| Homer, Odyssey (English) (XML Header) [genre: poetry; hexameter] [word count] [lemma count] [Hom. Od.]. | ||
| <<Hom. Od. 9.318 | Hom. Od. 9.409 (Greek English(2)) | >>Hom. Od. 9.506 |
9.371As he spoke he reeled, and fell
sprawling face upwards on the ground. His great neck hung heavily
backwards and a deep sleep took hold upon him. Presently he turned
sick, and threw up both wine and the gobbets of human flesh on which
he had been gorging, for he was very drunk. Then I thrust the beam of
wood far into the embers to heat it, and encouraged my men lest any
of them should turn faint-hearted. When the wood, green though it
was, was about to blaze, I drew it out of the fire glowing with heat,
and my men gathered round me, for a daimôn had filled
their hearts with courage. We drove the sharp end of the beam into
the monster's eye, and bearing upon it with all my weight I kept
turning it round and round as though I were boring a hole in a
ship's plank with an auger, which two men with a wheel and strap
can keep on turning as long as they choose. Even thus did we bore the
red hot beam into his eye, till the boiling blood bubbled all over it
as we worked it round and round, so that the steam from the burning
eyeball scalded his eyelids and eyebrows, and the roots of the eye
sputtered in the fire. As a blacksmith plunges an axe or hatchet into
cold water to temper it - for it is this that gives strength to the
iron - and it makes a great hiss as he does so, even thus did the
Cyclops ’ eye hiss round the beam of olive wood, and his hideous
yells made the cave ring again. We ran away in a fright, but he
plucked the beam all besmirched with gore from his eye, and hurled it
from him in a frenzy of rage and pain, shouting as he did so to the
other Cyclopes who lived on the bleak headlands near him; so they
gathered from all quarters round his cave when they heard him crying,
and asked what was the matter with him.
biê ]?
biê ]!’
Cyclops , groaning and in an agony of pain, felt about with his hands
till he found the stone and took it from the door; then he sat in the
doorway and stretched his hands in front of it to catch anyone going
out with the sheep, for he thought I might be foolish enough to
attempt this.
psukhê ] and those of my companions; I schemed
and schemed, as one who knows that his life depends upon it, for the
danger was very great. In the end I deemed that this plan would be
the best. The male sheep were well grown, and carried a heavy black
fleece, so I bound them noiselessly in threes together, with some of
the withies on which the wicked monster used to sleep. There was to
be a man under the middle sheep, and the two on either side were to
cover him, so that there were three sheep to each man. As for myself
there was a ram finer than any of the others, so I caught hold of him
by the back, ensconced myself in the thick wool under his belly, and
hung on patiently to his fleece, face upwards, keeping a firm hold on
it all the time.
Cyclops had killed.
However, I made signs to them by nodding and frowning that they were
to hush their crying, and told them to get all the sheep on board at
once and put out to sea; so they went aboard, took their places, and
smote the gray sea with their oars. Then, when I had got as far out
as my voice would reach, I began to jeer at the Cyclops .
9.403"‘What ails you, Polyphemus,’ said they, ‘that you make such a noise, breaking the stillness of the night, and preventing us from being able to sleep? Surely no man is carrying off your sheep? Surely no man is trying to kill you either by fraud or by force [
9.407"But Polyphemus shouted to them from inside the cave, ‘Noman is killing me by fraud! Noman is killing me by force [
9.409"‘Then,’ said they, ‘if no man is attacking you, you must be ill; when Zeus makes people ill, there is no help for it, and you had better pray to your father Poseidon.’
9.413"Then they went away, and I laughed inwardly at the success of my clever stratagem, but the
9.420"As for myself I kept on puzzling to think how I could best save my own life [
9.436"Thus, then, did we wait in great fear of mind till morning came, but when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, the male sheep hurried out to feed, while the ewes remained bleating about the pens waiting to be milked, for their udders were full to bursting; but their master in spite of all his pain felt the backs of all the sheep as they stood upright, without being sharp enough to find out that the men were underneath their bellies. As the ram was going out, last of all, heavy with its fleece and with the weight of my crafty self; Polyphemus laid hold of it and said:
9.447"‘My good ram, what is it that makes you the last to leave my cave this morning? You are not wont to let the ewes go before you, but lead the mob with a run whether to flowery mead or bubbling fountain, and are the first to come home again at night; but now you lag last of all. Is it because you know your master has lost his eye, and are sorry because that wicked Noman and his horrid crew have got him down in his drink and blinded him? But I will have his life yet. If you could understand and talk, you would tell me where the wretch is hiding, and I would dash his brains upon the ground till they flew all over the cave. I should thus have some satisfaction for the harm this no-good Noman has done me.’
9.461"As spoke he drove the ram outside, but when we were a little way out from the cave and yards, I first got from under the ram's belly, and then freed my comrades; as for the sheep, which were very fat, by constantly heading them in the right direction we managed to drive them down to the ship. The crew rejoiced greatly at seeing those of us who had escaped death, but wept for the others whom the
| Homer, Odyssey (English) (XML Header) [genre: poetry; hexameter] [word count] [lemma count] [Hom. Od.]. | ||
| <<Hom. Od. 9.318 | Hom. Od. 9.409 (Greek English(2)) | >>Hom. Od. 9.506 |
