Discreetly did Meriones reply:⁠— “Idomeneus, whose sovereign counsels rule The well-armed Cretans, I am come to seek A spear if one be left within thy tents. I broke the one I bore, in hurling it Against the shield of fierce Deïphobus.”

The Cretan chief, Idomeneus, rejoined:⁠— “If spears thou seek, there stand within my tent Twenty and one against the shining walls. I took them from slain Trojans. ’Tis my wont Never to fight at distance from the foe, And therefore have I spears, and bossy shields, And helms, and body-mail of polished brass.”

Then spake in turn discreet Meriones:⁠— “Within my tent are also many spoils Won from the Trojans, and in my black ship; But they are far away. I do not think That I forget what valor is. I fight Among the foremost in the glorious strife Where’er the battle calls me. Other men Among the well-armed Greeks may not have seen What I perform, but thou must know me well.”