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.