He spake, and warlike Polypoetes rose. Uprose the strong Leonteus, who in form Was like a god. The son of Telamon Rose also, and Epeius nobly born; Each took his place. Epeius seized the mass, And sent it whirling. All the Achaians laughed. The loved of Mars, Leonteus, flung it next, And after him the son of Telamon, The large-limbed Ajax, from his vigorous arm Sent it beyond the mark of both. But when The sturdy warrior Polypoetes took The mass in hand, as far as o’er his beeves A herdsman sends his whirling staff, so far This cast outdid the rest. A shout arose; The friends of sturdy Polypoetes took The prize, and bore it to the hollow ships.
Achilles for the archers brought forth steel, Tempered for arrow-heads—ten axes, each With double edge, and single axes ten— And from a galley’s azure prow took off A mast, and reared it on the sands afar, And, tying to its summit by the foot A timorous dove, he bade them aim at her: “Whoever strikes the bird shall bear away The double axes to his tent; while he Who hits the cord, but not the bird, shall take The single axes, as the humbler prize.”
He ceased, and then arose the stalwart king, Teucer; then