The Cyclops

By Euripides

Euripides (480 BC-406 BC) is revered as one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, and produced the largest body of extant work by any ancient playwright. He is considered to be the most modern of the three, and he laid the foundation for Western theatre. His works are characterized by their moral ambiguity, plots of intrigue, and a separate character (usually a deity) who introduces the play with an explanatory prologue. "The Cyclops" dramatizes one of the most recognizable episodes from Homer's "Odyssey". It is not one of Euripides' most famous works, however, it is the only complete preserved satyr play from ancient Greece. A satyr was a light and humorous play that was usually produced after a series of three tragedies in order to relieve Greek audiences from the seriousness and gloom of those previous. It typically parodied the previous plays' tragic characters and themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781420904154

Euripides

Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. He was born on Salamis Island around 480 BC to his mother, Cleito, and father, Mnesarchus, a retailer who lived in a village near Athens. He had two disastrous marriages, and both his wives—Melite and Choerine (the latter bearing him three sons)—were unfaithful. He became a recluse, making a home for himself in a cave on Salamis. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. He became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education. The details of his death are uncertain.

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THE CYCLOPS

BY EURIPIDES

TRANSLATED BY E. P. COLERIDGE

A Digireads.com Book

Digireads.com Publishing

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4422-8

Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-0415-4

This edition copyright © 2012

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CONTENTS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

THE CYCLOPS

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

SILENUS

ODYSSEUS

CHORUS OF SATYRS

THE CYCLOPS

MUTE: Companions of Odysseus

THE CYCLOPS

[Mount Ætna in Sicily, Before the great cave of the Cyclops. Enter SILENUS.]

SILENUS. O Bromius, unnumbered are the toils I bear because of thee, no less now than when I was young and hale; first, when thou wert driven mad by Hera and didst leave the mountain nymphs, thy nurses; next, when in battle with earth-born spearmen I stood beside thee on the right as squire, and slew Enceladus, smiting him full in the middle of his targe with my spear. Come, though, let me see; must I confess 'twas all a dream? No, by Zeus! since I really showed his spoils to the Bacchic god. And now am I enduring to the full a toil still worse than those. For when Hera sent forth a race of Tyrrhene pirates against thee, that thou mightest be smuggled far away, I, as soon as the news reached me, sailed in quest of thee with my children; and, taking the helm myself, I stood on the end of the stern and steered our trim craft; and my sons, sitting at the oars, made the grey billows froth and foam as they sought thee, my liege, But just as we had come nigh Malea in our course, an east wind blew upon the ship and drove us hither to the rock of Ætna, where in lonely caverns dwell the one-eyed children of ocean's god, the murdering Cyclopes. Captured by one of them we are slaves in his house; Polyphemus they call him whom we serve; and instead of Bacchic revelry we are herding a godless Cyclops's flocks; and so it is my children, striplings as they are, tend the young thereof on the edge of the downs; while my appointed task