Laodamas’s Challenge

11This when the admiring multitude had seen,
Thus spoke the monarch’s son, Laodamas: —

12“And now, my friends, inquire we of our guest
If he has learned and practised feats like these.
For he is not ill-made in legs and thighs
And in both arms, in firmly planted neck
And strong-built frame; nor does he seem to lack
A certain youthful vigor, though impaired
By many hardships —for I know of naught
That more severely tries the strongest man,
And breaks him down, than perils of the sea.”

13Euryalus replied: “Laodamas,
Well have you said, and rightly: go you now
And speak to him yourself, and challenge him.”

14The son of King Alcinous, as he heard,
Came forward, and bespoke Odysseus thus: —

15“You also, guest and father, try these feats,
If you perchance were trained to them. I think
You must be skilled in games, since there is not
A greater glory for a man while yet
He lives on earth than what he has wrought out,
By strenuous effort, with his feet and hands.
Try, then, your skill, and give no place to grief.
Not long will your departure be delayed;
Your barque is launched; the crew are ready here.”