"It is not well, Telemachus, that thou shouldest tarry longer away from thy home, for there are some who spoil and devour thy substance. Come, therefore, rouse thy host Menelaus, and pray him that he send thee on thy way. For thy mother's father and her brethren urge her to take Eurymachus [Footnote: Eu-rym'-a-chus.] for her husband, seeing that he hath far surpassed all the other suitors in his gifts. Hearken also to another matter. The bravest of the suitors lie in wait for thee in the strait that is between Ithaca and Samos, desirous to slay thee before thou shalt come again to thy home. Keep thy ship, therefore, far from the place, and sail both by night and by day, and one of the gods shall send thee a fair breeze. Also, when thou comest to the land of Ithaca, send thy ship and thy company to the city, but seek thyself the swineherd Eumaeus, for he hath been ever true to thee. Rest there the night, and bid him go to the city on the day following, and carry tidings to thy mother of thy safe return." Then Telemachus woke the son of Nestor, touching him with his heel, and saying: "Awake, son of Nestor, bring up thy horses, and yoke them to the chariot, that we may go upon our way." But Peisistratus made answer: "We may not drive through the darkness, how eager soever we be to depart. Soon will it be dawn. Tarry thou till Menelaus shall bring his gifts and set them on the car, and send thee on thy way, for a guest should take thought of the host that showeth him kindness." And when the morning was come, and Menelaus was risen from his bed, Telemachus spake to him, saying, "Menelaus, send me now with all speed to my own country, for I am greatly desirous to go there." To him Menelaus made answer: "I will not keep thee long, seeing that thou desirest to return. But stay till I bring my gifts and set them in the chariot. Let me also bid the women prepare the meal in my hall, for it is both honour to me and a profit to you that ye should eat well before ye set forth on a far journey. But if thou wilt go further through the land, then let me go with thee; to many cities will we go, and none will send us empty away." But Telemachus said: "Not so, Menelaus; rather would I go back straightway to mine own land, for I left none to watch over my goods. It were ill done were I to perish seeking my father, or to lose some precious possession out of my house." Then Menelaus bade his wife and the maids prepare the meal, and his squire he bade kindle a fire and roast flesh; and he himself went to his treasury, and Helen and his son with him. He himself took therefrom a double cup, and bade his son bear a mixing-bowl of silver; as for Helen, she took from her chests a robe that she had wrought with her own hands. The fairest it was of all, and shone as shines a star, and it lay beneath all the rest.