§269οἱ παῖδες ἀπόλοινθ’, οὓς μάλιστ’ ἐγὼ φιλῶ.
SILENUS: May my children perish, whom I love most.
§270αὐτὸς ἔχ’.
CHORUS: Hold it there!
ἔγωγε τοῖς ξένοις τὰ χρήματα §271περνάντα σ’ εἶδον·
I myself saw you selling the goods to the strangers.
εἰ δ’ ἐγὼ ψευδῆ λέγω, §272ἀπόλοιθ’ ὁ πατήρ μου·
And if I am lying, may my father perish.
τοὺς ξένους δὲ μὴ ἀδίκει.
But do not wrong the strangers.
§273ψεύδεσθ’·
CYCLOPS: You are lying.
ἔγωγε τῷδε τοῦ Ῥαδαμάνθυος §274μᾶλλον πέποιθα καὶ δικαιότερον λέγω.
I trust this man more than Rhadamanthys, and I say he speaks more justly.
§275θέλω δ’ ἐρέσθαι· πόθεν ἐπλεύσατ’, ὦ ξένοι;
But I want to ask: where did you sail from, O strangers?
§276ποδαποί;
Of what country are you?
τίς ὑμᾶς ἐξεπαίδευσεν πόλις;
What city educated you?
§277Ἰθακήσιοι μὲν τὸ γένος, Ἰλίου δ’ ἄπο, §278πέρσαντες ἄστυ, πνεύμασιν θαλασσίοις §279σὴν γαῖαν ἐξωσθέντες ἥκομεν, Κύκλωψ.
ODYSSEUS: Ithacans by race, and from Ilium, having sacked the city, driven out by sea-winds to your land we have come, Cyclops.
CYCLOPS: Are you the ones who pursued the rape of that most evil Helen to the city of Ilium, neighbor of Scamander?
§282οὗτοι, πόνον τὸν δεινὸν ἐξηντληκότες.
ODYSSEUS: The very ones, having exhausted that terrible labor.
CYCLOPS: A shameful expedition indeed, you who for the sake of one woman sailed out to the land of the Phrygians.
§285θεοῦ τὸ πρᾶγμα·
ODYSSEUS: It was a god's deed.
μηδέν’ αἰτιῶ βροτῶν.
Blame no mortal.
§286ἡμεῖς δέ σ’, ὦ θεοῦ ποντίου γενναῖε παῖ, §287ἱκετεύομέν τε καὶ λέγομεν ἐλευθέρως· §288μὴ τλῇς πρὸς ἄντρα σοι ἐσαφιγμένους φίλους §289κτανεῖν βοράν τε δυσσεβῆ θέσθαι γνάθοις· §290οἳ τὸν σόν, ὦναξ, πατέρ’ ἔχειν νεῶν ἕδρας §291ἐρρυσάμεσθα γῆς ἐν Ἑλλάδος μυχοῖς.
And we implore you, noble son of the sea god, and speak freely: do not bring yourself to kill friends who have come to your caves, and make them an impious meal for your jaws; we who, O king, protected your father's temple seats in the recesses of the land of Hellas.
§292ἱερεύς τ’ ἄθραυστος Ταινάρου μένει λιμὴν §293Μαλέας τ’ ἄκροι κευθμῶνες ἥ τε Σουνίου §294δίας Ἀθάνας σῶς ὑπάργυρος πέτρα §295Γεραίστιοί τε καταφυγαί· τὰ θ’ Ἑλλάδος §296δύσφρον’ ὀνείδη Φρυξὶν οὐκ ἐδώκαμεν· §297ὧν καὶ σὺ κοινοῖ· γῆς γὰρ Ἑλλάδος μυχοὺς §298οἰκεῖς ὑπ’ Αἴτνῃ, τῇ πυριστάκτῳ πέτρᾳ.
And the unbroken harbor of Taenarus remains, and Malea's deep recesses, and Sunium's divine Athena's safe silver-bearing rock, and Geraestus' refuges; and we did not give Hellas' shameful disgrace to the Phrygians; in which you too share, for you inhabit the recesses of the land of Greece under Etna, the fire-dripping rock.
§299νόμος δὲ θνητοῖς, εἰ λόγους ἀποστρέφῃ, §300ἱκέτας δέχεσθαι ποντίους ἐφθαρμένους §301ξένιά τε δοῦναι καὶ πέπλοις ἐπαρκέσαι, §302οὐκ ἀμφὶ βουπόροισι πηχθέντας μέλη §303ὀβελοῖσι νηδὺν καὶ γνάθον πλῆσαι σέθεν.
And it is a law for mortals, even if you turn away from our words, to receive shipwrecked suppliants of the sea, to give guest-gifts and supply garments, not that, with their limbs fixed on spits for roasting oxen, they should fill your belly and jaw.
§304ἅλις δὲ Πριάμου γαῖ’ ἐχήρωσ’ Ἑλλάδα, §305πολλῶν νεκρῶν πιοῦσα δοριπετῆ φόνον, §306ἀλόχους τ’ ἀνάνδρους γραῦς τ’ ἄπαιδας ὤλεσεν §307πολιούς τε πατέρας.
Enough did Priam's land widow Hellas, drinking the spear-slain slaughter of many dead, and destroyed husbands-lacking wives, and childless old women, and grey-haired fathers.
But if you, having roasted those who are left, consume them in a bitter feast, whither shall anyone turn?
But obey me, Cyclops: abandons the greed of your jaw, and choose piety instead of impiety.
πολλοῖσι γὰρ §312κέρδη πονηρὰ ζημίαν ἠμείψατο.
For to many, evil gains have exchanged for loss.
§313παραινέσαι σοι βούλομαι· τῶν γὰρ κρεῶν §314μηδὲν λίπῃς τοῦδ’, ἤν τε τὴν γλῶσσαν δάκῃς, §315κομψὸς γενήσῃ καὶ λαλίστατος, Κύκλωψ.
SILENUS: I want to give you advice: of his flesh leave nothing, and if you bite his tongue, you will become clever and most talkative, Cyclops.
CYCLOPS: Wealth, little man, is the god for the wise, everything else is mere boast and beauty of words.
And as for the maritime headlands where my father is established, I bid them farewell!
τί τάδε προυστήσω λόγῳ;
Why did you put these forward in your speech?
I do not shudder at Zeus's thunderbolt, stranger, nor do I know in what way Zeus is a stronger god than I.
§322οὔ μοι μέλει τὸ λοιπόν· ὡς δ’ οὔ μοι μέλει, §323ἄκουσον. ὅταν ἄνωθεν ὄμβρον ἐκχέῃ, §324ἐν τῇδε πέτρᾳ στέγν’ ἔχων σκηνώματα, §325ἢ μόσχον ὀπτὸν ἤ τι θήρειον δάκος §326δαινύμενος, εὖ τέγγων τε γαστέρ’ ὑπτίαν, §327ἐπεκπιὼν γάλακτος ἀμφορέα, πέπλον §328κρούω, Διὸς βρονταῖσιν εἰς ἔριν κτυπῶν.
I do not care for the rest; and how I do not care, listen: When he pours down rain from above, having dry quarters in this rock, feasting on a roasted calf or some wild beast, and well-wetting my belly laid on its back, drinking besides an amphora of milk, I strike my garment, making a noise to rival Zeus's thunderclaps.
§329ὅταν δὲ βορέας χιόνα Θρῄκιος χέῃ, §330δοραῖσι θηρῶν σῶμα περιβαλὼν ἐμὸν §331καὶ πῦρ ἀναίθων—χιόνος οὐδέν μοι μέλει.
And when the Thracian North wind pours down snow, wrapping my body in skins of beasts, and lighting a fire—I care nothing for snow.
And the earth by necessity, whether she wants to or not, bearing grass, fattens my cattle.
Which things I sacrifice to no one but myself—not to the gods— and to this belly, the greatest of deities.
§336ὡς τοὐμπιεῖν γε κὰμφαγεῖν τοὐφ’ ἡμέραν §337Ζεὺς οὗτος ἀνθρώποισι τοῖσι σώφροσιν, §338λυπεῖν δὲ μηδὲν αὑτόν.
For to drink and to eat day by day, this is Zeus for wise men, and to vex oneself in no way.
But those who established laws, making human life complicated, I tell them to go weep.
τὴν δ’ ἐμὴν ψυχὴν ἐγὼ §341οὐ παύσομαι δρῶν εὖ—κατεσθίων τε σέ.
But I will not cease doing good to my own soul—by devouring you.
§342ξένιά τε λήψῃ τοιάδ’, ὡς ἄμεμπτος ὦ, §343πῦρ καὶ πατρῷον τόνδε λέβητά γ’, ὃς ζέσας §344σὴν σάρκα διαφόρητον ἀμφέξει καλῶς.
And you shall receive such guest-gifts, so that I may be blameless: fire, and this cauldron of my father, which, boiling, will wrap your carved-up flesh nicely.
But creep inside, to the god of the cave, so that, standing around the altar, you may feast me.
§347αἰαῖ, πόνους μὲν Τρωικοὺς ὑπεξέδυν §348θαλασσίους τε, νῦν δ’ ἐς ἀνδρὸς ἀνοσίου §349γνώμην κατέσχον ἀλίμενόν τε καρδίαν.
ODYSSEUS: O, I escaped the Trojan labors and those of the sea, but now I have run into the mind of an impious man and his harborless heart.
O Pallas, O mistress, Zeus-born goddess, now, now help!
κρείσσονας γὰρ Ἰλίου §352πόνους ἀφῖγμαι κἀπὶ κινδύνου βάθρα.
For I have come to troubles greater than Troy, and to the very depths of danger.