gazed about him. So fair a sight had never met his eyes. Fruit-trees
without number stood ranged in ordered rows, pear-trees, and
pomegranates, and rosy apples, the luscious fig, and olives in their
bloom. Their fruit never failed, summer or winter, all the year round.
There blows the warm west wind without ceasing, nursing the tender
blossom, and mellowing the swelling fruit. He saw pears and figs
hanging on the trees in every stage of growth. Another part of the
enclosure was set apart for the cultivation of the vine; and here also
the same wonder was to be seen, springtime and summer dancing
hand-in-hand, and yellow autumn treading close in their footsteps.
Side by side hung the ripe, purple cluster, the crude grape just
turning from green to red, and tiny green bunches lately formed from
the blossom. There the labour of the vintagers never ceased, and the
winepress overflowed without end.

Between the rows of fruit-trees were garden-beds, in which grew all
manner of flowers and useful herbs; and the whole was watered by a
perennial stream, divided into channels which brought the water to
every part of the garden.

Turning with a sigh from that paradise of colour and perfume, Odysseus
passed on to the house, and stood for a while, scanning that stately
structure. His eyes were almost blinded by the light which flashed
from the outer walls, which were built of solid brass, with a coping
of blue steel. The doors were of gold, with silver lintel and
doorposts, and brazen threshold. Then he entered the hall, still
unseen of all eyes; and here new wonders awaited him. Within the
doorway on either side sat dogs wrought in silver and gold, living
creatures, that know neither age nor death, which Hephæstus, the
divine artificer, made, in the wisdom of his heart, to guard the house