feast that you are joining; when you have duly prayed and made
your drink offering, pass the cup to your friend that he may do
so also. I doubt not that he too lifts his hands in prayer, for
man cannot live without God in the world. Still he is younger
than you are, and is much of an age with myself, so I will give
you the precedence."

As he spoke he handed her the cup. Minerva thought it very right
and proper of him to have given it to herself first; {27} she
accordingly began praying heartily to Neptune. "O thou," she
cried, "that encirclest the earth, vouchsafe to grant the
prayers of thy servants that call upon thee. More especially we
pray thee send down thy grace on Nestor and on his sons;
thereafter also make the rest of the Pylian people some handsome
return for the goodly hecatomb they are offering you. Lastly,
grant Telemachus and myself a happy issue, in respect of the
matter that has brought us in our ship to Pylos."

When she had thus made an end of praying, she handed the cup to
Telemachus and he prayed likewise. By and by, when the outer
meats were roasted and had been taken off the spits, the carvers
gave every man his portion and they all made an excellent
dinner. As soon as they had had enough to eat and drink, Nestor,
knight of Gerene, began to speak.

"Now," said he, "that our guests have done their dinner, it will
be best to ask them who they are. Who, then, sir strangers, are
you, and from what port have you sailed? Are you traders? or do
you sail the seas as rovers with your hand against every man,
and every man's hand against you?"