Silenus cannot resist obtaining the wine despite the fact that the food is not his to trade. But the Cyclops soon arrives and Silenus is quick to accuse Odysseus of stealing the food (ll. 86-275).

Odysseus has a lively debate with the Cyclops, arguing against his brutality, and in favor of morality, law, justice and hospitality, while the Cyclops argues in support of personal advantage and pleasure. The Cyclops considers the idea of social justice a fraud created by the weak as protection against the mighty; he is basically an atheist