So saying, he cast his sceptre on the ground
Studded with gold, and sat. On the other side
The son of Atreus all impassion'd stood, 310
When the harmonious orator arose
Nestor, the Pylian oracle, whose lips
Dropped eloquence--the honey not so sweet.
Two generations past of mortals born
In Pylus, coëtaneous with himself, 315
He govern'd now the third--amid them all
He stood, and thus, benevolent, began.
Ah! what calamity hath fall'n on Greece!
Now Priam and his sons may well exult,
Now all in Ilium shall have joy of heart 320
Abundant, hearing of this broil, the prime
Of Greece between, in council and in arms.
But be persuaded; ye are younger both
Than I, and I was conversant of old
With Princes your superiors, yet from them 325
No disrespect at any time received.
Their equals saw I never; never shall;
Exadius, Coeneus, and the Godlike son
Of Ægeus, mighty Theseus; men renown'd
For force superior to the race of man, 330
Brave Chiefs they were, and with brave foes they fought,
With the rude dwellers on the mountain-heights
The Centaurs,[23] whom with havoc such as fame
Shall never cease to celebrate, they slew.
With these men I consorted erst, what time 335
From Pylus, though a land from theirs remote,
They called me forth, and such as was my strength,