Philoctetes

The cave Odysseus remembers

Odysseus steps onto a headland of Lemnos and tells Neoptolemus to look for a cave with two mouths. He remembers leaving Philoctetes there on the orders of the Achaean commanders. The wounded man’s cries had interrupted every libation and sacrifice in the camp.

Now Odysseus has returned because Troy still stands. He does not begin by asking Philoctetes to rejoin the army. He wants Neoptolemus to win the man’s trust and take the bow of Heracles. The plan separates the weapon the Greeks need from the person they abandoned.

The cave makes that separation difficult to ignore. It has a sunny seat for winter, a cooling passage in summer, a rough wooden cup and material used to dress a wound. Philoctetes has arranged a life around pain and the bow that lets him shoot birds for food.

Why the Greeks leave him there

The Iliad gives the outline in its Catalogue of Ships. Philoctetes commands seven vessels, each with fifty oarsmen who are also trained archers. Yet he is not with them at Troy. The Achaeans leave him on Lemnos with an agonising wound from a water-snake, and Medon commands in his absence.

Apollodorus supplies the event Homer leaves unexplained. During a sacrifice to Apollo, a water-snake comes from the altar and bites Philoctetes. The wound will not heal and its smell becomes unbearable to the army. Agamemnon orders Odysseus to put him ashore with the bow of Heracles.

The two accounts agree on what follows. Philoctetes remains on Lemnos while the expedition sails without him. Homer adds that the Achaeans soon remember their absent leader. The army can replace his command, but not forget his archery.

Who comes back for the bow

Apollodorus and Sophocles send different companions to Lemnos. In the Epitome, Odysseus returns with Diomedes, obtains the bow by craft and persuades Philoctetes to sail. The summary moves quickly from deception to consent.

Sophocles replaces Diomedes with Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, and makes consent the problem of the play. Neoptolemus tells Philoctetes that he too has been wronged by the Achaean commanders. The lie works because both men have reason to resent Odysseus. Philoctetes places the bow in his hands.

Odysseus then appears and claims both archer and weapon for Troy. He threatens force if Philoctetes will not come willingly. The bow has been taken, but the wounded man still refuses to become useful to the people who left him.

Why Neoptolemus returns what he took

Neoptolemus turns back. He tells Odysseus that he intends to undo his earlier error and return the bow because he acquired it disgracefully and unjustly. Odysseus argues that the weapon was won through his plan. Neoptolemus answers that justice matters more than cleverness.

Giving back the bow does not solve the larger demand. Neoptolemus tells Philoctetes that the sons of Asclepius can heal him at Troy and that he is destined to take the city with them. Philoctetes still chooses home. Neoptolemus agrees to carry him there even though it means defying the Greek army.

At this point the play has rejected both routes Odysseus offered. Deception obtains the bow but not willing service. Force can move a body, but it cannot make Philoctetes accept the men who injured him.

What changes his decision

Heracles appears above the stage as Philoctetes and Neoptolemus prepare to leave. The former owner of the bow orders Philoctetes to sail to Troy. Asclepius will heal the wound, Philoctetes will kill Paris with an arrow, and he and Neoptolemus will take the city together.

The command also binds the two warriors to each other. Heracles says neither can conquer Troy without the other and compares them to two lions guarding the same prey. Philoctetes accepts the order, addresses Lemnos in farewell and leaves the cave.

Sophocles does not let the bow return to Troy alone. Odysseus’s plan fails at the point where it treats Philoctetes as separate from his weapon. The archer sails only after he holds the bow again and hears the command from the man who gave it meaning.