Day 43: The Oldest Man in the World Speaks

Lines 250-59
τῷ δ' ἤδη δύο μὲν γενεαὶ μερόπων ἀνθρώπων
ἐφθίαθ, οἵ οἱ πρόσθεν ἅμα τράφεν ἠδὲ γένοντο
ἐν Πύλῳ ἠγαθέῃ, μετὰ δὲ τριτάτοισιν ἄνασσεν.
ὅ σφιν ἐὺ φρονέων ἀγορήσατο καὶ μετέειπεν·
"ὢ πόποι, ἦ μέγα πένθος Ἀχαιίδα γαῖαν ἱκάνει·
ἦ κεν γηθήσαι Πρίαμος Πριάμοιό τε παῖδες,
ἄλλοι τε Τρῶες μέγα κεν κεχαροίατο θυμῷ
εἰ σφῶιν τάδε πάντα πυθοίατο μαρναμένοιιν,
οἳ περὶ μὲν βουλήν Δαναῶν, περὶ δ' ἐστὲ μάχεσθαι.
ἀλλὰ πίθεσθ'· ἄμφω δὲ νεωτέρω ἐστὸν ἐμεῖο.

And for him already two generations of mortal men
Had wasted away, who were born and brought up with him
Before in most sacred Pylos, and he ruled then among the third.
He who was well disposed to them spoke up and addressed them:
"Oh dear me, indeed a great woe comes upon the Achaean land;
Surely Priam and the children of Priam would rejoice
And the other Trojans would be so glad at heart
If they were to learn all this of you two in contention,
You who excel the Danaans in cousel and in battle.
But heed this: since both of you are younger than I.


The opening lines of this section remind of a scene in Lord of the Rings where the wizard Gandalf complained that he had dwelt on earth three hundred lives of men and now he had no time. I'm sure the similarity wasn't lost on Tolkien as fluent as he was in classical languages and literature.
But truly this is a remarkable scene: Nestor here is the personification of ancient wisdom, both in the sense that one's elders should be respected for their age and experience but also he is wisom itself which, as we shall see, is an aged creature and cannot always withstand the impulses of younger men.