Page 466 - the-iliad
P. 466

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
   461   462   463   464   465   466   467   468   469   470   471