Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/433

XVIII. In presence of the num'rous guests, beneath The portal of the stately dome she stood Between her maidens, with her lucid veil Mantling her lovely cheeks. Then, ev'ry knee Trembled, and ev'ry heart with am'rous heat Dissolv'd, her charms all coveting alike, While to Telemachus her son she spake. Telemachus! thou art no longer wise As once thou wast, and even when a child. For thriven as thou art, and at full size Arrived of man, so fair proportion'd, too, That ev'n a stranger, looking on thy growth And beauty, would pronounce thee nobly born, Yet is thy intellect still immature. For what is this? why suffer'st thou a guest To be abused in thy own palace? how? Know'st not that if the stranger seated here Endure vexation, the disgrace is thine? Her answer'd, then, Telemachus discrete. I blame thee not, my mother, that thou feel'st Thine anger moved; yet want I not a mind Able to mark and to discern between Evil and good, child as I lately was, Although I find not promptitude of thought Sufficient always, overaw'd and check'd By such a multitude, all bent alike On mischief, of whom none takes part with me. But Irus and the stranger have not fought,