In fhady woods we pass the tedious night,
Where bellowing founds and groans our fouls affright;
Of which no caufe is offer'd to the fight.
For not one star was kindled in the sky;
Nor could the moon her borrow'd light fupply: 765
For mifty clouds involv'd the firmament;
The stars were muffled, and the moon was pent.
Scarce had the rifing fun the day reveal'd;
Scarce had his heat the pearly-dews difpell'd;
When from the woods there bolts, before our fight,
Somewhat betwixt a mortal and a spright.
So thin, fo ghaftly meagre, and fo wan,
So bare of flesh, he fcarce resembled man.
This thing, all tatter'd, feem'd from far t'implore
Our pious aid, and pointed to the shore.
We look behind; then view his shaggy beard;
His cloaths were tagg'd with thorns, and filth his limbs
The reft, in mien, in habit, and in face,
Appear'd a Greek, and fuch indeed he was.
He caft on us, from far, a frightful view,
Whom foon for Trojans and for foes he knew:
Stood ftill, and paus'd; thence all at once began
To ftretch his limbs, and trembled as he ran.
Soon as approach'd, upon his knees he falls,
And thus, with tears and fighs, for pity calls:
Now by the powers above, and what we share
From nature's common gift, this vital air,
O Trojans, take me hence; I beg no more,
But bear me far from this unhappy shore!
'Tis true, I am a Greek, and farther own,
Among your foes befieg'd th' imperial town;
For fuch demerits if my death be due,
No more for this abandon'd life I fue':
This only favour let my tears obtain,
To throw me headlong in the rapid main :
Since nothing more than death my crime demands:
I die content, to die by human hands.
He faid, and on his knees my knees embrac'd:
I bade him boldly tell his fortune past;
His prefent ftate, his lineage, and his name;
Th' occafion of his fears, and whence he came.
The good Anchises rais'd him with his hand;
Who, thus encourag'd, anfwer'd our demand:
From Ithaca my native foil I came
To Troy, and Achæmenides my name.
Me, my poor father with Ulyffes fent ;
(Oh had I stay'd with poverty content!) But, fearful for themselves, my countrymen Left me forfaken in the Cyclops' den.
The cave, though large, was dark; the difmal floor
Was pav'd with mangled limbs and putrid gore.
Our monstrous hoft, of more than human fize,
Erects his head, and ftares within the skies,
Bellowing his voice, and horrid is his hue.
Ye gods, remove this plague from mortal view! 815
The joints of flaughter'd wretches are his food:
And for his wine he quaffs the streaming blood.
Thefe eyes beheld, when with his spacious hand
He feiz'd two captives of our Grecian band;
Stretch'd on his back, he dash'd against the stones 820
Their broken bodies, and their crackling bones :
With fpouting blood the purple pavement fwims,
While the dire glutton grinds the trembling limbs.
Not unreveng'd, Ulyffes bore their fate
Nor thoughtlefs of his own unhappy state;
For, gorg'd with flesh, and drunk with human wine, While fast afleep the giant lay fupine:
Snoring aloud, and belching from his maw
His indigested foam, and morfels raw :
We pray, we caft the lots, and then surround
The monftrous body, ftretch'd along the ground:
Each, as he could approach him, lends a hand
To bore his eyeball with a flaming brand :
Beneath his frowning forehead lay his eye
(For only one did the vast frame supply);
But that a globe fo large, his front it fill'd,
Like the fun's difk, or like a Grecian shield.
The ftroke fucceeds; and down the pupil bends;
This vengeance follow'd for our flaughter'd friends.
But hafte, unhappy wretches, hafte to fly;
Your cables cut, and on your oars rely.
Such and fo vaft as Polypheme appears,
A hundred more this hated ifland bears :
Like him, in caves they fhut their woolly fheep;
Like him, their herds on tops of mountains keep; 845
Like him, with mighty ftrides, they stalk from steep
And now three moons their sharpen'd horns renew,
Since thus in woods and wilds, obfcure from view,
I drag
I drag my loathsome days with mortal fright;
And, in deferted caverns, lodge by night.
Oft from the rocks a dreadful prospect fee
Of the huge Cyclops, like a walking tree:
From far I hear his thundering voice refound;
And trampling feet that shake the folid ground.
Cornels and favage berries of the wood,
And roots and herbs, have been my meagre food.
While all around my longing eyes are cast,
I faw your happy fhips appear at last:
On those I fix'd my hopes, to these I run,
'Tis all I afk, this cruel race to fhun :
What other death you please yourselves, beftow.
Scarce had he faid, when, on the mountain's brow,
We faw the giant-fhepherd ftalk before
His following flock, and leading to the shore.
A monftrous bulk, deform'd, depriv'd of fight, 865
His ftaff a trunk of pine to guide his fteps aright.
His ponderous whistle from his neck defcends ;
His woolly care their penfive lord attends:
This only folace his hard fortune fends.
Soon as he reach'd the fhore, and touch'd the waves,
From his bor'd eye the guttering blood he laves :
He gnash'd his teeth and groan'd; through feas he strides,
And scarce the topmaft billows touch his fides.
Seiz'd with a fudden fear, we run to fea,
The cables cut, and filent hafte away :
The well-deferving ftranger entertain ;
Then, buckling to the work, our oars divide the main.
The giant hearken'd to the dashing sound :
But when our veffels out of reach he found,
He ftrided onward; and in vain essay'd
Th' Iönian deep, and durst no farther wade.
With that he roar'd aloud: the dreadful cry
Shakes earth, and air, and feas; the billows fly,
Before the bellowing noise, to distant Italy.
The neighbouring Ætna trembling all around:
The winding caverns echo to the found.
His brother Cyclops hear the yelling roar;
And, rushing down the mountains, croud the fhore.
We saw their ftern diftorted looks from far.
And one-ey'd glance, that vainly threat'ned war. 890
A dreadful council with their heads on high;
The misty clouds about their foreheads fly:
Not yielding to the towering tree of Jove,
Or talleft cypress of Diana's grove.
New pangs
We tug at every oar, and hoist up every
of mortal fear our minds affail,
And take th' advantage of the friendly gale.
Forewarn'd by Helenus, we strive to fhun
Charybdis' gulph, nor dare to Scylla run.
An equal fate on either fide appears ;
We, tacking to the left, are free from fears:
For from Pelorus' point, the north arose,
And drove us back where fwift Pantagias flows.
His rocky mouth we pass, and make our way
By Thapfus, and Megara's winding bay;
This paffage Achæmenides had shown,
Tracing the courfe which he before had run.
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