§11.1οὐδὲν πὸτ τὸν ἔρωτα πεφύκει φάρμακον ἄλλο §11.2Νικία οὔτʼ ἔγχριστον, ἐμὶν δοκεῖ, οὔτʼ ἐπίπαστον, §11.3ἢ ταὶ Πιερίδες· κοῦφον δέ τι τοῦτο καὶ ἁδὺ §11.4γίνετʼ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώποις, εὑρεῖν δʼ οὐ ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι.
There has grown no other medicine against love, O Nicias, neither ointment, in my opinion, nor plaster, except the Pierian Muses; and this becomes something light and sweet among men, but to find it is not easy.
And I think you know this well, being a physician, and indeed exceedingly beloved by the nine Muses.
§11.7οὕτω γοῦν ῥάιστα διᾶγʼ ὁ Κύκλωψ ὁ παρʼ ἁμῖν, §11.8ὡρχαῖος Πολύφαμος, ὅκʼ ἤρατο τᾶς Γαλατείας, §11.9ἄρτι γενειάσδων περὶ τὸ στόμα τὼς κροτάφως τε.
Thus at least passed his time most easily our own Cyclops, the ancient Polyphemus, when he loved Galatea, just when the beard was growing around his mouth and his temples.
§11.10ἤρατο δʼ οὐ μάλοις οὐδὲ ῥόδῳ οὐδὲ κικίννοις, §11.11ἀλλʼ ὀρθαῖς μανίαις, ἁγεῖτο δὲ πάντα πάρεργα.
And he loved not with apples, nor with roses, nor with locks of hair, but with downright madness, and held all other things as by-works.
§11.12πολλάκι ταὶ ὄιες ποτὶ ταὐλίον αὐταὶ ἀπῆνθον §11.13χλωρᾶς ἐκ βοτάνας· ὁ δὲ τὰν Γαλάτειαν ἀείδων §11.14αὐτόθʼ ἐπʼ ἀιόνος κατετάκετο φυκιοέσσας §11.15ἐξ ἀοῦς, ἔχθιστον ἔχων ὑποκάρδιον ἕλκος §11.16Κύπριδος ἐκ μεγάλας, τό οἱ ἥπατι πᾶξε βέλεμνον.
Often his sheep went back of their own accord to the fold from the green pasture; but he, singing of Galatea, wasted away there upon the seaweed-covered shore from early dawn, holding a most hateful wound under his heart from the great Cyprian, which dart she had fixed in his liver.
§11.17ἀλλὰ τὸ φάρμακον εὗρε, καθεζόμενος δʼ ἐπὶ πέτρας §11.18ὑψηλᾶς ἐς πόντον ὁρῶν ἄειδε τοιαῦτα. §11.19Ὦ λευκὰ Γαλάτεια, τί τὸν φιλέοντʼ ἀποβάλλῃ;
But he found the medicine, and sitting upon a high rock, looking towards the sea, he would sing thus: “O white Galatea, why do you cast off him who loves you?
Whiter than curd to look upon, softer than a lamb, more playful than a heifer, sleeker than the unripe grape.
§11.22φοιτῇς δʼ αὖθʼ οὑτῶς, ὅκκα γλυκὺς ὕπνος ἔχῃ με, §11.23οἴχῃ δʼ εὐθὺς ἰοῖσʼ, ὅκκα γλυκὺς ὕπνος ἀνῇ με, §11.24φεύγεις δʼ ὥσπερ ὄις πολιὸν λύκον ἀθρήσασα.
You come hither only when sweet sleep holds me, and you are gone at once when sweet sleep leaves me, fleeing like a sheep that has seen a gray wolf.
§11.25ἠράσθην μὲν ἔγωγα τεοῦς κόρα, ἁνίκα πρᾶτον §11.26ἦνθες ἐμᾷ σὺν ματρὶ θέλοισʼ ὑακίνθινα φύλλα §11.27ἐξ ὄρεος δρέψασθαι, ἐγὼ δʼ ὁδὸν ἁγεμόνευον.
I fell in love with you, maiden, when first you came with my mother, wishing to pluck hyacinth leaves from the hill, and I was your guide on the path.
§11.28παύσασθαι δʼ ἐσιδών τυ καὶ ὕστερον οὐδέ τί πᾳ νῦν §11.29ἐκ τήνω δύναμαι· τὶν δʼ οὐ μέλει, οὐ μὰ Δίʼ οὐδέν.
Having once looked upon you, I cannot even now nor hereafter cease from loving; but you care nothing, no, by Zeus, nothing at all.
§11.30γινώσκω χαρίεσσα κόρα, τίνος ὥνεκα φεύγεις· §11.31ὥνεκά μοι λασία μὲν ὀφρῦς ἐπὶ παντὶ μετώπῳ §11.32ἐξ ὠτὸς τέταται ποτὶ θὥτερον ὦς μία μακρά, §11.33εἷς δʼ ὀφθαλμὸς ἔπεστι, πλατεῖα δὲ ῥὶς ἐπὶ χείλει.
I know, graceful maiden, why you flee; because a shaggy brow stretches over my whole forehead, from one ear to the other as one long single brow, and one eye is underneath, and a flat nose is upon my lip.
§11.34ἀλλʼ οὗτος τοιοῦτος ἐὼν βοτὰ χίλια βόσκω, §11.35κἠκ τούτων τὸ κράτιστον ἀμελγόμενος γάλα πίνω· §11.36τυρὸς δʼ οὐ λείπει μʼ οὔτʼ ἐν θέρει οὔτʼ ἐν ὀπώρᾳ, §11.37οὐ χειμῶνος ἄκρω· ταρσοὶ δʼ ὑπεραχθέες αἰεί.
Yet, though I am such as this, I feed a thousand head of cattle, and milking them I drink the best milk; and cheese is never lacking to me, neither in summer, nor in autumn, nor at the end of winter; and my cheese-racks are always over-laden.
§11.38συρίσδεν δʼ ὡς οὔτις ἐπίσταμαι ὧδε Κυκλώπων, §11.39τὶν τὸ φίλον γλυκύμαλον ἁμᾷ κἠμαυτὸν ἀείδων §11.40πολλάκι νυκτὸς ἀωρί.
And I know how to play the pipe as no other of the Cyclopes here, singing of you, my sweet honey-apple, and of myself, often in the dead of night.
τρέφω δέ τοι ἕνδεκα νεβρὼς §11.41πάσας μηνοφόρως καὶ σκύμνως τέσσαρας ἄρκτων.
And I am rearing for you eleven fawns, all with crescent-marks, and four bear-cubs.
§11.42ἀλλʼ ἀφίκευσο ποθʼ ἁμέ, καὶ ἑξεῖς οὐδὲν ἔλασσον, §11.43τὰν γλαυκὰν δὲ θάλασσαν ἔα ποτὶ χέρσον ὀρεχθεῖν.
But come to me, and you shall have no less, and leave the gray sea to beat against the shore.
§11.44ἅδιον ἐν τὤντρῳ παρʼ ἐμὶν τὰν νύκτα διαξεῖς.
You will pass the night more sweetly in the cave with me.
§11.45ἐντὶ δάφναι τηνεῖ, ἐντὶ ῥαδιναὶ κυπάρισσοι, §11.46ἔστι μέλας κισσός, ἔστʼ ἄμπελος ἁ γλυκύκαρπος, §11.47ἔστι ψυχρὸν ὕδωρ, τό μοι ἁ πολυδένδρεος Αἴτνα §11.48λευκᾶς ἐκ χιόνος ποτὸν ἀμβρόσιον προΐητι.
There are laurels there, there are slender cypresses, there is dark ivy, there is the sweet-fruited vine, there is cold water, which wooded Etna sends forth from white snow for me, an ambrosial drink.
§11.49τίς κα τῶνδε θάλασσαν ἔχειν καὶ κύμαθʼ ἕλοιτο;
Who would choose the sea and the waves instead of these?
§11.50αἰ δέ τοι αὐτὸς ἐγὼ δοκέω λασιώτερος ἦμεν, §11.51ἐντὶ δρυὸς ξύλα μοι καὶ ὑπὸ σποδῷ ἀκάματον πῦρ.
And if I myself seem to you too shaggy, I have oak-wood logs and unwearied fire under the ashes.
§11.52καιόμενος δʼ ὑπὸ τεῦς καὶ τὰν ψυχὰν ἀνεχοίμαν §11.53καὶ τὸν ἕνʼ ὀφθαλμόν, τῶ μοι γλυκερώτερον οὐδέν.
And being burned by you, I would endure even my soul to be burned, and my single eye, than which nothing is dearer to me.
§11.54ὤμοι, ὅ τʼ οὐκ ἔτεκέν μʼ ἁ μάτηρ βραγχίʼ ἔχοντα, §11.55ὡς κατέδυν ποτὶ τὶν καὶ τὰν χέρα τευς ἐφίλασα, §11.56αἰ μὴ τὸ στόμα λῇς, ἔφερον δέ τοι ἢ κρίνα λευκὰ §11.57ἢ μάκωνʼ ἁπαλὰν ἐρυθρὰ πλαταγώνιʼ ἔχοισαν.
Alas, that my mother did not bear me with gills, so that I might have dived down to you and kissed your hand, if you will not grant your mouth, and I would have brought you either white lilies or the soft poppy with red petals.
§11.58ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν θέρεος, τὰ δὲ γίνεται ἐν χειμῶνι, §11.59ὥστʼ οὐκ ἄν τοι ταῦτα φέρειν ἅμα πάντʼ ἐδυνάθην.
But the former grow in summer, and the latter in winter, so that I could not have brought you all these at one and the same time.
§11.60νῦν μὰν ὦ κόριον, νῦν αὐτόγα νεῖν κε μάθοιμι, §11.61αἴκά τις σὺν ναῒ πλέων ξένος ὧδʼ ἀφίκηται, §11.62ὡς εἰδῶ, τί ποθʼ ἁδὺ κατοικεῖν τὸν βυθὸν ὔμμιν.
Now indeed, little maiden, now at least I would learn to swim, if some stranger sailing hither in a ship should arrive, so that I might know what pleasure it is for you to dwell in the deep.
Come forth, Galatea, and coming forth, may you forget to go home, even as I now sitting here have forgotten.
§11.65ποιμαίνειν δʼ ἐθέλοις σὺν ἐμὶν ἅμα καὶ γάλʼ ἀμέλγειν §11.66καὶ τυρὸν πᾶξαι τάμισον δριμεῖαν ἐνεῖσα.
And may you wish to shepherd with me, and to milk, and to set cheese, putting in sharp rennet.
§11.67ἁ μάτηρ ἀδικεῖ με μόνα, καὶ μέμφομαι αὐτᾷ· §11.68οὐδὲν πήποχʼ ὅλως ποτὶ τὶν φίλον εἶπεν ὑπέρ μευ, §11.69καὶ ταῦτʼ ἆμαρ ἐπʼ ἆμαρ ὁρεῦσά με λεπτὸν ἐόντα.
My mother alone wrongs me, and I blame her; she has never spoken a single kind word for me to you, and that though she sees me growing thin day by day.
I will say that my head and both my feet throb, so that she may be grieved, since I too am grieved.
§11.72ὦ Κύκλωψ Κύκλωψ, πᾷ τὰς φρένας ἐκπεπότασαι;
O Cyclops, Cyclops, whither have your wits flown?
§11.73αἴκʼ ἐνθὼν θαλάρως τε πλέκοις καὶ θαλλὸν ἀμάσας §11.74ταῖς ἄρνεσσι φέροις, τάχα κα πολὺ μᾶλλον ἔχοις νῶν.
If you would go and weave cheese-baskets and carry young shoots to your lambs, you would quickly have much more sense.
§11.75τὰν παρεοῖσαν ἄμελγε. τί τὸν φεύγοντα διώκεις;
Milk the one that is at hand; why do you pursue the one that flees?
§11.76εὑρησεῖς Γαλάτειαν ἴσως καὶ καλλίονʼ ἄλλαν.
You will find another Galatea perhaps, and a fairer one.
§11.77πολλαὶ συμπαίσδέν με κόραι τὰν νύκτα κέλονται, §11.78κιχλίζοντι δὲ πᾶσαι, ἐπεί κʼ αὐταῖς ὑπακούσω §11.79δῆλον ὅ τʼ ἐν τᾷ γᾷ κἠγώ τις φαίνομαι ἦμεν. §11.80οὕτω τοι Πολύφαμος ἐποίμαινεν τὸν ἔρωτα §11.81μουσίσδων, ῥᾷον δὲ διᾶγʼ ἢ εἰ χρυσὸν ἔδωκεν.
Many girls bid me play with them by night, and they all giggle when I listen to them; it is clear that on land I too seem to be somebody.” Thus Polyphemus shepherded his love by singing, and passed his time more easily than if he had given gold.