near, took the hand of both, and placed them near the banquet, on soft fleeces, on the sand of the sea, near his brother Thrasymedes and his father. And then he gave them parts of the entrails, and poured wine into a golden cup; and stretching out the right hand,[1] called upon Pallas Minerva, the daughter of Ægis-bearing Jove:
"Pray now, O stranger, to king Neptune; for at his feast have ye met coming here. But when ye have made libations and have prayed, as is the custom,[2] then to him also give the cup of sweet wine to make a libation; since I think that he also prays to the immortals; for all men have need of the gods: but he is younger [than thou], and of equal age with myself:[3] therefore I will give the golden cup first to thee."
Thus having spoken, he placed the cup of sweet wine in her hands; and Minerva was pleased on account of the prudent just man, because he gave the golden cup to her first. And she straightway prayed much to king Neptune.
"Hear, thou earth-containing Neptune, nor envy us beseeching thee to accomplish these works. To Nestor first and to his sons give glory; but afterwards to others grant a grateful recompence, to all the Pylians, for their illustrious hecatomb: and grant besides that Telemachus and I may return, having performed [the things] on account of which we came hither with a swift black ship."
Thus then she prayed; and she herself accomplished all things, but she gave the beautiful round cup[4] to Telemachus. In the same manner prayed the dear son of Ulysses. And when they had roasted the upper[5] flesh and had taken it off, having distributed the shares, they made a glorious feast. But when they had removed the desire of drinking and eating, to them the Gerenian knight Nestor began discourse:
- ↑ The form of drinking a toast. Athenæus i. 11. ἐδεξιοῦντο, προπίνοντες ἑαυτοῖς, ταῖς δεξίαις. On the reduplicated form δειδισκόμενος, see Thiersch Gk. Gr. p. 495. Sandford's translation.
- ↑ See Loewe.
- ↑ Literally, there is equal age to him with myself.
- ↑ But ἀμφικύπελλον (which is an adjective, always being found joined with another word) rather means a vessel which has a κύπελλον, or cup, at both ends. See Buttm. Lexil. p. 93, sq. A similar vessel is used to measure a penny or halfpenny-worth of hazel nuts in the streets of London.
- ↑ So called in opposition to the viscera.
