ULYSSES DECLARES HIMSELF AND BEGINS HIS STORY—-THE CICONS, LOTOPHAGI,

AND CYCLOPES.





And Ulysses answered, “King Alcinous, it is a good thing to hear a bard

with such a divine voice as this man has. There is nothing better or

more delightful than when a whole people make merry together, with the

guests sitting orderly to listen, while the table is loaded with bread

and meats, and the cup-bearer draws wine and fills his cup for every

man. This is indeed as fair a sight as a man can see. Now, however,

since you are inclined to ask the story of my sorrows, and rekindle my

own sad memories in respect of them, I do not know how to begin, nor

yet how to continue and conclude my tale, for the hand of heaven has

been laid heavily upon me.



“Firstly, then, I will tell you my name that you too may know it, and

one day, if I outlive this time of sorrow, may become my guests though

I live so far away from all of you. I am Ulysses son of Laertes,

renowned among mankind for all manner of subtlety, so that my fame

ascends to heaven. I live in Ithaca, where there is a high mountain

called Neritum, covered with forests; and not far from it there is a

group of islands very near to one another—Dulichium, Same, and the

wooded island of Zacynthus. It lies squat on the horizon, all highest

up in the sea towards the sunset, while the others lie away from it

towards dawn.75 It is a rugged island, but it breeds brave men, and my

eyes know none that they better love to look upon. The goddess Calypso

kept me with her in her cave, and wanted me to marry her, as did also

the cunning Aeaean goddess Circe; but they could neither of them

persuade me, for there is nothing dearer to a man than his own country

and his parents, and however splendid a home he may have in a foreign

country, if it be far from father or mother, he does not care about it.

Now, however, I will tell you of the many hazardous adventures which by

Jove’s will I met with on my return from Troy.



“When I had set sail thence the wind took me first to Ismarus, which is

the city of the Cicons. There I sacked the town and put the people to

the sword. We took their wives and also much booty, which we divided

equitably amongst us, so that none might have reason to complain. I

then said that we had better make off at once, but my men very

foolishly would not obey me, so they staid there drinking much wine and

killing great numbers of sheep and oxen on the sea shore. Meanwhile the

Cicons cried out for help to other Cicons who lived inland. These were

more in number, and stronger, and they were more skilled in the art of

war, for they could fight, either from chariots or on foot as the

occasion served; in the morning, therefore, they came as thick as

leaves and bloom in summer, and the hand of heaven was against us, so

that we were hard pressed. They set the battle in array near the ships,

and the hosts aimed their bronze-shod spears at one another.76 So long

as the day waxed and it was still morning, we held our own against

them, though they were more in number than we; but as the sun went

down, towards the time when men loose their oxen, the Cicons got the

better of us, and we lost half a dozen men from every ship we had; so

we got away with those that were left.



“Thence we sailed onward with sorrow in our hearts, but glad to have

escaped death though we had lost our comrades, nor did we leave till we

had thrice invoked each one of the poor fellows who had perished by the

hands of the Cicons. Then Jove raised the North wind against us till it

blew a hurricane, so that land and sky were hidden in thick clouds, and

night sprang forth out of the heavens. We let the ships run before the

gale, but the force of the wind tore our sails to tatters, so we took

them down for fear of shipwreck, and rowed our hardest towards the

land. There we lay two days and two nights suffering much alike from

toil and distress of mind, but on the morning of the third day we again

raised our masts, set sail, and took our places, letting the wind and

steersmen direct our ship. I should have got home at that time unharmed

had not the North wind and the currents been against me as I was

doubling Cape Malea, and set me off my course hard by the island of

Cythera.



“I was driven thence by foul winds for a space of nine days upon the

sea, but on the tenth day we reached the land of the Lotus-eaters, who

live on a food that comes from a kind of flower. Here we landed to take

in fresh water, and our crews got their mid-day meal on the shore near

the ships. When they had eaten and drunk I sent two of my company to

see what manner of men the people of the place might be, and they had a

third man under them. They started at once, and went about among the

Lotus-eaters, who did them no hurt, but gave them to eat of the lotus,

which was so delicious that those who ate of it left off caring about

home, and did not even want to go back and say what had happened to

them, but were for staying and munching lotus77 with the Lotus-eaters

without thinking further of their return; nevertheless, though they

wept bitterly I forced them back to the ships and made them fast under

the benches. Then I told the rest to go on board at once, lest any of

them should taste of the lotus and leave off wanting to get home, so

they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars.



“We sailed hence, always in much distress, till we came to the land of

the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes neither plant nor

plough, but trust in providence, and live on such wheat, barley, and

grapes as grow wild without any kind of tillage, and their wild grapes

yield them wine as the sun and the rain may grow them. They have no

laws nor assemblies of the people, but live in caves on the tops of

high mountains; each is lord and master in his family, and they take no

account of their neighbours.



“Now off their harbour there lies a wooded and fertile island not quite

close to the land of the Cyclopes, but still not far. It is over-run

with wild goats, that breed there in great numbers and are never

disturbed by foot of man; for sportsmen—who as a rule will suffer so

much hardship in forest or among mountain precipices—do not go there,

nor yet again is it ever ploughed or fed down, but it lies a wilderness

untilled and unsown from year to year, and has no living thing upon it

but only goats. For the Cyclopes have no ships, nor yet shipwrights who

could make ships for them; they cannot therefore go from city to city,

or sail over the sea to one another’s country as people who have ships

can do; if they had had these they would have colonised the island,78

for it is a very good one, and would yield everything in due season.

There are meadows that in some places come right down to the sea shore,

well watered and full of luscious grass; grapes would do there

excellently; there is level land for ploughing, and it would always

yield heavily at harvest time, for the soil is deep. There is a good

harbour where no cables are wanted, nor yet anchors, nor need a ship be

moored, but all one has to do is to beach one’s vessel and stay there

till the wind becomes fair for putting out to sea again. At the head of

the harbour there is a spring of clear water coming out of a cave, and

there are poplars growing all round it.



“Here we entered, but so dark was the night that some god must have

brought us in, for there was nothing whatever to be seen. A thick mist

hung all round our ships;79 the moon was hidden behind a mass of clouds

so that no one could have seen the island if he had looked for it, nor

were there any breakers to tell us we were close in shore before we

found ourselves upon the land itself; when, however, we had beached the

ships, we took down the sails, went ashore and camped upon the beach

till daybreak.



“When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, we admired the

island and wandered all over it, while the nymphs Jove’s daughters

roused the wild goats that we might get some meat for our dinner. On

this we fetched our spears and bows and arrows from the ships, and

dividing ourselves into three bands began to shoot the goats. Heaven

sent us excellent sport; I had twelve ships with me, and each ship got

nine goats, while my own ship had ten; thus through the livelong day to

the going down of the sun we ate and drank our fill, and we had plenty

of wine left, for each one of us had taken many jars full when we

sacked the city of the Cicons, and this had not yet run out. While we

were feasting we kept turning our eyes towards the land of the

Cyclopes, which was hard by, and saw the smoke of their stubble fires.

We could almost fancy we heard their voices and the bleating of their

sheep and goats, but when the sun went down and it came on dark, we

camped down upon the beach, and next morning I called a council.



“‘Stay here, my brave fellows,’ said I, ‘all the rest of you, while I

go with my ship and exploit these people myself: I want to see if they

are uncivilised savages, or a hospitable and humane race.’



“I went on board, bidding my men to do so also and loose the hawsers;

so they took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars. When

we got to the land, which was not far, there, on the face of a cliff

near the sea, we saw a great cave overhung with laurels. It was a

station for a great many sheep and goats, and outside there was a large

yard, with a high wall round it made of stones built into the ground

and of trees both pine and oak. This was the abode of a huge monster

who was then away from home shepherding his flocks. He would have

nothing to do with other people, but led the life of an outlaw. He was

a horrid creature, not like a human being at all, but resembling rather

some crag that stands out boldly against the sky on the top of a high

mountain.



“I told my men to draw the ship ashore, and stay where they were, all

but the twelve best among them, who were to go along with myself. I

also took a goatskin of sweet black wine which had been given me by

Maron, son of Euanthes, who was priest of Apollo the patron god of

Ismarus, and lived within the wooded precincts of the temple. When we

were sacking the city we respected him, and spared his life, as also

his wife and child; so he made me some presents of great value—seven

talents of fine gold, and a bowl of silver, with twelve jars of sweet

wine, unblended, and of the most exquisite flavour. Not a man nor maid

in the house knew about it, but only himself, his wife, and one

housekeeper: when he drank it he mixed twenty parts of water to one of

wine, and yet the fragrance from the mixing-bowl was so exquisite that

it was impossible to refrain from drinking. I filled a large skin with

this wine, and took a wallet full of provisions with me, for my mind

misgave me that I might have to deal with some savage who would be of

great strength, and would respect neither right nor law.



“We soon reached his cave, but he was out shepherding, so we went

inside and took stock of all that we could see. His cheese-racks were

loaded with cheeses, and he had more lambs and kids than his pens could

hold. They were kept in separate flocks; first there were the hoggets,

then the oldest of the younger lambs and lastly the very young ones80

all kept apart from one another; as for his dairy, all the vessels,

bowls, and milk pails into which he milked, were swimming with whey.

When they saw all this, my men begged me to let them first steal some

cheeses, and make off with them to the ship; they would then return,

drive down the lambs and kids, put them on board and sail away with

them. It would have been indeed better if we had done so but I would

not listen to them, for I wanted to see the owner himself, in the hope

that he might give me a present. When, however, we saw him my poor men

found him ill to deal with.



“We lit a fire, offered some of the cheeses in sacrifice, ate others of

them, and then sat waiting till the Cyclops should come in with his

sheep. When he came, he brought in with him a huge load of dry firewood

to light the fire for his supper, and this he flung with such a noise

on to the floor of his cave that we hid ourselves for fear at the far

end of the cavern. Meanwhile he drove all the ewes inside, as well as

the she-goats that he was going to milk, leaving the males, both rams

and he-goats, outside in the yards. Then he rolled a huge stone to the

mouth of the cave—so huge that two and twenty strong four-wheeled

waggons would not be enough to draw it from its place against the

doorway. When he had so done he sat down and milked his ewes and goats,

all in due course, and then let each of them have her own young. He

curdled half the milk and set it aside in wicker strainers, but the

other half he poured into bowls that he might drink it for his supper.

When he had got through with all his work, he lit the fire, and then

caught sight of us, whereon he said:



“‘Strangers, who are you? Where do sail from? Are you traders, or do

you sail the sea as rovers, with your hands against every man, and

every man’s hand against you?’



“We were frightened out of our senses by his loud voice and monstrous

form, but I managed to say, ‘We are Achaeans on our way home from Troy,

but by the will of Jove, and stress of weather, we have been driven far

out of our course. We are the people of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, who

has won infinite renown throughout the whole world, by sacking so great

a city and killing so many people. We therefore humbly pray you to show

us some hospitality, and otherwise make us such presents as visitors

may reasonably expect. May your excellency fear the wrath of heaven,

for we are your suppliants, and Jove takes all respectable travellers

under his protection, for he is the avenger of all suppliants and

foreigners in distress.’



“To this he gave me but a pitiless answer, ‘Stranger,’ said he, ‘you

are a fool, or else you know nothing of this country. Talk to me,

indeed, about fearing the gods or shunning their anger? We Cyclopes do

not care about Jove or any of your blessed gods, for we are ever so

much stronger than they. I shall not spare either yourself or your

companions out of any regard for Jove, unless I am in the humour for

doing so. And now tell me where you made your ship fast when you came

on shore. Was it round the point, or is she lying straight off the

land?’



“He said this to draw me out, but I was too cunning to be caught in

that way, so I answered with a lie; ‘Neptune,’ said I, ‘sent my ship on

to the rocks at the far end of your country, and wrecked it. We were

driven on to them from the open sea, but I and those who are with me

escaped the jaws of death.’



“The cruel wretch vouchsafed me not one word of answer, but with a

sudden clutch he gripped up two of my men at once and dashed them down

upon the ground as though they had been puppies. Their brains were shed

upon the ground, and the earth was wet with their blood. Then he tore

them limb from limb and supped upon them. He gobbled them up like a

lion in the wilderness, flesh, bones, marrow, and entrails, without

leaving anything uneaten. As for us, we wept and lifted up our hands to

heaven on seeing such a horrid sight, for we did not know what else to

do; but when the Cyclops had filled his huge paunch, and had washed

down his meal of human flesh with a drink of neat milk, he stretched

himself full length upon the ground among his sheep, and went to sleep.

I was at first inclined to seize my sword, draw it, and drive it into

his vitals, but I reflected that if I did we should all certainly be

lost, for we should never be able to shift the stone which the monster

had put in front of the door. So we stayed sobbing and sighing where we

were till morning came.



“When the child of morning, rosy-fingered dawn, appeared, he again lit

his fire, milked his goats and ewes, all quite rightly, and then let

each have her own young one; as soon as he had got through with all his

work, he clutched up two more of my men, and began eating them for his

morning’s meal. Presently, with the utmost ease, he rolled the stone

away from the door and drove out his sheep, but he at once put it back

again—as easily as though he were merely clapping the lid on to a

quiver full of arrows. As soon as he had done so he shouted, and cried

‘Shoo, shoo,’ after his sheep to drive them on to the mountain; so I

was left to scheme some way of taking my revenge and covering myself

with glory.



“In the end I deemed it would be the best plan to do as follows: The

Cyclops had a great club which was lying near one of the sheep pens; it

was of green olive wood, and he had cut it intending to use it for a

staff as soon as it should be dry. It was so huge that we could only

compare it to the mast of a twenty-oared merchant vessel of large

burden, and able to venture out into open sea. I went up to this club

and cut off about six feet of it; I then gave this piece to the men and

told them to fine it evenly off at one end, which they proceeded to do,

and lastly I brought it to a point myself, charring the end in the fire

to make it harder. When I had done this I hid it under dung, which was

lying about all over the cave, and told the men to cast lots which of

them should venture along with myself to lift it and bore it into the

monster’s eye while he was asleep. The lot fell upon the very four whom

I should have chosen, and I myself made five. In the evening the wretch

came back from shepherding, and drove his flocks into the cave—this

time driving them all inside, and not leaving any in the yards; I

suppose some fancy must have taken him, or a god must have prompted him

to do so. As soon as he had put the stone back to its place against the

door, he sat down, milked his ewes and his goats all quite rightly, and

then let each have her own young one; when he had got through with all

this work, he gripped up two more of my men, and made his supper off

them. So I went up to him with an ivy-wood bowl of black wine in my

hands:



“‘Look here, Cyclops,’ said I, you have been eating a great deal of

man’s flesh, so take this and drink some wine, that you may see what

kind of liquor we had on board my ship. I was bringing it to you as a

drink-offering, in the hope that you would take compassion upon me and

further me on my way home, whereas all you do is to go on ramping and

raving most intolerably. You ought to be ashamed of yourself; how can

you expect people to come see you any more if you treat them in this

way?’



“He then took the cup and drank. He was so delighted with the taste of

the wine that he begged me for another bowl full. ‘Be so kind,’ he

said, ‘as to give me some more, and tell me your name at once. I want

to make you a present that you will be glad to have. We have wine even

in this country, for our soil grows grapes and the sun ripens them, but

this drinks like Nectar and Ambrosia all in one.’



“I then gave him some more; three times did I fill the bowl for him,

and three times did he drain it without thought or heed; then, when I

saw that the wine had got into his head, I said to him as plausibly as

I could: ‘Cyclops, you ask my name and I will tell it you; give me,

therefore, the present you promised me; my name is Noman; this is what

my father and mother and my friends have always called me.’



“But the cruel wretch said, ‘Then I will eat all Noman’s comrades

before Noman himself, and will keep Noman for the last. This is the

present that I will make him.’



“As he spoke he reeled, and fell sprawling face upwards on the ground.

His great neck hung heavily backwards and a deep sleep took hold upon

him. Presently he turned sick, and threw up both wine and the gobbets

of human flesh on which he had been gorging, for he was very drunk.

Then I thrust the beam of wood far into the embers to heat it, and

encouraged my men lest any of them should turn faint-hearted. When the

wood, green though it was, was about to blaze, I drew it out of the

fire glowing with heat, and my men gathered round me, for heaven had

filled their hearts with courage. We drove the sharp end of the beam

into the monster’s eye, and bearing upon it with all my weight I kept

turning it round and round as though I were boring a hole in a ship’s

plank with an auger, which two men with a wheel and strap can keep on

turning as long as they choose. Even thus did we bore the red hot beam

into his eye, till the boiling blood bubbled all over it as we worked

it round and round, so that the steam from the burning eyeball scalded

his eyelids and eyebrows, and the roots of the eye sputtered in the

fire. As a blacksmith plunges an axe or hatchet into cold water to

temper it—for it is this that gives strength to the iron—and it makes a

great hiss as he does so, even thus did the Cyclops’ eye hiss round the

beam of olive wood, and his hideous yells made the cave ring again. We

ran away in a fright, but he plucked the beam all besmirched with gore

from his eye, and hurled it from him in a frenzy of rage and pain,

shouting as he did so to the other Cyclopes who lived on the bleak

headlands near him; so they gathered from all quarters round his cave

when they heard him crying, and asked what was the matter with him.



“‘What ails you, Polyphemus,’ said they, ‘that you make such a noise,

breaking the stillness of the night, and preventing us from being able

to sleep? Surely no man is carrying off your sheep? Surely no man is

trying to kill you either by fraud or by force?’



“But Polyphemus shouted to them from inside the cave, ‘Noman is killing

me by fraud; no man is killing me by force.’



“‘Then,’ said they, ‘if no man is attacking you, you must be ill; when

Jove makes people ill, there is no help for it, and you had better pray

to your father Neptune.’



“Then they went away, and I laughed inwardly at the success of my

clever stratagem, but the Cyclops, groaning and in an agony of pain,

felt about with his hands till he found the stone and took it from the

door; then he sat in the doorway and stretched his hands in front of it

to catch anyone going out with the sheep, for he thought I might be

foolish enough to attempt this.



“As for myself I kept on puzzling to think how I could best save my own

life and those of my companions; I schemed and schemed, as one who

knows that his life depends upon it, for the danger was very great. In

the end I deemed that this plan would be the best; the male sheep were

well grown, and carried a heavy black fleece, so I bound them

noiselessly in threes together, with some of the withies on which the

wicked monster used to sleep. There was to be a man under the middle

sheep, and the two on either side were to cover him, so that there were

three sheep to each man. As for myself there was a ram finer than any

of the others, so I caught hold of him by the back, esconced myself in

the thick wool under his belly, and hung on patiently to his fleece,

face upwards, keeping a firm hold on it all the time.



“Thus, then, did we wait in great fear of mind till morning came, but

when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, the male sheep

hurried out to feed, while the ewes remained bleating about the pens

waiting to be milked, for their udders were full to bursting; but their

master in spite of all his pain felt the backs of all the sheep as they

stood upright, without being sharp enough to find out that the men were

underneath their bellies. As the ram was going out, last of all, heavy

with its fleece and with the weight of my crafty self, Polyphemus laid

hold of it and said:



“‘My good ram, what is it that makes you the last to leave my cave this

morning? You are not wont to let the ewes go before you, but lead the

mob with a run whether to flowery mead or bubbling fountain, and are

the first to come home again at night; but now you lag last of all. Is

it because you know your master has lost his eye, and are sorry because

that wicked Noman and his horrid crew has got him down in his drink and

blinded him? But I will have his life yet. If you could understand and

talk, you would tell me where the wretch is hiding, and I would dash

his brains upon the ground till they flew all over the cave. I should

thus have some satisfaction for the harm this no-good Noman has done

me.’



“As he spoke he drove the ram outside, but when we were a little way

out from the cave and yards, I first got from under the ram’s belly,

and then freed my comrades; as for the sheep, which were very fat, by

constantly heading them in the right direction we managed to drive them

down to the ship. The crew rejoiced greatly at seeing those of us who

had escaped death, but wept for the others whom the Cyclops had killed.

However, I made signs to them by nodding and frowning that they were to

hush their crying, and told them to get all the sheep on board at once

and put out to sea; so they went aboard, took their places, and smote

the grey sea with their oars. Then, when I had got as far out as my

voice would reach, I began to jeer at the Cyclops.



“‘Cyclops,’ said I, ‘you should have taken better measure of your man

before eating up his comrades in your cave. You wretch, eat up your

visitors in your own house? You might have known that your sin would

find you out, and now Jove and the other gods have punished you.’



“He got more and more furious as he heard me, so he tore the top from

off a high mountain, and flung it just in front of my ship so that it

was within a little of hitting the end of the rudder.81 The sea quaked

as the rock fell into it, and the wash of the wave it raised carried us

back towards the mainland, and forced us towards the shore. But I

snatched up a long pole and kept the ship off, making signs to my men

by nodding my head, that they must row for their lives, whereon they

laid out with a will. When we had got twice as far as we were before, I

was for jeering at the Cyclops again, but the men begged and prayed of

me to hold my tongue.



“‘Do not,’ they exclaimed, ‘be mad enough to provoke this savage

creature further; he has thrown one rock at us already which drove us

back again to the mainland, and we made sure it had been the death of

us; if he had then heard any further sound of voices he would have

pounded our heads and our ship’s timbers into a jelly with the rugged

rocks he would have heaved at us, for he can throw them a long way.’



“But I would not listen to them, and shouted out to him in my rage,

‘Cyclops, if any one asks you who it was that put your eye out and

spoiled your beauty, say it was the valiant warrior Ulysses, son of

Laertes, who lives in Ithaca.’



“On this he groaned, and cried out, ‘Alas, alas, then the old prophecy

about me is coming true. There was a prophet here, at one time, a man

both brave and of great stature, Telemus son of Eurymus, who was an

excellent seer, and did all the prophesying for the Cyclopes till he

grew old; he told me that all this would happen to me some day, and

said I should lose my sight by the hand of Ulysses. I have been all

along expecting some one of imposing presence and superhuman strength,

whereas he turns out to be a little insignificant weakling, who has

managed to blind my eye by taking advantage of me in my drink; come

here, then, Ulysses, that I may make you presents to show my

hospitality, and urge Neptune to help you forward on your journey—for

Neptune and I are father and son. He, if he so will, shall heal me,

which no one else neither god nor man can do.’



“Then I said, ‘I wish I could be as sure of killing you outright and

sending you down to the house of Hades, as I am that it will take more

than Neptune to cure that eye of yours.’



“On this he lifted up his hands to the firmament of heaven and prayed,

saying, ‘Hear me, great Neptune; if I am indeed your own true begotten

son, grant that Ulysses may never reach his home alive; or if he must

get back to his friends at last, let him do so late and in sore plight

after losing all his men [let him reach his home in another man’s ship

and find trouble in his house.’82



“Thus did he pray, and Neptune heard his prayer. Then he picked up a

rock much larger than the first, swung it aloft and hurled it with

prodigious force. It fell just short of the ship, but was within a

little of hitting the end of the rudder. The sea quaked as the rock

fell into it, and the wash of the wave it raised drove us onwards on

our way towards the shore of the island.



“When at last we got to the island where we had left the rest of our

ships, we found our comrades lamenting us, and anxiously awaiting our

return. We ran our vessel upon the sands and got out of her on to the

sea shore; we also landed the Cyclops’ sheep, and divided them

equitably amongst us so that none might have reason to complain. As for

the ram, my companions agreed that I should have it as an extra share;

so I sacrificed it on the sea shore, and burned its thigh bones to

Jove, who is the lord of all. But he heeded not my sacrifice, and only

thought how he might destroy both my ships and my comrades.



“Thus through the livelong day to the going down of the sun we feasted

our fill on meat and drink, but when the sun went down and it came on

dark, we camped upon the beach. When the child of morning rosy-fingered

Dawn appeared, I bade my men on board and loose the hawsers. Then they

took their places and smote the grey sea with their oars; so we sailed

on with sorrow in our hearts, but glad to have escaped death though we

had lost our comrades.