<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410335" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Odyssey: Book 7</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thus, then, did Ulysses wait and pray; but the girl drove on to<br>the town. When she reached her father's house she drew up at the<br>gateway, and her brothers- comely as the gods- gathered round her,<br>took the mules out of the waggon, and carried the clothes into the<br>house, while she went to her own room, where an old servant,<br>Eurymedusa of Apeira, lit the fire for her. This old woman had been<br>brought by sea from Apeira, and had been chosen as a prize for<br>Alcinous because he was king over the Phaecians, and the people obeyed<br>him as though he were a god. She had been nurse to Nausicaa, and had<br>now lit the fire for her, and brought her supper for her into her<br>own room.<br>Presently Ulysses got up to go towards the town; and Minerva shed<br>a thick mist all round him to hide him in case any of the proud<br>Phaecians who met him should be rude to him, or ask him who he was.<br>Then, as he was just entering the town, she came towards him in the<br>likeness of a little girl carrying a pitcher. She stood right in front<br>of him, and Ulysses said:<br>"My dear, will you be so kind as to show me the house of king<br>Alcinous? I am an unfortunate foreigner in distress, and do not know<br>one in your town and country."<br>Then Minerva said, "Yes, father stranger, I will show you the<br>house you want, for Alcinous lives quite close to my own father. I<br>will go before you and show the way, but say not a word as you go, and<br>do not look at any man, nor ask him questions; for the people here<br>cannot abide strangers, and do not like men who come from some other<br>place. They are a sea-faring folk, and sail the seas by the grace of<br>Neptune in ships that glide along like thought, or as a bird in the<br>air."<br>On this she led the way, and Ulysses followed in her steps; but<br>not one of the Phaecians could see him as he passed through the city<br>in the midst of them; for the great goddess Minerva in her good will<br>towards him had hidden him in a thick cloud of darkness. He admired<br>their harbours, ships, places of assembly, and the lofty walls of<br>the city, which, with the palisade on top of them, were very striking,<br>and when they reached the king's house Minerva said:<br>"This is the house, father stranger, which you would have me show<br>you. You will find a number of great people sitting at table, but do<br>not be afraid; go straight in, for the bolder a man is the more likely<br>he is to carry his point, even though he is a stranger. First find the<br>queen. Her name is Arete, and she comes of the same family as her<br>husband Alcinous. They both descend originally from Neptune, who was<br>father to Nausithous by Periboea, a woman of great beauty. Periboea<br>was the youngest daughter of Eurymedon, who at one time reigned over<br>the giants, but he ruined his ill-fated people and lost his own life<br>to boot.<br>"Neptune, however, lay with his daughter, and she had a son by<br>him, the great Nausithous, who reigned over the Phaecians.<br>Nausithous had two sons Rhexenor and Alcinous; Apollo killed the first<br>of them while he was still a bridegroom and without male issue; but he<br>left a daughter Arete, whom Alcinous married, and honours as no<br>other woman is honoured of all those that keep house along with<br>their husbands.<br>"Thus she both was, and still is, respected beyond measure by her<br>children, by Alcinous himself, and by the whole people, who look<br>upon her as a goddess, and greet her whenever she goes about the city,<br>for she is a thoroughly good woman both in head and heart, and when<br>any women are friends of hers, she will help their husbands also to<br>settle their disputes. If you can gain her good will, you may have<br>every hope of seeing your friends again, and getting safely back to<br>your home and country."<br>Then Minerva left Scheria and went away over the sea. She went to<br>Marathon and to the spacious streets of Athens, where she entered<br>the abode of Erechtheus; but Ulysses went on to the house of Alcinous,<br>and he pondered much as he paused a while before reaching the<br>threshold of bronze, for the splendour of the palace was like that<br>of the sun or moon. The walls on either side were of bronze from end<br>to end, and the cornice was of blue enamel. The doors were gold, and<br>hung on pillars of silver that rose from a floor of bronze, while<br>the lintel was silver and the hook of the door was of gold.<br>On either side there stood gold and silver mastiffs which Vulcan,<br>with his consummate skill, had fashioned expressly to keep watch<br>over the palace of king Alcinous; so they were immortal and could<br>never grow old. Seats were ranged all along the wall, here and there<br>from one end to the other, with coverings of fine woven work which the<br>women of the house had made. Here the chief persons of the Phaecians<br>used to sit and eat and drink, for there was abundance at all seasons;<br>and there were golden figures of young men with lighted torches in<br>their hands, raised on pedestals, to give light by night to those<br>who were at table. There are fifty maid servants in the house, some of<br>whom are always grinding rich yellow grain at the mill, while others<br>work at the loom, or sit and spin, and their shuttles go, backwards<br>and forwards like the fluttering of aspen leaves, while the linen is<br>so closely woven that it will turn oil. As the Phaecians are the<br>best sailors in the world, so their women excel all others in weaving,<br>for Minerva has taught them all manner of useful arts, and they are<br>very intelligent.<br>Outside the gate of the outer court there is a large garden of about<br>four acres with a wall all round it. It is full of beautiful trees-<br>pears, pomegranates, and the most delicious apples. There are luscious<br>figs also, and olives in full growth. The fruits never rot nor fail<br>all the year round, neither winter nor summer, for the air is so<br>soft that a new crop ripens before the old has dropped. Pear grows<br>on pear, apple on apple, and fig on fig, and so also with the<br>grapes, for there is an excellent vineyard: on the level ground of a<br>part of this, the grapes are being made into raisins; in another<br>part they are being gathered; some are being trodden in the wine tubs,<br>others further on have shed their blossom and are beginning to show<br>fruit, others again are just changing colour. In the furthest part<br>of the ground there are beautifully arranged beds of flowers that<br>are in bloom all the year round. Two streams go through it, the one<br>turned in ducts throughout the whole garden, while the other is<br>carried under the ground of the outer court to the house itself, and<br>the town's people draw water from it. Such, then, were the<br>splendours with which the gods had endowed the house of king Alcinous.<br>So here Ulysses stood for a while and looked about him, but when<br>he had looked long enough he crossed the threshold and went within the<br>precincts of the house. There he found all the chief people among<br>the Phaecians making their drink-offerings to Mercury, which they<br>always did the last thing before going away for the night. He went<br>straight through the court, still hidden by the cloak of darkness in<br>which Minerva had enveloped him, till he reached Arete and King<br>Alcinous; then he laid his hands upon the knees of the queen, and at<br>that moment the miraculous darkness fell away from him and he became<br>visible. Every one was speechless with surprise at seeing a man there,<br>but Ulysses began at once with his petition.<br>"Queen Arete," he exclaimed, "daughter of great Rhexenor, in my<br>distress I humbly pray you, as also your husband and these your guests<br>(whom may heaven prosper with long life and happiness, and may they<br>leave their possessions to their children, and all the honours<br>conferred upon them by the state) to help me home to my own country as<br>soon as possible; for I have been long in trouble and away from my<br>friends."<br>Then he sat down on the hearth among the ashes and they all held<br>their peace, till presently the old hero Echeneus, who was an<br>excellent speaker and an elder among the Phaeacians, plainly and in<br>all honesty addressed them thus:<br>"Alcinous," said he, "it is not creditable to you that a stranger<br>should be seen sitting among the ashes of your hearth; every one is<br>waiting to hear what you are about to say; tell him, then, to rise and<br>take a seat on a stool inlaid with silver, and bid your servants mix<br>some wine and water that we may make a drink-offering to Jove the lord<br>of thunder, who takes all well-disposed suppliants under his<br>protection; and let the housekeeper give him some supper, of<br>whatever there may be in the house."<br>When Alcinous heard this he took Ulysses by the hand, raised him<br>from the hearth, and bade him take the seat of Laodamas, who had<br>been sitting beside him, and was his favourite son. A maid servant<br>then brought him water in a beautiful golden ewer and poured it into a<br>silver basin for him to wash his hands, and she drew a clean table<br>beside him; an upper servant brought him bread and offered him many<br>good things of what there was in the house, and Ulysses ate and drank.<br>Then Alcinous said to one of the servants, "Pontonous, mix a cup of<br>wine and hand it round that we may make drink-offerings to Jove the<br>lord of thunder, who is the protector of all well-disposed<br>suppliants."<br>Pontonous then mixed wine and water, and handed it round after<br>giving every man his drink-offering. When they had made their<br>offerings, and had drunk each as much as he was minded, Alcinous said:<br>"Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians, hear my words. You<br>have had your supper, so now go home to bed. To-morrow morning I shall<br>invite a still larger number of aldermen, and will give a<br>sacrificial banquet in honour of our guest; we can then discuss the<br>question of his escort, and consider how we may at once send him<br>back rejoicing to his own country without trouble or inconvenience<br>to himself, no matter how distant it may be. We must see that he comes<br>to no harm while on his homeward journey, but when he is once at<br>home he will have to take the luck he was born with for better or<br>worse like other people. It is possible, however, that the stranger is<br>one of the immortals who has come down from heaven to visit us; but in<br>this case the gods are departing from their usual practice, for<br>hitherto they have made themselves perfectly clear to us when we<br>have been offering them hecatombs. They come and sit at our feasts<br>just like one of our selves, and if any solitary wayfarer happens to<br>stumble upon some one or other of them, they affect no concealment,<br>for we are as near of kin to the gods as the Cyclopes and the savage<br>giants are."<br>Then Ulysses said: "Pray, Alcinous, do not take any such notion into<br>your head. I have nothing of the immortal about me, neither in body<br>nor mind, and most resemble those among you who are the most<br>afflicted. Indeed, were I to tell you all that heaven has seen fit<br>to lay upon me, you would say that I was still worse off than they<br>are. Nevertheless, let me sup in spite of sorrow, for an empty stomach<br>is a very importunate thing, and thrusts itself on a man's notice no<br>matter how dire is his distress. I am in great trouble, yet it insists<br>that I shall eat and drink, bids me lay aside all memory of my sorrows<br>and dwell only on the due replenishing of itself. As for yourselves,<br>do as you propose, and at break of day set about helping me to get<br>home. I shall be content to die if I may first once more behold my<br>property, my bondsmen, and all the greatness of my house."<br>Thus did he speak. Every one approved his saying, and agreed that he<br>should have his escort inasmuch as he had spoken reasonably. Then when<br>they had made their drink-offerings, and had drunk each as much as<br>he was minded they went home to bed every man in his own abode,<br>leaving Ulysses in the cloister with Arete and Alcinous while the<br>servants were taking the things away after supper. Arete was the first<br>to speak, for she recognized the shirt, cloak, and good clothes that<br>Ulysses was wearing, as the work of herself and of her maids; so she<br>said, "Stranger, before we go any further, there is a question I<br>should like to ask you. Who, and whence are you, and who gave you<br>those clothes? Did you not say you had come here from beyond the sea?"<br>And Ulysses answered, "It would be a long story Madam, were I to<br>relate in full the tale of my misfortunes, for the hand of heaven<br>has been laid heavy upon me; but as regards your question, there is an<br>island far away in the sea which is called 'the Ogygian.' Here<br>dwells the cunning and powerful goddess Calypso, daughter of Atlas.<br>She lives by herself far from all neighbours human or divine. Fortune,<br>however, me to her hearth all desolate and alone, for Jove struck my<br>ship with his thunderbolts, and broke it up in mid-ocean. My brave<br>comrades were drowned every man of them, but I stuck to the keel and<br>was carried hither and thither for the space of nine days, till at<br>last during the darkness of the tenth night the gods brought me to the<br>Ogygian island where the great goddess Calypso lives. She took me in<br>and treated me with the utmost kindness; indeed she wanted to make<br>me immortal that I might never grow old, but she could not persuade me<br>to let her do so.<br>"I stayed with Calypso seven years straight on end, and watered<br>the good clothes she gave me with my tears during the whole time;<br>but at last when the eighth year came round she bade me depart of<br>her own free will, either because Jove had told her she must, or<br>because she had changed her mind. She sent me from her island on a<br>raft, which she provisioned with abundance of bread and wine. Moreover<br>she gave me good stout clothing, and sent me a wind that blew both<br>warm and fair. Days seven and ten did I sail over the sea, and on<br>the eighteenth I caught sight of the first outlines of the mountains<br>upon your coast- and glad indeed was I to set eyes upon them.<br>Nevertheless there was still much trouble in store for me, for at this<br>point Neptune would let me go no further, and raised a great storm<br>against me; the sea was so terribly high that I could no longer keep<br>to my raft, which went to pieces under the fury of the gale, and I had<br>to swim for it, till wind and current brought me to your shores.<br>"There I tried to land, but could not, for it was a bad place and<br>the waves dashed me against the rocks, so I again took to the sea<br>and swam on till I came to a river that seemed the most likely landing<br>place, for there were no rocks and it was sheltered from the wind.<br>Here, then, I got out of the water and gathered my senses together<br>again. Night was coming on, so I left the river, and went into a<br>thicket, where I covered myself all over with leaves, and presently<br>heaven sent me off into a very deep sleep. Sick and sorry as I was I<br>slept among the leaves all night, and through the next day till<br>afternoon, when I woke as the sun was westering, and saw your<br>daughter's maid servants playing upon the beach, and your daughter<br>among them looking like a goddess. I besought her aid, and she<br>proved to be of an excellent disposition, much more so than could be<br>expected from so young a person- for young people are apt to be<br>thoughtless. She gave me plenty of bread and wine, and when she had<br>had me washed in the river she also gave me the clothes in which you<br>see me. Now, therefore, though it has pained me to do so, I have<br>told you the whole truth."<br>Then Alcinous said, "Stranger, it was very wrong of my daughter<br>not to bring you on at once to my house along with the maids, seeing<br>that she was the first person whose aid you asked."<br>"Pray do not scold her," replied Ulysses; "she is not to blame.<br>She did tell me to follow along with the maids, but I was ashamed<br>and afraid, for I thought you might perhaps be displeased if you saw<br>me. Every human being is sometimes a little suspicious and irritable."<br>"Stranger," replied Alcinous, "I am not the kind of man to get angry<br>about nothing; it is always better to be reasonable; but by Father<br>Jove, Minerva, and Apollo, now that I see what kind of person you are,<br>and how much you think as I do, I wish you would stay here, marry my<br>daughter, and become my son-in-law. If you will stay I will give you a<br>house and an estate, but no one (heaven forbid) shall keep you here<br>against your own wish, and that you may be sure of this I will<br>attend to-morrow to the matter of your escort. You can sleep during<br>the whole voyage if you like, and the men shall sail you over smooth<br>waters either to your own home, or wherever you please, even though it<br>be a long way further off than Euboea, which those of my people who<br>saw it when they took yellow-haired Rhadamanthus to see Tityus the son<br>of Gaia, tell me is the furthest of any place- and yet they did the<br>whole voyage in a single day without distressing themselves, and<br>came back again afterwards. You will thus see how much my ships<br>excel all others, and what magnificent oarsmen my sailors are."<br>Then was Ulysses glad and prayed aloud saying, "Father Jove, grant<br>that Alcinous may do all as he has said, for so he will win an<br>imperishable name among mankind, and at the same time I shall return<br>to my country."<br>Thus did they converse. Then Arete told her maids to set a bed in<br>the room that was in the gatehouse, and make it with good red rugs,<br>and to spread coverlets on the top of them with woollen cloaks for<br>Ulysses to wear. The maids thereon went out with torches in their<br>hands, and when they had made the bed they came up to Ulysses and<br>said, "Rise, sir stranger, and come with us for your bed is ready,"<br>and glad indeed was he to go to his rest.<br>So Ulysses slept in a bed placed in a room over the echoing gateway;<br>but Alcinous lay in the inner part of the house, with the queen his<br>wife by his side.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a>, translated by Samuel Butler<div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410335" data-title="The Odyssey: Book 7 de Homer" data-description="Thus, then, did Ulysses wait and pray; but the girl drove on to/the town. When she reached her father's house she drew up at the/gateway, and her brothers- comely as the gods- gathered round her,/took the mules out of the waggon, and carried the c..."></div> </div> </div>

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