"may the gods who rule Olympus blot me out!
Artemis with your glossy braids, come shoot me dead –
so I can plunge beneath this loathsome earth
with the image of Odysseus vivid in my mind.
Never let me warm the heart of a weaker man!"
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 20, lines 88-92. Penelope, still loyal to Odysseus even though he has been gone for twenty years, wakes up from her sleep and begs the gods to kill her. She would prefer to die from Artemis’ arrow than have to marry one of the suitors who pursue against her will.