Page:The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer (IA iliadodysseyofho02home).pdf/440

432 In work against each other, thou and I, Mowing in spring-time, when the days are long, I with my well-bent sickle in my hand, Thou arm'd with one as keen, for trial sake Of our ability to toil unfed Till night, grass still sufficing for the proof.— Or if, again, it were our task to drive Yoked oxen of the noblest breed, sleek-hair'd, Big-limb'd, both batten'd to the full with grass, Their age and aptitude for work the same Not soon to be fatigued, and were the field In size four acres, with a glebe through which The share might smoothly slide, then should'st thou see How strait my furrow should be cut and true.— Or should Saturnian Jove this day excite Here, battle, or elsewhere, and were I arm'd With two bright spears and with a shield, and bore A brazen casque well-fitted to my brows, Me, then, thou should'st perceive mingling in fight Amid the foremost Chiefs, nor with the crime Of idle beggary should'st upbraid me more. But thou art much a railer, one whose heart Pity moves not, and seem'st a mighty man And valiant to thyself, only because Thou herd'st with few, and those of little worth. But should Ulysses come, at his own isle Again arrived, wide as these portals are,