Cyclop
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
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Odysseus
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Indeed thou must, for the brand is large, and thou must help hold it.
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Chorus
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How lightly would I lift the load of e’en a hundred wains, if that will help us to grub out
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the eye of the doomed Cyclops, like a wasp’s nest.
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Odysseus
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Hush! for now thou knowest my plot in fall, and when I bid you, obey the author of it; for I am not the man to desert my friends inside the cave and save myself alone.
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And yet I might escape; I am clear of the cavern’s depths already; but no! to desert the friends with whom I journeyed hither and only save myself is not a righteous course. [Re-enters the cave.
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First Half-Chorus
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Come, who will be the first and who the next to him upon the list to grip the handle of the brand,
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and, thrusting it into the Cyclops’ eye, gouge out the light thereof?
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Second Half-Chorus
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Hush! hush! Behold the drunkard leaves his rocky home, trolling loud some hideous lay,
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a clumsy tuneless clown, whom tears await. Come, let us give this boor a lesson in revelry. Ere long will he be blind at any rate.
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First Half-Chorus
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Happy he who plays the Bacchanal amid the precious streams distilled from grapes, stretched at full length for a revel, his arm around the friend he loves,
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and some fair dainty damsel on his couch, his hair perfumed with nard and glossy, the while he calls, Oh! who will ope the door for me?
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Odysseus
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(Returning with the wineskin.) Hearken, Cyclops; for I am well versed in the ways of Bacchus,
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whom I have given thee to drink.
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Cyclops
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And who is Bacchus? some reputed god?
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Odysseus
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The greatest god men know to cheer their life.
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Cyclops
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I like his after-taste at any rate.
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Odysseus
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This is the kind of god he is; he harmeth no man.
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Cyclops
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But how does a god like being housed in a wine-skin?
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Odysseus
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Put him where one may, he is content there.
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Cyclops
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It is not right that gods should be clad in leather.
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Odysseus
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What of that, provided he please thee? does the leather hurt thee?
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Cyclops
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I hate the wine-skin, but the liquor we have here I love.
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Odysseus
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Stay, then, Cyclops; drink and be merry.
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Cyclops
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Must I not give my brethren a share in this liquor?
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Odysseus
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No, keep it thyself and thou wilt appear of more honour.
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Cyclops
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Give it my friends and I shall appear of more use.
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Odysseus
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Revelling is apt to end in blows, abuse, and strife.
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Cyclops
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I may be drunk, but no man will lay hands on me for all that.
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Odysseus
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Better stay at home, my friend, after a carouse.
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Cyclops
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Who loves not revelling then is but a simpleton.
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Odysseus
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But whoso stays at home, when drunk, is wise.
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Cyclops
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What shall we do, Silenus? art minded to stay?
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Silenus
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That I am; for what need have we of others to share our drink, Cyclops?
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Cyclops
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Well, truly the turf is soft as down with its fresh flowering plants.
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Silenus
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(seating himself.) Aye, and ’tis pleasant drinking in the warm sunshine.
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Silenus
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Come, let me see thee stretch thy carcase on the ground.
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Cyclops
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(sitting dawn.) There then!
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Why art thou putting the mixing-bowl behind me?
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Silenus
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That no one passing by may come upon it.καταλάβῃ, but one MS. has καταβάλῃ upset, which Kirchhoff prefers.
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Odysseus
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Noman. What boon shall I receive of thee to earn my thanks?
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Cyclops
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I will feast on thee last, after all thy comrades.
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Odysseus
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Fair indeed the honour thou bestowest on thy guest, sir Cyclops!
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Cyclops
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(turning suddenly to Silenus.) Ho, sirrah! what art thou about? taking a stealthy pull at the wine?
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Silenus
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No, but it kissed me for my good looks.
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Cyclops
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Thou shalt smart, if thou kiss the wine when it kisses not thee.
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Silenus
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Oh! but it did, for it says it is in love with my handsome face.
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Cyclops
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(holding out his cup.) Pour in; only give me my cup full.
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Silenus
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H’m! how is it mixed? just let me make sure. (Takes another pull.)
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Cyclops
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Perdition! give it me at once.
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Cyclops
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My cup-bearer is a cheat.
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Cyclops
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There! my lips and beard are clean now.
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Silenus
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Bend thine elbow gracefully, and then quaff thy cup, as thou seest me do, and as now thou seest me not. (Burying his face in his cup.)
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Cyclops
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Aha! what next?
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Cyclops
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Stranger, take the skin thyself and be my cup-bearer.
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Odysseus
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Well, at any rate the grape is no stranger to my hand.
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Cyclops
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Come, pour it in.
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Cyclops
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A difficult task when a man is deep in his cups.
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Odysseus
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Here, take and drink it off; leave none.
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Odysseus
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Thou must be silentσιγῶντα, but many editors follow Casaubon in reading δὲ σπῶντα drink it off. and only give in when the liquor does.
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Cyclops
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God wot! it is a clever stock that bears the grape.
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Odysseus
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Aye, and if thou but swallow plenty of it after a plentiful meal, moistening thy belly till its thirst is gone, it will throw thee into slumber;
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but if thou leave aught behind, the Bacchic god will parch thee for it.
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Cyclops
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Ha! ha! what a trouble it was getting out! This is pleasure unalloyed; earth and sky seem whirling round together; I see the throne of Zeus
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and all the godhead’s majesty. Kiss thee! no! There are the Graces trying to tempt me. I shall rest well enough with my Ganymede here; yea, by the Graces, right fairly.
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Silenus
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What! Cyclops, am I Ganymede, Zeus’s minion?
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Cyclops
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(attempting to carry him into the cave.) To be sure, Ganymede whom I am carrying off from the halls of Dardanus.
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Silenus
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I am undone, my children; outrageous treatment waits me.
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Chorus
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Dost find fault with thy lover? dost scorn him in his cups?
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Silenus
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Woe is me! most bitter shall I find the wine ere long. [Exit Silenus, dragged away by Cyclops.
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Odysseus
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Up now, children of Dionysus, sons of a noble sire, soon will yon creature in the cave, relaxed in slumber as ye see him, spew from his shameless maw the meat. Already the brand inside his lair is vomiting a cloud of smoke; and the only reason we prepared it was to burn
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the Cyclops’ eye; so mind thou quit thee like a man.
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Chorus
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I will have a spirit as of rock or adamant; but go inside, before my father suffers any shameful treatment; for here thou hast things ready.
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Odysseus
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O Hephaestus, lord of Aetna, rid thyself for once and all of a troublesome neighbour
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by burning his bright eye out. Come, Sleep, as well, offspring of sable Night, come with all thy power on the monster god-detested; and never after Troy’s most glorious toils destroy Odysseus and his crew
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by the hands of one who recketh naught of God or man; else must we reckon Chance a goddess, and Heaven’s wall inferior to hers. [Odysseus re-enters the cave.
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Chorus
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Tightly the pincers shall grip the neck
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of him who feasts upon his guest; for soon will he lose the light of his eye by fire; already the brand, a tree’s huge limb,
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lurks amid the embers charred.
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Oh! come ye then and work his doom, pluck out the maddened Cyclops’ eye, that he may rue his drinking.
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And I too fain would leave the Cyclops’ lonely land and see king Bromius, ivy-crowned, the god I sorely miss. Ah! shall I ever come to that?
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Odysseus
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(leaving the cave cautiously.) Silence, ye cattle! I adjure you;
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close your lips; make not a sound! I’ll not let a man of you so much as breathe or wink or clear his throat, that yon pest awake not, until the sight in the Cyclops’ eye has passed through the fiery ordeal.
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Chorus
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Silent we stand with ’bated breath.
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Odysseus
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In then, and mind your fingers grip the brand, for it is splendidly red-hot.
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Chorus
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Thyself ordain who first must seize the blazing bar and burn the Cyclops’ eye out, that we may share alike whate’er betides.
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First Half-Chorus
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Standing where I am before the door, I am too far off to thrust the fire into his eye.
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Second Half-Chorus
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I have just gone lame.
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First Half-Chorus
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Why, then, thou art in the same plight as I; for somehow or other I sprained my ankle, standing still.
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Odysseus
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Sprained thy ankle, standing still?
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Odysseus
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These are sorry fellows, worthless as allies.
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Chorus
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Because I feel for my back and spine, and express no wish to have my teeth
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knocked out, I am a coward, am I? Well, but I know a spell of Orpheus, a most excellent one, to make the brand enter his skull of its own accord, and set alight the one-eyed son of Earth.
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Odysseus
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Long since I knew thou wert by nature such an one,
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and now I know it better; I must employ my own friends; but, though thou bring no active aid, cheer us on at any rate, that I may find my friends emboldened by thy encouragement. [Exit Odysseus.
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Chorus
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That will I do; the Carianἐν τῷ Καρὶ κινδυνεύειν to run a risk in the person of the Carian. Latin experimentum facere in corpore vili, i.e. to let some one, whose life is less valuable, run the risk instead of doing so oneself. The Carians, being the earliest mercenaries, were commonly selected for any very dangerous enterprise and so this proverb arose. shall run the risk for us;
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and as far as encouragement goes, let the Cyclops smoulder.
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Chorus
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What ho! my gallants, thrust away, make haste and burn his eye-brow off, the monster’s guest-devouring. Oh! singe and scorch
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the shepherd of Aetna; twirl the brand and drag it round and be careful lest in his agony he treat thee to some wantonness.
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Cyclops
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(Bellowing in the cave.) Oh! oh! my once bright eye is burnt to cinders now.
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Chorus
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Sweet indeed the triumph-song; pray sing it to us, Cyclops.