“O Argives! Who with arrows only fight, Base as ye are, have ye no sense of shame? Why stand ye stupefied, like fawns, that, tired With coursing the wide pastures, stop at last, Their strength exhausted! Thus ye stand amazed, Nor think of combat. Wait ye for the hour When to your ships, with their fair-sculptured prows, Moored on the borders of the hoary deep, The Trojans come, that haply ye may see If the great hand of Jove will shield you then?”
Thus Agamemnon, as supreme in power, Threaded the warrior-files, until he came Where stood the Cretans. All in arms they stood Around Idomeneus, the great in war. Like a wild boar in strength, he led the van, And, in the rear, Meriones urged on His phalanxes. The king of men rejoiced, And blandly thus bespake Idomeneus:—
“Idomeneus! I honor thee above The other knights of Greece, as well in war As in all other labors, and no less In banquets, when the Achaian nobles charge Their goblets with the dark-red mingled wine In sign of honor. All the other Greeks Drink by a certain measure, but thy cup Stands ever full, like