EURIPIDES’
CYCLOPS
Written circa 428BCE
TRANSLATED BY
G.THEODORIDIS
©2008
All rights reserved
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
SILENUS
(Father of the Satyrs)
ODYSSEUS
POLYPHEMUS
(One of the Cyclopes)
CHORUS OF SATYRS
(Silenus’ sons)
ODYSSEUS’ MATES
(Silent)
At the front of a huge
cave situated at the foot of Mount Aetna, in Cicily.
The sea might be visible
in the distance. We can also hear the sounds of a river and of sheep grazing.
The land is green with
Spring vegetation. There are trees and rocks around the stage which will become
useful props when the blinded Cyclops bumps into them and hurts himself. (He
will crack his skull from l. 670 onwards).
A hot day.
Enter Silenus from the
cave. He is an old man with a bent frame, holding an iron rake. All satyrs wear
sheep skins, have a tail, a red leather-phallus (hanging down in the case of
Silenus but proud in the case of his sons) and two small horns on their
forehead. (Satyrs are half-goat, half-human.)
Note: All players wear
the red leather phallus.
Silenus:
Oh, Bacchus, Bacchus!
Bacchus, Dionysos! My master!
The pains I’ve suffered
because of you during the days of my virile youth! Countless pains! I’m still
suffering them now! The first one came when Hera, who, demented by a rage of
jealousy, turned you, my god and master, into a possessed and frenzied maniac
and you ran off, leaving behind you all your lovely nurses - all those
delightful mountain nymphs! Then, the next suffering I had to endure was when I
fought beside you, in the war against Earth’s children, all those huge Giants.
There I was, standing beside you with my shield, on your right side and, for
your sake, I had killed Enceladus. Speared him right through the guts… To the
audience hang on… is this true or am I dreaming now? No, no, no! I remember
now, I remember proudly exhibiting all the spoils of the war to Bacchus!
By Zeus! I sure did!
10
And now, Bacchus, here I
am again, having to suffer another ordeal, an even greater one than all the
others! Suffering it because, once again, I had tried to save you! That was the
time when my sons and I rushed to my ship and began searching for
you.
Hera had stirred up all
those Tuscan pirates and got them to kidnap you and sell you as a slave in some
distant country or other! There I was, my Lord, at the stern of the ship,
at the wheel, my sons turning the grey sea waves white, working hard at the
oars, scanning the horizon, looking for you!
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But then, just as we
were about to take the Headland around Malea, a terrible easterly blew hard
upon us and sped our ship away from there. We landed near this rock here,
this rock called Aetna. Here, in Aetna, where Poseidon’s murderous
children, the one-eyed Cyclopes live in their bleak caves.
One of them, Polyphemus,
caught us and he won’t let us go now. He has made us the slaves of his house.
So now, instead of enjoying your joyful Bacchic
celebrations we have to look after this godless beast’s flock of sheep! No more
wine for us, no more dancing, no more merry singing!
My young boys are right
now tending to the sheep, out there somewhere, behind those distant hills. I,
being old, have to stay behind and tend to the chores of the monster’s
cave. Fill all his water troughs, sweep his cave, serve him his unholy
meals at night.
30
Unholy meals, ungodly
Cyclops and poor me, Silenus! These are my orders and orders must always be
obeyed! Now I must work this iron rake so that I may welcome Cyclops, my absent
master and his flock of sheep, into a clean cave.
Silenus begins sweeping
when suddenly he hears noises in the distance. His sons, the satyrs are herding
the sheep within (SL). Noises of bells, bleating, etc. A lyre accompanies the
satyrs who are singing and dancing happily. Silenus looks up and searches the
distance with his eyes.
Ah! I can see my sons
bringing the sheep around. Shouts How are you boys? Hahaha!
You look very happy. Dancing to the same rhythm we did in the old days, I
see! The days when you’d be accompanying Bacchus himself to Althaia’s house. Oh, the dancing we did back then ey? And
the happy songs we sang! The lyre music!
Enter the chorus of
satyrs, singing and dancing, led by the lyre player.
Slaves accompany
them
41
Chorus 1:
Oh, ho! Look at that
ram, boys! The wayward ram!
Chorus 2:
Oh, noble ram, child of
a noble family, don’t run off that way!
That’s the way to the
rough crags!
No sweet breezes that
way for you, no luscious grass!
Come turn this way, the
way to the watering troughs.
Here, near Cyclops’ cave,
just there where your young lambs are bleating.
Chorus 3:
Come this way, where the
troughs are full, darlings.
Full with the water from
the swirling eddies of the river!
You, too, hey you, yes
you! Come this way!
This way to the cool,
grassy slope! Come here to graze!
50
Chorus 4:
Turn back, you! Or else
I’ll throw a stone your way!
Turn back you
high-horned ram!
Chorus 1:
Turn back and head for
Cyclops’ water troughs!
Cyclops, who walks upon
the wild fields.
And you there, noble
lady, let loose your swollen udders
And let your young ones
come to your teats
They’ve been here,
sleeping in the cave all day and they miss you.
60
Chorus 2:
Come, come!
Won’t you leave the
grassy dales on Aetna’s crags
And come into your vast
pen?
Chorus 3:
Alas, there’s no Bacchus
here!
No dancing, no
worshipers, waving their fennel wands,
No ecstatic drum beats
near the gurgling springs,
Not a drop of wine here!
68
Chorus 4:
And now I’m forbidden
from the happy company of the singing Nymphs,
On Mount Nysa with the Iacchus song:
Chorus 1:
“Oh, Iacchus! Oh,
Iacchus!”
No longer can I sing
this song to Aphrodite,
The goddess of Love,
while I
And the white-footed
Bacchantes pursue her!
Chorus 2:
O Bacchus! O Dionysus! O
dearest Lord!
Lord who shakes the
waves of his golden locks
Where do you go to now,
all alone?
Chorus 3:
Now, your servant is the
servant of the one-eyed Cyclops
And now, far from my own
home and dressed in this rough cloak of
Goat skin, I suffer
without your dear friendship.
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Silenus: Disturbed by
what he suddenly sees in the distance
Shhh! Quiet, my sons!
Quickly tell your slaves to go and guide the sheep into the rocky cave!
Chorus 1: To the
slaves
Go, on, men! Do as he
says!
Exit slaves
Father, what is it?
Silenus:
There, on the beach, I
can see a Greek ship coming in. Its oarsmen and their chief are heading this
way, to this cave. They’re carrying empty baskets on their heads. They’re after
food, by the looks of it; food and pails of water.
90
O, poor unlucky
strangers! They have no idea what our master, Polyphemus is like! No idea
that the ground they’re walking on is hostile to foreigners. No idea that
their dreadful luck has guided them right into the jaws of the man-eater
Cyclops!
But, don’t say a word
before we find out where they’re from and how they came to be here, on this
awful crag of Sicilian Aetna.
Enter Odysseus and his
men. From Odysseus’ shoulder hangs a wine skin. The men carry empty baskets and
water pails. Only Odysseus is wearing a sword.
Odysseus:
Friends, greetings! Can
someone tell us where there’s a river that can quench the thirst of travellers, and, is there anyone who can sell food for this
lot of starving sailors?
Suddenly he realises
where he is.
Oh, I see we’re in
Bacchus’ land, lads! There’s a group a satyrs in front of that cave. Indicating
Silenus. I think I’ll talk to the older gentleman first. Greetings to
you, old man.
102
Silenus:
Greetings, friend. Who
are you and where are you from?
Odysseus:
I am Odysseus, from the
island of Ithaca, king of the Cephallenes.
Silenus:
I know this man! He’s
that clever chattering son of Sisyphus!
Odysseus:
That’s me, all right,
without the insults!
Silenus:
How did you get yourself
here, in Sicily?
Odysseus:
On my way from Ilium,
fighting the war in Troy.
Silenus:
From Troy? Don’t you
know your way home?
Odysseus:
Not my choice, my
friend. Fierce winds and storms drove my ships here.
110
Silenus:
Poor man! Your Fate is
identical to my Fate. We have suffered from the work of the same god.
Odysseus:
Were you driven here
against your will, as well?
Silenus:
Yes, we were chasing the
pirates that had kidnapped Dionysus at the time.
Odysseus: Examines
the place
Where am I? What is this
place called and who lives here?
Silenus:
This place is called
Mount Aetna the highest mountain on Sicily.
Odysseus:
Where are its walls, its
battlements?
Silenus:
Don’t look for such
things here, friend. It’s not humans who occupy this land.
Odysseus:
Not humans? Who lives
here then, beasts?
Silenus:
Cyclopes live here, my
friend and they live in caves, not houses.
Odysseus:
And their king? Or do
they have none?
120
Silenus:
Yes, they have none.
They all live on their own, obeying no one.
Odysseus:
Are they farmers? Do
they live by the grain of the goddess Demeter?
Silenus:
No, they eat cheese,
drink milk, feed on the flesh of sheep.
Odysseus:
And do they have any
wine? Dionysus’ drink? The stuff that flows from the grape vine?
Silenus:
No, none at all. That’s
why this land, the land they live on, knows nothing about dancing.
Odysseus:
And how do they treat
strangers? Do they welcome them? Are the Cyclopes god-fearing?
Silenus:
Strangers? Well, they say that the most delicious flesh is that
of strangers!
Odysseus:
What? Do these beasts
enjoy human flesh?
Silenus:
Every stranger who
landed here was butchered.
Odysseus: Indicating
the cave
Is Cyclops in there now?
130
Silenus:
Took his dogs and went
off to the mountain, hunting.
Odysseus:
Do you know of a way we
can get out of here?
Silenus:
No, Odysseus, I don’t
but I’ll help you any way I can.
Odysseus:
You could sell us some
bread, friend. That’s one thing we don’t have.
Silenus:
I can’t. I told you, we
only have meat on this island.
Odysseus:
That, too, would be a
sweet way of stopping the hunger.
Silenus:
There’s also cheese and
cow’s milk.
Odysseus:
Bring them all out.
Business must be done outside, in the daylight.
Silenus:
How much gold are you
prepared to give for it?
Odysseus:
I’ve not brought any
gold with me, friend but I’ve got Dionysus’ drink.
140
Silenus:
Oh, what sweet words you
utter! It’s been a very long time since we drank any of it.
Odysseus:
Maron, Dionysus’ own son gave it to me.
Silenus:
Maron, the child that I raised in my own arms?
Odysseus:
Yes, I’ll say it again
so we don’t make any mistakes: Maron, Dionysus’ own
boy!
Silenus:
Have you’ve got it here
with you or have you left it behind, aboard your ship?
Odysseus: Shows
Silenus the wine skin
Here, let me show you,
old man. It’s in here. In this wine skin.
Silenus:
That little thing?
That’s won’t even be a mouthful!
Odysseus:
That’s what you think,
old man. No, you wouldn’t be able to empty this skin if you tried.
Silenus:
What? Does the wineskin
replenish itself… by itself?
Odysseus:
It doubles itself!
Silenus:
O, what a wondrous
fountain this wineskin is! What a joyful spring it is!
Odysseus:
Would you like to try a
bit? Neat, with no water added?
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Silenus:
Good idea: A taste often
dictates the purchase.
Odysseus: Hands
Silenus a cup
See, not only have I
brought the wine but I’ve also brought a cup!
Silenus:
Well, fill it up, man
and let me drink so that I can remind myself of what it tastes like.
Odysseus: Fills the
cup with wine
Here you are!
Silenus:
Oooo, look! The aroma!
Mmmm! Oooo!
Odysseus:
See it?
Silenus:
No, but I’m smelling
it! By Zeus, what an aroma!
Odysseus: Hands him
the cup
Taste it old man, taste
it so that your praises are not just hollow words.
Silenus: Gulps it
down and begins dancing and singing with joy
O, what a lovely
drop! Look, folks! Bacchus is calling on me to dance! Tra la lalala! O!
Tra lala lala!
Odysseus:
Doesn’t it just slide
down your throat nice and gentle?
Silenus:
Sure does! Down my
throat and all the way down to my toenails!
160
Odysseus:
Hang on, I’ve also got
some money for you…
Silenus:
Forget the money, just
keep feeling this cup up!
Odysseus:
And you just bring out
the cheese!
Silenus:
All right. I’ll do that,
even if it means I disobey my master!
Just a cup of this stuff
and I’ll give you all of his sheep and all of the sheep of all the other
Cyclopes; and then I’ll go jump off the Leucadian
cliff, right into the salty sea below, thoroughly sloshed to the eyeballs and
to my eyebrows which, by then, will have lost their frown! The man who doesn’t
drink is mad!
Indicates his phallus Hahaha! One drink and a man can make this thing stand
upright! Straight up! Upright and uptight! Hahahaha! One drink and a man
can grab a woman’s breast, enjoy a woman’s shrub! And then, there’s all
the lovely dancing and all the forgetting of worries…
Takes another gulp
So, why shouldn’t I
drink such a drink? To Hades with that idiot, Cyclops and his single eye!
Silenus exits into the
cave
Chorus 1:
Psst, Odysseus. A word in your ear.
Odysseus:
Of course. From one
friend to another.
Chorus 1:
That city, Troy and that
woman, Helen, did you… capture them? Both of them?
Odysseus:
We’ve destroyed the
whole of Priam’s household.
Chorus 1:
And, of course, once
you’ve got hold of young Helen, each and every one of your boys fucked her,
right? I mean, since she obviously loves to fuck one man after another,
right? The bitch! Took one look at the fancy pants of the barbarian, one
look at his golden chain dangling from his neck and off she went! Right out of
her skull! Ran off with him, leaving that poor, nice little guy, Menelaos
behind!
Damn all women! I wish
they never existed! Destroy them all… every one of them… just leave one on my
lap!
Enter Silenus and a
couple of his sons from the cave carrying sacks of cheese and pails of
milk. The noise of sheep bleating is heard within. (SL)
188
Silenus:
Here you are, king
Odysseus! Cheese, butter and milk. Indicating within And there,
the flocks of bleating lambs. Take them, Odysseus! Take them and leave this
cave. But give me Bacchus’ wine first.
Odysseus and his mates
take the sacks of cheese and hang them over their shoulders. They pick up the
pails of milk but are stopped suddenly by the noises of a loud fart, snorts and
heavy footsteps etc, made by Cyclops as he’s approaching them.
O, no! Here comes
Cyclops! What are we going to do now?
Odysseus:
O, no! We’re stuffed,
old man! We’re dead! Where can we go?
Silenus:
Go inside the cave,
quickly. It’s dark in there. He won’t be able to see you.
Odysseus:
Bad idea, old man! You
want us to jump into his own nets?
Silenus:
No, it’s not such a bad
idea. There are lots of places to hide in there.
198
Odysseus:
No way! I won’t do it!
The whole of Troy would groan with dreadful anger to see me run away from one
man after they saw me standing up with my shield and sword against a countless
hoard of her soldiers!
No, if I’m going to die,
then I will do so as a noble but then, if he doesn’t manage to kill me, then my
fame will continue to live on.
Enter Cyclops. He is
carrying a huge roughly carved wooden club.
At first he doesn’t
notice Odysseus and his men who have cowered behind a stone near the cave’s
entrance and yells at the satyrs who are joyfully and carelessly hopping about.
Cyclops:
Oi! What’s all
this? What’s going on? What’s with all this dancing about? Have we got a Bacchic holiday or something? There’s no Dionysus on this
island! There are no castanets, no beating drums around here!
Now, how are my little newborn
lambs going in the cave? Are they well? Are they suckling well? Are they
running around next to their mothers?
Have you done the
milking yet? Are the baskets filled with cheese?
Speak! Speak or else
someone will be crying bitter tears after they feel the weight of this club!
Go on, speak! You,
there! Don’t look down, look up at me!
212
Chorus 1:
Here you are! My eyes
are raised. High. Up towards Zeus himself and the heavens! Pointing
skywards Look! I can see the stars! I can see the great hunter Orion,
Poseidon’s son, Orion, your brother, Polyphemus!
Cyclops:
Have you prepared my
dinner well?
Chorus 2:
Of course we did! Of
course we did. It’s all ready for you!
Only thing missing
there, is your guts!
Cyclops:
You filled all the bowls
with milk?
Chorus 3:
There’s so much milk
there, boss, you could drink a whole urn of it, if you want!
Cyclops:
What is it? Cow’s milk? Sheep’s milk or a mixture of both?
Chorus 4:
Whichever takes your
fancy, boss, so long as it’s not me!
220
Cyclops:
You! Eat you? Ha! All
that hopping about and dancing inside my guts! It’d kill me!
He suddenly turns and
notices Odysseus and his men.
What? Who are these men
near my cave there? Are they pirates or thieves? Has the island been invaded by
them?
Peering into the
distance
Well now! Look there! I
can see lambs there –all tied up with twisted cane… and all this cheese… looks
all around him in amazement all my cheese baskets are tossed around
everywhere… and Indicating Silenus this old man, this bald old man… ha!
His face tells me he got a belting from someone!
Silenus approaches
Cyclops, whimpering.
Silenus:
O, poor, poor me! My
whole body is burning from all that beating!
Cyclops:
Beating? Who beat
you? Who’s been clobbering you over the head, old man?
230
Silenus: Indicating
Odysseus and his men
They have,
Cyclops! They beat me all up because I wouldn’t let them run away with
your possessions.
Cyclops:
What? Don’t they
know that I’m a god and a god’s son as well?
Silenus:
I did tell them but they
took no notice, boss. Just kept grabbing all your stuff and taking them out and
then, then they started on the cheese. I told them to stop again and again but
they still wouldn’t listen. Tried to stop them but they wouldn’t stop. Then
they started on your sheep, boss. Again I tried to stop them but they said that
what they were gonna do to you was to tie you up with a triple rope, rip all
your guts out, beat the crap out of your backside with a huge whipping stick,
tie you up hand and foot, toss you onto the rowing benches of their boat and
sell you off to whoever wants someone to turn a mill or move big, heavy rocks
around.
241
Cyclops:
Oh ho! Is that right? To
one of the satyrs: You! Run quickly into the cave, get out my best carving
knife and sharpen it well! Then build a big, blazing fire in the hearth
with a huge pile of wood. These men will be slaughtered, roasted on the
coals and then fill my guts with a juicy meal. I, their host, will eat some of
them straight from the hot coals, roasted and some of them I’ll just have them
boiled tender in the huge cauldron.
The satyr runs off into
the cave
I’m sick and tired of
all that wild mountain meat. I’m fed up with lion flesh and deer flesh. It’s
been far too long since I’ve tasted man’s flesh!
250
Silenus:
A change in the menu is
always a very pleasant thing, boss. No good having the same old boring stuff
over and over again. Come to think of it, it’s been a very long time since we
had any human visitors to your cave.
Odysseus:
Visitors! Ah yes! Now,
Cyclops, listen! Listen to your visitors as well now. The only reason we came
down from our ship and visited your cave was so that we could buy some food
from you but this man here, after we gave him a drink, he sold us your sheep
for a skinful of wine. He took the wine, drank
it and handed us the sheep –willingly, to willing customers. No one was forced
to do anything. He’s a liar, this man, simple as that. He was sprung selling
your stuff behind your back and, now he’s lying through his teeth.
261
Silenus:
Who’s lying, me? Damn
you…
Odysseus:
Sure, damn me -if I’m
lying, that is!
Silenus:
O boss! No! I swear,
Cyclops! I swear by your father, Poseidon, boss! And I swear by Great Triton
and by Nereus and by the daughters of Nereus and Calypso and by the holy waters
of the great Ocean and by all the fishes inside it, boss! I swear… my big,
handsome boy, Cyclops, my dear, dear Cyclops, my sweet, sweet bossyboots, Cyclops! I swear that I was not at any time
ever trying to sell your possessions to these foreigners. I swear that if
I’m lying… well, if I’m lying, may Hades take my darling, darling children
here, all these children that I love so much!
270
Chorus 1: To Silenus
Hold the crap, Silenus!
I saw you with my own eyes, selling Cyclops’ stuff to the strangers and if I’m
lying, well, if I’m lying let Hades take my own father but don’t blame the
strangers for something that they didn’t do!
Cyclops: To Chorus 1
It’s you who’s lying!
I’ve got more faith in this bald man, here, than I have in the great Judge of
the underworld, Rhadymanthys himself!
Turning to Odysseus
But let me ask you,
strangers, where are you from? Which is your country? In what city were you
raised?
Odysseus:
Ithaca is where we were
born, Cyclops and after we sacked the great city of Troy, the winds swept us
all over the place until they finally brought us here, to your island.
280
Cyclops:
Oho! Are you the lot
that went to punish Troy, that city by the river Scamander, for having stolen
that nasty bitch Helen?
Odysseus:
Yes, that was us. We
were the ones who had to take on that terrible ordeal!
Cyclops:
Shameful expedition that
one! All that fuss, going all the way to Phrygia for the sake of one woman!
Shameful stuff that!
Odysseus:
It was the will of a
god, Cyclops. No mortal should be blamed for that.
But now, noble son of
Poseidon, the god of the sea, we beg you and speak to you not as slaves but as
free men: Don’t let your heart endure the awful consequences of you having
killed us -us, who came here, to your house, as friendly visitors; and of you
having made a sacrilegious meal out of us for the benefit of your jaws.
290
Us, Lord Polyphemus, who
have kept all of your father’s temples safe, in every corner of Hellas.
His temple at Tainarum remains untouched and pure to this day and so are
the deepest sacred hollows of Malea. So is the silver-rich rock at Sunium,
beloved by your father and by the goddess Athena together. So are all of Gerastus’ havens as well. We’ve given the Phrygians nothing
belonging to Greece. We could not endure such an awful shame. In all this, you
too can take credit, because you, too, live in Greece, though at its most
distant reaches, here, under the flame-dripping rock of Mount Aetna.
Cyclops yawns. He
is not impressed by Odysseus’ pleas.
But, listen, Lord, if
you will pay no heed to these words then you must remember that there’s a law
among mortals, a law that a host must obey and it says that:
300
“Lost and shipwrecked
visitors who come to you as suppliants must be received with all due
hospitality and given gifts and clothes, if necessary and not have their bodies
perforated with spits that are usually used to roast bulls with, and they
definitely should not be made food for your jaws and guts.”
The soil of Priam’s
country has delivered enough misery to Greece, Polyphemus. It has drunk the
blood of enough Greek corpses, many of us were killed by the spear during that
war. Enough women are now left without their men, enough old women and old men
will now die without sons. And so, if you, Cyclops, cook and make a
dismal meal of the few Greek men that are left alive, where could anyone turn
to for protection?
Cyclops yawns again
309
Cyclops, hear my words!
Put aside the fury of your jaws! Choose reverence rather than irreverence. Evil
deeds have brought awful sufferings to many.
Silenus: To Cyclops
Boss, I want to give you
a piece of advice. Cyclops, mate, leave not a speck of this man’s flesh
untouched, not a bite of it, boss; and if your teeth will get to his tongue and
you eat it, if you eat his tongue, boss, then I guarantee, you, too, will
become clever and eloquent like him.
Cyclops: To Odysseus
Ey, little man! Wise men
believe in one god and one god only: Wealth! Everything else is just words; fat
words, lovely words but that’s all. All these shrines and temples of my father,
built on every shore in Greece mean nothing to me. What’s the point of telling
me all about them?
320
You can mention Zeus’
thunderbolt, too, if you like and it would mean nothing to me. Not afraid of
it, not one bit! I don’t know and I don’t even care if Zeus is a more powerful
god than me. Nothing else matters either, see, and I’ll tell you why.
See, let’s say Zeus
decides to rain upon us. Well, all I have to do is to just go inside that cave,
underneath that dry roof there, lie down on my backside and rip into a roasted
calf or into some wild beast or other, then guzzle down a whole vat of milk,
deliver a huge feast into my belly and then, and then I do battle with Zeus’
thunderbolts: His bolts come from up above and mine come from down below!
Farts loudly
Hahahaha!
Then, when the terrible
snows come down upon us all the way from Thrace, I just cover myself up all
snugly with the hides of wild animals, light up a blazing fire in there and to
Hades with the snow! Won’t affect me in the slightest!
331
As for Earth, whether
she wants to or not, she’ll still bring up the grass which will feed all my
animals which I, in turn, will feed to the most important divinity in the
world, my own belly. No sacrifices, nothing for anyone else, just my own lovely
guts! Yum, yum!
Drink, eat and worry
about nothing! That’s what smart people like me think about Zeus! As for all
those fools who made all these laws for the humans and make their lives
miserable, well they ought to be hanged! Every one of them!
340
I’ll never stop
gratifying my soul and I’ll even eat you to do it.
You were talking about
gifts that hosts give to their guests. Well, you’re going to get your gifts all
right. I won’t have you blaming me for neglecting my duties, little man, so
I’ll give you gifts: You will be given the fire to cook you with and you will
even be given salt, fresh salt that came right from the waters of my father’s
kingdom. Then you’ll get a bronze cauldron, a huge cauldron which when it gets
to be boiling, it will cover your badly dressed little body beautifully!
Now, all of you, little
men, go inside the cave and pay homage to its god! Prepare yourselves to be my
feast!
Hahaha! Go on, in
you go!
Cyclops prods them
towards the cave.
Odysseus:
What dreadful luck! I
have survived the toils of Troy and the torment tossed at me by all the oceans,
only to end up in the heartless harbour of this horrible, godless beast!
350
O, Athena! My goddess,
Pallas Athena! Heavenly daughter of Zeus, come to me! Come to me now and help
me. Come straight away because I’m in deeper danger now than I was in on the
battleground of Troy! You, too, Zeus! Divine protector of all guests! God whose
abode is the brilliant stars, look upon this! See what’s going on here because
if you can’t, if can’t see this injustice, then they’re wrong to believe you’re
a real god… you would be a false and worthless god!
Odysseus and his men
enter the cave. Silenus follows them. Cyclops enters last having let off a loud
fart.
Chorus 1:
Come then Cyclops! Open
your gaping gullet wide! Your meal is now ready. Go on, lie down on your
soft fleece-covered couch and eat the flesh of your guests: Straight out of the
cauldron, or from the oven or from the burning coals.
Chorus 2:
Tear them up into little
bits, gnaw at their bones, enjoy, Cyclops, enjoy your meal, enjoy the flesh of
strangers!
Screams of pain and
anger are heard from within the cave.
Chorus 3: moving away
from the cave, in fear and disgust
No, no! Give me no share
of it! Give us none of your ship’s cargo. Keep it all down, in your own cargo
hold!
No, don’t let me look
into the dreadful cave! I don’t want to see the sacrilegious sacrifices that
this Cyclops from Aetna is making!
More screams for a few
seconds, then a short pause before Cyclops is heard belching, laughing
heartily… and farting.
Chorus 4:
In there! In there this
beast has killed the visitors and he’s now eating their flesh! Cyclops is
feasting on human flesh!
369
Chorus 1:
Heartless! Heartless is
the beast who murders those who approach his shores, looking for some refuge by
his hearth. Heartless he is if he kills and cooks the strangers, then grinds
their bodies between his teeth, straight after he’s roasted them on the burning
coals.
Chorus 2: Repeats as
a refrain
No, no! Give me no share
of it! Give us none of your ship’s cargo. Keep it all down, in your own cargo
hold!
No, don’t let me look
into the dreadful cave! I don’t want to see the sacrilegious sacrifices that
this Cyclops from Aetna is making!
Short pause before
Odysseus comes out of the cave, carrying the wine skin. He is in a state of
utter despair.
Odysseus:
O, Zeus! Zeus, how can I
ever speak now? How can I utter anything, now that I’ve seen things that are
incredible, things done only in myths, dire deeds, deeds not performed by
mortals!
Chorus 1:
What is it, Odysseus?
Has Cyclops killed your mates and ate them?
Odysseus:
Two of them! The fattest
ones. Lifted them up into his hands, weighed them up for size and ate them!
380
Chorus 2:
Poor, poor men! Tell us
the whole story. What happened in there?
Odysseus:
The moment we walked
into his rocky cave, Cyclops lit up a blazing fire which he fed with three
truckloads of huge oak branches and then put a giant cauldron on top of it.
Next, he chopped up a
whole lot of small branches from a fur tree and made a bed near the fire. Then
he took an enormous urn –one that could hold some ten jugs of milk- and filled
it up to the brim with the frothy white milk he drew from the cows’ teats.
390
Next to that urn, he
placed a tall, wide cup, made of ivy wood. I’d say it was about four feet wide
and about six or seven feet high.
Then, with a sharp
knife, he went about trimming lengths of buckthorn wood into long spits, the
ends of which he poked into the fire to make hard. And when he had everything
ready, this appalling, god-hated Cook from Hades, picked up two of my mates,
lifted one over the huge, bronze cauldron and there cut his throat with a swift
expert motion.
400
As for my other mate,
the beast lifts him up by the ankle and crashes him upon a huge jutting rock,
splattering his brains everywhere.
Then, he picked up his
sharp knife and butchered the men’s bodies to bits. Some bits he threw into the
fire while others, their arms and legs, he tossed into the boiling cauldron.
In utter despair and
with tears streaming from my eyes, I was running around Cyclops obeying his
orders. All my other mates, crowded themselves behind rocks, trembling like a
swarm of frightened birds, their faces white and drained of any blood.
409
But then, when Cyclops
had enough to eat, gorging himself on my unfortunate friends, he fell flat on
his back and, from his dreadful mouth, he belched out a foul smell. Just then,
a divine thought filled my head. I picked up a cup, filled it with this Maronian wine and brought it up to Cyclops’ face. “Look,” I
said, “Look here, son of a god, Cyclops. Look at the divine drink the Greeks
make out of their vines. Dionysus’ very joy! Here, taste it!”
The savage beast, his
stomach stuffed full of the ungodly meal he had just eaten, raised his hand,
took the cup to his lips and swallowed the whole lot in one gulp! Then, he
raised his hands in the air and praised me. “O what a wonderful friend you are,
stranger,” he said. “First you give me a splendid meal and then you give me a
splendid drink!”
420
Now, seeing that this
had pleased the monster, I gave him another cup of it, knowing full well that
this drink would bring about his destruction and his just punishment.
And true enough, after a
few cups, he began to sing and so I kept stoking the fire in his heart by
serving him one cup after another of this lovely wine. He sang his miserable
songs next to my crying friends so loudly that the whole cave was echoing with
the giant’s frightful voice.
But just now, I slid
quietly out of the cave and I am ready to save myself, my friends and you, if
you want. It’s up to you, so tell me if you would like to escape this
unholy monster and live inside Bacchus’ palaces, along with all the Nymphs
there.
431
Because that’s what
Silenus, your father, really wants, too but he’s an old drunk, I’m afraid. He’s
still in there, in the cave and his love for the wine has made him weak and
thoughtless. He’s stuck in that cup, just like a little bird is stuck,
caught in a bird trap, flapping his hands about frantically, trying to escape.
But you! You’re young!
Come with me. Get back to your old friend, Dionysus. He’s a very different sort
of creature to Cyclops, that’s for sure!
Chorus 1:
If only, my dear,
darling friend! If only the day would come that we could escape from the
clutches of that Beast! Raising his fallen phallus This little siphon of
mine is getting desperately lonely! There’s no sex to be had in that cave,
that’s for sure!
440
Odysseus:
Well then, let me tell
you my plan for punishing that savage and for letting you escape this slavery.
Chorus 1:
Tell me! Hearing about
Cyclops’ death would be sweeter than the sweetest sounds made by an Asian lyre!
Odysseus:
He is so drunk and so
happy now, that he wants to go to all his brothers, all the other Cyclopes and
have a jolly party with them all!
Chorus 2:
O, I get you! You want
us to ambush him all alone in some forest and murder him, or throw him off a
steep cliff…
Odysseus:
No, no, no! Nothing like
that at all. I’ve got a different plan in my head for him.
450
Chorus 3:
Yeah? What is it then?
We’ve heard a lot about how cunning you are!
Odysseus:
First thing I’ll do is
to tell him to forget about the party. I’ll tell him to keep the wine all to
himself and enjoy it for the rest of his life and not to share it with the rest
of his brothers. Then, after he succumbs to Dionysus’ drink and falls dead
asleep, I’ll pull out this huge olive tree log from a corner in there, make it
pointy at one end with my sharp sword here and put it into the fire. Then, when
I see it getting all red and hot, I’ll lift it up and shove it hard, deep into
Cyclops’ eye. The fire will melt his eyeball and make him totally blind!
460
See, just like the boat
builder twists and turns the drill into a whole in the wood with his two
straps, that’s what I’ll do with the burning log, drilling it deep right into
his eye socket. Burn out his eyeball!
Chorus 4: Excited
with joy
Yes! Woohoo! This
scheme of yours is a real beauty! Insane!
Odysseus:
After that, it will only
be a matter of putting you guys and your old man aboard my black ship and,
working both rows of its oars, we’ll speed you away from this place!
469
Chorus 1:
Can I help with the log,
too? At least touch it while you’re poking it into his eyes? Sort of the way
people touch the libation cups during a ceremony. I want to take part in
this blood libation.
Odysseus:
That’s a must because
this log is huge! Very heavy to lift so we’ll need your help.
Chorus 2:
Heavy? What’s heavy? I
could lift the weight of a hundred carts to get the chance to scorch out that
beast’s eye! Scorch it out like a wasps’ nest!
Odysseus:
All right, then, but for
now, hold your tongue. You know my plan. Sit tight and wait for my signal. Wait
for the master’s command!
480
There’s no way I’m going
to leave my mates behind, inside that cave. True, I’ve found a way to get out
and I could escape if I wanted to but I’ve come here with my mates and I’ll
leave here with my mates. It’d be a terrible sacrilege to escape alone.
Odysseus enters the cave
Chorus 1:
Right! Now who’s going
to be the first at the pole and who’ll be next after him? Who’ll hold the
burning log and who’ll turn it and twist it inside Cyclops’ eye, melt down that
bright sight of his?
Cyclops sings drunkenly
within.
Chorus 2:
Listen! He’s drunk
now… awful voice! Awful tune! Shhh! More singing within. Knows nothing
about singing…
Cyclops, Silenus and
Odysseus appear at the entrance of the cave. Cyclops and Silenus are drunk and
Cyclops is leaning on Silenus’ shoulder one moment and on Odysseus’ the next.
Odysseus has the wine skin and Silenus the cup.
Chorus 3:
Here he is! He’s coming
out of his rocky cave now.
490
Chorus 4:
Come boys, let’s teach
this uncouth fellow something about singing. In any case, one way or another he
won’t be able to escape his fate. Cyclops will be blinded!
Chorus 1:
What a happy chappy is
the man who’s sings the Bacchic song! How happy he
must be as he heads off to the party, his sails filled with the delicious juice
of the grape vine!
Chorus 2:
There he is, leaning on
his best friend’s shoulder, on his way to his bed, a bed where the scrumptious,
lusty body of his mistress is waiting for him. And when he gets to the door of
his choice -he and his plush long hair, all washed in scented myrrh- he’ll sing
out, “Hellooooo? Who can open the door for me,
please?”
503
Cyclops:
Hahaha! Tralala la la! Ohhhh, I’m… I’m…
well, I’m totally pissed! Hahahahaha! Loaded! Clogged with wine! Farts
Hahahaha! Oh, what joy! What joy! My heart is dancing about inside me! Belches
Hahaha! I’m loaded to the brim. Like a ship is loaded to the
brim! To the brim of the ship! I’m fully loaded!
Pats his stomach fondly
Ohohoho! What a delightful cargo this ship’s belly is
carrying! Full of cheer! Party time! Party time in Spring,
with my brother Cyclopes!
To Odysseus
Come, my deary, deary
friend! Pass me that wine skin!
Chorus 3:
Cyclops! What a sight
for sore eyes you are as you step forth, out of your chambers!
Someone loves you,
Cyclops! Some enchanting nymph is waiting for your beautiful body to enter the
cool chambers of your den. Torches are lit brightly and the lovely bride will
grace your brow with a garland of lovely flowers.
Odysseus:
Cyclops listen to me.
Listen! I need to tell you something. Listen because I know this god Bacchus,
whose drink I’ve given you.
521
Cyclops:
Bacchus who? Don’t tell
me he’s a god, too! Is he?
Odysseus:
O, yes, Cyclops! Mortals
think he is the biggest source of good cheer!
Cyclops:
Well then, in good cheer
I shall belch for him! He belches loudly. Hahaha!
Odysseus: Waving the
wine skin at him
That’s the sort of god
he is, you see. He harms no one!
Cyclops:
A god living in a wine
skin! How can he do that?
Odysseus:
He’s happy no matter
where you put him!
Cyclops:
It’s not right for gods
to wear skins, though!
Odysseus:
Why should you be
worried about what he wears? Or, has the hide made him taste bitter?
Cyclops:
I can’t stand that hide…
takes another drink but this drink is delicious! I love it!
530
Odysseus:
Well, stay here and
drink, then, Cyclops! Enjoy it!
Cyclops:
But don’t you think I
should give some of it to my brothers?
Odysseus:
Well, they’d respect you
more if you keep it all to yourself!
Cyclops:
Yeah but by giving them
some, I’ll be helping them, helping my own folk, wouldn’t I?
Odysseus:
Listen, too much
partying can often end up in too much violence.
Cyclops:
Violence? I might be
pissed but there’s no way anyone could take me on!
Odysseus:
Mate, trust me! It’s
best if the drunks stay at home.
Cyclops:
It’s stupid to be drunk
and not have a party!
Odysseus:
The wise drunk stays at
home.
Cyclops: To Silenus
What do you say,
Silenus? Should we stay home?
540
Silenus:
Yes, that’s what I
reckon. What do we need other drunks around for?
Cyclops: Looks around
him and enjoys the sunshine and the ground
Hmm! I agree. Beautiful,
warm sun, beautiful green grass. The ground here is nice and soft
with all the grass and flowers.
Silenus:
Yes, boss. Drinking in
the hot sun is great. Now, lie down here, boss.
Cyclops lies down and
stretches his body all the more to enjoy the sun. Silenus places the cup
behind Cyclops, out of his reach.
Cyclops:
Oi! What are you doing?
Why are you hiding that cup behind me?
Silenus:
I don’t want anyone
kicking it and smashing it as they walk by.
Cyclops:
Yeah, right! You mean
you want to pinch it and drink it all yourself! Put it here, between us. Silenus
obeys. To Odysseus Now, you, stranger! Tell me, I want to know what
your name is.
Odysseus:
My name? My name is
Nobody… Now you tell me, how will you repay my kindness?
550
Cyclops:
I will repay you by
eating you last!
Silenus pours a drink in
the cup and begins to drink it.
Silenus:
A fine reward you’ve
given our little visitor, boss!
Cyclops:
Oi! What do you think
you’re doing? Drinking my wine behind my back?
Silenus:
Oh, no, boss. The wine
just… up and kissed me because I’m so handsome!
Cyclops:
You’ll pay for this, you’ll pay for loving the wine that
does not love you back!
Silenus: Raises the
cup to his ear and pretends to listen to what it’s saying to him.
Oh, no, Cyclops! It says
–the wine says- that it loves me very, very much!
Cyclops: Impatiently
Come on, come on! Poor
some into the cup for me… let me have it here!
Silenus pours some wine
into the cup and examines it.
Silenus:
Now let me see… how much
water should we mix with it?
Cyclops:
No, no water, you’ll
ruin it. Just give it to me like that!
Silenus: Offers the
cup with one hand and a garland with the other.
Here! Put this garland
on first. I’ll just take a little sip.
560
Cyclops: Exasperated
This barman is a crook!
Silenus:
Zeus, no! Smacks his
lips Yummm! This wine is so sweet! Now wipe
your face, boss. Your drink is coming! Fills the cup again. Cyclops wipes
his mouth and his beard.
Cyclops:
There! Wiped my mouth
and my beard. Now hand it over!
Silenus:
Right. Now, boss, first
lean gently on your shoulder and then, and then you raise the cup - all the way
up - and drink it… like this… see? Silenus drains the cup so quickly that
Cyclops hardly saw the act … or, maybe, you didn’t see… Hahaha!
Cyclops:
Oi! Oi! What
do you think you’re doing?
Silenus:
I’m drinking to your
health, Cyclops, sir!
Cyclops snatches the cup
and the wine skin from Silenus’ hand and gives them to Odysseus.
Cyclops:
Here, Nobody, you do the
pouring from now on.
Odysseus: Fondles the
cup and the wine skin
Oh yes! This is familiar
territory for my hand this one.
Cyclops:
Go on, then. Pour the
bloody thing!
Odysseus: Insisting
on reverence for the drink
Shhh! Be quiet! I’m
pouring it, I’m pouring it!
Cyclops:
Hard thing to do for a
man who’s already pissed!
Odysseus: Hands him
the cup
Here you are. Now drink
the lot of it in one go. Go on! Bottoms up! A man drinks till a man dies.
Till death do you part!
Cyclops: Guzzles the
wine up fast.
Oh, Zeusy, Zeusy, Zeusy!
What a wise bit of wood is that of the grape vine!
Odysseus:
Yeap, but you’ve got to
finish the lot because, after having this great meal you just had you’d better
quench the thirst in your stomach. If you do that, if you quench the thirst
that’s in your guts, you’ll fall into a sweet sleep but if you don’t drink it
all and leave some behind, Bacchus will dry your gullet out!
Cyclops takes another
long drink.
Cyclops:
Ahhh! Deeeelicious stuff! Wow! I can’t get my breath back! Pure
joy this stuff! Oh, look! Whaaaat? Is the sky spinning about? I think
it’s all dancing around with the earth… Hey, that’s Zeus’ throne up there and
there’s Zeus and all the other holly divinities.
580
Do you think I should go
and kiss them all? Hahaha! Here come all the pretty Graces. I think
they want to… excite me… get my candle burning… Forget it, girls! Putting an
amorous arm around Silenus’ shoulder. I’m off with this Ganymede boy
here. Much better way to relax than with all you ladies! I always did love the
boys more than the girls!
Silenus: Frightened
Boss, boss! It’s me,
Silenus! I’m not Zeus’ son, Ganymede! I’m Silenus!
Cyclops lifts Silenus up
in his arms
Cyclops:
O, yes you are! You are
Ganymede and I’m snatching you away from Dardanus’ house! Let’s go little boy!
Silenus: To his sons
O, no! My darling sons!
I’m heading off to suffer unimaginable sufferings!
Cyclops:
What is it, boy? You’re
not in love with your lover? Are you making fun of me because I’m drunk?
Silenus:
O, no, it’s not that!
It’s just that this little sip of wine I had… it’s turned sour on me!
Farting, Cyclops takes
Silenus into the cave. Odysseus follows him but a short while later Odysseus
comes out again.
590
Odysseus: To the
satyrs
Come, boys! Come noble
sons of Bacchus! Let’s go. Cyclops is fast asleep in the cave. We’ll make that
beast belch out of his disgraceful mouth all the human flesh he’s eaten. The
huge log is in the fireplace now, burning and smoking. There’s only one thing
left for us to do: go and burn his eye out! Come on, time for you boys to show
that you’re men!
Chorus 1:
Our heart will be as
strong as steel and rock. Let’s go in now before our father is screwed. And
don’t you worry about us. You can rely on us.
599
Odysseus: Prays to
the Heavens
O, Hephaestus! O, Lord
of Mount Aetna, god of fire! Save us from this dreadful neighbour, in
this cave here! Save us once and for all! Burn that bright candle of that
single eye of his!
And you, child of the
black night, you dear Sleep! Come, Sleep, come and fall upon this beast
–this god-hated beast! Fall upon him with all of your might and take him away!
Odysseus and his brave men have glorified you on the battlefields of Troy.
Don’t let them now be destroyed in the hands of this terrible beast, this beast
that cares not for gods or men… Because if you don’t, if you don’t come to our
aid, we’ll start honouring Chance as a god! We’ll
start thinking that Chance is mightier then all the other gods!
Odysseus enters the cave
Chorus one rushes to the
entrance of the cave, takes a quick look inside and comes out again.
608
Chorus 1:
O, ho, ho! And now, like
a tight pair of pliers, the pain will grip the horrible eater of human guests
by the throat and the fire will extinguish the glow of that eye of his.
The log’s sharp point,
well hidden in the hot ashes, has now turned into charcoal. It’s an awesome
branch of a great oak tree.
Chorus 2:
Let the wine, Maron’s wine, do its work, now! Let it swirl the beast’s
brains about, let it spin him into a frenzy of pain and let it spit out his
eye. Let the drinking of wine be the beast’s demise.
619
Chorus 3:
Once all that happens,
I’d very much like Bacchus, the love of my life, to appear, wearing his lovely
ivy garland and we can go with him, away from here, away from this desolate
cave of Cyclops.
Chorus 4:
O, I wish! I wonder if I
will ever get that pleasure!
Odysseus emerges from
the cave, angry at the satyrs.
Odysseus:
Will you, wild animals,
shut up? For god’s sake, you lot, be silent! Shut and seal your big
mouths! Don’t even breathe! Or blink an eyelid! Don’t cough!
You’re going to wake
that beast up before his eye gets to do its battle with the flaming log!
Chorus 1:
Right! We’ll shut up!
Chorus 2:
And we’ll choke our
breath inside our cheeks!
630
Odysseus:
Come then. Let’s go
inside and grab a hold of that log. It’s ready. Its point is red hot.
Chorus 1:
First tell us who’ll be
at the head of the line. Who’s going to be the first to lift the log to burn
Cyclops’ eye? Tell us so that we can get properly organised beforehand.
Chorus 2:
We lot out here, by the
cave’s entrance are far too far away to be able to reach the log from here and
poke it in his eye!
Chorus 3: Pretending
to be limping
And us lot are lame… all
of a sudden!
Chorus 4: Bowing his
legs
Same with me!
There I was standing properly one minute and the very next, my legs went all
wobbly!
640
Odysseus:
Just like that? One
minute standing straight and the next you’re wobbling?
Chorus 1: Rubbing his
eyes
And my eyes! My eyes are
suddenly full of dust and ashes!
Odysseus:
What a lot of cowards!
What a useless lot!
Chorus 1:
What? Who are you
calling “cowards?” We’re not cowards! We’re just… trying to save our bums, our
spines, our teeth! We hate punchups, that’s all.
We’re not cowards!
Chorus 2:
Hey listen! I’ve got a
special Orphean spell I can recite, one that will
make that log walk right up to Cyclops’ skull all by itself and set that
one-eyed sucker of Earth’s son, all up in flames!
649
Odysseus: Disgusted
I knew all along that
you were like this. Cowards! This just proves it!
O, well, I must make do
with just my own mates! But if you’re useless with your hands at least be
useful with your mouths and cheer us on. Give us courage. Lift our spirits a
bit!
Odysseus shakes his head
in dismay and walks into the cave
Chorus 1: At
Odysseus’ back
No worries, Odysseus!
We’ll do that! Hehehe! Let the Carians take the risk,
as they say in the classics! If cheering can do it boys, then let the boss
burn!
All Chorus: Singing
and dancing as a cheer squad
Go, boys, go! Stick it
up him, poke it into him!
Be brave boys and burn
that sucker out!
Burn that eyeball of
his! Burn it good and proper!
Cyclops is a horrible
beast!
Fill his skull with
fire!
Kill the shepherd of
Mount Aetna!
661
Twist and turn that log,
boys!
Twist it!
Turn it!
And move away from him
now!
Move away from him.
The pain will make him
wild,
So wild, he might hurt
you!
Wild sound of pain from
Cyclops within.
Cyclops: Within
Oh, my eye! My
eye! They’ve made charcoal out of my eye!
Chorus:
Oh, what a lovely tune,
Cyclops! Sing it again, please!
Cyclops: within
Ahhhh! Oh, the shame!
They’ve ruined me! Ahhhh! They’ve destroyed me! I am lost!
Cyclops appears at the
cave’s entrance, his back to the audience, his arms extended as a barrier to
anyone wanting to escape from it. Shouts at the men inside.
But you won’t escape
this rocky cave, you… you nobodies! You won’t find any pleasure in your deed,
I’ll tell you that right now! I’ve got my arms covering the whole entrance.
They’re tight up against the cave’s walls! You won’t escape punishment!
The Satyrs are spinning
about him, teasing him.
Chorus 1:
What’s up, Cyclops? What
are you screaming like that for?
Cyclops: Turns his
head towards them
They’ve destroyed
me! Look!
Chorus 2:
Ohhh! How ugly you
look, boss! Simply frightful!
670
Cyclops:
Ohhh! Ugly and
wretched!
Chorus 3:
Did you get pissed and
fall into the fire?
Cyclops:
No, no! It was Nobody!
Nobody has blinded me!
Chorus 4:
Yeahhhh? Nobody has blinded you? So… so that means nobody has
caused you any harm, then, ey?
Cyclops:
No, no, no! Nobody
plucked my eyeball out! It was Nobody!
Chorus 1:
Yeah, you said that:
Nobody blinded you, sooo, you’re not blind, then,
Cyclops, are you?
Cyclops:
Ahhh! The pain!
The horrible pain! I hope you get to feel this pain!
Chorus 2:
But, boss, tell us, how
is it that you’re blind if, as you say, nobody has blinded you?
Cyclops:
Stop making fun of me!
Tell me where this Nobody is!
Chorus 3:
Who? Nobody? Nobody is
nowhere, Cyclops. Anywhere. Nowhere! Puff! Nowhere!
Cyclops:
Listen you! It was my
visitor who did this to me. That horrible visitor who got me so drunk
with that wine of his!
Chorus 4:
Oh yes! The wine!
Wine is a very dangerous thing, boss. Bloody difficult to wrestle with!
Cyclops:
By the gods, tell me!
Have they escaped or are they still in there?
680
Chorus 1:
They’re right there,
boss! Near the cliff’s edge! Standing very quietly.
Cyclops:
Where? Which way?
Chorus 2:
To your right, boss.
Cyclops moves away from
the cave’s entrance and tripping and stumbling and farting, spins about this
way and that, confused by the misleading directions of the Chorus
Cyclops:
Where, where?
680
Chorus 3:
On this rock here?
Caught them yet?
Cyclops runs that way
but falls and bumps his head
Cyclops:
Ouch! One pain after
another! Ahhh! I’ve broken my skull!
Chorus 4:
Quick, Cyclops. This
way! They’re running away!
Cyclops:
But you said they were
here a minute ago! Aren’t they here?
Chorus 1:
No, boss, I said here!
This way!
Cyclops:
Damn it, where?
Chorus 2:
Turn that way. To your
left!
Cyclops:
My left? Where?
Oh, my poor head! You’re laughing at me! You’re making fun of my misfortune!
Chorus 3:
No we’re not,
Cyclops. The man is right in front of you!
Cyclops: Shouts
Where are you, you most
vile creature?
Odysseus and his men
walk softly behind Cyclops and get to the other side of the stage.
Odysseus:
I’m right here, Cyclops!
Right here, keeping Odysseus safe and sound!
690
Cyclops:
Odysseus? What’s
that you’re saying? Have you changed your name now?
Odysseus:
No, this is the name
given to me by my father and it’s time now for me to pay you for that unholy
lunch you had. What would be the point, otherwise, I ask you, of setting Troy
in flames if I don’t punish you for murdering my own war mates?
Cyclops:
O, no! The old prophesy
has come to pass! It said that I’d be blinded by you after the fall of Troy…
but the prophesy also said that you, too, must pay the penalty of your own
deeds. Your journey back home will be long and stuffed full with terrible
sufferings on the ocean.
701
Odysseus:
Cry, Cyclops, cry! Cry
all you want. I’ve done what I promised I would do. Now I’m off! I’m going down
to the shore to get into my ship and set sail away from here, over the Sicilian
sea and head for my sweet home. Ithaca.
Exit Odysseus and his
men
Cyclops: Heading
towards the cave.
Not so fast you don’t!
I’m going up to that hill and, blind as I am, I’ll rip one of the great stones
up there and hurl it over to your ship, crushing it and your friends to
smithereens. I’m going up there through the back entrance.
Farting, Cyclops goes
into the cave
Chorus 1: Hurrying
after Odysseus
We too are off. We’re
Odysseus’ shipmates now and from now on we’ll be serving our beloved god,
Bacchus.
Exit all.
END OF EURIPIDES’
“CYCLOPS”