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so as to avoid confusion. "Let no man," he said, "relying on his strength
or horsemanship, get before the others and engage singly with the
Trojans, nor yet let him lag behind or you will weaken your attack;
but let each when he meets an enemy's chariot throw his spear from
his own; this be much the best; this is how the men of old took towns
and strongholds; in this wise were they minded."
Thus did the old man charge them, for he had been in many a fight,
and King Agamemnon was glad. "I wish," he said to him, that your limbs
were as supple and your strength as sure as your judgment is; but
age, the common enemy of mankind, has laid his hand upon you; would
that it had fallen upon some other, and that you were still young."
And Nestor, knight of Gerene, answered, "Son of Atreus, I too would
gladly be the man I was when I slew mighty Ereuthalion; but the gods
will not give us everything at one and the same time. I was then young,
and now I am old; still I can go with my knights and give them that
counsel which old men have a right to give. The wielding of the spear
I leave to those who are younger and stronger than myself."
Agamemnon went his way rejoicing, and presently found Menestheus,
son of Peteos, tarrying in his place, and with him were the Athenians
loud of tongue in battle. Near him also tarried cunning Ulysses, with
his sturdy Cephallenians round him; they had not yet heard the battle-­‐cry,
for the ranks of Trojans and Achaeans had only just begun to move,
so they were standing still, waiting for some other columns of the
Achaeans to attack the Trojans and begin the fighting. When he saw
this Agamemnon rebuked them and said, "Son of Peteos, and you other,