ng the city and were determined to take it,
but ere this might be there was a desperate fight in store for them.
When the sun's rays began to fall upon the earth we joined battle,
praying to Jove and to Minerva, and when the fight had begun, I was the
first to kill my man and take his horses--to wit the warrior Mulius. He
was son-in-law to Augeas, having married his eldest daughter,
golden-haired Agamede, who knew the virtues of every herb which grows
upon the face of the earth. I speared him as he was coming towards me,
and when he fell headlong in the dust, I sprang upon his chariot and
took my place in the front ranks. The Epeans fled in all directions
when they saw the captain of their horsemen (the best man they had)
laid low, and I swept down on them like a whirlwind, taking fifty
chariots--and in each of them two men bit the dust, slain by my spear.
I should have even killed the two Moliones, sons of Actor, unless their
real father, Neptune lord of the earthquake, had hidden them in a thick
mist and borne them out of the fight. Thereon Jove vouchsafed the
Pylians a great victory, for we chased them far over the plain, killing
the men and bringing in their armour, till we had brought our horses to
Buprasium, rich in wheat, and to the Olenian rock, with the hill that
is called Alision, at which point Minerva turned the people back. There
I slew the last man and left him; then the Achaeans drove their horses
back from Buprasium to Pylos and gave thanks to Jove among the gods,
and among mortal men to Nestor.

"Such was I among my peers, as surely as ever was, but Achilles is for
keeping all his valour for himself; bitterly will he rue it hereafter
when the host is being cut to pieces. My good friend, did not Menoetius
charge you thus, on the day when he sent you from Phthia to Agamemnon?
Ulysses and I were in the house, inside, and heard all that he said to
you; for we came to the fair house of Peleus while beating up recruits
throughout all Achaea, and when we got there we found Menoetius and
yourself, and Achilles with you. The old knight Peleus was in the outer
court, roasting the fat thigh-bones of a heifer to Jove the lord of
thunder; and he held a gold chalice in his hand from which he poured
drink-offerings of wine over the burning sacrifice. You two were busy
cutting up the heifer, and at that moment we stood at the gates,
whereon Achilles sprang to his feet, led us by the hand into the house,
placed us at ta