birth. He sent me forth To Troy with many counsels and commands, Ever to bear myself like a brave man, And labor to excel, and never bring Dishonor on the stock from which I sprang— The bravest stock by far in Ephyra And the wide realm of Lycia. ’Tis my boast To be of such a race and such a blood.”
He spake. The warlike Diomed was glad, And, planting in the foodful earth his spear, Addressed the people’s shepherd blandly thus:—
“Most surely thou art my ancestral guest; For noble Oeneus once within his halls Received the blameless chief Bellerophon, And kept him twenty days, and they bestowed Gifts on each other, such as host and guest Exchange; a purple baldric Oeneus gave Of dazzling color, and Bellerophon A double golden goblet; this I left Within my palace when I came to Troy. Of Tydeus I remember nothing, since He left me, yet a little child, and went To Thebes, where perished such a host of Greeks. Henceforward I will be thy host and friend In Argos; thou shalt be the same to me In