Odyssey 8.367 · Book 8, lines 367–369
The bard's song, and its listeners
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ταῦτʼ ἄρʼ ἀοιδὸς ἄειδε περικλυτός· αὐτὰρ Ὀδυσσεὺς τέρπετʼ ἐνὶ φρεσὶν ᾗσιν ἀκούων ἠδὲ καὶ ἄλλοι Φαίηκες δολιχήρετμοι, ναυσίκλυτοι ἄνδρες.
This, then, the far-famed bard sang; but Odysseus delighted in his own heart, listening, and so did the others, the long-oared Phaeacians, men famed for their ships.
Word by word
The setting
The song of Ares and Aphrodite ends. Homer turns from the tale to the hall, noting how Odysseus and his Phaeacian hosts took delight in the singing of the renowned bard Demodocus.
A note on this passage
The song is over. Homer names its singer — ἀοιδὸς περικλυτός, the far-famed bard — and records the pleasure of the room: Odysseus enjoyed it, and so did the Phaeacians around him.
A quiet reversal sits inside the line. When Demodocus sang of Troy, Odysseus wept and hid his face; this lighter tale of Ares and Aphrodite he can enjoy like any other guest. For a moment the exile is simply one of an audience, delighting in the same song as the ship-famed men who still do not know his name. The poem also pauses to admire its own craft: a bard inside the epic, praised, doing exactly what Homer is doing.
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