Odyssey 7.290 · Book 7, lines 290–294
He supplicates Nausicaa
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ἀμφιπόλους δʼ ἐπὶ θινὶ τεῆς ἐνόησα θυγατρὸς παιζούσας, ἐν δʼ αὐτὴ ἔην ἐικυῖα θεῇσι· τὴν ἱκέτευσʼ· ἡ δʼ οὔ τι νοήματος ἤμβροτεν ἐσθλοῦ, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἔλποιο νεώτερον ἀντιάσαντα ἐρξέμεν· αἰεὶ γάρ τε νεώτεροι ἀφραδέουσιν.
And on the shore I caught sight of your daughter's handmaids playing, and she herself was among them, like the goddesses; her I supplicated, and she in no way fell short of noble understanding — as you would not expect a younger person, on meeting you, to behave; for the young are always thoughtless.
Word by word
The setting
Odysseus reaches the heart of his story: waking, he found the princess and her maids on the shore, and made himself her suppliant. He praises Nausicaa's good sense to her own parents.
A note on this passage
Now the tale reaches Nausicaa. Odysseus saw her handmaids playing on the shore, and the girl herself among them like the immortals; he made himself her suppliant, and she 'did not fall short of noble sense.' He adds a gracious line: you would not expect someone so young to behave so well, for the young are usually thoughtless.
The move under the praise is tact. Odysseus is speaking to Nausicaa's parents, and he credits their daughter with a poise beyond her years while folding any awkwardness into the general failing of youth. He praises the princess to the king and queen without a word that could embarrass her — the same self-command that made him kneel rather than seize.
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