| Homer, Odyssey (English) (XML Header) [genre: poetry; hexameter] [word count] [lemma count] [Hom. Od.]. | ||
| <<Hom. Od. 9.403 | Hom. Od. 9.447 (Greek English(2)) | >>Hom. Od. 9.556 |
9.413"Then they went away, and I
laughed inwardly at the success of my clever stratagem, but the
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 .
Cyclops ,’ said I,
‘you should have taken better measure of your man before eating
up his comrades in your cave. You wretch, do you intend by violence
[biê ] to eat up your visitors in your own cave?
You might have known that your derangement would find you out, and
now Zeus and the other gods have punished you.’
Cyclops again, but the men begged and prayed of me to hold my
tongue.
Cyclops , if any one asks you
who it was that put your eye out and spoiled your beauty, say it was
the valiant warrior Odysseus, son of Laertes, who lives in
Ithaca .’
mantis ] here, at one time, a man
both brave and of great stature, Telemos son of Eurymos, who was an
excellent seer, and did all the prophesying for the Cyclopes till he
grew old; he told me that all this would happen to me some day, and
said I should lose my sight by the hand of Odysseus. I have been all
along expecting some one of imposing presence and superhuman
strength, whereas he turns out to be a little insignificant weakling,
who has managed to blind my eye by taking advantage of me in my
drink; come here, then, Odysseus, that I may make you presents to
show my hospitality, and urge Poseidon to help you forward on your
journey - for Poseidon and I are father and son. He, if he so will,
shall heal me, which no one else neither god nor man can
do.’
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
9.475"‘
9.480"He got more and more furious as he heard me, so he tore the top from off a high mountain, and flung it just in front of my ship so that it was within a little of hitting the end of the rudder. The sea quaked as the rock fell into it, and the wash of the wave it raised carried us back towards the mainland, and forced us towards the shore. But I snatched up a long pole and kept the ship off, making signs to my men by nodding my head, that they must row for their lives, whereon they laid out with a will. When we had got twice as far as we were before, I was for jeering at the
9.494"‘Do not,’ they exclaimed, ‘be mad enough to provoke this savage creature further; he has thrown one rock at us already which drove us back again to the mainland, and we made sure it had been the death of us; if he had then heard any further sound of voices he would have pounded our heads and our ship's timbers into a jelly with the rugged rocks he would have heaved at us, for he can throw them a long way.’
9.500"But I would not listen to them, and shouted out to him in my rage, ‘
9.506"On this he groaned, and cried out, ‘Alas, alas, then the old prophecy about me is coming true. There was a seer [
| Homer, Odyssey (English) (XML Header) [genre: poetry; hexameter] [word count] [lemma count] [Hom. Od.]. | ||
| <<Hom. Od. 9.403 | Hom. Od. 9.447 (Greek English(2)) | >>Hom. Od. 9.556 |
