them: this was for the victor, and for the vanquished he offered a
double cup. Then he stood up and said among the Argives, "Son of
Atreus, and all other Achaeans, I invite our two champion boxers to lay
about them lustily and compete for these prizes. He to whom Apollo
vouchsafes the greater endurance, and whom the Achaeans acknowledge as
victor, shall take the mule back with him to his own tent, while he
that is vanquished shall have the double cup."

As he spoke there stood up a champion both brave and of great stature,
a skilful boxer, Epeus, son of Panopeus. He laid his hand on the mule
and said, "Let the man who is to have the cup come hither, for none but
myself will take the mule. I am the best boxer of all here present, and
none can beat me. Is it not enough that I should fall short of you in
actual fighting? Still, no man can be good at everything. I tell you
plainly, and it shall come true; if any man will box with me I will
bruise his body and break his bones; therefore let his friends stay
here in a body and be at hand to take him away when I have done with
him."

They all held their peace, and no man rose save Euryalus son of
Mecisteus, who was son of Talaus. Mecisteus went once to Thebes after
the fall of Oedipus, to attend his funeral, and he beat all the people
of Cadmus. The son of Tydeus was Euryalus's second, cheering him on and
hoping heartily that he would win. First he put a waistband round him
and then he gave him some well-cut thongs of ox-hide; the two men being
now girt went into the middle of the ring, and immediately fell to;
heavily indeed did they punish one another and lay about them with
their brawny fists. One could hear the horrid crashing of their jaws,
and they sweated from every pore of their skin. Presently Epeus came on
and gave Euryalus a blow on the jaw as he was looking round; Euryalus
could not keep his legs; they gave way under him in a moment and he
sprang up with a bound, as a fish leaps into the air near some shore
that is all bestrewn with sea-wrack, when Boreas furs the top of the
waves, and then falls back into deep water. But noble Epeus caught hold
of him and raised him up; his comrades also came round him and led him
from the ring, unsteady in his gait, his head hanging on one side, and
spitting great clots of gore. They set him down in a swoon and then
went to fetch the double cup.

The son of Peleus now brought out the prizes for the third contest and
showed t