Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/400

392 Ceaseless bedew'd, e'er since Ulysses went With Atreus' sons to Troy. For not a word Thou would'st vouchsafe me till our haughty guests Had occupied the house again, of all That thou hast heard (if aught indeed thou hast) Of thy long-absent father's wish'd return. Her answer'd then Telemachus discrete. Mother, at thy request I will with truth Relate the whole. At Pylus shore arrived We Nestor found, Chief of the Pylian race. Receiving me in his august abode, He entertain'd me with such welcome kind As a glad father shews to his own son Long-lost and newly found; so Nestor me, And his illustrious offspring, entertain'd, But yet assured me that he nought had heard From mortal lips of my magnanimous sire, Whether alive or dead; with his own steeds He sent me, and with splendid chariot thence To spear-famed Menelaus, Atreus' son. There saw I Helen, by the Gods' decree Auth'ress of trouble both to Greece and Troy. The Hero Menelaus then enquired What cause had urged me to the pleasant vale Of Lacedæmon; plainly I rehearsed The occasion, and the Hero thus replied. Ye Gods! they are ambitious of the bed Of a brave man, however base themselves.