sea The tempest swept it hitherward, and I, With these, escaped the bitter doom of death.’
“I spake; the savage answered not, but sprang, And, laying hands on my companions, seized Two, whom he dashed like whelps against the ground. Their brains flowed out, and weltered where they fell. He hewed them limb from limb for his repast, And, like a lion of the mountain wilds, Devoured them as they were, and left no part— Entrails nor flesh nor marrowy bones. We wept To see his cruelties, and raised our hands To Jove, and hopeless misery filled our hearts. And when the Cyclops now had filled himself, Devouring human flesh, and drinking milk Unmingled, in his cave he laid him down, Stretched out amid his flocks. The thought arose In my courageous heart to go to him, And draw the trenchant sword upon my thigh, And where the midriff joins the liver deal A stroke to pierce his breast. A second thought Restrained me—that a miserable death Would overtake us, since we had no power To move the mighty rock which he had laid At the high opening. So all night we grieved, Waiting the holy Morn; and when at length That rosy-fingered daughter of the Dawn Appeared, the Cyclops lit a fire, and milked His fair flock one by one, and brought their young Each to its mother’s side. When he had thus Performed his household tasks, he seized again Two of our number for his morning meal. These he devoured, and then he moved away With ease the massive rock that closed the cave, And, driving forth his well-fed flock, he laid The massive barrier back, as one would fit The lid upon a quiver. With loud noise The Cyclops drove that well-fed flock afield, While I was left to think of many a plan To do him mischief and avenge our wrongs, If haply Pallas should confer on me That glory. To my mind, as I revolved The plans, this seemed the wisest of them all.
“Beside the stalls there lay a massive club Of olive-wood, yet green, which from its stock The Cyclops hewed, that he might carry it When seasoned. As it lay it seemed to us The mast of some black galley, broad