he led him from the place, Guiding him in the way which just before The princes of Phaeacia trod to see The public games. Into the marketplace They went; a vast innumerable crowd Pressed after. Then did many a valiant youth Arise—Acroneus and Ocyalus, Elatreus, Nauteus, Prymneus, after whom Upstood Anchialus, and by his side Eretmeus, Ponteus, Proreus, Thoön, rose; Anabasineüs and Amphialus, A son of Polyneius, Tecton’s son; Then rose the son of Naubolus, like Mars In warlike port, Euryalus by name, And goodliest both in feature and in form Of all Phaeacia’s sons save one alone, Laodamas the faultless. Next three sons Of King Alcinoüs rose: Laodamas, Halius, and Clytoneius, like a god In aspect. Some of these began the games, Contending in the race. For them a course Was marked from goal to goal. They darted forth At once and swiftly, raising, as they ran, The dust along the plain. The swiftest there Was Clytoneius in the race. As far As mules, in furrowing the fallow ground, Gain on the steers, he ran before the rest, And reached the crowd, and left them all behind. Others in wrestling strove laboriously— And here Euryalus excelled them all; But in the leap Amphialus was first; Elatreus flung the quoit with firmest hand; And in the boxer’s art Laodamas, The monarch’s valiant son, was conqueror.
This when the admiring multitude had seen, Thus spake the monarch’s son, Laodamas:—
“And now, my friends, inquire we of our guest If he has learned and practised feats like these. For he is not ill-made in legs and thighs And in both arms, in firmly planted neck And strong-built frame; nor does he seem to lack A certain youthful vigor, though impaired By many hardships—for I know of naught That more severely tries the strongest man, And breaks him down, than perils of the sea.”
Euryalus replied: “Laodamas, Well hast thou said, and rightly: go thou now And speak to him thyself, and challenge him.”