send him home Shall be the charge of all, but mostly mine, Since mine it is to hold the sovereign power.”
And then the wise Ulysses said:
“O King Alcinoüs, eminent o’er all thy race! Shouldst thou command me to remain with thee Even for a twelvemonth, and at length provide For my return, and give me princely gifts, Even that would please me; for with fuller hands, The happier were my lot on my return To my own land. I should be honored then, And meet a kinder welcome there from all Who see me in my Ithaca once more.”
And then again in turn Alcinoüs spake:—
“Ulysses, when we look on thee, we feel No fear that thou art false, or one of those, The many, whom the dark earth nourishes, Wandering at large, and forging lies, that we May not suspect them. Thou hast grace of speech And noble thoughts, and fitly hast thou told, Even as a minstrel might, the history Of all thy Argive brethren and thy own. Now say, and frankly, didst thou also see Any of those heroic men who went With thee to Troy, and in that region met Their fate? A night immeasurably long Is yet before us. Let us have thy tale Of wonders. I could listen till the break Of hallowed morning, if thou canst endure So long to speak of hardships thou hast borne.”
He spake, and wise Ulysses answered thus:— “O King Alcinoüs, eminent beyond All others of thy people. For discourse There is a time; there is a time for sleep. If more thou yet wouldst hear, I will not spare To give the story of the greater woes Of my companions, who were afterward Cut off from life; and though they had escaped The cruel Trojan war, on their return They perished by a woman’s fraud and guilt.