Medon Warns Penelope

59“Why, herald, have the suitor princes sent
You hither? come you to bid the maids
Of great Odysseus leave their tasks and make
A banquet ready? Would their wooing here
And elsewhere were but ended, and this feast
Were their last feast on earth! You who in throngs
Come hither and so wastefully consume
The substance of the brave Telemachus,
Have you not from your parents, while you yet
Were children, heard how once Odysseus lived
Among them, never wronging any man
In all the realm by aught he did or said —
As mighty princes often do, through hate
Of some and love of others? Never man
Endured injustice at his hands, but you —
Your vile designs and acts are known; you bear
No grateful memory of a good man’s deeds.”

60And then, in turn, experienced Medon spoke: —
“O queen, I would this evil were the worst!
The suitors meditate a greater still,
And a more heinous far. May Zeus
Never permit the crime! Their purpose is
To meet Telemachus, on his return,
And slay him with the sword; for you must know
That on a voyage to the Pylian coast
And noble Lacedaemon he has sailed,
To gather tidings of his father’s fate.”

61He spoke, and her knees failed her and her heart
Sank as she heard. Long time she could not speak;
Her eyes were filled with tears, and her clear voice
Was choked; yet, finding words at length, she said: —