Book VII: The palace of Alcinous | The Odyssey

Chapter summary

Odysseus finishes his prayer in Athena's grove, and the mules carry Nausicaa to her father's palace. She stops the wagon at the portico, her brothers surround her, unyoke the mules, and carry the clothes inside. She goes to her room, where Eurymedusa, the old servant who came from Apeira and was given to Alcinous as a prize, and who raised her, lights the fire and prepares supper. Odysseus heads for the city wrapped in mist, which Athena pours over him out of care, so that no Phaeacian will insult him or ask who he is. Near the city, the goddess meets him in the form of a girl with a pitcher. He asks her to show him the palace of Alcinous, saying he is a stranger from a distant land, knowing no one. She promises to guide him, because she lives nearby, and gives him a rule: to follow in silence and not to look at or ask anyone, for the inhabitants do not tolerate strangers nor welcome those who come from abroad, trusting in the swift ships that Poseidon gave them. He follows her unseen and admires the harbors, the ships, the agoras of the chiefs, and the high walls with their palisades.

At the palace, Athena says that this is the house, tells him to enter without fear, for whoever has courage fares better even when he comes from abroad, and directs him to seek the queen, Arete, first. She says who the queen is: Nausithous, son of Poseidon and Periboea, daughter of the king of the giants, who was lost with his foolish people, begot Rhexenor and Alcinous; Apollo killed Rhexenor, newly married, and left only one daughter, Arete, whom Alcinous took as his wife and honored as no other woman. The people revere her as a goddess, and she settles disputes, even among men. If she is favorable to him, Odysseus may hope to see his own again and his homeland. Athena departs for Marathon and Athens, and Odysseus, before the palace, stands still, turning many thoughts over before he steps over the bronze threshold.

The palace shines like the sun or the moon: walls of bronze with a blue frieze, doors of gold, doorposts of silver, dogs of gold and silver made by Hephaestus, immortal and ageless, thrones along the walls covered with fabrics woven by women, golden youths holding torches, and fifty maidservants who grind grain and weave. The Phaeacians surpass all men at guiding ships, and their women at weaving, by the gift of Athena. Outside the courtyard there is an orchard of four acres with pear, pomegranate, apple, and fig trees, and olives whose fruit never fails, a vineyard, beds, and two springs; all of it is the gift of the gods to Alcinous. Odysseus stops and admires, then crosses the threshold. He finds the chiefs making the last libation to Hermes before sleep, crosses the hall hidden by the mist, and reaches Arete and Alcinous. He throws his hands around Arete's knees, and the mist dissolves; those present fall silent in wonder. He asks that the gods grant them a happy life and that each leave his goods to his children, but that they give him an escort to his homeland, for he has long suffered far from his own. He sits in the ashes by the fire, and all are silent.

After a while, Echeneus, the eldest of the Phaeacians, wise in words and knowing much of the old days, tells Alcinous that it is neither fitting nor proper for the stranger to sit on the floor, in the ashes, while everyone awaits the king's word. He asks that Odysseus be lifted up and seated on a throne with silver studs, that they mix wine to pour to Zeus, protector of respected suppliants, and that the housekeeper give him supper. Alcinous takes Odysseus by the hand, raises him, and seats him on the throne, removing from it his son Laodamas, whom he loved most. A servant brings water for the hands, the housekeeper serves the table, and Odysseus eats and drinks. Alcinous orders the herald Pontonous to mix the wine, and all pour libations to Zeus.

Alcinous addresses the assembly: everyone should go to sleep; the next day he will gather more elders, host the stranger, make sacrifices to the gods, and decide on the escort, so that the guest may reach his homeland without pain or toil, and then endure whatever fate spun for him at birth. If the guest is one of the immortals, the gods are plotting something else, for they usually appear in person when the Phaeacians offer hecatombs, and they do not hide from the lone traveler, since the Phaeacians are kin to them, as the Cyclopes and the giants are. Odysseus replies that they should think otherwise: he does not resemble the immortals but the mortals who suffer most, and he could tell of even greater evils. He asks that they let him eat, despite his grief, because the belly commands one to remember it by force and makes one forget all that one has suffered. He asks that they hasten the escort at dawn, and that his life leave him after he has seen his goods, his maidservants, and his home. All approve, promise the escort, and each goes home.

Odysseus stays in the hall with Arete and Alcinous. The queen recognizes the cloak and tunic, which she made herself with her maids, and asks who he is, where he comes from, who gave him those clothes, and whether he did not say that he had wandered over the sea. He answers only what he is asked: it would be long to recount all the evils, but he tells of Ogygia, where Calypso received and fed him and promised to make him immortal, without winning his heart; of seven years there, bathing his garments with tears; of the order to leave, by message from Zeus or by her change of mind; of the raft; of Poseidon's storm on the eighteenth day; of the swim to the mouth of a river, of the sleep among the leaves, of the maids on the beach, and of the girl who did not err in judgment and gave him food, a bath, and clothes. He does not give his name. Alcinous reproaches his daughter for not having brought the stranger to the palace with the maids, since he was the first to ask her. Odysseus defends her: she told him to follow with the maids, but he did not want to, out of shame and fear that the king might be angry, for men are jealous.

Alcinous answers that he does not grow angry without cause and prefers moderation. He wishes that Odysseus, being who he is and thinking as he does, had his daughter as his wife and were called his son-in-law; he would give him a house and goods if he stayed willingly, but no one will keep him against his will, which would displease Zeus. He sets the escort for the next day: while Odysseus sleeps, the Phaeacians will row, even though his land lies farther off than Euboea, which they say is the most distant place, where they once took Rhadamanthus in a single day and brought him back. Odysseus rejoices and asks Zeus that all be fulfilled, that Alcinous's glory be undying, and that he himself reach his homeland. Arete orders the maids to make the bed under the portico, and Odysseus sleeps; Alcinous lies down in the back of the house, beside his wife.

Analysis

The book has two faces for the same hospitality. Outside the palace, Athena warns that the locals do not tolerate strangers and that he must enter silent and wrapped in mist; inside, the silence lasts until an elder reminds the king of the rule, and the king obeys at once. The text does not decide which is the true one. It may be Athena's caution, wanting the hero without questions until he reaches the queen; or the city may be suspicious of whoever passes through the street and generous to whoever keeps the rite, the knees of Arete and the ashes of the hearth. What the book shows is that the rite works.

Odysseus leaves the book without having said his name. He answers precisely what he is asked: he denies being a god, asks for food before telling of his sorrows, tells Arete where the clothes came from and tells Alcinous why he did not follow the daughter. Between what he says and what he keeps silent there is a constant choice, and one of those choices is the version he gives of the previous day, in which he claims as his own a decision that was Nausicaa's. He ends the account by saying that he told the truth (7.297), and the poem leaves the name for later.