Odyssey 8.126 · Book 8, lines 126–130
The winners of the games
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οἱ δὲ παλαιμοσύνης ἀλεγεινῆς πειρήσαντο· τῇ δʼ αὖτʼ Εὐρύαλος ἀπεκαίνυτο πάντας ἀρίστους. ἅλματι δʼ Ἀμφίαλος πάντων προφερέστατος ἦεν· δίσκῳ δʼ αὖ πάντων πολὺ φέρτατος ἦεν Ἐλατρεύς, πὺξ δʼ αὖ Λαοδάμας, ἀγαθὸς πάϊς Ἀλκινόοιο.
And they made trial of grievous wrestling; and in that Euryalus in turn surpassed all the best. In the jump Amphialus was foremost of all; at the discus again by far the mightiest was Elatreus, and at boxing Laodamas, the good son of Alcinous.
Word by word
The setting
The footrace is over. Now the poem runs quickly through the other contests and names the winner of each.
A note on this passage
A brisk roll-call of winners: Euryalus takes the wrestling, Amphialus the long jump, Elatreus the discus, and Laodamas the boxing. Each event gets a line, each victor a name; the verse moves like a scoreboard.
The list is quietly doing introductions. These are the young Phaeacian nobles who will, in a moment, turn to the silent stranger — and the one named last, for boxing, is Laodamas, the king's son, whose invitation the guest cannot easily refuse. The catalogue of games is really a catalogue of the men who are about to test their guest.
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