THE CYCLOPS
three wagons merely to carry the load. 385
Then he pulled his pallet of pine-needles
close to the fire. After he milked the sheep,
he filled a hundred-gallon vat with milk.
By his side, he put an ivy-wood box,
nearly four feet in width and six feet deep. 390
Next he put a cauldron of brass to boil
on the fire, and beside it thorn-wood spits
whose points had been sharpened in the coals
and the rest trimmed down with an axe. There were
bowls for catching blood, big as Etna,
and set flush against the blade of the axe. 395
Well, when this damned cook of Hades was ready,
he snatched up two of my men. With one blow
he slit the throat of one over the lip
of the brass cauldron. Holding the other
by the heels, he slammed him against a rock 400
and bashed out his brains. Then he hacked away
the flesh with his terrible cleaver
and put the pieces to roast on the coals.
The leftovers he tossed in the pot to boil.
With the tears streaming down, I went up close 405
and waited on the Cyclops. The others,
their faces ashen, huddled up like birds
in the crannies of the rocks. Then he leaned back,
bloated with his awful meal on my men,
and let out a staggering belch. Just then 410
some god sent me a marvelous idea!
I filled a cup and gave him Maron's wine
to drink. "Cyclops," I said, "son of the sea-god,
see what a heavenly drink yield the grapes
of Greece, the gladness of Dionysus!" 415
Glutted with his dreadful meal, he took it
and drained it off at one gulp, then lifted
his hands in thanks: "You are the best of guests!
You have given me a noble drink to crown
a noble meal." When I saw how pleased he was, 420
I poured him another, knowing the wine
271