Therewith he placed in her hand the cup of sweet wine.  And Athene rejoiced in the wisdom and judgment of the man, in that he had given to her first the chalice of gold.  And straightway she prayed, and that instantly, to the lord Poseidon: 

’Hear me, Poseidon, girdler of the earth, and grudge not the fulfilment of this labour in answer to our prayer.  To Nestor first and to his sons vouchsafe renown, and thereafter grant to all the people of Pylos a gracious recompense for this splendid hecatomb.  Grant moreover that Telemachus and I may return, when we have accomplished that for which we came hither with our swift black ship.’

Now as she prayed on this wise, herself the while was fulfilling the prayer.  And she gave Telemachus the fair two-handled cup; and in like manner prayed the dear son of Odysseus.  Then, when the others had roasted the outer parts and drawn them off the spits, they divided the messes and shared the glorious feast.  But when they had put from them the desire of meat and drink, Nestor of Gerenia, lord of chariots, first spake among them: 

’Now is the better time to enquire and ask of the strangers who they are, now that they have had their delight of food.  Strangers, who are ye?  Whence sail ye over the wet ways?  On some trading enterprise, or at adventure do ye rove, even as sea-robbers, over the brine, for they wander at hazard of their own lives bringing bale to alien men?’

Then wise Telemachus answered him and spake with courage, for Athene herself had put boldness in his heart, that he might ask about his father who was afar, and that he might be had in good report among men: 

’Nestor, son of Neleus, great glory of the Achaeans, thou askest whence we are, and I will surely tell thee all.  We have come forth out of Ithaca that is below Neion; and this our quest whereof I speak is a matter of mine own, and not of the common weal.  I follow after the far-spread rumour of my father, if haply I may hear thereof, even of the goodly steadfast Odysseus, who upon a time, men say, fought by thy side and sacked the city of the Trojans.  For of all the others, as many as warred with the Trojans, we hear tidings, and where each one fell by a pitiful death; but even the death of this man Cronion hath left untold.  For none can surely declare the place where he hath perished, whether he was smitten by foemen on the mainland, or lost upon the deep among the waves of Amphitrite.  So now am I come hither to thy knees, if perchance thou art willing to tell me of his pitiful death, as one that saw it with thine own eyes, or heard the story from some other wanderer,—­ for his mother bare him to exceeding sorrow.  And speak me no soft words in ruth or pity, but tell me plainly what sight thou didst get of him.  Ah!  I pray thee, if ever at all my father, noble Odysseus, made promise to thee of word or work, and fulfilled the same in the land of the Trojans, where ye Achaeans suffered affliction; these things, I pray thee, now remember and tell me truth.’