EURIPIDES

nibal and then a Euripidean Callicles, is suddenly turned into
a decadent, rather likable buffoon who loathes war, under-
stands generosity, and tipsily "rapes" Silenus. Odysseus makes
his bid for glory by blinding this cannibal oaf while he sleeps
drunkenly. The shift in sympathy is not decisive, because no
real principle is involved; but it is not therefore illusory, Odys-
seus' action is contemptible, but not quite criminal; Polyphe-
mus gets what he deserves, but we pity him. That we are meant
to view the action in this way seems clear both in Polyphemus'
final prophecy of trouble for Odysseus and in Odysseus' state-
ment that he would have done wrong had he burned Troy but
not avenged his men. Whatever his rights in avenging his men
may be, they are not sanctioned by the burning of Troy, an
action which the Cyclops condemns, and with him Euripides.
The truth is that Odysseus and the Cyclops deserve, not jus-
tice, but each other. The Cyclops in its seriousness and its
humor plays about a struggle for justice between two men who
either distort justice or deny its existence and who cannot
therefore meaningfully claim it when wronged. And yet they
get it.

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