HOMER'S ILIAD COMPLETE

Rhapsody 23

Literally Translated, with Explanatory Notes, by Theodore Alois Buckley

Homer Bilingual Anthology  Studies  Homer in Print

Page 25

"O ye sons of Atreus, and other well-greaved Greeks, we invite two men, who are very expert, raising their hands aloft, to strike for these with the fist. But to whom Apollo indeed may give victory, and all the Greeks approve, leading away the mule, patient of labour, let him conduct it to his tent; but the vanquished shall bear away a double cup."

Thus he spoke; and immediately arose a man brave and great, skilled in the art of boxing, Epeus, son of Panopeus; and grasping the patient-toiling mule, said:

"Let him draw near, whosoever will bear away the double cup; but I think that no other of the Greeks having conquered in boxing, will lead away the mule; for I boast myself to be the best man. Is it not enough that I am inferior in battle?[766] For it is by no means possible for a man to be skilled in every work. For thus I tell you, and it shall be accomplished, I will utterly fracture his body, and also break his bones. And let his friends remain here assembled, who may carry him away vanquished by my hands."

[Footnote 766: "_I.e._ is it not enough, that, though I am inferior in battle, I am superior in boxing?"—Oxford Transl.]

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