Part 3 (1/2)
”My father,” she said, ”will you not order o and wash, I and my maids, at the cisterns that stand without the city?”
”What washi+ng does hter speak of?” said Alcinous
”Mine and arments,” she replied, ”that have contracted soil by this ti in the wardrobe Five sons have you that are my brothers; two of them are married, and three are bachelors; these last it concerns to have their garments neat and unsoiled; it e: and who but I their sister should have a care of these things? You yourself, o, as now, to the council”
She used this plea,her care of her own nuptials to her father; as not displeased at this instance of his daughter's discretion; for a seasonable care aboutmaiden, provided it be accompanied with modesty and dutiful submission to her parents in the choice of her future husband; and there was no fear of Nausicaa choosing wrongly or improperly, for she was as wise as she was beautiful, and the best in all Phaeacia were suitors to her for her love So Alcinous readily gave consent that she should go, ordering ht from her chamber all her vestments, and laid them up in the coach, and her olden cruse, to soften the bright skins of Nausicaa and herher et up into the coach with her, lashed the ht her to the cisterns which stood a little on the outside of the town, and were supplied ater from the river Callicoe
There her attendants unyoked the mules, took out the clothes, and steeped the the theers who should have done soonest and cleanest, and usingmaids use, while the princess looked on When they had laid their clothes to dry, they fell to playing again, and Nausicaa joined theame with the ball, which is used in that country, which is perforreat expedition, she who begins the pasti It chanced that the princess, whose turn it became to toss the ball, sent it so far from its mark that it fell beyond into one of the cisterns of the river; at which the whole company, in merry consternation, set up a shriek so loud as waked the sleeping Ulysses, as taking his rest after his long toils in the woods not far distant fro maids had come to wash
[Illustration: _And Nausicaa joined theame with the ball_]
At the sound of fe hihs and leaves as well as he could to shroud his nakedness The sudden appearance of his weather-beaten and alhted the maidens that they scudded away into the woods and all about to hide theht about this interview to ade into the breast of Nausicaa, and she stayed where she was, and resolved to knohat e co (for delicacy) to approach and clasp her knees, as suppliants should, but standing far off, addressed this speech to the young princess:
”Before I presume rudely to pressa mortal woman, or one of the Goddesses If a Goddess, you seehter of Jove Like hers are your lineaments, your stature, your features, and air divine”
Sheanswer that she was no Goddess, but a mortal maid, he continued:
”If a woman, thrice blessed are both the authors of your birth, thrice blessed are your brothers, who even to rapture rown so like a young tree, and so graceful But ift to engage your young neck in the yoke of e I never saw that man that orthy of you I never saw man or woman that at all parts equalled you Lately at Delos (where I touched) I saw a young palrew beside Apollo's tehtness and beauty: I can compare you only to that A stupor past admiration strikesyou, to ee; for one of freshest and firht an object: but I am one who i seas have tossed th cast ht upon your coast I have seen no man or woman since I landed but yourself All that I crave is clothes, which youtown
The Gods, who have care of strangers, will requite you for these courtesies”
She, ad to hear such complimentary words proceed out of the , er, I discern neither sloth nor folly in you, and yet I see that you are poor and wretched: froather that neither wisdom nor industry can secure felicity; only Jove bestows it upon whoht However, since your wanderings have brought you so near to our city, it lies in our duty to supply your wants Clothes and what else a huive to one so suppliant, and so tamed with calamity, you shall not want We will show you our city and tell you the name of our people This is the land of the Phaeacians, of whichher attendants, who had dispersed on the first sight of Ulysses, she rebuked them for their fear, and said: ”This man is no Cyclop, nor monster of sea or land, that you should fear hih decayed in his outward appearance, yet he has the mind's riches, wit and fortitude, in abundance Show him the cisterns, where heabout hiarht with us to the cisterns”
Ulysses, retiring a little out of sight, cleansed him in the cisterns from the soil and impurities hich the rocks and waves had covered all his body, and clothing hi raiiven him, he presented himself in more worthy shape to Nausicaa She ade he was, noas dressed in all parts; she thought hi or hero: and secretly wished that the Gods would be pleased to give her such a husband
Then causing her attendants to yoke her mules, and lay up the vestments, which the sun's heat had sufficiently dried, in the coach, she ascended with herUlysses, as she departed, keep an eye upon the coach, and to follow it on foot at some distance: which she did, because if she had suffered hiht have subjected her to some misconstructions of the common people, who are always ready to vilify and censure their betters, and to suspect that charity is not always pure charity, but that love or souise So discreet and attentive to appearance in all her actions was this admirable princess
Ulysses as he entered the city wondered to see its s, temples; its walls and rampires; its trade, and resort of th of the Phaeacian state But when he approached the palace, and beheld its riches, the proportion of its architecture, its avenues, gardens, statues, fountains, he stood rapt in ad the flourishi+ng estate of others; but recollecting himself, he passed on boldly into the inner apart at dinner with their peers, Nausicaa having prepared the, he made it his request that, since fortune had cast him naked upon their shores, they would take hirant hireat Phaeacian state had such good store, to carry hirace it with more hu the ashes, as the custom was in those days when any would make a petition to the throne
He seereat state and of so superior a deport him to leave that abject station which he had assumed, placed him next to his throne, upon a chair of state, and thus he spake to his peers:
”Lords and councillors of Phaeacia, ye see this uise of a petitioner: he seems no mean one; but whoever he is, it is fit, since the Gods have cast hirant him the rites of hospitality while he stays with us, and at his departure a shi+p well e as he seems to be, in a manner suitable to his rank, to his own country”
This counsel the peers with one consent approved; and wine and ave the Gods thanks who had stirred up the royal bounty of Alcinous to aid hi and queen who he was, or whence he had co cast upon their shores, his sleep in the woods, and his led with discretion, filled her parents with delight, as Ulysses in eloquent phrases adorned and co that the troubles which his guest had undergone required rest, as well as refresh to his chanificent apartment Ulysses found a smoother bed, but not a sounder repose, than he had enjoyed the night before, sleeping upon leaves which he had scraped together in his necessity
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Songs of Demodocus--The Convoy Ho Shepherd