Page 251 - the-iliad

of Amphimachus, and sent it whirling over the crowd as
though it had been a ball, till it fell in the dust at Hector’s
feet.
Neptune was exceedingly angry that his grandson Am-
phimachus should have fallen; he therefore went to the tents
and ships of the Achaeans to urge the Danaans still fur-
ther, and to devise evil for the Trojans. Idomeneus met him,
as he was taking leave of a comrade, who had just come to
him from the fight, wounded in the knee. His fellow-sol-
diers bore him off the field, and Idomeneus having given
orders to the physicians went on to his tent, for he was still
thirsting for battle. Neptune spoke in the likeness and with
the voice of Thoas son of Andraemon who ruled the Aeto-
lians of all Pleuron and high Calydon, and was honoured
among his people as though he were a god. ‘Idomeneus,’
said he, ‘lawgiver to the Cretans, what has now become of
the threats with which the sons of the Achaeans used to
threaten the Trojans?’
And Idomeneus chief among the Cretans answered,
‘Thoas, no one, so far as I know, is in fault, for we can all
fight. None are held back neither by fear nor slackness, but
it seems to be the will of almighty Jove that the Achaeans
should perish ingloriously here far from Argos: you, Thoas,
have been always staunch, and you keep others in heart if
you see any fail in duty; be not then remiss now, but exhort
all to do their utmost.’
To this Neptune lord of the earthquake made answer,
‘Idomeneus, may he never return from Troy, but remain
here for dogs to batten upon, who is this day wilfully slack

0 The Iliad