n than the Trojans killed.

So the ship went on through the dark water, very swiftly, with the
goddess Athene, in the likeness of old Mentor, guiding it, and with the
youths listening to the song that Phemius the minstrel sang.

VII

The sun rose and Telemachus and his fellow-voyagers drew near to the
shore of Pylos and to the steep citadel built by Neleus, the father of
Nestor, the famous King. They saw on the shore men in companies making
sacrifice to Poseidon, the dark-haired god of the sea. There were nine
companies there and each company had nine black oxen for the sacrifice,
and the number of men in each company was five hundred. They slew the
oxen and they laid parts to burn on the altars of the god, and the men
sat down to feast.

The voyagers brought their ship to the shore and Telemachus sprang from
it. But before him went the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, in the likeness
of the old man, Mentor. And the goddess told Telemachus that Nestor, the
King whom he had come to seek, was on the shore. She bade him now go
forward with a good heart and ask Nestor for tidings of his father,
Odysseus.

But Telemachus said to her, 'Mentor, how can I bring myself to speak to
one who is so reverenced? How should I greet him? And how can I, a young
man, question such a one as Nestor, the old King?'

[Illustration]

The goddess, grey-eyed Athene, encouraged him; the right words, she
said, would come. So Telemachus went forward with his divine
companion. Nestor was seated on the shore with his sons around him. And
when they saw the two strangers approach, the sons of Nestor rose up to
greet them. One, Peisistratus, took the hand of Telemachus and the hand
of the goddess and led them both to where Nestor was.

A golden cup was put into the hand of each and wine was poured into the
cups, and Nestor's son, Peisistratus, asked Telemachus and the goddess
to pray that the sacrifice they were making to Poseidon, the god of the
sea, would bring good to them and to their people. Then the goddess
Athene in the likeness of old Mentor held the cup in her hand and
prayed:

'Hear me, Poseidon, shaker of the earth: First to Nestor and his sons
grant renown. Then grant to the people of Pylos recompense for the
sacrifice of oxen they have made. Grant, too, that Telemachus and I may
return safely when what we have come in our swift ship to seek has been
won.'

Telemachus prayed in the words of the goddess and then the sons of
Ne