Odyssey 12.208-12
w filoi, ou gar pw ti kakwn adahmoneV eimen
ou men dh tode meizon epei kakon, h ote Kukloy
eilei eni sphi glajurw kraterhji bihjin
alla kai enqen emh areth, boulh te now te,
ekjugomen, kai pou twnde mnhsesqai oiw.
My friends, said I, this is not the
first time that we have been in danger, and we are in nothing like so bad a
case as when the Cyclops shut us up in his cave; nevertheless, my courage and
wise counsel saved us then, and we shall live to look back on all this as
well.
As frequently in the Aeneid, particularly in the first half of the poem, Vergil draws inspiration from the Odyssey for his work. Aeneass words of encouragement bear a strong resemblance to the pep talk given by Odysseus to his own men. The Greek text as presented here does not reproduce accurately all the diacritical marks required for Ancient Greek. Apologies to classicists. The translation presented here is that of Samuel Butler, now in public domain and available in full at the University of Oregon.