Stasimon 3
[Episode]
Aye, and a sad one, too.
670
Chorus
Didst fall among the coals in a drunken fit?
Cyclops
Noman has undone me.
Chorus
Then there is no one hurting thee after all.
Cyclops
Noman is blinding me.
Chorus
Then art thou not blind.
Cyclops
As blind as thou, forsooth.i.e., as blind as you must be if you cannot see it; but Paley interprets as you say but not as is really the case.
Chorus
How, pray, could no man have made thee blind?
Cyclops
Thou mockest me; but where is this Noman.
675
Chorus
Nowhere, Cyclops.
675
Cyclops
It was the stranger, vile wretch! who proved my ruin, that thou mayst understand rightly, by swilling me with the liquor he gave me.
Chorus
Ah! wine is a terrible foe, hard to wrestle with.
Cyclops
Tell me, I adjure thee, have they escaped or are they still within?
Chorus
Here they are ranged in silence, taking the rock to screen them.
680
Chorus
Close against the rock. Hast caught them?
Cyclops
Trouble on trouble! I have run my skull against the rock and cracked it.
Chorus
Aye, and they are escaping thee.
Cyclops
This way, was it not? ’Twas this way thou saidst.
685
Chorus
No, not this way.
685
Chorus
They are getting round thee on the left.
Cyclops
Alas! I am being mocked; ye jeer me in my evil plight.
Chorus
They are no longer there; but facing thee that stranger stands.
Cyclops
Master of villainy, where, oh! where art thou?
Odysseus
Some way from thee
I am keeping careful guard over the person of Odysseus.
690
Cyclops
What, a new name! hast changed thine?
