A quotation from Euripides

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)]

#quote #quotes #quotation #blame #divineplan #war #quest #excuse
Sourcing / notes: https://wist.info/euripides/72363/