Odyssey 8.469 · Book 8, lines 469–473
The blind singer is led in
Read the full text in our reader
ἦ ῥα καὶ ἐς θρόνον ἷζε παρʼ Ἀλκίνοον βασιλῆα· οἱ δʼ ἤδη μοίρας τʼ ἔνεμον κερόωντό τε οἶνον. κῆρυξ δʼ ἐγγύθεν ἦλθεν ἄγων ἐρίηρον ἀοιδόν, Δημόδοκον λαοῖσι τετιμένον· εἷσε δʼ ἄρʼ αὐτὸν μέσσῳ δαιτυμόνων, πρὸς κίονα μακρὸν ἐρείσας.
So he spoke, and sat down on the throne beside king Alcinous; and now they were dealing out portions and mixing the wine. And a herald came near, leading the trusty singer, Demodocus, honoured by the people; and he seated him in the midst of the banqueters, propping him against a tall pillar.
Word by word
The setting
His reply to Nausicaa finished, Odysseus takes his seat at the feast. The Phaeacians bring in Demodocus, the blind court singer — the same bard whose earlier song of Troy had moved Odysseus to secret tears.
A note on this passage
The scene settles. Odysseus takes his seat beside the king, the servers portion the meat and mix the wine, and a herald leads in Demodocus, the blind singer the Phaeacians honour, and props him against a central pillar.
The undercurrent is who has just entered. Demodocus is the poem’s own mirror — the ἀοιδός whose song of Troy made Odysseus weep into his cloak a little while ago. Now the hero, still unrecognised, sits down to hear him again, and the epic quietly sets its own art at the centre of the hall.
Read the full commentary — and tap any word for its dictionary entry — in the interlinear reader.
Open Odyssey 8.469 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
From the Great Library
You are reading a page of the Odyssey — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
Odyssey 8.469 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/odyssey/8.469/