“Think not that I am so hasty, or given to causeless anger,” said Alcinous; “excess in all things is evil."[1] Then he looked earnestly at Odysseus, and continued, after a pause:  “I would to heaven that thy thoughts were as mine; then wouldst thou abide for ever in this land, and take my daughter to wife, and I would give thee house and lands.  But I see that thou art steadfastly purposed to leave us; and none shall detain thee against thy will.  To-morrow thou shalt go.  I will appoint a ship and a crew, and they shall bear thee sleeping to thine own land, yea though it be more distant than far Euboea, which lies, as I am told, in the uttermost parts of the earth.  Yet the Phaeacians went thither in their ships, and returned on the same day.  They have no equals, as thou shalt soon learn, in seamanship, and no ships in all the world are like mine.”

[Footnote 1:  Nothing too much, the corner-stone of Greek morality.]

After some further talk they parted for the night, and Odysseus, after all his hardships, was right glad to lay him down in the soft bed prepared for him in the gallery before the house.  But before he closed his eyes he muttered a prayer to Zeus that Alcinous might abide by his promise, and send him safely home.

III

Next day was appointed for a great feast in the palace of Alcinous, to which all the chief men of Phaeacia were invited, and when Odysseus returned to the house, after some hours spent in a visit to the town, hefound the courts and galleries thronged with a great company.  The preparations for the banquet were on a heroic scale:  twelve sheep, eight fat swine, and two oxen, the choicest of the herd, were slaughtered, and a goodly row of casks, filled with the finest vintages, gave further token that Alcinous was no niggardly host.

“Come,” said Alcinous, meeting Odysseus at the gate.  “The guests are seated, and all is ready.  Trouble not thyself as to the manner of thy home-coming; that is cared for already, and the ship lies at her moorings.  But to-day is a day of good cheer, when thou shalt learn how gay and joyous a life the Phaeacians live.”

As he spoke, they entered the banquet hall, and Odysseus sat down by the side of Alcinous.  Rich and dainty was the fare, and many times the great wine-bowls were filled and emptied; for the Phaeacians were a luxurious race, much given to the pleasures of the table.  Among the guests Odysseus was especially struck by one venerable figure, who sat by himself against a pillar, on which hung a harp within reach of his hands.  Odysseus noticed that he ate slowly and deliberately, and seemed to feel for the cup when he wished to drink, “It is Demodocus, the blind harper,” whispered Alcinous.  “We shall presently have a taste of his quality.  He is a rare minstrel.”

Accordingly, when the last course was removed, the harp was placed in the singer’s hands, and after striking a deep chord he began to sing, choosing for his theme a famous tale of Troy, which told how Achilles and Odysseus quarrelled at a banquet, and reviled each other with bitter words, and how Agamemnon rejoiced in spirit because of the strife; for he had heard an oracle from Apollo, foretelling that when the noblest of the Greeks fell out Troy’s end would be near at hand.