<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410331" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Odyssey: Book 3</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">But as the sun was rising from the fair sea into the firmament of<br>heaven to shed Blight on mortals and immortals, they reached Pylos the<br>city of Neleus. Now the people of Pylos were gathered on the sea shore<br>to offer sacrifice of black bulls to Neptune lord of the Earthquake.<br>There were nine guilds with five hundred men in each, and there were<br>nine bulls to each guild. As they were eating the inward meats and<br>burning the thigh bones [on the embers] in the name of Neptune,<br>Telemachus and his crew arrived, furled their sails, brought their<br>ship to anchor, and went ashore.<br>Minerva led the way and Telemachus followed her. Presently she said,<br>"Telemachus, you must not be in the least shy or nervous; you have<br>taken this voyage to try and find out where your father is buried<br>and how he came by his end; so go straight up to Nestor that we may<br>see what he has got to tell us. Beg of him to speak the truth, and<br>he will tell no lies, for he is an excellent person."<br>"But how, Mentor," replied Telemachus, "dare I go up to Nestor,<br>and how am I to address him? I have never yet been used to holding<br>long conversations with people, and am ashamed to begin questioning<br>one who is so much older than myself."<br>"Some things, Telemachus," answered Minerva, "will be suggested to<br>you by your own instinct, and heaven will prompt you further; for I am<br>assured that the gods have been with you from the time of your birth<br>until now."<br>She then went quickly on, and Telemachus followed in her steps<br>till they reached the place where the guilds of the Pylian people were<br>assembled. There they found Nestor sitting with his sons, while his<br>company round him were busy getting dinner ready, and putting pieces<br>of meat on to the spits while other pieces were cooking. When they saw<br>the strangers they crowded round them, took them by the hand and<br>bade them take their places. Nestor's son Pisistratus at once<br>offered his hand to each of them, and seated them on some soft<br>sheepskins that were lying on the sands near his father and his<br>brother Thrasymedes. Then he gave them their portions of the inward<br>meats and poured wine for them into a golden cup, handing it to<br>Minerva first, and saluting her at the same time.<br>"Offer a prayer, sir," said he, "to King Neptune, for it is his<br>feast that you are joining; when you have duly prayed and made your<br>drink-offering, pass the cup to your friend that he may do so also.<br>I doubt not that he too lifts his hands in prayer, for man cannot live<br>without God in the world. Still he is younger than you are, and is<br>much of an age with myself, so I he handed I will give you the<br>precedence."<br>As he spoke he handed her the cup. Minerva thought it very right and<br>proper of him to have given it to herself first; she accordingly began<br>praying heartily to Neptune. "O thou," she cried, "that encirclest the<br>earth, vouchsafe to grant the prayers of thy servants that call upon<br>thee. More especially we pray thee send down thy grace on Nestor and<br>on his sons; thereafter also make the rest of the Pylian people some<br>handsome return for the goodly hecatomb they are offering you. Lastly,<br>grant Telemachus and myself a happy issue, in respect of the matter<br>that has brought us in our to Pylos."<br>When she had thus made an end of praying, she handed the cup to<br>Telemachus and he prayed likewise. By and by, when the outer meats<br>were roasted and had been taken off the spits, the carvers gave<br>every man his portion and they all made an excellent dinner. As soon<br>as they had had enough to eat and drink, Nestor, knight of Gerene,<br>began to speak.<br>"Now," said he, "that our guests have done their dinner, it will<br>be best to ask them who they are. Who, then, sir strangers, are you,<br>and from what port have you sailed? Are you traders? or do you sail<br>the seas as rovers with your hand against every man, and every man's<br>hand against you?"<br>Telemachus answered boldly, for Minerva had given him courage to ask<br>about his father and get himself a good name.<br>"Nestor," said he, "son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, you<br>ask whence we come, and I will tell you. We come from Ithaca under<br>Neritum, and the matter about which I would speak is of private not<br>public import. I seek news of my unhappy father Ulysses, who is said<br>to have sacked the town of Troy in company with yourself. We know what<br>fate befell each one of the other heroes who fought at Troy, but as<br>regards Ulysses heaven has hidden from us the knowledge even that he<br>is dead at all, for no one can certify us in what place he perished,<br>nor say whether he fell in battle on the mainland, or was lost at<br>sea amid the waves of Amphitrite. Therefore I am suppliant at your<br>knees, if haply you may be pleased to tell me of his melancholy end,<br>whether you saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some other<br>traveller, for he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things<br>out of any pity for me, but tell me in all plainness exactly what<br>you saw. If my brave father Ulysses ever did you loyal service, either<br>by word or deed, when you Achaeans were harassed among the Trojans,<br>bear it in mind now as in my favour and tell me truly all."<br>"My friend," answered Nestor, "you recall a time of much sorrow to<br>my mind, for the brave Achaeans suffered much both at sea, while<br>privateering under Achilles, and when fighting before the great city<br>of king Priam. Our best men all of them fell there- Ajax, Achilles,<br>Patroclus peer of gods in counsel, and my own dear son Antilochus, a<br>man singularly fleet of foot and in fight valiant. But we suffered<br>much more than this; what mortal tongue indeed could tell the whole<br>story? Though you were to stay here and question me for five years, or<br>even six, I could not tell you all that the Achaeans suffered, and you<br>would turn homeward weary of my tale before it ended. Nine long<br>years did we try every kind of stratagem, but the hand of heaven was<br>against us; during all this time there was no one who could compare<br>with your father in subtlety- if indeed you are his son- I can<br>hardly believe my eyes- and you talk just like him too- no one would<br>say that people of such different ages could speak so much alike. He<br>and I never had any kind of difference from first to last neither in<br>camp nor council, but in singleness of heart and purpose we advised<br>the Argives how all might be ordered for the best.<br>"When however, we had sacked the city of Priam, and were setting<br>sail in our ships as heaven had dispersed us, then Jove saw fit to vex<br>the Argives on their homeward voyage; for they had Not all been either<br>wise or understanding, and hence many came to a bad end through the<br>displeasure of Jove's daughter Minerva, who brought about a quarrel<br>between the two sons of Atreus.<br>"The sons of Atreus called a meeting which was not as it should<br>be, for it was sunset and the Achaeans were heavy with wine. When they<br>explained why they had called- the people together, it seemed that<br>Menelaus was for sailing homeward at once, and this displeased<br>Agamemnon, who thought that we should wait till we had offered<br>hecatombs to appease the anger of Minerva. Fool that he was, he<br>might have known that he would not prevail with her, for when the gods<br>have made up their minds they do not change them lightly. So the two<br>stood bandying hard words, whereon the Achaeans sprang to their feet<br>with a cry that rent the air, and were of two minds as to what they<br>should do.<br>"That night we rested and nursed our anger, for Jove was hatching<br>mischief against us. But in the morning some of us drew our ships into<br>the water and put our goods with our women on board, while the rest,<br>about half in number, stayed behind with Agamemnon. We- the other<br>half- embarked and sailed; and the ships went well, for heaven had<br>smoothed the sea. When we reached Tenedos we offered sacrifices to the<br>gods, for we were longing to get home; cruel Jove, however, did not<br>yet mean that we should do so, and raised a second quarrel in the<br>course of which some among us turned their ships back again, and<br>sailed away under Ulysses to make their peace with Agamemnon; but I,<br>and all the ships that were with me pressed forward, for I saw that<br>mischief was brewing. The son of Tydeus went on also with me, and<br>his crews with him. Later on Menelaus joined us at Lesbos, and found<br>us making up our minds about our course- for we did not know whether<br>to go outside Chios by the island of Psyra, keeping this to our<br>left, or inside Chios, over against the stormy headland of Mimas. So<br>we asked heaven for a sign, and were shown one to the effect that we<br>should be soonest out of danger if we headed our ships across the open<br>sea to Euboea. This we therefore did, and a fair wind sprang up<br>which gave us a quick passage during the night to Geraestus, where<br>we offered many sacrifices to Neptune for having helped us so far on<br>our way. Four days later Diomed and his men stationed their ships in<br>Argos, but I held on for Pylos, and the wind never fell light from the<br>day when heaven first made it fair for me.<br>"Therefore, my dear young friend, I returned without hearing<br>anything about the others. I know neither who got home safely nor<br>who were lost but, as in duty bound, I will give you without reserve<br>the reports that have reached me since I have been here in my own<br>house. They say the Myrmidons returned home safely under Achilles' son<br>Neoptolemus; so also did the valiant son of Poias, Philoctetes.<br>Idomeneus, again, lost no men at sea, and all his followers who<br>escaped death in the field got safe home with him to Crete. No<br>matter how far out of the world you live, you will have heard of<br>Agamemnon and the bad end he came to at the hands of Aegisthus- and<br>a fearful reckoning did Aegisthus presently pay. See what a good thing<br>it is for a man to leave a son behind him to do as Orestes did, who<br>killed false Aegisthus the murderer of his noble father. You too,<br>then- for you are a tall, smart-looking fellow- show your mettle and<br>make yourself a name in story."<br>"Nestor son of Neleus," answered Telemachus, "honour to the<br>Achaean name, the Achaeans applaud Orestes and his name will live<br>through all time for he has avenged his father nobly. Would that<br>heaven might grant me to do like vengeance on the insolence of the<br>wicked suitors, who are ill treating me and plotting my ruin; but<br>the gods have no such happiness in store for me and for my father,<br>so we must bear it as best we may."<br>"My friend," said Nestor, "now that you remind me, I remember to<br>have heard that your mother has many suitors, who are ill disposed<br>towards you and are making havoc of your estate. Do you submit to this<br>tamely, or are public feeling and the voice of heaven against you? Who<br>knows but what Ulysses may come back after all, and pay these<br>scoundrels in full, either single-handed or with a force of Achaeans<br>behind him? If Minerva were to take as great a liking to you as she<br>did to Ulysses when we were fighting before Troy (for I never yet<br>saw the gods so openly fond of any one as Minerva then was of your<br>father), if she would take as good care of you as she did of him,<br>these wooers would soon some of them him, forget their wooing."<br>Telemachus answered, "I can expect nothing of the kind; it would<br>be far too much to hope for. I dare not let myself think of it. Even<br>though the gods themselves willed it no such good fortune could befall<br>me."<br>On this Minerva said, "Telemachus, what are you talking about?<br>Heaven has a long arm if it is minded to save a man; and if it were<br>me, I should not care how much I suffered before getting home,<br>provided I could be safe when I was once there. I would rather this,<br>than get home quickly, and then be killed in my own house as Agamemnon<br>was by the treachery of Aegisthus and his wife. Still, death is<br>certain, and when a man's hour is come, not even the gods can save<br>him, no matter how fond they are of him."<br>"Mentor," answered Telemachus, "do not let us talk about it any<br>more. There is no chance of my father's ever coming back; the gods<br>have long since counselled his destruction. There is something else,<br>however, about which I should like to ask Nestor, for he knows much<br>more than any one else does. They say he has reigned for three<br>generations so that it is like talking to an immortal. Tell me,<br>therefore, Nestor, and tell me true; how did Agamemnon come to die<br>in that way? What was Menelaus doing? And how came false Aegisthus<br>to kill so far better a man than himself? Was Menelaus away from<br>Achaean Argos, voyaging elsewhither among mankind, that Aegisthus took<br>heart and killed Agamemnon?"<br>"I will tell you truly," answered Nestor, "and indeed you have<br>yourself divined how it all happened. If Menelaus when he got back<br>from Troy had found Aegisthus still alive in his house, there would<br>have been no barrow heaped up for him, not even when he was dead,<br>but he would have been thrown outside the city to dogs and vultures,<br>and not a woman would have mourned him, for he had done a deed of<br>great wickedness; but we were over there, fighting hard at Troy, and<br>Aegisthus who was taking his ease quietly in the heart of Argos,<br>cajoled Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra with incessant flattery.<br>"At first she would have nothing to do with his wicked scheme, for<br>she was of a good natural disposition; moreover there was a bard<br>with her, to whom Agamemnon had given strict orders on setting out for<br>Troy, that he was to keep guard over his wife; but when heaven had<br>counselled her destruction, Aegisthus thus this bard off to a desert<br>island and left him there for crows and seagulls to batten upon- after<br>which she went willingly enough to the house of Aegisthus. Then he<br>offered many burnt sacrifices to the gods, and decorated many<br>temples with tapestries and gilding, for he had succeeded far beyond<br>his expectations.<br>"Meanwhile Menelaus and I were on our way home from Troy, on good<br>terms with one another. When we got to Sunium, which is the point of<br>Athens, Apollo with his painless shafts killed Phrontis the<br>steersman of Menelaus' ship (and never man knew better how to handle a<br>vessel in rough weather) so that he died then and there with the<br>helm in his hand, and Menelaus, though very anxious to press<br>forward, had to wait in order to bury his comrade and give him his due<br>funeral rites. Presently, when he too could put to sea again, and<br>had sailed on as far as the Malean heads, Jove counselled evil against<br>him and made it it blow hard till the waves ran mountains high. Here<br>he divided his fleet and took the one half towards Crete where the<br>Cydonians dwell round about the waters of the river Iardanus. There is<br>a high headland hereabouts stretching out into the sea from a place<br>called Gortyn, and all along this part of the coast as far as Phaestus<br>the sea runs high when there is a south wind blowing, but arter<br>Phaestus the coast is more protected, for a small headland can make<br>a great shelter. Here this part of the fleet was driven on to the<br>rocks and wrecked; but the crews just managed to save themselves. As<br>for the other five ships, they were taken by winds and seas to<br>Egypt, where Menelaus gathered much gold and substance among people of<br>an alien speech. Meanwhile Aegisthus here at home plotted his evil<br>deed. For seven years after he had killed Agamemnon he ruled in<br>Mycene, and the people were obedient under him, but in the eighth year<br>Orestes came back from Athens to be his bane, and killed the<br>murderer of his father. Then he celebrated the funeral rites of his<br>mother and of false Aegisthus by a banquet to the people of Argos, and<br>on that very day Menelaus came home, with as much treasure as his<br>ships could carry.<br>"Take my advice then, and do not go travelling about for long so far<br>from home, nor leave your property with such dangerous people in<br>your house; they will eat up everything you have among them, and you<br>will have been on a fool's errand. Still, I should advise you by all<br>means to go and visit Menelaus, who has lately come off a voyage among<br>such distant peoples as no man could ever hope to get back from,<br>when the winds had once carried him so far out of his reckoning;<br>even birds cannot fly the distance in a twelvemonth, so vast and<br>terrible are the seas that they must cross. Go to him, therefore, by<br>sea, and take your own men with you; or if you would rather travel<br>by land you can have a chariot, you can have horses, and here are my<br>sons who can escort you to Lacedaemon where Menelaus lives. Beg of him<br>to speak the truth, and he will tell you no lies, for he is an<br>excellent person."<br>As he spoke the sun set and it came on dark, whereon Minerva said,<br>"Sir, all that you have said is well; now, however, order the<br>tongues of the victims to be cut, and mix wine that we may make<br>drink-offerings to Neptune, and the other immortals, and then go to<br>bed, for it is bed time. People should go away early and not keep late<br>hours at a religious festival."<br>Thus spoke the daughter of Jove, and they obeyed her saying. Men<br>servants poured water over the hands of the guests, while pages filled<br>the mixing-bowls with wine and water, and handed it round after giving<br>every man his drink-offering; then they threw the tongues of the<br>victims into the fire, and stood up to make their drink-offerings.<br>When they had made their offerings and had drunk each as much as he<br>was minded, Minerva and Telemachus were forgoing on board their<br>ship, but Nestor caught them up at once and stayed them.<br>"Heaven and the immortal gods," he exclaimed, "forbid that you<br>should leave my house to go on board of a ship. Do you think I am so<br>poor and short of clothes, or that I have so few cloaks and as to be<br>unable to find comfortable beds both for myself and for my guests? Let<br>me tell you I have store both of rugs and cloaks, and shall not permit<br>the son of my old friend Ulysses to camp down on the deck of a ship-<br>not while I live- nor yet will my sons after me, but they will keep<br>open house as have done."<br>Then Minerva answered, "Sir, you have spoken well, and it will be<br>much better that Telemachus should do as you have said; he, therefore,<br>shall return with you and sleep at your house, but I must go back to<br>give orders to my crew, and keep them in good heart. I am the only<br>older person among them; the rest are all young men of Telemachus' own<br>age, who have taken this voyage out of friendship; so I must return to<br>the ship and sleep there. Moreover to-morrow I must go to the<br>Cauconians where I have a large sum of money long owing to me. As<br>for Telemachus, now that he is your guest, send him to Lacedaemon in a<br>chariot, and let one of your sons go with him. Be pleased also to<br>provide him with your best and fleetest horses."<br>When she had thus spoken, she flew away in the form of an eagle, and<br>all marvelled as they beheld it. Nestor was astonished, and took<br>Telemachus by the hand. "My friend," said he, "I see that you are<br>going to be a great hero some day, since the gods wait upon you thus<br>while you are still so young. This can have been none other of those<br>who dwell in heaven than Jove's redoubtable daughter, the<br>Trito-born, who showed such favour towards your brave father among the<br>Argives." "Holy queen," he continued, "vouchsafe to send down thy<br>grace upon myself, my good wife, and my children. In return, I will<br>offer you in sacrifice a broad-browed heifer of a year old,<br>unbroken, and never yet brought by man under the yoke. I will gild her<br>horns, and will offer her up to you in sacrifice."<br>Thus did he pray, and Minerva heard his prayer. He then led the<br>way to his own house, followed by his sons and sons-in-law. When<br>they had got there and had taken their places on the benches and<br>seats, he mixed them a bowl of sweet wine that was eleven years old<br>when the housekeeper took the lid off the jar that held it. As he<br>mixed the wine, he prayed much and made drink-offerings to Minerva,<br>daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove. Then, when they had made their<br>drink-offerings and had drunk each as much as he was minded, the<br>others went home to bed each in his own abode; but Nestor put<br>Telemachus to sleep in the room that was over the gateway along with<br>Pisistratus, who was the only unmarried son now left him. As for<br>himself, he slept in an inner room of the house, with the queen his<br>wife by his side.<br>Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,<br>Nestor left his couch and took his seat on the benches of white and<br>polished marble that stood in front of his house. Here aforetime sat<br>Neleus, peer of gods in counsel, but he was now dead, and had gone<br>to the house of Hades; so Nestor sat in his seat, sceptre in hand,<br>as guardian of the public weal. His sons as they left their rooms<br>gathered round him, Echephron, Stratius, Perseus, Aretus, and<br>Thrasymedes; the sixth son was Pisistratus, and when Telemachus joined<br>them they made him sit with them. Nestor then addressed them.<br>"My sons," said he, "make haste to do as I shall bid you. I wish<br>first and foremost to propitiate the great goddess Minerva, who<br>manifested herself visibly to me during yesterday's festivities. Go,<br>then, one or other of you to the plain, tell the stockman to look me<br>out a heifer, and come on here with it at once. Another must go to<br>Telemachus's ship, and invite all the crew, leaving two men only in<br>charge of the vessel. Some one else will run and fetch Laerceus the<br>goldsmith to gild the horns of the heifer. The rest, stay all of you<br>where you are; tell the maids in the house to prepare an excellent<br>dinner, and to fetch seats, and logs of wood for a burnt offering.<br>Tell them also- to bring me some clear spring water."<br>On this they hurried off on their several errands. The heifer was<br>brought in from the plain, and Telemachus's crew came from the ship;<br>the goldsmith brought the anvil, hammer, and tongs, with which he<br>worked his gold, and Minerva herself came to the sacrifice. Nestor<br>gave out the gold, and the smith gilded the horns of the heifer that<br>the goddess might have pleasure in their beauty. Then Stratius and<br>Echephron brought her in by the horns; Aretus fetched water from the<br>house in a ewer that had a flower pattern on it, and in his other hand<br>he held a basket of barley meal; sturdy Thrasymedes stood by with a<br>sharp axe, ready to strike the heifer, while Perseus held a bucket.<br>Then Nestor began with washing his hands and sprinkling the barley<br>meal, and he offered many a prayer to Minerva as he threw a lock<br>from the heifer's head upon the fire.<br>When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley meal<br>Thrasymedes dealt his blow, and brought the heifer down with a<br>stroke that cut through the tendons at the base of her neck, whereon<br>the daughters and daughters-in-law of Nestor, and his venerable wife<br>Eurydice (she was eldest daughter to Clymenus) screamed with<br>delight. Then they lifted the heifer's head from off the ground, and<br>Pisistratus cut her throat. When she had done bleeding and was quite<br>dead, they cut her up. They cut out the thigh bones all in due course,<br>wrapped them round in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of raw<br>meat on the top of them; then Nestor laid them upon the wood fire<br>and poured wine over them, while the young men stood near him with<br>five-pronged spits in their hands. When the thighs were burned and<br>they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest of the meat up<br>small, put the pieces on the spits and toasted them over the fire.<br>Meanwhile lovely Polycaste, Nestor's youngest daughter, washed<br>Telemachus. When she had washed him and anointed him with oil, she<br>brought him a fair mantle and shirt, and he looked like a god as he<br>came from the bath and took his seat by the side of Nestor. When the<br>outer meats were done they drew them off the spits and sat down to<br>dinner where they were waited upon by some worthy henchmen, who kept<br>pouring them out their wine in cups of gold. As soon as they had had<br>had enough to eat and drink Nestor said, "Sons, put Telemachus's<br>horses to the chariot that he may start at once."<br>Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said, and yoked the<br>fleet horses to the chariot. The housekeeper packed them up a<br>provision of bread, wine, and sweetmeats fit for the sons of<br>princes. Then Telemachus got into the chariot, while Pisistratus<br>gathered up the reins and took his seat beside him. He lashed the<br>horses on and they flew forward nothing loth into the open country,<br>leaving the high citadel of Pylos behind them. All that day did they<br>travel, swaying the yoke upon their necks till the sun went down and<br>darkness was over all the land. Then they reached Pherae where Diocles<br>lived, who was son to Ortilochus and grandson to Alpheus. Here they<br>passed the night and Diocles entertained them hospitably. When the<br>child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn; appeared, they again yoked their<br>horses and drove out through the gateway under the echoing<br>gatehouse. Pisistratus lashed the horses on and they flew forward<br>nothing loth; presently they came to the corn lands Of the open<br>country, and in the course of time completed their journey, so well<br>did their steeds take them.<br>Now when the sun had set and darkness was over the land,</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a>, translated by Samuel Butler<div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410331" data-title="The Odyssey: Book 3 de Homer" data-description="But as the sun was rising from the fair sea into the firmament of/heaven to shed Blight on mortals and immortals, they reached Pylos the/city of Neleus. Now the people of Pylos were gathered on the sea shore/to offer sacrifice of black bulls to Ne..."></div> </div> </div>

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