"We sailed hence, always in much distress,
till we came to the land of the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes.
Now the Cyclopes neither plant nor plough,
but trust in providence, and live on such wheat, barley,
and grapes as grow wild without any kind of tillage,
and their wild grapes yield them wine as the sun
and the rain may grow them. They have no laws nor
assemblies of the people, but live in caves on the tops of high mountains; each is lord and master in his family,
and they take no account of their neighbours.

"Now off their harbour there lies a wooded and fertile island
not quite close to the land of the Cyclopes, but still not far.
It is overrun with wild goats, that breed there in great numbers
and are never disturbed by foot of man; for sportsmen-
who as a rule will suffer so much hardship in forest
or among mountain precipices- do not go there,
nor yet again is it ever ploughed or fed down, but it lies
a wilderness untilled and unsown from year to year,
and has no living thing upon it but only goats.
For the Cyclopes have no ships, nor yet shipwrights
who could make ships for them; they cannot therefore
go from city to city, or sail over the sea to one another's
country as people who have ships can do; if they had
had these they would have colonized the island,
for it is a very good one, and would yield everything
in due season. There are meadows that in some places
come right down to the sea shore, well watered and full
of luscious grass; grapes would do there excellently;
there is level land for ploughing, and it would always
yield heavily at harvest time, for the soil is deep.
There is a good harbour where no cables are wanted,
nor yet anchors, nor need a ship be moored,
but all one has to do is to beach one's vessel
and stay there till the wind becomes fair for
putting out to sea again. At the head of the harbour
there is a spring of clear water coming out of a cave,
and there are poplars growing all round it.
"Here we entered, but so dark was the night
that some god must have brought us in,
for there was nothing whatever to be seen.
A thick mist hung all round our ships; the moon was hidden
behind a mass of clouds so that no one could have seen
the island if he had looked for it, nor were there any breakers
to tell us we were close in shore before we found ourselves
upon the land itself; when, however, we had beached the ships,
we took down the sails, went ashore and camped
upon the beach till daybreak.

"When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn,
appeared, we admired the island and wandered all over it,
while the nymphs, Zeus' daughters, roused the wild goats
that we might get some meat for our dinner.
On this we fetched our spears and bows and arrows
from the ships, and dividing ourselves into three bands
began to shoot the goats. Heaven sent us excellent sport;
I had twelve ships with me, and each ship got nine goats,
while my own ship had ten; thus through the livelong day
to the going down of the sun we ate and drank our fill,
- and we had plenty of wine left, for each one of us
had taken many jars full when we sacked the city of the Cicons,
and this had not yet run out. While we were feasting
we kept turning our eyes towards the land of the Cyclopes,
which was hard by, and saw the smoke of their stubble fires.
We could almost fancy we heard their voices
and the bleating of their sheep and goats,
but when the sun went down and it came on dark,
we camped down upon the beach,
and next morning I called a council.
"'Stay here, my brave fellows,' said I, 'all the rest of you,
while I go with my ship and exploit these people myself:
I want to see if they are uncivilized savages,
or a hospitable and humane race.

Works Cited

-Baldwin, Anna. "Cyclopes." Encyclopedia Mythica. Panthenon, n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. .
-Biggs, Cory, Melissa Joseph, Mollie Bennet, Dustin Manning, and Jonas Schrodt. "The Value of Hospitality." Union. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. .
--"Demeter, Greek Goddess." of The Bountiful Harvest. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014. .
-Parada, Carlos. "Ciconians (Cicones) - Greek Mythology Link." Miacar. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2014.