After bathing and changing their raiment they returned
to the hall, and were assigned places close to the chair of Menelaus.
The prince greeted them kindly, and said: "Welcome to our halls, young
sirs. Ye are, as I see, of no mean descent, for Zeus has set his stamp
on your faces,[1] and none can mistake the signs of kingly birth. When
ye have eaten, we will inquire of you further."
[Footnote 1: In Homer, all kings and their families are supposed to be
descended from Zeus.]
A plentiful and delicate meal was promptly set before the young
travellers, and they ate and drank with keen appetite. When they had
finished, Telemachus said to Pisistratus, speaking low, that he might
not be overheard: "Dear son of Nestor, is not this a brave place! Hast
thou ever seen such lavish ornament of silver, and gold, and ivory?
Surely such is the dwelling of Olympian Zeus; more magnificent it can
hardly be."
The quick ear of Menelaus caught his last words, and he answered,
smiling: "Nay, my friend, no mortal may vie with the everlasting
glories of Zeus. But whether any man can equal me in riches, I know
not. For indeed I wandered far and long to gather all this treasure,
to Cyprus, and Phoenicia, and Egypt, to AEthiopia, and Sidon, and the
Afric shore, a land unmatched in its countless multitudes of sheep.
There the ewes bring forth young three times a year, and the poorest
shepherd has abundance of cheese, and flesh, and milk.
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