s through a dream; she simply brings
about an incident, natural enough, to wake the sleeping hero. Why then
introduce the Goddess at all? Because the poet wishes to emphasize the
fact that this simple incident is a link in the providential chain;
otherwise it would have no mention. The ball is thrown at one of the
servants, it falls into the stream, whereat there is an outcry--and
Ulysses wakes.

Of course, the latter had at first his usual fit of doubt and
complaint, just when the Gods are helping him: "Ah me! to what land
have I come! What men are here--wild, insolent, unjust, or are they
hospitable, reverencing the Gods? I shall go forth and test the
matter"--and so by an act of will he rescues himself from inner
brooding and finds out the truth.

2. Now we are to witness the gradual outer approach between Ulysses and
Nausicaa, till it becomes internal, and ends in a strong feeling of
friendship if not in a warmer emotion. The wanderer, almost naked, with
only "a branch of thick leaves bound about his loins," comes forth from
his hiding place, a frightful object to anybody, a wild man apparently.

All the servants run, but Nausicaa stands her ground before the nude
monster; being a Princess she shows her noble blood, and, being
innocent herself, what can she he afraid of? Thus does the poet
distinguish her spiritually among her attendants, as a few lines before
in the famous comparison with Diana he distinguished her physically:
"Over all the rest are seen her head and brow, easily is she known
among them, though all are fair: such was the spotless virgin mid her
maids." Thus is hinted the outer and also the inner superiority which
has now revealed itself in the Phaeacian Princess.

Henceforth a subtle interplay takes place between her and Ulysses, in
which we observe three main stages: First, the wild man in appearance
he steps forth, yet he succeeds in touching her sympathy, wherein her
charity is shown; Second, the transformed man, now a God in appearance
he becomes, at whose view the maiden begins to show deep admiration, if
not love; Third, the passing of Ulysses to the city to which he is
conducted by the maiden, who also tells him how to reach the heart of
the family, namely, the mother Arete. Thus she seeks to mediate him
with her country and her hearth.

(1) Ulysses, issuing from his lair, addresses her in a speech which
shows superb skill on account of its gradual penetration to the soul of
the fair h