Classic Poem

xix.146

Then unto him responding answered fleet-foot Achilles:
" Atreides, most famed of the chiefs, king of men, Agamemnon,
" Thine is the power to bestow these gifts, if thou will, as in justice,
" Or to retain them. Now, though, bethink we & quick, on the instant,
" How to give battle; behoves not to use fine words, here assembled,
" Nor to delay; yet, yet is the work to be done unaccomplished;
" So that once more be Achilles sighted ahead, mid the foremost,
" Wreaking with his bronze spear-head ruin on the ranks of the Trojans
" Whereof may each one of you have thought when he grapples his foeman. "
Then unto him responding answered the crafty Odysseus.
" Drive not thus, though of valour unequalled, godlike Achilles,
" Forth against Ilion's ramparts fasting the brave sons of Achaians,
" Bent to encounter the Trojans; not a short bout will the fight be
" When once meet in the shock of the strife those masses of armed men
" Filled by God with the fury of battle each other to slaughter.
" Rather, bid thou the Achaians now on the decks of their swift ships,
" Take food, drink wine; that is the fountain of strength and endurance;
" Empty of nourishment no man face to face fighting can hold on
" Right through the long day's length till the hour of the sun's going downward.
" He, though indeed he may have good heart for the strife, in his members
" Heavily weighted will feel, unwitting, & he will be sharpest,
" Stricken by hunger & thirst, & his knees in his going will give way.
" No, but the man well sated with wine & sufficient of victuals,
" He through the length of a day engages the foemen unwearied.
" He having, truth, in his bosom a lion's heart, & his members
" Will not fail him first, not before all have gone from the combat. "