{"id":109,"date":"2021-05-26T09:19:24","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T13:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/book-iii\/"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:50:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T15:50:45","slug":"3","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/chapter\/3\/","title":{"raw":"Book III","rendered":"Book III"},"content":{"raw":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\r\nTelemachus arriving at Pylus, enquires of Nestor concerning Ulysses. Nestor relates to him all that he knows or has heard of the Greecians since their departure from the siege of Troy, but not being able to give him any satisfactory account of Ulysses, refers him to Menelaus. At evening Minerva quits Telemachus, but discovers herself in going. Nestor sacrifices to the Goddess, and the solemnity ended, Telemachus sets forth for Sparta in one of Nestor\u2019s chariots, and accompanied by Nestor\u2019s son, Pisistratus.\r\n\r\nThe sun, emerging from the lucid waves,\r\nAscended now the brazen vault with light\r\nFor the inhabitants of earth and heav\u2019n,\r\nWhen in their bark at Pylus they arrived,\r\nCity of Neleus. On the shore they found\r\nThe people sacrificing; bulls they slew\r\nBlack without spot, to Neptune azure-hair\u2019d.\r\nOn ranges nine of seats they sat; each range\r\nReceived five hundred, and to each they made\r\nAllotment equal of nine sable bulls.\r\nThe feast was now begun; these eating sat\r\nThe entrails, those stood off\u2019ring to the God\r\nThe thighs, his portion, when the Ithacans\r\nPush\u2019d right ashore, and, furling close the sails,\r\nAnd making fast their moorings, disembark\u2019d.\r\nForth came Telemachus, by Pallas led,\r\nWhom thus the Goddess azure-eyed address\u2019d.\r\nTelemachus! there is no longer room\r\nFor bashful fear, since thou hast cross\u2019d the flood\r\nWith purpose to enquire what land conceals\r\nThy father, and what fate hath follow\u2019d him.\r\nAdvance at once to the equestrian Chief\r\nNestor, within whose bosom lies, perhaps,\r\nAdvice well worthy of thy search; entreat\r\nHimself, that he will tell thee only truth,\r\nWho will not lye, for he is passing wise.\r\nTo whom Telemachus discrete replied.\r\nAh Mentor! how can I advance, how greet\r\nA Chief like him, unpractis\u2019d as I am\r\nIn manag\u2019d phrase? Shame bids the youth beware\r\nHow he accosts the man of many years.\r\nBut him the Goddess answer\u2019d azure-eyed,\r\nTelemachus! Thou wilt, in part, thyself\r\nFit speech devise, and heav\u2019n will give the rest;\r\nFor thou wast neither born, nor hast been train\u2019d\r\nTo manhood, under unpropitious Pow\u2019rs.\r\nSo saying, Minerva led him thence, whom he\r\nWith nimble steps attending, soon arrived\r\nAmong the multitude. There Nestor sat,\r\nAnd Nestor\u2019s sons, while, busily the feast\r\nTending, his num\u2019rous followers roasted, some,\r\nThe viands, some, transfix\u2019d them with the spits.\r\nThey seeing guests arrived, together all\r\nAdvanced, and, grasping courteously their hands,\r\nInvited them to sit; but first, the son\r\nOf Nestor, young Pisistratus, approach\u2019d,\r\nWho, fast\u2019ning on the hands of both, beside\r\nThe banquet placed them, where the beach was spread\r\nWith fleeces, and where Thrasymedes sat\r\nHis brother, and the hoary Chief his Sire.\r\nTo each a portion of the inner parts\r\nHe gave, then fill\u2019d a golden cup with wine,\r\nWhich, tasted first, he to the daughter bore\r\nOf Jove the Thund\u2019rer, and her thus bespake.\r\nOh guest! the King of Ocean now adore!\r\nFor ye have chanced on Neptune\u2019s festival;\r\nAnd, when thou hast, thyself, libation made\r\nDuly, and pray\u2019r, deliver to thy friend\r\nThe gen\u2019rous juice, that he may also make\r\nLibation; for he, doubtless, seeks, in prayer\r\nThe Immortals, of whose favour all have need.\r\nBut, since he younger is, and with myself\r\nCoeval, first I give the cup to thee.\r\nHe ceas\u2019d, and to her hand consign\u2019d the cup,\r\nWhich Pallas gladly from a youth received\r\nSo just and wise, who to herself had first\r\nThe golden cup presented, and in pray\u2019r\r\nFervent the Sov\u2019reign of the Seas adored.\r\nHear, earth-encircler Neptune! O vouchsafe\r\nTo us thy suppliants the desired effect\r\nOf this our voyage; glory, first, bestow\r\nOn Nestor and his offspring both, then grant\r\nTo all the Pylians such a gracious boon\r\nAs shall requite their noble off\u2019ring well.\r\nGrant also to Telemachus and me\r\nTo voyage hence, possess\u2019d of what we sought\r\nWhen hither in our sable bark we came.\r\nSo Pallas pray\u2019d, and her own pray\u2019r herself\r\nAccomplish\u2019d. To Telemachus she gave\r\nThe splendid goblet next, and in his turn\r\nLike pray\u2019r Ulysses\u2019 son also preferr\u2019d.\r\nAnd now (the banquet from the spits withdrawn)\r\nThey next distributed sufficient share\r\nTo each, and all were sumptuously regaled.\r\nAt length, (both hunger satisfied and thirst)\r\nThus Nestor, the Gerenian Chief, began.\r\nNow with more seemliness we may enquire,\r\nAfter repast, what guests we have received.\r\nOur guests! who are ye? Whence have ye the waves\r\nPlough\u2019d hither? Come ye to transact concerns\r\nCommercial, or at random roam the Deep\r\nLike pirates, who with mischief charged and woe\r\nTo foreign States, oft hazard life themselves?\r\nHim answer\u2019d, bolder now, but still discrete,\r\nTelemachus. For Pallas had his heart\r\nWith manly courage arm\u2019d, that he might ask\r\nFrom Nestor tidings of his absent Sire,\r\nAnd win, himself, distinction and renown.\r\nOh Nestor, Neleus\u2019 son, glory of Greece!\r\nThou askest whence we are. I tell thee whence.\r\nFrom Ithaca, by the umbrageous woods\r\nOf Neritus o\u2019erhung, by private need,\r\nNot public, urged, we come. My errand is\r\nTo seek intelligence of the renown\u2019d\r\nUlysses; of my noble father, prais\u2019d\r\nFor dauntless courage, whom report proclaims\r\nConqueror, with thine aid, of sacred Troy.\r\nWe have already learn\u2019d where other Chiefs\r\nWho fought at Ilium, died; but Jove conceals\r\nEven the death of my illustrious Sire\r\nIn dull obscurity; for none hath heard\r\nOr confident can answer, where he dy\u2019d;\r\nWhether he on the continent hath fall\u2019n\r\nBy hostile hands, or by the waves o\u2019erwhelm\u2019d\r\nOf Amphitrite, welters in the Deep.\r\nFor this cause, at thy knees suppliant, I beg\r\nThat thou would\u2019st tell me his disast\u2019rous end,\r\nIf either thou beheld\u2019st that dread event\r\nThyself, or from some wanderer of the Greeks\r\nHast heard it: for my father at his birth\r\nWas, sure, predestin\u2019d to no common woes.\r\nNeither through pity, or o\u2019erstrain\u2019d respect\r\nFlatter me, but explicit all relate\r\nWhich thou hast witness\u2019d. If my noble Sire\r\nE\u2019er gratified thee by performance just\r\nOf word or deed at Ilium, where ye fell\r\nSo num\u2019rous slain in fight, oh, recollect\r\nNow his fidelity, and tell me true.\r\nThen Nestor thus Gerenian Hero old.\r\nYoung friend! since thou remind\u2019st me, speaking thus,\r\nOf all the woes which indefatigable\r\nWe sons of the Achaians there sustain\u2019d,\r\nBoth those which wand\u2019ring on the Deep we bore\r\nWherever by Achilles led in quest\r\nOf booty, and the many woes beside\r\nWhich under royal Priam\u2019s spacious walls\r\nWe suffer\u2019d, know, that there our bravest fell.\r\nThere warlike Ajax lies, there Peleus\u2019 son;\r\nThere, too, Patroclus, like the Gods themselves\r\nIn council, and my son beloved there,\r\nBrave, virtuous, swift of foot, and bold in fight,\r\nAntilochus. Nor are these sorrows all;\r\nWhat tongue of mortal man could all relate?\r\nShould\u2019st thou, abiding here, five years employ\r\nOr six, enquiring of the woes endured\r\nBy the Achaians, ere thou should\u2019st have learn\u2019d\r\nThe whole, thou would\u2019st depart, tir\u2019d of the tale.\r\nFor we, nine years, stratagems of all kinds\r\nDevised against them, and Saturnian Jove\r\nScarce crown\u2019d the difficult attempt at last.\r\nThere, no competitor in wiles well-plann\u2019d\r\nUlysses found, so far were all surpass\u2019d\r\nIn shrewd invention by thy noble Sire,\r\nIf thou indeed art his, as sure thou art,\r\nWhose sight breeds wonder in me, and thy speech\r\nHis speech resembles more than might be deem\u2019d\r\nWithin the scope of years so green as thine.\r\nThere, never in opinion, or in voice\r\nIllustrious Ulysses and myself\r\nDivided were, but, one in heart, contrived\r\nAs best we might, the benefit of all.\r\nBut after Priam\u2019s lofty city sack\u2019d,\r\nAnd the departure of the Greeks on board\r\nTheir barks, and when the Gods had scatter\u2019d them,\r\nThen Jove imagin\u2019d for the Argive host\r\nA sorrowful return; for neither just\r\nWere all, nor prudent, therefore many found\r\nA fate disast\u2019rous through the vengeful ire\r\nOf Jove-born Pallas, who between the sons\r\nOf Atreus sharp contention interposed.\r\nThey both, irregularly, and against\r\nJust order, summoning by night the Greeks\r\nTo council, of whom many came with wine\r\nOppress\u2019d, promulgated the cause for which\r\nThey had convened the people. Then it was\r\nThat Menelaus bade the general host\r\nTheir thoughts bend homeward o\u2019er the sacred Deep,\r\nWhich Agamemnon in no sort approved.\r\nHis counsel was to slay them yet at Troy,\r\nThat so he might assuage the dreadful wrath\r\nOf Pallas, first, by sacrifice and pray\u2019r.\r\nVain hope! he little thought how ill should speed\r\nThat fond attempt, for, once provok\u2019d, the Gods\r\nAre not with ease conciliated again.\r\nThus stood the brothers, altercation hot\r\nMaintaining, till at length, uprose the Greeks\r\nWith deaf\u2019ning clamours, and with diff\u2019ring minds.\r\nWe slept the night, but teeming with disgust\r\nMutual, for Jove great woe prepar\u2019d for all.\r\nAt dawn of day we drew our gallies down\r\nInto the sea, and, hasty, put on board\r\nThe spoils and female captives. Half the host,\r\nWith Agamemnon, son of Atreus, stay\u2019d\r\nSupreme commander, and, embarking, half\r\nPush\u2019d forth. Swift course we made, for Neptune smooth\u2019d\r\nThe waves before us of the monstrous Deep.\r\nAt Tenedos arriv\u2019d, we there perform\u2019d\r\nSacrifice to the Gods, ardent to reach\r\nOur native land, but unpropitious Jove,\r\nNot yet designing our arrival there,\r\nInvolved us in dissension fierce again.\r\nFor all the crews, followers of the King,\r\nThy noble Sire, to gratify our Chief,\r\nThe son of Atreus, chose a diff\u2019rent course,\r\nAnd steer\u2019d their oary barks again to Troy.\r\nBut I, assured that evil from the Gods\r\nImpended, gath\u2019ring all my gallant fleet,\r\nFled thence in haste, and warlike Diomede\r\nExhorting his attendants, also fled.\r\nAt length, the Hero Menelaus join\u2019d\r\nOur fleets at Lesbos; there he found us held\r\nIn deep deliberation on the length\r\nOf way before us, whether we should steer\r\nAbove the craggy Chios to the isle\r\nPsyria, that island holding on our left,\r\nOr under Chios by the wind-swept heights\r\nOf Mimas. Then we ask\u2019d from Jove a sign,\r\nAnd by a sign vouchsafed he bade us cut\r\nThe wide sea to Eub\u0153a sheer athwart,\r\nSo soonest to escape the threat\u2019ned harm.\r\nShrill sang the rising gale, and with swift prows\r\nCleaving the fishy flood, we reach\u2019d by night\r\nGer\u00e6stus, where arrived, we burn\u2019d the thighs\r\nOf num\u2019rous bulls to Neptune, who had safe\r\nConducted us through all our perilous course.\r\nThe fleet of Diomede in safety moor\u2019d\r\nOn the fourth day at Argos, but myself\r\nHeld on my course to Pylus, nor the wind\r\nOne moment thwarted us, or died away,\r\nWhen Jove had once commanded it to blow.\r\nThus, uninform\u2019d, I have arrived, my son!\r\nNor of the Greecians, who are saved have heard,\r\nOr who have perish\u2019d; but what news soe\u2019er\r\nI have obtain\u2019d, since my return, with truth\r\nI will relate, nor aught conceal from thee.\r\nThe spear-famed Myrmidons, as rumour speaks,\r\nBy Neoptolemus, illustrious son\r\nOf brave Achilles led, have safe arrived;\r\nSafe, Philoctetes, also son renown\u2019d\r\nOf P\u00e6as; and Idomeneus at Crete\r\nHath landed all his followers who survive\r\nThe bloody war, the waves have swallow\u2019d none.\r\nYe have yourselves doubtless, although remote,\r\nOf Agamemnon heard, how he return\u2019d,\r\nAnd how \u00c6gisthus cruelly contrived\r\nFor him a bloody welcome, but himself\r\nHath with his own life paid the murth\u2019rous deed.\r\nGood is it, therefore, if a son survive\r\nThe slain, since Agamemnon\u2019s son hath well\r\nAvenged his father\u2019s death, slaying, himself,\r\n\u00c6gisthus, foul assassin of his Sire.\r\nYoung friend! (for pleas\u2019d thy vig\u2019rous youth I view,\r\nAnd just proportion) be thou also bold,\r\nThat thine like his may be a deathless name.\r\nThen, prudent, him answer\u2019d Telemachus.\r\nOh Nestor, Neleus\u2019 son, glory of Greece!\r\nAnd righteous was that vengeance; his<\/i> renown\r\nAchaia\u2019s sons shall far and wide diffuse,\r\nTo future times transmitting it in song.\r\nAh! would that such ability the Gods\r\nWould grant to me, that I, as well, the deeds\r\nMight punish of our suitors, whose excess\r\nEnormous, and whose bitter taunts I feel\r\nContinual, object of their subtle hate.\r\nBut not for me such happiness the Gods\r\nHave twined into my thread; no, not for me\r\nOr for my father. Patience is our part.\r\nTo whom Gerenian Nestor thus replied.\r\nYoung friend! (since thou remind\u2019st me of that theme)\r\nFame here reports that num\u2019rous suitors haunt\r\nThy palace for thy mother\u2019s sake, and there\r\nMuch evil perpetrate in thy despight.\r\nBut say, endur\u2019st thou willing their controul\r\nImperious, or because the people, sway\u2019d\r\nBy some response oracular, incline\r\nAgainst thee? But who knows? the time may come\r\nWhen to his home restored, either alone,\r\nOr aided by the force of all the Greeks,\r\nUlysses may avenge the wrong; at least,\r\nShould Pallas azure-eyed thee love, as erst\r\nAt Troy, the scene of our unnumber\u2019d woes,\r\nShe lov\u2019d Ulysses (for I have not known\r\nThe Gods assisting so apparently\r\nA mortal man, as him Minerva there)\r\nShould Pallas view thee also with like love\r\nAnd kind solicitude, some few of those\r\nShould dream, perchance, of wedlock never more.\r\nThen answer thus Telemachus return\u2019d.\r\nThat word\u2019s accomplishment I cannot hope;\r\nIt promises too much; the thought alone\r\nO\u2019erwhelms me; an event so fortunate\r\nWould, unexpected on my part, arrive,\r\nAlthough the Gods themselves should purpose it.\r\nBut Pallas him answer\u2019d c\u00e6rulean-eyed.\r\nTelemachus! what word was that which leap\u2019d\r\nThe iv\u2019ry guard[footnote]\u0395\u03c1\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bf\u03b4\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd<\/span>. Prior, alluding to this expression, ludicrously renders it\u2014\r\n
\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen words like these in vocal breath\r\nBurst from his twofold hedge of teeth.\u201d\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n[\/footnote] that should have fenced it in?<\/span>\r\nA God, so willing, could with utmost ease\r\nSave any man, howe\u2019er remote. Myself,\r\nI had much rather, many woes endured,\r\nRevisit home, at last, happy and safe,\r\nThan, sooner coming, die in my own house,\r\nAs Agamemnon perish\u2019d by the arts\r\nOf base \u00c6gisthus and the subtle Queen.\r\nYet not the Gods themselves can save from death\r\nAll-levelling, the man whom most they love,\r\nWhen Fate ordains him once to his last sleep.\r\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.\r\nHowe\u2019er it interest us, let us leave\r\nThis question, Mentor! He, I am assured,\r\nReturns no more, but hath already found\r\nA sad, sad fate by the decree of heav\u2019n.\r\nBut I would now interrogate again\r\nNestor, and on a different theme, for him\r\nIn human rights I judge, and laws expert,\r\nAnd in all knowledge beyond other men;\r\nFor he hath govern\u2019d, as report proclaims,\r\nThree generations; therefore in my eyes\r\nHe wears the awful impress of a God.\r\nOh Nestor, son of Neleus, tell me true;\r\nWhat was the manner of Atrides\u2019 death,\r\nWide-ruling Agamemnon? Tell me where\r\nWas Menelaus? By what means contrived\r\n\u00c6gisthus to inflict the fatal blow,\r\nSlaying so much a nobler than himself?\r\nHad not the brother of the Monarch reach\u2019d\r\nAchaian Argos yet, but, wand\u2019ring still\r\nIn other climes, his long absence gave\r\n\u00c6gisthus courage for that bloody deed?\r\nWhom answer\u2019d the Gerenian Chief renown\u2019d.\r\nMy son! I will inform thee true; meantime\r\nThy own suspicions border on the fact.\r\nHad Menelaus, Hero, amber hair\u2019d,\r\n\u00c6gisthus found living at his return\r\nFrom Ilium, never on his<\/i> bones the Greeks\r\nHad heap\u2019d a tomb, but dogs and rav\u2019ning fowls\r\nHad torn him lying in the open field\r\nFar from the town, nor him had woman wept\r\nOf all in Greece, for he had foul transgress\u2019d.\r\nBut we, in many an arduous task engaged,\r\nLay before Ilium; he, the while, secure\r\nWithin the green retreats of Argos, found\r\nOccasion apt by flatt\u2019ry to delude\r\nThe spouse of Agamemnon; she, at first,\r\n(The royal Clytemnestra) firm refused\r\nThe deed dishonourable (for she bore\r\nA virtuous mind, and at her side a bard\r\nAttended ever, whom the King, to Troy\r\nDeparting, had appointed to the charge.)\r\nBut when the Gods had purposed to ensnare\r\n\u00c6gisthus, then dismissing far remote\r\nThe bard into a desart isle, he there\r\nAbandon\u2019d him to rav\u2019ning fowls a prey,\r\nAnd to his own home, willing as himself,\r\nLed Clytemnestra. Num\u2019rous thighs he burn\u2019d\r\nOn all their hallow\u2019d altars to the Gods,\r\nAnd hung with tap\u2019stry, images, and gold\r\nTheir shrines, his great exploit past hope atchiev\u2019d.\r\nWe (Menelaus and myself) had sailed\r\nFrom Troy together, but when we approach\u2019d\r\nSunium, headland of th\u2019 Athenian shore,\r\nThere Ph\u0153bus, sudden, with his gentle shafts\r\nSlew Menelaus\u2019 pilot while he steer\u2019d\r\nThe volant bark, Phrontis, Onetor\u2019s son,\r\nA mariner past all expert, whom none\r\nIn steerage match\u2019d, what time the tempest roar\u2019d.\r\nHere, therefore, Menelaus was detained,\r\nGiving his friend due burial, and his rites\r\nFunereal celebrating, though in haste\r\nStill to proceed. But when, with all his fleet\r\nThe wide sea traversing, he reach\u2019d at length\r\nMalea\u2019s lofty foreland in his course,\r\nRough passage, then, and perilous he found.\r\nShrill blasts the Thund\u2019rer pour\u2019d into his sails,\r\nAnd wild waves sent him mountainous. His ships\r\nThere scatter\u2019d, some to the Cydonian coast\r\nOf Crete he push\u2019d, near where the Jardan flows.\r\nBeside the confines of Gortyna stands,\r\nAmid the gloomy flood, a smooth rock, steep\r\nToward the sea, against whose leftward point\r\nPh\u00e6stus by name, the South wind rolls the surge\r\nAmain, which yet the rock, though small, repells.\r\nHither with part he came, and scarce the crews\r\nThemselves escaped, while the huge billows broke\r\nTheir ships against the rocks; yet five he saved,\r\nWhich winds and waves drove to the \u00c6gyptian shore.\r\nThus he, provision gath\u2019ring as he went\r\nAnd gold abundant, roam\u2019d to distant lands\r\nAnd nations of another tongue. Meantime,\r\n\u00c6gisthus these enormities at home\r\nDevising, slew Atrides, and supreme\r\nRul\u2019d the subjected land; sev\u2019n years he reign\u2019d\r\nIn opulent Mycen\u00e6, but the eighth\r\nFrom Athens brought renown\u2019d Orestes home\r\nFor his destruction, who of life bereaved\r\n\u00c6gisthus base assassin of his Sire.\r\nOrestes, therefore, the funereal rites\r\nPerforming to his shameless mother\u2019s shade\r\nAnd to her lustful paramour, a feast\r\nGave to the Argives; on which self-same day\r\nThe warlike Menelaus, with his ships\r\nAll treasure-laden to the brink, arrived.\r\nAnd thou, young friend! from thy forsaken home\r\nRove not long time remote, thy treasures left\r\nAt mercy of those proud, lest they divide\r\nAnd waste the whole, rend\u2019ring thy voyage vain.\r\nBut hence to Menelaus is the course\r\nTo which I counsel thee; for he hath come\r\nOf late from distant lands, whence to escape\r\nNo man could hope, whom tempests first had driv\u2019n\r\nDevious into so wide a sea, from which\r\nThemselves the birds of heaven could not arrive\r\nIn a whole year, so vast is the expanse.\r\nGo, then, with ship and shipmates, or if more\r\nThe land delight thee, steeds thou shalt not want\r\nNor chariot, and my sons shall be thy guides\r\nTo noble Lacedemon, the abode\r\nOf Menelaus; ask from him the truth,\r\nWho will not lye, for he is passing wise.\r\nWhile thus he spake, the sun declined, and night\r\nApproaching, blue-eyed Pallas interposed.\r\nO antient King! well hast thou spoken all.\r\nBut now delay not. Cut ye forth the tongues,[footnote]It is said to have been customary in the days of Homer, when the Greeks retired from a banquet to their beds, to cut out the tongues of the victims, and offer them to the Gods in particular who presided over conversation.[\/footnote]<\/sup>\r\nAnd mingle wine, that (Neptune first invoked\r\nWith due libation, and the other Gods)\r\nWe may repair to rest; for even now\r\nThe sun is sunk, and it becomes us not\r\nLong to protract a banquet to the Gods\r\nDevote, but in fit season to depart.\r\nSo spake Jove\u2019s daughter; they obedient heard.\r\nThe heralds, then, pour\u2019d water on their hands,\r\nAnd the attendant youths, filling the cups,\r\nServed them from left to right. Next all the tongues\r\nThey cast into the fire, and ev\u2019ry guest\r\nArising, pour\u2019d libation to the Gods.\r\nLibation made, and all with wine sufficed,\r\nGodlike Telemachus and Pallas both\r\nWould have return\u2019d, incontinent, on board,\r\nBut Nestor urged them still to be his guests.\r\nForbid it, Jove, and all the Pow\u2019rs of heav\u2019n!\r\nThat ye should leave me to repair on board\r\nYour vessel, as I were some needy wretch\r\nCloakless and destitute of fleecy stores\r\nWherewith to spread the couch soft for myself,\r\nOr for my guests. No. I have garments warm\r\nAn ample store, and rugs of richest dye;\r\nAnd never shall Ulysses\u2019 son belov\u2019d,\r\nMy frend\u2019s own son, sleep on a galley\u2019s plank\r\nWhile I draw vital air; grant also, heav\u2019n,\r\nThat, dying, I may leave behind me sons\r\nGlad to accommodate whatever guest!\r\nHim answer\u2019d then Pallas c\u00e6rulean-eyed.\r\nOld Chief! thou hast well said, and reason bids\r\nTelemachus thy kind commands obey.\r\nLet him<\/i> attend thee hence, that he may sleep\r\nBeneath thy roof, but I return on board\r\nMyself, to instruct my people, and to give\r\nAll needful orders; for among them none\r\nIs old as I, but they are youths alike,\r\nCoevals of Telemachus, with whom\r\nThey have embark\u2019d for friendship\u2019s sake alone.\r\nI therefore will repose myself on board\r\nThis night, and to the Caucons bold in arms\r\nWill sail to-morrow, to demand arrears\r\nLong time unpaid, and of no small amount.\r\nBut, since he is become thy guest, afford\r\nMy friend a chariot, and a son of thine\r\nWho shall direct his way, nor let him want\r\nOf all thy steeds the swiftest and the best.\r\nSo saying, the blue-eyed Goddess as upborne\r\nOn eagle\u2019s wings, vanish\u2019d; amazement seized\r\nThe whole assembly, and the antient King\r\nO\u2019erwhelmed with wonder at that sight, the hand\r\nGrasp\u2019d of Telemachus, whom he thus bespake.\r\nMy friend! I prophesy that thou shalt prove\r\nNor base nor dastard, whom, so young, the Gods\r\nAlready take in charge; for of the Pow\u2019rs\r\nInhabitants of heav\u2019n, none else was this\r\nThan Jove\u2019s own daughter Pallas, who among\r\nThe Greecians honour\u2019d most thy gen\u2019rous Sire.\r\nBut thou, O Queen! compassionate us all,\r\nMyself, my sons, my comfort; give to each\r\nA glorious name, and I to thee will give\r\nFor sacrifice an heifer of the year,\r\nBroad-fronted, one that never yet hath borne\r\nThe yoke, and will incase her horns with gold.\r\nSo Nestor pray\u2019d, whom Pallas gracious heard.\r\nThen the Gerenian warrior old, before\r\nHis sons and sons in law, to his abode\r\nMagnificent proceeded: they (arrived\r\nWithin the splendid palace of the King)\r\nOn thrones and couches sat in order ranged,\r\nWhom Nestor welcom\u2019d, charging high the cup\r\nWith wine of richest sort, which she who kept\r\nThat treasure, now in the eleventh year\r\nFirst broach\u2019d, unsealing the delicious juice.\r\nWith this the hoary Senior fill\u2019d a cup,\r\nAnd to the daughter of Jove \u00c6gis-arm\u2019d\r\nPouring libation, offer\u2019d fervent pray\u2019r.\r\nWhen all had made libation, and no wish\r\nRemain\u2019d of more, then each to rest retired,\r\nAnd Nestor the Gerenian warrior old\r\nLed thence Telemachus to a carved couch\r\nBeneath the sounding portico prepared.\r\nBeside him he bade sleep the spearman bold,\r\nPisistratus, a gallant youth, the sole\r\nUnwedded in his house of all his sons.\r\nHimself in the interior palace lay,\r\nWhere couch and cov\u2019ring for her antient spouse\r\nThe consort Queen had diligent prepar\u2019d.\r\nBut when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,\r\nHad tinged the East, arising from his bed,\r\nGerenian Nestor issued forth, and sat\r\nBefore his palace-gate on the white stones\r\nResplendent as with oil, on which of old\r\nHis father Neleus had been wont to sit,\r\nIn council like a God; but he had sought,\r\nBy destiny dismiss\u2019d long since, the shades.\r\nOn those stones therefore now, Nestor himself,\r\nAchaia\u2019s guardian, sat, sceptre in hand,\r\nWhere soon his num\u2019rous sons, leaving betimes\r\nThe place of their repose, also appeared,\r\nEchephron, Stratius, Perseus, Thrasymedes,\r\nAretus and Pisistratus. They placed\r\nGodlike Telemachus at Nestor\u2019s side,\r\nAnd the Gerenian Hero thus began.\r\nSons be ye quick\u2014execute with dispatch\r\nMy purpose, that I may propitiate first\r\nOf all the Gods Minerva, who herself\r\nHath honour\u2019d manifest our hallow\u2019d feast.\r\nHaste, one, into the field, to order thence\r\nAn ox, and let the herdsman drive it home.\r\nAnother, hasting to the sable bark\r\nOf brave Telemachus, bring hither all\r\nHis friends, save two, and let a third command\r\nLaerceus, that he come to enwrap with gold\r\nThe victim\u2019s horns. Abide ye here, the rest,\r\nAnd bid my female train (for I intend\r\nA banquet) with all diligence provide\r\nSeats, stores of wood, and water from the rock.\r\nHe said, whom instant all obey\u2019d. The ox\r\nCame from the field, and from the gallant ship\r\nThe ship-mates of the brave Telemachus;\r\nNext, charged with all his implements of art,\r\nHis mallet, anvil, pincers, came the smith\r\nTo give the horns their gilding; also came\r\nPallas herself to her own sacred rites.\r\nThen Nestor, hoary warrior, furnish\u2019d gold,\r\nWhich, hammer\u2019d thin, the artist wrapp\u2019d around\r\nThe victim\u2019s horns, that seeing him attired\r\nSo costly, Pallas might the more be pleased.\r\nStratius and brave Echephron introduced\r\nThe victim by his horns; Aretus brought\r\nA laver in one hand, with flow\u2019rs emboss\u2019d,\r\nAnd in his other hand a basket stored\r\nWith cakes, while warlike Thrasymedes, arm\u2019d\r\nWith his long-hafted ax, prepared to smite\r\nThe ox, and Perseus to receive the blood.\r\nThe hoary Nestor consecrated first\r\nBoth cakes and water, and with earnest pray\u2019r\r\nTo Pallas, gave the forelock to the flames.\r\nWhen all had worshipp\u2019d, and the broken cakes\r\nSprinkled, then godlike Thrasymedes drew\r\nClose to the ox, and smote him. Deep the edge\r\nEnter\u2019d, and senseless on the floor he fell.\r\nThen Nestor\u2019s daughters, and the consorts all\r\nOf Nestor\u2019s sons, with his own consort, chaste\r\nEurydice, the daughter eldest-born\r\nOf Clymenus, in one shrill orison\r\nVocif\u2019rous join\u2019d, while they, lifting the ox,\r\nHeld him supported firmly, and the prince\r\nOf men, Pisistratus, his gullet pierced.\r\nSoon as the sable blood had ceased, and life\r\nHad left the victim, spreading him abroad,\r\nWith nice address they parted at the joint\r\nHis thighs, and wrapp\u2019d them in the double cawl,\r\nWhich with crude slices thin they overspread.\r\nNestor burn\u2019d incense, and libation pour\u2019d\r\nLarge on the hissing brands, while him beside,\r\nBusy with spit and prong, stood many a youth\r\nTrain\u2019d to the task. The thighs consumed, each took\r\nHis portion of the maw, then, slashing well\r\nThe remnant, they transpierced it with the spits\r\nNeatly, and held it reeking at the fire.\r\nMeantime the youngest of the daughters fair\r\nOf Nestor, beauteous Polycaste, laved,\r\nAnointed, and in vest and tunic cloathed\r\nTelemachus, who, so refresh\u2019d, stepp\u2019d forth\r\nFrom the bright laver graceful as a God,\r\nAnd took his seat at antient Nestor\u2019s side.\r\nThe viands dress\u2019d, and from the spits withdrawn,\r\nThey sat to share the feast, and princely youths\r\nArising, gave them wine in cups of gold.\r\nWhen neither hunger now nor thirst remain\u2019d\r\nUnsated, thus Gerenian Nestor spake.\r\nMy sons, arise, lead forth the sprightly steeds,\r\nAnd yoke them, that Telemachus may go.\r\nSo spake the Chief, to whose commands his sons,\r\nObedient, yoked in haste the rapid steeds,\r\nAnd the intendant matron of the stores\r\nDisposed meantime within the chariot, bread\r\nAnd wine, and dainties, such as princes eat.\r\nTelemachus into the chariot first\r\nAscended, and beside him, next, his place\r\nPisistratus the son of Nestor took,\r\nThen seiz\u2019d the reins, and lash\u2019d the coursers on.\r\nThey, nothing loth, into the open plain\r\nFlew, leaving lofty Pylus soon afar.\r\nThus, journeying, they shook on either side\r\nThe yoke all day, and now the setting sun\r\nTo dusky evening had resign\u2019d the roads,\r\nWhen they to Pher\u00e6 came, and the abode\r\nReach\u2019d of Diocles, whose illustrious Sire\r\nOrsilochus from Alpheus drew his birth,\r\nAnd there, with kindness entertain\u2019d, they slept.\r\nBut when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,\r\nLook\u2019d rosy from the East, yoking the steeds,\r\nThey in their sumptuous chariot sat again.\r\nThe son of Nestor plied the lash, and forth\r\nThrough vestibule and sounding portico\r\nThe royal coursers, not unwilling, flew.\r\nA corn-invested land receiv\u2019d them next,\r\nAnd there they brought their journey to a close,\r\nSo rapidly they moved; and now the sun\r\nWent down, and even-tide dimm\u2019d all the ways.","rendered":"

Argument<\/b><\/h2>\n

Telemachus arriving at Pylus, enquires of Nestor concerning Ulysses. Nestor relates to him all that he knows or has heard of the Greecians since their departure from the siege of Troy, but not being able to give him any satisfactory account of Ulysses, refers him to Menelaus. At evening Minerva quits Telemachus, but discovers herself in going. Nestor sacrifices to the Goddess, and the solemnity ended, Telemachus sets forth for Sparta in one of Nestor\u2019s chariots, and accompanied by Nestor\u2019s son, Pisistratus.<\/p>\n

The sun, emerging from the lucid waves,
\nAscended now the brazen vault with light
\nFor the inhabitants of earth and heav\u2019n,
\nWhen in their bark at Pylus they arrived,
\nCity of Neleus. On the shore they found
\nThe people sacrificing; bulls they slew
\nBlack without spot, to Neptune azure-hair\u2019d.
\nOn ranges nine of seats they sat; each range
\nReceived five hundred, and to each they made
\nAllotment equal of nine sable bulls.
\nThe feast was now begun; these eating sat
\nThe entrails, those stood off\u2019ring to the God
\nThe thighs, his portion, when the Ithacans
\nPush\u2019d right ashore, and, furling close the sails,
\nAnd making fast their moorings, disembark\u2019d.
\nForth came Telemachus, by Pallas led,
\nWhom thus the Goddess azure-eyed address\u2019d.
\nTelemachus! there is no longer room
\nFor bashful fear, since thou hast cross\u2019d the flood
\nWith purpose to enquire what land conceals
\nThy father, and what fate hath follow\u2019d him.
\nAdvance at once to the equestrian Chief
\nNestor, within whose bosom lies, perhaps,
\nAdvice well worthy of thy search; entreat
\nHimself, that he will tell thee only truth,
\nWho will not lye, for he is passing wise.
\nTo whom Telemachus discrete replied.
\nAh Mentor! how can I advance, how greet
\nA Chief like him, unpractis\u2019d as I am
\nIn manag\u2019d phrase? Shame bids the youth beware
\nHow he accosts the man of many years.
\nBut him the Goddess answer\u2019d azure-eyed,
\nTelemachus! Thou wilt, in part, thyself
\nFit speech devise, and heav\u2019n will give the rest;
\nFor thou wast neither born, nor hast been train\u2019d
\nTo manhood, under unpropitious Pow\u2019rs.
\nSo saying, Minerva led him thence, whom he
\nWith nimble steps attending, soon arrived
\nAmong the multitude. There Nestor sat,
\nAnd Nestor\u2019s sons, while, busily the feast
\nTending, his num\u2019rous followers roasted, some,
\nThe viands, some, transfix\u2019d them with the spits.
\nThey seeing guests arrived, together all
\nAdvanced, and, grasping courteously their hands,
\nInvited them to sit; but first, the son
\nOf Nestor, young Pisistratus, approach\u2019d,
\nWho, fast\u2019ning on the hands of both, beside
\nThe banquet placed them, where the beach was spread
\nWith fleeces, and where Thrasymedes sat
\nHis brother, and the hoary Chief his Sire.
\nTo each a portion of the inner parts
\nHe gave, then fill\u2019d a golden cup with wine,
\nWhich, tasted first, he to the daughter bore
\nOf Jove the Thund\u2019rer, and her thus bespake.
\nOh guest! the King of Ocean now adore!
\nFor ye have chanced on Neptune\u2019s festival;
\nAnd, when thou hast, thyself, libation made
\nDuly, and pray\u2019r, deliver to thy friend
\nThe gen\u2019rous juice, that he may also make
\nLibation; for he, doubtless, seeks, in prayer
\nThe Immortals, of whose favour all have need.
\nBut, since he younger is, and with myself
\nCoeval, first I give the cup to thee.
\nHe ceas\u2019d, and to her hand consign\u2019d the cup,
\nWhich Pallas gladly from a youth received
\nSo just and wise, who to herself had first
\nThe golden cup presented, and in pray\u2019r
\nFervent the Sov\u2019reign of the Seas adored.
\nHear, earth-encircler Neptune! O vouchsafe
\nTo us thy suppliants the desired effect
\nOf this our voyage; glory, first, bestow
\nOn Nestor and his offspring both, then grant
\nTo all the Pylians such a gracious boon
\nAs shall requite their noble off\u2019ring well.
\nGrant also to Telemachus and me
\nTo voyage hence, possess\u2019d of what we sought
\nWhen hither in our sable bark we came.
\nSo Pallas pray\u2019d, and her own pray\u2019r herself
\nAccomplish\u2019d. To Telemachus she gave
\nThe splendid goblet next, and in his turn
\nLike pray\u2019r Ulysses\u2019 son also preferr\u2019d.
\nAnd now (the banquet from the spits withdrawn)
\nThey next distributed sufficient share
\nTo each, and all were sumptuously regaled.
\nAt length, (both hunger satisfied and thirst)
\nThus Nestor, the Gerenian Chief, began.
\nNow with more seemliness we may enquire,
\nAfter repast, what guests we have received.
\nOur guests! who are ye? Whence have ye the waves
\nPlough\u2019d hither? Come ye to transact concerns
\nCommercial, or at random roam the Deep
\nLike pirates, who with mischief charged and woe
\nTo foreign States, oft hazard life themselves?
\nHim answer\u2019d, bolder now, but still discrete,
\nTelemachus. For Pallas had his heart
\nWith manly courage arm\u2019d, that he might ask
\nFrom Nestor tidings of his absent Sire,
\nAnd win, himself, distinction and renown.
\nOh Nestor, Neleus\u2019 son, glory of Greece!
\nThou askest whence we are. I tell thee whence.
\nFrom Ithaca, by the umbrageous woods
\nOf Neritus o\u2019erhung, by private need,
\nNot public, urged, we come. My errand is
\nTo seek intelligence of the renown\u2019d
\nUlysses; of my noble father, prais\u2019d
\nFor dauntless courage, whom report proclaims
\nConqueror, with thine aid, of sacred Troy.
\nWe have already learn\u2019d where other Chiefs
\nWho fought at Ilium, died; but Jove conceals
\nEven the death of my illustrious Sire
\nIn dull obscurity; for none hath heard
\nOr confident can answer, where he dy\u2019d;
\nWhether he on the continent hath fall\u2019n
\nBy hostile hands, or by the waves o\u2019erwhelm\u2019d
\nOf Amphitrite, welters in the Deep.
\nFor this cause, at thy knees suppliant, I beg
\nThat thou would\u2019st tell me his disast\u2019rous end,
\nIf either thou beheld\u2019st that dread event
\nThyself, or from some wanderer of the Greeks
\nHast heard it: for my father at his birth
\nWas, sure, predestin\u2019d to no common woes.
\nNeither through pity, or o\u2019erstrain\u2019d respect
\nFlatter me, but explicit all relate
\nWhich thou hast witness\u2019d. If my noble Sire
\nE\u2019er gratified thee by performance just
\nOf word or deed at Ilium, where ye fell
\nSo num\u2019rous slain in fight, oh, recollect
\nNow his fidelity, and tell me true.
\nThen Nestor thus Gerenian Hero old.
\nYoung friend! since thou remind\u2019st me, speaking thus,
\nOf all the woes which indefatigable
\nWe sons of the Achaians there sustain\u2019d,
\nBoth those which wand\u2019ring on the Deep we bore
\nWherever by Achilles led in quest
\nOf booty, and the many woes beside
\nWhich under royal Priam\u2019s spacious walls
\nWe suffer\u2019d, know, that there our bravest fell.
\nThere warlike Ajax lies, there Peleus\u2019 son;
\nThere, too, Patroclus, like the Gods themselves
\nIn council, and my son beloved there,
\nBrave, virtuous, swift of foot, and bold in fight,
\nAntilochus. Nor are these sorrows all;
\nWhat tongue of mortal man could all relate?
\nShould\u2019st thou, abiding here, five years employ
\nOr six, enquiring of the woes endured
\nBy the Achaians, ere thou should\u2019st have learn\u2019d
\nThe whole, thou would\u2019st depart, tir\u2019d of the tale.
\nFor we, nine years, stratagems of all kinds
\nDevised against them, and Saturnian Jove
\nScarce crown\u2019d the difficult attempt at last.
\nThere, no competitor in wiles well-plann\u2019d
\nUlysses found, so far were all surpass\u2019d
\nIn shrewd invention by thy noble Sire,
\nIf thou indeed art his, as sure thou art,
\nWhose sight breeds wonder in me, and thy speech
\nHis speech resembles more than might be deem\u2019d
\nWithin the scope of years so green as thine.
\nThere, never in opinion, or in voice
\nIllustrious Ulysses and myself
\nDivided were, but, one in heart, contrived
\nAs best we might, the benefit of all.
\nBut after Priam\u2019s lofty city sack\u2019d,
\nAnd the departure of the Greeks on board
\nTheir barks, and when the Gods had scatter\u2019d them,
\nThen Jove imagin\u2019d for the Argive host
\nA sorrowful return; for neither just
\nWere all, nor prudent, therefore many found
\nA fate disast\u2019rous through the vengeful ire
\nOf Jove-born Pallas, who between the sons
\nOf Atreus sharp contention interposed.
\nThey both, irregularly, and against
\nJust order, summoning by night the Greeks
\nTo council, of whom many came with wine
\nOppress\u2019d, promulgated the cause for which
\nThey had convened the people. Then it was
\nThat Menelaus bade the general host
\nTheir thoughts bend homeward o\u2019er the sacred Deep,
\nWhich Agamemnon in no sort approved.
\nHis counsel was to slay them yet at Troy,
\nThat so he might assuage the dreadful wrath
\nOf Pallas, first, by sacrifice and pray\u2019r.
\nVain hope! he little thought how ill should speed
\nThat fond attempt, for, once provok\u2019d, the Gods
\nAre not with ease conciliated again.
\nThus stood the brothers, altercation hot
\nMaintaining, till at length, uprose the Greeks
\nWith deaf\u2019ning clamours, and with diff\u2019ring minds.
\nWe slept the night, but teeming with disgust
\nMutual, for Jove great woe prepar\u2019d for all.
\nAt dawn of day we drew our gallies down
\nInto the sea, and, hasty, put on board
\nThe spoils and female captives. Half the host,
\nWith Agamemnon, son of Atreus, stay\u2019d
\nSupreme commander, and, embarking, half
\nPush\u2019d forth. Swift course we made, for Neptune smooth\u2019d
\nThe waves before us of the monstrous Deep.
\nAt Tenedos arriv\u2019d, we there perform\u2019d
\nSacrifice to the Gods, ardent to reach
\nOur native land, but unpropitious Jove,
\nNot yet designing our arrival there,
\nInvolved us in dissension fierce again.
\nFor all the crews, followers of the King,
\nThy noble Sire, to gratify our Chief,
\nThe son of Atreus, chose a diff\u2019rent course,
\nAnd steer\u2019d their oary barks again to Troy.
\nBut I, assured that evil from the Gods
\nImpended, gath\u2019ring all my gallant fleet,
\nFled thence in haste, and warlike Diomede
\nExhorting his attendants, also fled.
\nAt length, the Hero Menelaus join\u2019d
\nOur fleets at Lesbos; there he found us held
\nIn deep deliberation on the length
\nOf way before us, whether we should steer
\nAbove the craggy Chios to the isle
\nPsyria, that island holding on our left,
\nOr under Chios by the wind-swept heights
\nOf Mimas. Then we ask\u2019d from Jove a sign,
\nAnd by a sign vouchsafed he bade us cut
\nThe wide sea to Eub\u0153a sheer athwart,
\nSo soonest to escape the threat\u2019ned harm.
\nShrill sang the rising gale, and with swift prows
\nCleaving the fishy flood, we reach\u2019d by night
\nGer\u00e6stus, where arrived, we burn\u2019d the thighs
\nOf num\u2019rous bulls to Neptune, who had safe
\nConducted us through all our perilous course.
\nThe fleet of Diomede in safety moor\u2019d
\nOn the fourth day at Argos, but myself
\nHeld on my course to Pylus, nor the wind
\nOne moment thwarted us, or died away,
\nWhen Jove had once commanded it to blow.
\nThus, uninform\u2019d, I have arrived, my son!
\nNor of the Greecians, who are saved have heard,
\nOr who have perish\u2019d; but what news soe\u2019er
\nI have obtain\u2019d, since my return, with truth
\nI will relate, nor aught conceal from thee.
\nThe spear-famed Myrmidons, as rumour speaks,
\nBy Neoptolemus, illustrious son
\nOf brave Achilles led, have safe arrived;
\nSafe, Philoctetes, also son renown\u2019d
\nOf P\u00e6as; and Idomeneus at Crete
\nHath landed all his followers who survive
\nThe bloody war, the waves have swallow\u2019d none.
\nYe have yourselves doubtless, although remote,
\nOf Agamemnon heard, how he return\u2019d,
\nAnd how \u00c6gisthus cruelly contrived
\nFor him a bloody welcome, but himself
\nHath with his own life paid the murth\u2019rous deed.
\nGood is it, therefore, if a son survive
\nThe slain, since Agamemnon\u2019s son hath well
\nAvenged his father\u2019s death, slaying, himself,
\n\u00c6gisthus, foul assassin of his Sire.
\nYoung friend! (for pleas\u2019d thy vig\u2019rous youth I view,
\nAnd just proportion) be thou also bold,
\nThat thine like his may be a deathless name.
\nThen, prudent, him answer\u2019d Telemachus.
\nOh Nestor, Neleus\u2019 son, glory of Greece!
\nAnd righteous was that vengeance; his<\/i> renown
\nAchaia\u2019s sons shall far and wide diffuse,
\nTo future times transmitting it in song.
\nAh! would that such ability the Gods
\nWould grant to me, that I, as well, the deeds
\nMight punish of our suitors, whose excess
\nEnormous, and whose bitter taunts I feel
\nContinual, object of their subtle hate.
\nBut not for me such happiness the Gods
\nHave twined into my thread; no, not for me
\nOr for my father. Patience is our part.
\nTo whom Gerenian Nestor thus replied.
\nYoung friend! (since thou remind\u2019st me of that theme)
\nFame here reports that num\u2019rous suitors haunt
\nThy palace for thy mother\u2019s sake, and there
\nMuch evil perpetrate in thy despight.
\nBut say, endur\u2019st thou willing their controul
\nImperious, or because the people, sway\u2019d
\nBy some response oracular, incline
\nAgainst thee? But who knows? the time may come
\nWhen to his home restored, either alone,
\nOr aided by the force of all the Greeks,
\nUlysses may avenge the wrong; at least,
\nShould Pallas azure-eyed thee love, as erst
\nAt Troy, the scene of our unnumber\u2019d woes,
\nShe lov\u2019d Ulysses (for I have not known
\nThe Gods assisting so apparently
\nA mortal man, as him Minerva there)
\nShould Pallas view thee also with like love
\nAnd kind solicitude, some few of those
\nShould dream, perchance, of wedlock never more.
\nThen answer thus Telemachus return\u2019d.
\nThat word\u2019s accomplishment I cannot hope;
\nIt promises too much; the thought alone
\nO\u2019erwhelms me; an event so fortunate
\nWould, unexpected on my part, arrive,
\nAlthough the Gods themselves should purpose it.
\nBut Pallas him answer\u2019d c\u00e6rulean-eyed.
\nTelemachus! what word was that which leap\u2019d
\nThe iv\u2019ry guard[1]<\/sup><\/a> that should have fenced it in?<\/span>
\nA God, so willing, could with utmost ease
\nSave any man, howe\u2019er remote. Myself,
\nI had much rather, many woes endured,
\nRevisit home, at last, happy and safe,
\nThan, sooner coming, die in my own house,
\nAs Agamemnon perish\u2019d by the arts
\nOf base \u00c6gisthus and the subtle Queen.
\nYet not the Gods themselves can save from death
\nAll-levelling, the man whom most they love,
\nWhen Fate ordains him once to his last sleep.
\nTo whom Telemachus, discrete, replied.
\nHowe\u2019er it interest us, let us leave
\nThis question, Mentor! He, I am assured,
\nReturns no more, but hath already found
\nA sad, sad fate by the decree of heav\u2019n.
\nBut I would now interrogate again
\nNestor, and on a different theme, for him
\nIn human rights I judge, and laws expert,
\nAnd in all knowledge beyond other men;
\nFor he hath govern\u2019d, as report proclaims,
\nThree generations; therefore in my eyes
\nHe wears the awful impress of a God.
\nOh Nestor, son of Neleus, tell me true;
\nWhat was the manner of Atrides\u2019 death,
\nWide-ruling Agamemnon? Tell me where
\nWas Menelaus? By what means contrived
\n\u00c6gisthus to inflict the fatal blow,
\nSlaying so much a nobler than himself?
\nHad not the brother of the Monarch reach\u2019d
\nAchaian Argos yet, but, wand\u2019ring still
\nIn other climes, his long absence gave
\n\u00c6gisthus courage for that bloody deed?
\nWhom answer\u2019d the Gerenian Chief renown\u2019d.
\nMy son! I will inform thee true; meantime
\nThy own suspicions border on the fact.
\nHad Menelaus, Hero, amber hair\u2019d,
\n\u00c6gisthus found living at his return
\nFrom Ilium, never on his<\/i> bones the Greeks
\nHad heap\u2019d a tomb, but dogs and rav\u2019ning fowls
\nHad torn him lying in the open field
\nFar from the town, nor him had woman wept
\nOf all in Greece, for he had foul transgress\u2019d.
\nBut we, in many an arduous task engaged,
\nLay before Ilium; he, the while, secure
\nWithin the green retreats of Argos, found
\nOccasion apt by flatt\u2019ry to delude
\nThe spouse of Agamemnon; she, at first,
\n(The royal Clytemnestra) firm refused
\nThe deed dishonourable (for she bore
\nA virtuous mind, and at her side a bard
\nAttended ever, whom the King, to Troy
\nDeparting, had appointed to the charge.)
\nBut when the Gods had purposed to ensnare
\n\u00c6gisthus, then dismissing far remote
\nThe bard into a desart isle, he there
\nAbandon\u2019d him to rav\u2019ning fowls a prey,
\nAnd to his own home, willing as himself,
\nLed Clytemnestra. Num\u2019rous thighs he burn\u2019d
\nOn all their hallow\u2019d altars to the Gods,
\nAnd hung with tap\u2019stry, images, and gold
\nTheir shrines, his great exploit past hope atchiev\u2019d.
\nWe (Menelaus and myself) had sailed
\nFrom Troy together, but when we approach\u2019d
\nSunium, headland of th\u2019 Athenian shore,
\nThere Ph\u0153bus, sudden, with his gentle shafts
\nSlew Menelaus\u2019 pilot while he steer\u2019d
\nThe volant bark, Phrontis, Onetor\u2019s son,
\nA mariner past all expert, whom none
\nIn steerage match\u2019d, what time the tempest roar\u2019d.
\nHere, therefore, Menelaus was detained,
\nGiving his friend due burial, and his rites
\nFunereal celebrating, though in haste
\nStill to proceed. But when, with all his fleet
\nThe wide sea traversing, he reach\u2019d at length
\nMalea\u2019s lofty foreland in his course,
\nRough passage, then, and perilous he found.
\nShrill blasts the Thund\u2019rer pour\u2019d into his sails,
\nAnd wild waves sent him mountainous. His ships
\nThere scatter\u2019d, some to the Cydonian coast
\nOf Crete he push\u2019d, near where the Jardan flows.
\nBeside the confines of Gortyna stands,
\nAmid the gloomy flood, a smooth rock, steep
\nToward the sea, against whose leftward point
\nPh\u00e6stus by name, the South wind rolls the surge
\nAmain, which yet the rock, though small, repells.
\nHither with part he came, and scarce the crews
\nThemselves escaped, while the huge billows broke
\nTheir ships against the rocks; yet five he saved,
\nWhich winds and waves drove to the \u00c6gyptian shore.
\nThus he, provision gath\u2019ring as he went
\nAnd gold abundant, roam\u2019d to distant lands
\nAnd nations of another tongue. Meantime,
\n\u00c6gisthus these enormities at home
\nDevising, slew Atrides, and supreme
\nRul\u2019d the subjected land; sev\u2019n years he reign\u2019d
\nIn opulent Mycen\u00e6, but the eighth
\nFrom Athens brought renown\u2019d Orestes home
\nFor his destruction, who of life bereaved
\n\u00c6gisthus base assassin of his Sire.
\nOrestes, therefore, the funereal rites
\nPerforming to his shameless mother\u2019s shade
\nAnd to her lustful paramour, a feast
\nGave to the Argives; on which self-same day
\nThe warlike Menelaus, with his ships
\nAll treasure-laden to the brink, arrived.
\nAnd thou, young friend! from thy forsaken home
\nRove not long time remote, thy treasures left
\nAt mercy of those proud, lest they divide
\nAnd waste the whole, rend\u2019ring thy voyage vain.
\nBut hence to Menelaus is the course
\nTo which I counsel thee; for he hath come
\nOf late from distant lands, whence to escape
\nNo man could hope, whom tempests first had driv\u2019n
\nDevious into so wide a sea, from which
\nThemselves the birds of heaven could not arrive
\nIn a whole year, so vast is the expanse.
\nGo, then, with ship and shipmates, or if more
\nThe land delight thee, steeds thou shalt not want
\nNor chariot, and my sons shall be thy guides
\nTo noble Lacedemon, the abode
\nOf Menelaus; ask from him the truth,
\nWho will not lye, for he is passing wise.
\nWhile thus he spake, the sun declined, and night
\nApproaching, blue-eyed Pallas interposed.
\nO antient King! well hast thou spoken all.
\nBut now delay not. Cut ye forth the tongues,[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/sup>
\nAnd mingle wine, that (Neptune first invoked
\nWith due libation, and the other Gods)
\nWe may repair to rest; for even now
\nThe sun is sunk, and it becomes us not
\nLong to protract a banquet to the Gods
\nDevote, but in fit season to depart.
\nSo spake Jove\u2019s daughter; they obedient heard.
\nThe heralds, then, pour\u2019d water on their hands,
\nAnd the attendant youths, filling the cups,
\nServed them from left to right. Next all the tongues
\nThey cast into the fire, and ev\u2019ry guest
\nArising, pour\u2019d libation to the Gods.
\nLibation made, and all with wine sufficed,
\nGodlike Telemachus and Pallas both
\nWould have return\u2019d, incontinent, on board,
\nBut Nestor urged them still to be his guests.
\nForbid it, Jove, and all the Pow\u2019rs of heav\u2019n!
\nThat ye should leave me to repair on board
\nYour vessel, as I were some needy wretch
\nCloakless and destitute of fleecy stores
\nWherewith to spread the couch soft for myself,
\nOr for my guests. No. I have garments warm
\nAn ample store, and rugs of richest dye;
\nAnd never shall Ulysses\u2019 son belov\u2019d,
\nMy frend\u2019s own son, sleep on a galley\u2019s plank
\nWhile I draw vital air; grant also, heav\u2019n,
\nThat, dying, I may leave behind me sons
\nGlad to accommodate whatever guest!
\nHim answer\u2019d then Pallas c\u00e6rulean-eyed.
\nOld Chief! thou hast well said, and reason bids
\nTelemachus thy kind commands obey.
\nLet him<\/i> attend thee hence, that he may sleep
\nBeneath thy roof, but I return on board
\nMyself, to instruct my people, and to give
\nAll needful orders; for among them none
\nIs old as I, but they are youths alike,
\nCoevals of Telemachus, with whom
\nThey have embark\u2019d for friendship\u2019s sake alone.
\nI therefore will repose myself on board
\nThis night, and to the Caucons bold in arms
\nWill sail to-morrow, to demand arrears
\nLong time unpaid, and of no small amount.
\nBut, since he is become thy guest, afford
\nMy friend a chariot, and a son of thine
\nWho shall direct his way, nor let him want
\nOf all thy steeds the swiftest and the best.
\nSo saying, the blue-eyed Goddess as upborne
\nOn eagle\u2019s wings, vanish\u2019d; amazement seized
\nThe whole assembly, and the antient King
\nO\u2019erwhelmed with wonder at that sight, the hand
\nGrasp\u2019d of Telemachus, whom he thus bespake.
\nMy friend! I prophesy that thou shalt prove
\nNor base nor dastard, whom, so young, the Gods
\nAlready take in charge; for of the Pow\u2019rs
\nInhabitants of heav\u2019n, none else was this
\nThan Jove\u2019s own daughter Pallas, who among
\nThe Greecians honour\u2019d most thy gen\u2019rous Sire.
\nBut thou, O Queen! compassionate us all,
\nMyself, my sons, my comfort; give to each
\nA glorious name, and I to thee will give
\nFor sacrifice an heifer of the year,
\nBroad-fronted, one that never yet hath borne
\nThe yoke, and will incase her horns with gold.
\nSo Nestor pray\u2019d, whom Pallas gracious heard.
\nThen the Gerenian warrior old, before
\nHis sons and sons in law, to his abode
\nMagnificent proceeded: they (arrived
\nWithin the splendid palace of the King)
\nOn thrones and couches sat in order ranged,
\nWhom Nestor welcom\u2019d, charging high the cup
\nWith wine of richest sort, which she who kept
\nThat treasure, now in the eleventh year
\nFirst broach\u2019d, unsealing the delicious juice.
\nWith this the hoary Senior fill\u2019d a cup,
\nAnd to the daughter of Jove \u00c6gis-arm\u2019d
\nPouring libation, offer\u2019d fervent pray\u2019r.
\nWhen all had made libation, and no wish
\nRemain\u2019d of more, then each to rest retired,
\nAnd Nestor the Gerenian warrior old
\nLed thence Telemachus to a carved couch
\nBeneath the sounding portico prepared.
\nBeside him he bade sleep the spearman bold,
\nPisistratus, a gallant youth, the sole
\nUnwedded in his house of all his sons.
\nHimself in the interior palace lay,
\nWhere couch and cov\u2019ring for her antient spouse
\nThe consort Queen had diligent prepar\u2019d.
\nBut when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,
\nHad tinged the East, arising from his bed,
\nGerenian Nestor issued forth, and sat
\nBefore his palace-gate on the white stones
\nResplendent as with oil, on which of old
\nHis father Neleus had been wont to sit,
\nIn council like a God; but he had sought,
\nBy destiny dismiss\u2019d long since, the shades.
\nOn those stones therefore now, Nestor himself,
\nAchaia\u2019s guardian, sat, sceptre in hand,
\nWhere soon his num\u2019rous sons, leaving betimes
\nThe place of their repose, also appeared,
\nEchephron, Stratius, Perseus, Thrasymedes,
\nAretus and Pisistratus. They placed
\nGodlike Telemachus at Nestor\u2019s side,
\nAnd the Gerenian Hero thus began.
\nSons be ye quick\u2014execute with dispatch
\nMy purpose, that I may propitiate first
\nOf all the Gods Minerva, who herself
\nHath honour\u2019d manifest our hallow\u2019d feast.
\nHaste, one, into the field, to order thence
\nAn ox, and let the herdsman drive it home.
\nAnother, hasting to the sable bark
\nOf brave Telemachus, bring hither all
\nHis friends, save two, and let a third command
\nLaerceus, that he come to enwrap with gold
\nThe victim\u2019s horns. Abide ye here, the rest,
\nAnd bid my female train (for I intend
\nA banquet) with all diligence provide
\nSeats, stores of wood, and water from the rock.
\nHe said, whom instant all obey\u2019d. The ox
\nCame from the field, and from the gallant ship
\nThe ship-mates of the brave Telemachus;
\nNext, charged with all his implements of art,
\nHis mallet, anvil, pincers, came the smith
\nTo give the horns their gilding; also came
\nPallas herself to her own sacred rites.
\nThen Nestor, hoary warrior, furnish\u2019d gold,
\nWhich, hammer\u2019d thin, the artist wrapp\u2019d around
\nThe victim\u2019s horns, that seeing him attired
\nSo costly, Pallas might the more be pleased.
\nStratius and brave Echephron introduced
\nThe victim by his horns; Aretus brought
\nA laver in one hand, with flow\u2019rs emboss\u2019d,
\nAnd in his other hand a basket stored
\nWith cakes, while warlike Thrasymedes, arm\u2019d
\nWith his long-hafted ax, prepared to smite
\nThe ox, and Perseus to receive the blood.
\nThe hoary Nestor consecrated first
\nBoth cakes and water, and with earnest pray\u2019r
\nTo Pallas, gave the forelock to the flames.
\nWhen all had worshipp\u2019d, and the broken cakes
\nSprinkled, then godlike Thrasymedes drew
\nClose to the ox, and smote him. Deep the edge
\nEnter\u2019d, and senseless on the floor he fell.
\nThen Nestor\u2019s daughters, and the consorts all
\nOf Nestor\u2019s sons, with his own consort, chaste
\nEurydice, the daughter eldest-born
\nOf Clymenus, in one shrill orison
\nVocif\u2019rous join\u2019d, while they, lifting the ox,
\nHeld him supported firmly, and the prince
\nOf men, Pisistratus, his gullet pierced.
\nSoon as the sable blood had ceased, and life
\nHad left the victim, spreading him abroad,
\nWith nice address they parted at the joint
\nHis thighs, and wrapp\u2019d them in the double cawl,
\nWhich with crude slices thin they overspread.
\nNestor burn\u2019d incense, and libation pour\u2019d
\nLarge on the hissing brands, while him beside,
\nBusy with spit and prong, stood many a youth
\nTrain\u2019d to the task. The thighs consumed, each took
\nHis portion of the maw, then, slashing well
\nThe remnant, they transpierced it with the spits
\nNeatly, and held it reeking at the fire.
\nMeantime the youngest of the daughters fair
\nOf Nestor, beauteous Polycaste, laved,
\nAnointed, and in vest and tunic cloathed
\nTelemachus, who, so refresh\u2019d, stepp\u2019d forth
\nFrom the bright laver graceful as a God,
\nAnd took his seat at antient Nestor\u2019s side.
\nThe viands dress\u2019d, and from the spits withdrawn,
\nThey sat to share the feast, and princely youths
\nArising, gave them wine in cups of gold.
\nWhen neither hunger now nor thirst remain\u2019d
\nUnsated, thus Gerenian Nestor spake.
\nMy sons, arise, lead forth the sprightly steeds,
\nAnd yoke them, that Telemachus may go.
\nSo spake the Chief, to whose commands his sons,
\nObedient, yoked in haste the rapid steeds,
\nAnd the intendant matron of the stores
\nDisposed meantime within the chariot, bread
\nAnd wine, and dainties, such as princes eat.
\nTelemachus into the chariot first
\nAscended, and beside him, next, his place
\nPisistratus the son of Nestor took,
\nThen seiz\u2019d the reins, and lash\u2019d the coursers on.
\nThey, nothing loth, into the open plain
\nFlew, leaving lofty Pylus soon afar.
\nThus, journeying, they shook on either side
\nThe yoke all day, and now the setting sun
\nTo dusky evening had resign\u2019d the roads,
\nWhen they to Pher\u00e6 came, and the abode
\nReach\u2019d of Diocles, whose illustrious Sire
\nOrsilochus from Alpheus drew his birth,
\nAnd there, with kindness entertain\u2019d, they slept.
\nBut when Aurora, daughter of the dawn,
\nLook\u2019d rosy from the East, yoking the steeds,
\nThey in their sumptuous chariot sat again.
\nThe son of Nestor plied the lash, and forth
\nThrough vestibule and sounding portico
\nThe royal coursers, not unwilling, flew.
\nA corn-invested land receiv\u2019d them next,
\nAnd there they brought their journey to a close,
\nSo rapidly they moved; and now the sun
\nWent down, and even-tide dimm\u2019d all the ways.<\/p>\n

  1. \u0395\u03c1\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bf\u03b4\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd<\/span>. Prior, alluding to this expression, ludicrously renders it\u2014\r\n
    \r\n\r\n\u201cWhen words like these in vocal breath\r\nBurst from his twofold hedge of teeth.\u201d\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n ↵<\/a><\/li>
  2. It is said to have been customary in the days of Homer, when the Greeks retired from a banquet to their beds, to cut out the tongues of the victims, and offer them to the Gods in particular who presided over conversation. ↵<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":299,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-109","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":242,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/109\/revisions\/242"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/109\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/odyssey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}