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.
- knocked out, I am a coward, am I? Well, but I know a spell of Orpheus, a most excellent one, to make the brand enter his skull of its own accord, and set alight the one-eyed son of Earth.
- Long since I knew thou wert by nature such an one,
- and now I know it better; I must employ my own friends; but, though thou bring no active aid, cheer us on at any rate, that I may find my friends emboldened by thy encouragement. [Exit Odysseus.
- That will I do; the Carian[*](ἐν τῷ Καρὶ κινδυνεύειν to run a risk in the person of the Carian. Latin experimentum facere in corpore vili, i.e. to let some one, whose life is less valuable, run the risk instead of doing so oneself. The Carians, being the earliest mercenaries, were commonly selected for any very dangerous enterprise and so this proverb arose.) shall run the risk for us;
- and as far as encouragement goes, let the Cyclops smoulder.
- What ho! my gallants, thrust away, make haste and burn his eye-brow off, the monster’s guest-devouring. Oh! singe and scorch
- the shepherd of Aetna; twirl the brand and drag it round and be careful lest in his agony he treat thee to some wantonness.
- (Bellowing in the cave.) Oh! oh! my once bright eye is burnt to cinders now.
- Sweet indeed the triumph-song; pray sing it to us, Cyclops.
- (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.
- Why dost thou cry out, Cyclops?
- I am undone.
- Thou art indeed a sorry sight.
- Aye, and a sad one, too.
- Didst fall among the coals in a drunken fit?
- Noman has undone me.
- Then there is no one hurting thee after all.
- Noman is blinding me.
- Then art thou not blind.
- 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.)
- How, pray, could no man have made thee blind?