Epeisodion 1
Silenus
No indeed! and thus it is a joyless land they dwell in.
Odysseus
Are they hospitable and reverent towards strangers?
125
Silenus
Strangers, they say, supply the daintiest meat.
Odysseus
What, do they delight in killing men and eating them?
Silenus
No one has ever arrived here without being butchered.
Odysseus
Where is the Cyclops himself? inside his dwelling?
Silenus
He is gone hunting wild beasts with hounds on Aetna.
130
Odysseus
Dost know then what to do, that we may be gone from the land?
Silenus
Not I, Odysseus; but I would do anything for thee.
Odysseus
Sell us food, of which we are in need.
Silenus
There is nothing but flesh, as I said.
Odysseus
Well, even that is a pleasant preventive of hunger.
135
Silenus
And there is cheese curdled with fig-juice, and the milk of kine.
Odysseus
Bring them out; a man should see his purchases.
Silenus
But tell me, how much gold wilt thou give me in exchange?
Odysseus
No gold bring I, but Dionysus’ drink.
Silenus
Most welcome words! I have long been wanting that.
140
Odysseus
Yes, it was Maron, the god’s son, who gave me a draught.
Silenus
What! Maron whom once I dandled in these arms?
Odysseus
The son of the Bacchic god, that thou mayst learn more certainly.
Silenus
Is it inside the ship, or hast thou it with thee?
Odysseus
This, as thou seest, is the skin that holds it, old sir.
145
Silenus
Why, that would not give me so much as a mouthful.
Odysseus
This, and twice as much again as will run from the skin.
Silenus
Fair the rill thou speakest of, delicious to me.
Odysseus
Shall I let thee taste the wine unmixed, to start with?
Silenus
A reasonable offer; for of a truth a taste invites the purchase.
150
Odysseus
Well, I haul about a cup as well as the skin.
Silenus
Come, let it gurgle in, that I may revive my memory by a pull at it.
