您可以在百度里搜索“National Epics 艾草文学(www.321553.xyz)”查找最新章节！

　　SELECTIONS FROM THE ODYSSEY.

　　THE PALACE OF ALCINOÜS.

　　Ulysses, having been directed by Nausicaa, reached the gate of the city, and was there met by Pallas in the guise of a maiden with an urn, who instructed him how to approach the king and queen. He passed through the town, wrapped in a cloud by Pallas, and paused on the threshold of Alcinoüs's palace.

　　For on every side beneath

　　The lofty roof of that magnanimous king

　　A glory shone as of the sun or moon.

　　There from the threshold, on each side, were walls

　　Of brass that led towards the inner rooms,

　　With blue steel cornices. The doors within

　　The massive building were of gold, and posts

　　Of silver on the brazen threshold stood,

　　And silver was the lintel, and above

　　Its architrave was gold; and on each side

　　Stood gold and silver mastiffs, the rare work

　　Of Vulcan's practised skill, placed there to guard

　　The house of great Alcinoüs, and endowed

　　With deathless life, that knows no touch of age.

　　Along the walls within, on either side,

　　And from the threshold to the inner rooms,

　　Were firmly planted thrones on which were laid

　　Delicate mantles, woven by the hands

　　Of women. The Phæacian princes here

　　Were seated; here they ate and drank, and held

　　Perpetual banquet. Slender forms of boys

　　In gold upon the shapely altars stood,

　　With blazing torches in their hands to light

　　At eve the palace guests; while fifty maids

　　Waited within the halls, where some in querns

　　Ground small the yellow grain; some wove the web

　　Or twirled the spindle, sitting, with a quick

　　Light motion, like the aspen's glancing leaves.

　　The well-wrought tissues glistened as with oil.

　　As far as the Phæacian race excel

　　In guiding their swift galleys o'er the deep,

　　So far the women in their woven work

　　Surpass all others. Pallas gives them skill

　　In handiwork and beautiful design.

　　Without the palace-court and near the gate,

　　A spacious garden of four acres lay.

　　A hedge enclosed it round, and lofty trees

　　Flourished in generous growth within,—the pear

　　And the pomegranate, and the apple-tree

　　With its fair fruitage, and the luscious fig

　　And olive always green. The fruit they bear

　　Falls not, nor ever fails in winter time

　　Nor summer, but is yielded all the year.

　　The ever-blowing west-wind causes some

　　To swell and some to ripen; pear succeeds

　　To pear; to apple, apple, grape to grape,

　　Fig ripens after fig. A fruitful field

　　Of vines was planted near; in part it lay

　　Open and basking in the sun, which dried

　　The soil, and here men gathered in the grapes,

　　And there they trod the wine-press. Farther on

　　Were grapes unripened yet, which just had cast

　　The flower, and others still which just began

　　To redden. At the garden's furthest bound

　　Were beds of many plants that all the year

　　Bore flowers. There gushed two fountains: one of them

　　Ran wandering through the field; the other flowed

　　Beneath the threshold to the palace-court,

　　And all the people filled their vessels there.

　　Such were the blessings which the gracious gods

　　Bestowed on King Alcinoüs and his house.

　　Bryant's Translation, Book VII. National Epics