oine of _The Tempest_, who of all poetic
creations most resembles her. Note her naive grace and charm, her
girlish vivacity and joy, at the beginning of the scene; and when the
occasion demands it, the girl becomes the woman, and with unaffected
simplicity and dignity she addresses the hero. No wonder that Odysseus
should seem the Prince Charming for whom she had been waiting; and there
may have been a slight chill of disappointment when, in expressing his
gratitude for his deliverance, he made her his patron saint instead of
his sweetheart. Yet, no doubt, she soon learned that the unknown hero
was the great Odysseus, husband of faithful Penelope, and hers was too
buoyant, too healthy a nature to pine away and die at the shattering of
a dream. Then, even if he had been a widower, he was too old for this
bright beauty. But what an ideal father-in-law he would make! And if the
young Telemachus should only come to Scheria!--and how do we know that
he did not later arrive there, sent a-courting by Odysseus after the
restoration of his realm? Eustathius preserves a tradition, based on
such good authorities as Hellanicus and Aristotle, that Telemachus
actually did wed the Princess Nausicaa; and the Athenian orator
Andocides claimed to be a descendant of this illustrious pair.

So beautiful a legend could not escape treatment by later poets. Alcman,
one of the earliest lyric composers, describes in a poem the meeting of
Odysseus and Nausicaa, and Sophocles wrote a drama entitled _Nausicaa_,
or _The Washers_; and there is a tradition that, contrary to his usual
custom, the poet himself "appeared as an actor, winning much applause by
his beauty and grace in the dancing and rhythmic ball play, in the
character of Nausicaa herself." Lucian names her among the heroines of
mythical times who, through their goodness of heart, humanity,
gentleness of demeanor, and compassion toward the needy, deserve to rank
as patterns of womanly virtue.

With such brilliant pictures of domestic life--the queens Penelope,
Helen, and Arete, exerting a womanly influence in the palaces, the
goddess-lovers Circe and Calypso on their enchanted islands, the slave
Euryclea tenderly caring for mistress and young master, and the maiden
Nausicaa, engaged in occupation and in pastime with her girl
friends--the Odyssey is a mirror reflecting the character of the Heroic
Age of Greece.

V

THE LYRIC AGE

From the fascinating visions of the heroic pas