Page 469 - the-iliad

hear him shouting, and could see the foremost horse quite
plainly—a chestnut with a round white star, like the moon,
on its forehead. He stood up and said among the Argives,
‘My friends, princes and counsellors of the Argives, can you
see the running as well as I can? There seems to be another
pair in front now, and another driver; those that led off at
the start must have been disabled out on the plain. I saw
them at first making their way round the doubling-post, but
now, though I search the plain of Troy, I cannot find them.
Perhaps the reins fell from the driver’s hand so that he lost
command of his horses at the doubling-post, and could not
turn it. I suppose he must have been thrown out there, and
broken his chariot, while his mares have left the course and
gone off wildly in a panic. Come up and see for yourselves,
I cannot make out for certain, but the driver seems an Ae-
tolian by descent, ruler over the Argives, brave Diomed the
son of Tydeus.’
Ajax the son of Oileus took him up rudely and said,
‘Idomeneus, why should you be in such a hurry to tell us all
about it, when the mares are still so far out upon the plain?
You are none of the youngest, nor your eyes none of the
sharpest, but you are always laying down the law. You have
no right to do so, for there are better men here than you are.
Eumelus’s horses are in front now, as they always have been,
and he is on the chariot holding the reins.’
The captain of the Cretans was angry, and answered, ‘Ajax
you are an excellent railer, but you have no judgement, and
are wanting in much else as well, for you have a vile temper.
I will wager you a tripod or cauldron, and Agamemnon son

The Iliad