Page 49 - the-odyssey

Achaeans behind him? If Minerva were to take as great a
liking to you as she did to Ulysses when we were fighting
before Troy (for I never yet saw the gods so openly fond of
any one as Minerva then was of your father), if she would
take as good care of you as she did of him, these wooers
would soon some of them forget their wooing.’
Telemachus answered, ‘I can expect nothing of the kind;
it would be far too much to hope for. I dare not let myself
think of it. Even though the gods themselves willed it no
such good fortune could befall me.’
On this Minerva said, ‘Telemachus, what are you talking
about? Heaven has a long arm if it is minded to save a man;
and if it were me, I should not care how much I suffered
before getting home, provided I could be safe when I was
once there. I would rather this, than get home quickly, and
then be killed in my own house as Agamemnon was by the
treachery of Aegisthus and his wife. Still, death is certain,
and when a man’s hour is come, not even the gods can save
him, no matter how fond they are of him.’
‘Mentor,’ answered Telemachus, ‘do not let us talk about
it any more. There is no chance of my father’s ever coming
back; the gods have long since counselled his destruction.
There is something else, however, about which I should like
to ask Nestor, for he knows much more than any one else
does. They say he has reigned for three generations so that
it is like talking to an immortal. Tell me, therefore, Nestor,
and tell me true; how did Agamemnon come to die in that
way? What was Menelaus doing? And how came false Aegis-
thus to kill so far better a man than himself? Was Menelaus

The Odyssey