ULYSSES.

Here is the cup, together with the skin.

SILENUS.

Pour; that the draught may fillip my remembrance.

See!

ULYSSES

SILENUS.

Papaiax! what a sweet smell it has !

ULYSSES.

You see it then?

SILENUS.

By Jove, no! but I smell it.

ULYSSES.

Taste, that you may not praise it in words only.

SILENUS.

Babai! Great Bacchus calls me forth to dance!

Joy! joy!

ULYSSES.

Did it flow sweetly down your throat?

SILENUS.

So that it tingled to my very nails.

ULYSSES.

And in addition I will give you gold.

SILENTS.

Let gold alone! only unlock the cask.

ULYSSES.

Bring out some cheeses now, or a young goat.

SILENUS.

That will I do, despising any master.

Yes, let me drink one cup, and I will give
All that the Cyclops feed upon their mountains.

CHORUS.

Ye have taken Troy, and laid your hands on

The many-coloured anklets and the chain
Of woven gold which girt the neck of Paris,
And so she left that good man Menelaus.
There should be no more women in the world
But such as are reserved for me alone.-
See, here are sheep, and here are goats, Ulysses;
Here are unsparing cheeses of pressed milk;
Take them; depart with what good speed ye may :

First leaving my reward, the Bacchic dew

Of joy-inspiring grapes.

ULYSSES.

Ah me! alas!

What shall we do? the Cyclops is at hand!
Old man, we perish! whither can we fly?

SILENUS.

Hide yourselves quick within that hollow rock

ULYSSES.

'T were perilous to fly into the net.

SILENUS.

The cavern has recesses numberless;

Hide yourselves quick.

ULYSSES.

That will I never do:

The mighty Troy would be indeed disgraced
If I should fly one man. How many times
Have I withstood, with shield immovable
Ten thousand Phrygians! - If I needs must die,
Yet will I die with glory;-if I live,

The praise which I have gained will yet remain.

SILENUS.

What, ho! assistance, comrades, haste, assistance!

The CYCLOPS, SILENUS, ULYSSES; CHORUS

CYCLOPS.

What is this tumult? Bacchus is not here,
Nor tympanies nor brazen castanets.

How are my young lambs in the cavern? milking
Their dams, or playing by their sides? And is
The new cheese pressed into the bulrush baskets?
Speak! I'll beat some of you till you rain tears;
Look up, not downwards, when I speak to you.

SILENUS.

See! I now gape at Jupiter himself,
I stare upon Orion and the stars.

CYCLOPS.

Well, is the dinner fitly cooked and laid?

SILENUS.

All ready, if your throat is ready too.

Is it ewe's milk, or cow's milk, or both mixed?

SILENUS.

Both, either; only pray don't swallow me.

By no means.

CYCLOPS.

What is this crowd I see beside the stalls?
Outlaws or thieves? for near my cavern home
I see my young lambs coupled two by two
With willow bands; mixed with my cheeses lie
Their implements; and this old fellow here
Has his bald head broken with stripes.

SILENUS.

Ah me!

I have been beaten till I burn with fever.

CYCLOPS.

By whom? Who laid his fist upon your

SILENUS.

head?

Those men, because I would not suffer them
To steal your goods.

CYCLOPS.

Did not the rascals know

I am a god, sprung from the race of heaven?

SILENUS.

I told them so, but they bore off your things,
And ate the cheese in spite of all I said,