"Shame?" alert Penelope protested –
"How can you hope for any public fame at all?
You who disgrace, devour a great man’s house and home!
Why hang your heads in shame over next to nothing?
Our friend here is a strapping, well-built man
and claims to be the son of a noble father.
Come, hand him the bow now, let’s just see…
I tell you this – and I’ll make good my word –
if he strings the bow and Apollo grants him glory,
I’ll dress him in shirt and cloak, in handsome clothes,
I’ll give him a good sharp lance to fight off men and dogs,
give him a two-edged sword and sandals for his feet
and send him off, wherever his heart desires."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 21, lines 369-381. Penelope dismisses the suitors’ objections to the beggar (Odysseus in disguise) taking part in the game to use Odysseus’ bow. She rounds on Eurymachus for his suggestion that if the beggar succeeds where they cannot, they will hang their heads in shame. She bluntly tells them they cannot hope for any public fame after the way they greedily devoured Odysseus’ house and home. She promises to dress the beggar in find clothes and give him a lance and sword if he wins the bow contest. Penelope shows great courage in standing up to the suitors here.