Odyssey 8.65 · Book 8, lines 65–70
A seat, a lyre, a table for the singer
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τῷ δʼ ἄρα Ποντόνοος θῆκε θρόνον ἀργυρόηλον μέσσῳ δαιτυμόνων, πρὸς κίονα μακρὸν ἐρείσας· κὰδ δʼ ἐκ πασσαλόφι κρέμασεν φόρμιγγα λίγειαν αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς καὶ ἐπέφραδε χερσὶν ἑλέσθαι κῆρυξ· πὰρ δʼ ἐτίθει κάνεον καλήν τε τράπεζαν, πὰρ δὲ δέπας οἴνοιο, πιεῖν ὅτε θυμὸς ἀνώγοι.
And for him Pontonous set a silver-studded chair in the middle of the banqueters, leaning it against a tall pillar; and from a peg he hung the clear lyre above his head, and showed him to take it with his hands — the herald did; and beside him he set a basket and a fine table, and beside him a cup of wine, to drink whenever his heart should bid.
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The setting
Demodocus, the blind bard, has been led into the Phaeacian hall. The steward Pontonous now settles him for the performance — a small type-scene of honour done to a singer.
A note on this passage
This is a hospitality scene in miniature, done for a poet. Pontonous sets a silver-studded chair in the middle of the diners, backs it against a pillar, and hangs the clear lyre on a peg just above the bard's head, guiding his blind hand to it. Then bread, a table, and wine within reach.
The care is the point. Every object is placed so a man who cannot see can find it: the lyre exactly overhead, the cup set where the hand will fall. The Phaeacians, who prize their singer, arrange the whole scene around his blindness without a word about it. Honour here is not speech but the silent economy of a chair, a peg, and a cup.
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