Suitors’ Uneasy Rebuke

54He ended. Then again Eupeithes’ son,
Antinous, spoke: “Eat, stranger, quietly;
Sit still, or get you hence; our young men else
Who hear your words will seize you by the feet
Or hands, and drag you forth and flay you there.”

55He spoke, and greatly were the rest incensed,
And one of those proud youths took up the word: —

56“Antinous, it was ill of you to smite
That hapless wanderer. Madman! what if he
Came down from heaven and were a god! The gods
Put on the form of strangers from afar,
And walk our towns in many different shapes,
To mark the good and evil deeds of men.”