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Heracles
The chorus is a group of Greek sailors under the command of Odysseus. The chorus largely functions to advance and enrich the plot, and they are exceedingly sympathetic to Philoctetes’s pain and suffering; however, the chorus also serves to underscore Philoctetes’s isolation. Sophocles’s contemporaries, Aeschylus and Euripides, both wrote plays about the myth of Philoctetes, but the chorus in their plays consisted of native Lemnians, not Greek sailors. With his chorus of Greek sailors, Sophocles is able to portray the island Lemnos as completely deserted and Philoctetes as utterly alone.
Chorus Quotes in Philoctetes
The Philoctetes quotes below are all either spoken by Chorus or refer to Chorus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Entry of the Chorus (Lines 135 – 218)
Quotes
His dreadful fate’s no wonder to me.
If I have an inkling, his sufferings first
Were sent by the gods, when he entered the shrine
Of cruel Chryse, who dealt him his wound.
So what he endures now, far from his friends.
Must also be due to the will of some god:
He may not aim those god-given shafts,
Which none can resist, at the towers of Troy,
Till the time has come when the prophet declares
Those arrows will prove her destruction.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Lament (Lines 1081 – 1218)
Quotes
You only have yourself to blame, unhappy man.
Nothing has struck you with force irresistible.
Where was your better judgement?
Fate would have been kinder, but you
Chose to accept a worse life.
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True men always will plead their causes justly.
Yet once they’ve spoken, they say no more.
Curb their spite and withdraw their sting.
Our young master was chosen.
Under Odysseus’ orders he came.
Helping friends and doing his public duty.
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Chorus Quotes in Philoctetes
The Philoctetes quotes below are all either spoken by Chorus or refer to Chorus. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Entry of the Chorus (Lines 135 – 218)
Quotes
His dreadful fate’s no wonder to me.
If I have an inkling, his sufferings first
Were sent by the gods, when he entered the shrine
Of cruel Chryse, who dealt him his wound.
So what he endures now, far from his friends.
Must also be due to the will of some god:
He may not aim those god-given shafts,
Which none can resist, at the towers of Troy,
Till the time has come when the prophet declares
Those arrows will prove her destruction.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Lament (Lines 1081 – 1218)
Quotes
You only have yourself to blame, unhappy man.
Nothing has struck you with force irresistible.
Where was your better judgement?
Fate would have been kinder, but you
Chose to accept a worse life.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
True men always will plead their causes justly.
Yet once they’ve spoken, they say no more.
Curb their spite and withdraw their sting.
Our young master was chosen.
Under Odysseus’ orders he came.
Helping friends and doing his public duty.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
