Well, at any rate the grape is no stranger to my hand.CyclopsCome, pour it in.OdysseusIn it goes! keep silence, that is all.CyclopsA difficult task when a man is deep in his cups.OdysseusHere, take and drink it off; leave none.CyclopsPaley supposes a line to have been lost here in which the Cyclops asked And how must I drink this?OdysseusThou must be silentσιγῶντα, but many editors follow Casaubon in reading δὲ σπῶντα drink it off. and only give in when the liquor does.CyclopsGod wot! it is a clever stock that bears the grape.OdysseusAye, and if thou but swallow plenty of it after a plentiful meal, moistening thy belly till its thirst is gone, it will throw thee into slumber; but if thou leave aught behind, the Bacchic god will parch thee for it.CyclopsHa! ha! what a trouble it was getting out! This is pleasure unalloyed; earth and sky seem whirling round together; I see the throne of Zeus and all the godhead’s majesty. Kiss thee! no! There are the Graces trying to tempt me. I shall rest well enough with my Ganymede here; yea, by the Graces, right fairly.SilenusWhat! Cyclops, am I Ganymede, Zeus’s minion?Cyclops(attempting to carry him into the cave.) To be sure, Ganymede whom I am carrying off from the halls of Dardanus.SilenusI am undone, my children; outrageous treatment waits me.ChorusDost find fault with thy lover? dost scorn him in his cups?SilenusWoe is me! most bitter shall I find the wine ere long. [Exit Silenus, dragged away by Cyclops. OdysseusUp now, children of Dionysus, sons of a noble sire, soon will yon creature in the cave, relaxed in slumber as ye see him, spew from his shameless maw the meat. Already the brand inside his lair is vomiting a cloud of smoke; and the only reason we prepared it was to burn the Cyclops’ eye; so mind thou quit thee like a man.ChorusI will have a spirit as of rock or adamant; but go inside, before my father suffers any shameful treatment; for here thou hast things ready.OdysseusO Hephaestus, lord of Aetna, rid thyself for once and all of a troublesome neighbour by burning his bright eye out. Come, Sleep, as well, offspring of sable Night, come with all thy power on the monster god-detested; and never after Troy’s most glorious toils destroy Odysseus and his crew by the hands of one who recketh naught of God or man; else must we reckon Chance a goddess, and Heaven’s wall inferior to hers. [Odysseus re-enters the cave.

ChorusTightly the pincers shall grip the neck of him who feasts upon his guest; for soon will he lose the light of his eye by fire; already the brand, a tree’s huge limb, lurks amid the embers charred.Oh! come ye then and work his doom, pluck out the maddened Cyclops’ eye, that he may rue his drinking. And I too fain would leave the Cyclops’ lonely land and see king Bromius, ivy-crowned, the god I sorely miss. Ah! shall I ever come to that?Odysseus(leaving the cave cautiously.) Silence, ye cattle! I adjure you; 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.