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one side or to the other-­‐ even so did Meriones and Idomeneus, captains
of men, go out to battle clad in their bronze armour. Meriones was
first to speak. "Son of Deucalion," said he, "where would you have
us begin fighting? On the right wing of the host, in the centre, or
on the left wing, where I take it the Achaeans will be weakest?"
Idomeneus answered, "There are others to defend the centre-­‐ the two
Ajaxes and Teucer, who is the finest archer of all the Achaeans, and
is good also in a hand-­‐to-­‐hand fight. These will give Hector son of
Priam enough to do; fight as he may, he will find it hard to vanquish
their indomitable fury, and fire the ships, unless the son of Saturn
fling a firebrand upon them with his own hand. Great Ajax son of Telamon
will yield to no man who is in mortal mould and eats the grain of
Ceres, if bronze and great stones can overthrow him. He would not
yield even to Achilles in hand-­‐to-­‐hand fight, and in fleetness of
foot there is none to beat him; let us turn therefore towards the
left wing, that we may know forthwith whether we are to give glory
to some other, or he to us."
Meriones, peer of fleet Mars, then led the way till they came to the
part of the host which Idomeneus had named.
Now when the Trojans saw Idomeneus coming on like a flame of fire,
him and his squire clad in their richly wrought armour, they shouted
and made towards him all in a body, and a furious hand-­‐to-­‐hand fight
raged under the ships' sterns. Fierce as the shrill winds that whistle
upon a day when dust lies deep on the roads, and the gusts raise it
into a thick cloud-­‐ even such was the fury of the combat, and might