Odyssey 8.61 · Book 8, lines 61–64
The blind bard is led in
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τοὺς δέρον ἀμφί θʼ ἕπον, τετύκοντό τε δαῖτʼ ἐρατεινήν. κῆρυξ δʼ ἐγγύθεν ἦλθεν ἄγων ἐρίηρον ἀοιδόν, τὸν πέρι μοῦσʼ ἐφίλησε, δίδου δʼ ἀγαθόν τε κακόν τε· ὀφθαλμῶν μὲν ἄμερσε, δίδου δʼ ἡδεῖαν ἀοιδήν.
They flayed them and busied about them, and made ready a lovely feast. And the herald came near, leading the trusty bard, whom the Muse loved above all, and she gave good and evil: she robbed his eyes, but gave sweet song.
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The setting
The Phaeacian feast is nearly ready. A herald now brings in Demodocus, the court singer — the blind bard whom the gods have marked with both a gift and a wound.
A note on this passage
The feast is finished and the poem introduces its singer. A herald leads him in, and four lines fix him forever: the Muse loved him above other men and gave him good and evil together — she took his eyes, but gave him sweet song.
Homer rarely stops to describe a person this way, and the description is really about his own art. Demodocus is blind and inspired at once; the same divine hand that darkened his eyes opened his song. The bard who cannot see the feast will shortly sing Odysseus's own past to his face — and the poet, telling us how a singer is made, is quietly telling us what he himself is.
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