When I first saw him
I thought him quite plain and commonplace, and now I consider him
one of the handsomest men I ever saw in my life. I should like my
future husband [who, it is plain, then, is not yet decided upon] to
be just such another as he is, if he would only stay here, and not
want to go away. However, give him something to eat and drink."
Nausicaa now says they must be starting homeward; so she tells
Ulysses that she will drive on first herself, but that he is to
follow after her with the maids. She does not want to be seen
coming into the town with him; and then follows another passage
which clearly shows that for all the talk she has made about getting
married she has no present intention of changing her name.
"'I am afraid,' she says, 'of the gossip and scandal which may be
set on foot about me behind my back, for there are some very ill-
natured people in the town, and some low fellow, if he met us, might
say, 'Who is this fine-looking stranger who is going about with
Nausicaa? Where did she pick him up? I suppose she is going to
marry him, or perhaps he is some shipwrecked sailor from foreign
parts; or has some god come down from heaven in answer to her
prayers, and she is going to live with him? It would be a good
thing if she would take herself off and find a husband somewhere
else, for she will not look at one of the many excellent young
Phaeacians who are in love with her'; and I could not complain, for
I should myself think ill of any girl whom I saw going about with
men unknown to her father and mother, and without having been
married to him in the face of all the world.
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