Telemachus’s Grievance

3As thus he spoke Odysseus’ son rejoiced
In his auspicious words, nor longer kept
His seat, but, yielding to an inward force,
Rose midst them all to speak, while in his hand
Pisenor, the sagacious counsellor
And herald, placed the sceptre. Then he turned
To the old man, Aegyptius, speaking thus: —

4“O aged man, not far from you is he
Who called this council, as you soon shall know
Mine chiefly is the trouble; I have brought
No news of an approaching foe, which I
Was first to hear, and would declare to all,
Nor urge I other matters which concern
The public weal; my own necessity —
The evil that has fallen on my house —
Constrains me; it is twofold. First, that I
Have lost an excellent father, who was king
Among you, and ruled over you with a sway
As gentle as a father’s. Greater yet
Is the next evil, and will soon overthrow
My house and waste my substance utterly.
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 Odysseus 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. You yourselves should feel
Shame at these doings; you 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 Zeus, and her by whom
Councils of men are summoned and dissolved —
The goddess Themis —that you all refrain,
And leave me to my grief alone, unless
Odysseus, my great father, may have done
Wrong in his anger to the gallant Greeks,
Which you, by prompting men to acts like these,
Seek to avenge on me. Far better it were,
Should you 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 you heap
Upon me wrongs for which is no redress.”