The Dream Speaks

77And then discreet Penelope replied,
Still sweetly slumbering at the Gate of Dreams: —

78“Why, sister, are you here, who never before
Have come to me? The home is far away
In which you dwell. You exhort me
To cease from grieving, and to lay aside
The painful thoughts that crowd into my mind,
And torture me who have already lost
A noble-minded, lionhearted spouse,
One eminent among Achaia’s sons
For every virtue, and whose fame was spread
Through Hellas and through Argos. Now my son,
My best beloved, goes to sea —a boy,
Unused to hardships, and unskilled to deal
With strangers. More I sorrow for his sake
Than for his father’s. I am filled with fear,
And tremble lest he suffer wrong from those
Among whom he has gone, or on the deep,
Where he has enemies who lie in wait
To slay him ere he reach his home again.”

79And then the shadowy image spoke again: —
“Be of good courage; let not fear overcome
Your spirit, for there goes with him a guide
Such as all others would desire to have
Beside them ever, trusting in her power —
Athena, and she looks on you
With pity. From her presence I am sent,
Her messenger, declaring this to you.”

80Again discreet Penelope replied: —
“If then you be a goddess and have heard
A goddess speak these words, declare, I pray,
Of that ill-fated one, if yet he live
And look upon the sun, or else have died
And passed to the abodes beneath the earth.”

81Once more the shadowy image spoke: “Of him
Will I say nothing, whether living yet
Or dead; no time is this for idle words.”