Page:The Odyssey of Homer, with the Hymns, Epigrams, and Battle of the Frogs and Mice (Buckley 1853).djvu/269

107—149. cerning the return of thy father, whether thou hast any where heard of him."

And her prudent Telemachus answered in turn: "Therefore I will tell thee, mother, the truth. We went to Pylos, and to Nestor, the shepherd of the people; and he, having received me in his lofty house, entertained me heartily, as a father does a son who has just come from elsewhere after a long season; so diligently did he take care of me, with his renowned sons. But he said that he had not heard of wretched Ulysses, alive or dead, from any one of men upon the earth; but he sent me on with horses, and a compact chariot, to spear-renowned Menelaus, son of Atreus. There I beheld Argive Helen, on whose account the Argives and Trojans toiled much, through the will of the gods. Immediately then Menelaus, gallant in the din of battle, inquired, what wishing, I had come to divine Lacedæmon. But I told him the whole truth. And then indeed answering me with words, he addressed me: 'Alas! surely indeed they being weak have wished to sleep in the bed of a noble-minded man. As when a stag having put to sleep her new-born suckling kids in the den of a strong lion, tracks out the slopes and grassy vales, seeking pasture; but he has quickly entered into his lair, and upon both of them has brought unseemly fate: so will Ulysses bring unseemly fate upon them. May he, O father Jove, and Minerva, and Apollo, being such, as once in well-built Lesbos, having risen up, he wrestled in contest with Philomelides, and threw him nobly, and all the Grecians rejoiced: [would that], being such, Ulysses may engage with the suitors: all would then be quick-fated, and bitterly married. But as to these things, which thou askest and entreatest of me, I will not tell thee other things out of the way, turning aside, nor will I deceive thee: but the things which the true-speaking old man of the sea told me, of these I will not conceal or hide a word. He said that he beheld him in an island having violent griefs, in the palace of the nymph Calypso, who detains him by necessity; but he cannot come to his paternal land; for there are not ships with oars for him, and companions who may escort him over the wide back of the sea.' Thus spoke spear-renowned Menelaus, son of Atreus. Having finished these things, I returned: and the immortals, who sent me quickly to my dear country, gave me a prosperous gale."