Odysseus: Indeed thou must, for the brand is large, and thou must
help hold it.
Leader: How lightly would I lift the load of e'en a hundred wains,
if that will help us to grub out the eye of the doomed Cyclops, like
a wasp's nest.
Odysseus: Hush! for now thou knowest my plot in full, and when I bid
you, obey the author of it; for I am not the man to desert my friends
inside the cave and save myself alone. And yet I might escape; I am
clear of the cavern's depths already; but no! to desert the friends
with whom I journeyed hither and only save myself is not a righteous
course. (He re-enters the cave.)
First Semi-Chorus: (singing) Come, who will be the first and who
the next to him upon the list to grip the handle of the brand, and,
thrusting it into the Cyclops' eye, gouge out the light thereof?
Second Semi-Chorus: (singing) Hush! hush! Behold the drunkard leaves
his rocky home, trolling loud some hideous lay, a clumsy tuneless
clown, whom tears await. Come, let us give this boor a lesson in revelry.
Ere long will he be blind at any rate.
Studies
