"Now let the boxers try their skill and hardihood," said Achilles, when
he had returned to his seat. "Here is a stout mule of six years old
for the winner, and for the loser there is a silver cup."
In answer to the challenge a huge champion named Epeus strode into the
ring, and, laying his hand on the mule, cried boastfully: "Come on,
whoever wishes to win the cup! The mule is surely mine, for there is
no boxer here who can match me. If there be anyone who would dispute
the prize with me, let him stand up, when he has made all ready for his
funeral--for I will pound his flesh, and batter his bones, until he is
fit only for burial."
Epeus, with his massive frame and brawny arms, seemed quite capable of
performing his threats, and it was some time before anyone was found
willing to face him. At last Euryalus, an Argive, whose father had
been a famous boxer, was encouraged by his friend Diomede to try his
chances in this painful and dangerous sport; and having stripped to the
waist, and bound their hands with tough leathern thongs, the two
combatants confronted each other in the centre of the ring. The
struggle was very short, for after they had fenced a little with their
fists Euryalus received a crushing blow on the side of his jaw, and
dropped in a heap where he stood, like a great fish flung by the waves
on the beach. Spitting out blood, and rolling his head from side to
side, he was led away by his friends, and Epeus carried off the mule in
triumph.
Then followed a hard-contested match between Odysseus and Telamonian
Ajax, for the championship in wrestling. Stripped, like the boxers, to
the waist, they clutched each other in a fierce embrace, and remained
thus locked together, their strong arms crossed like the rafters in a
roof, and their sides growing black under the iron pressure. They
seemed rooted to the ground, and neither could stir the other an inch.
Then Ajax, suddenly exerting his enormous strength, lifted Odysseus
bodily into the air; but Odysseus struck him with his heel behind the
knee, and they fell together, Odysseus above, and Ajax below. Rising
again to their feet they wrestled a second bout, and this time
Odysseus, though foiled in his attempt to lift the huge bulk of his
antagonist, succeeded in tripping him by a crook of the knee, and they
came down again, and lay side by side. Once more they would have
renewed the struggle, but Achilles put an end to the contest, and
awarded them an equal prize.
A beautiful silver bowl, the work of Sidonian artists, which Achilles
had once received as the ransom of the unhappy Lycaon, was now offered
as the first prize for the foot race. The second prize was a fat ox,
and the third one half of a talent of gold. There were three
competitors: the lesser Ajax, who was famed for his speed of foot,
Odysseus, and Antilochus. The distance was about a furlong, and Ajax
took the lead from the start, though Odysseus pressed him so hard that
he seemed glued to him; and so they ran, without changing their
positions, over half the course, the Greeks shouting to encourage
Odysseus, who was a popular favourite. Still Ajax held the lead, and
seemed about to win, when he slipped in a miry place, where the ground
was wet with the blood of the oxen slaughtered by Achilles at the
funeral of Patroclus, and pitched head foremost in the horrid mire,
which filled his mouth and nostrils. But he was on his feet again in a
moment, and though he could not overtake Odysseus he succeeded in
obtaining the second prize. "It is an old story," he said, holding the
ox by the horn, and spitting out the slime which filled his mouth;
"Odysseus was helped by Athene, who watches over him as a mother over
her child."
The Greeks laughed at his discomfiture, and found fresh matter for
mirth in the humorous excuses of Antilochus, who had been left far
behind in the race. "You know," he said, "that the gods are always on
the side of the elder men; Ajax is a little older than I, and Odysseus
belongs to another generation. But he is in a green old age, and none
can vie with him in speed, except only Achilles."
"Thy praise shall not be spoken for nothing," said Achilles, smiling,
and he gave him one half of a talent of gold as a reward for his good
words.
Contests in archery and throwing the weight succeeded, and an encounter
with sword and spear took place between Ajax and Diomede. Then
Achilles offered two prizes for throwing the javelin, and Agamemnon, in
recognition of his high rank and known skill in this exercise, was
allowed to take the first prize without a trial. With this incident
the games came to an end.