“The work she plied; but, studious of delay,
  By night reversed the labors of the day. 
  While thrice the sun his annual journey made,
  The conscious lamp the midnight fraud survey’d;
  Unheard, unseen, three years her arts prevail: 
  The fourth, her maid unfolds the amazing tale. 
  We saw as unperceived we took our stand,
  The backward labors of her faithless hand"[3]

They now suggest that Telemachus send Penelope back to her father, but the youth indignantly refuses, and the council closes while he prays for vengeance.  That he has not been unheard is proved by the appearance of two eagles, which peck out the eyes of some of the spectators.  This is interpreted by an old man as an omen of Ulysses’ speedy return, and he admonishes all present to prove faithful, lest they incur a master’s wrath.

The assembly having dispersed, Telemachus hastens down to the shore, where Minerva visits him in the guise of his tutor Mentor, and instructs him to arrange for secret departure.  Telemachus, therefore, returns to the palace, where the suitors are preparing a new feast.  Refusing to join their revels, he seeks his old nurse Eurycleia, to whom he entrusts the provisioning of his vessel, bidding her if possible conceal his departure from Penelope for twelve days.  Meantime, in the guise of Telemachus, Minerva scours the town to secure skilful oarsmen, and at sunset has a vessel ready to sail.  Then, returning to the palace, she enchains the senses of the suitors in such deep slumber that Telemachus effects his, departure unseen, and embarking with Mentor sets sail, his vessel speeding smoothly over the waves all night.

Book III. At sunrise Telemachus reaches Pylos and finds Nestor and his friends offering a sacrifice on the shore.  Joining the feasters,—­who gather by fifties around tables groaning beneath the weight of nine oxen apiece,—­Telemachus makes known his name and errand.  In return, Nestor mentions the deaths of Patroclus and Achilles, the taking of Troy, and the Greeks’ departure from its shores.  He adds that, the gods having decreed they should not reach home without sore trials, half the army lingered behind with Agamemnon to offer propitiatory sacrifices, while the rest sailed on.  Among these were Nestor and Ulysses, but, while the former pressed on and reached home, the latter, turning back to pacify the gods, was seen no more!  Since his return, Nestor has been saddened by the death of Agamemnon, slain on his arrival at Mycenae by his faithless wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegistheus.  His brother, Menelaus, more fortunate, has recently reached home, having been long delayed in Egypt by contrary winds.

While Nestor recounts these tales, day declines, so he invites Telemachus to his palace for the night, promising to send him on the morrow to Sparta, where he can question Menelaus himself.  Although Mentor urges Telemachus to accept this invitation, he declares he must return to the ship, and vanishes in the shape of a bird, thus revealing to all present his divine origin.  A sumptuous meal in the palace ensues, and the guest, after a good night, participates at break of day in a solemn sacrifice.