Odyssey 9.312 · Book 9, lines 312–315
He drives the flocks out
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δειπνήσας δʼ ἄντρου ἐξήλασε πίονα μῆλα, ῥηιδίως ἀφελὼν θυρεὸν μέγαν· αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα ἂψ ἐπέθηχʼ, ὡς εἴ τε φαρέτρῃ πῶμʼ ἐπιθείη. πολλῇ δὲ ῥοίζῳ πρὸς ὄρος τρέπε πίονα μῆλα
And having dined, he drove out his fat flocks from the cave, easily lifting away the great door-stone; but then, back again, he set it, as if one might set a lid on a quiver. And with loud whistling he drove the fat flocks toward the mountain —
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The setting
His second meal eaten, Polyphemus leaves for the day's grazing — and reseals the cave behind him.
A note on this passage
The giant eats, then leaves for the day. He drives the flocks out, lifts the enormous door-stone as lightly as a man lifts the lid off a quiver, seats it back to seal the cave, and whistles his sheep up the mountain.
The quiver-lid simile measures the trap exactly. What no crew of men could budge, Polyphemus handles one-handed, and the image is casual, almost tidy. That ease is the prison. Homer keeps returning to the stone because the stone — not the giant's teeth — is what turns escape from a problem of force into a problem of wit.
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