Page 473 - the-iliad

And Antilochus answered, ‘Forgive me; I am much
younger, King Menelaus, than you are; you stand higher
than I do and are the better man of the two; you know how
easily young men are betrayed into indiscretion; their tem-
pers are more hasty and they have less judgement; make due
allowances therefore, and bear with me; I will of my own
accord give up the mare that I have won, and if you claim
any further chattel from my own possessions, I would rath-
er yield it to you, at once, than fall from your good graces
henceforth, and do wrong in the sight of heaven.’
The son of Nestor then took the mare and gave her over
to Menelaus, whose anger was thus appeased; as when dew
falls upon a field of ripening corn, and the lands are bris-
tling with the harvest—even so, O Menelaus, was your heart
made glad within you. He turned to Antilochus and said,
‘Now, Antilochus, angry though I have been, I can give way
to you of my own free will; you have never been headstrong
nor ill-disposed hitherto, but this time your youth has got
the better of your judgement; be careful how you outwit
your betters in future; no one else could have brought me
round so easily, but your good father, your brother, and
yourself have all of you had infinite trouble on my behalf; I
therefore yield to your entreaty, and will give up the mare to
you, mine though it indeed be; the people will thus see that
I am neither harsh nor vindictive.’
With this he gave the mare over to Antilochus’s comrade
Noemon, and then took the cauldron. Meriones, who had
come in fourth, carried off the two talents of gold, and the
fifth prize, the two-handled urn, being unawarded, Achil-

The Iliad