These were the chiefs and princes of the Greeks. Say, Muse, who most excelled among the kings, And which the noblest steeds, of all that came With the two sons of Atreus to the war? The noblest steeds were those in Pherae bred, That, guided by Eumelus, flew like birds⁠— Alike in hue and age; the plummet showed Their height the same, and both were mares, and, reared By Phoebus of the silver bow among The meadows of Pieria, they became The terror of the bloody battle-field. The mightiest of the chiefs, while yet in wrath Achilles kept aloof, was Ajax, son Of Telamon; yet was Pelides far The greater warrior, and the steeds which bore That perfect hero were of noblest breed. In his beaked galleys, swift to cut the sea, Achilles lay, meanwhile, and nursed the wrath He bore to Agamemnon, Atreus’ son, The shepherd of the people. On the beach His warriors took their sport with javelins And quoits and bows, while near the chariots tied The horses, standing, browsed on lotus-leaves And parsley from the marshes. But beneath