The Odyssey

withdraw.”
Jove’s daughter spake; they hearkened to her words;

The heralds came to them, and on their hands

Poured water; boys began to fill the bowls

To the hard brim, and ministered to each

From left to right. Then threw they to the flames

The victims’ tongues, and, rising, poured on earth

Wine to the gods; and when that rite was paid,

And when their thirst was satiate, Pallas rose

With nobly-born Telemachus to go

To their good ship, but Nestor still detained

The twain, and chidingly bespake them thus:⁠—
“Now Jove and all the other gods forbid

That ye should go from me to your good ship,

As from some half-clad wretch, too poor to own

Mantles and blankets in whose soft warm folds

He and his guests might sleep; but I have both⁠—

Mantles and blankets⁠—beautifully wrought,

And never shall the son of that great man

Ulysses lie upon a galley’s deck

While I am living. After me I hope

My sons, who dwell within my palace-halls,

Will duly welcome all who enter here.”
And thus again the blue-eyed Pallas spake:⁠—

“Well hast thou said, my aged friend, and well

Doth it become Telemachus to heed

Thy words, for that were best. Let him remain

With thee and sleep in thine abode, while I

Repair to our black ship, encouraging

The crew, and setting them their proper tasks,

For I am eldest of them all; the rest

Are young men yet, and moved by friendship joined

Our enterprise; the peers in age are they

Of the large-souled Telemachus. Tonight

I sleep within the hull of our black ship,

And sail with early morning for the land

Of the Cauconians, large of soul, from whom

A debt is due me, neither new nor small.

Send meantime from thy palace in a car,

And with thy son, this youth, and be the steeds

The fleetest and the strongest in thy stalls.”
The blue-eyed Pallas, having spoken thus,

Passed like an eagle out of sight, and all

Were seized with deep amazement as they saw.

The aged monarch, wondering at the sight,

Took by the hand Telemachus, and said:⁠—
“Of craven temper, and unapt for war,

O friend, thou canst not be, since thus the gods

Attend and guide thee in thy youth. And this,

Of all the gods whose dwelling is in heaven,

Can be no other than the spoiler-queen

Pallas, the child of Jove, who also held

Thy father in such eminent esteem

Among the Grecians. Deign to favor us,

O queen! bestow on me and on my sons

And on my venerable spouse the meed

Of special glory. I will bring to thee

A sacrifice, a broad-horned yearling steer,

Which never man hath tamed or led beneath

The yoke. Her will I bring with gilded horns,

And lay an offering on thine altar-fires.”
Such were his words, and Pallas heard the prayer,

And then Gerenian Nestor led the way,

And with his sons and sons-in-law approached

His glorious palace. When they came within

The monarch’s sumptuous halls, each took his place

In order on the couches and the thrones.

The old man mingled for them as they came

A bowl of delicate wine, eleven years old,

Drawn by the damsel cupbearer, who took

Its cover from the jar. The aged chief

Mingled it in the bowl, and, pouring out

A part to Pallas, offered earnest prayer

To her, who sprang from aegis-bearing Jove.
When due libations had been made, and all

Drank till they wished no more, most went away,

Each to his home to sleep; but Nestor made

Telemachus, the son of the great chief

Ulysses, rest upon a sumptuous couch

Within the echoing hall, and near to him

The chief of squadrons, skilled to wield the spear,

Peisistratus, who only of his sons

Abode in Nestor’s halls unwedded yet;

While in an inner room of that tall pile

The monarch slumbered on a bed of state,

Decked for him by the labors of his queen.
Soon as the daughter of the dawn appeared,

The rosy-fingered Morning, Nestor left

His bed and went abroad, and took his seat

On smooth white stones before his lofty doors,

That glistened as with oil, on which before

Sat Neleus, wise in council as the gods.

But he had yielded to the will of fate,

And passed into the Underworld. Now sat

Gerenian Nestor in his father’s place,

The guardian of the Greeks. Around his seat,

Just from the chambers of their rest, his sons

Echephron, Stratius, and Aretus came,

Perseus, and Thrasymedes; after these

Came brave Peisistratus, the sixth and last.

They led Telemachus, the godlike youth,

And placed him near them. The Gerenian knight

Nestor began, and thus bespake his sons:⁠—
“Do quickly what I ask, dear sons, and aid

To render Pallas, first of all the gods,

Propitious⁠—Pallas, who has deigned to come,

And at a solemn feast to manifest

Herself to me. Let one of you go forth

Among the fields, and bring a heifer thence,

Led by the herdsman. To the dark-hulled ship

Of the large-souled Telemachus I bid

Another son repair, and bring the crew

Save only two; and let another call

Laërceus hither, skilled to work in gold,

That he may plate with gold the heifer’s horns.

Let all the rest remain to bid the maids

Within prepare a sumptuous feast, and bring

Seats, wood, and limpid water from the fount.”
He spake, and all were busy. From the field

The bullock came; from the swift-sailing barque

Came the companions of the gallant youth

Telemachus; with all his implements⁠—

Hammer and anvil, and well-jointed tongs⁠—

With which he wrought, the goldsmith also came,

And to be present at the sacred rites

Pallas came likewise. Nestor, aged knight,

Brought forth the gold; the artisan prepared

The metal, and about the bullock’s horns

Wound it, that Pallas might with pleasure see

The victim so adorned. Then Stratius grasped

The horns, and, aided by Echephron, led

The bullock. From his room Aretus brought

A laver filled with water in one hand,

And in the other hand a canister

Of cakes, while Thrasymedes, great in war,

Stood near with a sharp axe, about to smite

The victim. Perseus held a vase to catch

The blood, while Nestor, aged horseman, took

Water and cakes, and offering first a part,

And flinging the shorn forelock to the flames,

Prayed to the goddess Pallas fervently.
And now, when they had prayed, and flung the cakes,

The large-souled Thrasymedes, Nestor’s son,

Struck, where he stood, the blow; the bullock’s strength

Gave way. At once the daughters of the king,

And his sons’ wives, and queen Eurydicè⁠—

Nestor’s chaste wife, and daughter eldest born

Of Clymenus, broke forth in shrilly cries.

From the great earth the sons then lifted up

And held the victim’s head. Peisistratus,

The chief of squadrons, slew it. When