Page:Tragedies of Sophocles (Plumptre 1878).djvu/445

Rh Neop. But what is all thou bidd'st me say but lies?

Odys. I bid thee Philoctetes take with guile.

Neop. And why by guile, when suasion might succeed?

Odys. He will not hearken, and by force thou can'st not.

Neop. Has he so dread a strength whereto he trusts?

Odys. His darts unerring, bringing swiftest death.

Neop. Is it not safe, then, e'en to speak with him?

Odys. Not so, unless, as I repeat, in guile.

Neop. Dost thou not count it base to utter lies?

Odys. Not so, when falsehood brings deliverance.

Neop. But with what face can one such falsehoods speak?

Odys. When acts bring gain, it is not well to shrink.

Neop. What gain for me that he should come to Troïa?

Odys. This bow and this alone shall Troïa take.

Neop. Am I not destined, as thou said'st, to take it?

Odys. Nor thou from these, nor these from thee apart.

Neop. If so it stands, then we must hunt for them.

Odys. So doing thou shalt gain two gifts of price.

Neop. What are they? Learning them I shall not shrink.

Odys. Thou shalt be known at once as wise and good.

Neop. Come, then, I'll do it, casting off all shame.

Odys. Rememb'rest thou the counsel that I gave?

Neop. Be sure of that, when I have once agreed.

Odys. Do thou, then, here abiding, wait for him,

And I will go, lest I be seen with thee,

And send our scout to yon ship back again.

And if ye seem to me to linger long,

The self-same man will I send back, in guise

Of seaman's dress, his form disguising so

That he may come unknown; and thou, my son,