“On our arrival I carefully concealed my vessel in a hidden cave and landed with my people and my wine skin. Not far away I saw a tremendous cave in the rock surrounded by a wall of great stones and shaded by a row of gigantic firs and oaks. It was the dwelling of the most terrible of the giants, where he spent the night with his goats and sheep; for the care of his flocks was his sole occupation. He was the son of Poseidon and his name was Polyphemus. Like all the Cyclops, he had a single but horrible eye in the middle of his forehead. His arms were powerful enough to move rocks, and he could sling granite blocks through the air like pebbles. He wandered about alone among the mountains, none of the other Cyclops holding intercourse with him. He was savage and delighted only in mischief and destructiveness. “I, unhappy man, not knowing this, went with my companions straight to the open cave and entered it. We did not find him there, as the sun had not yet gone down and he was still grazing his herds on distant hills. The stalls were full of lambs and young kids. There were baskets and tubs of cheese and milk; also curds in great vessels and milking pails. My companions wanted very much to fill a few baskets with cheese, drive away a number of lambs and kids, and quickly make away with them in the ships before the dread king of the cave should return. But I forbade this, for I was too curious to see the man and hoped, besides, to receive a gift from him, as is the custom among hospitable people. But how mistaken I was! “We seated ourselves in the cave, lighted a fire for an offering, and passed the time eating cheese until the Cyclops should come home. Toward evening he appeared with his whole herd before the mouth of the cave. We drew back in affright, and he did not see us at first. He bore on his shoulders a tremendous load of wood, which he dropped upon the ground with a clatter which made the rocks tremble and caused us to flee into the innermost recesses of the cave. He then drove the goats and sheep inside, and barred the entrance with a piece of rock that two and twenty wagons could not have moved from the spot. We were prisoners in the power of the monster. “We were able to watch him unobserved for a while as he seated himself comfortably on the ground to milk the animals, then poured the milk into tubs, and last stirred the fire. The flames leapt up and he discovered us huddled together in a corner. For a moment he stared, then thundered at us in a fearful voice: ‘Ho, strangers! Whence come ye? Are ye traders or robbers who roam the seas, not sparing human life?’