"Peisistratos, I hope you will
promise to do what I am going to ask you. You know our fathers were
old friends before us; moreover, we are both of an age, and this
journey has brought us together still more closely; do not,
therefore, take me past my ship, but leave me there, for if I go to
your father's house he will try to keep me in the warmth of his
good will towards me, and I must go home at once."
Peisistratos thought how he
should do as he was asked, and in the end he deemed it best to turn
his horses towards the ship, and put Menelaos’ beautiful
presents of gold and raiment in the stern of the vessel. Then he
said, "Go on board at once and tell your men to do so also before I
can reach home to tell my father. I know how obstinate he is, and am
sure he will not let you go; he will come down here to fetch you, and
he will not go back without you. But he will be very
angry."
With this he drove his goodly
steeds back to the city of the Pylians and soon reached his home, but
Telemakhos called the men together and gave his orders. "Now, my
men," said he, "get everything in order on board the ship, and let us
set out home."
Thus did he speak, and they went
on board even as he had said. But as Telemakhos was thus busied,
praying also and sacrificing to Athena in the ship's stern,
there came to him a man from a distant dêmos, a seer
[mantis], who was fleeing from Argos because he had
killed a man. He was descended from Melampos, who used to live in
Pylos, the land of sheep; he was rich and owned a great house, but he
was driven into exile by the great and powerful king Neleus. Neleus
seized violently [biê] his goods and held them
for a whole year, during which he was a close prisoner in the house
of king Phylakos, and in much distress of mind both on account of the
daughter of Neleus and because he was haunted by a great sorrow
[atê] that dread Erinyes had laid upon him. In
the end, however, he escaped with his life, drove the cattle from
Phylake to Pylos, avenged the wrong that had been done him, and gave
the daughter of Neleus to his brother. Then he left the
dêmos and went to Argos, where it was ordained that he
should reign over many people. There he married, established himself,
and had two famous sons Antiphates and Mantios. Antiphates became
father of Oikleus, and Oikleus of Amphiaraos, who was dearly loved
both by Zeus and by Apollo, but he did not live to old age, for he
was killed in Thebes by reason of a woman's gifts. His sons were
Alkmaion and Amphilokhos. Mantios, the other son of Melampos, was
father to Polypheides and Kleitos. Aurora, throned in gold, carried
off Kleitos for his beauty's sake, that he might dwell among the
immortals, but Apollo made Polypheides the greatest seer
[mantis] in the whole world now that Amphiaraos was
dead. He quarreled with his father and went to live in Hyperesia,
where he remained and prophesied for all men.
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