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CH.
What shall we do, my lord? We wait thy word
Or to sail now, or yield to his desire.

NEO.
My heart is pressed with a strange pity for him,
Not now beginning, but long since begun.

PHI.
Ay, pity me, my son! by all above,
Make not thy name a scorn by wronging me!

NEO.
O! I am troubled sore. What must I do?
Would I had never left mine island home!

PHI.
Thou art not base, but seemest to have learnt
Some baseness from base men. Now, as ’tis meet,
Be better guided–leave me mine arms, and go.

NEO.
(to Chorus).

What shall we do?

[Enter ODYSSEUS.]

ODYSSEUS.
What art thou doing, knave?
Give me that bow, and haste thee back again.

PHI.
Alas! What do I hear? Odysseus’ voice?

OD.
Be sure of that, Odysseus, whom thou seest.

PHI.
Oh, I am bought and sold, undone! ‘Twas he
That kidnapped me, and robbed me of my bow.

OD.
Yea. I deny it not. Be sure, ’twas I.

PHI.
Give back, my son, the bow; release it!

OD.
That,
Though he desire it, he shall never do.
Thou too shalt march along, or these shall force thee.

PHI.
They force me! O thou boldest of bad men!
They force me?

OD.
If thou com’st not willingly.

PHI.
O Lemnian earth and thou almighty flame,
Hephaestos’ workmanship, shall this be borne,
That he by force must drag me from your care?

OD.
‘Tis Zeus, I tell thee, monarch of this isle,
Who thus hath willed. I am his minister.

PHI.
Wretch, what vile words thy wit hath power to say!
The gods are liars when invoked by thee.

OD.
Nay, ’tis their truth compels thee to this voyage.

PHI.
I will not have it so.

OD.
I will. Thou shalt.

PHI.
Woe for my wretchedness! My father, then,
Begat no freeman, but a slave in me.

OD.
Nay, but the peer of noblest men, with whom
Thou art to take and ravage Troy with might.

PHI.
Never,–though I must suffer direst woe,–
While this steep Lemnian ground is mine to tread!

OD.
What now is thine intent?

PHI.
Down from the crag
This head shall plunge and stain the crag beneath.

OD.
(to the Attendants.)

Ay, seize and bind him. Baffle him in this.

PHI.
Poor hands, for lack of your beloved string,
Caught by this craven! O corrupted soul!
How thou hast undermined me, having taken
To screen thy quest this youth to me unknown,
Far worthier of my friendship than of thine,
Who knew no better than to obey command.
Even now ’tis manifest he burns within
With pain for his own error and my wrong.
But, though unwilling and mapt for ill,
Thy crafty, mean, and cranny spying soul
Too well hath lessoned him in sinful lore.
Now thou hast bound me, O thou wretch, and thinkest
To take me from this coast, where thou didst cast me
Outlawed and desolate, a corpse ‘mongst men.
Oh!
I curse thee now, as ofttimes in the past:
But since Heaven yields me nought but bitterness,
Thou livest and art blithe, while ’tis my pain
To live on in my misery, laughed to scorn
By thee and Atreus’ sons, those generals twain
Whom thou art serving in this chase. But thou
With strong compulsion and deceit was driven
Troyward, whilst I, poor victim, of free will
Took my seven ships and sailed there, yet was thrown
Far from all honour,–as thou sayest, by them,
But, as they turn the tale, by thee.–And now
Why fetch me hence and take me? To what end?
I am nothing, dead to you this many a year.
How, O thou Heaven-abhorred! am I not now
Lame and of evil smell? how shall ye vaunt
Before the gods drink-offering or the fat
Of victims, if I sail among your crew?
For this, as ye professed, was the chief cause
Why ye disowned me. Perish!–So ye shall,
For the wrong done me, if the Heavens be just.
And that they are, I know. Else had ye ne’er
Sailed on this errand for an outcast wretch,
Had they not pricked your heart with thoughts of me.
Oh, if ye pity me, chastising powers,
And thou, the Genius of my land, revenge,
Revenge this crime on all their heads at once!
My life is pitiable; but if I saw
Their ruin, I would think me well and strong.