Follow silently, I pray, And I will lead. Look not on any man Nor ask a question; for the people here Affect not strangers, nor do oft receive With kindly welcome him who comes from far. They trust in their swift barques, which to and fro, By Neptune’s favor, cross the mighty deep. Their galleys have the speed of wings or thought.”
Thus Pallas spake, and quickly led the way. He followed in her steps. They saw him not— Those trained Phaeacian seamen—for the power That led him, Pallas of the amber hair, Forbade the sight, and threw a friendly veil Of darkness over him. Ulysses saw, Wondering, the haven and the gallant ships, The marketplace where heroes thronged, the walls Long, lofty, and beset with palisades, A marvel to the sight. But when they came To the king’s stately palace, thus began The blue-eyed goddess, speaking to the chief:—
“Father and stranger, here thou seest the house Which thou hast bid me show thee. Thou wilt find The princes, nurslings of the gods, within, Royally feasting. Enter, and fear not; The bold man ever is the better man, Although he come from far. Thou first of all Wilt see the queen. Aretè is the name The people give her. She is of a stock The very same from which Alcinoüs The king derives his lineage. For long since Nausithoüs, its founder, was brought forth To Neptune, the great Shaker of the shores, By Peribaea, fairest of her sex, And youngest daughter of Eurymedon, The large of soul, who ruled the arrogant brood Of giants, and beheld that guilty race Cut off, and perished by a fate like theirs. Her Neptune wooed; she bore to him a son, Large-souled Nausithoüs, whom Phaeacia owned Its sovereign. To Nausithoüs were born Rhexenor and Alcinoüs. He who bears The silver bow, Apollo, smote to death Rhexenor, newly wedded, in his home. He left no son, and but one daughter, named Aretè; her Alcinoüs made his wife, And honored her as nowhere else on earth Is any woman honored who bears charge Over a husband’s household. From their hearts Her children pay her reverence, and the king And all the people, for they look on her As if