Cyclops

Euripides

Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Translated into English Prose from the Text of Paley. Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.

  1. enough for three waggons to carry as their load; next, close by the blazing flame, he placed his couch of pine-boughs laid upon the floor, and filled a bowl of some ten firkins, pouring white milk thereinto, after he had milked his kine;
  2. and by his side he put a can of ivy-wood, whose breadth was three cubits and its depth four maybe; next he set his brazen pot a-boiling on the fire,[*](This line is clearly out of place as it stands; it has been proposed to place it either after line 385 or 395, after either of which it would be appropriate.) spits too he set beside him, fashioned of the branches of thorn, their points hardened in the fire and the rest of them trimmed with the hatchet,
  3. and the blood-bowls of Aetna for the axe’s edge.[*](i.e., to catch the blood as the axe strikes, but the expression is a curious one. Kirchhoff gives γνάθους, in apposition to σφαγεῖα, taking this apparently to mean slaughtering tools.) Now when that hell-cook, god-detested, had everything quite ready, he caught up a pair of my companions and proceeded deliberately to cut the throat of one of them over the yawning brazen pot;
  4. but the other he clutched by the tendon of his heel, and, striking him against a sharp point of rocky stone, dashed out his brains; then, after hacking the fleshy parts with glutton cleaver, he set to grilling them, but the limbs he threw into his cauldron to seethe.
  5. And I, poor wretch, drew near with streaming eyes and waited on the Cyclops; but the others kept cowering like frightened birds in crannies of the rock, and the blood
    forsook their skin.
  6. Anon, when he had gorged himself upon my comrades’ flesh and
  7. had fallen on his back, breathing heavily, there came a sudden inspiration to me. I filled a cup of this Maronian wine and offered him a draught, saying, Cyclops, son of Ocean’s god, see here what heavenly drink the grapes of Hellas yield,
  8. glad gift of Dionysus. He, glutted with his shameless meal, took and drained it at one draught, and, lifting up his hand, he thanked me thus, Dearest to me of all my guests! fair the drink thou givest me to crown so fair a feast.
  9. Now when I saw his delight, I gave him another cup, knowing the wine would make him rue it, and he would soon be paying the penalty. Then he set to singing; but I kept filling bumper after bumper and heating him with drink.
  10. So there he is singing discordantly amid the weeping of my fellow-sailors, and the cave re-echoes; but I have made my way out quietly and would fain save thee and myself, if thou wilt. Tell me then, is it your wish, or is it not, to fly from this unsocial wretch
  11. and take up your abode with Naiad nymphs in the halls of the Bacchic god? Thy father within approves this scheme; but there! he is powerless, getting all he can out of his liquor; his wings are snared by the cup as if he had flown against bird-lime, and he is fuddled; but thou art young and lusty;
  12. so save thyself with my help and regain thy old friend Dionysus, so little like the Cyclops.
Chorus
  1. Best of friends, would we might see that day, escaping the godless Cyclops! for ’tis long
  2. we have been without the joys of men, unable to escape him.[*](Perhaps οὐκ ἔχοντε καταφυγεῖν might be read, to give some meaning to these worthless lines; but, as Paley points out, there are so many reasons for deciding them to be spurious that it is scarcely worth examining them very closely.)
Odysseus
  1. Hear then how I will requite this vile monster and rescue you from thraldom.
Chorus
  1. Tell me how; no note of Asiatic lyre would sound
    more sweetly in our ears than news of the Cyclops’ death.
Odysseus
  1. Delighted with this liquor of the Bacchic god, he fain would go a-revelling with his brethren.
Chorus
  1. I understand; thy purpose is to seize and slay him in the thickets when alone, or push him down a precipice.
Odysseus
  1. Not at ail; my plan is fraught with subtlety.
Chorus
  1. What then? Truly we have long heard of thy cleverness.