Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/445

XIX. This weightier reason (thou shalt also say) Some God suggested to me,—lest, inflamed With wine, ye wound each other in your brawls, Shaming both feast and courtship; for the view Itself of arms incites to their abuse. He ceased, and, in obedience to his will, Calling the ancient Euryclea forth, His nurse, Telemachus enjoin'd her thus. Go—shut the women in; make fast the doors Of their apartment, while I safe dispose Elsewhere, my father's implements of war, Which, during his long absence, here have stood Till smoke hath sullied them. For I have been An infant hitherto, but, wiser grown, Would now remove them from the breath of fire. Then thus the gentle matron in return. Yes truly—and I wish that now, at length, Thou would'st assert the privilege of thy years, My son, thyself assuming charge of all, Both house and stores; but who shall bear the light? Since they, it seems, who would, are all forbidden. To whom Telemachus discrete replied. This guest; for no man, from my table fed, Come whence he may; shall be an idler here. He ended, nor his words flew wing'd away, But Euryclea bolted every door. Then, starting to the task, Ulysses caught, And his illustrious son, the weapons thence,