'The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes' is a verse adaptation by Seamus Heaney of Sophocles' play Philoctetes. It was first published in 1991. The story comes from one of the myths relating to the Trojan War. Heaney's version is well known for its lines:

History says, Don't hope

On this side of the grave,

But then, once in a lifetime

The longed-for tidal wave

Of justice can rise up

And hope and history rhyme.

The passage was quoted by Bill Clinton in his remarks to the community in Londonderry in 1995 during the Northern Ireland Peace Process, and by Joe Biden at the memorial service for Sean Collier, a campus police officer who was killed in the line of duty during the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. In the opening chorus of the play, Heaney's translation emphasizes the role of poetry as "the voice of reality and justice" in expressing "terrible events".

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