---
title: "Dialogues of the Sea-Gods · Ἐνάλιοι διάλογοι"
author: "Lucian"
translator: "Matthew Donald Macleod"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 2 of 15
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-sea-gods/2/
cite: "Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod, Dialogues of the Sea-Gods · Ἐνάλιοι διάλογοι, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-sea-gods/2/"
---

# Dialogues of the Sea-Gods · Ἐνάλιοι διάλογοι

*Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod*

Short scenes among the gods of the sea: the Cyclops, Galatea, Andromeda and the dolphin of Arion.

> Greek: ed. Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0062.tlg067, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0062.tlg067.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 2. Dialogue 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-sea-gods/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-sea-gods/2/#p-N

[¶0] 1. CYCLOPS: What terrible treatment, father, I’ve had from that foreigner, curse him! Made me drunk and blinded me, setting on me in my sleep!

> Greek: 1. ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: Ὦ πάτερ, οἷα πέπονθα ὑπὸ τοῦ καταράτου ξένου, ὃς μεθύσας ἐξετύφλωσέ με κοιμωμένῳ ἐπιχειρήσας.

[¶1] POSEIDON: Who dared to do that, Polyphemus?

> Greek: ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ: Τίς δὲ ἦν ὁ ταῦτα τολμήσας, ὦ Πολύφημε;

[¶2] CYCLOPS: At first he called himself Noman, but once he’d escaped and was out of range, he said his name was Odysseus.

> Greek: ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: Τὸ μὲν πρῶτον Οὖτιν ἑαυτὸν ἀπεκάλει, ἐπεὶ δὲ διέφυγε καὶ ἔξω ἦν βέλους, Ὀδυσσεὺς ὀνομάζεσθαι ἔφη.

[¶3] POSEIDON: I know whom you mean—the fellow from Ithaca. He was sailing back from Troy. But how did he manage it, for he’s no hero?

> Greek: ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ: Οἶδα ὃν λέγεις, τὸν Ἰθακήσιον· ἐξ Ἰλίου δ’ ἀνέπλει. ἀλλὰ πῶς ταῦτα ἔπραξεν οὐδὲ πάνυ εὐθαρσὴς ὤν;

[¶4] 2. CYCLOPS: When I got back from the pastures, I caught quite a few of them in my cave, obviously with designs on my flocks. For after I’d put the lid on my doorway—I’ve a huge rock for that—and had got my fire going with a tree I had with me from the mountain, I saw them, though they were trying to hide. I grabbed a few of them and ate them up, as was only natural, seeing that they were robbers. Then that out-and-out scoundrel, be his name Noman or Odysseus, gave me a drink which he’d drugged. It tasted and smelt nice, but was right treacherous and landed me in a heap of trouble. For the moment I’d drunk it, everything seemed to whirl round and round, and the cave itself started to turn upside down, and I began to lose my bearings, and in the end was overcome by sleep. And he, after sharpening that stake, yes, and making it red-hot in the fire, blinded me while I was asleep, and it’s thanks to him that you’ve a blind son, Poseidon.

> Greek: 2. ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: Κατέλαβον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ ἄντρῳ ἀπὸ τῆς νομῆς ἀναστρέψας πολλούς τινας, ἐπιβουλεύοντας δῆλον ὅτι τοῖς ποιμνίοις· ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἐπέθηκα τῇ θύρᾳ τὸ πῶμα—πέτρα δέ ἐστί μοι παμμεγέθης—καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἀνέκαυσα ἐναυσάμενος ὃ ἔφερον δένδρον ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους, ἐφάνησαν ἀποκρύπτειν αὑτοὺς πειρώμενοι· ἐγὼ δὲ συλλαβών τινας αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἦν, κατέφαγον λῃστάς γε ὄντας. ἐνταῦθα ὁ πανουργότατος ἐκεῖνος, εἴτε Οὖτις εἴτε Ὀδυσσεὺς ἦν, δίδωσί μοι πιεῖν φάρμακόν τι ἐγχέας, ἡδὺ μὲν καὶ εὔοσμον, ἐπιβουλότατον δὲ καὶ ταραχωδέστατον· ἅπαντα γὰρ εὐθὺς ἐδόκει μοι περιφέρεσθαι πιόντι καὶ τὸ σπήλαιον αὐτὸ ἀνεστρέφετο καὶ οὐκέτι ὅλως ἐν ἐμαυτοῦ ἤμην, τέλος δὲ εἰς ὕπνον κατεσπάσθην. ὁ δὲ ἀποξύνας τὸν μοχλὸν καὶ πυρώσας προσέτι ἐτύφλωσέ με καθεύδοντα, καὶ ἀπ' ἐκείνου τυφλός εἰμί σοι, ὦ Πόσειδον.

[¶5] 3. POSEIDON: How soundly you must have slept, my son, if you didn’t jump up while he was blinding you! But how did Odysseus escape? I’m sure he couldn’t have moved the rock from the doorway.

> Greek: 3. ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ: Ὡς βαθὺν ἐκοιμήθης, ὦ τέκνον, ὃς οὐκ ἐξέθορες μεταξὺ τυφλούμενος. ὁ δ’ οὖν Ὀδυσσεὺς πῶς διέφυγεν; οὐ γὰρ ἂν εὖ οἶδ’ ὅτι ἠδυνήθη ἀποκινῆσαι τὴν πέτραν ἀπὸ τῆς θύρας.

[¶6] CYCLOPS: No, I did that myself; I thought it’d be easier for me to catch him as he went out. I sat down by the doorway, with my hands stretched out to feel for them. It was only my sheep I let out to the pasture, and I told my ram everything he’d to do for me.

> Greek: ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: Ἀλλ' ἐγὼ ἀφεῖλον, ὡς μᾶλλον αὐτὸν λάβοιμι ἐξιόντα, καὶ καθίσας παρὰ τὴν θύραν ἐθήρων τὰς χεῖρας ἐκπετάσας, μόνα παρεὶς τὰ πρόβατα εἰς τὴν νομήν, ἐντειλάμενος τῷ κριῷ ὅσα ἐχρῆν πράττειν αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ.

[¶7] 4. POSEIDON: I see it all. They slipped out under your sheep. But you should have called in the other Cyclopes to look for him.

> Greek: 4. ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ: Μανθάνω· ὑπ' ἐκείνοις ἔλαθον ὑπεξελθόντες· σὲ δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους Κύκλωπας ἔδει ἐπιβοήσασθαι ἐπ' αὐτόν.

[¶8] CYCLOPS: So I did, father, and they came. But when they asked the name of the fellow responsible for the trick, and I said it was Noman, they thought I was out of my mind and went off home. Thus he outwitted me by that name, curse him. But what’s annoyed me most of all, is that he taunted me with my misfortune and said, “Not even your father, Poseidon himself, will be able to cure you”.

> Greek: ΚΥΚΛΩΨ: Συνεκάλεσα, ὦ πάτερ, καὶ ἧκον· ἐπεὶ δὲ ἤροντο τοῦ ἐπιβουλεύοντος τοὔνομα κἀγὼ ἔφην ὅτι Οὖτίς ἐστι, μελαγχολᾶν οἰηθέντες με ἀπιόντες ᾤχοντο. οὕτω κατεσοφίσατό με ὁ κατάρατος τῷ ὀνόματι. καὶ ὃ μάλιστα ἠνίασέ με, ὅτι καὶ ὀνειδίζων ἐμοὶ τὴν συμφοράν, Οὐδὲ ὁ πατήρ, φησίν, ὁ Ποσειδῶν ἰάσεται σε.

[¶9] POSEIDON: Cheer up, son. I’ll punish him. I’ll teach him that, though I can’t cure blindness, I do have control over the fortunes of sailors. He’s still at sea, remember.

> Greek: ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝ: Θάρρει, ὦ τέκνον· ἀμυνοῦμαι γὰρ αὐτόν, ὡς μάθῃ ὅτι, εἰ καὶ πήρωσίν μοι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἰᾶσθαι ἀδύνατον, τὰ γοῦν τῶν πλεόντων [τὸ σῴζειν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀπολλύναι] ἐπ' ἐμοί ἐστι· πλεῖ δὲ ἔτι.