TELEMACHUS VISITS NESTOR AT PYLOS.
but as the sun was from the sea24 into the of to light on and immortals, they Pylos the city of Neleus. Now the people of Pylos were on the sea to offer of black to Neptune lord of the Earthquake. There were nine with five hundred men in each, and there were nine to each guild. As they were the meats25 and the [on the embers] in the name of Neptune, Telemachus and his arrived, their sails, their ship to anchor, and ashore.
Minerva the way and Telemachus her. Presently she said, “Telemachus, you must not be in the least or nervous; you have taken this to try and out where your father is and how he came by his end; so go up to Nestor that we may see what he has got to tell us. Beg of him to speak the truth, and he will tell no lies, for he is an excellent person.”
“But how, Mentor,” Telemachus, “dare I go up to Nestor, and how am I to address him? I have yet been used to long with people, and am to one who is so much older than myself.”
“Some things, Telemachus,” answered Minerva, “will be to you by your own instinct, and will you further; for I am that the gods have been with you from the time of your birth until now.”
She then on, and Telemachus in her steps till they the place where the of the Pylian people were assembled. There they Nestor with his sons, while his company him were dinner ready, and pieces of meat on to the spits26 while other pieces were cooking. When they saw the they them, took them by the hand and them take their places. Nestor’s son Pisistratus at once offered his hand to each of them, and seated them on some soft that were on the near his father and his Thrasymedes. Then he gave them their of the meats and for them into a cup, it to Minerva first, and her at the same time.
“Offer a prayer, sir,” said he, “to King Neptune, for it is his that you are joining; when you have prayed and your drink offering, pass the cup to your friend that he may do so also. I not that he too his hands in prayer, for man cannot live without God in the world. Still he is than you are, and is much of an age with myself, so I will give you the precedence.”
As he spoke he her the cup. Minerva it very right and proper of him to have it to herself first;27 she praying to Neptune. “O thou,” she cried, “that the earth, to the prayers of that call upon thee. More we pray send on Nestor and on his sons; also make the of the Pylian people some return for the they are you. Lastly, Telemachus and myself a happy issue, in respect of the that has us in our ship to Pylos.”
When she had thus an end of praying, she the cup to Telemachus and he prayed likewise. By and by, when the meats were and had been taken off the spits, the gave every man his and they all an excellent dinner. As soon as they had had to eat and drink, Nestor, of Gerene, to speak.
“Now,” said he, “that our guests have done their dinner, it will be best to ask them who they are. Who, then, sir strangers, are you, and from what port have you sailed? Are you traders? or do you sail the as with your hand against every man, and every man’s hand against you?”
Telemachus answered boldly, for Minerva had him to ask about his father and himself a good name.
“Nestor,” said he, “son of Neleus, to the Achaean name, you ask we come, and I will tell you. We come from Ithaca under Neritum,28 and the about which I would speak is of private not public import. I news of my father Ulysses, who is said to have the town of Troy in company with yourself. We know what each one of the other who at Troy, but as Ulysses has from us the knowledge that he is at all, for no one can us in what place he perished, say he in on the mainland, or was at sea the of Amphitrite. Therefore I am at your knees, if you may be pleased to tell me of his end, you saw it with your own eyes, or it from some other traveller, for he was a man to trouble. Do not out of any for me, but tell me in all what you saw. If my father Ulysses did you service, either by word or deed, when you Achaeans were among the Trojans, it in mind now as in my and tell me all.”
“My friend,” answered Nestor, “you a time of much to my mind, for the Achaeans much at sea, while privateering under Achilles, and when the great city of king Priam. Our best men all of them there—Ajax, Achilles, Patroclus of gods in counsel, and my own dear son Antilochus, a man of and in valiant. But we much more than this; what tell the whole story? Though you were to here and question me for five years, or six, I not tell you all that the Achaeans suffered, and you would turn of my it ended. Nine long years did we try every of stratagem, but the hand of was against us; all this time there was no one who with your father in subtlety—if you are his son—I can my eyes—and you talk just like him too—no one would say that people of such different speak so much alike. He and I had any of from to last neither in council, but in of and purpose we the Argives how all might be ordered for the best.
“When, however, we had the city of Priam, and were setting sail in our ships as had us, then Jove saw fit to the Argives on their voyage; for they had not all been either wise or understanding, and hence many came to a end through the of Jove’s Minerva, who about a the two sons of Atreus.
“The sons of Atreus called a meeting which was not as it should be, for it was and the Achaeans were with wine. When they why they had called the people together, it that Menelaus was for at once, and this Agamemnon, who that we should wait till we had offered to the anger of Minerva. Fool that he was, he might have that he would not with her, for when the gods have up their minds they do not them lightly. So the two hard words, the Achaeans to their with a that rent the air, and were of two minds as to what they should do.
“That night we rested and nursed our anger, for Jove was against us. But in the some of us our ships into the water and put our with our on board, while the rest, about in number, with Agamemnon. We—the other half—embarked and sailed; and the ships well, for had the sea. When we Tenedos we offered to the gods, for we were to home; Jove, however, did not yet that we should do so, and a second in the of which some among us their ships again, and away under Ulysses to make their peace with Agamemnon; but I, and all the ships that were with me pressed forward, for I saw that was brewing. The son of Tydeus on also with me, and his with him. Later on Menelaus joined us at Lesbos, and us making up our minds about our course—for we did not know to go Chios by the of Psyra, this to our left, or Chios, over against the of Mimas. So we asked for a sign, and were one to the that we should be out of if we our ships across the open sea to Euboea. This we therefore did, and a wind up which gave us a quick passage the night to Geraestus,29 where we offered many to Neptune for having helped us so on our way. Four days later Diomed and his men their ships in Argos, but I on for Pylos, and the wind light from the day when it for me.
“Therefore, my dear friend, I returned without anything about the others. I know neither who got home safely who were but, as in bound, I will give you without the reports that have me since I have been here in my own house. They say the Myrmidons returned home safely under Achilles’ son Neoptolemus; so also did the son of Poias, Philoctetes. Idomeneus, again, no men at sea, and all his who death in the got safe home with him to Crete. No how out of the world you live, you will have of Agamemnon and the end he came to at the hands of Aegisthus—and a did Aegisthus presently pay. See what a good thing it is for a man to a son him to do as Orestes did, who killed false Aegisthus the of his father. You too, then—for you are a tall smart-looking fellow—show your and make a name in story.”
“Nestor son of Neleus,” answered Telemachus, “honour to the Achaean name, the Achaeans Orestes and his name will live through all time for he has his father nobly. Would that might me to do like on the of the suitors, who are me and my ruin; but the gods have no such in store for me and for my father, so we must it as best we may.”
“My friend,” said Nestor, “now that you me, I to have that your mother has many suitors, who are you and are making of your estate. Do you submit to this tamely, or are public and the voice of against you? Who but what Ulysses may come after all, and pay these in full, either single-handed or with a of Achaeans him? If Minerva were to take as great a to you as she did to Ulysses when we were Troy (for I yet saw the gods so openly of any one as Minerva then was of your father), if she would take as good of you as she did of him, these would soon some of them their wooing.”
Telemachus answered, “I can nothing of the kind; it would be too much to for. I not let myself think of it. Even though the gods themselves it no such good me.”
On this Minerva said, “Telemachus, what are you talking about? Heaven has a long arm if it is to save a man; and if it were me, I should not how much I home, provided I be safe when I was once there. I would this, than home quickly, and then be killed in my own house as Agamemnon was by the of Aegisthus and his wife. Still, death is certain, and when a man’s hour is come, not the gods can save him, no how they are of him.”
“Mentor,” answered Telemachus, “do not let us talk about it any more. There is no of my father’s back; the gods have long since his destruction. There is something else, however, about which I should like to ask Nestor, for he much more than any one else does. They say he has for three so that it is like talking to an immortal. Tell me, therefore, Nestor, and tell me true; how did Agamemnon come to die in that way? What was Menelaus doing? And how came false Aegisthus to kill so a man than himself? Was Menelaus away from Achaean Argos, among mankind, that Aegisthus took and killed Agamemnon?”
“I will tell you truly,” answered Nestor, “and you have how it all happened. If Menelaus when he got from Troy had Aegisthus still alive in his house, there would have been no up for him, not when he was dead, but he would have been the city to dogs and vultures, and not a woman would have him, for he had done a of great wickedness; but we were over there, hard at Troy, and Aegisthus, who was taking his in the of Argos, Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra with flattery.
“At she would have nothing to do with his scheme, for she was of a good natural disposition;30 there was a with her, to Agamemnon had orders on setting out for Troy, that he was to keep over his wife; but when had her destruction, Aegisthus this off to a and left him there for and to upon—after which she to the house of Aegisthus. Then he offered many to the gods, and many temples with and gilding, for he had succeeded his expectations.
“Meanwhile Menelaus and I were on our way home from Troy, on good terms with one another. When we got to Sunium, which is the point of Athens, Apollo with his painless killed Phrontis the of Menelaus’ ship (and man how to a in weather) so that he died then and there with the in his hand, and Menelaus, though very to press forward, had to wait in order to his and give him his rites. Presently, when he too put to sea again, and had on as as the Malean heads, Jove against him and it hard till the ran high. Here he his and took the one Crete where the Cydonians about the of the river Iardanus. There is a high out into the sea from a place called Gortyn, and all along this part of the as as Phaestus the sea high when there is a south wind blowing, but after Phaestus the is more protected, for a small can make a great shelter. Here this part of the was on to the and wrecked; but the just managed to save themselves. As for the other five ships, they were taken by and to Egypt, where Menelaus much gold and among people of an speech. Meanwhile Aegisthus here at home plotted his deed. For seven years after he had killed Agamemnon he in Mycene, and the people were under him, but in the year Orestes came from Athens to be his bane, and killed the of his father. Then he the of his mother and of false Aegisthus by a to the people of Argos, and on that very day Menelaus came home,31 with as much as his ships carry.
“Take my then, and do not go about for long so from home, your property with such people in your house; they will eat up you have among them, and you will have been on a fool’s errand. Still, I should you by all means to go and visit Menelaus, who has come off a among such as no man to from, when the had once him so out of his reckoning; cannot the in a twelve-month, so and terrible are the that they must cross. Go to him, therefore, by sea, and take your own men with you; or if you would travel by land you can have a chariot, you can have horses, and here are my sons who can you to Lacedaemon where Menelaus lives. Beg of him to speak the truth, and he will tell you no lies, for he is an excellent person.”
As he spoke the sun set and it came on dark, Minerva said, “Sir, all that you have said is well; now, however, order the of the to be cut, and mix that we may make drink-offerings to Neptune, and the other immortals, and then go to bed, for it is time. People should go away early and not keep late hours at a religious festival.”
Thus spoke the of Jove, and they her saying. Men water over the hands of the guests, while pages the mixing-bowls with and water, and it after every man his drink offering; then they the of the into the fire, and up to make their drink offerings. When they had their and had each as much as he was minded, Minerva and Telemachus were for going on their ship, but Nestor them up at once and them.
“Heaven and the gods,” he exclaimed, “forbid that you should my house to go on of a ship. Do you think I am so and of clothes, or that I have so and as to be unable to for myself and for my guests? Let me tell you I have store of and cloaks, and shall not permit the son of my old friend Ulysses to on the of a ship—not while I live—nor yet will my sons after me, but they will keep open house as I have done.”
Then Minerva answered, “Sir, you have spoken well, and it will be much that Telemachus should do as you have said; he, therefore, shall return with you and sleep at your house, but I must go to give orders to my crew, and keep them in good heart. I am the only older person among them; the are all men of Telemachus’ own age, who have taken this out of friendship; so I must return to the ship and sleep there. Moreover to-morrow I must go to the Cauconians where I have a large of money long to me. As for Telemachus, now that he is your guest, send him to Lacedaemon in a chariot, and let one of your sons go with him. Be pleased to also provide him with your best and horses.”
When she had thus spoken, she away in the of an eagle, and all as they it. Nestor was astonished, and took Telemachus by the hand. “My friend,” said he, “I see that you are going to be a great hero some day, since the gods wait upon you thus while you are still so young. This can have been none other of those who in than Jove’s daughter, the Trito-born, who such your father among the Argives. Holy queen,” he continued, “vouchsafe to send upon myself, my good wife, and my children. In return, I will offer you in a broad-browed of a year old, unbroken, and yet by man under the yoke. I will her horns, and will offer her up to you in sacrifice.”
Thus did he pray, and Minerva his prayer. He then the way to his own house, by his sons and sons in law. When they had got there and had taken their places on the benches and seats, he mixed them a bowl of sweet that was eleven years old when the took the off the that it. As he mixed the wine, he prayed much and drink to Minerva, of Aegis-bearing Jove. Then, when they had their drink and had each as much as he was minded, the others home to each in his own abode; but Nestor put Telemachus to sleep in the room that was over the along with Pisistratus, who was the only son now left him. As for himself, he slept in an room of the house, with the queen his wife by his side.
Now when the child of rosy-fingered Dawn appeared, Nestor left his and took his seat on the benches of white and marble that in of his house. Here sat Neleus, of gods in counsel, but he was now dead, and had gone to the house of Hades; so Nestor sat in his seat in hand, as of the public weal. His sons as they left their rooms him, Echephron, Stratius, Perseus, Aretus, and Thrasymedes; the son was Pisistratus, and when Telemachus joined them they him with them. Nestor then them.
“My sons,” said he, “make to do as I shall you. I wish and to the great Minerva, who herself visibly to me yesterday’s festivities. Go, then, one or other of you to the plain, tell the to look me out a heifer, and come on here with it at once. Another must go to Telemachus’ ship, and all the crew, two men only in of the vessel. Some one else will and Laerceus the to the of the heifer. The rest, all of you where you are; tell the in the house to prepare an excellent dinner, and to seats, and of for a offering. Tell them also to me some clear water.”
On this they off on their errands. The was in from the plain, and Telemachus’s came from the ship; the the anvil, hammer, and tongs, with which he his gold, and Minerva herself came to accept the sacrifice. Nestor gave out the gold, and the the of the that the might have in their beauty. Then Stratius and Echephron her in by the horns; Aretus water from the house in a that had a flower pattern on it, and in his other hand he a of meal; Thrasymedes by with a axe, to the heifer, while Perseus a bucket. Then Nestor with his hands and the meal, and he offered many a prayer to Minerva as he a lock from the heifer’s upon the fire.
When they had done praying and the meal32 Thrasymedes his blow, and the with a that cut through the at the of her neck, the and in law of Nestor, and his wife Eurydice (she was to Clymenus) with delight. Then they the heifer’s from off the ground, and Pisistratus cut her throat. When she had done and was dead, they cut her up. They cut out the all in course, them in two of fat, and set some pieces of meat on the top of them; then Nestor them upon the fire and over them, while the men near him with five-pronged in their hands. When the were and they had the meats, they cut the of the meat up small, put the pieces on the and them over the fire.
Meanwhile Polycaste, Nestor’s daughter, Telemachus. When she had him and him with oil, she him a and shirt,33 and he looked like a god as he came from the and took his seat by the of Nestor. When the meats were done they them off the and sat to dinner where they were waited upon by some henchmen, who them out their in cups of gold. As soon as they had had to eat and drink Nestor said, “Sons, put Telemachus’s to the that he may start at once.”
Thus did he speak, and they did as he had said, and the to the chariot. The packed them up a of bread, wine, and sweet meats fit for the sons of princes. Then Telemachus got into the chariot, while Pisistratus up the and took his seat him. He the on and they nothing into the open country, the high of Pylos them. All that day did they travel, the upon their necks till the sun and was over all the land. Then they Pherae where Diocles lived, who was son to Ortilochus and to Alpheus. Here they passed the night and Diocles them hospitably. When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, they again their and out through the under the gatehouse.34 Pisistratus the on and they nothing loth; presently they came to the lands of the open country, and in the of time their journey, so well did their take them.35
Now when the sun had set and was over the land,
