Book XII - Telemachus, in the camp of Idomeneus' allies, gains the good will of Philoctetes (who had been on bad terms with Ulysses); Philoctetes gives an account of the death of Hercules

Summary

Telemachus, in the camp of the allies, gains the good will of Philoctetes, who at first was prejudiced against him on account of his father Ulysses. Philoctetes relates his adventures to him, in which he introduces an account of the death of Hercules, occasioned by the poisoned tunic which the centaur Nessus gave to Dejanira. He told him how he got from that hero his fatal arrows, without which the city of Troy could not have been taken; how he was punished for having betrayed his secrets, by all that he suffered in the isle of Lemnos; and how Ulysses employed Neoptolemus to prevail upon him to go to the siege of Troy, where he was cured of his wound by the son of Esculapius.

In the meantime Telemachus showed his courage in all the perils of war. When he left Salente, he applied himself to gain the affection of the old commanders, who had attained to the highest pitch of reputation and experience. Nestor, who had seen him before at Pylos, and who had always loved Ulysses, treated him as if he had been his own son. He gave him instructions and illustrated them by various examples, recounting to him all the adventures of his youth, and all the most remarkable exploits that he had seen performed by the heroes of the preceding age. The memory of that old man, who had lived three generations, was like a history of past times engraved on marble and brass.