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Book 7
Queen, Arete, daughter of godlike King Rhexenor!
Here after many trials I come to beg for mercy,
your husband’s, yours, and all these feasters’ here.
May the gods endow them with fortune all their lives,
may each hand down to his sons the riches in his house
and the pride of place the realm has granted him.
But as for myself grant me a rapid convoy home
to my own native land. How far away I’ve been
from all my loved ones—how long I have suffered!
After washing ashore on their land, Odysseus throws himself upon the mercy of the Phaeacians in Book 7. Athena in disguise has advised Odysseus to direct his efforts toward Queen Arete, which he does—though at this juncture without disclosing his true identity.
Book 8
. . . and when they’d put aside desire for food and drink,
the Muse inspired the bard
to sing the famous deeds of fighting heroes—
the song whose fame had reached the skies those days:
The Strife Between Odysseus and Achilles, Peleus’ Son…
In Book 8, during a feast in honor of the Phaeacians’ still-unnamed guest, the blind bard Demodocus sings about the conflict between Odysseus and Achilles during the Trojan War. The song brings Odysseus’s grief to the surface, and he begins to shed tears.
A bad day for adultery! Slow outstrips the Swift.
In Book 8, the story of the affair between Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and Ares, the god of war, illustrates the significance of cunning. Aphrodite’s husband Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, has a physical disability in his legs, which is why the other gods express surprise that he is able to outmaneuver Ares, “quickest of all the gods who rule Olympus,” and catch the lovers in the act. That he is able to do so emphasizes the value of cleverness in a world that largely values brute strength.
