Suitors, the sons of those who, in our isle, Hold the chief rank, importunately press Round my unwilling mother. They disdain To ask her of Icarius, that the king Her father may endow her, and bestow His daughter on the man who best may gain His favor, but with every day they come Into our palace, sacrificing here Oxen and sheep and fatling goats, and hold High festival, and drink the purple wine Unstinted, with unbounded waste; for here Is no man like Ulysses to repel The mischief from my house. Not such are we As he was, to resist the wrong. We pass For weaklings, immature in valor, yet If I had but the power, assuredly I would resist, for by these men are done Insufferable things, nor does my house Perish with honor.
Ye yourselves should feel Shame at these doings; ye should dread reproach From those who dwell around us, and should fear The offended gods, lest they repay these crimes With vengeance. I beseech you, O my friends, Both by Olympian Jove, and her by whom Councils of men are summoned and dissolved— The goddess Themis—that ye all refrain, And leave me to my grief alone, unless Ulysses, my great father, may have done Wrong in his anger to the gallant Greeks, Which ye, by prompting men to acts like these, Seek to avenge on me. Far better ’twere, Should ye yourselves destroy our goods and slay Our herds, since, were it so, there might in time Be some requital. We, from street to street, Would plead continually for recompense, Till all should be restored. But now ye heap Upon me wrongs for which is no redress.”
Thus angrily he spake, and clashed to earth The sceptre, shedding tears. The people felt Compassion; all were silent for a space, And there was none who dared with railing words Answer Telemachus, save one alone, Antinoüs, who arose and thus replied:—
“Telemachus, thou youth of braggart speech And boundless in abuse, what hast thou said To our dishonor? Thou wouldst fix on us A brand of shame. The blame is not with us, The Achaian suitors; ’tis thy