Epeisodion 1
Silenus
Hush, children! and bid our servants fold the flocks in the rock-roofed cavern.
Chorus
(To Servants.) Away! (To Silenus.) But prithee, why such haste, father?
Silenus
I see the hull of a ship from Hellas at the shore, and men, that wield the oar, on their way to this cave with some chieftain. About their necks they carry empty vessels and pitchers for water; they are in want of food. Luckless strangers!
85
who can they be? They know not what manner of man our master Polyphemus is, to have set foot here in his cheerless abode and come to the jaws of the cannibal Cyclops in an evil hour. But hold ye your peace, that we may inquire
90
whence they come to the peak of Sicilian Aetna.
95
Odysseus
Pray tell us, sirs, of some river-spring whence we might draw a draught to slake our thirst, or of someone willing to sell victuals to mariners in need.
Why, what is this? We seem to have chanced upon a city of the Bromian god;
here by the caves I see a group of Satyrs. To the eldest first I bid All hail!
100
Silenus
All hail, sir! tell me who thou art, and name thy country.
Odysseus
Odysseus of Ithaca, king of the Cephallenians’ land.
Silenus
I know him for a prating knave, one of Sisyphus’ shrewd offspring.
Odysseus
I am the man; abuse me not.
105
Silenus
Whence hast thou sailed hither to Sicily?
Odysseus
From Ilium and the toils of Troy.
Silenus
How was that? didst thou not know the passage to thy native land?
Odysseus
Tempestuous winds drove me hither against my will.
Silenus
God wot! thou art in the same plight as I am.
110
Odysseus
Why, wert thou too drifted hither against thy will?
Silenus
I was, as I pursued the pirates who carried Bromius off.
Odysseus
What land is this and who are its inhabitants?
Silenus
This is mount Aetna, the highest point in Sicily.
Odysseus
But where are the city-walls and ramparts?
115
Silenus
There are none; the headlands, sir, are void of men.
Odysseus
Who then possess the land? the race of wild creatures?
Silenus
The Cyclopes, who have caves, not roofed houses.
Odysseus
Obedient unto whom? or is the power in the people’s hands?
Silenus
They are rovers; no man obeys another in anything.
120
Odysseus
Do they sow Demeter’s grain, or on what do they live?
Silenus
On milk and cheese and flesh of sheep.
Odysseus
Have they the drink of Bromius, the juice of the vine?
