Homer's Odyssey δ 4.675-95
Adapted from the edition of M. L. West:
Greek text hyperlinked to lexica via Perseus (perseus.tufts.edu):
οὐδ᾽ ἄρα Πηνελόπεια πολὺν χρόνον ἦεν ἄπυστος
μύθων, οὓς μνηστῆρες ἐνὶ φρεσὶ βυσσοδόμευον:
κῆρυξ γάρ οἱ ἔειπε Μέδων, ὃς ἐπεύθετο βουλὰς
αὐλῆς ἐκτὸς ἐών: οἱ δ᾽ ἔνδοθι μῆτιν ὕφαινον.
βῆ δ᾽ ἴμεν ἀγγελέων διὰ δώματα Πηνελοπείῃ:
τὸν δὲ κατ᾽ οὐδοῦ βάντα προσηύδα Πηνελόπεια:
‘κῆρυξ, τίπτε δέ σε πρόεσαν μνηστῆρες ἀγαυοί;
ἦ εἰπέμεναι δμῳῇσιν Ὀδυσσῆος θείοιο
ἔργων παύσασθαι, σφίσι δ᾽ αὐτοῖς δαῖτα πένεσθαι;
μὴ μνηστεύσαντες μηδ᾽ ἄλλοθ᾽ ὁμιλήσαντες
ὕστατα καὶ πύματα νῦν ἐνθάδε δειπνήσειαν:
οἳ θάμ᾽ ἀγειρόμενοι βίοτον κατακείρετε πολλόν,
κτῆσιν Τηλεμάχοιο δαΐφρονος: οὐδέ τι πατρῶν
ὑμετέρων τὸ πρόσθεν ἀκούετε, παῖδες ἐόντες,
οἷος Ὀδυσσεὺς ἔσκε μεθ᾽ ὑμετέροισι τοκεῦσιν,
οὔτε τινὰ ῥέξας ἐξαίσιον οὔτε τι εἰπὼν
ἐν δήμῳ, ἥ τ᾽ ἐστὶ δίκη θείων βασιλήων:
ἄλλον κ᾽ ἐχθαίρῃσι βροτῶν, ἄλλον κε φιλοίη.
κεῖνος δ᾽ οὔ ποτε πάμπαν ἀτάσθαλον ἄνδρα ἐώργει.
ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν ὑμέτερος θυμὸς καὶ ἀεικέα ἔργα
φαίνεται, οὐδέ τίς ἐστι χάρις μετόπισθ᾽ ἐυεργέων.’
Samuel Butler’s translation with certain names Hellenised:
It was not long ere Penelope came to know what the suitors were plotting; for a man servant, Medon, overheard them from outside the outer court as they were laying their schemes within, and went to tell his mistress. As he crossed the threshold of her room Penelope said: “Medon, what have the suitors sent you here for? Is it to tell the maids to leave their master’s business and cook dinner for them? I wish they may neither woo nor dine henceforward, neither here nor anywhere else, but let this be the very last time, for the waste you all make of my son’s estate. Did not your fathers tell you when you were children, how good Odysseus had been to them — never doing anything high-handed, nor speaking harshly to anybody? Kings may say things sometimes, and they may take a fancy to one man and dislike another, but Odysseus never did an unjust thing by anybody — which shows what bad hearts you have, and that there is no such thing as gratitude left in this world.”
My translation: