When it was daylight, Alcinous caused it to be proclaimed by the heralds
about the town that there was come to the palace a stranger, shipwrecked
on their coast, that in mien and person resembled a god; and inviting all
the chief people of the city to come and do honour to the stranger.
The palace was quickly filled with guests, old and young, for whose cheer,
and to grace Ulysses more, Alcinous made a kingly feast with banquetings
and music. Then, Ulysses being seated at a table next the king and queen,
in all men's view, after they had feasted Alcinous ordered Demodocus, the
court-singer, to be called to sing some song of the deeds of heroes, to
charm the ear of his guest. Demodocus came and reached his harp, where it
hung between two pillars of silver; and then the blind singer, to whom, in
recompense of his lost sight, the muses had given an inward discernment, a
soul and a voice to excite the hearts of men and gods to delight, began in
grave and solemn strains to sing the glories of men highliest famed. He
chose a poem whose subject was The Stern Strife stirred up between Ulysses
and Great Achilles, as at a banquet sacred to the gods, in dreadful
language, they expressed their difference; while Agamemnon sat rejoiced in
soul to hear those Grecians jar; for the oracle in Pytho had told him that
the period of their wars in Troy should then be, when the kings of Greece,
anxious to arrive at the wished conclusion, should fall to strife, and
contend which must end the war, force or stratagem.
This brave contention he expressed so to the life, in the very words which
they both used in the quarrel, as brought tears into the eyes of Ulysses
at the remembrance of past passages of his life, and he held his large
purple weed before his face to conceal it. Then craving a cup of wine, he
poured it out in secret libation to the gods, who had put into the mind of
Demodocus unknowingly to do him so much honour. But when the moving poet
began to tell of other occurrences where Ulysses had been present, the
memory of his brave followers who had been with him in all difficulties,
now swallowed up and lost in the ocean, and of those kings that had fought
with him at Troy, some of whom were dead, some exiles like himself, forced
itself so strongly upon his mind that forgetful where he was he sobbed
outright with passion: which yet he restrained, but not so cunningly but
Alcinous perceived it and without taking notice of it to Ulysses,
privately gave signs that Demodocus should cease from his singing.
Next followed dancing in the Phaeacian fashion, when they would show
respect to their guests; which was succeeded by trials of skill, games of
strength, running, racing, hurling of the quoit, mock fights, hurling of
the javelin, shooting with the bow: in some of which Ulysses modestly
challenging his entertainers, performed such feats of strength and prowess
as gave the admiring Phaeacians fresh reason to imagine that he was either
some god, or hero of the race of the gods.
These solemn shows and pageants in honour of his guest king Alcinous
continued for the space of many days, as if he could never be weary of
showing courtesies to so worthy a stranger. In all this time he never
asked him his name, nor sought to know more of him than he of his own
accord disclosed; till on a day as they were seated feasting, after the
feast was ended, Demodocus being called, as was the custom, to sing some
grave matter, sang how Ulysses, on that night when Troy was fired, made
dreadful proof of his valour, maintaining singly a combat against the
whole household of Deiphobus, to which the divine expresser gave both act
and passion, and breathed such a fire into Ulysses's deeds that it
inspired old death with life in the lively expressing of slaughters, and
rendered life so sweet and passionate in the hearers that all who heard
felt it fleet from them in the narration: which made Ulysses even pity his
own slaughterous deeds, and feel touches of remorse, to see how song can
revive a dead man from the grave, yet no way can it defend a living man
from death; and in imagination he underwent some part of death's horrors,
and felt in his living body a taste of those dying pangs which he had
dealt to others; that with the strong conceit, tears (the true
interpreters of unutterable emotion) stood in his eyes.
Which king Alcinous noting, and that this was now the second time that he
had perceived him to be moved at the mention of events touching the Trojan
wars, he took occasion to ask whether his guest had lost any friend or
kinsman at Troy, that Demodocus's singing had brought into his mind. Then
Ulysses, drying the tears with his cloak, and observing that the eyes of
all the company were upon him, desirous to give them satisfaction in what
he could, and thinking this a fit time to reveal his true name and
destination, spake as follows:
"The courtesies which ye all have shown me, and in particular yourself and
princely daughter, O king Alcinous, demand from me that I should no longer
keep you in ignorance of what or who I am; for to reserve any secret from
you, who have with such openness of friendship embraced my love, would
argue either a pusillanimous or an ungrateful mind in me. Know, then, that
I am that Ulysses, of whom I perceive ye have heard something; who
heretofore have filled the world with the renown of my policies. I am he
by whose counsels, if Fame is to be believed at all, more than by the
united valour of all the Grecians, Troy fell. I am that unhappy man whom
the heavens and angry gods have conspired to keep an exile on the seas,
wandering to seek my home, which still flies from me. The land which I am
in quest of is Ithaca; in whose ports some ship belonging to your
navigation-famed Phaeacian state may haply at some time have found a
refuge from tempests. If ever you have experienced such kindness, requite
it now, by granting to me, who am the king of that land, a passport to
that land."
Admiration seized all the court of Alcinous, to behold in their presence
one of the number of those heroes who fought at Troy, whose divine story
had been made known to them by songs and poems, but of the truth they had
little known, or rather they had hitherto accounted those heroic exploits
as fictions and exaggerations of poets; but having seen and made proof of
the real Ulysses, they began to take those supposed inventions to be real
verities, and the tale of Troy to be as true as it was delightful.
Then king Alcinous made answer: "Thrice fortunate ought we to esteem our
lot, in having seen and conversed with a man of whom report hath spoken so
loudly, but, as it seems, nothing beyond the truth. Though we could desire
no felicity greater than to have you always among us, renowned Ulysses,
yet your desire having been expressed so often and so deeply to return
home, we can deny you nothing, though to our own loss. Our kingdom of
Phaeacia, as you know, is chiefly rich in shipping. In all parts of the
world, where there are navigable seas, or ships can pass, our vessels will
be found. You cannot name a coast to which they do not resort. Every rock
and every quicksand is known to them that lurks in the vast deep. They
pass a bird in flight; and with such unerring certainty they make to their
destination that some have said that they have no need of pilot or rudder,
but that they move instinctively, self-directed, and know the minds of
their voyagers. Thus much, that you may not fear to trust yourself in one
of our Phaeacian ships. Tomorrow, if you please, you shall launch forth.
To-day spend with us in feasting, who never can do enough when the gods
send such visitors."
Ulysses acknowledged king Alcinous's bounty; and while these two royal
personages stood interchanging courteous expressions, the heart of the
princess Nausicaa was overcome: she had been gazing attentively upon her
father's guest as he delivered his speech; but when he came to that part
where he declared himself to be Ulysses, she blessed herself and her
fortune that in relieving a poor shipwrecked mariner, as he seemed no
better, she had conferred a kindness on so divine a hero as he proved; and
scarce waiting till her father had done speaking, with a cheerful
countenance she addressed Ulysses, bidding him be cheerful, and when he
returned home, as by her father's means she trusted he would shortly,
sometimes to remember to whom he owed his life, and who met him in the
woods by the river Callicoe.
"Fair flower of Phaeacia," he replied, "so may all the gods bless me with
the strife of joys in that desired day, whenever I shall see it, as I
shall always acknowledge to be indebted to your fair hand for the gift of
life which I enjoy, and all the blessings which shall follow upon my home-
return. The gods give thee, Nausicaa, a princely husband; and from you two
spring blessings to this state." So prayed Ulysses, his heart overflowing
with admiration and grateful recollections of king Alcinous's daughter.
Then at the king's request he gave them a brief relation of all the
adventures that had befallen him since he launched forth from Troy; during
which the princess Nausicaa took great delight (as ladies are commonly
taken with these kind of travellers' stories) to hear of the monster
Polyphemus, of the men that devour each other in Laestrygonia, of the
enchantress Circe, of Scylla, and the rest; to which she listened with a
breathless attention, letting fall a shower of tears from her fair eyes
every now and then, when Ulysses told of some more than usual distressful
passage in his travels; and all the rest of his auditors, if they had
before entertained a high respect for their guest, now felt their
veneration increased tenfold, when they learned from his own mouth what
perils, what sufferance, what endurance, of evils beyond man's strength to
support, this much-sustaining, almost heavenly man, by the greatness of
his mind, and by his invincible courage, had struggled through.
[Illustration: _He gave them a brief relation of all the adventures that
had befallen him_.]
The night was far spent before Ulysses had ended his narrative, and with
wishful glances he cast his eyes towards the eastern parts, which the sun
had begun to flecker with his first red; for on the morrow Alcinous had
promised that a bark should be in readiness to convoy him to Ithaca.
In the morning a vessel well manned and appointed was waiting for him;
into which the king and queen heaped presents of gold and silver, massy
plate, apparel, armour, and whatsoever things of cost or rarity they
judged would be most acceptable to their guest; and the sails being set,
Ulysses, embarking with expressions of regret, took his leave of his royal
entertainers, of the fair princess (who had been his first friend), and of
the peers of Phaeacia; who crowding down to the beach to have the last
sight of their illustrious visitant, beheld the gallant ship with all her
canvas spread, bounding and curveting over the waves, like a horse proud
of his rider, or as if she knew that in her capacious womb's rich
freightage she bore Ulysses.
He whose life past had been a series of disquiets, in seas among rude
waves, in battles amongst ruder foes, now slept securely, forgetting all;
his eye-lids bound in such deep sleep as only yielded to death; and when
they reached the nearest Ithacan port by the next morning, he was still
asleep. The mariners, not willing to awake him, landed him softly, and
laid him in a cave at the foot of an olive-tree, which made a shady recess
in that narrow harbour, the haunt of almost none but the sea-nymphs, which
are called Naiads; few ships before this Phaeacian vessel having put into
that haven, by reason of the difficulty and narrowness of the entrance.
Here leaving him asleep, and disposing in safe places near him the
presents with which king Alcinous had dismissed him, they departed for
Phaeacia; where these wretched mariners never again set foot; but just as
they arrived, and thought to salute their country earth, in sight of their
city's turrets, and in open view of their friends who from the harbour
with shouts greeted their return, their vessel and all the mariners which
were in her were turned to stone, and stood transformed and fixed in sight
of the whole Phaeacian city, where it yet stands, by Neptune's vindictive
wrath; who resented thus highly the contempt which those Phaeacians had
shown in convoying home a man whom the god had destined to destruction.
Whence it comes to pass that the Phaeacians at this day will at no price
be induced to lend their ships to strangers, or to become the carriers for
other nations, so highly do they still dread the displeasure of their sea-
god, while they see that terrible monument ever in sight.
When Ulysses awoke, which was not till some time after the mariners had
departed, he did not at first know his country again, either that long
absence had made it strange, or that Minerva (which was more likely) had
cast a cloud about his eyes, that he should have greater pleasure
hereafter in discovering his mistake; but like a man suddenly awaking in
some desert isle, to which his sea-mates have transported him in his
sleep, he looked around, and discerning no known objects, he cast his
hands to heaven for pity, and complained on those ruthless men who had
beguiled him with a promise of conveying him home to this country, and
perfidiously left him to perish in an unknown land. But then the rich
presents of gold and silver given him by Alcinous, which he saw carefully
laid up in secure places near him, staggered him: which seemed not like
the act of wrongful or unjust men, such as turn pirates for gain, or land
helpless passengers in remote coasts to possess themselves of their goods.
While he remained in this suspense, there came up to him a young shepherd,
clad in the finer sort of apparel, such as kings' sons wore in those days
when princes did not disdain to tend sheep, who, accosting him, was
saluted again by Ulysses, who asked him what country that was on which he
had been just landed, and whether it were part of a continent, or an
island. The young shepherd made show of wonder, to hear any one ask the
name of that land; as country people are apt to esteem those for mainly
ignorant and barbarous who do not know the names of places which are
familiar to _them_, though perhaps they who ask have had no opportunities
of knowing, and may have come from far countries.
"I had thought," said he, "that all people knew our land. It is rocky and
barren, to be sure; but well enough: it feeds a goat or an ox well; it is
not wanting either in wine or in wheat; it has good springs of water, some
fair rivers; and wood enough, as you may see: it is called Ithaca."
Ulysses was joyed enough to find himself in his own country; but so
prudently he carried his joy, that, dissembling his true name and quality,
he pretended to the shepherd that he was only some foreigner who by stress
of weather had put into that port; and framed on the sudden a story to
make it plausible, how he had come from Crete in a ship of Phaeacia; when
the young shepherd, laughing, and taking Ulysses's hand in both his, said
to him: "He must be cunning, I find, who thinks to overreach you. What,
cannot you quit your wiles and your subtleties, now that you are in a
state of security? must the first word with which you salute your native
earth be an untruth? and think you that you are unknown?"
Ulysses looked again; and he saw, not a shepherd, but a beautiful woman,
whom he immediately knew to be the goddess Minerva, that in the wars of
Troy had frequently vouchsafed her sight to him; and had been with him
since in perils, saving him unseen.
"Let not my ignorance offend thee, great Minerva," he cried, "or move thy
displeasure, that in that shape I knew thee not; since the skill of
discerning of deities is not attainable by wit or study, but hard to be
hit by the wisest of mortals. To know thee truly through all thy changes
is only given to those whom thou art pleased to grace. To all men thou
takest all likenesses. All men in their wits think that they know thee,
and that they have thee. Thou art wisdom itself. But a semblance of thee,
which is false wisdom, often is taken for thee, so thy counterfeit view
appears to many, but thy true presence to few: those are they which,
loving thee above all, are inspired with light from thee to know thee. But
this I surely know, that all the time the sons of Greece waged war against
Troy, I was sundry times graced with thy appearance; but since, I have
never been able to set eyes upon thee till now; but have wandered at my
own discretion, to myself a blind guide, erring up and down the world,
wanting thee."
Then Minerva cleared his eyes, and he knew the ground on which he stood to
be Ithaca, and that cave to be the same which the people of Ithaca had in
former times made sacred to the sea-nymphs, and where he himself had done
sacrifices to them a thousand times; and full in his view stood Mount
Nerytus with all his woods: so that now he knew for a certainty that he
was arrived in his own country, and with the delight which he felt he
could not forbear stooping down and kissing the soil.
Read next: CHAPTER EIGHT - The Change from a King to a Beggar--Eumaeus and the Herdsmen--Telemachus.
Read previous: CHAPTER SIX - The Princess Nausicaa--The Washing--The Game with the Ball--The Court of Phaeacia and King Alcinous.
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