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. (leaving the cave cautiously.) Silence, ye cattle! I adjure you;
  2. 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.
Chorus
  1. Silent we stand with ’bated breath.
Odysseus
  1. In then, and mind your fingers grip the brand, for it is splendidly red-hot.
Chorus
  1. Thyself ordain who first must seize the blazing bar and burn the Cyclops’ eye out, that we may share alike whate’er betides.
First Half-Chorus
  1. Standing where I am before the door, I am too far off to thrust the fire into his eye.
Second Half-Chorus
  1. I have just gone lame.
First Half-Chorus
  1. Why, then, thou art in the same plight as I; for somehow or other I sprained my ankle, standing still.
Odysseus
  1. Sprained thy ankle, standing still?