Page:The complete poetical works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, including materials never before printed in any edition of the poems.djvu/730

700 Of woven gold which girt the neck of Paris,

And so she left that good man Menelaus.

There should be no more women in the world

But such as are reserved for me alone.—

See, here are sheep, and here are goats, Ulysses,

Here are unsparing cheeses of pressed milk;

Take them; depart with what good speed ye may;

First leaving my reward, the Bacchic dew

Of joy-inspiring grapes.

Ah me! Alas!

What shall we do? the Cyclops is at hand!

Old man, we perish! whither can we fly?

Hide yourselves quick within that hollow rock.

'Twere perilous to fly into the net.

The cavern has recesses numberless;

Hide yourselves quick.

That will I never do!

The mighty Troy would be indeed disgraced

If I should fly one man. How many times

Have I withstood, with shield immovable.

Ten thousand Phrygians!—if I needs must die,

Yet will I die with glory;—if I live,

The praise which I have gained will yet remain.

What, ho! assistance, comrades, haste, assistance!

What is this tumult? Bacchus is not here,

Nor tympanies nor brazen castanets.

How are my young lambs in the cavern? Milking

Their dams or playing by their sides? And is

The new cheese pressed into the bulrush baskets?

Speak! I'll beat some of you till you rain tears—

Look up, not downwards when I speak to you.

See! I now gape at Jupiter himself;

I stare upon Orion and the stars.

Well, is the dinner fitly cooked and laid?

All ready, if your throat is ready too.

Are the bowls full of milk besides?

O'er-brimming;

So you may drink a tunful if you will.

Is it ewe's milk or cow's milk, or both mixed?—

Both, either; only pray don't swallow me.

By no means.

What is this crowd I see beside the stalls?

Outlaws or thieves? for near my cavern-home

I see my young lambs coupled two by two

With willow bands; mixed with my cheeses lie

Their implements; and this old fellow here

Has his bald head broken with stripes.

Ah me!

