Idomeneus, the Cretan leader, spake:⁠— “I know thy courage well. What need hast thou To speak as thou hast done? If all of us, The bravest of the Greeks, were set apart To form an ambush;⁠—for an ambush tries And shows men’s valor; there the craven, there The brave, is known; the coward’s color comes And goes; his spirit is not calm within His bosom, so that he can rest awhile And tremble not; he shifts his place; he sits On both his feet; his heart beats audibly Within his breast; his teeth at thought of death Chatter; the brave man’s color changes not, Nor when with other warriors he sits down In ambush is he troubled, but he longs To rise and mingle in the desperate fray;⁠— For thee, in such an ambush, none could blame Thy courage or thy skill. If there the foe Should wound thee from afar, or smite thee near, The weapon would not strike thy neck behind, Or pierce thy back, but enter at thy breast Or stomach, as thou wert advancing fast Among the foremost. But enough of this. Come! Stand we here no longer, idiot-like,