inks, they will make an end of me also."

"Fit wooers indeed for the wife of such a man!" said Mentes with a
bitter smile. "Would that he were standing among them now as I saw him
once in my father's house, armed with helmet and shield and spear! He
would soon wed them to another bride. But whether it be God's will
that he return or not, 'tis for thee to devise means to drive these
men from thy house. Take heed, therefore, to my words, and do as I bid
thee. To-morrow thou shalt summon the suitors to the place of
assembly, and charge them that they depart to their homes. And do thou
thyself fit out a ship, with twenty rowers, and get thee to Pylos,
where the aged Nestor dwells, and inquire of him concerning thy
father. From Pylos proceed to Sparta, the kingdom of Menelaus; he was
the last of the Greeks to reach home, after the fall of Troy; and
perchance thou mayest learn something from him. And if thou hearest
sure tidings of thy father's death, then get thee home, and raise a
tomb to his memory, and keep his funeral feast. Then let thy mother
wed whom she will; and if these men still beset thee, thou must devise
means to slay them, either by guile or openly. Thou art now a man, and
must play a man's part. Hast thou not heard of the fame which Orestes
won, when he slew the murderer of his sire? Be thou valiant, even as
he; tall thou art, and fair, and shouldst be a stout man of thy hands.
But 'tis time for me to be going; my ship awaits me in the harbour,
and my comrades will be tired of waiting for me."

"Stay yet awhile," answered Telemachus, "until thou hast refreshed
thyself with the bath; and I will give thee a costly gift to bear with
thee as a memorial of thy visit." But even as he spoke Mentes rose
from his seat and, gliding like a shadow through the sunlit doorway,
disappeared. Telemachus followed, in wonder and displeasure; but no
trace of the strange visitor was to be seen. Looking upward he saw a
great sea-eagle winging his way towards the shore; and a voice seemed
to whisper in his ear: "No mortal was thy guest, but the great goddess
Athene, daughter of Zeus, and ever thy father's true comrade and
faithful ally."

III

With a strange elation of spirits Telemachus returned to the hall, and
sat down among the suitors. Hitherto he had shown a certain weakness
and indecision of character, natural in a young lad, who had grown up
without the strong guiding hand of a father, and who, since the first
dawn of