Seba.Health
The Odyssey 3.240–252
“Mentor, no longer let us tell of these things despite our grief. For him no return can ever more be brought to pass; nay, ere this the immortals have devised for him death and black fate. But now I would make enquiry and ask Nestor regarding another matter, since beyond all others he knows judgments and wisdom; for thrice, men say, has he been king for a generation of men, and like unto an immortal he seems to me to look upon. Nestor, son of Neleus, do thou tell me truly: how was the son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon, slain? Where was Menelaus? What death did guileful Aegisthus plan for the king, since he slew a man mightier far than himself? Was Menelaus not in Achaean Argos, but wandering elsewhere among men, so that Aegisthus took heart and did the murderous deed?”
Then the horseman, Nestor of Gerenia, answered him: “Then verily, my child, will I tell thee all the truth.
Μέντορ, μηκέτι ταῦτα λεγώμεθα κηδόμενοί περ·
κείνῳ δʼ οὐκέτι νόστος ἐτήτυμος, ἀλλά οἱ ἤδη
φράσσαντʼ ἀθάνατοι θάνατον καὶ κῆρα μέλαιναν.
νῦν δʼ ἐθέλω ἔπος ἄλλο μεταλλῆσαι καὶ ἐρέσθαι
Νέστορʼ, ἐπεὶ περὶ οἶδε δίκας ἠδὲ φρόνιν ἄλλων·
τρὶς γὰρ δή μίν φασιν ἀνάξασθαι γένεʼ ἀνδρῶν·
ὥς τέ μοι ἀθάνατος ἰνδάλλεται εἰσοράασθαι.
ὦ Νέστορ Νηληϊάδη, σὺ δʼ ἀληθὲς ἐνίσπες·
πῶς ἔθανʼ Ἀτρεΐδης εὐρὺ κρείων Ἀγαμέμνων;
ποῦ Μενέλαος ἔην; τίνα δʼ αὐτῷ μήσατʼ ὄλεθρον
Αἴγισθος δολόμητις, ἐπεὶ κτάνε πολλὸν ἀρείω;
ἦ οὐκ Ἄργεος ἦεν Ἀχαιικοῦ, ἀλλά πῃ ἄλλῃ
πλάζετʼ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπους, ὁ δὲ θαρσήσας κατέπεφνε;