<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410336" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Odyssey: Book 8</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,<br>Alcinous and Ulysses both rose, and Alcinous led the way to the<br>Phaecian place of assembly, which was near the ships. When they got<br>there they sat down side by side on a seat of polished stone, while<br>Minerva took the form of one of Alcinous' servants, and went round the<br>town in order to help Ulysses to get home. She went up to the<br>citizens, man by man, and said, "Aldermen and town councillors of<br>the Phaeacians, come to the assembly all of you and listen to the<br>stranger who has just come off a long voyage to the house of King<br>Alcinous; he looks like an immortal god."<br>With these words she made them all want to come, and they flocked to<br>the assembly till seats and standing room were alike crowded. Every<br>one was struck with the appearance of Ulysses, for Minerva had<br>beautified him about the head and shoulders, making him look taller<br>and stouter than he really was, that he might impress the Phaecians<br>favourably as being a very remarkable man, and might come off well<br>in the many trials of skill to which they would challenge him. Then,<br>when they were got together, Alcinous spoke:<br>"Hear me," said he, "aldermen and town councillors of the<br>Phaeacians, that I may speak even as I am minded. This stranger,<br>whoever he may be, has found his way to my house from somewhere or<br>other either East or West. He wants an escort and wishes to have the<br>matter settled. Let us then get one ready for him, as we have done for<br>others before him; indeed, no one who ever yet came to my house has<br>been able to complain of me for not speeding on his way soon enough.<br>Let us draw a ship into the sea- one that has never yet made a voyage-<br>and man her with two and fifty of our smartest young sailors. Then<br>when you have made fast your oars each by his own seat, leave the ship<br>and come to my house to prepare a feast. I will find you in<br>everything. I am giving will these instructions to the young men who<br>will form the crew, for as regards you aldermen and town<br>councillors, you will join me in entertaining our guest in the<br>cloisters. I can take no excuses, and we will have Demodocus to sing<br>to us; for there is no bard like him whatever he may choose to sing<br>about."<br>Alcinous then led the way, and the others followed after, while a<br>servant went to fetch Demodocus. The fifty-two picked oarsmen went<br>to the sea shore as they had been told, and when they got there they<br>drew the ship into the water, got her mast and sails inside her, bound<br>the oars to the thole-pins with twisted thongs of leather, all in<br>due course, and spread the white sails aloft. They moored the vessel a<br>little way out from land, and then came on shore and went to the house<br>of King Alcinous. The outhouses, yards, and all the precincts were<br>filled with crowds of men in great multitudes both old and young;<br>and Alcinous killed them a dozen sheep, eight full grown pigs, and two<br>oxen. These they skinned and dressed so as to provide a magnificent<br>banquet.<br>A servant presently led in the famous bard Demodocus, whom the<br>muse had dearly loved, but to whom she had given both good and evil,<br>for though she had endowed him with a divine gift of song, she had<br>robbed him of his eyesight. Pontonous set a seat for him among the<br>guests, leaning it up against a bearing-post. He hung the lyre for him<br>on a peg over his head, and showed him where he was to feel for it<br>with his hands. He also set a fair table with a basket of victuals<br>by his side, and a cup of wine from which he might drink whenever he<br>was so disposed.<br>The company then laid their hands upon the good things that were<br>before them, but as soon as they had had enough to eat and drink,<br>the muse inspired Demodocus to sing the feats of heroes, and more<br>especially a matter that was then in the mouths of all men, to wit,<br>the quarrel between Ulysses and Achilles, and the fierce words that<br>they heaped on one another as they gat together at a banquet. But<br>Agamemnon was glad when he heard his chieftains quarrelling with one<br>another, for Apollo had foretold him this at Pytho when he crossed the<br>stone floor to consult the oracle. Here was the beginning of the<br>evil that by the will of Jove fell both Danaans and Trojans.<br>Thus sang the bard, but Ulysses drew his purple mantle over his head<br>and covered his face, for he was ashamed to let the Phaeacians see<br>that he was weeping. When the bard left off singing he wiped the tears<br>from his eyes, uncovered his face, and, taking his cup, made a<br>drink-offering to the gods; but when the Phaeacians pressed<br>Demodocus to sing further, for they delighted in his lays, then<br>Ulysses again drew his mantle over his head and wept bitterly. No<br>one noticed his distress except Alcinous, who was sitting near him,<br>and heard the heavy sighs that he was heaving. So he at once said,<br>"Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians, we have had enough<br>now, both of the feast, and of the minstrelsy that is its due<br>accompaniment; let us proceed therefore to the athletic sports, so<br>that our guest on his return home may be able to tell his friends<br>how much we surpass all other nations as boxers, wrestlers, jumpers,<br>and runners."<br>With these words he led the way, and the others followed after. A<br>servant hung Demodocus's lyre on its peg for him, led him out of the<br>cloister, and set him on the same way as that along which all the<br>chief men of the Phaeacians were going to see the sports; a crowd of<br>several thousands of people followed them, and there were many<br>excellent competitors for all the prizes. Acroneos, Ocyalus, Elatreus,<br>Nauteus, Prymneus, Anchialus, Eretmeus, Ponteus, Proreus, Thoon,<br>Anabesineus, and Amphialus son of Polyneus son of Tecton. There was<br>also Euryalus son of Naubolus, who was like Mars himself, and was<br>the best looking man among the Phaecians except Laodamas. Three sons<br>of Alcinous, Laodamas, Halios, and Clytoneus, competed also.<br>The foot races came first. The course was set out for them from<br>the starting post, and they raised a dust upon the plain as they all<br>flew forward at the same moment. Clytoneus came in first by a long<br>way; he left every one else behind him by the length of the furrow<br>that a couple of mules can plough in a fallow field. They then<br>turned to the painful art of wrestling, and here Euryalus proved to be<br>the best man. Amphialus excelled all the others in jumping, while at<br>throwing the disc there was no one who could approach Elatreus.<br>Alcinous's son Laodamas was the best boxer, and he it was who<br>presently said, when they had all been diverted with the games, "Let<br>us ask the stranger whether he excels in any of these sports; he seems<br>very powerfully built; his thighs, claves, hands, and neck are of<br>prodigious strength, nor is he at all old, but he has suffered much<br>lately, and there is nothing like the sea for making havoc with a man,<br>no matter how strong he is."<br>"You are quite right, Laodamas," replied Euryalus, "go up to your<br>guest and speak to him about it yourself."<br>When Laodamas heard this he made his way into the middle of the<br>crowd and said to Ulysses, "I hope, Sir, that you will enter<br>yourself for some one or other of our competitions if you are<br>skilled in any of them- and you must have gone in for many a one<br>before now. There is nothing that does any one so much credit all<br>his life long as the showing himself a proper man with his hands and<br>feet. Have a try therefore at something, and banish all sorrow from<br>your mind. Your return home will not be long delayed, for the ship<br>is already drawn into the water, and the crew is found."<br>Ulysses answered, "Laodamas, why do you taunt me in this way? my<br>mind is set rather on cares than contests; I have been through<br>infinite trouble, and am come among you now as a suppliant, praying<br>your king and people to further me on my return home."<br>Then Euryalus reviled him outright and said, "I gather, then, that<br>you are unskilled in any of the many sports that men generally delight<br>in. I suppose you are one of those grasping traders that go about in<br>ships as captains or merchants, and who think of nothing but of<br>their outward freights and homeward cargoes. There does not seem to be<br>much of the athlete about you."<br>"For shame, Sir," answered Ulysses, fiercely, "you are an insolent<br>fellow- so true is it that the gods do not grace all men alike in<br>speech, person, and understanding. One man may be of weak presence,<br>but heaven has adorned this with such a good conversation that he<br>charms every one who sees him; his honeyed moderation carries his<br>hearers with him so that he is leader in all assemblies of his<br>fellows, and wherever he goes he is looked up to. Another may be as<br>handsome as a god, but his good looks are not crowned with discretion.<br>This is your case. No god could make a finer looking fellow than you<br>are, but you are a fool. Your ill-judged remarks have made me<br>exceedingly angry, and you are quite mistaken, for I excel in a<br>great many athletic exercises; indeed, so long as I had youth and<br>strength, I was among the first athletes of the age. Now, however, I<br>am worn out by labour and sorrow, for I have gone through much both on<br>the field of battle and by the waves of the weary sea; still, in spite<br>of all this I will compete, for your taunts have stung me to the<br>quick."<br>So he hurried up without even taking his cloak off, and seized a<br>disc, larger, more massive and much heavier than those used by the<br>Phaeacians when disc-throwing among themselves. Then, swinging it<br>back, he threw it from his brawny hand, and it made a humming sound in<br>the air as he did so. The Phaeacians quailed beneath the rushing of<br>its flight as it sped gracefully from his hand, and flew beyond any<br>mark that had been made yet. Minerva, in the form of a man, came and<br>marked the place where it had fallen. "A blind man, Sir," said she,<br>"could easily tell your mark by groping for it- it is so far ahead<br>of any other. You may make your mind easy about this contest, for no<br>Phaeacian can come near to such a throw as yours."<br>Ulysses was glad when he found he had a friend among the lookers-on,<br>so he began to speak more pleasantly. "Young men," said he, "come up<br>to that throw if you can, and I will throw another disc as heavy or<br>even heavier. If anyone wants to have a bout with me let him come<br>on, for I am exceedingly angry; I will box, wrestle, or run, I do<br>not care what it is, with any man of you all except Laodamas, but<br>not with him because I am his guest, and one cannot compete with one's<br>own personal friend. At least I do not think it a prudent or a<br>sensible thing for a guest to challenge his host's family at any game,<br>especially when he is in a foreign country. He will cut the ground<br>from under his own feet if he does; but I make no exception as regards<br>any one else, for I want to have the matter out and know which is<br>the best man. I am a good hand at every kind of athletic sport known<br>among mankind. I am an excellent archer. In battle I am always the<br>first to bring a man down with my arrow, no matter how many more are<br>taking aim at him alongside of me. Philoctetes was the only man who<br>could shoot better than I could when we Achaeans were before Troy<br>and in practice. I far excel every one else in the whole world, of<br>those who still eat bread upon the face of the earth, but I should not<br>like to shoot against the mighty dead, such as Hercules, or Eurytus<br>the Cechalian-men who could shoot against the gods themselves. This in<br>fact was how Eurytus came prematurely by his end, for Apollo was angry<br>with him and killed him because he challenged him as an archer. I<br>can throw a dart farther than any one else can shoot an arrow. Running<br>is the only point in respect of which I am afraid some of the<br>Phaecians might beat me, for I have been brought down very low at sea;<br>my provisions ran short, and therefore I am still weak."<br>They all held their peace except King Alcinous, who began, "Sir,<br>we have had much pleasure in hearing all that you have told us, from<br>which I understand that you are willing to show your prowess, as<br>having been displeased with some insolent remarks that have been<br>made to you by one of our athletes, and which could never have been<br>uttered by any one who knows how to talk with propriety. I hope you<br>will apprehend my meaning, and will explain to any be one of your<br>chief men who may be dining with yourself and your family when you get<br>home, that we have an hereditary aptitude for accomplishments of all<br>kinds. We are not particularly remarkable for our boxing, nor yet as<br>wrestlers, but we are singularly fleet of foot and are excellent<br>sailors. We are extremely fond of good dinners, music, and dancing; we<br>also like frequent changes of linen, warm baths, and good beds, so<br>now, please, some of you who are the best dancers set about dancing,<br>that our guest on his return home may be able to tell his friends<br>how much we surpass all other nations as sailors, runners, dancers,<br>minstrels. Demodocus has left his lyre at my house, so run some one or<br>other of you and fetch it for him."<br>On this a servant hurried off to bring the lyre from the king's<br>house, and the nine men who had been chosen as stewards stood forward.<br>It was their business to manage everything connected with the<br>sports, so they made the ground smooth and marked a wide space for the<br>dancers. Presently the servant came back with Demodocus's lyre, and he<br>took his place in the midst of them, whereon the best young dancers in<br>the town began to foot and trip it so nimbly that Ulysses was<br>delighted with the merry twinkling of their feet.<br>Meanwhile the bard began to sing the loves of Mars and Venus, and<br>how they first began their intrigue in the house of Vulcan. Mars<br>made Venus many presents, and defiled King Vulcan's marriage bed, so<br>the sun, who saw what they were about, told Vulcan. Vulcan was very<br>angry when he heard such dreadful news, so he went to his smithy<br>brooding mischief, got his great anvil into its place, and began to<br>forge some chains which none could either unloose or break, so that<br>they might stay there in that place. When he had finished his snare he<br>went into his bedroom and festooned the bed-posts all over with chains<br>like cobwebs; he also let many hang down from the great beam of the<br>ceiling. Not even a god could see them, so fine and subtle were<br>they. As soon as he had spread the chains all over the bed, he made as<br>though he were setting out for the fair state of Lemnos, which of<br>all places in the world was the one he was most fond of. But Mars kept<br>no blind look out, and as soon as he saw him start, hurried off to his<br>house, burning with love for Venus.<br>Now Venus was just come in from a visit to her father Jove, and<br>was about sitting down when Mars came inside the house, an said as<br>he took her hand in his own, "Let us go to the couch of Vulcan: he<br>is not at home, but is gone off to Lemnos among the Sintians, whose<br>speech is barbarous."<br>She was nothing loth, so they went to the couch to take their<br>rest, whereon they were caught in the toils which cunning Vulcan had<br>spread for them, and could neither get up nor stir hand or foot, but<br>found too late that they were in a trap. Then Vulcan came up to<br>them, for he had turned back before reaching Lemnos, when his scout<br>the sun told him what was going on. He was in a furious passion, and<br>stood in the vestibule making a dreadful noise as he shouted to all<br>the gods.<br>"Father Jove," he cried, "and all you other blessed gods who live<br>for ever, come here and see the ridiculous and disgraceful sight<br>that I will show you. Jove's daughter Venus is always dishonouring<br>me because I am lame. She is in love with Mars, who is handsome and<br>clean built, whereas I am a cripple- but my parents are to blame for<br>that, not I; they ought never to have begotten me. Come and see the<br>pair together asleep on my bed. It makes me furious to look at them.<br>They are very fond of one another, but I do not think they will lie<br>there longer than they can help, nor do I think that they will sleep<br>much; there, however, they shall stay till her father has repaid me<br>the sum I gave him for his baggage of a daughter, who is fair but<br>not honest."<br>On this the gods gathered to the house of Vulcan. Earth-encircling<br>Neptune came, and Mercury the bringer of luck, and King Apollo, but<br>the goddesses stayed at home all of them for shame. Then the givers of<br>all good things stood in the doorway, and the blessed gods roared with<br>inextinguishable laughter, as they saw how cunning Vulcan had been,<br>whereon one would turn towards his neighbour saying:<br>"Ill deeds do not prosper, and the weak confound the strong. See how<br>limping Vulcan, lame as he is, has caught Mars who is the fleetest god<br>in heaven; and now Mars will be cast in heavy damages."<br>Thus did they converse, but King Apollo said to Mercury,<br>"Messenger Mercury, giver of good things, you would not care how<br>strong the chains were, would you, if you could sleep with Venus?"<br>"King Apollo," answered Mercury, "I only wish I might get the<br>chance, though there were three times as many chains- and you might<br>look on, all of you, gods and goddesses, but would sleep with her if I<br>could."<br>The immortal gods burst out laughing as they heard him, but<br>Neptune took it all seriously, and kept on imploring Vulcan to set<br>Mars free again. "Let him go," he cried, "and I will undertake, as you<br>require, that he shall pay you all the damages that are held<br>reasonable among the immortal gods."<br>"Do not," replied Vulcan, "ask me to do this; a bad man's bond is<br>bad security; what remedy could I enforce against you if Mars should<br>go away and leave his debts behind him along with his chains?"<br>"Vulcan," said Neptune, "if Mars goes away without paying his<br>damages, I will pay you myself." So Vulcan answered, "In this case I<br>cannot and must not refuse you."<br>Thereon he loosed the bonds that bound them, and as soon as they<br>were free they scampered off, Mars to Thrace and laughter-loving Venus<br>to Cyprus and to Paphos, where is her grove and her altar fragrant<br>with burnt offerings. Here the Graces hathed her, and anointed her<br>with oil of ambrosia such as the immortal gods make use of, and they<br>clothed her in raiment of the most enchanting beauty.<br>Thus sang the bard, and both Ulysses and the seafaring Phaeacians<br>were charmed as they heard him.<br>Then Alcinous told Laodamas and Halius to dance alone, for there was<br>no one to compete with them. So they took a red ball which Polybus had<br>made for them, and one of them bent himself backwards and threw it<br>up towards the clouds, while the other jumped from off the ground<br>and caught it with ease before it came down again. When they had<br>done throwing the ball straight up into the air they began to dance,<br>and at the same time kept on throwing it backwards and forwards to one<br>another, while all the young men in the ring applauded and made a<br>great stamping with their feet. Then Ulysses said:<br>"King Alcinous, you said your people were the nimblest dancers in<br>the world, and indeed they have proved themselves to be so. I was<br>astonished as I saw them."<br>The king was delighted at this, and exclaimed to the Phaecians<br>"Aldermen and town councillors, our guest seems to be a person of<br>singular judgement; let us give him such proof of our hospitality as<br>he may reasonably expect. There are twelve chief men among you, and<br>counting myself there are thirteen; contribute, each of you, a clean<br>cloak, a shirt, and a talent of fine gold; let us give him all this in<br>a lump down at once, so that when he gets his supper he may do so with<br>a light heart. As for Euryalus he will have to make a formal apology<br>and a present too, for he has been rude."<br>Thus did he speak. The others all of them applauded his saying,<br>and sent their servants to fetch the presents. Then Euryalus said,<br>"King Alcinous, I will give the stranger all the satisfaction you<br>require. He shall have sword, which is of bronze, all but the hilt,<br>which is of silver. I will also give him the scabbard of newly sawn<br>ivory into which it fits. It will be worth a great deal to him."<br>As he spoke he placed the sword in the hands of Ulysses and said,<br>"Good luck to you, father stranger; if anything has been said amiss<br>may the winds blow it away with them, and may heaven grant you a<br>safe return, for I understand you have been long away from home, and<br>have gone through much hardship."<br>To which Ulysses answered, "Good luck to you too my friend, and<br>may the gods grant you every happiness. I hope you will not miss the<br>sword you have given me along with your apology."<br>With these words he girded the sword about his shoulders and towards<br>sundown the presents began to make their appearance, as the servants<br>of the donors kept bringing them to the house of King Alcinous; here<br>his sons received them, and placed them under their mother's charge.<br>Then Alcinous led the way to the house and bade his guests take<br>their seats.<br>"Wife," said he, turning to Queen Arete, "Go, fetch the best chest<br>we have, and put a clean cloak and shirt in it. Also, set a copper<br>on the fire and heat some water; our guest will take a warm bath;<br>see also to the careful packing of the presents that the noble<br>Phaeacians have made him; he will thus better enjoy both his supper<br>and the singing that will follow. I shall myself give him this<br>golden goblet- which is of exquisite workmanship- that he may be<br>reminded of me for the rest of his life whenever he makes a<br>drink-offering to Jove, or to any of the gods."<br>Then Arete told her maids to set a large tripod upon the fire as<br>fast as they could, whereon they set a tripod full of bath water on to<br>a clear fire; they threw on sticks to make it blaze, and the water<br>became hot as the flame played about the belly of the tripod.<br>Meanwhile Arete brought a magnificent chest her own room, and inside<br>it she packed all the beautiful presents of gold and raiment which the<br>Phaeacians had brought. Lastly she added a cloak and a good shirt from<br>Alcinous, and said to Ulysses:<br>"See to the lid yourself, and have the whole bound round at once,<br>for fear any one should rob you by the way when you are asleep in your<br>ship."<br>When Ulysses heard this he put the lid on the chest and made it fast<br>with a bond that Circe had taught him. He had done so before an<br>upper servant told him to come to the bath and wash himself. He was<br>very glad of a warm bath, for he had had no one to wait upon him<br>ever since he left the house of Calypso, who as long as he remained<br>with her had taken as good care of him as though he had been a god.<br>When the servants had done washing and anointing him with oil, and had<br>given him a clean cloak and shirt, he left the bath room and joined<br>the guests who were sitting over their wine. Lovely Nausicaa stood<br>by one of the bearing-posts supporting the roof if the cloister, and<br>admired him as she saw him pass. "Farewell stranger," said she, "do<br>not forget me when you are safe at home again, for it is to me first<br>that you owe a ransom for having saved your life."<br>And Ulysses said, "Nausicaa, daughter of great Alcinous, may Jove<br>the mighty husband of Juno, grant that I may reach my home; so shall I<br>bless you as my guardian angel all my days, for it was you who saved<br>me."<br>When he had said this, he seated himself beside Alcinous. Supper was<br>then served, and the wine was mixed for drinking. A servant led in the<br>favourite bard Demodocus, and set him in the midst of the company,<br>near one of the bearing-posts supporting the cloister, that he might<br>lean against it. Then Ulysses cut off a piece of roast pork with<br>plenty of fat (for there was abundance left on the joint) and said<br>to a servant, "Take this piece of pork over to Demodocus and tell<br>him to eat it; for all the pain his lays may cause me I will salute<br>him none the less; bards are honoured and respected throughout the<br>world, for the muse teaches them their songs and loves them."<br>The servant carried the pork in his fingers over to Demodocus, who<br>took it and was very much pleased. They then laid their hands on the<br>good things that were before them, and as soon as they had had to<br>eat and drink, Ulysses said to Demodocus, "Demodocus, there is no<br>one in the world whom I admire more than I do you. You must have<br>studied under the Muse, Jove's daughter, and under Apollo, so<br>accurately do you sing the return of the Achaeans with all their<br>sufferings and adventures. If you were not there yourself, you must<br>have heard it all from some one who was. Now, however, change your<br>song and tell us of the wooden horse which Epeus made with the<br>assistance of Minerva, and which Ulysses got by stratagem into the<br>fort of Troy after freighting it with the men who afterwards sacked<br>the city. If you will sing this tale aright I will tell all the<br>world how magnificently heaven has endowed you."<br>The bard inspired of heaven took up the story at the point where<br>some of the Argives set fire to their tents and sailed away while<br>others, hidden within the horse, were waiting with Ulysses in the<br>Trojan place of assembly. For the Trojans themselves had drawn the<br>horse into their fortress, and it stood there while they sat in<br>council round it, and were in three minds as to what they should do.<br>Some were for breaking it up then and there; others would have it<br>dragged to the top of the rock on which the fortress stood, and then<br>thrown down the precipice; while yet others were for letting it remain<br>as an offering and propitiation for the gods. And this was how they<br>settled it in the end, for the city was doomed when it took in that<br>horse, within which were all the bravest of the Argives waiting to<br>bring death and destruction on the Trojans. Anon he sang how the<br>sons of the Achaeans issued from the horse, and sacked the town,<br>breaking out from their ambuscade. He sang how they over ran the<br>city hither and thither and ravaged it, and how Ulysses went raging<br>like Mars along with Menelaus to the house of Deiphobus. It was<br>there that the fight raged most furiously, nevertheless by Minerva's<br>help he was victorious.<br>All this he told, but Ulysses was overcome as he heard him, and<br>his cheeks were wet with tears. He wept as a woman weeps when she<br>throws herself on the body of her husband who has fallen before his<br>own city and people, fighting bravely in defence of his home and<br>children. She screams aloud and flings her arms about him as he lies<br>gasping for breath and dying, but her enemies beat her from behind<br>about the back and shoulders, and carry her off into slavery, to a<br>life of labour and sorrow, and the beauty fades from her cheeks-<br>even so piteously did Ulysses weep, but none of those present<br>perceived his tears except Alcinous, who was sitting near him, and<br>could hear the sobs and sighs that he was heaving. The king,<br>therefore, at once rose and said:<br>"Aldermen and town councillors of the Phaeacians, let Demodocus<br>cease his song, for there are those present who do not seem to like<br>it. From the moment that we had done supper and Demodocus began to<br>sing, our guest has been all the time groaning and lamenting. He is<br>evidently in great trouble, so let the bard leave off, that we may all<br>enjoy ourselves, hosts and guest alike. This will be much more as it<br>should be, for all these festivities, with the escort and the presents<br>that we are making with so much good will, are wholly in his honour,<br>and any one with even a moderate amount of right feeling knows that he<br>ought to treat a guest and a suppliant as though he were his own<br>brother.<br>"Therefore, Sir, do you on your part affect no more concealment<br>nor reserve in the matter about which I shall ask you; it will be more<br>polite in you to give me a plain answer; tell me the name by which<br>your father and mother over yonder used to call you, and by which<br>you were known among your neighbours and fellow-citizens. There is<br>no one, neither rich nor poor, who is absolutely without any name<br>whatever, for people's fathers and mothers give them names as soon<br>as they are born. Tell me also your country, nation, and city, that<br>our ships may shape their purpose accordingly and take you there.<br>For the Phaeacians have no pilots; their vessels have no rudders as<br>those of other nations have, but the ships themselves understand<br>what it is that we are thinking about and want; they know all the<br>cities and countries in the whole world, and can traverse the sea just<br>as well even when it is covered with mist and cloud, so that there<br>is no danger of being wrecked or coming to any harm. Still I do<br>remember hearing my father say that Neptune was angry with us for<br>being too easy-going in the matter of giving people escorts. He said<br>that one of these days he should wreck a ship of ours as it was<br>returning from having escorted some one, and bury our city under a<br>high mountain. This is what my used to say, but whether the god will<br>carry out his threat or no is a matter which he will decide for<br>himself.<br>"And now, tell me and tell me true. Where have you been wandering,<br>and in what countries have you travelled? Tell us of the peoples<br>themselves, and of their cities- who were hostile, savage and<br>uncivilized, and who, on the other hand, hospitable and humane. Tell<br>us also why you are made unhappy on hearing about the return of the<br>Argive Danaans from Troy. The gods arranged all this, and sent them<br>their misfortunes in order that future generations might have<br>something to sing about. Did you lose some brave kinsman of your<br>wife's when you were before Troy? a son-in-law or father-in-law- which<br>are the nearest relations a man has outside his own flesh and blood?<br>or was it some brave and kindly-natured comrade- for a good friend<br>is as dear to a man as his own brother?"</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=410336" data-title="The Odyssey: Book 8 de Homer" data-description="Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,/Alcinous and Ulysses both rose, and Alcinous led the way to the/Phaecian place of assembly, which was near the ships. When they got/there they sat down side by side on a seat of polished..."></div> </div> </div>

solid border dashed border dotted border double border groove border ridge border inset border outset border no border blue green red purple cyan gold silver black