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(From The Odyssey, Book VII) Translated by W. C. Bryant
THE BLUE-EYED Pallas, having spoken thus, | |
| Departed o’er the barren deep. She left | |
| The pleasant isle of Scheria, and repaired | |
| To Marathon and to the spacious streets | |
| Of Athens, entering there the massive halls | 5 |
| Where dwelt Erectheus, while Ulysses toward | |
| The gorgeous palace of Alcinoüs turned | |
| His steps, yet stopped and pondered ere he crossed | |
| The threshold. For on every side beneath | |
| The lofty roof of that magnanimous king | 10 |
| A glory shone as of the sun or moon. | |
| There from the threshold, on each side, were walls | |
| Of brass that led towards the inner rooms, | |
| With blue steel cornices. The doors within | |
| The massive building were of gold, and posts | 15 |
| Of silver on the brazen threshold stood, | |
| And silver was the lintel, and above | |
| Its architrave was gold; and on each side | |
| Stood gold and silver mastiffs, the rare work | |
| Of Vulcan’s practised skill, placed there to guard | 20 |
| The house of great Alcinoüs, and endowed | |
| With deathless life, that knows no touch of age. | |
| Along the walls within, on either side, | |
| And from the threshold to the inner rooms, | |
| Were firmly planted thrones on which were laid | 25 |
| Delicate mantles, woven by the hands | |
| Of women. The Phæacian princes here | |
| Were seated; here they ate and drank, and held | |
| Perpetual banquet. Slender forms of boys | |
| In gold upon the shapely altars stood, | 30 |
| With blazing torches in their hands to light | |
| At eve the palace guests; while fifty maids | |
| Waited within the halls, where some in querns | |
| Ground small the yellow grain; some wove the web | |
| Or twirled the spindle, sitting, with a quick | 35 |
| Light motion, like the aspen’s glancing leaves. | |
| The well-wrought tissues glistened as with oil. | |
| As far as the Phæacian race excel | |
| In guiding their swift galleys o’er the deep, | |
| So far the women in their woven work | 40 |
| Surpass all others. Pallas gives them skill | |
| In handiwork and beautiful design. | |
| Without the palace-court, and near the gate, | |
| A spacious garden of four acres lay. | |
| A hedge enclosed it round, and lofty trees | 45 |
| Flourished in generous growth within,—the pear | |
| And the pomegranate, and the apple-tree | |
| With its fair fruitage, and the luscious fig | |
| And olive always green. The fruit they bear | |
| Falls not, nor ever fails in winter time | 50 |
| Nor summer, but is yielded all the year. | |
| The ever-blowing west-wind causes some | |
| To swell and some to ripen; pear succeeds | |
| To pear; to apple apple, grape to grape, | |
| Fig ripens after fig. A fruitful field | 55 |
| Of vines was planted near; in part it lay | |
| Open and basking in the sun, which dried | |
| The soil, and here men gathered in the grapes, | |
| And there they trod the wine-press. Farther on | |
| Were grapes unripened yet, which just had cast | 60 |
| The flower, and others still which just began | |
| To redden. At the garden’s furthest bound | |
| Were beds of many plants that all the year | |
| Bore flowers. There gushed two fountains: one of them | |
| Ran wandering through the field; the other flowed | 65 |
| Beneath the threshold to the palace-court, | |
| And all the people filled their vessels there. | |
| Such were the blessings which the gracious gods | |
| Bestowed on King Alcinoüs and his house. | |
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