Summary

In “Poisoned Arrow,” the Greeks bury Ajax. They ask their soothsayer, Calchas, how to win the war. He tells them they must retrieve Philoctetes, a Greek warrior who lies abandoned at the island of Lemnos. The Greeks passed Lemnos 10 years ago on their way to war. There Philoctetes fought a dragon. He killed the beast but received a poisonous bite beforehand, which would not heal so the Greeks left him there to avoid wound stench on the ship.

Diomedes and Odysseus go to find him, finding him in a cave, extremely thin. He survived on birds he shot with arrows he dipped in his poison. The warriors promise to take care of him and if he returns. He agrees. At the camp he is dined, washed and his wound heals.

Philoctetes joins battle, using the poisoned arrows he still...