The Odyssey

Alcinous calls a council, in which it is resolved to transport Ulysses into his country. After which splendid entertainments are made, where the celebrated musician and poet, Demodocus, plays and sings to the guests. They next proceed to the games, the race, the wrestling, discus, &c., where Ulysses casts a prodigious length, to the admiration of all the spectators. They return again to the banquet and Demodocus sings the loves of Mars and Venus. Ulysses, after a compliment to the poet, desires him to sing the introduction of the wooden horse into Troy, which subject provoking his tears, Alcinous inquires of his guest his name, parentage, and fortunes.

Now fair Aurora lifts her golden ray, And all the ruddy orient flames with day: Alcinous, and the chief, with dawning light, Rose instant from the slumbers of the night; Then to the council-seat they bend their way, And fill the shining thrones along the bay.

She spoke, and sudden with tumultuous sounds Of thronging multitudes the shore rebounds: At once the seats they fill; and every eye Glazed, as before some brother of the sky. Pallas with grace divine his form improves, More high he treads, and more enlarged he moves: She sheds celestial bloom, regard to draw; And gives a dignity of mien, to awe; With strength, the future prize of fame to play, And gather all the honours of the day.

Then from his glittering throne Alcinous rose; “Attend (he cried) while we our will disclose. Your present aid this godlike stranger craves, Toss’d by rude tempest through a war of waves; Perhaps from realms that view the rising day, Or nations subject to the western ray. Then grant, what here all sons of woe obtain (For here affliction never pleads in vain); Be chosen youth prepared, expert to try The vast profound and bid the vessel fly; Launch the tall back, and order every oar; Then in our court indulge the genial hour. Instant, you sailors to this task attend; Swift to the palace, all ye peers ascend; Let none to strangers honours due disclaim: Be there Demodocus the bard of fame, Taught by the gods to please, when high he sings The vocal lay, responsive to the strings.”

Thus spoke the prince; the attending peers obey; In state they move; Alcinous heads the way Swift to Demodocus the herald flies, At once the sailors to their charge arise; They launch the vessel, and unfurl the sails, And stretch the swelling canvas to the gales; Then to the palace move: a gathering throng, Youth, and white age, tumultuous pour along. Now all accesses to the dome are fill’d; Eight boars, the choicest of the herd, are kill’d; Two beeves, twelve fatlings, from the flock they bring To crown the feast; so wills the bounteous king. The herald now arrives, and guides along The sacred master of celestial song; Dear to the Muse! who gave his days to flow With mighty blessings, mix’d with mighty woe; With clouds of darkness quench’d his visual ray, But gave him skill to raise the lofty lay. High on a radiant throne sublime in state, Encircled by huge multitudes, he sate; With silver shone the throne; his lyre, well strung To rapturous sounds, at hand Poutonous hung. Before his seat a polish’d table shines, And a full goblet foams with generous wines; His food a herald bore; and now they fed; And now the rage of craving hunger fled.

Then, fired by all the Muse, aloud he sings The mighty deeds of demigods and kings; From that fierce wrath the noble song arose, That made Ulysses and Achilles foes; How o’er the feast they doom the fall of Troy; The stern debate Atrides hears with joy; For Heaven foretold the contest, when he trod The marble threshold of the Delphic god, Curious to learn the counsels of the sky, Ere yet he loosed the rage of war on Troy.

Touch’d at the song, Ulysses straight resign’d To soft affliction all his manly mind. Before his eyes the purple vest he drew, Industrious to conceal the falling dew; But when the music paused, he ceased to shed The flowing tear, and raised his drooping head; And, lifting to the gods a goblet crown’d, He pour’d a pure libation to the ground.

Transported with the song, the listening train Again with loud applause demand the strain; Again Ulysses veil’d his pensive head. Again unmann’d, a shower of sorrows shed; Conceal’d he wept; the king observed alone The silent tear, and heard the secret groan; Then to the bard aloud—“O cease to sing, Dumb be thy voice and mute the harmonious string; Enough the feast has pleased, enough the power Of heavenly song has crown’d the genial hour! Incessant in the games your strength display, Contest, ye brave the honours of the day! That pleased the admiring stranger may proclaim In distant regions the Phæacian fame: None wield the gauntlet with so dire a sway, Or swifter in the race devour the way; None in the leap spring with so strong a bound, Or firmer, in the wrestling, press the ground.”

Thus spoke the king; the attending peers obey; In state they move, Alcinous lends the way; His golden lyre Demodocus unstrung, High on a column in the palace hung; And guided by a herald’s guardian cares, Majestic to the lists of Fame repairs.

Now swarms the populace: a countless throng, Youth and hoar age; and man drives man along. The games begin; ambitious of the prize, Acroneus, Thoon, and Eretmeus rise; The prize Ocyalus and Prymneus claim, Anchialus and Ponteus, chiefs of fame. There Proreus, Nautes, Eratreus, appear And famed Amphialus, Polyneus’ heir; Euryalus, like Mars terrific, rose, When clad in wrath he withers hosts of foes; Naubolides with grace unequall’d shone, Or equall’d by Laodamas alone. With these came forth Ambasineus the strong: And three brave sons, from great Alcinous sprung.

Ranged in a line the ready racers stand, Start from the goal, and vanish o’er the strand: Swift as on wings of winds, upborne they fly, And drifts of rising dust involve the sky. Before the rest, what space the hinds allow Between the mule and ox, from plough to plough, Clytonius sprung: he wing’d the rapid way, And bore the unrivall’d honours of the day. With fierce embrace the brawny wrestlers join; The conquest, great Euryalus, is thine. Amphialus sprung forward with a bound, Superior in the leap, a length of ground. From Elatreus’ strong arm the discus flies, And sings with unmatch’d force along the skies. And Laodam whirls high, with dreadful sway, The gloves of death, victorious in the fray.

“O friends (he cries), the stranger seems well skill’d To try the illustrious labours of the field: I deem him brave: then grant the brave man’s claim, Invite the hero to his share of fame. What nervous arms he boasts! how firm his tread! His limbs how turn’d! how broad his shoulders spread! By age unbroke!—but all-consuming care Destroys perhaps the strength that time would spare: Dire is the ocean, dread in all its forms! Man must decay when man contends with storms.”

“Vouchsafes the reverend stranger to display His manly worth, and share the glorious day? Father, arise! for thee thy port proclaims Expert to conquer in the solemn games. To fame arise! for what more fame can yield Than the swift race, or conflict of the field? Steal from corroding care one transient day, To glory give the space thou hast to stay; Short is the time, and lo! e’en now the gales Call thee aboard, and stretch the swelling sails.”

To whom with sighs Ulysses gave reply: “Ah why the ill-suiting pastime must I try? To gloomy care my thoughts alone are free; Ill the gay sports with troubled hearts agree; Sad from my natal hour my days have ran, A much-afflicted, much-enduring man! Who, suppliant to the king and peers, implores A speedy voyage to his native shore.”

“Wide wanders, Laodam, thy erring tongue The sports of glory to the brave belong (Retorts Euryalus): he bears no claim Among the great, unlike the sons of Fame. A wandering merchant he frequents the main Some mean seafarer in pursuit of gain; Studious of freight, in naval trade well skill’d, But dreads the athletic labours of the field.”

Incensed, Ulysses with a frown replies: “O forward to proclaim thy soul unwise! With partial hands the gods their gifts dispense; Some greatly think, some speak with manly sense; Here Heaven an elegance of form denies, But wisdom the defect of form supplies; This man with energy of thought controls, And steals with modest violence our souls; He speaks reservedly, but he speaks with force, Nor can one word be changed but for a worse; In public more than mortal he appears, And as he moves, the praising crowd reveres; While others, beauteous as the etherial kind, The nobler portion went, a knowing mind, In outward show Heaven gives thee to excel. But Heaven denies the praise of thinking well I’ll bear the brave a rude ungovern’d tongue, And, youth, my generous soul resents the wrong. Skill’d in heroic exercise, I claim A post of honour with the sons of Fame. Such was my boast while vigour crown’d my days, Now care surrounds me, and my force decays; Inured a melancholy part to bear In scenes of death, by tempest and by war Yet thus by woes impair’d, no more I waive To prove the hero—slander stings the brave.”

Then gliding forward with a furious bound He wrench’d a rocky fragment from the ground By far more ponderous, and more huge by far Than what Phæacia’s sons discharged in air. Fierce from his arm the enormous load he flings; Sonorous through the shaded air it sings; Couch’d to the earth, tempestuous as it flies, The crowd gaze upward while it cleaves the skies. Beyond all marks, with many a giddy round Down-rushing, it up-turns a hill of ground.

“E’en he who, sightless, wants his visual ray May by his touch alone award the day: Thy signal throw transcends the utmost bound Of every champion by a length of ground: Securely bid the strongest of the train Arise to throw; the strongest throws in vain.”

She spoke: and momentary mounts the sky: The friendly voice Ulysses hears with joy. Then thus aloud (elate with decent pride) “Rise, ye Phæacians, try your force (he cried): If with this throw the strongest caster vie, Still, further still, I bid the discus fly. Stand forth, ye champions, who the gauntlet wield, Or ye, the swiftest racers of the field! Stand forth, ye wrestlers, who these pastimes grace! I wield the gauntlet, and I run the race. In such heroic games I yield to none, Or yield to brave Laodamas alone: Shall I with brave Laodamas contend? A friend is sacred, and I style him friend. Ungenerous were the man, and base of heart, Who takes the kind, and pays the ungrateful part: Chiefly the man, in foreign realms confined, Base to his friend, to his own interest blind: All, all your heroes I this day defy; Give me a man that we our might may try. Expert in every art, I boast the skill To give the feather’d arrow wings to kill; Should a whole host at once discharge the bow, My well-aim’d shaft with death prevents the foe: Alone superior in the field of Troy, Great Philoctetes taught the shaft to fly. From all the sons of earth unrivall’d praise I justly claim; but yield to better days, To those famed days when great Alcides rose, And Eurytus, who bade the gods be foes (Vain Eurytus, whose art became his crime, Swept from the earth, he perish’d in his prime: Sudden the irremeable way he trod, Who boldly durst defy the bowyer god). In fighting fields as far the spear I throw As flies an arrow from the well-drawn bow.

“Well hast thou spoke, and well thy generous tongue With decent pride refutes a public wrong: Warm are thy words, but warm without offence; Fear only fools, secure in men of sense; Thy worth is known. Then hear our country’s claim, And bear to heroes our heroic fame: In distant realms our glorious deeds display, Repeat them frequent in the genial day; When, blest with ease, thy woes and wanderings end, Teach them thy consort, bid thy sons attend; How, loved of Jove, he crown’d our sires with praise, How we their offspring dignify our race.

“Let other realms the deathful gauntlet wield, Or boast the glories of the athletic field: We in the course unrivall’d speed display, Or through cerulean billows plough the way; To dress, to dance, to sing, our sole delight, The feast or bath by day, and love by night: Rise, then, ye skill’d in measures; let him bear Your fame to men that breathe a distant air; And faithful say, to you the powers belong To race, to sail, to dance, to chant the song.

Swift at the word, obedient to the king, The herald flies the tuneful lyre to bring. Up rose nine seniors, chosen to survey The future games, the judges of the day With instant care they mark a spacious round And level for the dance the allotted ground: The herald bears the lyre: intent to play, The bard advancing meditates the lay. Skill’d in the dance, tall youths, a blooming band, Graceful before the heavenly minstrel stand: Light bounding from the earth, at once they rise, Their feet half-viewless quiver in the skies: Ulysses gazed, astonish’d to survey The glancing splendours as their sandals play. Meantime the bard, alternate to the strings, The loves of Mars and Cytherea sings: How the stern god, enamour’d with her charms Clasp’d the gay panting goddess in his arms, By bribes seduced; and how the sun, whose eye Views the broad heavens, disclosed the lawless joy. Stung to the soul, indignant through the skies To his black forge vindictive Vulcan flies: Arrived, his sinewy arms incessant place The eternal anvil on the massy base. A wondrous net he labours, to betray The wanton lovers, as entwined they lay, Indissolubly strong; Then instant bears To his immortal dome the finish’d snares: Above, below, around, with art dispread, The sure inclosure folds the genial bed: Whose texture even the search of gods deceives, Thin as the filmy threads the spider weaves, Then, as withdrawing from the starry bowers, He feigns a journey to the Lemnian shores, His favourite isle: observant Mars descries His wish’d recess, and to the goddess flies;

Then, nothing loth, the enamour’d fair he led, And sunk transported on the conscious bed. Down rush’d the toils, inwrapping as they lay The careless lovers in their wanton play: In vain they strive; the entangling snares deny (Inextricably firm) the power to fly. Warn’d by the god who sheds the golden day, Stern Vulcan homeward treads the starry way: Arrived, he sees, he grieves, with rage he burns: Full horribly he roars, his voice all heaven returns.

“O Jove (he cried) O all ye powers above, See the lewd dalliance of the queen of love! Me, awkward me, she scorns; and yields her charms To that fair lecher, the strong god of arms. If I am lame, that stain my natal hour By fate imposed; such me my parent bore. Why was I born? See how the wanton lies! Oh sight tormenting to a husband’s eyes! But yet, I trust, this once e’en Mars would fly His fair-one’s arms—he thinks her, once, too nigh. But there remain, ye guilty, in my power, Till Jove refunds his shameless daughter’s dower. Too dear I prized a fair enchanting face: Beauty unchaste is beauty in disgrace.”

Meanwhile the gods the dome of Vulcan throng; Apollo comes, and Neptune comes along; With these gay Hermes trod the starry plain; But modesty withheld the goddess train. All heaven beholds, imprison’d as they lie, And unextinguish’d laughter shakes the sky. Then mutual, thus they spoke: “Behold on wrong Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong! Dwells there a god on all the Olympian brow More swift than Mars, and more than Vulcan slow? Yet Vulcan conquers, and the god of arms Must pay the penalty for lawless charms.”

“Will Neptune (Vulcan then) the faithless trust? He suffers who gives surety for the unjust: But say, if that lewd scandal of the sky, To liberty restored, perfidious fly: Say, wilt thou bear the mulct?” He instant cries, “The mulct I bear, if Mars perfidious flies.”

To whom appeased: “No more I urge delay; When Neptune sues, my part is to obey.” Then to the snares his force the god applies; They burst; and Mars to Thrace indignant flies: To the soft Cyprian shores the goddess moves, To visit Paphos and her blooming groves, Where to the Power an hundred altars rise, And breathing odours scent the balmy skies; Concealed she bathes in consecrated bowers, The Graces unguents shed, ambrosial showers, Unguents that charm the gods! she last assumes Her wondrous robes; and full the goddess blooms.