The Odyssey. Homer

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BOOK III—THE INTERVIEW OF TELEMACHUS AND NESTOR.

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      Telemachus, guided by Pallas in the shape of Mentor, arrives in the morning at Pylos, where Nestor and his sons are sacrificing on the sea- shore to Neptune. Telemachus declares the occasion of his coming: and Nestor relates what passed in their return from Troy, how their fleets were separated, and he never since heard of Ulysses. They discourse concerning the death of Agamemnon, the revenge of Orestes, and the injuries of the suitors. Nestor advises him to go to Sparta, and inquire further of Menelaus. The sacrifice ending with the night, Minerva vanishes from them in the form of an eagle: Telemachus is lodged in the palace. The next morning they sacrifice a bullock to Minerva; and Telemachus proceeds on his journey to Sparta, attended by Pisistratus.

      The scene lies on the sea-shore of Pylos.

      The sacred sun, above the waters raised,

       Through heaven's eternal brazen portals blazed;

       And wide o'er earth diffused his cheering ray,

       To gods and men to give the golden day.

       Now on the coast of Pyle the vessel falls,

       Before old Neleus' venerable walls.

       There suppliant to the monarch of the flood,

       At nine green theatres the Pylians stood,

       Each held five hundred (a deputed train),

       At each, nine oxen on the sand lay slain.

       They taste the entrails, and the altars load

       With smoking thighs, an offering to the god.

       Full for the port the Ithacensians stand,

       And furl their sails, and issue on the land.

       Telemachus already press'd the shore;

       Not first, the power of wisdom march'd before,

       And ere the sacrificing throng he join'd,

       Admonish'd thus his well-attending mind:

       "Proceed, my son! this youthful shame expel;

       An honest business never blush to tell.

       To learn what fates thy wretched sire detain,

       We pass'd the wide immeasurable main.

       Meet then the senior far renown'd for sense

       With reverend awe, but decent confidence:

       Urge him with truth to frame his fair replies;

       And sure he will; for wisdom never lies."

       "Oh tell me, Mentor! tell me, faithful guide

       (The youth with prudent modesty replied),

       How shall I meet, or how accost the sage,

       Unskill'd in speech, nor yet mature of age?

       Awful th'approach, and hard the task appears,

       To question wisely men of riper years."

       To whom the martial goddess thus rejoin'd:

       "Search, for some thoughts, thy own suggesting mind;

       And others, dictated by heavenly power,

       Shall rise spontaneous in the needful hour.

       For nought unprosperous shall thy ways attend,

       Born with good omens, and with heaven thy friend."

       She spoke, and led the way with swiftest speed;

       As swift, the youth pursued the way she led;

       and join'd the band before the sacred fire,

       Where sate, encompass'd with his sons, the sire.

       The youth of Pylos, some on pointed wood

       Transfix'd the fragments, some prepared the food:

       In friendly throngs they gather to embrace

       Their unknown guests, and at the banquet place,

       Pisistratus was first to grasp their hands,

       And spread soft hides upon the yellow sands;

       Along the shore the illustrious pair he led,

       Where Nestor sate with the youthful Thrasymed,

       To each a portion of the feast he bore,

       And held the golden goblet foaming o'er;

       Then first approaching to the elder guest,

       The latent goddess in these words address'd:

       "Whoe'er thou art, from fortune brings to keep

       These rites of Neptune, monarch of the deep,

       Thee first it fits, O stranger! to prepare

       The due libation and the solemn prayer;

       Then give thy friend to shed the sacred wine;

       Though much thy younger, and his years like mine,

       He too, I deem, implores the power divine;

       For all mankind alike require their grace,

       All born to want; a miserable race!"

       He spake, and to her hand preferr'd the bowl;

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