Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/161

VII. There too, well-rooted, and of fruit profuse, His vineyard grows; part, wide-extended, basks, In the sun's beams; the arid level glows; In part they gather, and in part they tread The wine-press, while, before the eye, the grapes Here put their blossom forth, there, gather fast Their blackness. On the garden's verge extreme Flow'rs of all hues smile all the year, arranged With neatest art judicious, and amid The lovely scene two fountains welling forth, One visits, into ev'ry part diffus'd, The garden-ground, the other soft beneath The threshold steals into the palace-court, Whence ev'ry citizen his vase supplies. Such were the ample blessings on the house Of King Alcinoüs by the Gods bestow'd. Ulysses wond'ring stood, and when, at length, Silent he had the whole fair scene admired, With rapid step enter'd the royal gate. The Chiefs he found and Senators within Libation pouring to the vigilant spy Mercurius, whom with wine they worshipp'd last Of all the Gods, and at the hour of rest. Ulysses, toil-worn Hero, through the house Pass'd undelaying, by Minerva thick With darkness circumfus'd, till he arrived Where King Alcinoüs and Areta sat. Around Areta's knees his arms he cast,