CYCLOPS: Are you the ones who went to punish Ilium on the Scamander for the theft of the worthless Helen?

ODYSSEUS: Yes, we are the ones who endured that terrible toil.

CYCLOPS: Disgraceful expedition, to sail for the sake of one woman to the land of the Phrygians!

ODYSSEUS: It was the doing of a god: blame no mortal for it.

[ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: ἦ τῆς κακίστης οἳ μετήλθεθ᾽ ἁρπαγὰς
Ἑλένης Σκαμάνδρου γείτον᾽ Ἰλίου πόλιν.

ΟΔΥΣΣΕΥΣ: οὗτοι, πόνον τὸν δεινὸν ἐξηντληκότες.

ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: αἰσχρὸν στράτευμά γ᾽, οἵτινες μιᾶς χάριν
γυναικὸς ἐξεπλεύσατ᾽ ἐς γαῖαν Φρυγῶν.

ΟΔΥΣΣΕΥΣ: θεοῦ τὸ πρᾶγμα: μηδέν᾽ αἰτιῶ βροτῶν.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Cyclops [Κύκλωψ], l. 280ff (c. 424-23 BC) [tr. Kovacs (1994)]
    (Source)

Regarding the Trojan War, as told in Homer's Illiad.

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

POLYPHEME:Are ye the men
Who worthless Helen's ravisher pursued
To Ilion's turrets on Scamander's bank?
ULYSSES: The same: most dreadful toils have we endured.
POLYPHEME: Dishonourable warfare; in the cause
Of one vile woman, ye to Phrygia sail'd.
ULYSSES: Such was the will of Jove; on no man charge
The fault.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

CYCLOPS: What, have ye shared in the unenvied spoil
Of the false Helen, near Scamander's stream?
ULYSSES: The same, having endured a woeful toil.
CYCLOPS: Oh, basest expedition! sailed ye not
From Greece to Phrygia for one woman's sake?
ULYSSES: 'Twas the Gods' work -- no mortal was in fault.
[tr. Shelley (1824)]

CYCLOPS: Are ye the men who visited on Ilium, that bordereth on Scamander's wave, the rape of Helen, worst of women?
ODYSSEUS: We are; that was the fearful labour we endured.
CYCLOPS: A sorry expedition yours, to have sailed to the land of Phrygia for the sake of one woman.
ODYSSEUS: It was a god's doing; blame not any son of man.
[tr. Coleridge (1913)]

CYCLOPS: Oho ! then you’re the men who went in search
Of Helen, who left her husband in the lurch,
And ran away to Ilium by Scamander?
ODYSSEUS: Yes: slippery fish -- hard work to hook and land her.
CYCLOPS: Yes -- and a most disgraceful exhibition
You made of your own selves! -- an expedition
To Phrygia, for one petticoat! -- disgusting!
ODYSSEUS: Don’t blame us men: it was the Gods’ on-thrusting.
[tr. Way (1916)]


 
Added on 1-Oct-24 | Last updated 1-Oct-24
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