"And now for yourself - stay here
some ten or twelve days longer, and I will then speed you on your
way. I will make you a noble present of a chariot and three horses. I
will also give you a beautiful chalice that so long as you live you
may think of me whenever you make a drink-offering to the immortal
gods."
"Son of Atreus," replied
Telemakhos, "do not press me to stay longer; I should be contented to
remain with you for another twelve months; I find your conversation
so delightful that I should never once wish myself at home with my
parents; but my crew whom I have left at Pylos are already impatient,
and you are detaining me from them. As for any present you may be
disposed to make me, I had rather that it should he a piece of plate.
I will take no horses back with me to Ithaca, but will leave them to
adorn your own stables, for you have much flat ground in your kingdom
where lotus thrives, as also meadowsweet and wheat and barley, and
oats with their white and spreading ears; whereas in Ithaca we have
neither open fields nor racecourses, and the country is more fit for
goats than horses, and I like it the better for that. None of our
islands have much level ground, suitable for horses, and Ithaca least
of all."
Menelaos smiled and took
Telemakhos’ hand within his own. "What you say," said he, "shows
that you come of good family. I both can, and will, make this
exchange for you, by giving you the finest and most precious piece of
plate in all my house. It is a mixing-bowl by Hephaistos’ own
hand, of pure silver, except the rim, which is inlaid with gold.
Phaidimos, king of the Sidonians, gave it me in the course of a visit
which I paid him when I returned there on my homeward journey. I will
make you a present of it."
Thus did they converse as guests
kept coming to the king's house. They brought sheep and wine,
while their wives had put up bread for them to take with them; so
they were busy cooking their dinners in the courts.
Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. A. C. Fifield, London. 1900 (?).
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