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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="/comments.php?id=410305" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Iliad: Book 23</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="/comments.php?id=410305" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Thus did they make their moan throughout the city, while the<br>Achaeans when they reached the Hellespont went back every man to his<br>own ship. But Achilles would not let the Myrmidons go, and spoke to<br>his brave comrades saying, "Myrmidons, famed horsemen and my own<br>trusted friends, not yet, forsooth, let us unyoke, but with horse<br>and chariot draw near to the body and mourn Patroclus, in due honour<br>to the dead. When we have had full comfort of lamentation we will<br>unyoke our horses and take supper all of us here."<br>On this they all joined in a cry of wailing and Achilles led them in<br>their lament. Thrice did they drive their chariots all sorrowing round<br>the body, and Thetis stirred within them a still deeper yearning.<br>The sands of the seashore and the men's armour were wet with their<br>weeping, so great a minister of fear was he whom they had lost.<br>Chief in all their mourning was the son of Peleus: he laid his<br>bloodstained hand on the breast of his friend. "Fare well," he<br>cried, "Patroclus, even in the house of Hades. I will now do all<br>that I erewhile promised you; I will drag Hector hither and let dogs<br>devour him raw; twelve noble sons of Trojans will I also slay before<br>your pyre to avenge you."<br>As he spoke he treated the body of noble Hector with contumely,<br>laying it at full length in the dust beside the bier of Patroclus. The<br>others then put off every man his armour, took the horses from their<br>chariots, and seated themselves in great multitude by the ship of<br>the fleet descendant of Aeacus, who thereon feasted them with an<br>abundant funeral banquet. Many a goodly ox, with many a sheep and<br>bleating goat did they butcher and cut up; many a tusked boar<br>moreover, fat and well-fed, did they singe and set to roast in the<br>flames of Vulcan; and rivulets of blood flowed all round the place<br>where the body was lying.<br>Then the princes of the Achaeans took the son of Peleus to<br>Agamemnon, but hardly could they persuade him to come with them, so<br>wroth was he for the death of his comrade. As soon as they reached<br>Agamemnon's tent they told the serving-men to set a large tripod<br>over the fire in case they might persuade the son of Peleus 'to wash<br>the clotted gore from this body, but he denied them sternly, and swore<br>it with a solemn oath, saying, "Nay, by King Jove, first and mightiest<br>of all gods, it is not meet that water should touch my body, till I<br>have laid Patroclus on the flames, have built him a barrow, and shaved<br>my head- for so long as I live no such second sorrow shall ever draw<br>nigh me. Now, therefore, let us do all that this sad festival demands,<br>but at break of day, King Agamemnon, bid your men bring wood, and<br>provide all else that the dead may duly take into the realm of<br>darkness; the fire shall thus burn him out of our sight the sooner,<br>and the people shall turn again to their own labours."<br>Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. They made haste<br>to prepare the meal, they ate, and every man had his full share so<br>that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had had enough to eat and<br>drink, the others went to their rest each in his own tent, but the son<br>of Peleus lay grieving among his Myrmidons by the shore of the<br>sounding sea, in an open place where the waves came surging in one<br>after another. Here a very deep slumber took hold upon him and eased<br>the burden of his sorrows, for his limbs were weary with chasing<br>Hector round windy Ilius. Presently the sad spirit of Patroclus drew<br>near him, like what he had been in stature, voice, and the light of<br>his beaming eyes, clad, too, as he had been clad in life. The spirit<br>hovered over his head and said-<br>"You sleep, Achilles, and have forgotten me; you loved me living,<br>but now that I am dead you think for me no further. Bury me with all<br>speed that I may pass the gates of Hades; the ghosts, vain shadows<br>of men that can labour no more, drive me away from them; they will not<br>yet suffer me to join those that are beyond the river, and I wander<br>all desolate by the wide gates of the house of Hades. Give me now your<br>hand I pray you, for when you have once given me my dues of fire,<br>never shall I again come forth out of the house of Hades. Nevermore<br>shall we sit apart and take sweet counsel among the living; the<br>cruel fate which was my birth-right has yawned its wide jaws around<br>me- nay, you too Achilles, peer of gods, are doomed to die beneath the<br>wall of the noble Trojans.<br>"One prayer more will I make you, if you will grant it; let not my<br>bones be laid apart from yours, Achilles, but with them; even as we<br>were brought up together in your own home, what time Menoetius brought<br>me to you as a child from Opoeis because by a sad spite I had killed<br>the son of Amphidamas- not of set purpose, but in childish quarrel<br>over the dice. The knight Peleus took me into his house, entreated<br>me kindly, and named me to be your squire; therefore let our bones lie<br>in but a single urn, the two-handled golden vase given to you by<br>your mother."<br>And Achilles answered, "Why, true heart, are you come hither to<br>lay these charges upon me? will of my own self do all as you have<br>bidden me. Draw closer to me, let us once more throw our arms around<br>one another, and find sad comfort in the sharing of our sorrows."<br>He opened his arms towards him as he spoke and would have clasped<br>him in them, but there was nothing, and the spirit vanished as a<br>vapour, gibbering and whining into the earth. Achilles sprang to his<br>feet, smote his two hands, and made lamentation saying, "Of a truth<br>even in the house of Hades there are ghosts and phantoms that have<br>no life in them; all night long the sad spirit of Patroclus has<br>hovered over head making piteous moan, telling me what I am to do<br>for him, and looking wondrously like himself."<br>Thus did he speak and his words set them all weeping and mourning<br>about the poor dumb dead, till rosy-fingered morn appeared. Then<br>King Agamemnon sent men and mules from all parts of the camp, to bring<br>wood, and Meriones, squire to Idomeneus, was in charge over them. They<br>went out with woodmen's axes and strong ropes in their hands, and<br>before them went the mules. Up hill and down dale did they go, by<br>straight ways and crooked, and when they reached the heights of<br>many-fountained Ida, they laid their axes to the roots of many a<br>tall branching oak that came thundering down as they felled it. They<br>split the trees and bound them behind the mules, which then wended<br>their way as they best could through the thick brushwood on to the<br>plain. All who had been cutting wood bore logs, for so Meriones squire<br>to Idomeneus had bidden them, and they threw them down in a line<br>upon the seashore at the place where Achilles would make a mighty<br>monument for Patroclus and for himself.<br>When they had thrown down their great logs of wood over the whole<br>ground, they stayed all of them where they were, but Achilles<br>ordered his brave Myrmidons to gird on their armour, and to yoke<br>each man his horses; they therefore rose, girded on their armour and<br>mounted each his chariot- they and their charioteers with them. The<br>chariots went before, and they that were on foot followed as a cloud<br>in their tens of thousands after. In the midst of them his comrades<br>bore Patroclus and covered him with the locks of their hair which they<br>cut off and threw upon his body. Last came Achilles with his head<br>bowed for sorrow, so noble a comrade was he taking to the house of<br>Hades.<br>When they came to the place of which Achilles had told them they<br>laid the body down and built up the wood. Achilles then bethought<br>him of another matter. He went a space away from the pyre, and cut off<br>the yellow lock which he had let grow for the river Spercheius. He<br>looked all sorrowfully out upon the dark sea, and said, "Spercheius,<br>in vain did my father Peleus vow to you that when I returned home to<br>my loved native land I should cut off this lock and offer you a holy<br>hecatomb; fifty she-goats was I to sacrifice to you there at your<br>springs, where is your grove and your altar fragrant with<br>burnt-offerings. Thus did my father vow, but you have not fulfilled<br>his prayer; now, therefore, that I shall see my home no more, I give<br>this lock as a keepsake to the hero Patroclus."<br>As he spoke he placed the lock in the hands of his dear comrade, and<br>all who stood by were filled with yearning and lamentation. The sun<br>would have gone down upon their mourning had not Achilles presently<br>said to Agamemnon, "Son of Atreus, for it is to you that the people<br>will give ear, there is a time to mourn and a time to cease from<br>mourning; bid the people now leave the pyre and set about getting<br>their dinners: we, to whom the dead is dearest, will see to what is<br>wanted here, and let the other princes also stay by me."<br>When King Agamemnon heard this he dismissed the people to their<br>ships, but those who were about the dead heaped up wood and built a<br>pyre a hundred feet this way and that; then they laid the dead all<br>sorrowfully upon the top of it. They flayed and dressed many fat sheep<br>and oxen before the pyre, and Achilles took fat from all of them and<br>wrapped the body therein from head to foot, heaping the flayed<br>carcases all round it. Against the bier he leaned two-handled jars<br>of honey and unguents; four proud horses did he then cast upon the<br>pyre, groaning the while he did so. The dead hero had had<br>house-dogs; two of them did Achilles slay and threw upon the pyre;<br>he also put twelve brave sons of noble Trojans to the sword and laid<br>them with the rest, for he was full of bitterness and fury. Then he<br>committed all to the resistless and devouring might of the fire; he<br>groaned aloud and callid on his dead comrade by name. "Fare well,"<br>he cried, "Patroclus, even in the house of Hades; I am now doing all<br>that I have promised you. Twelve brave sons of noble Trojans shall the<br>flames consume along with yourself, but dogs, not fire, shall devour<br>the flesh of Hector son of Priam."<br>Thus did he vaunt, but the dogs came not about the body of Hector,<br>for Jove's daughter Venus kept them off him night and day, and<br>anointed him with ambrosial oil of roses that his flesh might not be<br>torn when Achilles was dragging him about. Phoebus Apollo moreover<br>sent a dark cloud from heaven to earth, which gave shade to the<br>whole place where Hector lay, that the heat of the sun might not parch<br>his body.<br>Now the pyre about dead Patroclus would not kindle. Achilles<br>therefore bethought him of another matter; he went apart and prayed to<br>the two winds Boreas and Zephyrus vowing them goodly offerings. He<br>made them many drink-offerings from the golden cup and besought them<br>to come and help him that the wood might make haste to kindle and<br>the dead bodies be consumed. Fleet Iris heard him praying and<br>started off to fetch the winds. They were holding high feast in the<br>house of boisterous Zephyrus when Iris came running up to the stone<br>threshold of the house and stood there, but as soon as they set eyes<br>on her they all came towards her and each of them called her to him,<br>but Iris would not sit down. "I cannot stay," she said, "I must go<br>back to the streams of Oceanus and the land of the Ethiopians who<br>are offering hecatombs to the immortals, and I would have my share;<br>but Achilles prays that Boreas and shrill Zephyrus will come to him,<br>and he vows them goodly offerings; he would have you blow upon the<br>pyre of Patroclus for whom all the Achaeans are lamenting."<br>With this she left them, and the two winds rose with a cry that rent<br>the air and swept the clouds before them. They blew on and on until<br>they came to the sea, and the waves rose high beneath them, but when<br>they reached Troy they fell upon the pyre till the mighty flames<br>roared under the blast that they blew. All night long did they blow<br>hard and beat upon the fire, and all night long did Achilles grasp his<br>double cup, drawing wine from a mixing-bowl of gold, and calling<br>upon the spirit of dead Patroclus as he poured it upon the ground<br>until the earth was drenched. As a father mourns when he is burning<br>the bones of his bridegroom son whose death has wrung the hearts of<br>his parents, even so did Achilles mourn while burning the body of<br>his comrade, pacing round the bier with piteous groaning and<br>lamentation.<br>At length as the Morning Star was beginning to herald the light<br>which saffron-mantled Dawn was soon to suffuse over the sea, the<br>flames fell and the fire began to die. The winds then went home beyond<br>the Thracian sea, which roared and boiled as they swept over it. The<br>son of Peleus now turned away from the pyre and lay down, overcome<br>with toil, till he fell into a sweet slumber. Presently they who<br>were about the son of Atreus drew near in a body, and roused him<br>with the noise and tramp of their coming. He sat upright and said,<br>"Son of Atreus, and all other princes of the Achaeans, first pour<br>red wine everywhere upon the fire and quench it; let us then gather<br>the bones of Patroclus son of Menoetius, singling them out with<br>care; they are easily found, for they lie in the middle of the pyre,<br>while all else, both men and horses, has been thrown in a heap and<br>burned at the outer edge. We will lay the bones in a golden urn, in<br>two layers of fat, against the time when I shall myself go down into<br>the house of Hades. As for the barrow, labour not to raise a great one<br>now, but such as is reasonable. Afterwards, let those Achaeans who may<br>be left at the ships when I am gone, build it both broad and high."<br>Thus he spoke and they obeyed the word of the son of Peleus. First<br>they poured red wine upon the thick layer of ashes and quenched the<br>fire. With many tears they singled out the whitened bones of their<br>loved comrade and laid them within a golden urn in two layers of<br>fat: they then covered the urn with a linen cloth and took it inside<br>the tent. They marked off the circle where the barrow should be,<br>made a foundation for it about the pyre, and forthwith heaped up the<br>earth. When they had thus raised a mound they were going away, but<br>Achilles stayed the people and made them sit in assembly. He brought<br>prizes from the ships-cauldrons, tripods, horses and mules, noble<br>oxen, women with fair girdles, and swart iron.<br>The first prize he offered was for the chariot races- a woman<br>skilled in all useful arts, and a three-legged cauldron that had<br>ears for handles, and would hold twenty-two measures. This was for the<br>man who came in first. For the second there was a six-year old mare,<br>unbroken, and in foal to a he-ass; the third was to have a goodly<br>cauldron that had never yet been on the fire; it was still bright as<br>when it left the maker, and would hold four measures. The fourth prize<br>was two talents of gold, and the fifth a two-handled urn as yet<br>unsoiled by smoke. Then he stood up and spoke among the Argives<br>saying-<br>"Son of Atreus, and all other Achaeans, these are the prizes that<br>lie waiting the winners of the chariot races. At any other time I<br>should carry off the first prize and take it to my own tent; you<br>know how far my steeds excel all others- for they are immortal;<br>Neptune gave them to my father Peleus, who in his turn gave them to<br>myself; but I shall hold aloof, I and my steeds that have lost their<br>brave and kind driver, who many a time has washed them in clear<br>water and anointed their manes with oil. See how they stand weeping<br>here, with their manes trailing on the ground in the extremity of<br>their sorrow. But do you others set yourselves in order throughout the<br>host, whosoever has confidence in his horses and in the strength of<br>his chariot."<br>Thus spoke the son of Peleus and the drivers of chariots bestirred<br>themselves. First among them all uprose Eumelus, king of men, son of<br>Admetus, a man excellent in horsemanship. Next to him rose mighty<br>Diomed son of Tydeus; he yoked the Trojan horses which he had taken<br>from Aeneas, when Apollo bore him out of the fight. Next to him,<br>yellow-haired Menelaus son of Atreus rose and yoked his fleet<br>horses, Agamemnon's mare Aethe, and his own horse Podargus. The mare<br>had been given to Agamemnon by echepolus son of Anchises, that he<br>might not have to follow him to Ilius, but might stay at home and take<br>his ease; for Jove had endowed him with great wealth and he lived in<br>spacious Sicyon. This mare, all eager for the race, did Menelaus put<br>under the yoke.<br>Fourth in order Antilochus, son to noble Nestor son of Neleus,<br>made ready his horses. These were bred in Pylos, and his father came<br>up to him to give him good advice of which, however, he stood in but<br>little need. "Antilochus," said Nestor, "you are young, but Jove and<br>Neptune have loved you well, and have made you an excellent<br>horseman. I need not therefore say much by way of instruction. You are<br>skilful at wheeling your horses round the post, but the horses<br>themselves are very slow, and it is this that will, I fear, mar your<br>chances. The other drivers know less than you do, but their horses are<br>fleeter; therefore, my dear son, see if you cannot hit upon some<br>artifice whereby you may insure that the prize shall not slip<br>through your fingers. The woodman does more by skill than by brute<br>force; by skill the pilot guides his storm-tossed barque over the sea,<br>and so by skill one driver can beat another. If a man go wide in<br>rounding this way and that, whereas a man who knows what he is doing<br>may have worse horses, but he will keep them well in hand when he sees<br>the doubling-post; he knows the precise moment at which to pull the<br>rein, and keeps his eye well on the man in front of him. I will give<br>you this certain token which cannot escape your notice. There is a<br>stump of a dead tree-oak or pine as it may be- some six feet above the<br>ground, and not yet rotted away by rain; it stands at the fork of<br>the road; it has two white stones set one on each side, and there is a<br>clear course all round it. It may have been a monument to some one<br>long since dead, or it may have been used as a doubling-post in days<br>gone by; now, however, it has been fixed on by Achilles as the mark<br>round which the chariots shall turn; hug it as close as you can, but<br>as you stand in your chariot lean over a little to the left; urge on<br>your right-hand horse with voice and lash, and give him a loose<br>rein, but let the left-hand horse keep so close in, that the nave of<br>your wheel shall almost graze the post; but mind the stone, or you<br>will wound your horses and break your chariot in pieces, which would<br>be sport for others but confusion for yourself. Therefore, my dear<br>son, mind well what you are about, for if you can be first to round<br>the post there is no chance of any one giving you the goby later,<br>not even though you had Adrestus's horse Arion behind you horse<br>which is of divine race- or those of Laomedon, which are the noblest<br>in this country."<br>When Nestor had made an end of counselling his son he sat down in<br>his place, and fifth in order Meriones got ready his horses. They then<br>all mounted their chariots and cast lots.- Achilles shook the<br>helmet, and the lot of Antilochus son of Nestor fell out first; next<br>came that of King Eumelus, and after his, those of Menelaus son of<br>Atreus and of Meriones. The last place fell to the lot of Diomed son<br>of Tydeus, who was the best man of them all. They took their places in<br>line; Achilles showed them the doubling-post round which they were<br>to turn, some way off upon the plain; here he stationed his father's<br>follower Phoenix as umpire, to note the running, and report truly.<br>At the same instant they all of them lashed their horses, struck<br>them with the reins, and shouted at them with all their might. They<br>flew full speed over the plain away from the ships, the dust rose from<br>under them as it were a cloud or whirlwind, and their manes were all<br>flying in the wind. At one moment the chariots seemed to touch the<br>ground, and then again they bounded into the air; the drivers stood<br>erect, and their hearts beat fast and furious in their lust of<br>victory. Each kept calling on his horses, and the horses scoured the<br>plain amid the clouds of dust that they raised.<br>It was when they were doing the last part of the course on their way<br>back towards the sea that their pace was strained to the utmost and it<br>was seen what each could do. The horses of the descendant of Pheres<br>now took the lead, and close behind them came the Trojan stallions<br>of Diomed. They seemed as if about to mount Eumelus's chariot, and<br>he could feel their warm breath on his back and on his broad<br>shoulders, for their heads were close to him as they flew over the<br>course. Diomed would have now passed him, or there would have been a<br>dead heat, but Phoebus Apollo to spite him made him drop his whip.<br>Tears of anger fell from his eyes as he saw the mares going on<br>faster than ever, while his own horses lost ground through his<br>having no whip. Minerva saw the trick which Apollo had played the<br>son of Tydeus, so she brought him his whip and put spirit into his<br>horses; moreover she went after the son of Admetus in a rage and broke<br>his yoke for him; the mares went one to one side the course, and the<br>other to the other, and the pole was broken against the ground.<br>Eumelus was thrown from his chariot close to the wheel; his elbows,<br>mouth, and nostrils were all torn, and his forehead was bruised<br>above his eyebrows; his eyes filled with tears and he could find no<br>utterance. But the son of Tydeus turned his horses aside and shot<br>far ahead, for Minerva put fresh strength into them and covered Diomed<br>himself with glory.<br>Menelaus son of Atreus came next behind him, but Antilochus called<br>to his father's horses. "On with you both," he cried, "and do your<br>very utmost. I do not bid you try to beat the steeds of the son of<br>Tydeus, for Minerva has put running into them, and has covered<br>Diomed with glory; but you must overtake the horses of the son of<br>Atreus and not be left behind, or Aethe who is so fleet will taunt<br>you. Why, my good fellows, are you lagging? I tell you, and it shall<br>surely be- Nestor will keep neither of you, but will put both of you<br>to the sword, if we win any the worse a prize through your<br>carelessness, fly after them at your utmost speed; I will hit on a<br>plan for passing them in a narrow part of the way, and it shall not<br>fail me."<br>They feared the rebuke of their master, and for a short space went<br>quicker. Presently Antilochus saw a narrow place where the road had<br>sunk. The ground was broken, for the winter's rain had gathered and<br>had worn the road so that the whole place was deepened. Menelaus was<br>making towards it so as to get there first, for fear of a foul, but<br>Antilochus turned his horses out of the way, and followed him a little<br>on one side. The son of Atreus was afraid and shouted out,<br>"Antilochus, you are driving recklessly; rein in your horses; the road<br>is too narrow here, it will be wider soon, and you can pass me then;<br>if you foul my chariot you may bring both of us to a mischief."<br>But Antilochus plied his whip, and drove faster, as though he had<br>not heard him. They went side by side for about as far as a young<br>man can hurl a disc from his shoulder when he is trying his<br>strength, and then Menelaus's mares drew behind, for he left off<br>driving for fear the horses should foul one another and upset the<br>chariots; thus, while pressing on in quest of victory, they might both<br>come headlong to the ground. Menelaus then upbraided Antilochus and<br>said, "There is no greater trickster living than you are; go, and<br>bad luck go with you; the Achaeans say not well that you have<br>understanding, and come what may you shall not bear away the prize<br>without sworn protest on my part."<br>Then he called on his horses and said to them, "Keep your pace,<br>and slacken not; the limbs of the other horses will weary sooner<br>than yours, for they are neither of them young."<br>The horses feared the rebuke of their master, and went faster, so<br>that they were soon nearly up with the others.<br>Meanwhile the Achaeans from their seats were watching how the horses<br>went, as they scoured the plain amid clouds of their own dust.<br>Idomeneus captain of the Cretans was first to make out the running,<br>for he was not in the thick of the crowd, but stood on the most<br>commanding part of the ground. The driver was a long way off, but<br>Idomeneus could hear him shouting, and could see the foremost horse<br>quite plainly- a chestnut with a round white star, like the moon, on<br>its forehead. He stood up and said among the Argives, "My friends,<br>princes and counsellors of the Argives, can you see the running as<br>well as I can? There seems to be another pair in front now, and<br>another driver; those that led off at the start must have been<br>disabled out on the plain. I saw them at first making their way<br>round the doubling-post, but now, though I search the plain of Troy, I<br>cannot find them. Perhaps the reins fell from the driver's hand so<br>that he lost command of his horses at the doubling-post, and could not<br>turn it. I suppose he must have been thrown out there, and broken<br>his chariot, while his mares have left the course and gone off<br>wildly in a panic. Come up and see for yourselves, I cannot make out<br>for certain, but the driver seems an Aetolian by descent, ruler over<br>the Argives, brave Diomed the son of Tydeus."<br>Ajax the son of Oileus took him up rudely and said, "Idomeneus,<br>why should you be in such a hurry to tell us all about it, when the<br>mares are still so far out upon the plain? You are none of the<br>youngest, nor your eyes none of the sharpest, but you are always<br>laying down the law. You have no right to do so, for there are<br>better men here than you are. Eumelus's horses are in front now, as<br>they always have been, and he is on the chariot holding the reins."<br>The captain of the Cretans was angry, and answered, "Ajax you are an<br>excellent railer, but you have no judgement, and are wanting in much<br>else as well, for you have a vile temper. I will wager you a tripod or<br>cauldron, and Agamemnon son of Atreus shall decide whose horses are<br>first. You will then know to your cost."<br>Ajax son of Oileus was for making him an angry answer, and there<br>would have been yet further brawling between them, had not Achilles<br>risen in his place and said, "Cease your railing Ajax and Idomeneus;<br>it is not you would be scandalised if you saw any one else do the<br>like: sit down and keep your eyes on the horses; they are speeding<br>towards the winning-post and will be bere directly. You will then both<br>of you know whose horses are first, and whose come after."<br>As he was speaking, the son of Tydeus came driving in, plying his<br>whip lustily from his shoulder, and his horses stepping high as they<br>flew over the course. The sand and grit rained thick on the driver,<br>and the chariot inlaid with gold and tin ran close behind his fleet<br>horses. There was little trace of wheel-marks in the fine dust, and<br>the horses came flying in at their utmost speed. Diomed stayed them in<br>the middle of the crowd, and the sweat from their manes and chests<br>fell in streams on to the ground. Forthwith he sprang from his<br>goodly chariot, and leaned his whip against his horses' yoke; brave<br>Sthenelus now lost no time, but at once brought on the prize, and gave<br>the woman and the ear-handled cauldron to his comrades to take away.<br>Then he unyoked the horses.<br>Next after him came in Antilochus of the race of Neleus, who had<br>passed Menelaus by a trick and not by the fleetness of his horses; but<br>even so Menelaus came in as close behind him as the wheel is to the<br>horse that draws both the chariot and its master. The end hairs of a<br>horse's tail touch the tyre of the wheel, and there is never much<br>space between wheel and horse when the chariot is going; Menelaus<br>was no further than this behind Antilochus, though at first he had<br>been a full disc's throw behind him. He had soon caught him up<br>again, for Agamemnon's mare Aethe kept pulling stronger and<br>stronger, so that if the course had been longer he would have passed<br>him, and there would not even have been a dead heat. Idomeneus's brave<br>squire Meriones was about a spear's cast behind Menelaus. His horses<br>were slowest of all, and he was the worst driver. Last of them all<br>came the son of Admetus, dragging his chariot and driving his horses<br>on in front. When Achilles saw him he was sorry, and stood up among<br>the Argives saying, "The best man is coming in last. Let us give him a<br>prize for it is reasonable. He shall have the second, but the first<br>must go to the son of Tydeus."<br>Thus did he speak and the others all of them applauded his saying,<br>and were for doing as he had said, but Nestor's son Antilochus stood<br>up and claimed his rights from the son of Peleus. "Achilles," said he,<br>"I shall take it much amiss if you do this thing; you would rob me<br>of my prize, because you think Eumelus's chariot and horses were<br>thrown out, and himself too, good man that he is. He should have<br>prayed duly to the immortals; he would not have come in fast if he had<br>done so. If you are sorry for him and so choose, you have much gold in<br>your tents, with bronze, sheep, cattle and horses. Take something from<br>this store if you would have the Achaeans speak well of you, and<br>give him a better prize even than that which you have now offered; but<br>I will not give up the mare, and he that will fight me for her, let<br>him come on."<br>Achilles smiled as he heard this, and was pleased with Antilochus,<br>who was one of his dearest comrades. So he said-<br>"Antilochus, if you would have me find Eumelus another prize, I will<br>give him the bronze breastplate with a rim of tin running all round it<br>which I took from Asteropaeus. It will be worth much money to him."<br>He bade his comrade Automedon bring the breastplate from his tent,<br>and he did so. Achilles then gave it over to Eumelus, who received<br>it gladly.<br>But Menelaus got up in a rage, furiously angry with Antilochus. An<br>attendant placed his staff in his hands and bade the Argives keep<br>silence: the hero then addressed them. "Antilochus," said he, "what is<br>this from you who have been so far blameless? You have made me cut a<br>poor figure and baulked my horses by flinging your own in front of<br>them, though yours are much worse than mine are; therefore, O<br>princes and counsellors of the Argives, judge between us and show no<br>favour, lest one of the Achaeans say, 'Menelaus has got the mare<br>through lying and corruption; his horses were far inferior to<br>Antilochus's, but he has greater weight and influence.' Nay, I will<br>determine the matter myself, and no man will blame me, for I shall<br>do what is just. Come here, Antilochus, and stand, as our custom is,<br>whip in hand before your chariot and horses; lay your hand on your<br>steeds, and swear by earth-encircling Neptune that you did not<br>purposely and guilefully get in the way of my horses."<br>And Antilochus answered, "Forgive me; I am much younger, King<br>Menelaus, than you are; you stand higher than I do and are the<br>better man of the two; you know how easily young men are betrayed into<br>indiscretion; their tempers are more hasty and they have less<br>judgement; make due allowances therefore, and bear with me; I will<br>of my own accord give up the mare that I have won, and if you claim<br>any further chattel from my own possessions, I would rather yield it<br>to you, at once, than fall from your good graces henceforth, and do<br>wrong in the sight of heaven."<br>The son of Nestor then took the mare and gave her over to<br>Menelaus, whose anger was thus appeased; as when dew falls upon a<br>field of ripening corn, and the lands are bristling with the<br>harvest- even so, O Menelaus, was your heart made glad within you.<br>He turned to Antilochus and said, "Now, Antilochus, angry though I<br>have been, I can give way to you of my own free will; you have never<br>been headstrong nor ill-disposed hitherto, but this time your youth<br>has got the better of your judgement; be careful how you outwit your<br>betters in future; no one else could have brought me round so<br>easily, but your good father, your brother, and yourself have all of<br>you had infinite trouble on my behalf; I therefore yield to your<br>entreaty, and will give up the mare to you, mine though it indeed<br>be; the people will thus see that I am neither harsh nor vindictive."<br>With this he gave the mare over to Antilochus's comrade Noemon,<br>and then took the cauldron. Meriones, who had come in fourth,<br>carried off the two talents of gold, and the fifth prize, the<br>two-handled urn, being unawarded, Achilles gave it to Nestor, going up<br>to him among the assembled Argives and saying, "Take this, my good old<br>friend, as an heirloom and memorial of the funeral of Patroclus- for<br>you shall see him no more among the Argives. I give you this prize<br>though you cannot win one; you can now neither wrestle nor fight,<br>and cannot enter for the javelin-match nor foot-races, for the hand of<br>age has been laid heavily upon you."<br>So saying he gave the urn over to Nestor, who received it gladly and<br>answered, "My son, all that you have said is true; there is no<br>strength now in my legs and feet, nor can I hit out with my hands from<br>either shoulder. Would that I were still young and strong as when<br>the Epeans were burying King Amarynceus in Buprasium, and his sons<br>offered prizes in his honour. There was then none that could vie<br>with me neither of the Epeans nor the Pylians themselves nor the<br>Aetolians. In boxing I overcame Clytomedes son of Enops, and in<br>wrestling, Ancaeus of Pleuron who had come forward against me.<br>Iphiclus was a good runner, but I beat him, and threw farther with<br>my spear than either Phyleus or Polydorus. In chariot-racing alone did<br>the two sons of Actor surpass me by crowding their horses in front<br>of me, for they were angry at the way victory had gone, and at the<br>greater part of the prizes remaining in the place in which they had<br>been offered. They were twins, and the one kept on holding the<br>reins, and holding the reins, while the other plied the whip. Such was<br>I then, but now I must leave these matters to younger men; I must<br>bow before the weight of years, but in those days I was eminent<br>among heroes. And now, sir, go on with the funeral contests in<br>honour of your comrade: gladly do I accept this urn, and my heart<br>rejoices that you do not forget me but are ever mindful of my goodwill<br>towards you, and of the respect due to me from the Achaeans. For all<br>which may the grace of heaven be vouchsafed you in great abundance."<br>Thereon the son of Peleus, when he had listened to all the thanks of<br>Nestor, went about among the concourse of the Achaeans, and<br>presently offered prizes for skill in the painful art of boxing. He<br>brought out a strong mule, and made it fast in the middle of the<br>crowd- a she-mule never yet broken, but six years old- when it is<br>hardest of all to break them: this was for the victor, and for the<br>vanquished he offered a double cup. Then he stood up and said among<br>the Argives, "Son of Atreus, and all other Achaeans, I invite our<br>two champion boxers to lay about them lustily and compete for these<br>prizes. He to whom Apollo vouchsafes the greater endurance, and whom<br>the Achaeans acknowledge as victor, shall take the mule back with<br>him to his own tent, while he that is vanquished shall have the double<br>cup."<br>As he spoke there stood up a champion both brave and great<br>stature, a skilful boxer, Epeus, son of Panopeus. He laid his hand<br>on the mule and said, "Let the man who is to have the cup come hither,<br>for none but myself will take the mule. I am the best boxer of all<br>here present, and none can beat me. Is it not enough that I should<br>fall short of you in actual fighting? Still, no man can be good at<br>everything. I tell you plainly, and it shall come true; if any man<br>will box with me I will bruise his body and break his bones; therefore<br>let his friends stay here in a body and be at hand to take him away<br>when I have done with him."<br>They all held their peace, and no man rose save Euryalus son of<br>Mecisteus, who was son of Talaus. Mecisteus went once to Thebes<br>after the fall of Oedipus, to attend his funeral, and he beat all<br>the people of Cadmus. The son of Tydeus was Euryalus's second,<br>cheering him on and hoping heartily that he would win. First he put<br>a waistband round him and then he gave him some well-cut thongs of<br>ox-hide; the two men being now girt went into the middle of the<br>ring, and immediately fell to; heavily indeed did they punish one<br>another and lay about them with their brawny fists. One could hear the<br>horrid crashing of their jaws, and they sweated from every pore of<br>their skin. Presently Epeus came on and gave Euryalus a blow on the<br>jaw as he was looking round; Euryalus could not keep his legs; they<br>gave way under him in a moment and he sprang up with a bound, as a<br>fish leaps into the air near some shore that is all bestrewn with<br>sea-wrack, when Boreas furs the top of the waves, and then falls<br>back into deep water. But noble Epeus caught hold of him and raised<br>him up; his comrades also came round him and led him from the ring,<br>unsteady in his gait, his head hanging on one side, and spitting great<br>clots of gore. They set him down in a swoon and then went to fetch the<br>double cup.<br>The son of Peleus now brought out the prizes for the third contest<br>and showed them to the Argives. These were for the painful art of<br>wrestling. For the winner there was a great tripod ready for setting<br>upon the fire, and the Achaeans valued it among themselves at twelve<br>oxen. For the loser he brought out a woman skilled in all manner of<br>arts, and they valued her at four oxen. He rose and said among the<br>Argives, "Stand forward, you who will essay this contest."<br>Forthwith uprose great Ajax the son of Telamon, and crafty<br>Ulysses, full of wiles rose also. The two girded themselves and went<br>into the middle of the ring. They gripped each other in their strong<br>hands like the rafters which some master-builder frames for the roof<br>of a high house to keep the wind out. Their backbones cracked as<br>they tugged at one another with their mighty arms- and sweat rained<br>from them in torrents. Many a bloody weal sprang up on their sides and<br>shoulders, but they kept on striving with might and main for victory<br>and to win the tripod. Ulysses could not throw Ajax, nor Ajax him;<br>Ulysses was too strong for him; but when the Achaeans began to tire of<br>watching them, Ajax said to ulysses, "Ulysses, noble son of Laertes,<br>you shall either lift me, or I you, and let Jove settle it between<br>us."<br>He lifted him from the ground as he spoke, but Ulysses did not<br>forget his cunning. He hit Ajax in the hollow at back of his knee,<br>so that he could not keep his feet, but fell on his back with<br>Ulysses lying upon his chest, and all who saw it marvelled. Then<br>Ulysses in turn lifted Ajax and stirred him a little from the ground<br>but could not lift him right off it, his knee sank under him, and<br>the two fell side by side on the ground and were all begrimed with<br>dust. They now sprang towards one another and were for wrestling yet a<br>third time, but Achilles rose and stayed them. "Put not each other<br>further," said he, "to such cruel suffering; the victory is with<br>both alike, take each of you an equal prize, and let the other<br>Achaeans now compete."<br>Thus did he speak and they did even as he had said, and put on their<br>shirts again after wiping the dust from off their bodies.<br>The son of Peleus then offered prizes for speed in running- a<br>mixing-bowl beautifully wrought, of pure silver. It would hold six<br>measures, and far exceeded all others in the whole world for beauty;<br>it was the work of cunning artificers in Sidon, and had been brought<br>into port by Phoenicians from beyond the sea, who had made a present<br>of it to Thoas. Eueneus son of jason had given it to Patroclus in<br>ransom of Priam's son Lycaon, and Achilles now offered it as a prize<br>in honour of his comrade to him who should be the swiftest runner. For<br>the second prize he offered a large ox, well fattened, while for the<br>last there was to be half a talent of gold. He then rose and said<br>among the Argives, "Stand forward, you who will essay this contest."<br>Forthwith uprose fleet Ajax son of Oileus, with cunning Ulysses, and<br>Nestor's son Antilochus, the fastest runner among all the youth of his<br>time. They stood side by side and Achilles showed them the goal. The<br>course was set out for them from the starting-post, and the son of<br>Oileus took the lead at once, with Ulysses as close behind him as<br>the shuttle is to a woman's bosom when she throws the woof across<br>the warp and holds it close up to her; even so close behind him was<br>Ulysses- treading in his footprints before the dust could settle<br>there, and Ajax could feel his breath on the back of his head as he<br>ran swiftly on. The Achaeans all shouted applause as they saw him<br>straining his utmost, and cheered him as he shot past them; but when<br>they were now nearing the end of the course Ulysses prayed inwardly to<br>Minerva. "Hear me," he cried, "and help my feet, O goddess." Thus<br>did he pray, and Pallas Minerva heard his prayer; she made his hands<br>and his feet feel light, and when the runners were at the point of<br>pouncing upon the prize, Ajax, through Minerva's spite slipped upon<br>some offal that was lying there from the cattle which Achilles had<br>slaughtered in honour of Patroclus, and his mouth and nostrils were<br>all filled with cow dung. Ulysses therefore carried off the<br>mixing-bowl, for he got before Ajax and came in first. But Ajax took<br>the ox and stood with his hand on one of its horns, spitting the<br>dung out of his mouth. Then he said to the Argives, "Alas, the goddess<br>has spoiled my running; she watches over Ulysses and stands by him<br>as though she were his own mother." Thus did he speak and they all<br>of them laughed heartily.<br>Antilochus carried off the last prize and smiled as he said to the<br>bystanders, "You all see, my friends, that now too the gods have shown<br>their respect for seniority. Ajax is somewhat older than I am, and<br>as for Ulysses, he belongs to an earlier generation, but he is hale in<br>spite of his years, and no man of the Achaeans can run against him<br>save only Achilles."<br>He said this to pay a compliment to the son of Peleus, and<br>Achilles answered, "Antilochus, you shall not have praised me to no<br>purpose; I shall give you an additional half talent of gold." He<br>then gave the half talent to Antilochus, who received it gladly.<br>Then the son of Peleus brought out the spear, helmet and shield that<br>had been borne by Sarpedon, and were taken from him by Patroclus. He<br>stood up and said among the Argives, "We bid two champions put on<br>their armour, take their keen blades, and make trial of one another in<br>the presence of the multitude; whichever of them can first wound the<br>flesh of the other, cut through his armour, and draw blood, to him<br>will I give this goodly Thracian sword inlaid with silver, which I<br>took from Asteropaeus, but the armour let both hold in partnership,<br>and I will give each of them a hearty meal in my own tent."<br>Forthwith uprose great Ajax the son of Telamon, as also mighty<br>Diomed son of Tydeus. When they had put on their armour each on his<br>own side of the ring, they both went into the middle eager to<br>engage, and with fire flashing from their eyes. The Achaeans marvelled<br>as they beheld them, and when the two were now close up with one<br>another, thrice did they spring forward and thrice try to strike<br>each other in close combat. Ajax pierced Diomed's round shield, but<br>did not draw blood, for the cuirass beneath the shield protected<br>him; thereon the son of Tydeus from over his huge shield kept aiming<br>continually at Ajax's neck with the point of his spear, and the<br>Achaeans alarmed for his safety bade them leave off fighting and<br>divide the prize between them. Achilles then gave the great sword to<br>the son of Tydeus, with its scabbard, and the leathern belt with which<br>to hang it.<br>Achilles next offered the massive iron quoit which mighty Eetion had<br>erewhile been used to hurl, until Achilles had slain him and carried<br>it off in his ships along with other spoils. He stood up and said<br>among the Argives, "Stand forward, you who would essay this contest.<br>He who wins it will have a store of iron that will last him five years<br>as they go rolling round, and if his fair fields lie far from a town<br>his shepherd or ploughman will not have to make a journey to buy iron,<br>for he will have a stock of it on his own premises."<br>Then uprose the two mighty men Polypoetes and Leonteus, with Ajax<br>son of Telamon and noble Epeus. They stood up one after the other<br>and Epeus took the quoit, whirled it, and flung it from him, which set<br>all the Achaeans laughing. After him threw Leonteus of the race of<br>Mars. Ajax son of Telamon threw third, and sent the quoit beyond any<br>mark that had been made yet, but when mighty Polypoetes took the quoit<br>he hurled it as though it had been a stockman's stick which he sends<br>flying about among his cattle when he is driving them, so far did<br>his throw out-distance those of the others. All who saw it roared<br>applause, and his comrades carried the prize for him and set it on<br>board his ship.<br>Achilles next offered a prize of iron for archery- ten<br>double-edged axes and ten with single eddies: he set up a ship's mast,<br>some way off upon the sands, and with a fine string tied a pigeon to<br>it by the foot; this was what they were to aim at. "Whoever," he said,<br>"can hit the pigeon shall have all the axes and take them away with<br>him; he who hits the string without hitting the bird will have taken a<br>worse aim and shall have the single-edged axes."<br>Then uprose King Teucer, and Meriones the stalwart squire of<br>Idomeneus rose also, They cast lots in a bronze helmet and the lot<br>of Teucer fell first. He let fly with his arrow forthwith, but he<br>did not promise hecatombs of firstling lambs to King Apollo, and<br>missed his bird, for Apollo foiled his aim; but he hit the string with<br>which the bird was tied, near its foot; the arrow cut the string clean<br>through so that it hung down towards the ground, while the bird flew<br>up into the sky, and the Achaeans shouted applause. Meriones, who<br>had his arrow ready while Teucer was aiming, snatched the bow out of<br>his hand, and at once promised that he would sacrifice a hecatomb of<br>firstling lambs to Apollo lord of the bow; then espying the pigeon<br>high up under the clouds, he hit her in the middle of the wing as<br>she was circling upwards; the arrow went clean through the wing and<br>fixed itself in the ground at Meriones' feet, but the bird perched<br>on the ship's mast hanging her head and with all her feathers<br>drooping; the life went out of her, and she fell heavily from the<br>mast. Meriones, therefore, took all ten double-edged axes, while<br>Teucer bore off the single-edged ones to his ships.<br>Then the son of Peleus brought in a spear and a cauldron that had<br>never been on the fire; it was worth an ox, and was chased with a<br>pattern of flowers; and those that throw the javelin stood up- to<br>wit the son of Atreus, king of men Agamemnon, and Meriones, stalwart<br>squire of Idomeneus. But Achilles spoke saying, "Son of Atreus, we<br>know how far you excel all others both in power and in throwing the<br>javelin; take the cauldron back with you to your ships, but if it so<br>please you, let us give the spear to Meriones; this at least is what I<br>should myself wish."<br>King Agamemnon assented. So he gave the bronze spear to Meriones,<br>and handed the goodly cauldron to Talthybius his esquire.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br/></a><a href="https://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="https://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a></strong>, translated by Samuel Butler</div>

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