Verse
Iliad
Book 23, Line 708 by Samuel Butler (English)
Forthwith uprose great Ajax the son of Telamon, and crafty Odysseus, full of craft [ kerdos ] rose also. The two girded themselves and went into the middle of the ring [ agôn ]. They gripped each other in their strong hands like the rafters which some master-builder frames for the roof of a high house to keep the wind out. Their backbones cracked as they tugged at one another with their mighty arms - and sweat rained from them in torrents. Many a bloody weal sprang up on their sides and shoulders, but they kept on striving with might and main for victory and to win the tripod. Odysseus could not throw Ajax, nor Ajax him; Odysseus was too strong for him; but when the Achaeans began to tire of watching them, Ajax said to Odysseus, "Odysseus, noble son of Laertes , you shall either lift me, or I you, and let Zeus settle it between us."
IliadBook 23, Line 708Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 23
HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-23-708