Odyssey 9.116 · Book 9, lines 116–120
The empty island offshore
Read the full text in our reader
νῆσος ἔπειτα λάχεια παρὲκ λιμένος τετάνυσται, γαίης Κυκλώπων οὔτε σχεδὸν οὔτʼ ἀποτηλοῦ, ὑλήεσσʼ· ἐν δʼ αἶγες ἀπειρέσιαι γεγάασιν ἄγριαι· οὐ μὲν γὰρ πάτος ἀνθρώπων ἀπερύκει, οὐδέ μιν εἰσοιχνεῦσι κυνηγέται, οἵ τε καθʼ ὕλην
An island, then, low-lying, stretches out beyond the harbour, off the land of the Cyclopes, neither near nor far off, and wooded; and on it countless goats breed there, wild, for indeed no tread of men keeps them off, nor do hunters visit it — men who through the woodland—
Word by word
The setting
Before entering the Cyclopes' own land, Odysseus describes a small wooded island lying just off the coast — uninhabited, full of wild goats, untouched by men. The description runs on into the lines that follow.
A note on this passage
Facing the harbour lies a low, wooded island where wild goats breed in numbers, undisturbed: no footpath of men crosses it, no hunters come. It is fertile and wholly unused.
The long dwelling on this empty island has a point on the way. The Cyclopes keep no ships and know no shipwrights, so the rich little island sits idle at their door — land any seafaring people would have settled and farmed. Homer lets Odysseus the sailor notice exactly what the lawless landsmen cannot use. The passage is a quiet inventory of what the Cyclopes are too uncivilized to possess.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 9.116 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 9.116 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/9.116/