Page 471 - the-iliad

of the wheel, and there is never much space between wheel
and horse when the chariot is going; Menelaus was no fur-
ther than this behind Antilochus, though at first he had
been a full disc’s throw behind him. He had soon caught
him up again, for Agamemnon’s mare Aethe kept pulling
stronger and stronger, so that if the course had been lon-
ger he would have passed him, and there would not even
have been a dead heat. Idomeneus’s brave squire Meriones
was about a spear’s cast behind Menelaus. His horses were
slowest of all, and he was the worst driver. Last of them all
came the son of Admetus, dragging his chariot and driving
his horses on in front. When Achilles saw him he was sorry,
and stood up among the Argives saying, ‘The best man is
coming in last. Let us give him a prize for it is reasonable.
He shall have the second, but the first must go to the son of
Tydeus.’
Thus did he speak and the others all of them applauded
his saying, and were for doing as he had said, but Nestor’s
son Antilochus stood up and claimed his rights from the
son of Peleus. ‘Achilles,’ said he, ‘I shall take it much amiss
if you do this thing; you would rob me of my prize, be-
cause you think Eumelus’s chariot and horses were thrown
out, and himself too, good man that he is. He should have
prayed duly to the immortals; he would not have come in
last if he had done so. If you are sorry for him and so choose,
you have much gold in your tents, with bronze, sheep, cattle
and horses. Take something from this store if you would
have the Achaeans speak well of you, and give him a better
prize even than that which you have now offered; but I will

0 The Iliad