Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
for fear of a foul, but Antilochus turned his horses out of the way,
and followed him a little on one side. The son of Atreus was afraid
and shouted out, “Antilochus, you are driving recklessly; rein in
your horses; the road is too narrow here, it will be wider soon, and
you can pass me then; if you foul my chariot you may bring both of
us to a mischief.”
But Antilochus plied his whip, and drove faster, as though he had
not heard him. They went side by side for about as far as a young
man can hurl a disc from his shoulder when he is trying his
strength, and then Menelaus’s mares drew behind, for he left off
driving for fear the horses should foul one another and upset the
chariots; thus, while pressing on in quest of victory, they might
both come headlong to the ground. Menelaus then upbraided
Antilochus and said, “There is no greater trickster living than you
are; go, and bad luck go with you; the Achaeans say not well that
you have understanding, and come what may you shall not bear
away the prize without sworn protest on my part.”
Then he called on his horses and said to them, “Keep your pace,
and slacken not; the limbs of the other horses will weary sooner
than yours, for they are neither of them young.”
The horses feared the rebuke of their master, and went faster, so
that they were soon nearly up with the others.
Meanwhile the Achaeans from their seats were watching how the
horses went, as they scoured the plain amid clouds of their own
dust. Idomeneus captain of the Cretans was first to make out the
running, for he was not in the thick of the crowd, but stood on the
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