And o'er the foaming bowl the laughing wine,
The well-fill'd palace, the perpetual feast,
Are of all joys most lasting and the best.
A LOVE OF PLEASURE.
But Megaclides says that Ulysses is here adapting himself to the times, for the sake of appearing to be of the same disposition as the Phæacians; and that with that view he embraces their luxurious habits, as he had already heard from Alcinous, speaking of his whole nation—
To dress, to dance, to sing, our sole delight,
The feast or bath by day, and love by night;
for he thought that that would be the only way by which he could avoid failing in the hopes he cherished. And a similar man is he who recommends Amphilochus his son—
Remember thou, my son, to always dwell
In every city cherishing a mind