strengthening thus the steel, So hissed the eyeball of the Cyclops round That olive stake. He raised a fearful howl; The rocks rang with it, and we fled from him In terror. Plucking from his eye the stake All foul and dripping with the abundant blood, He flung it madly from him with both hands. Then called he to the Cyclops who in grots Dwelt on that breezy height. They heard his voice And came by various ways, and stood beside The cave, and asked the occasion of his grief.
“ ‘What hurts thee, Polyphemus, that thou thus Dost break our slumbers in the ambrosial night With cries? Hath any of the sons of men Driven off thy flocks in spite of thee, or tried By treachery or force to take thy life?’
“Huge Polyphemus answered from his den:— ‘O friends! ’tis Noman who is killing me; By treachery Noman kills me; none by force’
“Then thus with winged words they spake again:— ‘If no man does thee violence, and thou Art quite alone, reflect that none escape Diseases; they are sent by Jove. But make Thy prayer to Father Neptune, ocean’s king.’
“So spake they and departed. In my heart I laughed to think that by the name I took, And by my shrewd device, I had deceived The Cyclops. Meantime, groaning and in pain, And groping with his hands, he moved away The rock that barred the entrance. There he sat, With arms outstretched, to seize whoever sought To issue from the cavern with the flock, So dull of thought he deemed me. Then I planned How best to save my comrades and myself From death. I framed a thousand stratagems And arts—for here was life at stake, and great The danger was. At last I fixed on this.
“The rams were plump and beautiful, and large With thick dark fleeces. These I silently Bound to each other, three and three, with twigs Of which that prodigy of lawless guilt, The Cyclops, made his bed. The