The Odyssey
Telemachus told them to catch hold of the ropes and hoist sail, and
they did as he told them. They set the mast in its socket in the cross
plank, raised it, and made it fast with the forestays; then they
hoisted their white sails aloft with ropes of twisted ox hide. As the
sail bellied out with the wind, the ship flew through the deep blue
water, and the foam hissed against her bows as she sped onward. Then
they made all fast throughout the ship, filled the mixing bowls to the
brim, and made drink offerings to the immortal gods that are from
everlasting, but more particularly to the grey-eyed daughter of Jove.
Thus, then, the ship sped on her way through the watches of the night
from dark till dawn.
BOOK III
TELEMACHUS VISITS NESTOR AT PYLOS.
but as the sun was rising from the fair sea24 into the firmament of
heaven to shed light 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 Neptune lord of the Earthquake.
There were nine guilds with five hundred men in each, and there were
nine bulls to each guild. As they were eating the inward meats25 and
burning the thigh bones [on the embers] in the name of Neptune,
Telemachus and his crew arrived, furled their sails, brought their ship
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 have
taken this voyage to try and find out where your father is buried and
how he came by his end; so go straight up to Nestor that we may see
what he has got to tell us. Beg of him to speak the truth, and he 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 holding long
conversations with people, and am ashamed to begin questioning one who
is so much older than myself.”
“Some things, Telemachus,” answered Minerva, “will be suggested to you
by your own instinct, and heaven will prompt you further; for I am
assured that the gods have been with you from the time of your birth
until now.”
She then went quickly on, and Telemachus followed in her steps till
they reached the place where the guilds of the Pylian people were
assembled. There they found Nestor sitting with his sons, while his
company round him were busy getting dinner ready, and putting pieces of
meat on to the spits26 while other pieces were cooking. When they saw
the strangers they crowded round them, took them by the hand and bade
them take their places. Nestor’s son Pisistratus at once offered his
hand to each of them, and seated them on some soft sheepskins that were
lying on the sands near his father and his brother Thrasymedes. Then he
gave them their portions of the inward meats and poured wine for them
into a golden cup, handing it to Minerva first, and saluting her at the
same time.
“Offer a prayer, sir,” said he, “to King Neptune, for it is his feast
that you are joining; when you have duly prayed and made your drink
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 live without
God in the world. Still he is younger than you are, and is much of an
age with myself, so I will give you the precedence.”
As he spoke he handed her the cup. Minerva thought it very right and
proper of him to have given it to herself first;27 she accordingly
began praying heartily to Neptune. “O thou,” she cried, “that
encirclest the earth, vouchsafe to grant the prayers of thy servants
that call upon thee. More especially we pray thee send down thy grace
on Nestor and on his sons; thereafter also make the rest of the Pylian
people some handsome return for the goodly hecatomb they are offering
you. Lastly, grant Telemachus and myself a happy issue, in respect of
the matter that has brought us in our ship to Pylos.”
When she had thus made an end of praying, she handed the cup to
Telemachus and he prayed likewise. By and by, when the outer meats were
roasted and had been taken off the spits, the carvers gave every man
his portion and they all made an excellent dinner. As soon as 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 will be
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 sail the
seas as rovers with your hand against every man, and every man’s hand
against you?”
Telemachus answered boldly, for Minerva had given him courage to ask
about his father and get himself a good name.
“Nestor,” said he, “son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, you ask
whence we come, and I will tell you. We come from Ithaca under
Neritum,28 and the matter about which I would speak is of private not
public import. I seek news of my unhappy father Ulysses, who is said to
have sacked the town of Troy in company with yourself. We know what
fate befell each one of the other heroes who fought at Troy, but as
regards Ulysses heaven has hidden from us the knowledge even that he is
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 at sea amid
the waves of Amphitrite. Therefore I am suppliant at your knees, 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 other traveller, for
he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things out of any pity for
me, but tell me in all plainness exactly what you saw. If my brave
father Ulysses ever did you loyal service, either by 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 to my
mind, for the brave Achaeans suffered much both at sea, while
privateering under Achilles, and when fighting before the great city of
king Priam. Our best men all of them fell there—Ajax, Achilles,
Patroclus peer of gods in counsel, and my own dear son Antilochus, a
man singularly fleet of foot and in fight valiant. But we suffered much
more than this; what mortal tongue indeed could tell the whole story?
Though you were to stay here and question me for five years, or even
six, I could not tell you all that the Achaeans suffered, and you would
turn homeward weary of my tale before it ended. Nine long years did we
try every kind of stratagem, but the hand of heaven was against us;
during all this time there was no one who could compare with your
father in subtlety—if indeed you are his son—I can hardly believe my
eyes—and you talk just like him too—no one would say that people of
such different ages could speak so much alike. He and I never had any
kind of difference from first to last neither in camp nor council, but
in singleness of heart and purpose we advised the Argives how all might
be ordered for the best.
“When, however, we had sacked the city of Priam, and were setting sail
in our ships as heaven had dispersed us, then Jove saw fit to vex the
Argives on their homeward voyage; for they had not all been either wise
or understanding, and hence many came to a bad end through the
displeasure of Jove’s daughter Minerva, who brought about a quarrel
between the two sons of Atreus.
“The sons of Atreus called a meeting which was not as it should be, for
it was sunset and the Achaeans were heavy with wine. When they
explained why they had called the people together, it seemed that
Menelaus was for sailing homeward at once, and this displeased
Agamemnon, who thought that we should wait till we had offered
hecatombs to appease the anger of Minerva. Fool that he was, he might
have known that he would not prevail with her, for when the gods have
made up their minds they do not change them lightly. So the two stood
bandying hard words, whereon the Achaeans sprang to their feet with a
cry that rent the air, and were of two minds as to what they should do.
“That night we rested and nursed our anger, for Jove was hatching
mischief against us. But in the morning some of us drew our ships into
the water and put our goods with our women on board, while the rest,
about half in number, stayed behind with Agamemnon. We—the other
half—embarked and sailed; and the ships went well, for heaven had
smoothed the sea. When we reached Tenedos we offered sacrifices to the
gods, for we were longing to get home; cruel Jove, however, did not yet
mean that we should do so, and raised a second quarrel in the course of
which some among us turned their ships back again, and sailed away
under Ulysses to make their peace with Agamemnon; but I, and all the
ships that were with me pressed forward, for I saw that mischief was
brewing. The son of Tydeus went on also with me, and his crews with
him. Later on Menelaus joined us at Lesbos, and found us making up our
minds about our course—for we did not know whether to go outside Chios
by the island of Psyra, keeping this to our left, or inside Chios, over
against the stormy headland of Mimas. So we asked heaven for a sign,
and were shown one to the effect that we should be soonest out of
danger if we headed our ships across the open sea to Euboea. This we
therefore did, and a fair wind sprang up which gave us a quick passage
during the night to Geraestus,29 where we offered many sacrifices to
Neptune for having helped us so far on our way. Four days later Diomed
and his men stationed their ships in Argos, but I held on for Pylos,
and the wind never fell light from the day when heaven first made it
fair for me.
“Therefore, my dear young friend, I returned without hearing anything
about the others. I know neither who got home safely nor who were lost
but, as in duty bound, I will give you without reserve the reports that
have reached me since I have been here in my own house. They say the
Myrmidons returned home safely under Achilles’ son Neoptolemus; so also
did the valiant son of Poias, Philoctetes. Idomeneus, again, lost no
men at sea, and all his followers who escaped death in the field got
safe home with him to Crete. No matter how far out of the world you
live, you will have heard of Agamemnon and the bad end he came to at
the hands of Aegisthus—and a fearful reckoning did Aegisthus presently
pay. See what a good thing it is for a man to leave a son behind him to
do as Orestes did, who killed false Aegisthus the murderer of his noble
father. You too, then—for you are a tall smart-looking fellow—show your
mettle and make yourself a name in story.”
“Nestor son of Neleus,” answered Telemachus, “honour to the Achaean
name, the Achaeans applaud Orestes and his name will live through all
time for he has avenged his father nobly. Would that heaven might grant
me to do like vengeance on the insolence of the wicked suitors, who are
ill treating me and plotting my ruin; but the 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 to have
heard that your mother has many suitors, who are ill disposed towards
you and are making havoc of your estate. Do you submit to this tamely,
or are public feeling and the voice of heaven against you? Who knows
but what Ulysses may come back after all, and pay these scoundrels in
full, either single-handed or with a force of Achaeans behind him? If
Minerva were to take as great a liking to you as she did to Ulysses
when we were fighting before Troy (for I never yet saw the gods so
openly fond of any one as Minerva then was of your father), if she