Euripides, Cyclops (ed. David Kovacs)
From Perseus Digital Library
Illustration: Fragment of a bowl from Argos,
c. 650 BCE. Blinding of Polyphemos. Height: 10 inches. Argos Museum.
Silenus
Chorus of Satyrs
Odysseus
Cyclops
Enter from the skene, representing Polyphemus’ cave, Silenus with a rake in his hand.
Silenus (apostrophizing the absent Dionysus)
O Bromius, labors numberless have I had because of you
[Ὦ Βρόμιε, διὰ σὲ μυρίους ἔχω πόνους] now and when I was young and able-bodied! First, when Hera drove you mad and you went off leaving behind your nurses, the mountain-nymphs;1 [5] next, when in the battle with the Earthborn Giants I took my stand protecting your right flank with my shield and, striking Enceladus with my spear in the center of his targe, killed him. (Come, let me see, did I see this in a dream? No, by Zeus, for I also displayed the spoils to Dionysus.) [10]
But now I am enduring a labor greater than those. For when Hera raised the Tuscan pirates against you to have you sold as a slave to a far country, I learned of it and took ship with my sons to find you. Taking my stand right at the stern, [15] I myself steered the double-oared ship, and my sons, sitting at the oars, made the grey sea whiten with their rowing as they searched for you, lord. And as we were rounding Cape Malea, an east wind blew down on the ship [20] and cast us to land near this crag of Aetna, where Neptune’s one-eyed sons, the man-slaying Cyclopes, dwell in their remote caves. One of these caught us and keeps us as slaves in his house: the master we serve is called [25] Polyphemus. And instead of our bacchic revels we now herd the flocks of this godless Cyclops. [ἀντὶ δ᾽ εὐίων βακχευμάτων ποίμνας Κύκλωπος ἀνοσίου ποιμαίνομεν.] And so my sons, being young, are shepherding the young sheep on the distant slopes, while my orders are to remain behind, fill the watering-troughs, and sweep this house, [30] assisting this godless Cyclops at his unholy meals. And now–duty is duty–I must sweep the house with this iron rake so that I may receive my absent master, the Cyclops, [35] and his sheep in a clean cave.
[Enter by Eisodos A the Chorus of satyrs, with attendants, driving sheep before them.]
But now I see my sons driving the flocks this way. What is this, lads? Can it be that you have the same rhythm to your lively dance as when you revelled at Bacchus’ side to the house of Althaea,5 [40] swaggering in to the music of the lyre? [μῶν κρότος σικινίδων ὁμοῖος ὑμῖν νῦν τε χὤτε Βακχίῳ κῶμος συνασπίζοντες Ἀλθαίας δόμους 40 προσῇτ᾽ ἀοιδαῖς βαρβίτων σαυλούμενοι;]
Chorus (addressing an errant ram)
Son of a noble sire and a noble dam, by what road, tell me, are you heading for the crags? Is not this the way to gentle breezes [45] and green grass? The water of eddying rivers stands in the drinking-troughs near the cave where stay your bleating young. Shoo! This way, this way! [50] Feed along the dewy slope here! You there, I shall soon throw a stone at you. On with you, on with you, horned one, guardian of the sheep-fold that belongs to the herdsman Cyclops, who treads the wild. (addressing a ewe) [55] Unloose your swollen udders. Take to your teats the young lambs you left behind inside the cave. The bleating little ones, who have slept all day, are missing you. [60] When will you leave the grassy
haunts of Aetna behind and enter your vast pen? No Dionysus is here, no dances, no Bacchic worship and carrying his wand, [65] no ecstatic noise of drums by the gushing springs of water, no fresh drops of wine. Nor on Mount Nysa can I join the Nymphs in singing the song ,Iacchos Iacchos, [70] to Aphrodite, whom I swiftly pursued in company with white-footed Bacchants.Ah me, lord Dionysus, where are you faring without your companions, [75] shaking your golden hair? I, your attendant, serve this one-eyed Cyclops,
a slave in exile, [80] dressed in this wretched goat-skin cloak and deprived of your friendship. [ὦ φίλος ὦναξ Βακχεῖε, ποῖ οἰ-75οπολῶν ξανθὰν χαίταν σείεις; ἐγὼ δ᾽ ὁ σὸς πρόπολος Κύκλωπι θητεύω τῷ μονοδέρκτᾳ δοῦλος ἀλαίνων 80σὺν τᾷδε τράγου χλαίνᾳ μελέᾳ σᾶς χωρὶς φιλίας.]
Silenus
Silence, my sons! Order your attendants to drive the flocks into the rocky cave!
Chorus-Leader (to the attendants)
Do as he says.
(They go into the cave with the animals.)
to Silenus
But what is your concern, father?
Silenus
[85] I see a Greek ship on the beach, and sailors who ply the oar coming to this cave with one who must be their commander. About their necks they carry empty vessels, since it is food they need, and pails for water. O unlucky strangers! [90] Who can they be? They know not what our master Polyphemus is like, nor that this ground they stand on is no friend to guests, and that they have arrived with wretched bad luck at the man-eating jaws of the Cyclops. But hold your peace so that we may learn [95] where they have come from to Sicilian Aetna’s crag.
Enter by Eisodos B Odysseus with his men.
Odysseus
Strangers, could you tell me where we might find a stream of water to cure our thirst, and whether anyone is willing to sell provisions to needy sailors? Why, what is this? We seem to have marched into Dionysus’ town. [100] For here’s a throng of satyrs near the cave. My first words to the eldest: Greeting! [<ἔα:> τί χρῆμα; Βρομίου πόλιν ἔοιγμεν ἐσβαλεῖν:
Σατύρων πρὸς ἄντροις τόνδ᾽ ὅμιλον εἰσορῶ. χαίρειν προσεῖπον πρῶτα τὸν γεραίτατον.]
Silenus
Greeting, stranger! But tell me your name and country.
Odysseus
Odysseus, of Ithaca, lord of Cephallene.
Silenus
I know of the man, the wheedling chatterer, Sisyphus’ son. [
Odysseus
[105] The very same. But spare me these aspersions.
Silenus
From what land have you sailed here to Sicily?
Odysseus
From Ilium and from the fighting at Troy.
Silenus
What? Did you not know your way home?
Odysseus
I was driven here by windstorms against my will.
Silenus
[110] O dear! The fate you suffer is the same as mine.
Odysseus
Did you also come here against your will?
Silenus
Yes, chasing the pirates who had carried off Dionysus.
Odysseus
What is this country, and who are its inhabitants?
Silenus
This is Mount Aetna, highest in Sicily.
Odysseus
[115] But where are the walls and city battlements?
Silenus
There are none. No men dwell in these headlands, stranger.
Odysseus
Who then are the land’s inhabitants? Wild beasts?
Silenus
Cyclopes, who live in caves, not houses.
Odysseus
Who is their ruler? Or do the people govern?
Silenus
[120] They are solitaries: no one is anyone’s subject.
Odysseus
Do they sow Demeter’s grain? Or how do they live?
Silenus
On milk and cheese and the flesh of sheep.
Odysseus
Do they possess Dionysus’ drink, that flows from the vine? [Βρομίου δὲ πῶμ᾽ ἔχουσιν, ἀμπέλου ῥοάς;]
Silenus
Not at all! Hence the land they dwell in knows no dancing. [ἥκιστα: τοιγὰρ ἄχορον οἰκοῦσι χθόνα.]
Odysseus
[125] Are they hospitable and god-fearing towards strangers?
Silenus
Most delicious, they maintain, is the flesh of strangers.
Odysseus
What? Do they feast on men?
Silenus
Everyone who has come here has been slaughtered.
Odysseus
The Cyclops himself, where is he? In his house?
Silenus
[130] He has gone off hunting wild beasts on Mount Aetna with his dogs.
Odysseus
Do you know what you must do so that we can leave this land?
Silenus
No, Odysseus. But I will do everything I can for you.
Odysseus
Sell us some bread, the thing we lack.
Silenus
As I told you, we have nothing but meat.
Odysseus
[135] That too is a pleasant way to put an end to hunger.
Silenus
And there is curdled cheese and also cows’ milk.
Odysseus
Bring them out: daylight befits merchandise.
Silenus
But you, tell me, how much gold will you give in exchange?
Odysseus
It is not gold I carry but rather Dionysus’ drink. [oὐ χρυσὸν ἀλλὰ πῶμα Διονύσου φέρω.]
Silenus
[140] What happy words you speak! The very thing we have lacked so long!
Odysseus
What is more, Maron, the god’s own son, gave me the drink.
Silenus
The lad I once raised in these very arms?
Odysseus
Dionysus’ son, to make my meaning clear.
Silenus
Is it on board ship, or do you carry it with you?
Odysseus
[145] This is the wine-skin that holds it, as you can see, old sir. [ὅδ᾽ ἁσκὸς ὃς κεύθει νιν, ὡς ὁρᾷς, γέρον.]
Silenus
This would not even be a mouthful for me.
Odysseus
<You would not be able to drink this wine-skin dry.>:
Silenus
<What? Does the skin produce new wine of itself?>146b
Odysseus
Yes, twice as much drink as flows from the wine-skin.
Silenus
What a lovely spring you speak of and one that gives me pleasure.
Odysseus
Would you like me to give you a taste of it neat first?
Silenus
[150] That’s fair enough: a taste invites a purchase.
Odysseus (producing a drinking-vessel)
See, I’ve brought a cup with me.
Silenus
Splash some in so that I can remember what it’s like to drink.
Odysseus
Done.
Silenus
Oh my, oh my! What a fine bouquet it has! [παπαιάξ, ὡς καλὴν ὀσμὴν ἔχει.]
Odysseus
What? Have you caught the fragrance?
Silenus
No, by Zeus, I smell it.
Odysseus (handing him the cup)
[155] Taste it, then, so that your praise of it may not be mere words.
Silenus
Oo la la! Bacchus invites me to the dance! Tra la, tra la, tra la! [βαβαί: χορεῦσαι παρακαλεῖ μ᾽ ὁ Βάκχιος. ἆ ἆ ἆ.]
Odysseus
Didn’t it gurgle nicely down your throat?
Silenus
Yes, all the way down to my toenails.
Odysseus
[160] And what is more we will give you some money as well.
Silenus
Just keep pouring the wine. Never mind the gold.
Odysseus
Then bring out cheese or lamb.
Silenus
I will do just that and pay little heed to my master. I would like to drink down a single cup of this wine, [165] giving all the Cyclopes’ flocks in exchange for it, and then to leap from the Leucadian cliff2 into the brine, good and drunk with my eyebrows cast down. The man who does not enjoy drinking is mad: in drink one can raise this to a stand, [170] catch a handful of breast and look forward to stroking her boscage, there’s dancing and forgetfulness of cares. Shall I not kiss such a drink and tell the bone-head Cyclops–and the eye in the middle of his head, too – -to go hang?
Exit Silenus into the cave.
[[Note: 146b The suppletions are, of course, mere guesses. A miraculous wine-skin is perfectly in keeping with the spirit of a satyr-play: compare the wine-miracle ascribed to Dionysus at Eur. Ba. 705.]]
[[Note 2 Leucas, a small island in the Ionian sea off the west coast of Greece, has chalk cliffs rising sharply from the sea. The leap from this cliff into the sea is used in Anacreon, fr. 376 PMG, as an image of the loss of self-control encountered when one is’drunk with love’. Sappho is said to have leapt from the cliff for the love of Phaon.]]
Chorus-Leader
[175] Listen, Odysseus. We would like a little chat with you.
Odysseus
Of course, since you are my friends and I am yours.
Chorus-Leader
Did you capture Troy and take Helen prisoner?
Odysseus
Yes, and we sacked the whole house of the sons of Priam.
Chorus-Leader
Once you had caught the girl, [180] didn’t you all then take turns banging her, since she takes pleasure in having more than one
mate? [ἐπειδὴ τὴν νεᾶνιν εἵλετε, 180ἅπαντες αὐτὴν διεκροτήσατ᾽ ἐν μέρει, ἐπεί γε πολλοῖς ἥδεται γαμουμένη] The traitoress! She saw the parti-colored breeches on the man’s legs and the gold necklace around his neck [185] and went all aflutter after them, leaving behind that fine little man Menelaus. O would that the female sex were nowhere to be found–but in my lap!
Enter Silenus from the cave.
Silenus
Here, my lord Odysseus, are your flocks, the nurslings of the bleating sheep, [190] and a goodly number of cheeses made of curdled milk. Take them. Go away quickly from the cave, but first give me the drink of the Bacchic vine. Heavens! Here comes the Cyclops. What are we to do?
Odysseus
Then we are done for, old man. Where should we flee to?
Silenus
[195] Inside this cave, where you could avoid being seen.
Odysseus
A dangerous suggestion, this, going into the net.
Silenus
No danger: there are many hiding-places in the cave.
Odysseus
I shall not do it. Troy would groan loudly if I were to run from a single man [200] when I stood my ground so often, shield in hand,
against a throng of Trojans without number. Rather, if I must die, I will die nobly–or live on and also retain my old reputation.
Enter the Cyclops with retinue by Eisodos A.
Cyclops
Give way, make way! What is going on here? What means this
slackness? Why this Bacchic holiday? Here is no Dionysus, [205] no bronze castanets, no rattle of drums. [οὐχὶ Διόνυσος τάδε, οὐ κρόταλα χαλκοῦ τυμπάνων τ᾽ ἀράγματα.] How fare my new-born lambs in the cave? Are they at the teat and running to their mothers’ sides? The milk for cheeses–has it been put in rush buckets? [210] What say you? This club will soon make
someone cry. Look up, not down!
Chorus-Leader (looking up at Polyphemus)
There! My head is turned up toward Zeus himself and the
stars, and I see Orion!
Cyclops
Is my dinner well prepared?
Chorus-Leader
[215] It is: just be sure your gullet is ready.
Cyclops
Are the mixing-bowls filled with milk as well?
Chorus-Leader
So much that you can drink an entire storage-jar if you like [ὅλον πίθον].
Cyclops
Cows’ milk or sheep’s or a mixture of both?
Chorus-Leader
Whatever you like. Just don’t swallow me down.
Cyclops
[220] I wouldn’t think of it: you would be the death of me with your dance-steps, leaping around in the middle of my belly.[ He
spies Odysseus and his men. ] Hey! What is this crowd I see near my cave? Have some pirates or robbers landed here? I do see lambs here from my cave, [225] their bodies bound with twisted willow-withes, and my cheese-buckets all in disarray, and an old man with his bald head swollen with blows.1
Silenus
Oh! Oh! Wretched me! What a fever I have got from being beaten up!
Cyclops
By whom? Who has been pummeling your head, old man?
Silenus
[230] These men, because I would not let them take your property.
Cyclops
Did they not know that I am a god and descended from gods?
Silenus
I told them so, but they went on plundering your possessions,
and, what is more, they started in on the cheese, though I tried to stop them, and began to carry off the sheep. And they said that they would collar you [235] like a dangerous dog and right before your very eye pull out your guts by force, flay your back nicely with a whip, then bind you hand and foot and throw youonto the rowing-benches of their ship and sell you to someone [240] to pry up rocks with or throw you into a mill.
[[Note: 1 We must suppose that the Cyclops here misdiagnoses the effect of the wine on Silenus, who then improvises his story to agree with Polyphemus’ mistake.]]
Cyclops
Is that so? (To a servant) You there, go on the double and sharpen my carving-knives and start a big bundle of wood blazing on the
hearth. The servant goes into the cave. They shall be slaughtered at once and fill my belly, [245] presenting the with a feast hot from the coals and the rest boiled and tender from the cauldron. I have had my fill of mountain fare: I have dined enough on lions and deer and have gone far too long without a meal of man’s-flesh.
Silenus
[250] Novelty, good master, is all the pleasanter after the usual. It has been some time since strangers arrived at your house.
Odysseus
Cyclops, listen in turn to us strangers as well. We came from our ship [255] to the neighborhood of your cave wishing to buy food.
And this fellow, since he had got something to drink, sold and tendered us these sheep for a cup of wine, willingly and to willing customers: there was no violence in this business. But now every word this fellow says is a lie [260] since he has been caught selling your goods behind your back.
Silenus
What, me? Damnation take you!
Odysseus
Yes, if I’m lying.
Silenus
By your father Poseidon, Cyclops, by great Triton and Nereus, by Calypso and the daughters of Nereus, [265] by the holysea-swell and the whole tribe of fishes, I swear–O my handsome, O my dear Cyclops, O sweet master–that I was not trying to sell your property to the strangers. If I am lying, may utter damnation take these sons of mine, the apple of my eye!
Chorus-Leader
[270] On your head, rather! I saw you selling the goods to these strangers. If I am lying, then damnation take my father! But do
no wrong to the strangers.
Cyclops (to the Chorus-Leader)
You lie. For my part, I put more trust in this man than in Rhadamanthys1 and think him more honest. [275] But I wish to ask a question. Where have you sailed from? What is your country? What city was it that brought you up?
Odysseus
We are men of Ithaca by birth, and it is from Ilium, after sacking the city, that we have come to your land, Cyclops, blownoff-course
by sea-storms.
Cyclops
[280] Are you the ones who went to punish Ilium on the Scamander for the theft of the worthless Helen?
Odysseus
Yes, we are the ones who endured that terrible toil.
Cyclops
Disgraceful expedition, to sail for the sake of one woman to the land of the Phrygians!
Odysseus
[285] It was the doing of a god: blame no mortal for it. But, o noble son of the sea-god, we at once entreat you and give you our frank censure: do not have the hardness to kill benefactors who have come to your house and to make of them a godless meal for your jaws. [290] It was we who kept your father safe in the possession of his temple-seats in every corner of Greece: the harbor of sacred Taenarum and the recesses ofCape Malea remain inviolate, safe is the rock of Sunium rich in silver, sacred to the goddess Athena, [295] safe are Geraestus’ refuges. We have avoided the great disgrace of losses to the Trojans.2 In these events you also have a share, dwelling as you do in the far reaches of Hellas, under Aetna, the rock that drips with fire.
But if you are deaf to these considerations, there is a law among mortals [300] that one must receive ship-wrecked suppliants, give them the gifts hospitality requires, and provide them with clothing. <It is this treatment we ought to receive from you,>3 rather than to have our limbs pierced with spits for roasting beef and to fill your maw and belly. Enough bereavement has Priam’s land wrought on Greece, [305] drinking down the blood of many
corpses shed by the spear. She has brought down wives widowed, old women and grey-beards childless to the grave. And if you mean to cook and consume those left, making a grim feast, where shall anyone turn for refuge? Listen to me, Cyclops: [310] let go of this gluttony and choose to be godly instead of impious: for many have found that base gain brings a recompense of punishment.
Silenus
I want to give you some advice: don’t leave untouched a single bit of this man’s flesh. And if you chew on his tongue, [315] you will become clever and glib, Cyclops.
Cyclops
Little man, the wise regard wealth as the god to worship; all else is just prating and fine-sounding sentiments. As for the headlands where my father’s temples are built, I pay them no heed. Why did you bother to put them in your speech? [320] And as for Zeus’s thunder-bolt, I do not shudder at that, stranger, nor do I know any
respect in which he is my superior as a god. <If I ever thought about him before,>1 I am not concerned about him henceforth. How it is that I am not concerned you may hear. When Zeus sends his rain from above, taking my water-tight shelter in this cave [325] and dining on roasted calf or some wild beast, I put on a feast for my upturned belly, then drinking dry a whole storage-vat of milk, I drum on it, making a din to rival Zeus’s thunder. And when the north wind out of Thrace pours snow on us, [330] I wrap my body in the skins of beasts, pile up a great blazing fire, and pay
no heed to the snow. The Earth brings forth grass willy-nilly to feed my flock. These I sacrifice to no one but myself–never to the gods– [335] and to my belly, the greatest of divinities. To guzzle and eat day by day and to give oneself no pain–this is Zeus in the eyes of men of sense. As for those who have passed laws and complicated men’s lives, [340] they can go hang. For my part, I shall not forgo giving pleasure to my heart–by eating you. Guest-presents you shall have–you shall not blame me there–guest-presents of this kind: fire to warm you, salt2 inherited from my father, and a bronze pot, which when it has reached a boil will clothe your ill-clad bodies nicely. [345] Now go inside in order that you may stand around the altar of the god who dwells within and give me sumptuous entertainment.
Odysseus
Oh, alas, I have escaped toils at Troy and on the sea only to put in now at the fierce and harborless heart of this godless man! [350]
O Pallas Athena, Zeus’s divine daughter, now, now is the time to help me. For I have come into trouble greater than at Troy and to the very uttermost of danger. And you, Zeus, Protector of Guests, who dwell in the bright realm of the stars, look on these things. For if you take no note of them, [355] men mistakenly think you are the god Zeus, when you are in fact no god at all.
[The Cyclops herds Odysseus and his men into the cave. Silenus follows.]
Chorus
Open the gate, O Cyclops, of your yawning throat: the limbs of your guests, boiled, roasted, or hot from the coals, are ready for you to gnaw, rend, and devour [360] as you recline dressed in a soft-fleeced goat-skin. Do not, do not, I say, give me any share of them! For yourself alone freight the vessel’s hold! Away with this house! Away with the godless sacrifice [365] of victims which the Cyclops celebrates, taking his pleasure in the flesh of his guests! [370] Hard-hearted one, pitiless is the man who sacrifices strangers who have taken refuge at his hearth, and who feasts
on them boiled and with teeth defiled tears and devours their flesh warm from the coals . . .
Enter Odysseus from the cave.
Odysseus
[375] O Zeus, what am I to say when I have seen in the cave terrible things, incredible things such as one meets only in stories,
not in the deeds of mortals?
Chorus-Leader
What is it, Odysseus? Can it really be that the godless Cyclops has feasted on your dear companions?
Odysseus
Yes. He spotted and weighed in his hands the two [380] who had the fattest flesh.
Chorus-Leader
Poor man, how came your comrades to suffer this fate?
Odysseus
When we entered this rocky hall, he first made the fire blaze up, heaping onto the hearth thick logs from a mighty oak, [385] enough to load three wagons, and he set the bronze kettle to boil on the fire. Then near the blaze he spread out a bed of fir branches upon the ground. After he had milked the heifers, [390] he filled to the brim a great mixing-bowl, holding about ninety gallons, with white milk, and he set next to it a cup of ivy-wood four-and-a-half feet from rim to rim and what looked like a
good six feet to the bottom; then spits made of buck-thorn wood, their ends burnt in the fire but the rest of them * >.1 When that vile and murderous cook had everything ready, he snatched up two of my companions. He cut the throat of the first over the cauldron with a sweep of the arm and drained him of blood, [400] the second he seized by the tendon at the end of his foot, struck him against the sharp edge of a rock, and dashed out his brains.
Then butchering them with a fierce blade he roasted their fleshy parts in the fire and put their arms and legs in the cauldron to boil. [405] And I stood near the Cyclops in my wretchedness, tears streaming from my eyes, and helped him at his work. The others cowered like birds in the recesses of the cave, their faces pale and bloodless. But when, sated with the meal he had made of my companions, [410] he fell on his back and belched a foul
stench from his maw, I was struck with a heaven-sent thought. I filled a cup with this wine of Maron and offered it to him to drink with these words: ‘O Cyclops, son of the sea-god, come see what kind of divine drink this is that Greece [415] provides from its vines, the gleaming cup of Dionysus,’ And he, his belly full to bursting with that execrable meal, took it and
downed it in one long draught, then raising his hand in admiration he said, ‘Dearest friend, you give me fine drink on top of a fine meal.’ [420] Seeing it had given him pleasure, I gave him another cup, knowing that wine would be his undoing and he would soon pay the penalty. In due course he proceeded to sing, and I plied him with one cup after another and heated his heart with drink. [425] Now hard by my weeping crew he sings his tuneless songs
while the cavern echoes with it. I have crept out with the intention of saving you and me, if you agree. So tell me whether or not you want to be quit of this savage and [430] live in the halls of Dionysus together with the Naiads. Your father assented to this in the cave, but since he is weak and has been enjoying the wine too much, he sticks fast to the cup like a bird caught in bird-lime, flapping his wings in vain. But since you are young, [435] escape with me and get back your old friend Dionysus, quite a different sort from the Cyclops.
Chorus-Leader
Dearest of friends, if only we might see that day and escape from the impious Cyclops. For a long time now my poor siphon [440] here has been widowed, with no place to lay its head. 1
Odysseus
Then listen to the punishment I have contrived for the knavish beast and our escape from slavery.
Chorus-Leader
Say on. I would not enjoy hearing the sound of the Asian lyre more than the news of the Cyclops’ death!
Odysseus
[445] He wants to go to his brother Cyclopes for a revel since he is delighted with this drink of Dionysus. [κώμου μὲν αὐτὸν τοῦδ᾽ ἀπαλλάξαι, λέγων ὡς οὐ Κύκλωψι πῶμα χρὴ δοῦναι τόδε,
μόνον δ᾽ ἔχοντα βίοτον ἡδέως ἄγειν.]
Chorus-Leader
I take your drift. You are eager to catch him by himself in the woods and cut his throat or push him off a cliff.
Odysseus
No, nothing like that. My desire is for something cunning.
Chorus-Leader
[450] What is it then? We have long heard about your cleverness.
Odysseus
To begin with, I want to keep him from going on this revel by telling him he shouldn’t give the other Cyclopes this drink but keep it to himself and live a life of pleasure. But when he falls asleep, overcome by Dionysus, [455] there is an olive-stake in is hall, whose tip, when I have sharpened it with this sword of mine, I shall put into the fire. Then when I see it burnt, I shall lift it hot and poke it into the Cyclops’ face and melt his eye with the fire. [460] And just as a ship’s joiner whirls his auger with a pair of thongs, so I shall drill the brand into the Cyclops’ orb of vision and burn out his eyeball.
Chorus-Leader
Hurrah! [465] I am driven frantic with joy by your inventions!
Odysseus
Then I shall put you and my friends and your old father on board my black ship, and with paired oars I shall set off from this land.
Chorus-Leader
Is there any way that I too could put my hand, as men do with a libation to the gods, [470] to the brand that will blind the Cyclops?
I want to have a part in this blood-letting.
Odysseus
You must, for the brand is big and you must help to hold it.
Chorus-Leader
I could lift the weight of a hundred wagons if we are going to smoke out that cursed Cyclops’ [475] eye like a wasps’ nest.
Odysseus
Then hold your tongue–you now know my plan–and when I give the word, do what the master-builder tells you to. I shall not leave
behind my friends in the cave and save myself alone. [ [480] And yet I could flee, and I have come out of the cave, but it is not right to leave behind my friends with whom I came here and save myself alone.]
Chorus-Leader
Who shall be stationed first, who next to first, to hold fast the grip of the fire-brand, [485] thrust it beneath the Cyclops’ brow and grind to powder his bright eye?
Singing within.[ （ᾠδὴ ἔνδοθεν）]1
Hush! Hush! For now the Cyclops, drunk and making graceless
melody, [490] comes forth from the rocky cave, a singer who is inept and shall pay dearly. Come, let us with our revelling songs impart some culture to this lout. [φέρε νιν κώμοις παιδεύσωμεν
τὸν ἀπαίδευτον] In any case he shall be blind.
[[Note: 1 An ancient stage-direction preserved in the text.]]
Enter the Cyclops from the cave, leaning on Silenus.
Chorus
[495] Happy the man who shouts the Bacchic cry, off to the revel [ἐπὶ κῶμον], the well-beloved juice of the vine putting the wind in his sails. His arm is around his trusty friend, and he has waiting for him [500] the fresh, young body of his voluptuous mistress upon her bed, and with his locks all gleaming with myrrh he says, ‘Who will open the door for me?’
Cyclops
Ooh la la! I’m loaded up with wine, my heart skips with the cheer of the feast. [505] My hull is full right up to the top-deck of my belly. This cheerful cargo brings me out to revel, in the springtime,
to the houses of my brother Cyclopes. [510] Come now, my friend, come now, give me the wine-skin [φέρε μοι, ξεῖνε, φέρ᾽, ἀσκὸν ἔνδος μοι.].
Chorus
With a lovely glance he comes all lovely from the halls <crying,> ‘Someone loves me.’ Don’t wait for the hour of lamp-lighting: <> [515] and a slender nymph are within a dewy cave. But it is not crowns of a single hue only that will soon hold converse with your brow.
Odysseus
Hear me, Cyclops, since I am acquainted [520] with the Dionysus whom I gave you to drink.
Cyclops
Who is this Dionysus? Is he worshipped as a god?
Odysseus
Yes, the best source of joy in life for mortals.
Cyclops
At any rate, I belch him out with pleasure.
Odysseus
Such is this god. No mortal will he harm.
Cyclops
[525] But how can a god love to dwell in a wine-skin?
Odysseus
Wherever you put him, there he is at ease.
Cyclops
The gods ought not to clothe themselves in skins.
Odysseus
Why, if he gives delight? Do you mind the skin?
Cyclops
I hate the wine-skin. But this drink I love.
Odysseus
[530] Stay here and drink then, Cyclops. Take your cheer.
Cyclops
Shall I not give my brothers some to drink?
Odysseus
Keep it yourself and you will be more honored.
Cyclops
By giving it I’m more helpful to my kin.
Odysseus
Revelling often ends in fists and quarrelling. [πυγμὰς ὁ κῶμος λοίδορόν τ᾽ ἔριν φιλεῖ.]
Cyclops
[535] Besotted though I am, no man shall touch me!
Odysseus
Good friend, it’s best when drunk to stay at home.
Cyclops
Foolish the man who drinks and does not revel. [ἠλίθιος ὅστις μὴ πιὼν κῶμον φιλεῖ.]
Odysseus
But he who’s drunk and stays at home is wise.
Cyclops
What shall we do, Silenus? Shall we stay?
Silenus
[540] Yes, stay: what need of other banqueters? [δοκεῖ. τί γὰρ δεῖ συμποτῶν ἄλλων, Κύκλωψ;]
Odysseus
What’s more, the ground is soft with flowery boscage.
Silenus
What’s more, it’s nice to drink when the sun’s so hot. Please lie down, then, recline upon the ground.
Cyclops
[ The Cyclops lies down. Silenus puts the mixing-bowl behind
him.] Done! [545] Why are you putting the bowl behind me? [τί δῆτα τὸν κρατῆρ᾽ ὄπισθ᾽ ἐμοῦ τίθης;]
Silenus
So no one passing by may knock it over.
Cyclops
No, you mean to steal some and drink it. Put it down between us. But you, stranger, tell me what name I must call you.
Odysseus
Noman. What favor shall I get and thank you for? [Οὖτιν: χάριν δὲ τίνα λαβών σ᾽ ἐπαινέσω;]
Cyclops
[550] Of all your company I shall eat you last.
Silenus
Fine present, Cyclops, you have given your guest!
Cyclops
You! What are you doing? Drinking on the sly?
Silenus
No, the wine kissed me for my handsome looks.
Cyclops
You’ll regret you loved the wine which loves not you.
Silenus
[555] No, by Zeus, for it says it has fallen for my beauty.
Cyclops
Just pour, give me the cup when you have filled it!
Silenus
How is the mixture? Let me have a look.
Cyclops
You’ll be the death of me! Just hand it over!
Silenus
Not until I see you crowned .
[He gives him a garland to put on ] and I’ve had a little taste. [He takes a large gulp. ]
Cyclops
[560] This wine-pourer’s a crook [οἱνοχόος ἄδικος.]
Silenus
Yes, but the wine is sweet. But time to wipe your mouth: here comes a drink.
Cyclops
I’ve wiped it off: my lips and beard are clean.
Silenus
Lie gracefully on your elbow and drink it off, just as you see me drink–or see me not!
[He tips the wine-cup up so as to be invisible behind it.]
Cyclops
[565] Hey, what are you up to?
Silenus
Nicely down the hatch!
Cyclops
Stranger, take charge of the wine and be my wine-pourer.
[λάβ᾽, ὦ ξέν᾽, αὐτὸς οἰνοχόος τέ μοι γενοῦ.]
Odysseus
At least my hand has some acquaintance with the vine.
Cyclops
Come, pour then.
Odysseus
See, I’m pouring. Just be quiet.
Cyclops
That’s hard advice for a man who’s downed a lot.
Odysseus
[handing him the cup] [570] There: take it and drain it
off now. No heel taps. The toper and his wine must end together.
Cyclops
Oh my, how clever is the grapevine’s wood.
Odysseus
And if you swig deep after a full meal and drink till your belly loses its thirst, it will put you to sleep. [575] But if you leave some, Dionysus will parch you up.
The Cyclops has a long drink.
Cyclops
Calloo, callay! How close I was to drowning in it! This
is pleasure unalloyed.[οὺ ἰού. ὡς ἐξένευσα μόγις: ἄκρατος ἡ χάρις.] I think I see the heaven and the earth swimming around together, I see Zeus’s throne [580] and the whole revered company of the gods. Shall I not kiss them? The Graces are trying
to seduce me. No more! With this Ganymede here I shall go off to bed with greater glory than with the Graces. And somehow I take more pleasure in boys than in women. [ἅλις. Γανυμήδη τόνδ᾽ ἔχων ἀναπαύσομαι κάλλιον ἢ τὰς Χάριτας. ἥδομαι δέ πως τοῖς παιδικοῖσι μᾶλλον ἢ τοῖς θήλεσιν.]
(He puts his arm around Silenus.)
Silenus
[585] What, am I Zeus’s boy Ganymede, Cyclops?
Cyclops
Yes, by Zeus, whom I am abducting from Dardanus’ house.
Silenus
Oh, I am done for, my sons! A terrible fate is in store
for me! [ἀπόλωλα, παῖδες: σχέτλια πείσομαι κακά.]
Cyclops
Do you not like your lover and turn up your nose at one
who’s drunk? [μέμφῃ τὸν ἐραστὴν κἀντρυφᾷς πεπωκότι;]
Silenus
Oh me! My glimpse of the wine will soon prove all too bitter!
(Exit the Cyclops, with the reluctant Silenus, into the cave.)
Odysseus
[590] Come, Dionysus’ children, noble offspring, the man’s
within and soon, relaxed in sleep, he’ll belch his meat out from his shameless maw. Inside the hall the fire-brand is ready, sending forth smoke, and there is nothing left to do but to burn out [595] the Cyclops’ eye. But now you must show your manhood.
Chorus-Leader
Our hearts shall be like rock or adamant! But go into the house before my father suffers some awful disaster. From this quarter all is ready for you.
Odysseus
Hephaestus, lord of Aetna, [600] burn out the bright eye of this pest, your neighbor, and be quit of him for good! And you, Sleep,
child of black Night, come with undiluted force against this god-detested beast! After his glorious deeds at Troy do not let Odysseus, himself and his men, [605] die at the hands of a man who heeds not gods or men! Otherwise, we will have to regard Chance as God and the gods as weaker than Chance.
[Exit Odysseus into the cave.]
Chorus
The tongs will firmly grasp the neck [610] of the guest-eater: for by fire he will soon lose his shining eyes. Already the fire-brand, burnt to charcoal, [615] is hid in the ashes, huge offshoot of an oak. But let Maron come, the giver of the wine, let it act, let it extract the eye of the mad Cyclops so that he may prove to have drunk to his cost! [620] And after that I long to see the lovely ivy-garlanded Dionysus and to leave behind the Cyclops’ lonely dwelling. Shall I ever attain such joy?
[Enter Odysseus from the cave.]
Odysseus
Silence, you savages, for heaven’s sake be quiet! [625] Let your lips be shut fast! I forbid anyone even to breathe or to blink or to clear his throat lest the monster wake up before the Cyclops’ eye
can have its contest with the fire.
Chorus-Leader
We hold our peace, gulping down the air with our mouths.
Odysseus
[630] Come then, you must go inside and put your hands to the fire-brand. It is now glowing nicely.
Chorus-Leader
Won’t you say who must grasp the charred stake first and thus burn out the Cyclops’ eye, so that we may share in what fate holds!
Leader of semi-Chorus A
[635] We stand too far from the door to push the fire into
the Cyclops’ eye.
Leader of semi-Chorus B
And we have just now become lame.
Leader of semi-Chorus A
The same thing has happened to me. As I was standing here I sprained my feet, I can’t think how.
Odysseus
[640] You got a sprain while standing?
Leader of Semi-chorus A
Yes, and somehow my eyes have become full of dust or ash.
Odysseus
These allies of mine are cowardly and worthless.
Chorus-Leader
Just because I take pity on my back and my spine and have no desire to have my teeth [645] knocked out, is that cowardice? But I know an incantation of Orpheus so wonderful that the firebrand all on its own will march up to his skull and set the one-eyed son of earth on fire.
Odysseus
For a long time I have known that your nature was like this, [650] but now I know it better. I must make use of my own friends. But if you have no strength in your arm, at least cheer us on so that with your encouragement we may find our friends brave.
Exit Odysseus into the cave.
Chorus-Leader
I shall do so and let a mercenary run my risk. [655] If encouragements can do it, let the Cyclops be burned!
Chorus
Hurrah, hurrah! Thrust bravely, hurry, burn out the eyebrow of the guest-eating monster [yhrÚw toË jenoda¤ta.]. Burn, incinerate [660] the herdsman of Aetna. Whirl and pull, whirl and pull, lest in pain he do you some desperate harm.
[Enter the Cyclops from the cave with bloodied mask.]
Cyclops
Alas! My bright eye is all turned to cinder!
Chorus-Leader
A lovely song: please sing it for me again, Cyclops!
Cyclops
[665] Alas, alack! How I have been maltreated, how undone!
But you will never escape this cave with impunity, you cowards. For I shall take my stand in the entrance and fit my hands to it.
Chorus-Leader
Why do you shout so, Cyclops?
Cyclops
I am ruined!
Chorus-Leader
[670] You do look ugly.
Cyclops
And miserable as well!
Chorus-Leader
Did you fall in a drunken stupor into the coals?
Cyclops
Noman destroyed me.
Chorus-Leader
No one, then, has done you wrong.
Cyclops
Noman has blinded my eye.
Chorus-Leader
So you are not blind.
Cyclops
<How sharp the pain!>1
Chorus-Leader
And how could no one make you blind?
Cyclops
[675] You mock me. But this Noman, where is he?
Chorus-Leader
Nowhere, Cyclops.
Cyclops
Know well, it was my guest who destroyed me, the abominable
guest, who drowned me with the drink he gave me.
Chorus-Leader
Yes, wine is a dangerous thing and hard to wrestle against.
Cyclops
Tell me, for heaven’s sake, have they fled or are they still in the house?
Chorus-Leader
[680] They are standing here quietly under the overhang of the cliff.
Cyclops
To my left or my right?
Chorus-Leader
To your right.
[The Cyclops moves from the entrance. Thereafter Odysseus and his men slip silently out. ]
Cyclops
Where?
Chorus-Leader
Right next to the cliff. Have you got them?
The Cyclops collides with the rock cliff.
Cyclops
Yes, got pain on top of pain! I’ve hit my head and broken it.
Chorus-Leader
And what’s more, they’ve given you the slip.
Cyclops
[685] Didn’t you say somewhere over here?
Chorus-Leader
No. I mean over here.
Cyclops
And where is that?
Chorus-Leader
Turn round this way, to your left.
Cyclops
Oh, I am mocked. You taunt me in my troubles.
Chorus-Leader
I shall no more. He’s right in front of you.
Cyclops
Knave, where in the world are you?
Odysseus
At some distance, [690] where I can keep watch over the body of Odysseus here.
Cyclops
What? This is a new name you use.
Odysseus
The very one my father gave me, [Odysseus,]2 and you were
destined, it seems, to pay the penalty for your ungodly feast. For my burning Troy to the ground would have been a sorry deed [695] if I had not punished. you for the murder of my companions.
Cyclops
Oh, oh, an ancient prophecy is now being fulfilled! It said that I would be blinded at your hands when you had set out from Troy.
But it also prophesied that you would pay the penalty for this [700] by drifting about on the sea for a long time.
Odysseus
You can go hang, say I! And I have already done what you say I shall do. But now I shall go to the beach and launch my ship homeward over the Sicilian Sea.
[Exit Odysseus and his men by Eisodos B. ]
Cyclops
Oh no you won’t, for I shall break off a piece of this crag, [705] hurl it, and crush you, companions and all, to bits. I’m going up to the hill-top, blind though I am, by climbing through my tunnel.3
Exit Cyclops into the cave.
Exeunt Chorus by Eisodos B.
Chorus-Leader
As for us, we shall be ship-mates with Odysseus and ever after serve in Dionysus’ train. [ἡμεῖς δὲ συνναῦταί γε τοῦδ᾽ Ὀδυσσέως
ὄντες τὸ λοιπὸν Βακχίῳ δουλεύσομεν.]
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