city of Neleus. Now the people of Pylos were gathered on the sea shoreto offer sacrifice of black bulls to Neptune lord of the Earthquake.There were nine guilds with five hundred men in each, and there werenine bulls to each guild. As they were eating the inward meats andburning the thigh bones [on the embers] in the name of Neptune,Telemachus and his crew arrived, furled their sails, brought theirship to anchor, and went ashore.Minerva led the way and Telemachus followed her. Presently she said,"Telemachus, you must not be in the least shy or nervous; you havetaken this voyage to try and find out where your father is buriedand how he came by his end; so go straight up to Nestor that we maysee what he has got to tell us. Beg of him to speak the truth, andhe will tell no lies, for he is an excellent person.""But how, Mentor," replied Telemachus, "dare I go up to Nestor,and how am I to address him? I have never yet been used to holdinglong conversations with people, and am ashamed to begin questioningone who is so much older than myself.""Some things, Telemachus," answered Minerva, "will be suggested toyou by your own instinct, and heaven will prompt you further; for I amassured that the gods have been with you from the time of your birthuntil now."She then went quickly on, and Telemachus followed in her stepstill they reached the place where the guilds of the Pylian people wereassembled. There they found Nestor sitting with his sons, while hiscompany round him were busy getting dinner ready, and putting piecesof meat on to the spits while other pieces were cooking. When they sawthe strangers they crowded round them, took them by the hand andbade them take their places. Nestor's son Pisistratus at onceoffered his hand to each of them, and seated them on some softsheepskins that were lying on the sands near his father and hisbrother Thrasymedes. Then he gave them their portions of the inwardmeats and poured wine for them into a golden cup, handing it toMinerva first, and saluting her at the same time."Offer a prayer, sir," said he, "to King Neptune, for it is hisfeast that you are joining; when you have duly prayed and made yourdrink-offering, pass the cup to your friend that he may do so also.I doubt not that he too lifts his hands in prayer, for man cannot livewithout God in the world. Still he is younger than you are, and ismuch of an age with myself, so I he handed I will give you theprecedence."As he spoke he handed her the cup. Minerva thought it very right andproper of him to have given it to herself first; she accordingly beganpraying heartily to Neptune. "O thou," she cried, "that encirclest theearth, vouchsafe to grant the prayers of thy servants that call uponthee. More especially we pray thee send down thy grace on Nestor andon his sons; thereafter also make the rest of the Pylian people somehandsome return for the goodly hecatomb they are offering you. Lastly,grant Telemachus and myself a happy issue, in respect of the matterthat has brought us in our to Pylos."When she had thus made an end of praying, she handed the cup toTelemachus and he prayed likewise. By and by, when the outer meatswere roasted and had been taken off the spits, the carvers gaveevery man his portion and they all made an excellent dinner. As soonas they had had enough to eat and drink, Nestor, knight of Gerene,began to speak."Now," said he, "that our guests have done their dinner, it willbe best to ask them who they are. Who, then, sir strangers, are you,and from what port have you sailed? Are you traders? or do you sailthe seas as rovers with your hand against every man, and every man'shand against you?"Telemachus answered boldly, for Minerva had given him courage to askabout his father and get himself a good name."Nestor," said he, "son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, youask whence we come, and I will tell you. We come from Ithaca underNeritum, and the matter about which I would speak is of private notpublic import. I seek news of my unhappy father Ulysses, who is saidto have sacked the town of Troy in company with yourself. We know whatfate befell each one of the other heroes who fought at Troy, but asregards Ulysses heaven has hidden from us the knowledge even that heis dead at all, for no one can certify us in what place he perished,nor say whether he fell in battle on the mainland, or was lost atsea amid the waves of Amphitrite. Therefore I am suppliant at yourknees, if haply you may be pleased to tell me of his melancholy end,whether you saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some othertraveller, for he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften thingsout of any pity for me, but tell me in all plainness exactly whatyou saw. If my brave father Ulysses ever did you loyal service, eitherby word or deed, when you Achaeans were harassed among the Trojans,bear it in mind now as in my favour and tell me truly all.""My friend," answered Nestor, "you recall a time of much sorrow tomy mind, for the brave Achaeans suffered much both at sea, whileprivateering under Achilles, and when fighting before the great cityof king Priam. Our best men all of them fell there- Ajax, Achilles,Patroclus peer of gods in counsel, and my own dear son Antilochus, aman singularly fleet of foot and in fight valiant. But we sufferedmuch more than this; what mortal tongue indeed could tell the wholestory? Though you were to stay here and question me for five years, oreven six, I could not tell you all that the Achaeans suffered, and youwould turn homeward weary of my tale before it ended. Nine longyears did we try every kind of stratagem, but the hand of heaven wasagainst us; during all this time there was no one who could comparewith your father in subtlety- if indeed you are his son- I canhardly believe my eyes- and you talk just like him too- no one wouldsay that people of such different ages could speak so much alike. Heand I never had any kind of difference from first to last neither incamp nor council, but in singleness of heart and purpose we advisedthe Argives how all might be ordered for the best."When however, we had sacked the city of Priam, and were settingsail in our ships as heaven had dispersed us, then Jove saw fit to vexthe Argives on their homeward voyage; for they had Not all been eitherwise or understanding, and hence many came to a bad end through thedispleasure of Jove's daughter Minerva, who brought about a quarrelbetween the two sons of Atreus."The sons of Atreus called a meeting which was not as it shouldbe, for it was sunset and the Achaeans were heavy with wine. When theyexplained why they had called- the people together, it seemed thatMenelaus was for sailing homeward at once, and this displeasedAgamemnon, who thought that we should wait till we had offeredhecatombs to appease the anger of Minerva. Fool that he was, hemight have known that he would not prevail with her, for when the godshave made up their minds they do not change them lightly. So the twostood bandying hard words, whereon the Achaeans sprang to their feetwith a cry that rent the air, and were of two minds as to what theyshould do."That night we rested and nursed our anger, for Jove was hatchingmischief against us. But in the morning some of us drew our ships intothe water and put our goods with our women on board, while the rest,about half in number, stayed behind with Agamemnon. We- the otherhalf- embarked and sailed; and the ships went well, for heaven hadsmoothed the sea. When we reached Tenedos we offered sacrifices to thegods, for we were longing to get home; cruel Jove, however, did notyet mean that we should do so, and raised a second quarrel in thecourse of which some among us turned their ships back again, andsailed away under Ulysses to make their peace with Agamemnon; but I,and all the ships that were with me pressed forward, for I saw thatmischief was brewing. The son of Tydeus went on also with me, andhis crews with him. Later on Menelaus joined us at Lesbos, and foundus making up our minds about our course- for we did not know whetherto go outside Chios by the island of Psyra, keeping this to ourleft, or inside Chios, over against the stormy headland of Mimas. Sowe asked heaven for a sign, and were shown one to the effect that weshould be soonest out of danger if we headed our ships across the opensea to Euboea. This we therefore did, and a fair wind sprang upwhich gave us a quick passage during the night to Geraestus, wherewe offered many sacrifices to Neptune for having helped us so far onour way. Four days later Diomed and his men stationed their ships inArgos, but I held on for Pylos, and the wind never fell light from theday when heaven first made it fair for me."Therefore, my dear young friend, I returned without hearinganything about the others. I know neither who got home safely norwho were lost but, as in duty bound, I will give you without reservethe reports that have reached me since I have been here in my ownhouse. They say the Myrmidons returned home safely under Achilles' sonNeoptolemus; so also did the valiant son of Poias, Philoctetes.Idomeneus, again, lost no men at sea, and all his followers whoescaped death in the field got safe home with him to Crete. Nomatter how far out of the world you live, you will have heard ofAgamemnon and the bad end he came to at the hands of Aegisthus- anda fearful reckoning did Aegisthus presently pay. See what a good thingit is for a man to leave a son behind him to do as Orestes did, whokilled false Aegisthus the murderer of his noble father. You too,then- for you are a tall, smart-looking fellow- show your mettle andmake yourself a name in story.""Nestor son of Neleus," answered Telemachus, "honour to theAchaean name, the Achaeans applaud Orestes and his name will livethrough all time for he has avenged his father nobly. Would thatheaven might grant me to do like vengeance on the insolence of thewicked suitors, who are ill treating me and plotting my ruin; butthe gods have no such happiness in store for me and for my father,so we must bear it as best we may.""My friend," said Nestor, "now that you remind me, I remember tohave heard that your mother has many suitors, who are ill disposedtowards you and are making havoc of your estate. Do you submit to thistamely, or are public feeling and the voice of heaven against you? Whoknows but what Ulysses may come back after all, and pay thesescoundrels in full, either single-handed or with a force of Achaeansbehind him? If Minerva were to take as great a liking to you as shedid to Ulysses when we were fighting before Troy (for I never yetsaw the gods so openly fond of any one as Minerva then was of yourfather), if she would take as good care of you as she did of him,these wooers would soon some of them him, forget their wooing."Telemachus answered, "I can expect nothing of the kind; it wouldbe far too much to hope for. I dare not let myself think of it. Eventhough the gods themselves willed it no such good fortune could befallme."On this Minerva said, "Telemachus, what are you talking about?Heaven has a long arm if it is minded to save a man; and if it wereme, I should not care how much I suffered before getting home,provided I could be safe when I was once there. I would rather this,than get home quickly, and then be killed in my own house as Agamemnonwas by the treachery of Aegisthus and his wife. Still, death iscertain, and when a man's hour is come, not even the gods can savehim, no matter how fond they are of him.""Mentor," answered Telemachus, "do not let us talk about it anymore. There is no chance of my father's ever coming back; the godshave long since counselled his destruction. There is something else,however, about which I should like to ask Nestor, for he knows muchmore than any one else does. They say he has reigned for threegenerations so that it is like talking to an immortal. Tell me,therefore, Nestor, and tell me true; how did Agamemnon come to diein that way? What was Menelaus doing? And how came false Aegisthus