Euripides, Cyclops, ed. Gilbert Murray, 375

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Ὀδυσσεύς

ὦ Ζεῦ, τί λέξω, δείν’ ἰδὼν ἄντρων ἔσω
375

κοὐ πιστά, μύθοις εἰκότ’, οὐδ’ ἔργοις βροτῶν;

Χορός

τί δ’ ἔστ’, Ὀδυσσεῦ; μῶν τεθοίναται σέθεν

φίλους ἑταίρους ἀνοσιώτατος Κύκλωψ;

Ὀδυσσεύς

δισσούς γ’ ἀθρήσας κἀπιβαστάσας χεροῖν,

οἳ σαρκὸς εἶχον εὐτραφέστατον πάχος.
380

Χορός

πῶς, ὦ ταλαίπωρ’, ἦτε πάσχοντες τάδε;

Ὀδυσσεύς

ἐπεὶ πετραίαν τήνδ’ ἐσήλθομεν χθόνα,

ἀνέκαυσε μὲν πῦρ πρῶτον, ὑψηλῆς δρυὸς

κορμοὺς πλατείας ἐσχάρας βαλὼν ἔπι,

τρισσῶν ἁμαξῶν ὡς ἀγώγιμον βάρος.
385

ἔπειτα φύλλων ἐλατίνων χαμαιπετῆ

ἔστρωσεν εὐνὴν πλησίον πυρὸς φλογί.

κρατῆρα δ’ ἐξέπλησεν ὡς δεκάμφορον,

μόσχους ἀμέλξας, λευκὸν ἐσχέας γάλα.

σκύφος τε κισσοῦ παρέθετ’ εἰς εὖρος τριῶν
390

πήχεων, βάθος δὲ τεσσάρων ἐφαίνετο.

καὶ χάλκεον λέβητ’ ἐπέζεσεν πυρί,

ὀβελούς τ’, ἄκρους μὲν ἐγκεκαυμένους πυρί,

ξεστοὺς δὲ δρεπάνῳ τἄλλα, παλιούρου κλάδων,

Αἰτναῖά τε σφαγεῖα πελέκεων γνάθοις.
395

ὡς δ’ ἦν ἕτοιμα πάντα τῷ θεοστυγεῖ

Ἅιδου μαγείρῳ, φῶτε συμμάρψας δύο

ἔσφαζ’ ἑταίρων τῶν ἐμῶν, ῥυθμῷ θ’ ἐνὶ

τὸν μὲν λέβητος ἐς κύτος χαλκήλατον,

τὸν δ’ αὖ, τένοντος ἁρπάσας ἄκρου ποδός,
400

παίων πρὸς ὀξὺν στόνυχα πετραίου λίθου,

ἐγκέφαλον ἐξέρρανε, καὶ καθαρπάσας

λάβρῳ μαχαίρᾳ σάρκας ἐξώπτα πυρί

τὰ δ’ ἐς λέβητ’ ἐφῆκεν ἕψεσθαι μέλη

ἐγὼ δ’ ὁ τλήμων δάκρυ’ ἀπ’ ὀφθαλμῶν χέων
405

ἐχριμπτόμην Κύκλωπι κἀδιακόνουν·

ἅλλοι δ’ ὅπως ὄρνιθες ἐν μυχοῖς πέτρας

πτήξαντες εἶχον, αἷμα δ’ οὐκ ἐνῆν χροΐ.

Cyclops. Euripides. ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1902.

Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

Κύκλωψ (Greek) (Euripides. Euripidis Fabulae, Vol. I. Murray, Gilbert, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902.)

Translations (2)

The Cyclops Perseus (Euripides. The Plays of Euripides, Vol. II. Coleridge, Edward P., translator. London: George Bell and Sons, 1891.) — 375 focus

Odysseus

(reappearing with a look of horror.) O Zeus! what can I say after the hideous sights I have seen inside the cave, things past belief, resembling more the tales men tell than aught they do?
375

Chorus

What news, Odysseus? has the Cyclops, most godless monster, been feasting on thy dear comrades?

Odysseus

Aye, he singled out a pair, on whom the flesh was

fattest and in best condition, and took them up in his hand to weigh.
380

Chorus

How went it with you then, poor wretch?

Odysseus

When we had entered yonder rocky abode, he lighted first a fire, throwing logs of towering oak upon his spacious hearth,

enough for three waggons to carry as their load; next, close by the blazing flame, he placed his couch of pine-boughs laid upon the floor, and filled a bowl of some ten firkins, pouring white milk thereinto, after he had milked his kine;
385

and by his side he put a can of ivy-wood, whose breadth was three cubits and its depth four maybe; next he set his brazen pot a-boiling on the fire,¹ spits too he set beside him, fashioned of the branches of thorn, their points hardened in the fire and the rest of them trimmed with the hatchet,
390

and the blood-bowls of Aetna for the axe’s edge.² Now when that hell-cook, god-detested, had everything quite ready, he caught up a pair of my companions and proceeded deliberately to cut the throat of one of them over the yawning brazen pot;
395

but the other he clutched by the tendon of his heel, and, striking him against a sharp point of rocky stone, dashed out his brains; then, after hacking the fleshy parts with glutton cleaver, he set to grilling them, but the limbs he threw into his cauldron to seethe.
400

And I, poor wretch, drew near with streaming eyes and waited on the Cyclops; but the others kept cowering like frightened birds in crannies of the rock, and the blood forsook their skin.
405

German (J. J. C. Donner, 1845; OCR review) (OCR draft) Experimental (Euripides. Deutsch in den Versmaßen der Urschrift. Volume 2, Heidelberg: C. F. Winter, 1845. Harvard OCR compared with an independent BSB copy. Native Donner verse citations, Murray reference cards, explicitly located notes and page facsimiles. Unresolved OCR, verse divisions, unlocated notes and printed errata are documented in the source review.) — 375 focus

Was sag' ich, Götter? Grauses mußt' ich sehn im Fels;,

Unglaublich ist es, Fabeln gleich, nicht Menschenwerk!
375

Chor.

Was ist es, Odysseus? Hat der gottvergessene

Kyklop die lieben Freunde dir hinabgewürgt?

Odysseus.

Er faßte zwei in's Auge, wog in den Händen sie,

Die stärksten unter allen und genährtesten.

Wie habt ihr das erduldet, Unglückseliger?
380

Nachdem wir eingetreten hier im Felsenhous,

Entflammt' er erst des Feuers Glut auf breitem Herd,

Auf den er hoher Ståmme Last von Eichen warf,

So viel sich auf drei Guterwagen laden låßt.

Dann nahm er Fichtenblätter und bereitete
385

Auf niedrem Grund ein Lager, nächst der Flamme Glut.

Und einen Trinknapf füllt er, der zehn Kannen hielt,

Und goß gemelkter Kühe weiße Milch hinein,

Stellt einen Epheubecher sich daneben, der

Drei Ellen breit schien, aber wohl vier Ellen tief,
390

Und hing den ehernen Kessel über dem Feuer auf,

Und spize Pfåhle brannt' er vorn im Feuer hart,

Geglåttet wohl mit der Sense, doch aus Dornenholz,

Gehaun am Aetnaberge dort mit scharfem Beil.

Drauf, als der gottverhaßte Koch der Unterwelt
395

Gerüstet Alles, packt' er mir und mordete

Zwei meiner Fahrtgenossen mit gewandter Faust;

Er warf den einen in des Kessels eh'rnen Schlund,

Den andern wieder faßt' er hoch am Fußgelenk,

Und schmettert' ihn an eines Felsen spizen Zahn,
400

Daß ihm das Hirn versprůzte, nahm sein grauses Beil,

Und schlug das Fleisch herunter, briet am Feuer es,

Warf andres, um es zu kochen, in des Kessels Bauch.

Ich weinte helle Zähren, ich Unseliger,

Und schaltet' um den Kyklopen, und bedient' ihn rasch;
405

Die Andern hielten, Vögeln gleich, sich bang versteckt

In Felsenlöchern, todesblaß im scheuen Blick.

Euripides Cyclops 375

ed. Gilbert Murray

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Ὀδυσσεύς

ὦ Ζεῦ, τί λέξω, δείν’ ἰδὼν ἄντρων ἔσω
375

κοὐ πιστά, μύθοις εἰκότ’, οὐδ’ ἔργοις βροτῶν;

Χορός

τί δ’ ἔστ’, Ὀδυσσεῦ; μῶν τεθοίναται σέθεν

φίλους ἑταίρους ἀνοσιώτατος Κύκλωψ;

Ὀδυσσεύς

δισσούς γ’ ἀθρήσας κἀπιβαστάσας χεροῖν,

οἳ σαρκὸς εἶχον εὐτραφέστατον πάχος.
380

Χορός

πῶς, ὦ ταλαίπωρ’, ἦτε πάσχοντες τάδε;

Current edition Perseus

Odysseus

(reappearing with a look of horror.) O Zeus! what can I say after the hideous sights I have seen inside the cave, things past belief, resembling more the tales men tell than aught they do?
375

Chorus

What news, Odysseus? has the Cyclops, most godless monster, been feasting on thy dear comrades?

Odysseus

Aye, he singled out a pair, on whom the flesh was

fattest and in best condition, and took them up in his hand to weigh.
380

Chorus

How went it with you then, poor wretch?

Was sag' ich, Götter? Grauses mußt' ich sehn im Fels;,

Unglaublich ist es, Fabeln gleich, nicht Menschenwerk!
375

Chor.

Was ist es, Odysseus? Hat der gottvergessene

Kyklop die lieben Freunde dir hinabgewürgt?

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Ὀδυσσεύς ὦ Ζεῦ, τί λέξω, δείν’ ἰδὼν ἄντρων ἔσω 375 κοὐ πιστά, μύθοις εἰκότ’, οὐδ’ ἔργοις βροτῶν;

Χορός τί δ’ ἔστ’, Ὀδυσσεῦ; μῶν τεθοίναται σέθεν φίλους ἑταίρους ἀνοσιώτατος Κύκλωψ;

Ὀδυσσεύς δισσούς γ’ ἀθρήσας κἀπιβαστάσας χεροῖν, οἳ σαρκὸς εἶχον εὐτραφέστατον πάχος. 380

Χορός πῶς, ὦ ταλαίπωρ’, ἦτε πάσχοντες τάδε;

Current edition Perseus

Odysseus (reappearing with a look of horror.) O Zeus! what can I say after the hideous sights I have seen inside the cave, things past belief, resembling more the tales men tell than aught they do? 375

Chorus What news, Odysseus? has the Cyclops, most godless monster, been feasting on thy dear comrades?

Odysseus Aye, he singled out a pair, on whom the flesh was fattest and in best condition, and took them up in his hand to weigh. 380

Chorus How went it with you then, poor wretch?

Was sag' ich, Götter? Grauses mußt' ich sehn im Fels;, Unglaublich ist es, Fabeln gleich, nicht Menschenwerk! 375

Chor. Was ist es, Odysseus? Hat der gottvergessene Kyklop die lieben Freunde dir hinabgewürgt?

Stable identifiers

Ὀδυσσεύς

ὦ Ζεῦ, τί λέξω, δείν’ ἰδὼν ἄντρων ἔσω
375

κοὐ πιστά, μύθοις εἰκότ’, οὐδ’ ἔργοις βροτῶν;

Χορός

τί δ’ ἔστ’, Ὀδυσσεῦ; μῶν τεθοίναται σέθεν

φίλους ἑταίρους ἀνοσιώτατος Κύκλωψ;

Ὀδυσσεύς

δισσούς γ’ ἀθρήσας κἀπιβαστάσας χεροῖν,

οἳ σαρκὸς εἶχον εὐτραφέστατον πάχος.
380

Χορός

πῶς, ὦ ταλαίπωρ’, ἦτε πάσχοντες τάδε;

Odysseus

(reappearing with a look of horror.) O Zeus! what can I say after the hideous sights I have seen inside the cave, things past belief, resembling more the tales men tell than aught they do?
375

Chorus

What news, Odysseus? has the Cyclops, most godless monster, been feasting on thy dear comrades?

Odysseus

Aye, he singled out a pair, on whom the flesh was

fattest and in best condition, and took them up in his hand to weigh.
380

Chorus

How went it with you then, poor wretch?

Was sag' ich, Götter? Grauses mußt' ich sehn im Fels;,

Unglaublich ist es, Fabeln gleich, nicht Menschenwerk!
375

Chor.

Was ist es, Odysseus? Hat der gottvergessene

Kyklop die lieben Freunde dir hinabgewürgt?