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.
- no roll of drums, or drops of sparkling wine by gurgling founts; nor is it now with Nymphs in Nysa I sing a song of Bacchus, Bacchus!
- to the queen of love, in quest of whom I once sped on with Bacchantes, white of foot.
- Dear friend, dear Bacchic god, whither art roaming alone,
- waving thy auburn locks, while I, thy minister, do service to the one-eyed Cyclops, a slave and wanderer I,
- clad in this wretched goat-skin dress, severed from thy love?
- Hush, children! and bid our servants fold the flocks in the rock-roofed cavern.
- (To Servants.) Away! (To Silenus.) But prithee, why such haste, father?
- I see the hull of a ship from Hellas at the shore, and men, that wield the oar, on their way to this cave with some chieftain. About their necks they carry empty vessels and pitchers for water; they are in want of food. Luckless strangers!
- who can they be? They know not what manner of man our master Polyphemus is, to have set foot here in his cheerless abode and come to the jaws of the cannibal Cyclops in an evil hour. But hold ye your peace, that we may inquire
- whence they come to the peak of Sicilian Aetna.
- Pray tell us, sirs, of some river-spring whence we might draw a draught to slake our thirst, or of someone willing to sell victuals to mariners in need.
- Why, what is this? We seem to have chanced upon a city of the Bromian god;
- here by the caves I see a group of Satyrs. To the eldest first I bid All hail!
- All hail, sir! tell me who thou art, and name thy country.
- Odysseus of Ithaca, king of the Cephallenians’ land.
- I know him for a prating knave, one of Sisyphus’ shrewd offspring.
- I am the man; abuse me not.
- Whence hast thou sailed hither to Sicily?
- From Ilium and the toils of Troy.
- How was that? didst thou not know the passage to thy native land?