Odyssey 8.481 · Book 8, lines 481–484
The bard receives the gift
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οἴμας μοῦσʼ ἐδίδαξε, φίλησε δὲ φῦλον ἀοιδῶν. ὣς ἄρʼ ἔφη, κῆρυξ δὲ φέρων ἐν χερσὶν ἔθηκεν ἥρῳ Δημοδόκῳ· ὁ δʼ ἐδέξατο, χαῖρε δὲ θυμῷ. οἱ δʼ ἐπʼ ὀνείαθʼ ἑτοῖμα προκείμενα χεῖρας ἴαλλον.
The Muse taught him ways of song, and loved the tribe of singers. So he spoke, and the herald, bearing it, placed it in the hands of the hero Demodocus; and he received it, and rejoiced at heart. And they, for their part, put forth their hands to the good things lying ready before them.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus has sent the herald with a choice cut of meat to honor the blind bard Demodocus, praising the craft of singers taught by the Muse. The gift is delivered, and the company turns back to the feast.
A note on this passage
The scene is pure hospitality machinery: a gift passed hand to hand, received with pleasure, and the meal resumed. Odysseus, still an unnamed guest, has singled out the bard for the honor of choice meat, and the poem lingers a moment on why singers deserve it — the Muse herself taught them and loves their kind.
Under the courtesy sits the poem's quiet self-portrait. This is the Odyssey describing the value of the thing it is: song as a gift worth honoring at a king's table. The stranger who honors Demodocus is a man who will soon be the subject of such song, praising the very art that is, at this moment, about to sing him.
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