Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
challenged them to contests of all kinds, and in each one of them
was at once victorious, so mightily did Minerva help him. The
Cadmeans were incensed at his success, and set a force of fifty
youths with two captains- the godlike hero Maeon, son of Haemon,
and Polyphontes, son of Autophonus- at their head, to lie in wait
for him on his return journey; but Tydeus slew every man of them,
save only Maeon, whom he let go in obedience to heaven’s omens.
Such was Tydeus of Aetolia. His son can talk more glibly, but he
cannot fight as his father did.”
Diomed made no answer, for he was shamed by the rebuke of
Agamemnon; but the son of Capaneus took up his words and said,
“Son of Atreus, tell no lies, for you can speak truth if you will. We
boast ourselves as even better men than our fathers; we took sevengated
Thebes, though the wall was stronger and our men were
fewer in number, for we trusted in the omens of the gods and in the
help of Jove, whereas they perished through their own sheer folly;
hold not, then, our fathers in like honour with us.”
Diomed looked sternly at him and said, “Hold your peace, my
friend, as I bid you. It is not amiss that Agamemnon should urge
the Achaeans forward, for the glory will be his if we take the city,
and his the shame if we are vanquished. Therefore let us acquit
ourselves with valour.”
As he spoke he sprang from his chariot, and his armour rang so
fiercely about his body that even a brave man might well have
been scared to hear it.
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