So talked the twain awhile; then interposed Eurymachus, and thus bespake the queen:—
“Sage daughter of Icarius! if all those Who in Iäsian Argos have their homes Should once behold thee, a still larger crowd Of suitors would tomorrow come and feast Within thy halls, so much dost thou excel In mind and form and face all womankind.”
To this the sage Penelope replied:
“Eurymachus, the immortals took away Such grace of form and face as once was mine, What time the sons of Argos sailed for Troy, And with them went Ulysses, my espoused. Should he return, and take again in charge My household, greater would my glory be, And prized more highly. I am wretched now, Such woes the gods have heaped upon my head.
He, when he left his native island, grasped My right hand at the wrist, and said to me: > ‘Think not, dear wife, that all the well-armed Greeks Will come