Page 72 - the-iliad

their horses well in hand, so as to avoid confusion. ‘Let no
man,’ he said, ‘relying on his strength or horsemanship, get
before the others and engage singly with the Trojans, nor
yet let him lag behind or you will weaken your attack; but
let each when he meets an enemy’s chariot throw his spear
from his own; this be much the best; this is how the men
of old took towns and strongholds; in this wise were they
minded.’
Thus did the old man charge them, for he had been in
many a fight, and King Agamemnon was glad. ‘I wish,’
he said to him, ‘that your limbs were as supple and your
strength as sure as your judgment is; but age, the common
enemy of mankind, has laid his hand upon you; would
that it had fallen upon some other, and that you were still
young.’
And Nestor, knight of Gerene, answered, ‘Son of Atreus,
I too would gladly be the man I was when I slew mighty
Ereuthalion; but the gods will not give us everything at one
and the same time. I was then young, and now I am old; still
I can go with my knights and give them that counsel which
old men have a right to give. The wielding of the spear I
leave to those who are younger and stronger than myself.’
Agamemnon went his way rejoicing, and presently found
Menestheus, son of Peteos, tarrying in his place, and with
him were the Athenians loud of tongue in battle. Near him
also tarried cunning Ulysses, with his sturdy Cephalleni-
ans round him; they had not yet heard the battle-cry, for the
ranks of Trojans and Achaeans had only just begun to move,
so they were standing still, waiting for some other columns

1