Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
Thereon the son of Peleus, when he had listened to all the thanks of
Nestor, went about among the concourse of the Achaeans, and
presently offered prizes for skill in the painful art of boxing. He
brought out a strong mule, and made it fast in the middle of the
crowd- a she-mule never yet broken, but six years old- when it is
hardest of all to break them: this was for the victor, and for the
vanquished he offered a double cup. Then he stood up and said
among the Argives, “Son of Atreus, and all other Achaeans, I invite
our two champion boxers to lay about them lustily and compete
for these prizes. He to whom Apollo vouchsafes the greater
endurance, and whom the Achaeans acknowledge as victor, shall
take the mule back with him to his own tent, while he that is
vanquished shall have the double cup.”
As he spoke there stood up a champion both brave and great
stature, a skilful boxer, Epeus, son of Panopeus. He laid his hand
on the mule and said, “Let the man who is to have the cup come
hither, for none but myself will take the mule. I am the best boxer
of all here present, and none can beat me. Is it not enough that I
should fall short of you in actual fighting? Still, no man can be
good at everything. I tell you plainly, and it shall come true; if any
man will box with me I will bruise his body and break his bones;
therefore let his friends stay here in a body and be at hand to take
him away when I have done with him.”
They all held their peace, and no man rose save Euryalus son of
Mecisteus, who was son of Talaus. Mecisteus went once to Thebes
after the fall of Oedipus, to attend his funeral, and he beat all the
people of Cadmus. The son of Tydeus was Euryalus’s second,
cheering him on and hoping heartily that he would win. First he
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