Page 466 - the-iliad

they were to turn, some way off upon the plain; here he sta-
tioned his father’s follower Phoenix as umpire, to note the
running, and report truly.
At the same instant they all of them lashed their horses,
struck them with the reins, and shouted at them with all
their might. They flew full speed over the plain away from
the ships, the dust rose from under them as it were a cloud
or whirlwind, and their manes were all flying in the wind.
At one moment the chariots seemed to touch the ground,
and then again they bounded into the air; the drivers stood
erect, and their hearts beat fast and furious in their lust
of victory. Each kept calling on his horses, and the horses
scoured the plain amid the clouds of dust that they raised.
It was when they were doing the last part of the course
on their way back towards the sea that their pace was
strained to the utmost and it was seen what each could do.
The horses of the descendant of Pheres now took the lead,
and close behind them came the Trojan stallions of Di-
omed. They seemed as if about to mount Eumelus’s chariot,
and he could feel their warm breath on his back and on his
broad shoulders, for their heads were close to him as they
flew over the course. Diomed would have now passed him,
or there would have been a dead heat, but Phoebus Apollo
to spite him made him drop his whip. Tears of anger fell
from his eyes as he saw the mares going on faster than ever,
while his own horses lost ground through his having no
whip. Minerva saw the trick which Apollo had played the
son of Tydeus, so she brought him his whip and put spirit
into his horses; moreover she went after the son of Admetus