Book VII

Thus then was the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, praying there
While the damsel unto the city the might of the mules did bear.
But when she reached her father's most famous house and strong,
Therewith she stayed at the outdoor and about did her brothers throng,
Men like to the Gods undying; and they loosed the mules from the wain,
And therewithal the raiment bore into the house again.
But she to her chamber hied her, and the fire did a handmaid light,
An old thrall from Aperæa, and Eurymedusa she hight.
Her once from Aperæa did the ships wrought shapely bring,
And men made her Alcinoüs' portion, because over all was he king,
And the folk Phæacian heard him as though a God he were.
So the white-armed Nausicaä in the house had she cherished there.
And now the fire she kindled and within the supper laid.

E'en then arose Odysseus to go townward, but the Maid,
Athene, shed around him much mist with good intent,
Lest one of the proud Phæacians should meet him as he went,
And with taunts his heart should be smiting and ask him what he was.
But as into the lovely city he was just about to pass
Came the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, and met him in the road,
As a damsel tender of years that bare the pitcher's load,
And as she stood before him, Odysseus asked and began:
"O child, wouldst thou be my leader to the house of a certain man,
E'en him they call Alcinoüs, who o'er these men is king?
For hither I come as a stranger, toil-worn and wandering,
Afar from a land aloof; so I know not one of those
Who dwell within the city and work the field and the close."
But the Grey-eyed, the Goddess Athene, in thuswise answered again:
"The house, O father and stranger, will I show thee straight and plain,
For hard indeed it lieth to my noble father's abode.
But go thou in all silence while I lead thee on the road,
And ask thou nought of any, and look in no man's face;
For strange men they scarce may do with, the people of this place,
Nor in loving-kindness hold him who comes from otherwhere.
But trusting in the swiftness of their speedy ships they fare
Across the mighty sea-gulf: since by Earth-shaker's gift,
As a bird, as a thought that flitteth, their ships are eager and swift."
Thuswise spake Pallas Athene, and straightway led him on,
And after the feet of the Goddess forthright the way he won;
But the ship-famed proud Phæacians of him did nothing wot
As he went through their burg amidmost, for Athene suffered it not,
The fair-haired awful Goddess; for round about him still
She shed that holy dimness from the heart of her goodwill.

But Odysseus went, and he wondered at the keels in the haven laid.
And the Meeting Place of the heroes, and the long walls lofty made,
And dight with pales embattled, an exceeding wondrous thing.
But when at last they were come to the famous house of the king
Then the Goddess, the Grey-eyed Athene, set forth and spake out so:

"This then, O father, O stranger, is the house ye would have me to show;
And therein now wilt thou find them, the kings Zeus cherished,
At the feast and the banquet sitting: go in and have no dread:
For the man that is stout and hardy drives all things better home,
Whatever of deeds be toward; yea, e'en if from far he come.
Now first shall ye meet the mistress in the hall of the builded place,
Arete named of menfolk; and her breeding and her race
Are of those of whom is begotten Alcinoüs the king.
From Poseidon the Earth-shaker first did Nausithoüs spring,
From him and Peribœa, fairest of woman-kind;
And she was the youngest daughter of Eurymedon high of mind,
Who was king in the days aforetime of the Giants in their pride.
And he wrecked his folk infatuate, and himself in wrack he died.
With her then mingled Poseidon, and begat a lad as then
Nausithoüs, the great-souled king o'er Phæacian men.
But Rhexenor and Alcinoüs next Nausithoüs begat.
Then, Rhexenor while yet son-less in his halls new-wedded he sat,
White-bowed Apollo slew him, and one child he left alone,
Arete, and her as a helpmate Alcinoüs wooed and won,
With such worship as no woman on earth hath had before,
Of all that under menfolk rule over house and store.
And she from the heart moreover hath been worshipped in each thing,
Yea, and is now, of her children and Alcinoüs the king,
And the folk withal, who behold her as though a Goddess she were;
And as through the burg she walketh with words they worship her.
For nothing of wit she lacketh, nor of wisdom wanteth she:
And whomso in heart she holdeth, yea, e'en if men they be,
She setteth at one; but for thee, if her heart of thee be fain,
Then good hope mayest thou cherish to look on thy friends again,
And the land of the ancient fathers, and thine own high-builded abode."
BOOK. VIL

So spake Athene the Grey-eyed, and therewith she wended her road
O'er the all-unharvested sea-plain, and left the lovely place,
And unto Marathon hied she, and Athens wide of ways,

And into Erectheus' homestead and his steadfast house she came.
But Odysseus came his ways to Alcinoüs' house of fame;
And many things he pondered as he stood on the threshold of brass;
For therein as though of the sun or the moon a glory there was,
And it shone through the high-roofed house of Alcinoüs great of heart.
This way and that all brazen went the walls from part tc part,
From the threshold to the house-heart, and blue ran the frieze along.
Of gold were the doors that warded the house well-builded and strong,
And on the brazen threshold did silver shafts uphold
The lintel wrought of silver, and the door-ring was of gold.
There hounds of gold and of silver each side the threshold stood,
Which same had Hephæstus fashioned, with cunning craft and good,
For Alcinoüs the great-heart, to guard the house and door,
And deathless are they, unageing through all days evermore.
But within were fast-set high-seats by the wall's face here and there,
From the threshold to the house-heart, and dorsars woven fair,
Fine-webbed, were cast upon them, the work that women flit;
Therein the chiefs Phæacian are ever wont to sit
And eat and drink, for enduring is the store that there they hold.
There too on well-built bases stand serving-swains of gold,
And in their hands are holding the torches burning bright,
The guests that feast a night-tide throughout the hall to light.
Now the women thralls are fifty that there the housework mind;
And some upon the handmill the yellow corn they grind,
And some the loom they traverse, and some they twine the thread,
A-sitting e'en as the leaves are of the poplars high o'erhead;
And o'er the linen close-woven wet oil will ever slip.
For e'en as Phæacian menfolk have craft to drive the ship
Swift through the seas o'er all men, so weave the women well.
For to them hath Athene given all others to excel no
In the craft of works most lovely, and the skill of mysteries.
But without by the gate of the forecourt a garden great there lies,
Four plough-gates wide, and about it all round a hedge doth go. -
And therein are the tall trees bearing, and fresh and fair they grow.
The pear-tree and pomegranate and apple shining fair,
And figs that exceed in sweetness, and olives strong to bear.
And thereof is the fruit unfailing, and it never maketh stay
For winter or for summer yearlong: therein alway
The west wind brings some forward, and ripeneth others there.
There apple waxeth on apple, pear putteth forth on pear,
And grape-bunch upon grape-bunch, and on fig fig presseth yet.
A heavy-fruited vineyard moreover there is set;
And some part of the yield all sunny amidst a place made plain
Is dried by the sunbeams' burning; and some part they gather and gain;
And other some are they treading: beyond, with the bloom late cast,
Are the grapes unripe, and others meanwhile into blackness past.
And there set out in order along the outermost row
Bloom the garden-beds all diverse, and yearlong there they glow.
Two wells there are moreover, and scattering goeth one
O'er all the garth; and the other sets off' neath the threshold to run
Toward the lofty house; and the townfolk are wont to water them there.
Lo the gifts to Alcinoüs given by the Gods, how great and fair!

So the toil-stout goodly Odysseus there stood and marvelled a space;
But when his heart was fulfilled with the wonder of the place,
Then over the homestead's threshold lightly his foot he set;

And within the lords Phæacian and their councillors he met,
As they poured forth wine from the beakers to the keen-eyed Argus-bane,
The latest cup that they poured ere of bed they were mindful and fain.
So the toil-stout goodly Odysseus sped on through house and hall,
Bearing close darkness with him that Athene wrapped him withal,
Until he came to Arete and Alcinoüs the king.
But when round the knees of Arete his hands did Odysseus fling,
Then away and into nothing did the holy darkness draw,
And they of the house were speechless when a man amidst they saw,
And they marvelled as they beheld him: but Odysseus made his prayer:

"Arete, thou the daughter of Rhexenor, Godhead's peer,
To thy knees I come and thy husband, I toil-worn with the ways;
And I come to these thy guest-folk; God give them happy days!
And the wealth within his homestead to his sons may each hand on,
With whatsoever of worship from the people he hath won!

But I pray thee further my sending to my fatherland with speed,
Since afar from friends and kinsmen I suffer woeful need."
He spake, and adown in the hearth-place amid the ash he sat
By the fire-side: all were speechless and spake no word thereat,
Till at last the ancient hero Echeneüs spake the word;
Who amidst of the folk Phæacian was the very oldest lord,
And in speech was he excelling and in all ancient skill.
So he put forth the word amidst them and spake with all goodwill:
"Alcinoüs, nought is it seemly, nor thee doth it befit,

That a guest on the ground of the hearth-stead amidst the ash should sit
But these on thy word are awaiting, and so the speech forbear.
Come, raise up thy guest and set him on a silver-studded chair,
And give word to the swains of service the wine in the bowl to blend,

That to Zeus the Fain of the Thunder a cup we now may send,
E'en he who furthereth suppliants that men's compassion win.
But the guest, let the handmaids give him to supper of what is within.
But when the holy might of Alcinoüs hearkened the word,
By the hand Odysseus taking, the wise-heart shifty lord,
Up from the hearth he raised him to a seat that shimmered and shone,
Whence he put the fain-of-valour, Laodamas his son,
Who sat the nighest unto him and dear his heart did hold.
Then a damsel brought hand-water in a ewer fair wrought of gold,
And straightway for the washing in a dish of silver poured,
And she drew anigh unto him the smoothed and polished board.
And a goodwife old and reverend set forth for him the bread,
And such diverse meat as was ready for his delight she spread.
But when toil-stout Odysseus had eaten and drunken, forthright
A word unto the herald spake out Alcinoüs' might:

Pontonoüs, mix thou the bowl, and serve out wine amain
To each man in the hall, that as now unto Zeus the Thunder-fain,
The aid of piteous suppliants, the cup may be poured and sent."

He spake, and Pontonoiis straightway the wine heart-gladdening blent,
And dealt it out to all men from cup to cup in turn.
But when they had poured forth duly and drunk as each did yearn,
Then Alcinoüs fell unto speaking, and a word amidst them spoke:

"Hearken, O lords and elders of this Phæacian folk,
To the words that I say, thus bidden by the heart within my breast.
Depart, since now ye have feasted, and at home lie down to rest;
But tomorrow yet more elders together let us call,
And feast the guest in our homestead, and unto the Gods withal
Do holy rites and goodly, and then of the speeding home
Bethink us, that this our guest-friend without labour or grief may come
By our speeding unto the land of his fathers over the sea
In all joy of heart and swiftly, though far aloof he be:
So that he suffer no evil and scathe till he be there,
And on his own earth goeth; but thereafter shall he bear
What things soever Doom and the Dreadful Spinners span
With the thread of his beginning when his mother bore him a man.
But if he be one of the Deathless and be come adown from the skies,
Then this is a new-wrought fashion of the things that the Gods devise:
For hitherto have the Godfolk been manifest to behold
When we the gifts have been giving most glorious an hundredfold,
Such whiles with us have they feasted and beside us have set them adown:
Yea, and if some wayfarer wending hath happed upon them alone,
In no wise have they hid them, since indeed of their kin are we,
As the Cyclops and the races of the wild-men giants be."
But thereto the guileful Odysseus made answer presently:
"Alcinoüs, put forth the thought from thy mind, for in nowise do I
Beliken myself to the Deathless who hold the heavenly space,
But in flesh and in soul am I ever of the deathful manfolks' race.
But whatsoever of menfolk most labour-laden ye know,
To them myself would I liken, because of my grief and my woe.
And now indeed might I tell thee the tales of many an ill,
Yea, all that heap of troubles that I toiled in by God's will:
But I pray you amidst of my sorrow that ye suffer me supper to eat,
For nought indeed more shameless than the belly-beast may ye meet,
When need and he are bidding that we mind us of his part,
Although we be worn and wasted and have sorrow in the heart.
Thus I in my heart have sorrow, but the belly evermore
Will bid me to eat and to drink and forget my sorrow sore,
Whatso my soul may have suffered, and to filling forceth me.
But I prithee look ye to it when tomorrow's dawn shall be,
That this poor wretch unhappy to his father-land ye speed,
Yea, after all he hath suffered. But let life leave me indeed
When I see mine own, and my thralls and my great house high o'erhead."
So he spake, and all they of the land accorded and yeasaid,
To further the guest on his way since he spake what was but right.
But when they had poured out duly, and had drunk to their hearts' delight,
Then each one home to his house to rest in sleep did they fare;
But the goodly Odysseus was left in the hall of the homestead there.
But Arete sat beside him, and godlike Alcinoüs sat,
While the remnants of the banquet thencefrom the handmaids gat.
Then spake white-armed Arete and put forth a word thereto
When she looked on that fair raiment, for cloak and kirtle she knew,
Since she herself had wrought them, e'en she and her womenfolk.
Thus then the speech she uttered, and winged words she spoke:
"O guest, now first will I be to ask thee somewhat here:
What man art thou of menfolk? Who gave thee thy raiment to wear?
And whence dost thou give thyself out to have wandered here o'er the main?"
But Odysseus of many a rede spake out and answered again:

"O Queen, right hard were the work to tell thee the tale all through,
For the Gods above have dealt me a plenteous wealth of woe;
But of this that thou askest and seekest I will tell it all to thee.
There lieth the isle Ogygia, far off amid the sea,
Where dwelleth the Daughter of Atlas, Calypso the guileful one,
The fair-tressed awful Goddess, and there she mingleth with none,
Whether it be of the Godfolk or of men that perish and die.
But led by the God to her hearth alone a wretch came I,

After that Zeus had smitten my ship with his thunder white,
And amidst the wine-dark salt-sea had cloven it outright.
And there indeed my fellows, the brave men, perished and died,
But I caught the curved ship's keel in my arms and thus did I ride.
Nine days I drifted suchwise, but the tenth by night and cloud
The Gods to Ogygia brought me, that is Calypso's abode,
Where she dwelleth fair-tressed and awful. She took me and cherished
And with all her heart she loved me, and meant to make me be
A deathless man for ever, unageing all my days; me,
But the soul in my breast in nowise might she win unto her ways.
In that island then was I hoarded for seven unbroken years,
While the deathless raiment she gave me I wetted with my tears;
But when the eighth year of my sojourn round his circling course had won,
Then verily she bade me and egged me to begone,
By the message of Zeus commanded: or maybe her mind did shift.
On a strong-bound raft she sped me and gave me many a gift,
Both bread and honey-sweet wine; and she clad me in deathless weed,
And a harmless wind and gentle she set forth for my need.
Seven days and ten did I sail and passed the salt-seas o'er,
But on the eighteenth day showed the shadowy mountain shore
Of your land, and thereat, poor wretch! the heart rejoiced in me.
But yet of the plenteous trouble yoke-mate was I to be,
Which Poseidon the Earth-shaker against my life did raise;
For he stirred up the winds against me, and bound me aback from my ways,
And piled up a sea most monstrous, whose swell would not suffer me
To be borne along bewailing and still on the raft to be.
Then the storm-blast scattered it wide, and swimming on I clave
The mighty gulf of the sea-flood until the wind and the wave
Had borne me on and brought me to this your land anigh;
But the swell as I strove to land 'gainst the sea-cliffs mightily
Drave on perforce, and my body in an ugly place would have cast.
But back I went a-swimming until I came at last
To the river, and there indeed at the place that was most to my mind,
All smooth of rocks and sheltered against the drift of the wind,
I fell ashore, gathering my spirit: but the Deathless Night came on,
And thence I gat me away; from the Zeus-fed river I won,
And lay down to sleep in the thicket, and the leaves all over me spread,
And sleep that had no limit the God about me shed.
There then amidst the leafage, despite my sorrow sore,
Nightlong I slept till morning and the midmost day was o'er,
And the sun again was setting when sweet sleep went from me.
Then the handmaids of thy daughter on the beach there did I see
All a-sporting; and amidst them as a goddess was she fair.
I besought her: and surely of wisdom hath her soul a goodly share,
Nor indeed could one ever be hoping on a youngling thus to hit
Who could do as she: since the younger be ever wanting in wit.
For she gave me bread to my need, and gave me the dark-red wine,
And she washed me in the river and gave me these garments of thine.
Thus then the truth have I told thee, though I be laden with pain."

But Alcinoüs uttered the word, and thuswise answered again:
"O guest, my child meseemeth in unseemly manner wrought,
Whereas thee amidst of her maidens to our house she never brought,
When of her the first amidst all folk the suppliant ye were."

But Odysseus full of wisdom thuswise he answered there:
"O hero, nought for this cause do thou chide the blameless maid.
For to follow her on with her handmaids in good sooth me she bade;
But thereto was I nought willing for shame, and for fear of thee,
Lest thou in thine heart shouldst be angered beholding her and me.
For jealous indeed full often are the folks of earthly men."

But him Alcinoüs answered and thuswise spake again:
"O guest, the heart in my bosom is nowise idly wroth
With such matters: yet done seemly the thing is better worth.
Would to Father Zeus and Apollo and Athene that it might be
That thou, e'en thou as I see thee, and of like mind unto me,
Might wed my child and be called my son and here abide!
And a house then would I give thee and wealth and holdings wide,
If thou thereto wert willing. For against thy will shall none
Of Phæacians stay thee; forbid it, O Zeus, that it be done!
But thy speeding I now do ordain, that heed thereof thou may'st keep,
For tomorrow: so lie down meanwhile, thou heavy-laden with sleep.
They shall drive through the calm of the seaflood until at last thou be come
To thy house and the land of thy fathers; yea, whereso may be thy home.
Yea, e'en if it be much farther than Eubœa lies in the sea,
Which such of our folk as have seen it give out the furthest to be,
E'en they that erewhile flitted Rhadamanthus, the tawny one,
When Tityus far he followed, the great Earth's very son,
And thither then they brought him, and wore through all the way
And came home again unwearied in one and the selfsame day.
Thereby may'st thou wot full surely how no ships are like unto mine,
And no shipmen like my shipmen with the oar to toss the brine."

So he spake; and the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, then was fain,
And he put forth a word of praying, and named him, and spake again;
"Zeus Father, now if the deed as much as the word be worth

Of Alcinoüs, then may his glory from off the corn-kind earth
Die nevermore: and I, my fatherland may I reach!"

But as in suchlike fashion they spake out each unto each,
White-armed Arete was bidding unto her handmaids there
To lay the bed in the cloister, and purple blankets fair

To cast thereon, and thereover the coverlet to strew,
And thereon the cloaks thick-woven atop of all to do.
Straightway then forth from the hall, and candle in hand they went;
And when the bed they had dighted in fashion diligent
With words they aroused Odysseus to stand up upon his feet:
"O guest, arouse and go bedward, for the bed is arrayed right meet."
So they spake, and to him the slumber seemed good and timely now.
And so slept the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, lying alow
Upon the jointed bedstead in the echoing cloister there.
But Alcinoüs slept in the nook of his house well-builded and fair,
And beside him the Queen, his helpmeet, arrayed her bed and her gear.