Achilles had not risen, And said: “No longer let this strife go on, Idomeneus and Ajax! Ill such words Become you; ye would blame in other men What now ye do. Sit then among the rest, And watch the race; for soon the charioteers Contending for the victory will be here, And each of you—for well ye know the steeds Of the Greek chieftains—for himself will see Whose hold the second place, and whose are first.”
He spake: Tydides rapidly drew near, Lashing the shoulders of his steeds, and they Seemed in the air as, to complete the course, They flew along, and flung the dust they trod Back on the charioteer. All bright with tin And gold, the car rolled after them; its tires Made but a slender trace in the light dust, So rapidly they ran. And now he stopped Within the circle, while his steeds were steeped In sweat, that fell in drops from neck and breast. Then from his shining seat he leaped, and laid His scourge against the yoke. Brave Sthenelus Came forward, and at once received the prize For Diomed, and bade his comrades lead The maid away, and in their arms bear off The tripod, while himself unyoked the steeds.
Next the Neleian chief, Antilochus, Came with his coursers. More by fraud than speed He distanced Menelaus, yet that chief Drave his fleet horses near him. Just so far As runs the wheel behind a steed that draws His master swiftly o’er the plain, his tail Touching the tire with its long hairs, and small The space between them as the spacious plain Is traversed, Menelaus just so far as Was distanced by renowned Antilochus. For though at first he fell as far behind As a quoit’s cast, yet was he gaining ground Rapidly, now that Agamemnon’s mare, Aethè the stately-maned, increased her speed, And Menelaus, had the race for both Been longer, would have passed his rival by, Nor left the victory doubtful. After him, A spear’s throw distant, came Meriones, The gallant comrade of Idomeneus, Whose full-maned steeds were slower than the rest, And he unskilled in contests such as these. And last of all Eumelus came. He drew His showy chariot after him, and drave His steeds before him. Great Achilles saw With pity, and from where he stood among The Greeks addressed him thus with wingèd words:—