctetes had been rejected by the army because of a trouble in
his foot, which made his presence with them insufferable; and had been
cast away by Odysseus on the island of Lemnos.

But when the decree of fate was revealed by prophecy, Odysseus
undertook to bring Philoctetes back, and took with him Neoptolemus,
whose ambition could only be gratified through the return of
Philoctetes with the bow.

Philoctetes was resolutely set against returning, and at the opening
of the drama Neoptolemus is persuaded by Odysseus to take him with
guile.

But when Philoctetes appears, the youth's ingenuous nature is so
wrought upon through pity and remorse, that his sympathy and native
truthfulness at length ove