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548 "Therefore, sir, do you on your part affect no more concealment nor reserve in the matter about which I shall ask you; it will be more polite in you to give me a plain answer; tell me the name by which your father and mother over yonder used to call you, and by which you were known among your neighbors and fellow-citizens. There is no one, neither rich nor poor, who is absolutely without any name whatever, for people's fathers and mothers give them names as soon as they are born. Tell me also your country, nation dêmos, and city, that our ships may shape their purpose accordingly and take you there. For the Phaeacians have no pilots; their vessels have no rudders as those of other nations have, but the ships themselves understand what it is that we are thinking about and want; they know all the cities and countries in the whole world, and can traverse the sea just as well even when it is covered with mist and cloud, so that there is no danger of being wrecked or coming to any harm. Still I do remember hearing my father say that Poseidon was angry with us for being too easy-going in the matter of giving people escorts. He said that one of these days he should wreck a ship of ours as it was returning from having escorted some one, and envelop our city with a high mountain. This is what the old man used to say, but whether the god will carry out his threat or no is a matter which he will decide for himself.

572 And now, tell me and tell me true. Where have you been wandering, and in what countries have you traveled? Tell us of the peoples themselves, and of their cities - who were hostile, savage and uncivilized [not dikaios], and who, on the other hand, hospitable and endowed with a god-fearing noos. Tell us also why you are made unhappy on hearing about the return of the Argive Danaans from Troy . The gods arranged all this, and sent them their misfortunes in order that future generations might have something to sing about. Did you lose some brave kinsman of your wife's when you were before Troy ? A son-in-law or father-in-law - which are the nearest relations a man has outside his own flesh and blood? Or was it some brave and kindly-natured comrade - for a good friend is as dear to a man as his own brother?" 586

Odyssey. Homer. Samuel Butler (Translator). London. 1900 (?).

Current edition Perseus

Odyssey (English) (Homer. The Odyssey: rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Butler, Samuel, 1835-1902, translator. Revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. London: A.C. Fifield, 1900.)

Editions (1)

Ὀδύσσεια Perseus (Homer. The Odyssey, Volume 1-2. Murray, A. T. (Augustus Taber), editor. London: William Heinmann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919.) — 8.521 focus

ταῦτʼ ἄρʼ ἀοιδὸς ἄειδε περικλυτός· αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς

τήκετο, δάκρυ δʼ ἔδευεν ὑπὸ βλεφάροισι παρειάς.

ὡς δὲ γυνὴ κλαίῃσι φίλον πόσιν ἀμφιπεσοῦσα,

ὅς τε ἑῆς πρόσθεν πόλιος λαῶν τε πέσῃσιν,

ἄστεϊ καὶ τεκέεσσιν ἀμύνων νηλεὲς ἦμαρ·

525

ἡ μὲν τὸν θνήσκοντα καὶ ἀσπαίροντα ἰδοῦσα

ἀμφʼ αὐτῷ χυμένη λίγα κωκύει· οἱ δέ τʼ ὄπισθε

κόπτοντες δούρεσσι μετάφρενον ἠδὲ καὶ ὤμους

εἴρερον εἰσανάγουσι, πόνον τʼ ἐχέμεν καὶ ὀιζύν·

τῆς δʼ ἐλεεινοτάτῳ ἄχεϊ φθινύθουσι παρειαί·

530

ὣς Ὀδυσεὺς ἐλεεινὸν ὑπʼ ὀφρύσι δάκρυον εἶβεν.

ἔνθʼ ἄλλους μὲν πάντας ἐλάνθανε δάκρυα λείβων,

Ἀλκίνοος δέ μιν οἶος ἐπεφράσατʼ ἠδʼ ἐνόησεν,

ἥμενος ἄγχʼ αὐτοῦ, βαρὺ δὲ στενάχοντος ἄκουσεν.

αἶψα δὲ Φαιήκεσσι φιληρέτμοισι μετηύδα·

535

κέκλυτε, Φαιήκων ἡγήτορες ἠδὲ μέδοντες,

Δημόδοκος δʼ ἤδη σχεθέτω φόρμιγγα λίγειαν·

οὐ γάρ πως πάντεσσι χαριζόμενος τάδʼ ἀείδει.

ἐξ οὗ δορπέομέν τε καὶ ὤρορε θεῖος ἀοιδός,

ἐκ τοῦ δʼ οὔ πω παύσατʼ ὀιζυροῖο γόοιο

540

ὁ ξεῖνος· μάλα πού μιν ἄχος φρένας ἀμφιβέβηκεν.

ἀλλʼ ἄγʼ ὁ μὲν σχεθέτω, ἵνʼ ὁμῶς τερπώμεθα πάντες,

ξεινοδόκοι καὶ ξεῖνος, ἐπεὶ πολὺ κάλλιον οὕτως·

εἵνεκα γὰρ ξείνοιο τάδʼ αἰδοίοιο τέτυκται,

πομπὴ καὶ φίλα δῶρα, τά οἱ δίδομεν φιλέοντες.

545

ἀντὶ κασιγνήτου ξεῖνός θʼ ἱκέτης τε τέτυκται

ἀνέρι, ὅς τʼ ὀλίγον περ ἐπιψαύῃ πραπίδεσσι.

τῷ νῦν μηδὲ σὺ κεῦθε νοήμασι κερδαλέοισιν

ὅττι κέ σʼ εἴρωμαι· φάσθαι δέ σε κάλλιόν ἐστιν.

550

εἴπʼ ὄνομʼ ὅττι σε κεῖθι κάλεον μήτηρ τε πατήρ τε

550

ἄλλοι θʼ οἳ κατὰ ἄστυ καὶ οἳ περιναιετάουσιν.

οὐ μὲν γάρ τις πάμπαν ἀνώνυμός ἐστʼ ἀνθρώπων,

οὐ κακὸς οὐδὲ μὲν ἐσθλός, ἐπὴν τὰ πρῶτα γένηται,

ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τίθενται, ἐπεί κε τέκωσι, τοκῆες.

εἰπὲ δέ μοι γαῖάν τε· τεὴν δῆμόν τε πόλιν τε,

555

ὄφρα σε τῇ πέμπωσι τιτυσκόμεναι φρεσὶ νῆες·

οὐ γὰρ Φαιήκεσσι κυβερνητῆρες ἔασιν,

οὐδέ τι πηδάλιʼ ἔστι, τά τʼ ἄλλαι νῆες ἔχουσιν·

ἀλλʼ αὐταὶ ἴσασι νοήματα καὶ φρένας ἀνδρῶν,

καὶ πάντων ἴσασι πόλιας καὶ πίονας ἀγροὺς

560

ἀνθρώπων, καὶ λαῖτμα τάχισθʼ ἁλὸς ἐκπερόωσιν

ἠέρι καὶ νεφέλῃ κεκαλυμμέναι· οὐδέ ποτέ σφιν

οὔτε τι πημανθῆναι ἔπι δέος οὔτʼ ἀπολέσθαι.

ἀλλὰ τόδʼ ὥς ποτε πατρὸς ἐγὼν εἰπόντος ἄκουσα

Ναυσιθόου, ὃς ἔφασκε Ποσειδάωνʼ ἀγάσασθαι

565

ἡμῖν, οὕνεκα πομποὶ ἀπήμονές εἰμεν ἁπάντων.

φῆ ποτὲ Φαιήκων ἀνδρῶν ἐυεργέα νῆα

ἐκ πομπῆς ἀνιοῦσαν ἐν ἠεροειδέι πόντῳ

ῥαισέμεναι, μέγα δʼ ἧμιν ὄρος πόλει ἀμφικαλύψειν.

ὣς ἀγόρευʼ ὁ γέρων· τὰ δέ κεν θεὸς ἢ τελέσειεν

570

ἤ κʼ ἀτέλεστʼ εἴη, ὥς οἱ φίλον ἔπλετο θυμῷ·

ἀλλʼ ἄγε μοι τόδε εἰπὲ καὶ ἀτρεκέως κατάλεξον,

ὅππῃ ἀπεπλάγχθης τε καὶ ἅς τινας ἵκεο χώρας

ἀνθρώπων, αὐτούς τε πόλιάς τʼ ἐὺ ναιετοώσας,

ἠμὲν ὅσοι χαλεποί τε καὶ ἄγριοι οὐδὲ δίκαιοι,

575

οἵ τε φιλόξεινοι, καί σφιν νόος ἐστὶ θεουδής.

εἰπὲ δʼ ὅ τι κλαίεις καὶ ὀδύρεαι ἔνδοθι θυμῷ

Ἀργείων Δαναῶν ἠδʼ Ἰλίου οἶτον ἀκούων.

τὸν δὲ θεοὶ μὲν τεῦξαν, ἐπεκλώσαντο δʼ ὄλεθρον

ἀνθρώποις, ἵνα ᾖσι καὶ ἐσσομένοισιν ἀοιδή.

580

ἦ τίς τοι καὶ πηὸς ἀπέφθιτο Ἰλιόθι πρὸ

ἐσθλὸς ἐών, γαμβρὸς ἢ πενθερός, οἵ τε μάλιστα

κήδιστοι τελέθουσι μεθʼ αἷμά τε καὶ γένος αὐτῶν;

ἦ τίς που καὶ ἑταῖρος ἀνὴρ κεχαρισμένα εἰδώς,

ἐσθλός; ἐπεὶ οὐ μέν τι κασιγνήτοιο χερείων

585

γίγνεται, ὅς κεν ἑταῖρος ἐὼν πεπνυμένα εἰδῇ.

Translations (8)

Odyssey Perseus (Homer. The Odyssey, Volume 1-2. Murray, A. T. (Augustus Taber), translator. London: William Heinmann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1919.) — 8.550 focus

550 Tell me the name by which they were wont to call thee in thy home, even thy mother and thy father and other folk besides, thy townsmen and the dwellers round about. For there is no one of all mankind who is nameless, be he base man or noble, when once he has been born, but parents bestow names on all when they give them birth. 555 And tell me thy country, thy people, and thy city, that our ships may convey thee thither, discerning the course by their wits. For the Phaeacians have no pilots, nor steering-oars such as other ships have, but their ships of themselves understand the thoughts and minds of men, 560 and they know the cities and rich fields of all peoples, and most swiftly do they cross over the gulf of the sea, hidden in mist and cloud, nor ever have they fear of harm or ruin. Yet this story I once heard thus told by my father 565 Nausithous, who was wont to say that Poseidon was wroth with us because we give safe convoy to all men. He said that someday, as a well-built ship of the Phaeacians was returning from a convoy over the misty deep, Poseidon would smite her and would fling a great mountain about our city.¹ 570 So that old man spoke, and these things the god will haply bring to pass, or will leave unfulfilled, as may be his good pleasure. But come, now, tell me this and declare it truly: whither thou hast wandered and to what countries of men thou hast come; tell me of the people and of their well-built cities, 575 both of those who are cruel and wild and unjust, and of those who love strangers and fear the gods in their thoughts. And tell me why thou dost weep and wail in spirit as thou hearest the doom of the Argive Danaans and of Ilios . This the gods wrought, and spun the skein of ruin 580 for men, that there might be a song for those yet to be born. Did some kinsman of thine fall before Ilios , some good, true man, thy daughter's husband or thy wife's father, such as are nearest to one after one's own kin and blood? Or was it haply some comrade dear to thy heart, 585 some good, true man? For no whit worse than a brother is a comrade who has an understanding heart.”

English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Butler, rev. Nagy et al., 2020)) — 8.550 focus

Therefore, sir, do you on your part affect no more concealment nor reserve in the matter about which I shall ask you; it will be more polite in you to give me a plain answer; [550] tell me the name by which your father and mother over yonder used to call you, and by which you were known among your neighbors and fellow-townspeople. There is no one, neither rich nor poor, who is absolutely without any name whatever, for people’s fathers and mothers give them names as soon as they are born. [555] Tell me also your country, district [ dēmos], and city, that our ships may shape their purpose accordingly and take you there. For the Phaeacians have no pilots; their vessels have no rudders as those of other nations have, but the ships themselves understand what it is that we are thinking about and want; [560] they know all the cities and countries in the whole world, and can traverse the sea just as well even when it is covered with mist and cloud, so that there is no danger of being wrecked or coming to any harm. Still I do remember hearing my father say [565] that Poseidon was angry with us for being too easy-going in the matter of giving people escorts. He said that one of these days he should wreck a ship of ours as it was returning from having escorted some one, and bury our city under a high mountain. [570] That is what the old man said. And the god [Poseidon] could either bring these things to fulfillment 571 or they could be left unfulfilled, however it was pleasing to his heart.

And now, tell me and tell me true. Where have you been wandering, and in what countries have you traveled? Tell us of the peoples themselves, [575] and of their cities—who were hostile, savage and uncivilized [non- dikaios], and who, on the other hand, hospitable and endowed with a god-fearing mind [ noos]. 577 Tell us why you are weeping and lamenting in your heart [ thūmos] 578 when you hear the fate of the Argive Danaans [= Achaeans] or the fate of Troy. 579 The gods arranged all this, and they wove the fate of doom [580] for mortals, so that future generations might have something to sing about. 581 Did you lose some kinsman of your wife’s when you were at Troy? 582Some such noble person? Or a son-in-law or father-in-law? Such people are most certainly 583 the nearest relations a man has outside his own flesh and blood. 584 Or was it perhaps a comrade [ hetairos] who was well aware of the things that were most pleasing to you? [585] Some such noble person? For not any less prized than your own brother 586 is a comrade [ hetairos] who is well aware of things you think about.”

Rhapsody 9

English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cullen Bryant, 1873)) — 8.550 focus

Declare thy land,

Thy people, and thy city, that our ships

680

May learn, and bear thee to the place; for here

In our Phæacian ships no pilots are,

Nor rudders, as in ships of other lands.

Ours know the thoughts and the intents of men.

To them all cities and all fertile coasts

685

Inhabited by men are known; they cross

The great sea scudding fast, involved in mist

And darkness, with no fear of perishing

Or meeting harm. I heard Nausithoüs,

My father, say that Neptune was displeased

690

With us for safely bearing to their homes

So many men, and that he would destroy

In after time some good Phæacian ship,

Returning from a convoy, in the waves

Of the dark sea, and leave her planted there,

695

A mountain huge and high, before our town.

So did the aged chieftain prophesy;

The god, as best may please him, will fulfil

My father's words, or leave them unfulfilled.

Now tell me truly whither thou hast roamed,

700

And what the tribes of men that thou hast seen;

Tell which of them are savage, rude, unjust,

And which are hospitable and revere

The blessed gods. Declare why thou didst weep

And sigh when hearing what unhappy fate

705

Befell the Argive and Achaian host

And town of Troy. The gods decreed it; they

Ordain destruction to the sons of men,

A theme of song thereafter. Hadst thou not

Some valiant kinsman who was slain at Troy?

710

A son-in-law? the father of thy wife?

Nearest of all are they to us, save those

Of our own blood. Or haply might it be

Some bosom-friend, one eminently graced

With all that wins our love; for not less dear

715

Than if he were a brother should we hold

The wise and gentle man who is our friend."

BOOK IX.

English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Alexander Pope, 1726, ed. Watson, 1858)) — 8.550 focus

Say what thy birth, and what the name you bore,

Impos'd by parents in the natal hour?
600

(For from the natal hour distinctive names,

One common right, the great and lowly claims :)

Say from what city, from what regions toss'd,

And what inhabitants those regions boast?

So shalt thou instant reach the realm assign'd,
605

In wondrous ships, self-mov'd, instinct with mind;

No helm secures their course, no pilot guides;

Like man intelligent, they plough the tides,

Conscious of every coast, and every bay,

That lies beneath the sun's all-seeing ray;
610

Though clouds and darkness veil th' encumber'd sky,

Fearless thro' darkness and thro' clouds they fly;

Though tempests rage, though rolls the swelling main,

The seas may roll, the tempest rage in vain;

Ev'n the stern god that o'er the waves presides,
615

Safe as they pass, and safe repass the tides,

With fury burns; while careless they convey

Promiscuous every guest to every bay.

These ears have heard my royal sire disclose

A dreadful story, big with future woes;
620

How Neptune raged, and how, by his command,

Firm rooted in the surge a ship should stand

A monument of wrath; how mound on mound

Should bury these proud towers beneath the ground.

But this the gods may frustrate or fulfil,
625

As suits the purpose of th' eternal will.

But say through what waste regions hast thou stray'd,

What customs noted, and what coasts survey'd:

Possess'd by wild barbarians fierce in arms,

Or men whose bosom tender pity warms?
630

Say why the fate of Troy awaked thy cares,

Why heav'd thy bosom, and why flow'd thy tears?

Just are the ways of Heaven: from Heaven proceed

The woes of man; Heaven doom'd the Greeks to bleed,

A theme of future song! Say, then, if slain
635

Some dear-lov'd brother press'd the Phrygian plain?

Or bled some friend, who bore a brother's part,

And claim'd by merit, not by blood, the heart?"

BOOK IX.¹

THE ADVENTURES OF THE CICONS, LOTOPHAGI, AND CYCLOPS.

Ulysses begins the relations of his adventures; how, after the destruction of Troy, he with his companions made an incursion on the Cicons, by whom they were repulsed; and meeting with a storm, were driven to the coast of the Lotophagi. From thence they sailed to the land of the Cyclops, whose manners and situation are particularly characterized. The giant Polyphemus and his cave described; the usage Ulysses and his companions met with there; and lastly, the method and artifice by which he escaped.

Ulysses

English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Thomas Hobbes, 1667, ed. Molesworth 1843)) — 8.550 focus

Say what's the name your parents call you by?

You must no longer now keep on your mask,

Children new-born not long unnamed lie;

Tell me your land and city where it

That my good ship may know where you would be,

530

For in Phœacia no steersman is,

Nor rudder as in other ships you see;

Whither men bid them go they understand,

And pass in clouds concealed o'er the main,

And where the havens be in every land.

535

No fear they have of perishing or pain,

And yet my father to me once did say,

That with our convoys Neptune was offended,

And that one day our good ship to destoy

As it returned homewards he intended,

540

And from men hide our city with a hill.

But whether that shall be performed now,

I cannot tell. It lies in Neptune's will,

And not concerneth you at all to know.

But tell me now what lands you wand'ring saw,

545

What nations, and what cities you came to;

What kind of people, civil, or without law;

Civil or kind to strangers, godly or no.

When you heard sung the woful fate of Troy,

Why did you weep ? The Gods that built the town

550

Decreed thereat much people to destroy,

And that their fate should be sung up and down.

Lost you some kinsmen there or near ally,

Which might in time of danger you bestead ?

Or some good friend ? A wise friend standing by

555

Is worth a kinsman in a time of need.

ODYSSEY.

LIB. IX.

Ulysses relates, first, what befell him amongst the Cicones at Ismarus. Secondly, amongst the Lotophagi. Thirdly, how he was used by the Cyclops Polyphemus.

English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (George Chapman, 1667, ed. Hooper 1857)) — 8.550 focus

Nor cloak you longer with your curious wit,

Loved guest, what ever we shall ask of it.

760

It now stands on your honest state to tell,

And therefore give your name, nor more conceal

What of your parents, and the town that bears

Name of your native, or of foreigners

That near us border, you are call'd in fame.

765

There's no man living walks without a name,

Noble nor base, but had one from his birth

Imposed as fit as to be borne. What earth,

People, and city, own you, give to know.

Tell but our ships all, that your way must show.

770

For our ships know th' expressed minds of men,

And will so most intentively retain

Their scopes appointed, that they never err,

And yet use never any man to steer,

Nor any rudders have, as others need.

775

They know men's thoughts, and whither tends their speed,

And there will set them; for you cannot name

A city to them, nor fat soil, that Fame

Hath any notice given, but well they know,

And will fly to them, though they ebb and flow

780

In blackest clouds and nights; and never bear

Of any wrack or rock the slend'rest fear.

But this I heard my sire Nausithous say

Long since, that Neptune, seeing us convey

So safely passengers of all degrees,

785

Was angry with us; and upon our seas

A well-built ship we had, near harbour come

From safe deduction of some stranger home,

Made in his flitting billows stick stone still;

And dimm'd our city, like a mighty hill

790

With shade cast round about it. This report,

The old king made; in which miraculous sort,

If God had done such things, or left undone,

At his good pleasure be it. But now, on,

And truth relate us, both [from] whence you err'd,

795

And to what clime of men would be transferr'd,

With all their fair towns, be they as they are,

If rude, unjust, and all irregular,

Or hospitable, bearing minds that please

The mighty Deity. Which one of these

800

You would be set at, say, and you are there.

And therefore what afflicts you? Why, to hear

The fate of Greece and Ilion, mourn you so?

The Gods have done it; as to all they do

Destine destruction, that from thence may rise

805

A poem to instruct posterities.

Fell any kinsman before Ilion?

Some worthy sire-in-law, or like-near son,

Whom next our own blood and self-race we love?

Or any friend perhaps, in whom did move

810

A knowing soul, and no unpleasing thing?

Since such a good one is no underling

To any brother; for, what fits true friends,

True wisdom is, that blood and birth transcends."

²³

THE NINTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEYS.

THE ARGUMENT.

ULYSSES here is first made known;

Who tells the stern contention

His powers did 'gainst the Cicons try;

And thence to the Lotophagi

Extends his conquest; and from them

Assays the Cyclop Polypheme,

And, by the crafts his wits apply,

He puts him out his only eye.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT.

Ἰῶτα. The strangely fed

Lotophagi.

The Cicons fled.

The Cyclop's eye.

English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (William Cowper, 1791, ed. Southey)) — 8.550 focus

Than smother'd close; who art thou? speak thy name,

The name by which thy father, mother, friends

And fellow-citizens, with all who dwell

675

Around thy native city, in times past

Have known thee; for of all things human none

Lives altogether nameless, whether good

Or whether bad, but every man receives

Even in the moment of his birth, a name.

680

Thy country, people, city, tell; the mark

At which my ships, intelligent, shall aim,

That they may bear thee thither; for our ships

No pilot need or helm, as ships are wont,

But know, themselves, our purpose; know beside

685

All cities, and all fruitful regions well

Of all the earth, and with dark clouds involved

Plough rapid the rough Deep, fearless of harm,

(Whate'er betide) and of disastrous wreck.

Yet thus, long since, my father I have heard

690

Nausithoüs speaking; Neptune, he would say,

Is angry with us, for that safe we bear

Strangers of every nation to their home;

And he foretold a time when he would smite

In vengeance some Phæacian gallant bark

695

Returning after convoy of her charge,

And fix her in the sable flood, transform'd

Into a mountain, right before the town.

So spake my hoary Sire, which let the God

At his own pleasure do, or leave undone.

700

But tell me truth, and plainly. Where have been

Thy wanderings? in what regions of the earth

Hast thou arrived? what nations hast thou seen,

What cities? say, how many hast thou found

Harsh, savage and unjust? how many, kind

705

To strangers, and disposed to fear the Gods?

Say also, from what secret grief of heart

Thy sorrows flow, oft as thou hear'st the fate

Of the Achaians, or of Ilium sung?

That fate the Gods prepared; they spin the thread

710

Of man's destruction, that in after days

The bard may make the sad event his theme.

Perish'd thy father or thy brother there?

Or hast thou at the siege of Ilium lost

Father-in-law, or son-in-law? for such

715

Are next and dearest to us after those

Who share our own descent; or was the dead

Thy bosom-friend, whose heart was as thy own?

For worthy as a brother of our love

The constant friend and the discrete I deem.

720

THE NINTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEYS.

ARGUMENT OF THE NINTH BOOK.

Ulysses discovers himself to the Phæacians, and begins the

history of his adventures. He destroys Ismarus, city of the

Ciconians; arrives among the Lotophagi; and afterwards at

the land of the Cyclops. He is imprisoned by Polypheme

in his cave, who devours six of his companions; intoxicates

the monster with wine, blinds him while he sleeps, and

escapes from him.

THE ODYSSEY.
BOOK IX.

English (H. B. Cotterill, 1911) (OCR draft) Experimental (English (H. B. Cotterill, 1911)) — 8 focus

ODYSSEY BOOK VIII

NOW when the morning was newly arisen, the roseate-fingered,

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.

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:

"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:

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,

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 :

"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.

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

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

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."

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,

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

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;

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

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.

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, —

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

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,

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,

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,

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."

445

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

450

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.

455

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 :

460

"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,

465

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.

470

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),

475

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

480

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,

485

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,

490

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.

495

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

500

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,

505

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,

510

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

515

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.

520

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;

525

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—

530

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 :

535

"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

540

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.

545

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,

550

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,

555

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,

560

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,

565

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,

570

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,

575

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.

580

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

585

Proveth the man who as friend is endowed with a soul of discretion."

New Alexandria Commentaries

Douglas Frame

reference to special pride of the Phaeacians as escorts, same lines appear in Od. VIII.174

source

reference to connection between description of the Phaeacian of ships and nóos and néomai

source

Gregory Nagy

Odysseus encounters the blind singer Demodokos, who performs three songs that reveal hidden truths about the hero of the Odyssey.

draft js image error Blind Demodokos sings of the siege of Troy (1810), by John Flaxman (English, 1755–1826). Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Alkinoos prepares a feast for Odysseus, who has not yet identified himself. This feast becomes a mythologized replica of a festival that puts on display a dazzling variety of old poetic traditions, soon to be replaced by the new poetry of the Odyssey.

source

See the comment on O.13.175–177, where the lines are quoted and translated.

source

the convention of the Dios boulē as at I.01.005 treated as a foil in this verse

source

At O.08.581–583, Alkinoos asks the unrecognized Odysseus: does the singing of Demodokos about the Trojan War make you sad because you lost a relative in that war? Then, he asks an alternative question at O.08.584–586: or did you lose a hetairos ‘companion’ in the Trojan War? Well, Odysseus did in fact lose many companions, but the greatest of them all was Achilles. Pointedly, Alkinoos refers to the sadness of Odysseus as akhos ‘grief’ at O.08.541. In Homeric poetry, this word akhos ‘grief’ conjures the name of Achilles himself, as I noted already in the comment on I.01.002.

source

Leonard Muellner

among examples of formal divergence between phrases which are functionally parallel but occur in spoken dialogue as against narrative (transformations of (A) paralleled in a secular series, of which this verse is an example)

source

Homer Odyssey 8.548

Samuel Butler (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Rhapsody 9

BOOK IX.

BOOK IX.¹

THE ADVENTURES OF THE CICONS, LOTOPHAGI, AND CYCLOPS.

Ulysses

ODYSSEY.

THE NINTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEYS.

THE ARGUMENT.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT.

THE NINTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEYS.

ARGUMENT OF THE NINTH BOOK.

THE ODYSSEY.
BOOK IX.

ODYSSEY BOOK VIII

PATTEN WILSON
ODYSSEUS TAKES PART IN THE CONTESTS

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Rhapsody 9

BOOK IX.

BOOK IX. 1

THE ADVENTURES OF THE CICONS, LOTOPHAGI, AND CYCLOPS.

Ulysses

ODYSSEY.

THE NINTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEYS.

THE ARGUMENT.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT.

THE NINTH BOOK OF HOMER'S ODYSSEYS.

ARGUMENT OF THE NINTH BOOK.

THE ODYSSEY. BOOK IX.

ODYSSEY BOOK VIII

PATTEN WILSON ODYSSEUS TAKES PART IN THE CONTESTS

New Alexandria Commentaries

Stable identifiers

BOOK IX.¹

THE ODYSSEY.
BOOK IX.

PATTEN WILSON
ODYSSEUS TAKES PART IN THE CONTESTS