§6.138τῷ μὲν ἔπειτʼ ὀδύσαντο θεοὶ ῥεῖα ζώοντες, §6.139καί μιν τυφλὸν ἔθηκε Κρόνου πάϊς· οὐδʼ ἄρʼ ἔτι δὴν §6.140ἦν, ἐπεὶ ἀθανάτοισιν ἀπήχθετο πᾶσι θεοῖσιν·
With him then the gods who live at ease were angry, and the son of Cronos made him blind; nor then did he long live, since he was hated by all the immortal gods.
§6.141οὐδʼ ἂν ἐγὼ μακάρεσσι θεοῖς ἐθέλοιμι μάχεσθαι.
Neither would I wish to fight with the blessed gods.
§6.142εἰ δέ τίς ἐσσι βροτῶν οἳ ἀρούρης καρπὸν ἔδουσιν, §6.143ἆσσον ἴθʼ ὥς κεν θᾶσσον ὀλέθρου πείραθʼ ἵκηαι.
But if you are one of mortal men who eat the fruit of the earth, come nearer, that you may the sooner reach the goal of destruction.
Then the glorious son of Hippolochus spoke to him in turn: “High-hearted son of Tydeus, why do you ask of my lineage?
§6.146οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν.
As is the generation of leaves, so is that of men too.
§6.147φύλλα τὰ μέν τʼ ἄνεμος χαμάδις χέει, ἄλλα δέ θʼ ὕλη §6.148τηλεθόωσα φύει, ἔαρος δʼ ἐπιγίγνεται ὥρη· §6.149ὣς ἀνδρῶν γενεὴ ἣ μὲν φύει ἣ δʼ ἀπολήγει.
The wind pours some leaves on the ground, but the forest burgeons and puts forth others, when the season of spring comes on; so the generation of men, one blossoms and another passes away.
§6.150εἰ δʼ ἐθέλεις καὶ ταῦτα δαήμεναι ὄφρʼ ἐῢ εἰδῇς §6.151ἡμετέρην γενεήν, πολλοὶ δέ μιν ἄνδρες ἴσασιν· §6.152ἔστι πόλις Ἐφύρη μυχῷ Ἄργεος ἱπποβότοιο, §6.153ἔνθα δὲ Σίσυφος ἔσκεν, ὃ κέρδιστος γένετʼ ἀνδρῶν, §6.154Σίσυφος Αἰολίδης· ὃ δʼ ἄρα Γλαῦκον τέκεθʼ υἱόν, §6.155αὐτὰρ Γλαῦκος τίκτεν ἀμύμονα Βελλεροφόντην·
But if you wish to learn of this too, so that you may well know our lineage—and many men know it— There is a city, Ephyre, in the corner of horse-pasturing Argos, and there lived Sisyphus, who was the craftiest of men, Sisyphus, son of Aeolus; and he begot a son, Glaucus, and Glaucus begot peerless Bellerophon.
§6.156τῷ δὲ θεοὶ κάλλός τε καὶ ἠνορέην ἐρατεινὴν §6.157ὤπασαν· αὐτάρ οἱ Προῖτος κακὰ μήσατο θυμῷ, §6.158ὅς ῥʼ ἐκ δήμου ἔλασσεν, ἐπεὶ πολὺ φέρτερος ἦεν, §6.159Ἀργείων· Ζεὺς γάρ οἱ ὑπὸ σκήπτρῳ ἐδάμασσε.
To him the gods gave beauty and lovely manhood; but Proetus devised evil against him in his heart, and drove him from the land of the Argives, since he was far the stronger; for Zeus had subdued them under his sceptre.
§6.160τῷ δὲ γυνὴ Προίτου ἐπεμήνατο δῖʼ Ἄντεια §6.161κρυπταδίῃ φιλότητι μιγήμεναι· ἀλλὰ τὸν οὔ τι §6.162πεῖθʼ ἀγαθὰ φρονέοντα δαΐφρονα Βελλεροφόντην.
And Proetus' wife, noble Anteia, lusted madly after him, to lie with him in secret love; but she could in no way persuade wise Bellerophon, who was of an upright mind.
§6.163ἣ δὲ ψευσαμένη Προῖτον βασιλῆα προσηύδα· §6.164τεθναίης ὦ Προῖτʼ, ἢ κάκτανε Βελλεροφόντην, §6.165ὅς μʼ ἔθελεν φιλότητι μιγήμεναι οὐκ ἐθελούσῃ. §6.166ὣς φάτο, τὸν δὲ ἄνακτα χόλος λάβεν οἷον ἄκουσε· §6.167κτεῖναι μέν ῥʼ ἀλέεινε, σεβάσσατο γὰρ τό γε θυμῷ, §6.168πέμπε δέ μιν Λυκίην δέ, πόρεν δʼ ὅ γε σήματα λυγρὰ §6.169γράψας ἐν πίνακι πτυκτῷ θυμοφθόρα πολλά, §6.170δεῖξαι δʼ ἠνώγειν ᾧ πενθερῷ ὄφρʼ ἀπόλοιτο.
So she spoke lies to king Proetus, saying: “Either die yourself, Proetus, or slay Bellerophon, who wished to lie with me in love against my will.” So she spoke, and wrath seized the king at what he heard; to slay him indeed he shrank from, for he feared that in his heart, but he sent him to Lycia, and gave him baneful tokens, scratching in a folded tablet many deadly things, and bade him show them to his father-in-law, so that he might perish.
§6.171αὐτὰρ ὁ βῆ Λυκίην δὲ θεῶν ὑπʼ ἀμύμονι πομπῇ.
So he went to Lycia under the blameless escort of the gods.
§6.172ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ Λυκίην ἷξε Ξάνθόν τε ῥέοντα, §6.173προφρονέως μιν τῖεν ἄναξ Λυκίης εὐρείης· §6.174ἐννῆμαρ ξείνισσε καὶ ἐννέα βοῦς ἱέρευσεν.
But when he came to Lycia and the flowing Xanthus, the king of wide Lycia honored him with a willing heart; for nine days he entertained him and sacrificed nine oxen.
§6.175ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ δεκάτη ἐφάνη ῥοδοδάκτυλος Ἠὼς §6.176καὶ τότε μιν ἐρέεινε καὶ ᾔτεε σῆμα ἰδέσθαι §6.177ὅττί ῥά οἱ γαμβροῖο πάρα Προίτοιο φέροιτο.
But when the tenth rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, then indeed he questioned him and asked to see the token, whatever it was that he brought from his son-in-law Proetus.
§6.178αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ δὴ σῆμα κακὸν παρεδέξατο γαμβροῦ, §6.179πρῶτον μέν ῥα Χίμαιραν ἀμαιμακέτην ἐκέλευσε §6.180πεφνέμεν· ἣ δʼ ἄρʼ ἔην θεῖον γένος οὐδʼ ἀνθρώπων, §6.181πρόσθε λέων, ὄπιθεν δὲ δράκων, μέσση δὲ χίμαιρα, §6.182δεινὸν ἀποπνείουσα πυρὸς μένος αἰθομένοιο,
But when he had received the evil token of his son-in-law, first he bade him slay the raging Chimera; she was of divine race, and not of men, in front a lion, in the rear a serpent, and in the middle a goat, breathing out dreadly the might of blazing fire.
§6.183καὶ τὴν μὲν κατέπεφνε θεῶν τεράεσσι πιθήσας.
And her he slew, trusting in the portents of the gods.
§6.184δεύτερον αὖ Σολύμοισι μαχέσσατο κυδαλίμοισι· §6.185καρτίστην δὴ τήν γε μάχην φάτο δύμεναι ἀνδρῶν.
Secondly he fought with the glorious Solymi; this indeed he said was the fiercest battle of men that he entered.
§6.186τὸ τρίτον αὖ κατέπεφνεν Ἀμαζόνας ἀντιανείρας.
Thirdly he slew the Amazons, the peers of men.
§6.187τῷ δʼ ἄρʼ ἀνερχομένῳ πυκινὸν δόλον ἄλλον ὕφαινε· §6.188κρίνας ἐκ Λυκίης εὐρείης φῶτας ἀρίστους §6.189εἷσε λόχον· τοὶ δʼ οὔ τι πάλιν οἶκον δὲ νέοντο· §6.190πάντας γὰρ κατέπεφνεν ἀμύμων Βελλεροφόντης.
And as he returned, the king wove another cunning plot against him; having chosen the best men out of wide Lycia, he set an ambush; but they returned home not at all; for peerless Bellerophon slew them all.
§6.191ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ γίγνωσκε θεοῦ γόνον ἠῢν ἐόντα §6.192αὐτοῦ μιν κατέρυκε, δίδου δʼ ὅ γε θυγατέρα ἥν, §6.193δῶκε δέ οἱ τιμῆς βασιληΐδος ἥμισυ πάσης· §6.194καὶ μέν οἱ Λύκιοι τέμενος τάμον ἔξοχον ἄλλων §6.195καλὸν φυταλιῆς καὶ ἀρούρης, ὄφρα νέμοιτο.
But when the king knew that he was the brave offspring of a god, he kept him there, and gave him his own daughter, and gave him the half of all his kingly honor; and the Lycians measured out for him an estate, pre-eminent above others, fair with orchard and arable land, that he might possess it.
And she bore three children to wise Bellerophon: Isandrus, and Hippolochus, and Laodameia.
With Laodameia lay Zeus the counsellor, and she bore godlike Sarpedon, the bronze-clad warrior.