§2.24συλλαβόντες οὖν τοὺς νενικημένους καὶ δήσαντες ἀπέπεμψαν ἔτι μᾶλλον κολασθησομένους.
Therefore, having captured and bound the defeated, they sent them back to be punished even more.
ἔγραψεν δὲ καὶ ταύτην τὴν μάχην Ὅμηρος καὶ ἀπιόντι μοι ἔδωκεν τὰ βιβλία κομίζειν τοῖς παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀνθρώποις· ἀλλʼ ὕστερον καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπωλέσαμεν.
Homer wrote about this battle too, and as I was departing, he gave me the books to bring to the people in our world; but later we lost these too along with the rest.
ἦν δὲ ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ ποιήματος αὕτη,
"Νῦν δέ μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, μάχην νεκύων ἡρώων. "
τότε δʼ οὖν κυάμους ἑψήσαντες, ὥσπερ παρʼ αὐτοῖς νόμος ἐπειδὰν τὸν πόλεμον κατορθώσωσιν, εἱστιῶντο τὰ ἐπινίκια καὶ ἑορτὴν μεγάλην ἦγον· μόνος δὲ αὐτῆς οὐ μετεῖχε Πυθαγόρας, ἀλλʼ ἄσιτος πόρρω ἐκαθέζετο μυσαττόμενος τὴν κυαμοφαγίαν.
And the beginning of the poem was this: "Now sing to me, Muse, of the battle of the dead heroes." Then indeed, having boiled beans, as is their custom when they succeed in war, they celebrated their victory with a feast and held a great festival; Pythagoras alone did not partake in it, but sat far off without food, loathing the eating of beans.
§2.25ἤδη δὲ μηνῶν ἓξ διεληλυθότων περὶ μεσοῦντα τὸν ἕβδομον νεώτερα συνίστατο πράγματα· κινύρας ὁ τοῦ Σκινθάρου παῖς, μέγας ὢν καὶ καλός, ἤρα πολὺν ἤδη χρόνον τῆς Ἑλένης, καὶ αὕτη δὲ οὐκ ἀφανὴς ἦν ἐπιμανῶς ἀγαπῶσα τὸν νεανίσκον· πολλάκις γοῦν καὶ διένευον ἀλλήλοις ἐν τῷ συμποσίῳ καὶ προὔπινον καὶ μόνοι ἐξανιστάμενοι ἐπλανῶντο περὶ τὴν ὕλην.
Now when six months had already passed, around the middle of the seventh, a new situation arose; Cinyras, the son of Scintharus, being large and handsome, had already for a long time been in love with Helen, and she too was clearly madly in love with the youth; at any rate, they often nodded to one another at the banquet and drank to each other, and rising up alone, they would wander about the woods.
καὶ δή ποτὲ ὑπʼ ἔρωτος καὶ ἀμηχανίας ἐβουλεύσατο ὁ Κινύρας ἁρπάσας τὴν Ἑλένην — ἐδόκει δὲ κἀκείνῃ ταῦτα — οἴχεσθαι ἀπιόντας ἔς τινα τῶν ἐπικειμένων νήσων, ἤτοι ἐς τὴν Φελλὼ ἢ ἐς τὴν Τυρόεσσαν.
And indeed, once, driven by love and helplessness, Cinyras resolved to seize Helen—and she also approved of this—and depart, going off to one of the adjacent islands, either to Phello or to Tyroessa.
συνωμότας δὲ πάλαι προσειλήφεσαν τρεῖς τῶν ἑταίρων τῶν ἐμῶν τοὺς θρασυτάτους.
And they had long since taken as accomplices three of my companions, the boldest ones.
τῷ μέντοι πατρὶ οὐκ ἐμήνυσε ταῦτα· ἠπίστατο γὰρ ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ κωλυθησόμενος.
However, he did not disclose this to his father; for he understood that he would be prevented by him.
ὡς δὲ ἐδόκει αὐτοῖς, ἐτέλουν τὴν ἐπιβουλήν.
And as they decided, they carried out the plot.
καὶ ἐπειδὴ νὺξ ἐγένετο — ἐγὼ μὲν οὐ παρῆν· ἐτύγχανον γὰρ ἐν τῷ συμποσίῳ κοιμώμενος — οἱ δὲ λαθόντες τοὺς ἄλλους ἀναλαβόντες τὴν Ἑλένην ὑπὸ σπουδῆς ἀνήχθησαν.
And when night came—I indeed was not present, for I happened to be sleeping at the banquet—they, escaping the notice of the others, took Helen and put out to sea in haste.
§2.26περὶ δὲ τὸ μεσονύκτιον ἀνεγρόμενος ὁ Μενέλαος ἐπεὶ ἔμαθεν τὴν εὐνὴν κενὴν τῆς γυναικός, βοήν τε ἵστη καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν παραλαβὼν ἦλθε πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα τὸν Ῥαδάμανθυν.
And around midnight, Menelaus, having woken up, when he learned that his wife's bed was empty, raised a shout, and taking his brother with him, went to the king Rhadamanthys.
ἡμέρας δὲ ὑποφαινούσης ἔλεγον οἱ σκοποὶ καθορᾶν τὴν ναῦν πολὺ ἀπέχουσαν· οὕτω δὴ ἐμβιβάσας ὁ Ῥαδάμανθυς πεντήκοντα τῶν ἡρώων εἰς ναῦν μονόξυλον ἀσφοδελίνην παρήγγειλεν διώκειν· οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ προθυμίας ἐλαύνοντες περὶ μεσημβρίαν καταλαμβάνουσιν αὐτοὺς ἄρτι ἐς τὸν γαλακτώδη τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ τόπον ἐμβαίνοντας πλησίον τῆς Τυροέσσης· παρὰ τοσοῦτον ἦλθον διαδρᾶναι· καὶ ἀναδησάμενοι τὴν ναῦν ἁλύσει ῥοδίνῃ κατέπλεον.
And as day was dawning, the lookouts said they saw the ship far off; so indeed Rhadamanthys, having embarked fifty of the heroes in a single-logged ship made of asphodel, ordered them to pursue; and they, rowing eagerly, overtook them around noon just as they were entering the milky region of the ocean near Tyroessa; they had come within that much of escaping; and having bound the ship with a chain of roses, they sailed back.
ἡ μὲν οὖν Ἑλένη ἐδάκρυέν τε καὶ ᾐσχύνετο κἀνεκαλύπτετο, τοὺς δὲ ἀμφὶ τὸν Κινύραν ἀνακρίνας πρότερον ὁ Ῥαδάμανθυς, εἴ τινες καὶ ἄλλοι αὐτοῖς συνίσασιν, ὡς οὐδένα εἶπον, ἐκ τῶν αἰδοίων δήσας ἀπέπεμψεν ἐς τὸν τῶν ἀσεβῶν χῶρον μαλάχῃ πρότερον μαστιγωθέντας.
Helen, on her part, was weeping and feeling ashamed and veiling herself; but Rhadamanthys, having first interrogated those around Cinyras as to whether any others were privy to their plot, when they said there was no one, bound them by their genitals and sent them away to the place of the impious, after they had first been scourged with mallow.
§2.27ἐψηφίσαντο δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐμπροθέσμως ἐκπέμπειν ἐκ τῆς νήσου, τὴν ἐπιοῦσαν ἡμέραν μόνην ἐπιμείναντας.
And they voted to send us also away from the island before our time, allowing us to remain only the following day.
ἐνταῦθα δὴ ἐγὼ ἐποτνιώμην τε καὶ ἐδάκρυον οἷα ἔμελλον ἀγαθὰ καταλιπὼν αὖθις πλανηθήσεσθαι.
There indeed I was wailing and weeping, thinking of what blessings I was about to leave behind to wander again.
αὐτοὶ μέντοι παρεμυθοῦντο λέγοντες οὐ πολλῶν ἐτῶν ἀφίξεσθαι πάλιν ὡς αὐτούς, καί μοι ἤδη εἰς τοὐπιὸν θρόνον τε καὶ κλισίαν ἐπεδείκνυσαν πλησίον τῶν ἀρίστων.
However, they comforted me, saying that in not many years I would arrive back to them, and they even showed me my future seat and couch near the best men.
ἐγὼ δὲ προσελθὼν τῷ Ῥαδαμάνθυι πολλὰ ἱκέτευον εἰπεῖν τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ ὑποδεῖξαί μοι τὸν πλοῦν.
And I, having approached Rhadamanthys, pleaded with him earnestly to tell me the future and to point out the voyage to me.
ὁ δὲ ἔφασκεν ἀφίξεσθαι μὲν εἰς τὴν πατρίδα πολλὰ πρότερον πλανηθέντα καὶ κινδυνεύσαντα, τὸν δὲ χρόνον οὐκέτι τῆς ἐπανόδου προσθεῖναι ἠθέλησεν·
And he said that I would arrive at my homeland after wandering much and facing danger beforehand, but he was no longer willing to add the time of my return.
ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ δεικνὺς τὰς πλησίον νήσους—ἐφαίνοντο δὲ πέντε τὸν ἀριθμόν, ἄλλη δὲ ἕκτη πόρρωθεν — ταύτας μὲν εἶναι ἔφασκεν τῶν ἀσεβῶν, τὰς πλησίον, Ἀφʼ ὧν, ἔφη, ἤδη τὸ πολὺ πῦρ ὁρᾷς καιόμενον, ἕκτη δὲ ἐκείνη τῶν ὀνείρων ἡ πόλις· μετὰ ταύτην δὲ ἡ τῆς Καλυψοῦς νῆσος, ἀλλʼ οὐδέπω σοι φαίνεται.
But pointing out the nearby islands—and they appeared to be five in number, with another, a sixth, far off—he said that these nearby ones belonged to the impious: "From which," he said, "you already see the great fire burning; and that sixth one is the City of Dreams; and after this, the island of Calypso, but it is not yet visible to you.
ἐπειδὰν δὲ ταύτας παραπλεύσῃς, τότε δὴ ἀφίξῃ εἰς τὴν μεγάλην ἤπειρον τὴν ἐναντίαν τῇ ὑφʼ ὑμῶν κατοικουμένῃ·
And when you sail past these, then indeed you will arrive at the great continent opposite to the one inhabited by you.
ἐνταῦθα δὴ πολλὰ παθὼν καὶ ποικίλα ἔθνη διελθὼν καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἀμίκτοις ἐπιδημήσας χρόνῳ ποτὲ ἥξεις εἰς τὴν ἑτέραν ἤπειρον.
There indeed, having suffered much and passed through various nations and stayed among hostile men, you will at some time come to the other continent."