Book IX

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Odysseus relates, first, what befell him amongst the

Cicones at Ismarus; secondly, amongst the Lotophagi;

thirdly, how he was used by the Cyclops Polyphemus.

And Odysseus of many counsels answered him saying: 'King

Alcinous, most notable of all the people, verily it is a

good thing to list to a minstrel such as this one, like to

the gods in voice. Nay, as for me, I say that there is no

more gracious or perfect delight than when a whole people

makes merry, and the men sit orderly at feast in the halls

and listen to the singer, and the tables by them are laden

with bread and flesh, and a wine-bearer drawing the wine

serves it round and pours it into the cups. This seems to

me well-nigh the fairest thing in the world. But now thy

heart was inclined to ask of my grievous troubles, that I

may mourn for more exceeding sorrow. What then shall I tell

of first, what last, for the gods of heaven have given me

woes in plenty? Now, first, will I tell my name, that ye

too may know it, and that I, when I have escaped the

pitiless day, may yet be your host, though my home is in a

far country. I am ODYSSEUS, SON OF LAERTES, who am in men's

minds for all manner of wiles, and my fame reaches unto

heaven. And I dwell in clear-seen Ithaca, wherein is a

mountain Neriton, with trembling forest leaves, standing

manifest to view, and many islands lie around, very near

one to the other, Dulichium and Same, and wooded Zacynthus.

Now Ithaca lies low, furthest up the sea-line toward the

darkness, but those others face the dawning and the sun: a

rugged isle, but a good nurse of noble youths; and for

myself I can see nought beside sweeter than a man's own

country. Verily Calypso, the fair goddess, would fain have

kept me with her in her hollow caves, longing to have me

for her lord; and likewise too, guileful Circe of Aia,

would have stayed me in her halls, longing to have me for

her lord. But never did they prevail upon my heart within

my breast. So surely is there nought sweeter than a man's

own country and his parents, even though he dwell far off

in a rich home, in a strange land, away from them that

begat him. But come, let me tell thee too of the troubles

of my journeying, which Zeus laid on me as I came from

Troy.

'The wind that bare me from Ilios brought me nigh to the

Cicones, even to Ismarus, whereupon I sacked their city and

slew the people. And from out the city we took their wives

and much substance, and divided them amongst us, that none

through me might go lacking his proper share. Howbeit,

thereafter I commanded that we should flee with a swift

foot, but my men in their great folly hearkened not. There

was much wine still a drinking, and still they slew many

flocks of sheep by the seashore and kine with trailing feet

and shambling gait. Meanwhile the Cicones went and raised a

cry to other Cicones their neighbours, dwelling inland, who

were more in number than they and braver withal: skilled

they were to fight with men from chariots, and when need

was on foot. So they gathered in the early morning as thick

as leaves and flowers that spring in their season-- yea and

in that hour an evil doom of Zeus stood by us, ill-fated

men, that so we might be sore afflicted. They set their

battle in array by the swift ships, and the hosts cast at

one another with their bronze-shod spears. So long as it

was morn and the sacred day waxed stronger, so long we

abode their assault and beat them off, albeit they

outnumbered us. But when the sun was wending to the time of

the loosing of cattle, then at last the Cicones drave in

the Achaeans and overcame them, and six of my

goodly-greaved company perished from each ship: but the

remnant of us escaped death and destiny.

'Thence we sailed onward stricken at heart, yet glad as men

saved from death, albeit we had lost our dear companions.

Nor did my curved ships move onward ere we had called

thrice on each of those our hapless fellows, who died at

the hands of the Cicones on the plain. Now Zeus, gatherer

of the clouds, aroused the North Wind against our ships

with a terrible tempest, and covered land and sea alike

with clouds, and down sped night from heaven. Thus the

ships were driven headlong, and their sails were torn to

shreds by the might of the wind. So we lowered the sails

into the hold, in fear of death, but rowed the ships

landward apace. There for two nights and two days we lay

continually, consuming our hearts with weariness and

sorrow. But when the fair-tressed Dawn had at last brought

the full light of the third day, we set up the masts and

hoisted the white sails and sat us down, while the wind and

the helmsman guided the ships. And now I should have come

to mine own country all unhurt, but the wave and the stream

of the sea and the North Wind swept me from my course as I

was doubling Malea, and drave me wandering past Cythera.

'Thence for nine whole days was I borne by ruinous winds

over the teeming deep; but on the tenth day we set foot on

the land of the lotus-eaters, who eat a flowery food. So we

stepped ashore and drew water, and straightway my company

took their midday meal by the swift ships. Now when we had

tasted meat and drink I sent forth certain of my company to

go and make search what manner of men they were who here

live upon the earth by bread, and I chose out two of my

fellows, and sent a third with them as herald. Then

straightway they went and mixed with the men of the

lotus-eaters, and so it was that the lotus-eaters devised

not death for our fellows, but gave them of the lotus to

taste. Now whosoever of them did eat the honey-sweet fruit

of the lotus, had no more wish to bring tidings nor to come

back, but there he chose to abide with the lotus-eating

men, ever feeding on the lotus, and forgetful of his

homeward way. Therefore I led them back to the ships

weeping, and sore against their will, and dragged them

beneath the benches, and bound them in the hollow barques.

But I commanded the rest of my well-loved company to make

speed and go on board the swift ships, lest haply any

should eat of the lotus and be forgetful of returning.

Right soon they embarked, and sat upon the benches, and

sitting orderly they smote the grey sea water with their

oars.

'Thence we sailed onward stricken at heart. And we came to

the land of the Cyclopes, a froward and a lawless folk, who

trusting to the deathless gods plant not aught with their

hands, neither plough: but, behold, all these things spring

for them in plenty, unsown and untilled, wheat, and barley,

and vines, which bear great clusters of the juice of the

grape, and the rain of Zeus gives them increase. These have

neither gatherings for council nor oracles of law, but they

dwell in hollow caves on the crests of the high hills, and

each one utters the law to his children and his wives, and

they reck not one of another.

'Now there is a waste isle stretching without the harbour

of the land of the Cyclopes, neither nigh at hand nor yet

afar off, a woodland isle, wherein are wild goats

unnumbered, for no path of men scares them, nor do hunters

resort thither who suffer hardships in the wood, as they

range the mountain crests. Moreover it is possessed neither

by flocks nor by ploughed lands, but the soil lies unsown

evermore and untilled, desolate of men, and feeds the

bleating goats. For the Cyclopes have by them no ships with

vermilion cheek, not yet are there shipwrights in the

island, who might fashion decked barques, which should

accomplish all their desire, voyaging to the towns of men

(as ofttimes men cross the sea to one another in ships),

who might likewise have made of their isle a goodly

settlement. Yea, it is in no wise a sorry land, but would

bear all things in their season; for therein are soft water

meadows by the shores of the grey salt sea, and there the

vines know no decay, and the land is level to plough;

thence might they reap a crop exceeding deep in due season,

for verily there is fatness beneath the soil. Also there is

a fair haven, where is no need of moorings, either to cast

anchor or to fasten hawsers, but men may run the ship on

the beach, and tarry until such time as the sailors are

minded to be gone, and favourable breezes blow. Now at the

head of the harbour is a well of bright water issuing from

a cave, and round it are poplars growing. Thither we

sailed, and some god guided us through the night, for it

was dark and there was no light to see, a mist lying deep

about the ships, nor did the moon show her light from

heaven, but was shut in with clouds. No man then beheld

that island, neither saw we the long waves rolling to the

beach, till we had run our decked ships ashore. And when

our ships were beached, we took down all their sails, and

ourselves too stept forth upon the strand of the sea, and

there we fell into sound sleep and waited for the bright

Dawn.

'So soon as early Dawn shone forth, the rosy-fingered, in

wonder at the island we roamed over the length thereof: and

the Nymphs, the daughters of Zeus, lord of the aegis,

started the wild goats of the hills, that my company might

have wherewith to sup. Anon we took to us our curved bows

from out the ships and long spears, and arrayed in three

bands we began shooting at the goats; and the god soon gave

us game in plenty. Now twelve ships bare me company, and to

each ship fell nine goats for a portion, but for me alone

they set ten apart.

'Thus we sat there the livelong day until the going down of

the sun, feasting on abundant flesh and on sweet wine. For

the red wine was not yet spent from out the ships, but

somewhat was yet therein, for we had each one drawn off

large store thereof in jars, when we took the sacred

citadel of the Cicones. And we looked across to the land of

the Cyclopes, who dwell nigh, and to the smoke, and to the

voice of the men, and of the sheep and of the goats. And

when the sun had sunk and darkness had come on, then we

laid us to rest upon the sea-beach. So soon as early Dawn

shone forth, the rosy-fingered, then I called a gathering

of my men, and spake among them all:

'"Abide here all the rest of you, my dear companions; but I

will go with mine own ship and my ship's company, and make

proof of these men, what manner of folk they are, whether

froward, and wild, and unjust, or hospitable and of

god-fearing mind."

'So I spake, and I climbed the ship's side, and bade my

company themselves to mount, and to loose the hawsers. So

they soon embarked and sat upon the benches, and sitting

orderly smote the grey sea water with their oars. Now when

we had come to the land that lies hard by, we saw a cave on

the border near to the sea, lofty and roofed over with

laurels, and there many flocks of sheep and goats were used

to rest. And about it a high outer court was built with

stones, deep bedded, and with tall pines and oaks with

their high crown of leaves. And a man was wont to sleep

therein, of monstrous size, who shepherded his flocks alone

and afar, and was not conversant with others, but dwelt

apart in lawlessness of mind. Yea, for he was a monstrous

thing and fashioned marvellously, nor was he like to any

man that lives by bread, but like a wooded peak of the

towering hills, which stands out apart and alone from

others.

'Then I commanded the rest of my well-loved company to

tarry there by the ship, and to guard the ship, but I chose

out twelve men, the best of my company, and sallied forth.

Now I had with me a goat-skin of the dark wine and sweet

which Maron, son of Euanthes, had given me, the priest of

Apollo, the god that watched over Ismarus. And he gave it,

for that we had protected him with his wife and child

reverently; for he dwelt in a thick grove of Phoebus

Apollo. And he made me splendid gifts; he gave me seven

talents of gold well wrought, and he gave me a mixing bowl

of pure silver, and furthermore wine which he drew off in

twelve jars in all, sweet wine unmingled, a draught divine;

nor did any of his servants or of his handmaids in the

house know thereof, but himself and his dear wife and one

housedame only. And as often as they drank that red wine

honey sweet, he would fill one cup and pour it into twenty

measures of water, and a marvellous sweet smell went up

from the mixing bowl: then truly it was no pleasure to

refrain.

'With this wine I filled a great skin, and bare it with me,

and corn too I put in a wallet, for my lordly spirit

straightway had a boding that a man would come to me, a

strange man, clothed in mighty strength, one that knew not

judgment and justice. {*}

{* Literally, knowing neither dooms, nor ordinances of

law.}

'Soon we came to the cave, but we found him not within; he

was shepherding his fat flocks in the pastures. So we went

into the cave, and gazed on all that was therein. The

baskets were well laden with cheeses, and the folds were

thronged with lambs and kids; each kind was penned by

itself, the firstlings apart, and the summer lambs apart,

apart too the younglings of the flock. Now all the vessels

swam with whey, the milk-pails and the bowls, the

well-wrought vessels whereinto he milked. My company then

spake and besought me first of all to take of the cheeses

and to return, and afterwards to make haste and drive off

the kids and lambs to the swift ships from out the pens,

and to sail over the salt sea water. Howbeit I hearkened

not (and far better would it have been), but waited to see

the giant himself, and whether he would give me gifts as a

stranger's due. Yet was not his coming to be with joy to my

company.

'Then we kindled a fire, and made burnt-offering, and

ourselves likewise took of the cheeses, and did eat, and

sat waiting for him within till he came back, shepherding

his flocks. And he bore a grievous weight of dry wood,

against supper time. This log he cast down with a din

inside the cave, and in fear we fled to the secret place of

the rock. As for him, he drave his fat flocks into the wide

cavern, even all that he was wont to milk; but the males

both of the sheep and of the goats he left without in the

deep yard. Thereafter he lifted a huge doorstone and

weighty, and set it in the mouth of the cave, such an one

as two and twenty good four-wheeled wains could not raise

from the ground, so mighty a sheer rock did he set against

the doorway. Then he sat down and milked the ewes and

bleating goats, all orderly, and beneath each ewe he placed

her young. And anon he curdled one half of the white milk,

and massed it together, and stored it in wicker-baskets,

and the other half he let stand in pails, that he might

have it to take and drink against supper time. Now when he

had done all his work busily, then he kindled the fire

anew, and espied us, and made question:

'"Strangers, who are ye? Whence sail ye over the wet ways?

On some trading enterprise or at adventure do ye rove, even

as sea-robbers over the brine, for at hazard of their own

lives they wander, bringing bale to alien men."

'So spake he, but as for us our heart within us was broken

for terror of the deep voice and his own monstrous shape;

yet despite all I answered and spake unto him, saying:

'"Lo, we are Achaeans, driven wandering from Troy, by all

manner of winds over the great gulf of the sea; seeking our

homes we fare, but another path have we come, by other

ways: even such, methinks, was the will and the counsel of

Zeus. And we avow us to be the men of Agamemnon, son of

Atreus, whose fame is even now the mightiest under heaven,

so great a city did he sack, and destroyed many people; but

as for us we have lighted here, and come to these thy

knees, if perchance thou wilt give us a stranger's gift, or

make any present, as is the due of strangers. Nay, lord,

have regard to the gods, for we are thy suppliants; and

Zeus is the avenger of suppliants and sojourners, Zeus, the

god of the stranger, who fareth in the company of reverend

strangers."

'So I spake, and anon he answered out of his pitiless

heart: "Thou art witless, my stranger, or thou hast come

from afar, who biddest me either to fear or shun the gods.

For the Cyclopes pay no heed to Zeus, lord of the aegis,

nor to the blessed gods, for verily we are better men than

they. Nor would I, to shun the enmity of Zeus, spare either

thee or thy company, unless my spirit bade me. But tell me

where thou didst stay thy well-wrought ship on thy coming?

Was it perchance at the far end of the island, or hard by,

that I may know?"

'So he spake tempting me, but he cheated me not, who knew

full much, and I answered him again with words of guile:

'"As for my ship, Poseidon, the shaker of the earth, brake

it to pieces, for he cast it upon the rocks at the border

of your country, and brought it nigh the headland, and a

wind bare it thither from the sea. But I with these my men

escaped from utter doom."

'So I spake, and out of his pitiless heart he answered me

not a word, but sprang up, and laid his hands upon my

fellows, and clutching two together dashed them, as they

had been whelps, to the earth, and the brain flowed forth

upon the ground, and the earth was wet. Then cut he them up

piecemeal, and made ready his supper. So he ate even as a

mountain-bred lion, and ceased not, devouring entrails and

flesh and bones with their marrow. And we wept and raised

our hands to Zeus, beholding the cruel deeds; and we were

at our wits' end. And after the Cyclops had filled his huge

maw with human flesh and the milk he drank thereafter, he

lay within the cave, stretched out among his sheep.

'So I took counsel in my great heart, whether I should draw

near, and pluck my sharp sword from my thigh, and stab him

in the breast, where the midriff holds the liver, feeling

for the place with my hand. But my second thought withheld

me, for so should we too have perished even there with

utter doom. For we should not have prevailed to roll away

with our hands from the lofty door the heavy stone which he

set there. So for that time we made moan, awaiting the

bright Dawn.

'Now when early Dawn shone forth, the rosy-fingered, again

he kindled the fire and milked his goodly flocks all

orderly, and beneath each ewe set her lamb. Anon when he

had done all his work busily, again he seized yet other two

men and made ready his mid-day meal. And after the meal,

lightly he moved away the great door-stone, and drave his

fat flocks forth from the cave, and afterwards he set it in

his place again, as one might set the lid on a quiver. Then

with a loud whoop, the Cyclops turned his fat flocks

towards the hills; but I was left devising evil in the deep

of my heart, if in any wise I might avenge me, and Athene

grant me renown.

'And this was the counsel that showed best in my sight.

There lay by a sheep-fold a great club of the Cyclops, a

club of olive wood, yet green, which he had cut to carry

with him when it should be seasoned. Now when we saw it we

likened it in size to the mast of a black ship of twenty

oars, a wide merchant vessel that traverses the great sea

gulf, so huge it was to view in bulk and length. I stood

thereby and cut off from it a portion as it were a fathom's

length, and set it by my fellows, and bade them fine it

down, and they made it even, while I stood by and sharpened

it to a point, and straightway I took it and hardened it in

the bright fire. Then I laid it well away, and hid it

beneath the dung, which was scattered in great heaps in the

depths of the cave. And I bade my company cast lots among

them, which of them should risk the adventure with me, and

lift the bar and turn it about in his eye, when sweet sleep

came upon him. And the lot fell upon those four whom I

myself would have been fain to choose, and I appointed

myself to be the fifth among them. In the evening he came

shepherding his flocks of goodly fleece, and presently he

drave his fat flocks into the cave each and all, nor left

he any without in the deep court-yard, whether through some

foreboding, or perchance that the god so bade him do.

Thereafter he lifted the huge door-stone and set it in the

mouth of the cave, and sitting down he milked the ewes and

bleating goats, all orderly, and beneath each ewe he placed

her young. Now when he had done all his work busily, again

he seized yet other two and made ready his supper. Then I

stood by the Cyclops and spake to him, holding in my hands

an ivy bowl of the dark wine:

'"Cyclops, take and drink wine after thy feast of man's

meat, that thou mayest know what manner of drink this was

that our ship held. And lo, I was bringing it thee as a

drink offering, if haply thou mayest take pity and send me

on my way home, but thy mad rage is past all sufferance. O

hard of heart, how may another of the many men there be

come ever to thee again, seeing that thy deeds have been

lawless?"

'So I spake, and he took the cup and drank it off, and

found great delight in drinking the sweet draught, and

asked me for it yet a second time:

'"Give it me again of thy grace, and tell me thy name

straightway, that I may give thee a stranger's gift,

wherein thou mayest be glad. Yea for the earth, the

grain-giver, bears for the Cyclopes the mighty clusters of

the juice of the grape, and the rain of Zeus gives them

increase, but this is a rill of very nectar and ambrosia."

'So he spake, and again I handed him the dark wine. Thrice

I bare and gave it him, and thrice in his folly he drank it

to the lees. Now when the wine had got about the wits of

the Cyclops, then did I speak to him with soft words:

'"Cyclops, thou askest me my renowned name, and I will

declare it unto thee, and do thou grant me a stranger's

gift, as thou didst promise. Noman is my name, and Noman

they call me, my father and my mother and all my fellows."

'So I spake, and straightway he answered me out of his

pitiless heart:

'"Noman will I eat last in the number of his fellows, and

the others before him: that shall be thy gift."

'Therewith he sank backwards and fell with face upturned,

and there he lay with his great neck bent round, and sleep,

that conquers all men, overcame him. And the wine and the

fragments of men's flesh issued forth from his mouth, and

he vomited, being heavy with wine. Then I thrust in that

stake under the deep ashes, until it should grow hot, and I

spake to my companions comfortable words, lest any should

hang back from me in fear. But when that bar of olive wood

was just about to catch fire in the flame, green though it

was, and began to glow terribly, even then I came nigh, and

drew it from the coals, and my fellows gathered about me,

and some god breathed great courage into us. For their part

they seized the bar of olive wood, that was sharpened at

the point, and thrust it into his eye, while I from my

place aloft turned it about, as when a man bores a ship's

beam with a drill while his fellows below spin it with a

strap, which they hold at either end, and the auger runs

round continually. Even so did we seize the fiery-pointed

brand and whirled it round in his eye, and the blood flowed

about the heated bar. And the breath of the flame singed

his eyelids and brows all about, as the ball of the eye

burnt away, and the roots thereof crackled in the flame.

And as when a smith dips an axe or adze in chill water with

a great hissing, when he would temper it--for hereby anon

comes the strength of iron--even so did his eye hiss round

the stake of olive. And he raised a great and terrible cry,

that the rock rang around, and we fled away in fear, while

he plucked forth from his eye the brand bedabbled in much

blood. Then maddened with pain he cast it from him with his

hands, and called with a loud voice on the Cyclopes, who

dwelt about him in the caves along the windy heights. And

they heard the cry and flocked together from every side,

and gathering round the cave asked him what ailed him:

'"What hath so distressed thee, Polyphemus, that thou

criest thus aloud through the immortal night, and makest us

sleepless? Surely no mortal driveth off thy flocks against

thy will: surely none slayeth thyself by force or craft?"

'And the strong Polyphemus spake to them again from out the

cave: "My friends, Noman is slaying me by guile, nor at all

by force."

'And they answered and spake winged words: "If then no man

is violently handling thee in thy solitude, it can in no

wise be that thou shouldest escape the sickness sent by

mighty Zeus. Nay, pray thou to thy father, the lord

Poseidon."

'On this wise they spake and departed; and my heart within

me laughed to see how my name and cunning counsel had

beguiled them. But the Cyclops, groaning and travailing in

pain, groped with his hands, and lifted away the stone from

the door of the cave, and himself sat in the entry, with

arms outstretched to catch, if he might, any one that was

going forth with his sheep, so witless, methinks, did he

hope to find me. But I advised me how all might be for the

very best, if perchance I might find a way of escape from

death for my companions and myself, and I wove all manner

of craft and counsel, as a man will for his life, seeing

that great mischief was nigh. And this was the counsel that

showed best in my sight. The rams of the flock were well

nurtured and thick of fleece, great and goodly, with wool

dark as the violet. Quietly I lashed them together with

twisted withies, whereon the Cyclops slept, that lawless

monster. Three together I took: now the middle one of the

three would bear each a man, but the other twain went on

either side, saving my fellows. Thus every three sheep bare

their man. But as for me I laid hold of the back of a young

ram who was far the best and the goodliest of all the

flock, and curled beneath his shaggy belly there I lay, and

so clung face upward, grasping the wondrous fleece with a

steadfast heart. So for that time making moan we awaited

the bright Dawn.

'So soon as early Dawn shone forth, the rosy-fingered, then

did the rams of the flock hasten forth to pasture, but the

ewes bleated unmilked about the pens, for their udders were

swollen to bursting. Then their lord, sore stricken with

pain, felt along the backs of all the sheep as they stood

up before him, and guessed not in his folly how that my men

were bound beneath the breasts of his thick-fleeced flocks.

Last of all the sheep came forth the ram, cumbered with his

wool, and the weight of me and my cunning. And the strong

Polyphemus laid his hands on him and spake to him saying:

'"Dear ram, wherefore, I pray thee, art thou the last of

all the flocks to go forth from the cave, who of old wast

not wont to lag behind the sheep, but wert ever the

foremost to pluck the tender blossom of the pasture, faring

with long strides, and wert still the first to come to the

streams of the rivers, and first did long to return to the

homestead in the evening? But now art thou the very last.

Surely thou art sorrowing for the eye of thy lord, which an

evil man blinded, with his accursed fellows, when he had

subdued my wits with wine, even Noman, whom I say hath not

yet escaped destruction. Ah, if thou couldst feel as I, and

be endued with speech, to tell me where he shifts about to

shun my wrath; then should he be smitten, and his brains be

dashed against the floor here and there about the cave, and

my heart be lightened of the sorrows which Noman, nothing

worth, hath brought me!"

'Therewith he sent the ram forth from him, and when we had

gone but a little way from the cave and from the yard,

first I loosed myself from under the ram and then I set my

fellows free. And swiftly we drave on those stiff-shanked

sheep, so rich in fat, and often turned to look about, till

we came to the ship. And a glad sight to our fellows were

we that had fled from death, but the others they would have

bemoaned with tears; howbeit I suffered it not, but with

frowning brows forbade each man to weep. Rather I bade them

to cast on board the many sheep with goodly fleece, and to

sail over the salt sea water. So they embarked forthwith,

and sate upon the benches, and sitting orderly smote the

grey sea water with their oars. But when I had not gone so

far, but that a man's shout might be heard, then I spoke

unto the Cyclops taunting him:

'"Cyclops, so thou wert not to eat the company of a

weakling by main might in thy hollow cave! Thine evil deeds

were very sure to find thee out, thou cruel man, who hadst

no shame to eat thy guests within thy gates, wherefore Zeus

hath requited thee, and the other gods."

'So I spake, and he was mightily angered at heart, and he

brake off the peak of a great hill and threw it at us, and

it fell in front of the dark-prowed ship. {*} And the sea

heaved beneath the fall of the rock, and the backward flow

of the wave bare the ship quickly to the dry land, with the

wash from the deep sea, and drave it to the shore. Then I

caught up a long pole in my hands, and thrust the ship from

off the land, and roused my company, and with a motion of

the head bade them dash in with their oars, that so we

might escape our evil plight. So they bent to their oars

and rowed on. But when we had now made twice the distance

over the brine, I would fain have spoken to the Cyclops,

but my company stayed me on every side with soft words,

saying:

{* We have omitted line 483, as required by the sense. It

is introduced here from line 540.}

'"Foolhardy that thou art, why wouldst thou rouse a wild

man to wrath, who even now hath cast so mighty a throw

towards the deep and brought our ship back to land, yea and

we thought that we had perished {*} even there? If he had

heard any of us utter sound or speech he would have crushed

our heads and our ship timbers with a cast of a rugged

stone, so mightily he hurls."

{* Neither in this passage nor in B ii.171 nor in B xx.121

do we think that the aorist infinitive after a verb of

saying can bear a future sense. The aorist infinitive after

[Greek] (ii.280, vii.76) is hardly an argument in its

favour; the infinitive there is in fact a noun in the

genitive case.}

'So spake they, but they prevailed not on my lordly spirit,

and I answered him again from out an angry heart:

'"Cyclops, if any one of mortal men shall ask thee of the

unsightly blinding of thine eye, say that it was Odysseus

that blinded it, the waster of cities, son of Laertes,

whose dwelling is in Ithaca."

'So I spake, and with a moan he answered me, saying:

'"Lo now, in very truth the ancient oracles have come upon

me. There lived here a soothsayer, a noble man and a

mighty, Telemus, son of Eurymus, who surpassed all men in

soothsaying, and waxed old as a seer among the Cyclopes. He

told me that all these things should come to pass in the

aftertime, even that I should lose my eyesight at the hand

of Odysseus. But I ever looked for some tall and goodly man

to come hither, clad in great might, but behold now one

that is a dwarf, a man of no worth and a weakling, hath

blinded me of my eye after subduing me with wine. Nay come

hither, Odysseus, that I may set by thee a stranger's

cheer, and speed thy parting hence, that so the

Earth-shaker may vouchsafe it thee, for his son am I, and

he avows him for my father. And he himself will heal me, if

it be his will; and none other of the blessed gods or of

mortal men."

'Even so he spake, but I answered him, and said: "Would god

that I were as sure to rob thee of soul and life, and send

thee within the house of Hades, as I am that not even the

Earth-shaker will heal thine eye!"

'So I spake, and then he prayed to the lord Poseidon

stretching forth his hands to the starry heaven: "Hear me,

Poseidon, girdler of the earth, god of the dark hair, if

indeed I be thine, and thou avowest thee my sire,--grant

that he may never come to his home, even Odysseus, waster

of cities, the son of Laertes, whose dwelling is in Ithaca;

yet if he is ordained to see his friends and come unto his

well-builded house, and his own country, late may he come

in evil case, with the loss of all his company, in the ship

of strangers, and find sorrows in his house."

'So he spake in prayer, and the god of the dark locks heard

him. And once again he lifted a stone, far greater than the

first, and with one swing he hurled it, and he put forth a

measureless strength, and cast it but a little space behind

the dark-prowed ship, and all but struck the end of the

rudder. And the sea heaved beneath the fall of the rock,

but the wave bare on the ship and drave it to the further

shore.

'But when he had now reached that island, where all our

other decked ships abode together, and our company were

gathered sorrowing, expecting us evermore, on our coming

thither we ran our ship ashore upon the sand, and ourselves

too stept forth upon the sea beach. Next we took forth the

sheep of the Cyclops from out the hollow ship, and divided

them, that none through me might go lacking his proper

share. But the ram for me alone my goodly-greaved company

chose out, in the dividing of the sheep, and on the shore I

offered him up to Zeus, even to the son of Cronos, who

dwells in the dark clouds, and is lord of all, and I burnt

the slices of the thighs. But he heeded not the sacrifice,

but was devising how my decked ships and my dear company

might perish utterly. Thus for that time we sat the

livelong day, until the going down of the sun, feasting on

abundant flesh and sweet wine. And when the sun had sunk

and darkness had come on, then we laid us to rest upon the

sea beach. So soon as early Dawn shone forth, the

rosy-fingered, I called to my company, and commanded them

that they should themselves climb the ship and loose the

hawsers. So they soon embarked and sat upon the benches,

and sitting orderly smote the grey sea water with their

oars.

'Thence we sailed onward stricken at heart, yet glad as men

saved from death, albeit we had lost our dear companions.

Read next: Book X

Read previous: Book VIII

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