Page:Homer - Iliad, translation Pope, 1909.djvu/419

606—654 One length, one moment, had the race obtained.

Merion pursued, at greater distance still,

With tardier coursers, and inferior skill.

Last came, Admetus! thy unhappy son;

Slow dragged the steeds his battered chariot on;

Achilles saw, and pitying thus begun:

"Behold! the man whose matchless art surpassed

The sons of Greece! the ablest, yet the last!

Fortune denies, but justice bids us pay,

Since great Tydides bears the first away,

To him the second honours of the day."

The Greeks consent with loud applauding cries,

And then Eumelus had received the prize,

But youthful Nestor, jealous of his fame,

The award opposes, and asserts his claim:

"Think not," he cries, "I tamely will resign,

O Peleus' son! the mare so justly mine.

What if the gods, the skilful to confound,

Have thrown the horse and horseman to the ground?

Perhaps he sought not heaven by sacrifice,

And vows omitted forfeited the prize.

If yet, distinction to thy friend to show,

And please a soul desirous to bestow,

Some gift must grace Eumelus; view thy store

Of beauteous handmaids, steeds, and shining ore;

An ample present let him thence receive,

And Greece shall praise thy generous thirst to give.

But this, my prize, I never shall forgo;

This, who but touches, warriors! is my foe."

Thus spake the youth, nor did his words offend;

Pleased with the well-turned flattery of a friend,

Achilles smiled: "The gift proposed," he cried,

"Antilochus! we shall ourselves provide.

With plates of brass the corselet covered o'er,

The same renowned Asteropseus wore,

Whose glittering margins raised with silver shine,

No vulgar gift, Eumelus, shall be thine."

He said: Automedon at his command

The corselet brought, and gave it to his hand.

Distinguished by his friend, his bosom glows

With generous joy: then Menelaüs rose;

The herald placed the sceptre in his hands,

And stilled the clamour of the shouting bands.

Not without cause incensed at Nestor's son,

And inly grieving, thus the king begun:

"The praise of wisdom, in thy youth obtained,

An act so rash, Antilochus, has stained.

Robbed of my glory and my just reward,

To you, O Grecians! be my wrong declared: