person
Polyphemus
also: Polyphemum, Cyclops, the Cyclops
The man-eating Cyclops of Homer's Odyssey, blinded by Odysseus, whom Cicero cites conversing with his ram and envying its freedom of movement. Cicero uses him as the type of the savage and unlearned, contrasted with the wise blind men who bear their loss serenely.
Reading notes
- Tusculan Disputations §5.115 Polyphemus monstrous and savage
Polyphemus, the Cyclops of the Odyssey, blinded by Odysseus, whom Homer shows talking to his ram and envying its freedom. Cicero remarks that the Cyclops was no wiser than the ram, as the type of the unlearned brute.