tment of the suppliant marks an advance toward the conception of an
universal humanity. Still Phaeacia, has its spiritual limits, genuine
Greek limits, of which hereafter something will be said.

It is sufficient to state that the speech of Ulysses has its effect, it
contains a great deal which appeals to the character of Arete; his
leaving Calypso and his desire to return to his home-life must be
powerful motives towards winning her sympathy. Then she cannot help
recognizing and admiring his skill; there is an intellectual bond
between them, as well as an ethical one. Not much does she say
hereafter, her part being finished; her husband takes the lead
henceforth. She has tested the wanderer, Alcinous can now preform the
ceremonies.

We soon see that the king needs a counterpart in such a wife, he being
impulsively generous; he blames his daughter for her backwardness in
not coming to town with Ulysses, whereat the latter frames one of his
smallest fibs in excuse of the maiden. Still further, the king in a
surprising burst of admiration, wishes that Ulysses, or "such an one as
thou art," might stay and be called his son-in-law. Altogether too
sudden; Arete would not have said that, though the woman be the natural
match-maker. Still Alcinous, in a counter-outpouring of his generosity,
promises to send Ulysses to his own land, though "this should be
further off than Euboea, the most distant country." Thus overflows
the noble heart of the king, but he clearly needs his other half, in
the thorny journey of life.

Thus has Ulysses reached the heart of Phaeacia and found its secret
beat; he has felt its saving power, not simply externally but also
internally; it rescues him from dangers of the sea and of himself too.
The truly positive side of life begins to dawn upon him again, after
his long career of struggle with dark fabulous shapes. Well may he pray
Zeus for Alcinous: "May his fame be immortal over the fertile earth"--a
prayer which has been fulfilled, and is still in the process of
fulfillment. Arete gives the order to the servants to spread his couch
for the night's repose, she has received him.

In the sweep of the present Book, many origins are suggested. The
genealogy of the king and queen and people is significant, it might be
called the genealogy of civilization. The woman is placed at the
center; out of her springs the family, and with it come society, state,
the institutional world.

Of such a world the e