Household Retires

28“Of craven temper, and unapt for war,
O friend, you can not be, since thus the gods
Attend and guide you in your youth. And this,
Of all the gods whose dwelling is in heaven,
Can be no other than the spoiler-queen
Athena, the child of Zeus, who also held
Your 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 you
A sacrifice, a broad-horned yearling steer,
Which never man has tamed or led beneath
The yoke. Her will I bring with gilded horns,
And lay an offering on your altar-fires.”

29Such were his words, and Athena 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 Athena, offered earnest prayer
To her, who sprang from aegis-bearing Zeus.

30When 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
Odysseus, 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.