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