Then spake discreet Telemachus again:— “O Nestor, son of Neleus, pride of Greece, Ample was his revenge, and far and wide The Greeks will spread his fame to be the song Of future times. O might the gods confer On me an equal power to avenge myself On that importunate, overbearing crew Of suitors, who insult me, and devise Evil against me! But the gods deny Such fortune to my father and to me, And all that now is left me is to bear.”
Again spake Nestor the Gerenian knight:— “Since thou, my friend, hast spoken words which bring What I have heard to mind—the rumor goes That in thy palace many suitors wait About thy mother, and in spite of thee Do grievous wrong. Now tell me; dost thou yield Willingly, or because the people, swayed By oracles, regard thee as their foe? Thy father yet may come again—who knows?— Alone, or with the other Greeks, to take The vengeance which these violent deeds deserve. Should blue-eyed Pallas deign to favor thee, As once she watched to guard the glorious chief Ulysses in the realm of Troy, where we, The Achaians, bore such hardships—for I ne’er Have seen the gods so openly befriend A man as Pallas there befriended him— Should she thus deign to favor thee and keep Watch over thee, then haply some of these Will never think of marriage rites again.”
Then spake discreet Telemachus again:—
“O aged man! I cannot think thy words Will be fulfilled! for they import too much And they amaze me. What thou sayst I wish May come to pass, but know it cannot be, Not even though the gods should will it so.”
Then thus the blue-eyed goddess, Pallas, spake:— “Telemachus, what words have passed thy lips? Easily can a god, whene’er he will, In the most distant regions safely keep A man; and I would rather reach my home Securely,