He spake; they praised his words and bade him act, And rose and left their places, entering The palace of Ulysses. Brief the time That passed before Penelope was warned Of what the suitors treacherously planned. The herald Medon told her all. He heard In the outer court their counsels while within They plotted, and he hastened through the house To bring the tidings to Penelope. Penelope perceived him as he stepped Across the threshold, and bespake him thus:—
“Why, herald, have the suitor princes sent Thee hither? comest thou to bid the maids Of great Ulysses 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! Ye who in throngs Come hither and so wastefully consume The substance of the brave Telemachus, Have ye not from your parents, while ye yet Were children, heard how once Ulysses 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; ye bear No grateful memory of a good man’s deeds.”
And then, in turn, experienced Medon spake:— “O queen, I would this evil were the worst! The suitors meditate a greater still, And a more heinous far. May Jupiter Never permit the crime! Their purpose is To meet Telemachus, on his return, And slay him with the sword; for thou must know That on a voyage to the Pylian coast And noble Lacedaemon he has sailed, To gather tidings of his father’s fate.”