《奥德修记》-6

to kill so far better a man than himself? Was Menelaus away fromAchaean Argos, voyaging elsewhither among mankind, that Aegisthus tookheart and killed Agamemnon?""I will tell you truly," answered Nestor, "and indeed you haveyourself divined how it all happened. If Menelaus when he got backfrom Troy had found Aegisthus still alive in his house, there wouldhave been no barrow heaped up for him, not even when he was dead,but he would have been thrown outside the city to dogs and vultures,and not a woman would have mourned him, for he had done a deed ofgreat wickedness; but we were over there, fighting hard at Troy, andAegisthus who was taking his ease quietly in the heart of Argos,cajoled Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra with incessant flattery."At first she would have nothing to do with his wicked scheme, forshe was of a good natural disposition; moreover there was a bardwith her, to whom Agamemnon had given strict orders on setting out forTroy, that he was to keep guard over his wife; but when heaven hadcounselled her destruction, Aegisthus thus this bard off to a desertisland and left him there for crows and seagulls to batten upon- afterwhich she went willingly enough to the house of Aegisthus. Then heoffered many burnt sacrifices to the gods, and decorated manytemples with tapestries and gilding, for he had succeeded far beyondhis expectations."Meanwhile Menelaus and I were on our way home from Troy, on goodterms with one another. When we got to Sunium, which is the point ofAthens, Apollo with his painless shafts killed Phrontis thesteersman of Menelaus' ship (and never man knew better how to handle avessel in rough weather) so that he died then and there with thehelm in his hand, and Menelaus, though very anxious to pressforward, had to wait in order to bury his comrade and give him his duefuneral rites. Presently, when he too could put to sea again, andhad sailed on as far as the Malean heads, Jove counselled evil againsthim and made it it blow hard till the waves ran mountains high. Herehe divided his fleet and took the one half towards Crete where theCydonians dwell round about the waters of the river Iardanus. There isa high headland hereabouts stretching out into the sea from a placecalled Gortyn, and all along this part of the coast as far as Phaestusthe sea runs high when there is a south wind blowing, but arterPhaestus the coast is more protected, for a small headland can makea great shelter. Here this part of the fleet was driven on to therocks and wrecked; but the crews just managed to save themselves. Asfor the other five ships, they were taken by winds and seas toEgypt, where Menelaus gathered much gold and substance among people ofan alien speech. Meanwhile Aegisthus here at home plotted his evildeed. For seven years after he had killed Agamemnon he ruled inMycene, and the people were obedient under him, but in the eighth yearOrestes came back from Athens to be his bane, and killed themurderer of his father. Then he celebrated the funeral rites of hismother and of false Aegisthus by a banquet to the people of Argos, andon that very day Menelaus came home, with as much treasure as hisships could carry."Take my advice then, and do not go travelling about for long so farfrom home, nor leave your property with such dangerous people inyour house; they will eat up everything you have among them, and youwill have been on a fool's errand. Still, I should advise you by allmeans to go and visit Menelaus, who has lately come off a voyage amongsuch distant peoples as no man could ever hope to get back from,when the winds had once carried him so far out of his reckoning;even birds cannot fly the distance in a twelvemonth, so vast andterrible are the seas that they must cross. Go to him, therefore, bysea, and take your own men with you; or if you would rather travelby land you can have a chariot, you can have horses, and here are mysons who can escort you to Lacedaemon where Menelaus lives. Beg of himto speak the truth, and he will tell you no lies, for he is anexcellent person."As he spoke the sun set and it came on dark, whereon Minerva said,"Sir, all that you have said is well; now, however, order thetongues of the victims to be cut, and mix wine that we may makedrink-offerings to Neptune, and the other immortals, and then go tobed, for it is bed time. People should go away early and not keep latehours at a religious festival."Thus spoke the daughter of Jove, and they obeyed her saying. Menservants poured water over the hands of the guests, while pages filledthe mixing-bowls with wine and water, and handed it round after givingevery man his drink-offering; then they threw the tongues of thevictims into the fire, and stood up to make their drink-offerings.When they had made their offerings and had drunk each as much as hewas minded, Minerva and Telemachus were forgoing on board theirship, but Nestor caught them up at once and stayed them."Heaven and the immortal gods," he exclaimed, "forbid that youshould leave my house to go on board of a ship. Do you think I am sopoor and short of clothes, or that I have so few cloaks and as to beunable to find comfortable beds both for myself and for my guests? Letme tell you I have store both of rugs and cloaks, and shall not permitthe son of my old friend Ulysses to camp down on the deck of a ship-not while I live- nor yet will my sons after me, but they will keepopen house as have done."Then Minerva answered, "Sir, you have spoken well, and it will bemuch better that Telemachus should do as you have said; he, therefore,shall return with you and sleep at your house, but I must go back togive orders to my crew, and keep them in good heart. I am the onlyolder person among them; the rest are all young men of Telemachus' ownage, who have taken this voyage out of friendship; so I must return tothe ship and sleep there. Moreover to-morrow I must go to theCauconians where I have a large sum of money long owing to me. Asfor Telemachus, now that he is your guest, send him to Lacedaemon in achariot, and let one of your sons go with him. Be pleased also toprovide him with your best and fleetest horses."When she had thus spoken, she flew away in the form of an eagle, andall marvelled as they beheld it. Nestor was astonished, and tookTelemachus by the hand. "My friend," said he, "I see that you aregoing to be a great hero some day, since the gods wait upon you thuswhile you are still so young. This can have been none other of thosewho dwell in heaven than Jove's redoubtable daughter, theTrito-born, who showed such favour towards your brave father among theArgives." "Holy queen," he continued, "vouchsafe to send down thygrace upon myself, my good wife, and my children. In return, I willoffer you in sacrifice a broad-browed heifer of a year old,unbroken, and never yet brought by man under the yoke. I will gild herhorns, and will offer her up to you in sacrifice."Thus did he pray, and Minerva heard his prayer. He then led theway to his own house, followed by his sons and sons-in-law. Whenthey had got there and had taken their places on the benches andseats, he mixed them a bowl of sweet wine that was eleven years oldwhen the housekeeper took the lid off the jar that held it. As hemixed the wine, he prayed much and made drink-offerings to Minerva,daughter of Aegis-bearing Jove. Then, when they had made theirdrink-offerings and had drunk each as much as he was minded, theothers went home to bed each in his own abode; but Nestor putTelemachus to sleep in the room that was over the gateway along withPisistratus, who was the only unmarried son now left him. As forhimself, he slept in an inner room of the house, with the queen hiswife by his side.Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,Nestor left his couch and took his seat on the benches of white andpolished marble that stood in front of his house. Here aforetime satNeleus, peer of gods in counsel, but he was now dead, and had goneto the house of Hades; so Nestor sat in his seat, sceptre in hand,as guardian of the public weal. His sons as they left their roomsgathered round him, Echephron, Stratius, Perseus, Aretus, andThrasymedes; the sixth son was Pisistratus, and when Telemachus joinedthem they made him sit with them. Nestor then addressed them."My sons," said he, "make haste to do as I shall bid you. I wishfirst and foremost to propitiate the great goddess Minerva, whomanifested herself visibly to me during yesterday's festivities. Go,then, one or other of you to the plain, tell the stockman to look meout a heifer, and come on here with it at once. Another must go toTelemachus's ship, and invite all the crew, leaving two men only incharge of the vessel. Some one else will run and fetch Laerceus thegoldsmith to gild the horns of the heifer. The rest, stay all of youwhere you are; tell the maids in the house to prepare an excellentdinner, and to fetch seats, and logs of wood for a burnt offering.Tell them also- to bring me some clear spring water."On this they hurried off on their several errands. The heifer wasbrought in from the plain, and Telemachus's crew came from the ship;the goldsmith brought the anvil, hammer, and tongs, with which heworked his gold, and Minerva herself came to the sacrifice. Nestorgave out the gold, and the smith gilded the horns of the heifer thatthe goddess might have pleasure in their beauty. Then Stratius andEchephron brought her in by the horns; Aretus fetched water from thehouse in a ewer that had a flower pattern on it, and in his other handhe held a basket of barley meal; sturdy Thrasymedes stood by with asharp axe, ready to strike the heifer, while Perseus held a bucket.Then Nestor began with washing his hands and sprinkling the barleymeal, and he offered many a prayer to Minerva as he threw a lockfrom the heifer's head upon the fire.When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley mealThrasymedes dealt his blow, and brought the heifer down with astroke that cut through the tendons at the base of her neck, whereonthe daughters and daughters-in-law of Nestor, and his venerable wifeEurydice (she was eldest daughter to Clymenus) screamed withdelight. Then they lifted the heifer's head from off the ground, andPisistratus cut her throat. When she had done bleeding and was quitedead, they cut her up. They cut out the thigh bones all in due course,wrapped them round in two layers of fat, and set some pieces of rawmeat on the top of them; then Nestor laid them upon the wood fireand poured wine over them, while the young men stood near him withfive-pronged spits in their hands. When the thighs were burned andthey had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest of the meat upsmall, put the pieces on the spits and toasted them over the fire.Meanwhile lovely Polycaste, Nestor's youngest daughter, washedTelemachus. When she had washed him and anointed him with oil, shebrought him a fair mantle and shirt, and he looked like a god as hecame from the bath and took his seat by the side of Nestor. When theouter meats were done they drew them off the spits and sat down todinner where they were waited upon by some worthy henchmen, who keptpouring them out their wine in cups of gold. As soon as they had hadhad enough to eat and drink Nestor said, "Sons, put Telemachus'shorses to the chariot that he may start at once."Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said, and yoked thefleet horses to the chariot. The housekeeper packed them up aprovision of bread, wine, and sweetmeats fit for the sons ofprinces. Then Telemachus got into the chariot, while Pisistratusgathered up the reins and took his seat beside him. He lashed thehorses on and they flew forward nothing loth into the open country,leaving the high citadel of Pylos behind them. All that day did theytravel, swaying the yoke upon their necks till the sun went down anddarkness was over all the land. Then they reached Pherae where Diocleslived, who was son to Ortilochus and grandson to Alpheus. Here theypassed the night and Diocles entertained them hospitably. When thechild of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn; appeared, they again yoked theirhorses and drove out through the gateway under the echoing