Odyssey 9.415 · Book 9, lines 415–418
The blind giant guards the door
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Κύκλωψ δὲ στενάχων τε καὶ ὠδίνων ὀδύνῃσι χερσὶ ψηλαφόων ἀπὸ μὲν λίθον εἷλε θυράων, αὐτὸς δʼ εἰνὶ θύρῃσι καθέζετο χεῖρε πετάσσας, εἴ τινά που μετʼ ὄεσσι λάβοι στείχοντα θύραζε·
But the Cyclops, groaning and in the throes of pain, groping with his hands lifted the stone away from the doorway, and he himself sat in the doorway with both hands spread wide, in case he might catch anyone going out among the sheep —
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The setting
In the throes of pain, blinded, the Cyclops gropes the great stone from the cave-mouth and sits in the gap, arms spread, to catch anyone slipping out with the flocks.
A note on this passage
The escape problem, laid out plainly. The Cyclops cannot see, but he can feel: he lifts the door-stone away and sits down in the opening, both arms spread across it, ready to seize any man who tries to walk out among the sheep.
The blinding solved one danger and made another. The giant no longer needs eyes to be a wall; his hands and the doorway are enough. Everything now depends on Odysseus getting past a sentry who covers the only exit by touch — and the answer, already forming, will send the men out where groping hands will not think to look.
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