Odyssey 1.68 · Book 1, lines 68–73
Poseidon and the blinded Cyclops
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ἀλλὰ Ποσειδάων γαιήοχος ἀσκελὲς αἰεὶ Κύκλωπος κεχόλωται, ὃν ὀφθαλμοῦ ἀλάωσεν, ἀντίθεον Πολύφημον, ὅου κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον πᾶσιν Κυκλώπεσσι· Θόωσα δέ μιν τέκε νύμφη, Φόρκυνος θυγάτηρ ἁλὸς ἀτρυγέτοιο μέδοντος, ἐν σπέσσι γλαφυροῖσι Ποσειδάωνι μιγεῖσα.
But Poseidon the earth-holder rages ever unrelenting for the Cyclops whose eye he blinded — godlike Polyphemus, whose might is greatest of all the Cyclopes; and the nymph Thoosa bore him, daughter of Phorcys, ruler of the barren sea, having lain with Poseidon in the hollow caves.
Word by word
The setting
Zeus names the single exception to the gods' goodwill. Odysseus's enemy is Poseidon, and the grievance is a family wound: the blinding of the sea-god's monstrous son, Polyphemus.
A note on this passage
Zeus names the exception. Every god pities Odysseus except Poseidon, and the reason is a specific family wound: Odysseus blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus, and Polyphemus is the sea-god's son by the nymph Thoosa. The genealogy is not filler — it is the motive, traced back through Phorcys to the barren sea itself.
The undercurrent is that Odysseus's cleverness is also his curse. The blinding is his most famous feat of wit, the trick that will save his men; here it returns as the root of years of suffering. The poem sets his defining gift and his defining punishment inside the same sentence.
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