Athena Prompts Penelope

25Then blue-eyed Athena moved Penelope,
Sage daughter of Icarius, to appear
Before the suitors, that their base intent
Might be more fully seen, and she might win
More honor from her husband and her son.
Wherefore she forced a laugh, and thus began: —

26“Eurynome, I would at length appear,
Though not till now, before the suitor-train,
Detested as they are. I there would speak
A word of timely warning to my son,
And give him counsel not to trust himself
Too much among the suitors, who are fair
In speech, but mean him foully in their hearts.”

27Eurynome, the household matron, said:
“Assuredly, my child, you speak well.
Go now, and warn your son, and keep back naught.
First bathe, and, ere you go, anoint your cheeks,
Nor show them stained with tears. It is not well
To sorrow without end. For now your son
Is grown, and you behold him at length
What you did pray the gods, when he was born,
That he might yet become, a bearded man.”

28And then the sage Penelope rejoined:
“Though anxious for my sake, persuade me not,
Eurynome, to bathe, nor to anoint
My cheeks with oil. The gods inhabiting
Olympus took away their comeliness
When in his roomy ships my husband sailed;
But bid Antinoe come, and call with her
Hippodameia, that they both may stand
Beside me in the hall. I will not go
Alone among the men, for very shame.”