Odyssey 8.115 · Book 8, lines 115–120
Euryalus, the king's sons, and the first race
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ἂν δὲ καὶ Εὐρύαλος, βροτολοιγῷ ἶσος Ἄρηϊ, Ναυβολίδης, ὃς ἄριστος ἔην εἶδός τε δέμας τε πάντων Φαιήκων μετʼ ἀμύμονα Λαοδάμαντα. ἂν δʼ ἔσταν τρεῖς παῖδες ἀμύμονος Ἀλκινόοιο, Λαοδάμας θʼ Ἅλιός τε καὶ ἀντίθεος Κλυτόνηος. οἱ δʼ ἦ τοι πρῶτον μὲν ἐπειρήσαντο πόδεσσι.
And up too rose Euryalus, equal to man-destroying Ares, Naubolides, who was the best in form and build of all the Phaeacians after peerless Laodamas. And up stood the three sons of noble Alcinous: Laodamas and Halius and godlike Clytoneus. And they, now, first of all, made trial in the footrace.
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The setting
The catalogue of competitors closes with Euryalus and the three sons of Alcinous. Then the contests begin, opening with the footrace — the first event of the Phaeacian games.
A note on this passage
Two more entries complete the field. First Euryalus — the man who will soon insult the stranger — introduced with a heavy epithet, equal to man-destroying Ares, and named the handsomest of all the Phaeacians save one. Then the king's own three sons stand up, Laodamas first. With everyone assembled, the games open with the footrace.
The framing is loaded. Euryalus is given a war-god's epithet and top billing for looks and build — everything but the courtesy that will fail him in a moment. Homer sets the beautiful, dangerous young man beside the king's sons and the peerless Laodamas, so that when Euryalus opens his mouth to sneer, the contrast is already drawn: fine body, poor judgment.
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