Silenus: Truly, master, a change like this is all the sweeter after
everyday fare; for just of late there have been no fresh arrivals
of strangers at these caves.
Odysseus: Hear the strangers too in turn, Cyclops. We had come near
the cave from our ship, wishing to procure provisions by purchase,
when this fellow sold us the lambs and handed them over for a stoup
of wine to drink himself, a voluntary act on both sides, there was
no violence employed at all. No, there is not a particle of truth
in the story he tells; now that he has been caught selling thy property
behind thy back.
Silenus: I? Perdition catch thee!
Odysseus: If I am lying, yes.
Silenus: (in agitation) O Cyclops, by thy sire Poseidon, by mighty
Triton and Nereus, by Calypso and the daughters of Nereus, by the
sacred billows and all the race of fishes! I swear to thee, most noble
sir, dear little Cyclops, master mine, it is not I who sell thy goods
to strangers, else may these children, dearly as I love them, come
to an evil end.
Studies
