Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/151

VI. Ulysses to depart, and thus she spake. Up, stranger! seek the city. I will lead Thy steps toward my royal Father's house, Where all Phæacia's Nobles thou shalt see. But thou (for I account thee not unwise) This course pursue. While through the fields we pass, And labours of the rural hind, so long With my attendants follow fast the mules And sumpter-carriage. I will be thy guide. But, once the summit gain'd, on which is built Our city with proud bulwarks fenced around, And laved on both sides by its pleasant port Of narrow entrance, where our gallant barks Line all the road, each station'd in her place, And where, adjoining close the splendid fane Of Neptune, stands the forum with huge stones From quarries thither drawn, constructed strong, In which the rigging of their barks they keep, Sail-cloth and cordage, and make smooth their oars; (For bow and quiver the Phæacian race Heed not, but masts and oars, and ships well-poised, With which exulting they divide the flood) Then, cautious, I would shun their bitter taunts Disgustful, lest they mock me as I pass; For of the meaner people some are coarse In the extreme, and it may chance that one, The basest there seeing us shall exclaim— What handsome stranger of athletic form