And I sail homeward, I, Achilles' son,240
Named Neoptolemos. Now know'st thou all.
Phil. Ο son of dearest father, much-loved land,
Thou darling boy of Lycomedes old,
Whence sailing, whither bound, hast thou steered hither?
Neop. At present I from Ilion make my voyage.
Phil. What say'st thou? Thou wast surely not with us
A sailor when the fleet to Ilion came?
Neop. What? Did'st thou, too, share that great enterprise?
Phil. And know'st thou not, Ο boy, whom thou dost see?
Neop. How can I know a man I ne'er beheld?250
Phil. And did'st thou never hear my name, nor fame
Of these my ills, in which I pined away?
Neop. Know that I nothing know of what thou ask'st.
Phil. Ο crushed with many woes, and of the Gods
Hated am I, of whom, in this my woe,
No rumour travelled homeward, nor went forth
Through any clime of Hellas! But the men
Who cast me out in scorn of holiest laws
Laugh in their sleeve, and this my sore disease
Still grows apace, and passes into worse.
My son, Ο boy that call'st Achilles sire,260
Lo! I am he, of whom perchance thou heard'st,
That I possess the arms of Heracles,
The son of Pœas, Philoctetes, whom
Our generals twain and Kephallene's king[1]
Basely cast forth thus desolate, worn out
Through fierce disease, with bite of murderous snake,
Fierce bite, sore smitten; and with that, Ο boy,
- ↑ Kephallene is named, rather than Ithaca, as implying a greater scorn, the Kephallenians being of ill repute both as traders and as pirates.
