Silenus: No danger; there are ways of escape in plenty in the rock.
Odysseus: No, never that; for surely Troy will groan and loudly too,
if we flee from a single man, when I have oft withstood with my shield
a countless host of Phrygians. Nay, if die we must, we will die a
noble death; or, if we live, we will maintain our old renown at least
with credit. (The Cyclops enters as Silenus goes into the cave. The
Cyclops, not noticing Odysseus and his companions, addresses the Chorus
in anger.)
Cyclops: A light here! hold it up! what is this? what means this idleness,
your Bacchic revelry? Here have we no Dionysus, nor clash of brass,
nor roll of drums. Pray, how is it with my newly-born lambs in the
caves? are they at the teat, running close to the side of their dams?
Is the full amount of milk for cheeses milked out in baskets of rushes?
How now? what say you? One of ye will soon be shedding tears from
the weight of my club; look up, not down.
Leader: There! my head is bent back till I see Zeus himself; I behold
both the stars and Orion.
Studies
