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ULYSSES WITH THE PHÆACIANS
55
"There the Phæacian chieftains eat and drink,While golden youths on pedestals upbear Each in his outstretched hand a lighted link, Which nightly on the royal feast doth flare. And in the house are fifty handmaids fair; Some in the mill the yellow corn grind small; Some ply the looms, and shuttles twirl, which there Flash like the quivering leaves of aspen tall; And from the close-spun weft the trickling oil will fall.

King Alcinous sits on his golden throne, "quaffing his wine like a god." His queen, Arete, sits beside him, weaving yarn of the royal purple. Warned by his kind friend the princess, Ulysses passes by the king's seat, and falls at the feet of the queen. In the court of Phæacia—whether the story be disguised fact or pure fiction, whether the poet was satiric or serious—the ruling influence lies with the women. The mist in which Minerva had enveloped his person melts away; and while all gaze in astonishment at his sudden appearance, he claims hospitality as a shipwrecked wanderer, and then, after the fashion of suppliants, seats himself on the hearth-stone. The hospitality of Alcinous is prompt and magnificent. He bids one of his sons rise up and cede the place of honour to the stranger. If he be mortal man, the boon he asks shall be granted: but it may be that he is one of the immortals, who, as he gravely assures his guest, often condescend to come down and share the banquets of the Phaeacians, and make themselves known to them face to face. Ulysses assures his royal host, in a passage which is in itself sufficient to mark the subdued comedy of the episode, that far from having any claim to divinity, he is very

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