upon the plain, black and rugged and huge, wherewith he struck the mighty shield of Ajax with its seven bulls' hides, struck it on the centre of the boss, that the brass echoed around. And then again Ajax lifted a far greater stone, and swung and hurled it, exerting strength unmeasured: the rock was huge as a mill-stone, and with the blow he crushed in the shield, and bore down Hector from his feet, so that he lay full length upon his back, dashed against the shield; but straight Apollo raised him. W. E. C.

II.

AJAX AND ODYSSEUS.

Then those two put on their belts, and stepped into the lists, and gripped each the other in his arms with sturdy hands, as grip the cross-beams of some lofty roof, which a builder of fame hath fitted, heedful against rude winds.

And then the backs creaked under the stubborn strain from the bold hands, and down flowed the trickling sweat, and thick on side and shoulder the bloodshot weals sprang up; but still they strove hard for victory, to win the well-wrought tripod. Neither could Odysseus trip his man and bring him to earth, nor could Ajax: the mighty strength of Odysseus withheld him. But when at last they began to weary the well-greaved Achaeans, then to Odysseus spake the great Ajax, the son of Telamon: 'Heaven-born son of Laertes, Odysseus of many a wile, do thou lift me, or I'll lift thee; and the end shall rest with Zeus.'

ὡς εἰπὼν ἀνάειρε· δόλου δ ̓ οὐ λήθετ' Οδυσσεύς κόψ ̓ ἔπιθεν κώληπα τυχῶν, ὑπέλυσε δὲ γυῖα κὰδ δ ̓ ἔβαλ ̓ ἐξοπίσω· ἐπὶ δὲ στήθεσσιν Οδυσσεὺς κάππεσε· λαοὶ δ ̓ αὖ θηεῦντό τε θάμβησαν τε. δεύτερος αὖτ ̓ ἀνάειρε πολύτλας δίoς Οδυσσεύς· κίνησεν δ ̓ ἄρα τυτθὸν ἀπὸ χθονός, οὐδέ τ ̓ ἄειρεν ἐν δὲ γόνυ γνάμψεν· ἐπὶ δὲ χθονὶ κάππεσον ἄμφω πλησίοι ἀλλήλοισι μιάνθησαν δὲ κονίῃ. καί νύ κε τὸ τρίτον αὖτις ἀναΐξαντ ̓ ἐπάλαιον, εἰ μὴ ̓Αχιλλεὺς αὐτὸς ἀνίστατο καὶ κατέρυκεν· μηκέτ ̓ ἐρείδεσθον μήτε τρίβεσθε κακοῖσιν· νίκη δ ̓ ἀμφοτέροισιν· ἀέθλια δ ̓ ἴσ ̓ ἀνελόντες ἔρχεσθ', ὄφρα καὶ ἄλλοι ἀεθλεύωσιν Αχαιοί. Iliad XXIII. 710-737.

III.

ΟΔΥΣΣΕΩΣ ΔΟΛΟΣ.

αὐτόν μιν πληγῇσιν ἀεικελίῃσι δαμάσσας, σπεῖρα κάκ' ἀμφ' ώμοισι βαλών, οἰκῆι ἐοικώς ἀνδρῶν δυσμενέων κατέδυ πόλιν εὐρυάγυιαν ἄλλῳ δ ̓ αὑτὸν φωτὶ κατακρύπτων ἤΐσκεν, δέκτῃ, ὃς οὐδὲν τοῖος ἔην ἐπὶ νηυσὶν ̓Αχαιῶν. τῷ ἔκελος κατέδυ Τρώων πόλιν· οἱ δ ̓ ἀβάκησαν πάντες· ἐγὼ δέ μιν οἴη ἀνέγνων τοῖον ἐόντα καί μιν ἀνηρώτων· ὁ δὲ κερδοσύνῃ ἀλέεινεν. ἀλλ ̓ ὅτε δή μιν ἐγὼ λόεον καὶ χρῖον ἐλαίῳ, ἀμφὶ δὲ εἵματα ἔσσα, καὶ ὤμοσα καρτερὸν ὅρκον,

So saying, he lifted him: but Odysseus did not forget his guile; he smote him in the hollow of the knee behind with nice aim, and loosed his limbs beneath him, and threw him down backward; and Odysseus fell upon his breast: but the folk, on their part, beheld and marvelled.

Next in his turn the much-enduring, goodly Odysseus tried to lift Ajax; and so it was that he moved him a little from the ground, but could not lift him: then he bent his knee; and both fell down near each other, and were soiled with dust.

And then yet a third time they would have sprung up and wrestled, had not Achilles himself stood up and stayed them: 'Contend no more, nor wear yourselves with toils. Victory is for both: take like prizes and go your way, that other Achaeans too may try their mettle.' R. C. J.

III.

THE TRICK OF ODYSSEUS.

He scourged himself with cruel stripes, and put sorry gear on his back, and in the guise of a servant slipped into the wide-wayed town of the foemen. And for secrecy he took the semblance of another man, even a beggar, he who was in no wise such an one at the ships of the Achaeans. In this man's likeness he slipped into the Trojans' town; and they all were duped; I alone knew him again in that guise, and still questioned him; but he in his cunning avoided me. At last, when I came to wash him and anoint him with oil, and had put good raiment on him, and sworn a strong oath never to reveal

μὴ μὲν πρὶν Ὀδυσῆα μετὰ Τρώεσσ ̓ ἀναφῆναι πρίν γε τὸν ἐς νῆάς τε θοὰς κλισίας τ ̓ ἀφικέσθαι, καὶ τότε δή μοι πάντα νόον κατέλεξεν ̓Αχαιών. πολλοὺς δὲ Τρώων κτείνας ταναήκεϊ χαλκῷ ἦλθε μετ' Αργείους, κατὰ δὲ φρόνιν ἤγαγε πολλήν. ἔνθ ̓ ἄλλαι Τρωαὶ λίγ ̓ ἐκώκυον· αὐτὰρ ἐμὸν κῆρ χαῖρ ̓, ἐπεὶ ἤδη μοι κραδίη τέτραπτο νέεσθαι ἂψ οἰκόνδ'· ἄτην δὲ μετέστενον, ἣν ̓Αφροδίτη δῶχ ̓, ὅτε μ' ἤγαγε κεῖσε φίλης ἀπὸ πατρίδος αἴης παῖδά τ ̓ ἐμὴν νοσφισσαμένην θάλαμόν τε πόσιν τε οὔ του δευόμενον, οὔτ ̓ ἂρ φρένας οὔτε τι εἶδος. Odyssey IV. 244-264.

ὡς ἔφατ', οὐδ ̓ ἀπίθησε διάκτορος ἀργειφόντης. αὐτίκ ̓ ἔπειθ ̓ ὑπὸ ποσσὶν ἐδήσατο καλὰ πέδιλα ἀμβρόσια χρύσεια, τά μιν φέρον ἠμὲν ἐφ ̓ ὑγρὴν ἠδ ̓ ἐπ ̓ ἀπείρονα γαῖαν ἅμα πνοιῇς ἀνέμοιο. εἵλετο δὲ ῥάβδον, τῇ τ ̓ ἀνδρῶν ὄμματα θέλγει ὧν ἐθέλει, τοὺς δ ̓ αὖτε καὶ ὑπνώοντας ἐγείρει· τὴν μετὰ χερσὶν ἔχων πέτετο κρατὺς ἀργειφόντης Πιερίην δ' ἐπιβὰς ἐξ αἰθέρος ἔμπεσε πόντῳ· σεύατ ̓ ἔπειτ ̓ ἐπὶ κῦμα λάρῳ ὄρνιθι ἐοικώς ὥστε κατὰ δεινοὺς κόλπους ἁλὸς ἀτρυγέτοιο ἰχθὺς ἀγρώσσων πυκινὰ πτερὰ δεύεται ἅλμῃ· τῷ ἔκελος πολέεσσιν ὀχήσατο κύμασιν Ἑρμῆς.

Odysseus to the Trojans till he should have reached the swift ships and the huts, then at last he told me all the mind of the Achaeans.

And many Trojans did he slay with his long sword, before he went to the Argives and brought much knowledge back.

Then the other women of Troy wailed shrilly; but my soul was glad, for already my heart was turned to go home again; and I made moan, too late, for the madness that Aphrodite had sent me, when she brought me thither from mine own land, parted from my daughter and from bridal-chamber and from my lord, that was behind no man, be it for wit or for comeliness.

R. C. J.

IV.

KALYPSO'S ISLE.

So spake he, and the herald, the slayer of Argus, disobeyed not. Straightway he bound beneath his feet the fair magical sandals of gold, which over water and boundless land bore him swiftly as the blasts of the wind. And he took his staff, wherewith he now charms the eyes of those men whom he will, and now again rouses men from sleep. Holding the staff in his hands, away flew the mighty slayer of Argus. But when he came over against Pieria, dropping from the air upon the sea, he sped over the wave, like the cormorant which steeps its thick plumes in the brine as it fishes in the perilous gulfs of the barren waters even so Hermes rode on the myriad waves of