Odyssey

Then Telemakhos spoke. "Great heavens!" he exclaimed, "Zeus must have robbed me of my senses. Here is my dear and excellent mother saying she will quit this house and marry again, yet I am laughing and enjoying myself as though there were nothing happening. But, suitors, as the contest [ athlos ] has been agreed upon, let it go forward. It is for a woman whose peer is not to be found in Pylos , Argos , or Mycenae , nor yet in Ithaca nor on the mainland. You know this as well as I do; what need have I to speak in praise [ ainos ] of my mother? Come on, then, make no excuses for delay, but let us see whether you can string the bow or no. I too will make trial of it, for if I can string it and shoot through the iron, I shall not suffer my mother to quit this house with a stranger, not if I can win the prizes which my father won before me."

OdysseyBook 21, Line 101Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 21

HomerProseID odyssey-odyssey-butler-en-prose-21-101