Book VIII

Now when the Mother of Morning, Rose-fingered Dawn, was bright,
Then forth from his bed rose up Alcinoüs' holy might,
And the city-waster, Odysseus, the Zeus-kin, rose from his bed;
Then the holy might of Alcinoüs thenceforth to the meeting led,
Whereas the folk Phæacian by the ships did them abide:
So they came there and sat them adown on the smooth stones side by side.

But all about the city did Pallas Athene go
In the likeness of the herald of Alcinoüs skilled to know,
For Odysseus the mighty-hearted devising return in the end,
And by this and that man standing such a word to him did she send:
"Come then, ye lords Phæacian, and you that wise-hearts be,
Let us go to the meeting of men that this stranger ye may see
Who is now new-come to the homestead of Alcinoüs skilled in thought,
A wanderer over the sea-flood, and like to the Deathless wrought."
The will and the heart of each one suchwise she egged on then;
And soon was the Meeting-Stead filled and the seats of the gathering men,
And most they fell to wonder when they saw him in the place,
The wise son of Laertes; for indeed with a holy grace
The man and his head and his shoulders did Athene there enfold,
And taller therewith she made him and mightier to behold,
So that of all Phæacians he now might gain the love,
And dread withal and worship; and the feats whereby they would prove
The very might of Odysseus he might bring to an ending fair.
But when they all were thronging and gathered together there,
Alcinoüs took up the word, and thus amidst them spoke:
"Hearken, O lords and elders of this Phæacian folk,
To the word that the soul within me now biddeth me speak and say;
This unknown guest that hither to my house hath wandered away,
Be he come from the men of the Rising or them of the Setting Sun,
He biddeth us for a flitting, and prayeth that sure it be done.
So now, as ever aforetime, his flitting let us speed i
For surely hath never a man sought here to my house in need,
And here for the lack of speeding abode in sorrow sore.
But come now, let us be shoving to the holy salt-sea shore
A black ship for the first time sailing, and let shipmen fifty and two
From amidst the folk be chosen, e'en such as are best to do.
But when ye have bound the oars to the benches, then one and all
Come forth and unto my homestead, and there to the feasting fall
In speedy wise; and for my part to all will I deal to my best.
This charge give I to the shipmen; but verily as for the rest,
The sceptered kings, now come ye to my house that is builded fair,
That this man, the guest and the stranger, in the halls we may cherish there.
Nor yet let any gainsay it And Demodocus have ye along,
The holy minstrel to whom have the Gods given glory of song,
To make joy with what singing soever from his furthering soul shall be won."

So he spake and he led them away, and the sceptred ones followed him on,
And the herald went to be bringing the holy minstrel there.
And the shipmen two-and-fifty, well chosen, down did they fare
To the shore of the holy sea-plain as the king had bidden it be.
But when they were come to the ship and down to the shore of the sea
Then into the deep of the water the black ship did they get,

And into the black ship straightway the mast and the sails they set,
And the oars withal they fitted in the thole-bights wrought of skin,
And the sails aloft they hoisted, and in order all did win.
Then high in the deeps they moored her, and thereafter went they all
To the house of the king the wise-heart, and Alcinoüs' mighty hall,
And the courts and the garth and the houses were full of the gathering
And of old men were there many, and many young as then.

But twelve sheep there for the feasting Alcinoüs hallowed and slew, men;
And eight swine with teeth white-gleaming, and of shambling oxen two.
These then they flayed and dighted and arrayed a feast full fair.

But withal came the herald leading the faithful singer there.
Of the Muse was he well beloved, who had given him good and ill;
Of his eyesight had she reft him, but had given him sweet-voiced skill.
So for him had Pontonoiis set a silver-studded chair
Amidmost of the feasters, 'gainst a pillar long and fair;
And over his head on a pin his harp the shrilly-sweet
Had he hung, and had shown him moreover how his hand therewith should meet.
And he set a basket beside him, and a fair-dight table withal,
And a cup of wine for his drinking, when his soul thereto should call.

So they reached out their hands to the dainties that ready before them
But when the yearning for meat and for drink they had done away,
Then the Muse stirred up the minstrel to sing of the deeds of men lay;
Whose great renown and glory to the wide heavens reached as then,

To wit the Strife of Odysseus and Achilles, Peleus' son,
How with fierce words they wrangled at a feast, a glorious one
Of the Gods, and Agamemnon the folk-king then was glad
In his heart that the chiefs Achæan such strife between them had.
For thereof did Phoebus Apollo foretelling words declare
In Pythos the very lovely, when the stony threshold there
He crossed and sought foretelling; and uprolled the tide of ill
On the Danaan folk and the Trojan by Zeus the Mighty's will.
Such song sang the glorious singer, but Odysseus, taking hold
Of his mighty purple mantle, with his strong hand drew a fold
Across his head to hide it, and his goodly face he hid,
For shame he had of Phæacians for the tears from his brow that slid;
But whensoever the singer, the holy one, ceased for a space,
Then, wiping his tears away, he drew the cloak from his face,
And, taking the beaker twofold, to the Gods he poured as then;
But when once more he awoke it, and the chiefs of Phæacian men
Were egging him on to singing for their joy in the words he said,
Then again was Odysseus hiding his face, as moan he made.

But there from all the others he hid the flow of tears,
But Alcinoüs knew it, and noted alone of all his peers;
For he sat exceeding nigh him and his heavy groan he heard:
So unto those Phæacians oar-fain he spake the word:

"O lords of the folk Phæacian, O elders hearken and hear!
Our souls have we now contented with the feast and the equal cheer,
And the harp-song, ever the yoke-mate of all feast that fair shall be:
Now fare we forth and try us in the strife of game and glee,

That our guest when home he cometh to his friends the tale may tell
How we above all others in the play of fists prevail,
And the wrestling play, and the leaping and in the swift-foot race."
So saying, forth he led them and they followed from the place;
And the herald hung on a pin the clear-voiced harp withal,
And Demodocus' hand was he taking to bring him forth from the hall;
By the road that the others had wended he led him on the way,
Yea, all the chiefs Phæacian,to look upon the play.
Forth they fared to the Stead of Meeting, and there followed a mighty throng,
A thousand fold a thousand; and up stood the young and the strong:
Acroneus and Ocyalus and Elatreus there arose,
Nauteus, Prymneus, Eretmeus, Anchialus: next to those
Ponteus and Proreus and Thoon and Anabesineus came on,
And Amphialus; Polyneüs begat him, Tectons' son;
And Euryalus moreover, the Man's-bane Ares' peer;
And Naubolus' son, of his body the goodliest fellow there
Of all Phæacians, saving Laodamas the great.
For three sons of the great Alcinoüs uprose on the play to wait,
E'en Laodamas and Halius and Clytoneiis God-high.
Now all these men in the foot-race their manhood first should try.
Straight stretched the course from the starting, and all together amain,
Full swiftly forth were they fleeting and stirred up the dust of the plain.
Great Clytoneiis in running was best of all the band,
And as far as the mules draw furrow across the fallow land
So far he outwent the others when he came to the folk again.

Next then in the play of wrestling they strove with care and pain,
And therein it was Euryalus who prevailed o'er all the best;
But Amphialus in the leaping by far outwent the rest,
And in casting the stone Elatreus excelled o'er every one,
And Laodamas in the boxing, Alcinoüs' valiant son.

But now, when all in their hearts were fain of the game and the play,
Laodamas spake amongst them, Alcinoüs' son 'gan say:
"Come, friends, let us ask the stranger if of games he knoweth aught,
And hath learned to play; for his body in no evil wise is wrought:
Nay, look to his thighs and his legs, and both his hands forsooth!
And the brawny neck and stark strength of the man! Nor yet in youth
Is he lacking, but worn and wasted with many a toilsome woe,
For nothing worse than the sea to crush up a man do I know,
And to wear him down; yea, even though exceeding strong he be."

Then Euryalus took up the word, and thuswise answered he:
"Laodamas, this hast thou spoken in goodly wise and well;
Then do thou thyself go hail him, and this matter to him tell."
But Alcinoüs' son, the valiant, when his answer he had heard,
Came forth, and, standing amidmost, to Odysseus spake the word:
"Come thou too, guest and father, and try thee in the play,
If thereof ye be skilled in somewise, as it seemeth like ye may;
For no fame may a man win better the while he hath his life
Than from what his feet have accomplished, or his hands amidst the strife.
Up then, and try thee in playing, and scatter the griefs from thy soul,
For not long shalt thou lack thy homefare, since even now did they roll
Thy ship adown to the water, and her folk are bound for the main."
But Odysseus of many a rede thus spake and answered again:
"Laodamas, why do ye taunt me, and bid me such a way?
Far more in my mind are my troubles than any game and play,
Who have borne so many and many, and such toil have laboured to earn,
And now am sitting amidst you craving but my return;
And thereof your king am I praying, and all the folk of your place."
Him then Euryalus answered and chid him face to face:
"Nay, I liken thee not, O Stranger, to a man well skilled of his hands
In all the plays that are toward mid the men of many lands,
But rather to one that haunteth the ship of many an oar,
A captain over shipmen that are chapmen furthermore;
Of thy freight for ever mindful, an overlooker of wares
And greedy gain: of no man-strife belike shall be thy cares."

But the shifty Odysseus answered, grim-eyed from knitted brow:
"O stranger, basely thou speakest; as the fool of men art thou:
So the Gods from men are withholding, nor give all grace to each;
Neither inbred wit nor wisdom, nor skill of open speech.
For indeed there is such among menfolk as a feebler body hath had,
But God crowneth his speech with fairness, and all they that behold him are
For with shamefast sweetness and surely he speaketh among men;
When the folk is gathered together he excelleth verily then, glad;

And men look on his ways through the city as though a God he were.
But another is of his body the Deathless Godhead's peer,
Yet his words with the grace of sweetness are nowise wreathed about
Thus thou in beauty excellest, nor of other guise no doubt
Would a very God be fashioned; but thy mind is an empty thing.
But the soul that is dear in my breast hast thou set thee to stir up and sting,
And in manner unmeet thou speakest: for I am not new to the play,
As thou sayest, but mid the foremost meseems was I once on a day,
While yet in my hands I trusted and the might of my youth unworn;
Now of scathe and of grief am I holden, for a many things have I borne,
Both the wars of men and the waves that were grievously hard on the way.
But e'en as I am, with such burden of griefs, will I try me the play,
For thy word to me is soul-biting, and thou speakest to egg me on." stone,
Therewith, and yet clad in his mantle, he ran forth and caught up the

Right great and thick to handle, and by no little greater than those
Wherewith the folk Phæacian contended in their throws,
And, whirling it round, he hurled it forthright with his mighty hand;
And away the stone flew humming, and they crouched alow on the land,
The long-oar-wont Phæacians, the ship-renowned men,

From the flight of the stone, and it flew o'er all marks marked as then,
As light from his hand it speeded. But Athene marked its fall;
Yea, she in the shape of a man, and therewith she spake unto all:

"Yea, e'en a blind man, O Stranger, could discern this cast where it went,
By groping about; since in nowise with the crowd of casts is it blent,
But is far the first. For this play then, hold up thine heart on high,
For no cast of Phæacian menfolk shall reach or pass it by."

So she spake; but the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, then was glad,
When he saw that a friend and a fellow amid the lists he had;
And therewith he spake more lightly to those Phæacian men:
"O youths, come up to that one! And yet the next one then
I deem indeed that as far, or further yet, shall it fly;
But whoso of all whom his heart or his soul now biddeth to try,
Let him hither with me to be playing, since my wrath ye needs must stir,
In boxing or wrestling or foot-race; I begrudge in no play that is here
With any man Phæacian, save Laodamas, to contend;
For he is my very guest-friend, and who would fight with a friend?
A fool were he of menfolk, and a worthless wight were he,
Who on him that gave him harbour thrust the strife of mastery,
Amidst an outland people his own well-being to mar:
But of others none will I gainsay, or slight, whoever they are;
But rather I fain would know them, and prove them face to face,
For at all plays am I handy that are played amid manfolk's race.
I know how to handle the bow well shaven round about,
And the first would I be in shooting my man mid the foeman's rout,
E'en though a many fellows together gathered were
Against the folk of the foemen the arrow-shot to bear.
Yea, Philoctetes only with the bow outwent me then,
When, amidst the folk of the Trojans, well cast the Achæan men;
But of all the others I boast me to be the front and the head,
Of all mortals dwelling on earth, and living and eating bread.
But with the men of aforetime I have no mind to vie,
As Heracles or Eurytus the Œchalean high;
For these, they strove with the Deathless about the deeds of the bow.
So untimely Eurytus perished, nor yet unto eld did he grow
In his house and his hall; for Apollo in anger slew him outright,
For this thing, that he challenged the God to contend in the bowman's
But further than others the arrow, and the spearshaft can I cast;
Forsooth in the foot-race only I doubt I may be o'erpassed sleight.
By Phæacians; for very sorely and unseemly am I worn
By the wash of many billows: since nought in our ship was borne
Unfailing store of victual, and my limbs are all undone."
So he spake, and they held their peace and kept silence every one,
Save that Alcinoüs only spake out and answered again:
"O guest, in good part we take it, thy speech outspoken and plain,
For the valour with thee abiding to us wouldst thou prove and show,
Being wroth with him that arose and chid thee awhile ago.
Whereas there is none of mortals who thy valour would gainsay
If his heart had understanding how to speak the righteous way.
But follow my word, I pray thee, that thy tale thereof may come
To another of the heroes when thou sitt'st in thy hall at home
Afeasting with thy helpmate and the seed of thee begot,
And our craft thou then rememberest, e'en the deeds that Zeus doth allot
Unto us in measure unfailing; yea, e'en from our fathers' day.
For we are not unmatched boxers, nor first in the wrestling play,
But the best of men ashipboard and in running afoot full fleet;
And ever we love the banquet and the harp and the dancing feet,
And the change of fair fresh raiment, and the warm bath and the bed.
Come then, ye dancers Phæacian, who are most of lustihead,
Play ye, that this our guest-friend unto his friends may tell,
When home at last he is gotten, how all others we excel
In shipcraft and the footrace, and the ordered dance and the song.
But now for Demodocus go ye, fetch the clear-voiced harp and strong,
If ye may find it lying somewhere in my house and hall"
Thus Alcinoüs the godlike; but the herald rose withal
To bring from the kingly dwelling the hollow harp away.
Then uprose the chosen judges, and nine in all were they,
Folk-chosen men to order the games in everything:
The dancing-floor they levelled, and they made a wide-drawn ring.
Therewith drew nigh the herald with the shrilly harp in hand
For Demodocus standing amidmost, and about him there did stand
The chosen youths well wotting the dance and all its skill,
And they beat the holy earth with their feet, and Odysseus still
Gazed on at the feet swift twinkling, and his heart was in wonder long.

But now fell to the harper and struck up a goodly song
Concerning the love of Ares for Aphrodite the crowned,
How first they privily mingled in Hephæstus' house renowned:
And many a gift he gave her, and befouled with scathe and shame
The bed of King Hephæstus. But to him the tale-teller came,
E'en the Sun, whose eyes had beheld them as in love they mingled there.
But Hephæstus hearkening the word that was hard for the heart to bear
Went straightway to his stithy, building guile in the deeps of his heart.

A huge anvil he set on the stock, and chains ne'er to be sundered apart,
And ne'er to be broken he forged, that fast they be holden there.
But when in his wrath against Ares he had fashioned the guile and the snare,
Forthwith he went to his chamber where his bed beloved lay,
And the bonds he drew in a circle round the bed-posts every way,
And many o'erhead were hanging from the tie-beam up on high,
All as fine as are the cobwebs, so that none could see them with eye,
Not e'en of the Gods, the Happy, with such plenteous craft were they wrought
But when the bed all over in the net and the snare he had caught,
He feigned to depart unto Lemnos, and the burg well-builded and fair,
Which to him of all lands of the Earth is the best-beloved and dear.
But no blind watch held Ares, the Lord of the Bridle of Gold,
When Hephæstus, Glory of Craftsmen, departing he thus did behold;
But he hastened and went to the dwelling of Hephæstus high-renowned,
So sore for the love was he yearning of Cytherea the crowned.
And she but of late was come from her father, the mighty Son
Of Cronos, and there was she sitting. So into the house he won,
And he took her hand in his hand, and spake the word and said:

"Oh hither, O love, and bedward! and we twain in rest to be laid,
For no more mid the folk is Hephæstus, but is gone far out of reach,
And belike aloof unto Lemnos, and the Sintians wild of speech."

So he spake, and to her most welcome it seemed, that lying abed;
So up they went and lay down, and therewith about them were spread
The bonds and the crafty snare of Hephæstus the all-wise,
And never a limb might they move, and they had no might to arise.
And withal were they ware of the cunning and that nought it availed to be
Then drew anigh unto them the glorious Haltfoot-one;

He had turned aback from Lemnos, nor ever came to the land, gone.
For the Sun had been his watchman and had brought the tale to hand.
So into the house he hastened, his dear heart sorrowing sore,
And fierce wrath had hold upon him as he stood in the porch of the door:
In a fearful voice he shouted and to all the Gods 'gan cry:
"Zeus father, and all ye Blessed, ye Gods that never die,
Here! look on a thing to be laughed at, and hard to be dealt with for shame,
How the Daughter of Zeus, Aphrodite, still scorneth me the lame
For ever; and ever she loveth Ares the Bringer-to-Nought,
For that he is fair and well-fashioned, while into the world was I brought
A weakling: and none other is guilty of the scorn
Save the twain that begat me and bore me. And would I had never been born!
But now indeed shall ye look on these twain as in love they lie,
Having gotten them up to my bed: and I look and shamed am I.
But not e'en for a minute meseemeth suchwise would lie those twain,
Though sore be their love, nor for long of such rest shall they be fain;
Yet the snare and the bonds about them shall hold them nowise slack
Till all those gifts of wooing her father pays me aback,
That to him I erst made over for the damsel shameless-faced.
For as fair as is his daughter so little is she chaste."

So he spake: round the brass-floored house the Gods were gathered indeed.
Came Poseidon, Shaker of Earth; came Hermes, good at need;
And thither the King Apollo, the Far-off shooter came;
But withal the queens of the God-folk, each bided at home for shame.

So around the porch were they standing the Gods that give all good,
And uprose the quenchless laughter from the Happy Gods, as they stood
And looked on all the cunning of wise-heart Hephæstus' snare;
And thus would one be saying as he looked on his neighbour there:

"Ill speed of ill deed cometh! the slow, outrunneth the swift!
Even as now Hephæstus, though haltfoot, by his shift
Hath hold of Ares, the swiftest of all the Gods, of those
That dwell up in Olympus. Therefore the fine he owes."
Thus one unto another were they speaking of the thing:
But to Hermes spake Apollo, the son of Zeus the King:
"O Hermes, thou son of Zeus, thou Flitter, thou Giver of Gain,
E'en by strong bonds down-weighted yet wouldst thou not be fain
By the golden Aphrodite to lie along in bed?"
But the Flitter, the Bane of Argus, thus answered him and said:
"O King, Far-shooter, Apollo, I would that it might be;
Let bonds e'en thrice so many, untold, be laid on me,
Let all the Gods be onlooking and the queens at gaze stand by,
Yet with golden Aphrodite still were I fain to lie."

So he spake, and the laughter arose mid the Gods of the Deathless Day;
But the laugh held not Poseidon, who never ceased to pray
Hephæstus, Glory of Craftsmen, to let loose Ares the lord;
And speech therewith he uttered and sent forth a winged word:

"Loose him, and I will pledge me that whatso thou biddest he pay,
Yea, whatso things be of right mid the Gods of the Deathless Day."
But the ever-glorious Haltfoot made answer thereunto:
"Poseidon, thou Shaker of Earth, bid not the thing to do!
For ever the word of the worthless is a worthless thing to my mind.
And how among the Deathless thee can I hold and bind
If Ares goeth his ways, and both bonds and debt he break?"
But Poseidon, Shaker of Earth, he put forth the word and spake:
"Hephæstus, even if Ares should flee and go on his way,
And creep from under the debt, yet myself the same shall I pay."
And thereto in turn thus answered the Haltfoot, Glorious Lord:
"Nay, nowise is it seemly to gainsay thy given word."
So spake the Might of Hephæstus and undid the bonds and the snare.
But when of the bonds strong-fashioned the twain delivered were,
Then up they sprang, and Ares, his ways he wended to Thrace;
But laugh-loving Aphrodite unto Cyprus and the place
Of Paphos, where is her garden and her fragrant altar therein.
And there did the Graces bathe her, and with oil they sleeked her skin,
The deathless oil that sleeketh the Gods that never die;
And they did on her lovely raiment, a marvel to the eye.
Such tale sang the glorious minstrel, and great joy Odysseus had
In his heart as thereto he hearkened, and all the others were glad,
The oar-fain folk Phæacian, the ship-renowned men.
But to Halius and Laodamas gave Alcinoüs bidding then
To dance alone together, since none might match them there.
So when in hand they had taken the purple ball and fair,
Which for them had Polybus fashioned, who nought of craft did lack,
Then one to the shadowy clouds would cast it, bending aback,
And therewithal the other aloft from the earth would bound
And lightly catch it again ere again his feet touched ground.
But when they had played the play of the straight-up cast of the ball,
Then on the Earth the fruitful unto dancing did they fall,
And from each unto each cast swiftly: and time beat the rest of those
The youths round the ring a-standing, and great noise of the tramping
arose.
Therewith Odysseus the goodly to Alcinoüs spake and said:
"Alcinoüs, king and lord, of the folk the foremost head,
Thou hast boasted of thy dancers as the best of all dancing plays;
Now indeed hast thou made it good, and thereon I marvel and gaze."
He spake, and the holy might of Alcinoüs was glad,
And straight for those Phæacians oar-fain a word he had:
"Hearken, O lords Phæacian, O elders, hearken ye!
Forsooth the stranger seemeth exceeding wise to be;
So come now let us give him as a guest-gift fitting things.
Lo ye! among this people are twelve renowned kings
Their leaders and their judges, and the thirteenth man am I.
So let each man among us bring forward presently
A cloak well washed and a kirtle, and a talent of fine gold,
And lay all that together for the hand of our guest to hold,
That when he goeth to supper his heart may be glad and fain;
But Euryalus now with words atonement let him gain,
And with a gift moreover; for an unright word he said."
He spake, and all were consenting unto the thing he bade,
And each sent forth a herald the gifts to take and bring;
And withal Euryalus answered and spake unto the King:
"O King and lord Alcinoüs, O foremost of the folk,
To the guest will I make atonement, as ye bid, for the word I spoke.
I will give him this sword all brazen; and lo the hilt thereto
Is silver wrought, and a scabbard of ivory sawn-anew
Is done all round about it. Unto him 'tis a worthy award."
So into his hand he gave it, the silver-hefted sword,
And therewithal he hailed him and set this word on the wing:
"All hail, O guest and father! and if some grievous thing
Hath been said, let the whirl-blasts catch it and bear it far away,
May the Gods to thy fatherland bring thee, and to look on thy wife on a day
Right soon, since afar from thy friends thou bearest toilsome pain!"
But Odysseus of many a rede thus spake and answered again:

"All hail, O friend, to thee also! May God be good to thee,
Nor may'st thou lack it hereafter, this glaive thou givest me,
The gift which thou hast added to thine atoning word."

Therewith about his shoulders he hung the silvered sword.
But now the sun was setting, and the glorious gifts were come,
For the high-heart heralds bore them to Alcinoüs' house and home;
And there did the sons receive them of Alcinoüs of renown,
And by their reverend mother the all-goodly gifts set down.
Then the holy might of Alcinoüs he led them forth withal,
And they departed and set them in the high seats of the hall.
Then the might of Alcinoüs spake, and unto Arete he said:
"O wife, bring hither a coffer full goodly, the goodliest made,
And lay thou a cloak well-washen and a decent kirtle therein,
And make hot the brass on the fire the water warm to win;
That the guest, having washed and looked on the things that lie so fair,
The gifts that the great Phæacians have brought and gathered here,
With the feast his heart may gladden, and may hear the song go up.
And I myself will give him my own fair golden cup,
That he in the hall of his homestead all days may remember me
When he poureth the wine unto Zeus and to all the Gods that be."

So he spake, and therewith Arete bade her handmaidens to heed
And get the three-foot caldron on the fire in haste and speed.
So the great three-foot bath-feeder they set on the fire to stand,
And therein they poured the water and thereunder laid the brand;
And the flame licked the caldron's belly and warm the water grew.
Meanwhile, for the guest Arete from the chamber brought thereto

A chest exceeding goodly, and therein for him to have
She laid the gold and the raiment which those Phæacians gave;
And therein she laid a mantle, and a kirtle, a goodly thing.
And withal she spake unto him and set this word on the wing:

"Do thou to the lid be looking, and bonds about it cast,
Lest one on the way beguile thee whenso thy soul hath passed
Into sweet sleep and slumber on thy black ship on the way."

But when the goodly Odysseus, the toil-stout, heard her say,
Then straight the lid he fitted, and fell the bonds to knit
With a crafty knot that Circe the goddess learned his wit.
Then straightway the handmaid bade him go up to the washing-vat,
And wash him therein; and he saw it, and his soul rejoiced thereat,
And the water warm; for nowise was he wont to be cherished with care
Since he left the house of Calypso of the lovely-knotted hair;
But that while with her was he cherished as a God is evermore.
But when the handmaids had washed him and with oil had sleeked him
A goodly cloak and a kirtle they did upon him then,
And he gat him up out of the bath-vat and away to the wine-drinking men. o'er,

But lo, Nausicaä, dowered with God-given beauty, stood
By the doorway of the feast-hall of the steadfast house and good;
And her eyes beheld Odysseus, and she fell a-wondering,

And the sound of her voice she uttered, and sent forth a word on the wing'
"Farewell, O guest! When thou comest to thy land where thou dost go,
Remember me, for life-ransom unto me the first dost thou owe!"
But Odysseus of many a rede thus answered for his part:
"Nausicaä, thou daughter of Alcinoüs, mighty of heart,
May Zeus the Great-voiced grant it, of Herd's Lord may I earn,
That unto my house I get me and see my day of return!
Then unto thee, O maiden, as unto a God, will I pray
For all days from henceforward; for thou gavest me life on a day."
He spake and sat him adown beside Alcinoüs' chair.
And now the wine were they blending, and dealing share by share;
And the herald drew near leading the sweet-voiced singer along,
Demodocus dear to the people, and amidst the feasting throng
He set his seat and leaned it against a pillar tall.
Then Odysseus, wealthy of counsel, to the herald spake withal,
Having cut and carved a portion from the chine of a white-toothed boar,
With rich fat all about it (and yet was left much more):
"Bear forth this flesh, O herald, to Demodocus, that he
May eat thereof; and I greet him, though grieved at heart I be;
For surely dear unto all men upon the earth that dwell
Are minstrels, and worthy of worship, since the Muse hath learned them well
To wend the ways of song-craft, and she loves the minstrel race."

Therewith the herald bore it unto the hands and the place
Of Demodocus the hero, and he took it and was glad.
And men reached out their hands to the dainties that before them there they had.

But when the desire for meat and for drink they had done away,
Unto Demodocus then 'gan the wise Odysseus to say:
"Demodocus, thee of all mortals do I ever worship and praise,
Whether the Muse, Zeus' Daughter, or Apollo learned thee of lays;
Because of the doom of Achæans dost thou sing a most due tale,
All deeds that we did, we Achæans, and our travail and our bale.
Whether thou wert there amidst it, or hast learned of another one;

But change thou the tale and tell us how the Wooden Horse was done,
E'en him that Epeius fashioned with Athene's help anigh,
The snare that goodly Odysseus brought into the burg on high
Fulfilled with men, that Ilios they might waste with utter bale.
But if aright and in order thou shalt set forth such a tale,
Thereafter among all men will I tell of thee this thing,
How a kind God hath given thee the holy song to sing."

Then Demodocus, moved by the God, began and set forth the lay,
And took up the tale where the Argives, one part, were sailing away,
Having gone on their well-decked ships and given their booths to the flame;
But the others yet were sitting round Odysseus mighty of fame
In the Meeting Stead of the Trojans, all hidden in the Horse,
For the Trojans themselves had drawn it to the topmost burg perforce.
There it stood, and they sitting around it confused counsel spake.
Three ways their pleasure sundered, three ways their rede did take;
For some with the pitiless brass would cleave the hollow wood,
And adown the rocks to cast it o'er the burg-brow some deemed good;
And some would give it the Gods, a great gift, an atonement of bale;
And this indeed was the counsel which was doomed in the end to prevail,
For the doom of death was upon them, what time their burg should embrace
A mighty Horse of timber; and there sat in the hollow place
The flower of the Argives bearing to the Troy-folk bale and bane.
Then he sang how the sons of Achæans from the Horse poured forth amain,
And came out from the hollow ambush and wasted all the town,
And in what wise this and that man the burg on high brake down,
While unto Deiphobus' dwelling forthwith did Odysseus fare,
Like unto Ares, and with him Menelaus, Godheads' peer;
And that there he dared the battle and the utmost of the fight,
And prevailed with the help of Athene of the soul that is most of might-
So sang the all-glorious singer, but Odysseus was melted withal,
And over his cheeks the tear-dew from his eyelids 'gan to fall;
And e'en as a wife falls clinging to her mate with wailing sore,
Yea, to him who in front of his city and folk hath fallen in war,
While his burg and his children he warded from the utter hapless day.
And she beholdeth him dying and gasping his life away,
And with shrill wails walloweth on him, and the men behind her smite
Her shoulders and back with the spear-shafts, as they drive her away forth-
To the thraldom where she shall suffer all toil and grief and pain,
And with most grievous sorrow her cheeks they waste and wane — right
E'en so the woful tear-drops Odysseus poured from his brow.
But from all the rest was it hidden, nor his weeping did they know.
But Alcinoüs perceived it, and knew it, and he alone;
For anigh unto him was he sitting, and he heard his heavy groan.
Then unto those Phæacians the oar-fain thus spake he:
"Hearken, ye lords Phæacian, and ye elders hearken ye!
Now at last let Demodocus cease, and his shrilly harp refrain,
Because of his song meseemeth not all men here are fain.
From the time when we were supping and the Godlike singer began,
Nowhile hath he ceased his moaning, this guest and wandering man.
In a place encompassed of sorrow his heart a dwelling hath had.
Come, then, let us refrain us, that we all alike may be glad,
Both the guest-friend and the guester; for better so it were,
Since because of a guest well cherished did we do all matters here,
The flitting and gifts of friendship that we gave in all goodwill.
Forsooth the place of a brother the suppliant guest shall fill,
For the man whoever so little unto wisdom would attain.
But thou, do thou hide in nowise, by words of crafty gain,
The thing which now I ask thee; for to speak shall better be.
Tell me thy name whereby the father and mother of thee
And all the others called thee, who dwelt in the burg about
For no man at all of menfolk a name shall be without,
Whether good he be or evil. From the time of his birth, and the day
When on earth his parents brought him, a name on him did they lay.
And thou shalt tell me moreover of thy burg, and thy folk, and thy land,
That our ships in their minds may know it when they bring thee thither to
Because amidst us Phæacians our ships no helmsmen steer,
Nor with us is any rudder like other ships must bear, hand,
But our keels know the minds of menfolk, and their will they understand,
And of all men's cities are wotting and the fat fields of the land.
And therewith exceeding swiftly o'er the sea-gulf do they go,
In the mist and the cloud-rack hidden; nor ever a fear they know
That any scathe may touch them, or death on any day.
But Nausithoüs, my father, a thing I have heard him say,
For he told how that Poseidon did wrath against us keep,
Because that men all scatheless we flit across the deep;
And one while a ship well-fashioned of Phæacian men shall he wrack,
As over the darkling sea-flood from the flitting she cometh aback,
And shall shadow the city over with a mound and a mighty hill.
In suchwise spake the elder; and these things shall the God fulfil,
Or else refrain from fulfilment, as the heart within him is fain.
But come now and tell me hereof, and speak out the matter plain,
Whither of lands thou hast wandered? to what shores of men thou hast come?
And therewith of the very menfolk and their burgs of the pleasant home,
And of such as are hard and cruel, and unright and wild of mood,
And of such whose minds turn Godward, guest-loving men and good?
And why thou wert grieving inly, and wherefore thou didst wail
When the woe of the Argive Danaans, and of Ilios was the tale?
But this thing the Gods have fashioned, and have spun the Deathful Day
For men, that for men hereafter it might be the tale and the lay.
But did one of thy wedlock kinsmen valiant by Ilios die,
Wife's father, daughter's husband, of such as are most nigh,
After our very kinsmen, our very stock and blood?
Or mayhap some dear companion, a pleasant friend and good?
For no worser than a brother e'en such a man I call,
Who is one's very fellow, and wise of heart withal."