Chapter 7 7

The Greeks set sail that very day, and a favorable wind drove them swiftly across the open sea.Soon, they came to Kalusai Island to replenish domestic water.Philoctetes discovers on the island a collapsed altar built by the Argonaut Jason to the goddess Pallas Athena during his voyage.Philoctetes was the son of Poas, king of Meribea, and a comrade-in-arms of Hercules. He inherited Hercules' perfect archery skills.The hero of the pious city was delighted to find this altar, and he wanted to sacrifice to the goddess of protection of the Greeks.Just then, a serpent guarding the altar bit the hero's heel.Seriously wounded, he was carried aboard the warship, which set sail again.But Philoctetes' wound swelled up, and the pain was unbearable.The soldiers on the same boat could not bear the stench of the festering wound, and his loud cries of pain also disturbed people's peace.

In the end, the sons of Atreus and the cunning Odysseus secretly discussed how to deal with it.Because the complaints of the soldiers around the patient spread to the whole army, it aroused the uneasiness of the soldiers in the whole army.It was feared that the wounded Philoctetes would spread the plague before they reached Troy, and that his cries of pain would dampen the morale of the Greeks.So they decided to abandon the poor hero on the deserted beach of Remnos.But they didn't think that if they lost him, they would lose the invincible archer. The cunning Odysseus was chosen for this task.He loaded Philoctetes, who was asleep, into a boat, rowed to the beach, and laid him in a cave in a rock, leaving him sufficient clothing and food.The boat stopped for a moment.After the unfortunate Philoctetes was abandoned on a desert island, Odysseus returned in a boat.They continued sailing again, and soon caught up with the large group of warships ahead.