em with disdain, they are Phaeacians."
To be sure she puts these words into the mouth of a gossipy and
somewhat disgruntled countryman, but they come round to their mark like
a boomerang. Does she not thus announce to the much-enduring man that
she is free, though under a good deal of pressure? All this is done in
such an artless way, that it becomes the highest art--something which
she does not intend but cannot help. Surely such a speech from such a
source ought to repay him for suffering shipwreck and for ten years'
wandering.

We cannot, therefore, think of calling this passage spurious, with some
critics both ancient and modern. The complaint against it is that the
young Phaeacian lady shows here too much reflection, in conjunction with
a tendency to sarcasm foreign to her life. But we find it eminently
unreflective and naive; the very point of the passage is that she
unconsciously reveals the deepest hidden thought and purpose of her
heart to Ulysses. With all her being she must move toward the Family,
she would not be herself unless she did; yet how completely she
preserves modesty and simple-heartedness! Nor is the sarcastic tinge
foreign to young girls. So we shall have to set aside the objections of
Aristarchus the old Greek, and Faesi the modern German, commentator.

But the final instruction of Nausicaa is the most interesting; the
suppliant is not to go to the father but to the mother. Nay, he is to
"pass by my father's throne and clasp my mother's knees," in token of
supplication; then he may see the day of return. Herein we may behold
in general, the honored place of the mother as the center of the
Family, its heart, as it were, full of the tender feelings of
compassion and mercy. In the father and king, on the other hand, is the
man of the State with its inflexible justice, often putting aside
sympathy and commiseration with misfortune. The woman's heart may
indeed be called the heart of the world, recognized here by the old
poet and his Phaeacians.

This mother, however, is in herself a great character; she is next to
have a Book of her own, which will more fully set forth her position.

The character of Nausicaa, as here unfolded in the ancient poet, has
captivated many generations of readers since Homer began to be read.
The story has lived and renewed itself in manifold forms; it has that
highest power of a genuine mythus, it produces itself through all ages,
taking on a fresh vesture in Time. In