Cyclop
Choose a text
id="mobileReaderAuthor" class="mobile-reader-author" href="/authors/euripides" aria-label="More works by Euripides">
—
⋯
Original / primary: Perseus Eng2
306
306
Cyclops
306
(from within.) Oh! oh! once more; what outrage on me and what ruin! But never shall ye escape this rocky cave unpunished, ye worthless creatures; for I will stand in the entrance of the cleft and fit my hands into it thus. [Staggering to the entrance.
307
307
Chorus
307
Why dost thou cry out, Cyclops?
308
308
Chorus
308
Thou art indeed a sorry sight.
309
309
Chorus
309
Didst fall among the coals in a drunken fit?
310
310
Cyclops
310
Noman has undone me.
311
311
Cyclops
311
Noman is blinding me.
312
312
Cyclops
312
As blind as thou, forsooth.i.e., as blind as you must be if you cannot see it; but Paley interprets as you say but not as is really the case.
313
313
Cyclops
313
Thou mockest me; but where is this Noman.
314
314
Cyclops
314
It was the stranger, vile wretch! who proved my ruin, that thou mayst understand rightly, by swilling me with the liquor he gave me.
315
315
Chorus
315
Ah! wine is a terrible foe, hard to wrestle with.
316
316
Cyclops
316
Tell me, I adjure thee, have they escaped or are they still within?
317
317
Chorus
317
Here they are ranged in silence, taking the rock to screen them.
318
318
Chorus
318
On thy right.
319
319
Cyclops
319
This way, was it not? ’Twas this way thou saidst.
320
320
Cyclops
320
Which then?
321
321
Cyclops
321
Alas! I am being mocked; ye jeer me in my evil plight.
322
322
Chorus
322
They are no longer there; but facing thee that stranger stands.
323
323
Cyclops
323
Master of villainy, where, oh! where art thou?
324
I am keeping careful guard over the person of Odysseus.
325
325
Cyclops
325
What, a new name! hast changed thine?
326
326
Odysseus
326
Yes, Odysseus the name my father gave me. But thou wert doomed to pay for thy unholy feast; for I should have seen Troy burned to but sorry purpose,
327
unless I had avenged on thee the slaughter of my comrades.
328
328
Cyclops
328
Woe is me! ’tis an old oracle coming true; yes, it said I should have my eye put out by thee on thy way home from Troy; but it likewise foretold that thou wouldst surely pay for this,
329
tossing on the sea for many a day.
330
330
Odysseus
330
Go hang! E’en as I say, so have I done. And now will I get me to the beach and start my hollow ship across the sea of Sicily to the land of my fathers.
331
331
Cyclops
331
Thou shalt not; I will break a boulder off this rock
332
and crush thee, crew and all, beneath my throw. Blind though I be, I will climb the hill, mounting through yonder tunnel.
333
333
Chorus
333
As for us, henceforth will we be the servants of Bacchus, sharing the voyage of this hero Odysseus.
153b
153b
Silenus
153b
Ye gods! what a delicious scent it has!
154b
154b
Silenus
154b
No, i’ faith, but I smell it.
261b
261b
Odysseus
261b
If I am lying, yes.
212
212
Cyclops
212
Ha! ha! full of wine and merry with the feast’s good cheerHerwerden’s ἥδει seems preferable to ἥβῃ which is probably corrupt. am I,
213
my hold freighted like a merchant-ship up to my belly’s very top. This turf graciously invites me to seek my brother Cyclopes for a revel in the spring-tide.
214
Come, stranger, bring the wine-skin hither and hand it over to me.
215
215
Second Half-Chorus
215
Forth from the house its fair lord comes, casting his fair glance round him. We have some one to befriend us.Hermann supplies the lacuna before φιλεῖ with φίλος ὣν, but there is so much corruption in this and the following few lines that little reliance can be placed on any emendation, nor is the sense very clear. A hostile brand is awaiting thee,
216
no tender bride in dewy grot. No single colour will those garlands have, that soon shall cling so close about thy brow.
542a
542a
Cyclops
542a
Paley agrees with Kirchhoff in thinking a line has been lost here.
546b
546b
Cyclops
546b
Nay, but thy purpose is to drink upon the sly; set it between us. (To Odysseus.) Now tell me, stranger, by what name to call thee.
558b
558b
Silenus
558b
Oh, no! I really cannot, till I see thee with a crown on, and have another taste myself.
560b
560b
Silenus
560b
No really, but the wine is so luscious. Thou must wipe thy lips, though, to get a draught.
565b
565b
Silenus
565b
I drank it off at a draught with much pleasure.
568b
568b
Odysseus
568b
In it goes! keep silence, that is all.
570a
570a
Cyclops
570a
Paley supposes a line to have been lost here in which the Cyclops asked And how must I drink this?
640b
640b
Second Half-Chorus
640b
Yes, and my eyes are full of dust or ashes from somewhere or other.
669b
669b
Cyclops
669b
I am undone.
670b
670b
Cyclops
670b
Aye, and a sad one, too.
672b
672b
Chorus
672b
Then there is no one hurting thee after all.
673b
673b
Chorus
673b
Then art thou not blind.
674b
674b
Chorus
674b
How, pray, could no man have made thee blind?
675b
675b
Chorus
675b
Nowhere, Cyclops.
681b
681b
Cyclops
681b
On which side?
682b
682b
Cyclops
682b
Where?
682c
682c
Chorus
682c
Close against the rock. Hast caught them?
683b
683b
Cyclops
683b
Trouble on trouble! I have run my skull against the rock and cracked it.
684b
684b
Chorus
684b
Aye, and they are escaping thee.
685b
685b
Chorus
685b
No, not this way.
686b
686b
Chorus
686b
They are getting round thee on the left.
689b
689b
Odysseus
689b
Some way from thee