Chorus. Go!-But what needs this serious haste, O father? Silenus. I see a Grecian vessel on the coast; And thence the rowers, with some general, Whence come they, that they know not what and who The inhospitable roof of Polypheme, And the Cyclopian jaw-bone, man-destroying? Be silent, Satyrs, while I ask and hear Whence coming they arrive the Etnean hill. Ulysses. Friends, can you show me some clear water spring, The remedy of our thirst? Will any one Furnish with food seamen in want of it? . . . Ha! what is this? We seem to be arrived At the blithe court of Bacchus ! I observe Silenus. Hail thou, O stranger! Tell thy country and thy race. Ulysses. The Ithacan Ulysses, and the king Of Cephalonia. Silenus. Oh! I know the man, Wordy and shrewd, the son of Sisyphus. Ulysses. I am the same; but do not rail upon me. Ulysses. From Ilion, and from the Trojan toils. Ulysses. And are there walls, and tower-surrounded towns? Ulysses. How live they? do they sow the corn of Ceres? Silenus. On milk and cheese, and on the flesh of sheep. Ulysses. Have they the Bromian drink from the vine's stream? Silenus. Ah! no; they live in an ungracious land. Ulysses. And are they just to strangers?-hospitable? Silenus. They think the sweetest thing a stranger brings Is his own flesh. Ulysses. What do they eat man's flesh? Silenus. No one comes here who is not eaten up. Ulysses. The Cyclops now-where is he? Not at home? Ulysses. Know'st thou what thou must do to aid us hence? Silenus. Ulysses. Old man, this skin contains it, which you see. Ulysses. Would you first taste of the unmingled wine? Silenus. 'Tis just-tasting invites the purchaser. Ulysses. Here is the cup, together with the skin. Silenus. Pour: that the draught may fillip my remembrance. Ulysses. See! Silenus. Papaiapax! what a sweet smell it has! Ulysses. You see it then? Silenus. By Jove, no! but I smell it. Ulysses. Taste, that you may not praise it in words only. Joy! joy! Ulysses. Did it flow sweetly down your throat? Silenus. So that it tingled to my very nails. Ulysses. And in addition I will give you gold. Silenus. Let gold alone. Only unlock the cask. Ulysses. Bring out some cheeses now, or a young goat. Yes, let me drink one cup, and I will give All that the Cyclopes feed upon their mountains. Chorus. Ye have taken Troy, and laid your hands on Helen? Ulysses. And utterly destroyed the race of Priam. Silenus. The wanton wretch! She was bewitched to see The many-coloured anklets and the chain Of woven gold which girt the neck of Paris, And so she left that good man Menelaus. But such as are reserved for me alone. See, here are sheep, and here are goats, Ulysses; Here are unsparing cheeses of pressed milk. Take them; depart with what good speed ye may; First leaving my reward, the Bacchic dew Of joy-inspiring grapes. Ulysses. Ah me! Alas! What shall we do? the Cyclops is at hand! Old man, we perish! whither can we fly? Silenus. Hide yourselves quick within that hollow rock. Ulysses. 'Twere perilous to fly into the net. Silenus. The cavern has recesses numberless; Hide yourselves quick! Ulysses. That will I never do: How many times The mighty Troy would be indeed disgraced If I should fly one man. Have I withstood with shield immovable Ten thousand Phrygians!—If I needs must die, Yet will I die with glory;-if I live, The praise which I have gained will yet remain. Silenus. What ho! assistance, comrades! haste, assistance! The CYCLOPS, SILENUS, ULYSSES; CHORUS. How are my young lambs in the cavern? milking The new cheese pressed into the bulrush baskets? Silenus. See: I now gape at Jupiter himself, Cyclops. Well, is the dinner fitly cooked and laid? So you may drink a tunful if you will. O'erbrimming; Cyclops. Is it ewe's milk, or cow's milk, or both mixed?— Silenus. Both . . either. Only pray don't swallow me. Cyclops. By no means. What is this crowd I see beside the stalls? Silenus. I have been beaten till I burn with fever. Ah me! Cyclops. By whom? Who laid his fist upon your head? To steal your goods. Cyclops. Did not the rascals know I am a God, sprung from the race of heaven? Silenus. I told them so. But they bore off your things, And ate the cheese in spite of all I said, And carried out the lambs: and said moreover Torture your back with stripes,-then, binding you, Enormous rocks, or found a vestibule. Cyclops. In truth? Nay, haste, and place in order quickly The cooking-knives, and heap upon the hearth, And kindle it, a great faggot of wood. As soon as they are slaughtered, they shall fill Or boiled and seethed within the bubbling caldron. I am quite sick of the wild mountain game; Silenus. Nay, master, something new is very pleasant Very few strangers have approached our cave. Ulysses. Hear, Cyclops, a plain tale on the other side. Into the neighbourhood of your cave, and here These lambs for wine, the which he took and drank; There is no word of truth in what he says, For slily he was selling all your store. If I speak false! Silenus. Cyclops, I swear by Neptune who begot thee, By mighty Triton and by Nereus old, Calypso and the glaucous Ocean Nymphs, The sacred waves and all the race of fishes- Chorus. There stop! I saw him giving these things to the strangers. Cyclops. You lie! I swear that he is juster far But let me ask, whence have ye sailed, O strangers? Who are you? and what city nourished ye? Ulysses. Our race is Ithacan.- Having destroyed Cyclops. What, have ye shared in the unenvied spoil From Greece to Phrygia for one woman's sake? Ulysses. 'Twas the God's work—no mortal was in fault.— |