Having left Odysseus, who had turned into a beggar, the goddess Pallas Athena headed to Sparta and quickly reached it. She went to the palace of King Menelaus, straight to the chamber where Telemachus slept with Peisistratus. Peisistratus slept calmly, but Telemachus’s sleep was disturbed. And in a dream I thought about Father Telemachus, grieving for him. Athena approached the head of Odysseus’s son and said to him:
“It’s time for you, Telemachus, to return to your homeland, where you abandoned all your property.” Violent suitors are plundering it, they will plunder everything if you do not return. Think about how changeable women are. If your mother agrees to marry Eurymachus, then she will forget you and will only care about the children from her second husband. Come home soon. But remember one thing: the suitors are preparing an ambush for you. To avoid it, sail past the island at night, and in the morning, at dawn, land in a hidden place on the shores of Ithaca. The ship then departed for the city, go to the swineherd Eumaeus, and send a messenger from him to inform Penelope of your arrival.
Having said this, Athena left.
Telemachus immediately woke up Peisistratus and began to hurry him to set off on the return journey to Pylos. But Pisistratus persuaded Telemachus to wait until morning. It was impossible to leave Menelaus at night without saying goodbye to him. Telemachus listened to the advice of Pisistratus. Soon the goddess of dawn Eos also flew into the sky. Morning has come. King Menelaus entered the young men. The son of Odysseus met Menelaus at the door and asked him to quickly let him go home to Ithaca. Menelaus did not hold back Telemachus, but only asked him to wait while he prepared the gifts, and in the meantime asked him to refresh himself with food before setting off on his journey.
Menelaus went to order the slaves to prepare the meal quickly. Then, calling Helen and his son Megapentus, he went with them to his treasury. There he chose gifts for Telemachus; the beautiful Helen also chose a gift - a luxurious robe woven by herself for the future bride of Telemachus.
Having refreshed themselves with food and accepting gifts from Menelaus, the young heroes gathered to set off. Menelaus left the palace with a goblet of wine, calling on the gods, poured a libation and asked the young men to convey his greetings to the elder Nestor. When Telemachus entered the chariot and took the reins in his hands, an eagle suddenly soared over the palace, carrying a goose in its talons. Menelaus' servants ran screaming after the eagle. But he soared upward and disappeared to the right of the palace. Everyone understood that this was a sign of the gods, and Telemachus asked Menelaus to explain the sign. The king of Sparta thought. The beautiful Elena answered for him:
- Listen to what I tell you! The Olympian gods instilled this in me. Just as the eagle kidnapped the goose and tore it to pieces, so Odysseus, returning home, will kill the suitors. Perhaps he has even returned and is already plotting the death of the suitors.
- Oh, beautiful Elena! - Telemachus exclaimed, - if the great Zeus fulfills what you say, then when I return home, I will honor you as a goddess.
With these words, Telemachus hit the horses, and the horses quickly rushed along the road to Pylos.
The young men spent the night on the way in Thera with the hero Diocles, and the next day they arrived in Pylos. Telemachus begged Pisistratus not to go to Nestor’s palace; The son of Odysseus was afraid that the elder would delay him for another day. Peisistratus agreed and took his friend straight to the ship, although he knew that his father would be dissatisfied with this. Peisistratus even began to hurry Telemachus to sail quickly so that he would not come ashore, having learned about his return, Nestor himself did not detain him. Telemachus's companions hastily set up the mast and were about to set sail from the shore when the prophetic Theoclymenes approached the ship. He fled from Argos, fearing revenge for the murder he committed. Theoclymenes asked Telemachus to take him onto the ship and take him to Ithaca; the relatives of the murdered man would not have pursued him there. Telemachus agreed and took Theoclymenes onto the ship. The ship quickly set sail and rushed, driven by a fair wind, into the open sea.
At this time, Odysseus was still with Eumaeus. In the morning, Odysseus wanted to go to the city to collect alms; he even thought of asking the suitors to take him into service. But Eumaeus persuaded him not to do this, telling Odysseus how violent and cruel the suitors were. Then Odysseus began to ask about his father Laertes and his wife Penelope. Eumaeus told him everything, not suspecting that he was telling this not to the wanderer, but to Odysseus himself. Finally, Odysseus asked Eumaeus to tell him about how Eumaeus himself ended up in Ithaca. Eumaeus readily agreed and told Odysseus that he himself was from the island of Sira and the son of King Ctesias. One day, Phoenician merchants arrived on the island. They persuaded his father’s slave, also a Phoenician by birth, to kidnap him from his father, promising to return her to her homeland for this. The slave agreed, secretly took him out of the palace and took him to the Phoenician ship. The Phoenicians sailed to the sea, heading to the shores of Phenicia. They sailed for six days. On the seventh day, the goddess Artemis struck the traitorous slave with her arrow. The Phoenicians, having arrived at Ithaca, sold little Eumaeus to Laertes.
Odysseus listened attentively to Eumaeus's story. It was already late at night when Eumaeus finished his story. Odysseus and Eumaeus went to bed, but their sleep was short-lived - the morning dawn soon flared up in the sky, and they had to leave their bed.
This morning I arrived in Ithaca and Telemachus. He landed in a sheltered place on the shore, as Athena commanded him, got off the ship, asked his friend Peraia to shelter Theoclymenes for a while, and was about to go to Eumaeus. Suddenly a falcon with a dove in its talons appeared above them. Theoclymenes took Telemachus by the hand and quietly said to him:
- This is a happy sign, Telemachus. There is no more powerful family in Ithaca than yours. You will forever rule over all of Ithaca.
Telemachus rejoiced at this prediction. He sent his companions on a ship to the city harbor, and he himself, joyful, went to the swineherd Eumaeus.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru