SWIFT AND OLD-GOLD 1 83 



you are already well-nigh large enough for it to 

 fit you becomingly. See this fair, round shield 

 with many an image of beauty graven upon it, 

 and this helmet with its nodding horsehair plume 

 — was ever anything so delightsome to a young 

 warrior's eye ? And here is the ashen spear which 

 not one of our Myrmidons is strong enough to 

 wield, but which your stout arms will soon be 

 able to hurl. And, lastly, here are Swift and 

 Old-Gold, the noblest war steeds that any mortal 

 ever owned. All these things are yours, my son ! " 



SECOND HEAT BEFORE TROY 



As I have set out to tell you only about a famous 

 team of horses, I shall not be expected to relate 

 the history of that ever-memorable war in which 

 Swift and Old-Gold acted so important a part — 

 the war which the Greeks waged against Troy 

 on the farther side of the ^gean Sea. Hence I 

 shall not stop to explain the causes of that war, 

 how they began at old Peleus's wedding feast 

 and became active when beautiful Helen of Argos 

 was carried away by Prince Paris of Troy. Nor 

 shall I tell how King Agamemnon lighted the war 

 fires on every hilltop of Greece and summoned 



