THE CYCLOPS
And cheese-presses all aroundl And the old man
with his bald head swollen red with bruises!
(Silenus emerges from the cave, groaning; he is
red-faced from the wine.)
Silenus
Ohhh. I'm all on fire. They've beaten me up.
Cyclops
Who did? Who's been beating your head, old man?
Silenus
(Indicating the Greeks.)
They did, Cyclops. I wouldn't let them rob you. 230
Cyclops
Didn't they know that I am a god?
Didn't they know my ancestors were gods?
Silenus
I tried to tell them. But they went on robbing.
I tried to stop them from stealing your lambs
and eating your cheeses. What's more, they said
they would yoke you to a three-foot collar 235
and squeeze out your bowels through your one eye,
and scourge your backsides with a whip,
and then they were going to tie you up
and throw you on a ship and give you away
for lifting rocks or for work at a mill. 240
Cyclops
Is that so? Run and sharpen my cleavers.
Take a big bunch of faggots and light it.
I'll murder them right now and stuff my maw
with their meat hot from the coals. Why wait 245
to carve? I'm fed up with mountain food:
too many lions and stags and too long
since I've had a good meal of manmeat.