For thou hast sailed as bound by oath to none,[1]
Not by constraint, nor with the earlier host,
But none of all these things can I deny;
So, if he sees me while he holds his bow,
I perish, and shall cause thy death as well.
But this one piece of craft thou needs must work,
That thou may'st steal those arms invincible.
I know, Ο boy, thy nature is not apt
To speak such things, nor evil guile devise;80
But sweet it is to gain the conqueror's prize;
Therefore be bold. Hereafter, once again,
We will appear in sight of all as just.
But now for one short day give me thyself,
And cast off shame, and then, in time to come,
Be honoured, as of all men most devout.
Neop. The things, Ο son of Lartios, which I grieve
To hear in words, those same I hate to do.
I was not born to act with evil arts,
Nor I myself, nor, as they say, my sire.
Prepared am I to take the man by force,90
And not by fraud; for he with one weak foot
Will fail in strength to master force like ours;
And yet, being sent thy colleague, I am loth
To get the name of traitor; but I wish,
Ο king, to miss my mark in acting well,
Rather than conquer, acting evilly.
Odys. Ο son of noble sire, I, too, when young,
Had a slow tongue and ready-working hand;
But now, by long experience, I have found
Not deeds, but words prevail at last with men.
- ↑ For the suitors of Helena, who followed Agamemnon because of the oath with which her father Tyndareus had bound them, it would have been disgraceful to leave the army. Neoptolemos was under no such obligation, and this would give a probability to his story which, with any other of the host, would be wanting.
