Homer's Odyssey γ 3.239-75
Syllables in bold are dynamically prominent according to the new theory of the ancient Greek pitch accent. Digammas occasionally obtrude. Translation © A. P. David 2022:
Samuel Butler’s translation with certain names Hellenised:
“Mentor,” answered Telemachus, “do not let us talk about it any more.
There is no chance of my father's ever coming back; the gods have
long since counselled his destruction. There is something else, however,
about which I should like to ask Nestor, for he knows much more than
any one else does. They say he has reigned for three generations so
that it is like talking to an immortal. Tell me, therefore, Nestor,
and tell me true; how did Agamemnon come to die in that way? What
was Menelaus doing? And how came false Aegisthus to kill so far better
a man than himself? Was Menelaus away from Achaean Argos, voyaging
elsewhither among mankind, that Aegisthus took heart and killed Agamemnon?”
“I will tell you truly,” answered Nestor, “and indeed you have yourself
divined how it all happened. If Menelaus when he got back from Troy
had found Aegisthus still alive in his house, there would have been
no barrow heaped up for him, not even when he was dead, but he would
have been thrown outside the city to dogs and vultures, and not a
woman would have mourned him, for he had done a deed of great wickedness;
but we were over there, fighting hard at Troy, and Aegisthus who was
taking his ease quietly in the heart of Argos, cajoled Agamemnon's
wife Clytemnestra with incessant flattery.
"At first she would have nothing to do with his wicked scheme, for
she was of a good natural disposition; moreover there was a bard with
her, to whom Agamemnon had given strict orders on setting out for
Troy, that he was to keep guard over his wife; but when heaven had
counselled her destruction, Aegisthus carried this bard off to a desert
island, and left him there for crows and seagulls to batten upon—after
which she went willingly enough to the house of Aegisthus. Then he
offered many burnt sacrifices to the gods, and decorated many temples
with tapestries and gilding, for he had succeeded far beyond his expectations …
Greek text hyperlinked to lexica via Perseus (perseus.tufts.edu):
τὴν δ᾽ αὖ Τηλέμαχος πεπνυμένος ἀντίον ηὔδα:
‘Μέντορ, μηκέτι ταῦτα λεγώμεθα κηδόμενοί περ:
κείνῳ δ᾽ οὐκέτι νόστος ἐτήτυμος, ἀλλά οἱ ἤδη
φράσσαντ᾽ ἀθάνατοι θάνατον καὶ κῆρα μέλαιναν.
νῦν δ᾽ ἐθέλω ἔπος ἄλλο μεταλλῆσαι καὶ ἐρέσθαι
Νέστορ᾽, ἐπεὶ περὶ οἶδε δίκας ἠδὲ φρόνιν ἄλλων:
τρὶς γὰρ δή μίν φασιν ἀνάξασθαι γένε᾽ ἀνδρῶν:
ὥς τέ μοι ἀθάνατος ἰνδάλλεται εἰσοράασθαι.
ὦ Νέστορ Νηληϊάδη, σὺ δ᾽ ἀληθὲς ἐνίσπες:
πῶς ἔθαν᾽ Ἀτρεΐδης εὐρὺ κρείων Ἀγαμέμνων;
ποῦ Μενέλαος ἔην; τίνα δ᾽ αὐτῷ μήσατ᾽ ὄλεθρον
Αἴγισθος δολόμητις, ἐπεὶ κτάνε πολλὸν ἀρείω;
ἦ οὐκ Ἄργεος ἦεν Ἀχαιικοῦ, ἀλλά πῃ ἄλλῃ
πλάζετ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀνθρώπους, ὁ δὲ θαρσήσας κατέπεφνε;’
τὸν δ᾽ ἠμείβετ᾽ ἔπειτα Γερήνιος ἱππότα Νέστωρ:
‘τοιγὰρ ἐγώ τοι, τέκνον, ἀληθέα πάντ᾽ ἀγορεύσω.
ἦ τοι μὲν τάδε καὐτὸς ὀίεαι, ὥς κεν ἐτύχθη,
εἰ ζωόν γ᾽ Αἴγισθον ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἔτετμεν
Ἀτρεΐδης Τροίηθεν ἰών, ξανθὸς Μενέλαος:
τῶ κέ οἱ οὐδὲ θανόντι χυτὴν ἐπὶ γαῖαν ἔχευαν,
ἀλλ᾽ ἄρα τόν γε κύνες τε καὶ οἰωνοὶ κατέδαψαν
κείμενον ἐν πεδίῳ ἑκὰς ἄστεος, οὐδέ κέ τίς μιν
κλαῦσεν Ἀχαιιάδων: μάλα γὰρ μέγα μήσατο ἔργον.
ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ κεῖθι πολέας τελέοντες ἀέθλους
ἥμεθ᾽: ὁ δ᾽ εὔκηλος μυχῷ Ἄργεος ἱπποβότοιο
πόλλ᾽ Ἀγαμεμνονέην ἄλοχον θέλγεσκ᾽ ἐπέεσσιν.
ἡ δ᾽ ἦ τοι τὸ πρὶν μὲν ἀναίνετο ἔργον ἀεικὲς
δῖα Κλυταιμνήστρη: φρεσὶ γὰρ κέχρητ᾽ ἀγαθῇσι:
πὰρ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἔην καὶ ἀοιδὸς ἀνήρ, ᾧ πόλλ᾽ ἐπέτελλεν
Ἀτρεΐδης Τροίηνδε κιὼν ἔρυσασθαι ἄκοιτιν.
ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δή μιν μοῖρα θεῶν ἐπέδησε δαμῆναι,
δὴ τότε τὸν μὲν ἀοιδὸν ἄγων ἐς νῆσον ἐρήμην
κάλλιπεν οἰωνοῖσιν ἕλωρ καὶ κύρμα γενέσθαι,
τὴν δ᾽ ἐθέλων ἐθέλουσαν ἀνήγαγεν ὅνδε δόμονδε.
πολλὰ δὲ μηρί᾽ ἔκηε θεῶν ἱεροῖς ἐπὶ βωμοῖς,