Close against the rock. Hast caught them?CyclopsTrouble on trouble! I have run my skull against the rock and cracked it.ChorusAye, and they are escaping thee.CyclopsThis way, was it not? ’Twas this way thou saidst.ChorusNo, not this way.CyclopsWhich then?ChorusThey are getting round thee on the left.CyclopsAlas! I am being mocked; ye jeer me in my evil plight.ChorusThey are no longer there; but facing thee that stranger stands.CyclopsMaster of villainy, where, oh! where art thou?OdysseusSome way from thee I am keeping careful guard over the person of Odysseus.CyclopsWhat, a new name! hast changed thine?OdysseusYes, 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, unless I had avenged on thee the slaughter of my comrades.CyclopsWoe 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, tossing on the sea for many a day.OdysseusGo 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.CyclopsThou shalt not; I will break a boulder off this rock and crush thee, crew and all, beneath my throw. Blind though I be, I will climb the hill, mounting through yonder tunnel.