In my dear native land women are admired for the feminine arts of weaving and dance - there is none among the long-haired Achaeans who would presume his daughter suited to sailing, for this is the labor of men with shoulders broad and limbs strong. Nor are any Achaean women so inclined, for the notion must seem to them as preposterous as the notion of dancing might seem to an ox which all its life has known the yoke upon its shoulders and its purpose in plowing the fields of men.

[And because he can sense her impending displeasure for this statement, he continues with just a flash of frustration:]

Here I have learned, however, that such is not the way of all nations. You need not lecture me therefore.