Page:Sophocles (Collins).djvu/166

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154
SOPHOCLES.

I enter thee, of arms, of life, deprived.
But I must pine forsaken in the cave;
Nor wingèd bird, nor mountain-ranging beast,
Shall these good darts bring down. I yield in death
To those a banquet, who supplied my own.
****** I will not curse thee, ere I learn if yet
Thou wilt relent—if not, all evil blast thee!"—(D.)

Neoptolemus makes a motion to restore the bow, when Ulysses (who, we must suppose, has been a listener to at least the latter portion of the dialogue) rushes in between them:—

"Ulys. What wouldst thou do,
O vilest of mankind? Wilt thou not hence,
The sacred arms resigning to my hand?
Phil. Ha! who is this? Ulysses do I hear?
Ulys. Ay, I who stand before thee am Ulysses.
Phil. O, I am sold, undone! This is the wretch
Who snared and hath despoiled me of mine arms.
Ulys. 'Tis I, in sooth—none else. I own the deed.
Phil. Restore, give back the arms to me, my son!
Ulys. This, did he wish, he would not dare to grant.
But thou must hence with us, or those around
By force must drag thee."—(D.)

In vain does the sufferer appeal to Heaven against such wrong; it is Heaven, says Ulysses, whose will he and Neoptolemus are obeying in forcing him to Troy. Then he will throw himself headlong from the rock, and end his misery at once, rather than be thus disgraced. But he is seized and overpowered by order of Ulysses, who listens with a calm composure to the