At a table
apart from the others, Telemachus told the inquiring stranger who they
were who thus wasted his patrimony.
"Something must needs be done speedily," said Mentes, "and I shall tell
thee how to thrust them from thy palace gates. Take a ship and go to Pylos
to inquire of the aged and wise Nestor what he knows of thy father's fate.
Thence go to Menelaus, in Sparta; he was the last of all the mailed Greeks
to return home. If thou hear encouraging tidings, wait patiently for a
year. At the end of that time, if thy father come not, celebrate his
funeral rites, let thy mother wed again, and take immediate steps for the
destruction of the suitor band. Thou art no longer a child; the time has
come for thee to assert thyself and be a man."
Telemachus, long weary of inactivity, was pleased with this advice, and at
once announced to the incredulous suitors his intention of going to learn
the fate of his father. A boat was procured and provided with a crew by
the aid of Pallas, and provisioned from the secret store-room guarded by
the old and faithful servant Eurycleia. From among the treasures of
Ulysses--garments, heaps of gold and brass, and old and delicate
wines--Telemachus took sweet wine and meal to be conveyed to the ship at
night, and instructing Eurycleia not to tell his mother of his absence
until twelve days had passed, he departed as soon as sleep had overcome
the suitors.
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