ODYSSEY BOOK VIII
NOW when the morning was newly arisen, the roseate-fingered,
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Rose from his couch King Alcinous the revered and the mighty,
Rose too heaven-descended Odysseus, the sacker of cities.
Then did the monarch revered lead forth to the place of the galleys
Where Phaeacian elders had built their court of assembly.
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Here they arrived and on seats well-polished of marble they set them
Closely together. But thoro' the town went Pallas Athene,
Like to the herald himself of the wise Phaeacian monarch,
Planning to bring to his home once more great-hearted Odysseus.
So to them all and to each she addressed her and made proclamation:
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"Hither assemble, ye leaders and high Phaeacian chieftains!
Come to the place of the council, and there ye shall learn of the stranger
Newly arrived at the palace of Alcinous wise-hearted,
One that hath voyaged the seas and in favour is like the immortals."
Thus as she spake, in the minds of them all she excited a longing:
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Speedily filled were all of the places of council, and benches
Throng by the gathering crowds, and soon full many in wonder
Gazed at the wise-souled son of Laertes; and Pallas Athene
Wonderful beauty and grace poured forth on his head and his shoulders,
Making him larger in person to look at and greater in stature,
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So as to gain him the favour of all Phaeacian people,
Ay and their awe and respect and so as to win him the contests
Many and great wherewith Phaeacians tested Odysseus.
Now when they all had collected together and formed an assembly
Rose King Alcinous in the midst and thus he addressed them :
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"Hearken, I pray, to my words, Phaeacian leaders and chieftains,
So that I utter the things that the heart in my bosom commands me.
Lo, this stranger—I know not his name—is arrived at my palace,
Wandering come from the land of a nation of dawn or of sunset.
Escort he urgently begs us to give and to promise for certain.
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So, as was ever the wont in the past, let us grant him an escort,
Since no other of mortals that ever arrived at my palace
Here lamenting remained long time for the want of a convoy.
Come, let us drag to the vast salt ocean a black-hulled vessel
New from the stocks, and of youths let two and fifty as oarsmen
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Out of the people be chosen, who best have proved them aforetime.
Then, so soon as the men have fastened the oars to the thole-pins,
Leave ye the vessel, and come to my palace, and make preparation
There for a hasty repast; and provision for all will I offer.
Such the commands that I give to the youths; but the others, whoever
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Beareth the sceptre as chief, in the halls of my beautiful mansion
Gather together and there entertain at a banquet the stranger.
Neither let any refuse. And summon the singer, the godlike
Demodocus; for to him as to none God granted by singing
All to enrapture, whenever his spirit to singing incites him."
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These words uttered he led from the council; him followed the chieftains
Bearing their rods, and a herald departed to summon the singer.
Then were chosen the youths, and two and fifty in number
Went, as he bade, to the beach of the barren expanse of the ocean.
Now when at last they had gotten them down to the sea and the vessel,
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Firstly the black-hulled vessel they drew to the deep salt water,
Then, embarking the mast and the sails on the black-hulled vessel,
All of the oars to the tholes they attached with the lashings of leather,
Each in its place, and the white sails hoisting aloft on the yardarm
Anchored her far from the shore in the midst of the haven, and forthwith
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Went on their way to the mansion of Alcinous wise-hearted.
Filled were all of the porches and garths and the buildings, as countless
Gathered together the guests, both many a youth and an elder.
These to regale had the king of his fat sheep slaughtered a dozen,
Eight of his white-tusked swine, and a yoke of his slow-paced cattle;
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These they had flayed and prepared and had furnished a beautiful banquet.
Now did the herald approach conducting the sweet-voiced minstrel.
Loved by the Muse was the bard; but she gave him of good and of evil:
Reft was the light of his eyes, but with sweetest song he was dowered.
Forthwith Pontonous set a chair bright-studded with silver
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Midst of the feasters, and close to a high roof-pillar he placed it.
Then from a peg down-hanging the clear-toned lute he suspended
Over his head, and he showed him to reach with the hand and to grasp it.
Thus did the henchman, and bringing a basket and beautiful table
Gave him of wine in a goblet to drink when his spirit enjoined him.
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Then did they stretch forth hands to the food that was lying before them,
Till, when at last they had lost all longing for meat and the wine-cup,
Stirred by the Muse was the singer to sing of the glories of heroes,
Sing of the theme whose fame to the infinite heaven was reaching,
Even the strife of Odysseus and great Pelean Achilles, —
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How at a beautiful feast of the gods contending in anger
Words outrageous they spake ; and the warrior-king Agamemnon
Joyed in his spirit, beholding the best of the Greeks in contention.
This had the answer of Phoebus Apollo in beautiful Pytho
Tell him, when passing the threshold of stone he had entered the temple
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Seeking the rede of the god; for beginning to roll was disaster
Over the Trojans and Greeks by the counsels of Zeus the Almighty.
Such was the lay that he sang, that singer renowned; but Odysseus,
Grasping with stalwart hand at the folds of his mantle of purple,
Over his head down drew it, till all of his face he had covered,
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Loth that the men might mark tears falling from under his eyebrows.
Yea and as oft as the godlike singer had ceased from his singing,
Drying the tears and back from his head withdrawing the mantle,
Taking a two-cupped goblet he poured to the gods a libation.
Yet, when again a beginning he made for to sing they impelled him,
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All Phaeacia's nobles, so much in his lays they delighted—
Then did Odysseus, enwrapping his head once more, make moaning.
Thus did he sit there weeping, unnoted by all of the others,
All save Alcinous, who alone was aware and observed it,
Sitting anigh to his side; and hearing him heavily groaning,
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Quickly he turned to the lovers of oars, Phaeacia's princes :
"Hearken, I pray, to my words, Phaeacian leaders and chieftains.
Now in us all is the spirit content with abundance of feasting,
Ay and content with the lute, loved consort of bountiful banquets.
So let us forth from the palace and prove our prowess at contests,
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Every kind, for the stranger to tell, when he reaches his homeland,
Unto his friends, how skilful we are, all others excelling,
Either to box or to wrestle or leap, or to run in the foot-race."
These words uttered, he led from the hall, and they followed the monarch.
Then, when the clear-toned lute on the peg he had hung, did the herald,
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Grasping the hand of the singer and guiding him forth from the palace,
Lead him away by the road on the which were wending the others,
All Phaeacia's nobles, who, eager to witness the contest,
Pressed to the place of the games; and a crowd came thronging behind them,
Thousands and thousands; and youths stood forth right many and noble :
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Acroneos upstood, and Ocyalus and Elatreus,
Nauteus and Prymneus and Anchialus and Eretmeus;
Then Anabésineos and Thoön, and Ponteus and Proreus;
Amphialus, whose father was Tekton's son Polynéus;
Euryalus too, equal of Ares the Slayer of mortals,
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Naubolus' son, uprose, surpassing in form and in favour
All Phaeacia's fairest but Laodamas the unrivalled.
Last rose three of the children of Alcinous the heroic,
Laodamas, Halius, and the godlike youth Clytonéus.
These then firstly of all made trial of speed in the foot-race.
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Straight from the start all straining their utmost they raced and together
Over the plain went flying and raising behind them a dust-cloud.
Fleetest of all in the race was by far Clytonéus the peerless;
Far as the length of a furrow that mules might draw in a fallow
Darting ahead he arrived at the crowd, outstripping the others.
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Then did they test their strength in the wrestler's toilsome contest.
Here it was Euryalus that of all of the strong was the strongest.
Far to the fore of the others was Amphialus in the leaping,
While with cast of the quoit far best of them all was Elatreus.
Best at the boxing was Laodamas, brave son of the monarch.
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Now when the hearts of them all were fully content with the contests
Thus spake Laodamas and addressed them, the son of the monarch:
"Hither, my friends! Let us ask if in feats athletic the stranger
Knowledge possesseth and skill. Not feeble in frame he appeareth.
Look at the thigh and the leg and the arm from the hand to the shoulder!
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Stalwart the neck and enormous its might; nor at all doth his manhood
Lack of its prime; but his vigour is broken by many a hardship;
Neither, believe me, is aught to be found which worse than the ocean
Ruins the strength of a man, how hardy soever his body."
Forthwith Euryalus made answer and thus he addressed him:
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"Laodamas, full wise is thy word and is spoken in season.
Nay but approach him thyself and accost him and give him a challenge."
Straight, as he heard these words, did the gallant son of the monarch
Step to the fore, and standing in front of Odysseus address him:
"Come, Sir stranger, and make thou a trial thyself in a contest,
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Beest thou practised in any—and surely thou knowest of contests,
Seeing that nought for a man is a glory, as long as he liveth,
Greater than suchlike deeds with his hands or his feet to accomplish.
Nay, come, make but a trial and scatter the gloom of thy spirit.
Not much longer deferred is thy homeward return, for already
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Launched is the ship and already equipped are waiting thy shipmates."
Him then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:
"Laodamas, why thus do ye challenge me, only to mock me?
Mourning and grief are filling my mind much more than a contest,
Since right many a woe did I suffer and many a hardship;
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Yea and amidst these throngs with a craving at heart for my homeland
Now I am sitting, a suppliant still of the king and his people."
PATTEN WILSON
ODYSSEUS TAKES PART IN THE CONTESTS
Then spake Euryalus, to his face thus taunting Odysseus:
"Nay, O stranger, and truly I liken thee not to a mortal
Practised in any of all of the contests known to the nations;
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Rather to one who frequents with his well-benched vessel the harbours,
Skipper, methinks, of a folk of the sea who traffic as chapmen,
Mindful of nought but the bales and careful of nought but the cargo,
Ay and the grab and the gain. Sooth, thou wert never an athlete!"
Glaring askance at the man thus answered the wileful Odysseus:
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"Stranger, thy speech is indecent. Thou seemest an insolent mortal.
So was it ever! The gods vouchsafe not gifts that be gracious
All to the one—both beauty and wit and the skill of a speaker.
One is by nature a man of contemptible presence, but heaven
Crowneth his words with enchantment of grace; and the people that hear him
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Gaze in delight as he speaks with an easy and modest assurance
Eloquent words; him only they see midst all the assembly;
Him, as he walks in the city, they view, as it were an immortal.
Then will another in beauty resemble a god of Olympus,
Yet, for his words—no garland of gracefulness resteth upon them.
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Such is thy lot: for in beauty preeminent (comelier scarcely
Heaven itself might make thee) in mind thou art utterly futile.
See! thou stirrest my spirit to wrath in the bosom within me,
Prating indecently. No! not a churl unpractised in contests,
Such as thou sayest, am I—but, I trow, in the rank of the foremost
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Ever I stood in the days when I trusted my hands and my manhood.
Now am I holden of pain and affliction; for sorely I suffered,
Tossed on the billows of war and the grievous waves of the ocean.
Yet, e'en so, though many my woes, I will enter the contest,
Since I am stung to the heart, and my wrath is aroused by thy prating."
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Spake and arose; nor doffed he his mantle, but seized on a discus
Greater than others and thicker and weightier not by a little
Than Phaeacians use competing the one with the other.
Swinging it strongly around, from his sinewy hand he released it.
Booming it flew, while down to the ground crouched low in amazement
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All those masters of oars, those famed Phaeacian seamen,
Under the rush of the stone; and it flew far over the limits,
Speeding so swift from his hand. And the casts were marked by Athene,
Likened in outward form to a man, and she spake and addressed him:
"E'en might one that is blind such mark, O stranger, discover,
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Groping around. Not lost in the throng of the others it lieth,
Nay but afar to the fore. Canst hope this time to be victor.
Never a man of them all will be able to pass it, or reach it."
Thus did she speak, and he joyed, long-suffering godlike Odysseus,
Glad to behold in the crowd some favouring friend to applaud him.
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Then with a lightened heart to the youths Phaeacian turning :
"There now! Beat it, my lads! Soon cometh another to follow!
Even as far as the first will I hurl it, or farther, believe me,
Ay and if any will come, if his heart and his spirit incite him
Trial to make, let him come—so mightily stirred is my anger—
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Whether to box or to wrestle or race—what he will! —for I care not—
Any of all of the others!—but Laodamas be excepted!
He is my host. Is it seemly to fight with the man that befriends one?
Verily only a fool or a fellow worthless by nature
Thus would offer a challenge of strife to the friend that received him
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Here in an alien land. 'Twould sever him clean from his fortune.
All of the others can come! I will neither refuse nor disdain them.
Nay, I am fain to acquaint me with all and to prove them in public.
Nor am I utterly wanting in every manly achievement.
Well do I know as an archer a bow well-polished to handle.
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First was I ever to smite with the arrow my man in the combat,
Warring with hostile hosts—ay, even if many companions
Stood there close to my side, all aiming with shafts at the foemen.
Only Philoctetes as an archer excelled me whenever
There in the country of Troy we Achaeans contended as bowmen.
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Yea of the archers on earth I avow me as easily foremost,
All now living amidst bread-nourished races of mortals.
Only with heroes of old am I nowise willing to match me,
Neither with Heracles nor the famed Oechalian monarch.
These with the gods everlasting themselves contended as bowmen;
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Wherefore suddenly perished the prince, great Eurytus, neither
Age crept slowly upon him at home, for in anger Apollo
Killed him because he had ventured to challenge the god as an archer.
Further I hurl with a lance than another can shoot with an arrow.
Only on foot do I fear lest some Phaeacian runner
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Leave me behind, for indeed I am shamefully broken and weakened
Tossing so long on the waves; nor with food in sufficing abundance
Found was my ship; so loosened is every joint of my body."
Thus did he speak, and they all stood utterly silent and speechless,
Till King Alcinous found words to reply and addressed him :
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"Stranger, assure thee! for nothing unpleasing thou speakest amongst us,
Wishing to give fair proof of the prowess that ever attends thee,
Wroth with the fellow who here in the lists and in public before thee
Tauntingly spake, in a manner in which would speak of thy prowess
None, if he e'er was accustomed to utter a word that is seemly.
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Now come, mark what I say. It will give thee a tale to another
Warrior friend to relate, when at home in the hall of thy palace,
Sitting at supper by side of thy well-loved wife and thy children,
This our prowess thou callest to mind and the feats that on us too
Zeus hath bestowed, as he did in the days of the fathers before us.
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Neither as boxers we boast us unrivalled nor perfect as wrestlers,
Only in fleetness of foot we excel and in sailing a vessel ;
Ever is feasting a thing that delights us, and music and dancing;
Changes of raiment we love, warm baths and luxurious slumber.
Come now, all of the deftest to tread Phaeacian measures,
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Dance for us, dance! that the stranger may see and relate, when he cometh
Unto his friends, what skill we possess, all others excelling,
Both in the sailing of ships and in running and dancing and singing.
Also for Demodocus let the clear-toned lute by the herald
Quickly be fetched; it is lying, I ween, in the hall of the palace."
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Thus spake Alcinous the heroic. The herald uprising
Started to bring for the singer the hollow harp from the palace.
Then upstanding, the stewards of games—nine judges, elected
Out of the people, by whom in the lists all duly was ordered—
Levelled a space for the dance, and a fair broad ring they encircled.
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Now did the herald approach and the clear-toned lute that he carried
Give to the blind old singer, who stepp'd to the midst and around him
Boys in the bloom of their youth took stand right skilful in dancing;
So with a wonderful measure they smote on the ground, and Odysseus
Gazed at the flash and the twinkle of feet, and he marvelled in spirit.
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Then to his harp uplifting his beautiful voice did the singer
Sing of the passion of Ares for fair-crowned Queen Aphrodite,
How they as lovers at first held tryst at the house of Hephaestus
Secretly meeting; and how by his gifts he prevailed and dishonour
Brought on the bed of her lord; but as messenger hasted to tell him
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Eëlios, who had noted them meeting in tender embracement.
Then did Hephaestus, as soon as the grievous tidings had reached him,
Go to his forge, devising revenge in the depths of his bosom.
Here on the stithy he set the enormous anvil and forged him
Fetters not to be broken or loosed, to entrap and to hold them.
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Now when at last he had fashioned the toils, in his anger at Ares,
Into the chamber he entered wherein, as of old, was his bedstead.
Here to the posts of the bed, all round it, he fastened the netting;
Much of it also he fastened above it, attached to a rafter,
Fine as the web of a spider, that none could ever perceive it
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E'en of the blesséd immortals: so cunningly fine was it fashioned.
So, when at last he had fastened the toils all over the bedstead,
Then he pretended to go to the well-built city of Lemnos,
Land that was dear to his heart—far dearer than every other.
Neither was blind as a watcher the god, gold-glistering Ares.
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Seeing Hephaestus, the worker renowned, set forth on a journey,
Speedily unto the house of the far-famed god he betook him
Filled with the longing of love for the fair-crowned queen Cytherea.
Newly arrived from the home of her father, the mighty Cronion,
Resting she quietly sat; and he entering into the mansion
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Tenderly clung to her hand; then he opened his lips and addressed her :
"Come, let us go, my belovéd, and lie on the bed and enjoy us !
Nowhere nigh is Hephaestus, but started already for Lemnos,
Gone to the Sintian folk, that people of barbarous language."
Thus did he speak, and a thing right pleasant it seemed to the goddess.
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So they ascended the bed and reclined them to sleep; but the netting,
Cunningly wrought by the crafty Hephaestus, descended upon them:
Suddenly gone was the power of lifting a limb, or of moving.
Then at the last they perceived it when all too late to escape it;
Ay and already at hand was the famed deft-handed Hephaestus,
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Back from his journey returned ere reaching the island of Lemnos.
Eëlios on the watch had remained and had brought him the tidings.
Homeward straight he returned with a heart sore troubled within him;
Up to the portal he strode, and he stood; fierce anger possessed him;
Then with a terrible cry to the gods of Olympus he shouted :
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"Father Zeus and ye other immortals eternally blesséd,
Come and behold! 'Tis a matter to laugh at, but not to be suffer'd.
Lo now, me that am lame this daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite,
Ever dishonours and loveth instead man-murdering Ares,
Since he is fair to the sight and in limb he is straight; but a body
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Weakly was mine from my birth—Nor verily blame I another,
Only my parents. I would they had never begotten and borne me!
Come! ye shall see these twain now lying in loving embracement;
Here on my bed they are mounted—behold! At the sight I am maddened!
Scarce for a moment more, do I think, they are longing to lie here,
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E'en though hotly in love—nor quickly again will be longing
Thus to be bedded together. But here they are trapped and imprisoned
Till that her father repay, to the last one, every bride-gift,
All that I left in his hands as the price of the impudent baggage—
Ay, for his daughter is fair, but she knows not to bridle her passions.”
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Thus did he speak, and the gods to his brass-floor'd mansion collected:
Hither Poseidaon, Earth-girdler, hastened and Hermes,
Bringer of fortune, and hither the prince far-working Apollo,
While that behind with a womanly shame stay'd every goddess.
Soon at the porch were standing the deities, bringers of blessings.
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Then an unquenchable laughter arose mid the blesséd immortals
While they beheld the device that was wrought by the cunning Hephaestus,
Looking whereon thus whispered the one to the other beside him:
"Ill deed prospereth never; the slow oft catcheth the nimble :
Even as now by the tardy Hephaestus o'ertaken is Ares,
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Ares, the swiftest of all of the gods that inhabit Olympus,
Caught in the toils of the Limper—and compensation he oweth."
Thus conversing together they whispered, the one to the other;
Then spake lordly Apollo, the son of Cronion, to Hermes:
"Zeus-born Hermes, the herald of heaven and bringer of blessings,
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Say now, feelst thou a longing in such strong fetters imprisoned
Lying beside her in bed to embrace Aphrodite the golden?"
Him thus answered the herald of heaven, the Slayer of Argus :
"Had I but only the luck, O lord, far-darting Apollo!
E'en though triple in number the toils—yea endless—that held me;
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E'en though all of you gods stood gazing, and every goddess,
Give me to lie by her side and embrace Aphrodite the golden!"
Thus did he speak, and anew fell laughter upon the immortals,
All but Poseidaon; unsmiling he stood and entreaty
Made to Hephaestus the cunning to loosen the fetters of Ares.
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Thus then raising his voice these swift-winged words he addressed him :
"Loose him, I pray ! and I promise that whatsoever thou biddest,
All he shall pay that is held to be fair with the gods everlasting."
Him then addressing in turn gave answer the famous Craftsman :
"Nay but, Poseidaon, Earth-girdler, thou shouldst not demand it!
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Worthless is ever a pledge that is offered by one that is worthless.
How can I hold thee bound in the eyes of the blesséd immortals
Should our Ares depart and escape both fetters and forfeit?"
Him then again gave answer the King Earth-shaking Poseidon:
"Nay but, Hephaestus, if ever it hap that avoiding the forfeit
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Ares elude thee, I promise myself all dues to repay thee."
Him then addressing again gave answer the famous Craftsman :
"Truly 'tis neither becoming nor possible this to refuse thee."
These words uttered, the mighty Hephaestus unfastened the fetters.
Then did the twain, set free from the grievous constraint of the netting,
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Spring straight upward and vanish—To Thracia Ares departed,
She to the Cyprian isle, Aphrodite, the lover of laughter,
Even to Paphos for here is her shrine and her altar of incense.
Here did the Graces receive her and bathe and anoint her with unguent
Not of the earth; but it lieth as bloom on the limbs of immortals.
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Then did they clothe her in beautiful raiment, a wonder to gaze at.
Such was the story he sang, this singer renown'd, and Odysseus
Listened rejoicing in spirit, as also the rest of the hearers,
All those lovers of oars, those famed Phaeacian seamen.
Bidden was now Halius, and Laodamas, by the monarch
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Single to dance; for in dancing was no one able to match them.
These then, into the hand when a beautiful ball they had taken,
Purple in hue, by the skilful artificer Polybus fashioned,
One of them hurled it aloft to the shadowy clouds of the heaven,
Bending him back for the throw. From the ground upleaping, the other
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Easily caught it before with his feet on the earth he alighted.
Now when the trial was ended of casting the ball straight upward,
Then did they set them to dance on the earth's all-nourishing bosom,
Rapidly flinging in turn, while comrades clapping in measure
Stood in the lists, and around them arose a tumultuous uproar.
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Turning to Alcinous, then addressed him the godlike Odysseus :
"Ο King Alcinous, illustrious prince of the people,
Truly thou claimst for thy people a skill unrivalled in dancing,
Yea, for the fact is approved: as I look I am filled with amazement."
Thus as he spake, the revered and powerful monarch exulted.
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Quickly he turned to the lovers of oars, Phaeacia's nobles :
"Hearken, I pray, to my words, Phaeacian leaders and chieftains!
Truly the stranger appeareth endowed right richly with wisdom.
Come, let us find him a gift, as is meet and is due to a stranger!
Seeing that over the land are twelve illustrious princes
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Ruling as chiefs, and myself as a thirteenth wielding the sceptre,
Each might give to the stranger a robe well-washed and a doublet,
Also of precious gold be the weight of a talent collected.
Quickly together let all of the presents be brought, that the stranger
Having them safe in his hands may joyfully go to his supper.
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Thou too, Euryalus, shouldst find soft words to appease him,
Ay and a gift, for in truth was the speech that thou madest unseemly."
So did he speak, and the others assented thereto and approved it,
Each of the nobles despatching a herald to fetch him the presents;
Neither did Euryalus keep silence, but thus he addressed him :
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"O King Alcinous, illustrious prince of the people,
Lo, I perform thy behest and will make to the stranger atonement.
This is the present I offer a hanger of bronze with a handle
Silver-embossed, and around it, of new-sawn ivory fashioned,
Waveth a sheath. He will find it methinks no worthless possession."
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These words spoken, he handed the broadsword studded with silver
Unto Odysseus, and loudly with swift-winged words he addressed him :
"Hail, Sir stranger! If any at all of the words that I uttered
Pained thee, I would that the winds might carry it hence in a storm-blast,
Yea and I wish thee a speedy return to thy wife and thy homeland.
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Grant it the gods! for indeed too long thou hast suffered in exile."
Him then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:
"Hail thou also, my friend, and the gods all happiness grant thee !
Never, I hope, will it pain thee in future when missing thy hanger,
E'en this blade that thou gav'st while offering words of atonement."
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Speaking he hung to his shoulder the broadsword studded with silver.
Now was a-setting the sun, and arrived had the glorious presents;
These to the house of the king were borne by magnificent heralds;
Then by the hands of the children of Alcinous the unrivalled
Laid at the side of their mother revered was the beautiful treasure.
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Following now in the steps of the mighty and reverend monarch
All to the palace returned, and on high-raised seats they reclined them.
Then did the powerful king call Arete and address her :
"Hither, my queen—bring hither a chest right goodly—thy best one—
Placing therein for the stranger a well-washed robe and a doublet.
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Then on the hearth set boiling a cauldron for heating of water.
After a bath he shall look at the gifts all lying in order,
All of the presents bestowed by the high Phaeacian nobles;
So will he joy in the feast and in hearing the lay of the singer.
Also a thing of my own will I give—this beautiful goblet
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Solid of gold—that of me it remind him whene'er he shall use it
Pouring at home a libation to Zeus and the other immortals."
Thus did he speak, and the queen Arete ordered her maidens
Station a three-legged pot on the fire, as quickly as might be.
They on the glow of the hearth put a tripod, and water for bathing
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Poured in the kettle and brought fresh faggots and set them a-blazing.
Licked was the cauldron's belly by flames, and warmed was the water.
Meantime Arete brought forth a magnificent coffer
Out of her room for the stranger, and laid fair presents within it,
Even the raiment and gold that the chiefs Phaeacian gave him,
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Adding thereto of her treasures a beautiful mantle and doublet.
Then did she open her lips and with swift-winged words she addressed him :
"Lo now, look to the lid and a cord cast quickly around it,
Lest on the voyage perchance some robber despoil thee, if haply
Slumbering sweetly aboard of the black-hulled vessel thou liest."
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Hearing the words that she spake long-suffering godlike Odysseus
Forthwith fastened the lid and a cord cast quickly around it
Cleverly tied with a knot he had learnt of the beautiful Circe.
Scarce was it done when the house-dame entered to fetch him for bathing,
Bidding him come to the tub; and he joyed in his spirit beholding
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Warm bath-water—to such an attention all unaccustomed
Since he had come from the home of the fair-haired goddess Calypso.
(While he was there he had comfort continual, like an immortal.)
Now when Odysseus was bathed and anointed with oil of the olive,
Round him the maids cast raiment—a beautiful mantle and tunic.
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So from the bath he returned, and he came to the chiefs at their wine-cups
Even as Nausicaa in her beauty, the dower of heaven,
Stood by the post of the door of the massively builded apartment.
There as he passed her she looked at Odysseus with wondering glances ;
Then did she open her lips and with swift-winged words she addressed him :
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"Stranger, farewell—and at times, while happy and safe in thy homeland,
Think upon me—since mostly to me thou owest thy safety."
Her then in answer addressed these words deep-plotting Odysseus:
"Nausicaa, fair daughter of Alcinous great-hearted,
So may omnipotent Zeus, loud-thundering husband of Hera,
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Grant me the day of return and to come back safe to my country,
Then e'en there in my home will I offer thee prayers as a goddess
All of the days of my life—for my life thou gavest me, maiden."
These words spoken, he sank in a seat by the side of the monarch,
While that the men were serving the portions and mixing the wine-bowls.
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Then drew nearer the herald conducting the sweet-voiced singer
Demodocus, the revered, the belov'd of the people, and brought him
Midst of the feasters, and close to a high roof-pillar he set him.
Then to the herald addressed him aloud deep-plotting Odysseus,
Showing a slice he had cut from a chine (still more was remaining),
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Flesh of a white-tusked boar, with the rich fat hanging around it :
"Take, O herald, and offer this meat as a mess to the minstrel,
Demodocus. I will give him a greeting in spite of my sorrow;
Yea, for amongst all mortals that dwell on the earth is the singer
Granted a guerdon of honour and reverence, since that he learneth
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All of his song from the Muse; for she loveth the race of the poets."
Thus did he speak to the herald, who bore the repast to the hero
Demodocus. In his hands he received it rejoicing in spirit.
Now did they stretch forth hands to the food that was lying before them,
Till, when at last they had lost all longing for meat and the wine-cup,
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Calling to Demodocus thus spake deep-plotting Odysseus:
"Demodocus, far more than thy fellow-mortals I praise thee;
Surely the heavenly Muse was thy teacher, or even Apollo,
Such is thy skill to relate all duly the fates of the Grecians,
All of the feats they performed and all of the travail they suffered,
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Even as one who was present himself or had learnt from another.
Come, pray, changing thy strain now sing of the horse that was builded,
Fashioned of wood and devised by Epéus with help of Athene—
How to the citadel's height it was brought by the godlike Odysseus
Craftily, filled with the fighters who plundered the town of the Trojans.
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Shouldst thou relate it aright and tell all duly the story,
Then shall I never be weary proclaiming to every mortal
How by the favour of heaven divine is the skill of thy singing."
Moved by the words, and impelled by the god to exhibit his singing,
Thence he began how some on the well-benched vessels embarking
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Put from the shore, where flame they had hurled in the huts of encampment—
Some of the Greeks—but the others already with noble Odysseus
Sat concealed in the horse in the market-square of the Trojans;
Yea, it was Trojans themselves who aloft to the citadel hauled it.
There did it stand mid a babel of people confusedly talking,
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Sitting around; and in three was the vote of the council divided,
Either to smite and to shatter the bulk with the pitiless broad-axe,
Or to a height to uphaul it and over the precipice hurl it,
Or to permit it to stand as a gift to the gods and atonement.
Thus too ended the matter at last, as to end it was fated,
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Seeing that doomed was the city to perish as soon as her ramparts
Closed on the horse, that monster of wood, where lurked of the Argives
All of the bravest, to bring on the Trojans bloodshed and ruin.
Then did he sing of the sack of the town by the sons of Achaea,
How from the horse outpouring and leaving the lair of the ambush
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Hither and thither they scattered, the steep-built city to ravage;
Sang of Odysseus too, how unto the house of the hero
Deïphobus like Ares he went with divine Menelaus.
Here did Odysseus (so sang he) adventure a terrible conflict,
Ay and prevailed in the end by the grace of Athena the dauntless.
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Such was the story he sang, this singer renowned; and Odysseus
Melted in tears and the great drops fell on his cheeks from his eyelids.
E'en as a woman with wailings her well-loved husband embraceth
Fallen in front of the city, in front of the host of the fighters,
Warding the pitiless day from his native town and his children;
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E'en as beholding him lying before her gasping and dying
Piercingly shrieking she claspeth his body—but foemen behind her
Smiting her oft with the shafts of their spears on the back and the shoulders
Drive her away as a slave and to slavery's toils and afflictions,
Where with her withering cheeks she in pitiful misery pineth—
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So did the pitiful tears fall fast from the eyes of Odysseus.
Thus then weeping he sat and unnoted of all of the others,
All save Alcinous, who alone was aware and observed it,
Sitting anigh to his side; and hearing him heavily groaning
Quickly he turned to the lovers of oars, Phaeacia's princes :
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"Hearken, I pray, to my words, Phaeacian leaders and chieftains!
Time is for Demodocus from his clear-toned lute to refrain him,
Seeing that not to us all seems pleasing the song that he singeth.
Since our supper began and the godlike singer aroused him
Never as yet hath the stranger with pitiful grieving and groaning
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Ceased to lament. Sore sorrow, I ween, investeth his spirit.
Bid him refrain from his song. Let us all make merry together,
Whether as guest or as host—for certainly thus it is better.
Yea, it is even because we revere him as guest that we granted
Escort safe to his home and the gifts that we gave him in friendship.
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Ever indeed is a guest and a suppliant held as a brother
E'en by the mortal that only a few with his sympathy reacheth.
Therefore attempt not, stranger, to hide with a crafty invention
What I shall ask thee to tell; more seemly it were to relate it.
Tell me the name that thou bearest at home with thy mother and father,
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Ay and with others who dwell in thy town and the neighbouring country.
Never is any on earth to be found that is utterly nameless,
Whether for evil or good he is come to the land of the living;
Every child at his birth hath a name bestowed by his parents.
Tell to me also the name of thy land and thy people and city,
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Then will the vessels, prepared in their minds, know where to convey thee,
Since Phaeacian ships need never a pilot to steer them,
Neither a rudder at all, as is wont with the vessels of others.
Straightway known to the ship is her master's thought and intention;
Known to her too are the cities and fertile lands of the nations,
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All of them—thus right swiftly they traverse the gulf of the ocean
Shrouded from sight in a cloud and a darkness, and never upon them
Resteth a dread to be harmed by the storm or to perish in shipwreck.
Once howbeit it happed that I heard what my father related,
Nausithous, who was wont to assert that Poseidon was angered,
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Jealous because we afforded infallible escort to all men.
'Some day' (so did he speak) as a fine Phaeacian vessel
Over the mist-bound deep from a convoy returns shall the sea-god
Smite her to pieces and whelm with the mass of a mountain the city.'
Such was the rede of my sire ; and the god peradventure will do so,
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Or he will never perform it, as seemeth the best to his spirit.
Come now, tell me a thing that I ask thee, and clearly explain it :
Where did thy wanderings lead thee? to what strange races and regions?
Tell us to what far peoples and fair-built cities thou camest,
Whether to savages wanton and wild and despisers of justice,
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Or to the lovers of strangers with hearts that revere the immortals.
Say too, why dost thou weep and lament in thy spirit within thee,
Hearing of Trojans and Greeks and the fate of the Ilian city?
This was the work of the gods; such doom did they spin, and destruction
Bring on the men, that it aye shall remain as a song for the singer.
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Perished perchance some kinsman of thine 'neath Ilian ramparts,
Good-man true of a daughter, or father or brother by marriage,
Such as a man holds, next to his blood, as the nearest and dearest?
Was't peradventure a friend well skilled in the things that delight thee,
Comrade trusty and brave? Since nowise less than a brother
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Proveth the man who as friend is endowed with a soul of discretion."
Blind Demodokos sings of the siege of Troy (1810), by John Flaxman (English, 1755–1826). 