Meriones

Idomeneus, counsellor of the brazen-coated Cretans, I am on my way to fetch a spear, if perchance thou hast one left in the huts; for the one that I bare of old have I shattered, as I cast at the shield of the overweening Deïphobus. And to him Idomeneus, leader of the Cretans, made answer:

but I take my stand amid the foremost in battle, where men win glory, whenso the strife of war ariseth. Some other of the brazen-coated Achaeans might sooner be unaware of my fighting, but thou methinks of thine own self knowest it well.

do the long-haired Achaeans so fail in the fight.

Aeneas, hard were it for thee, valiant though thou art, to quench the might of every man, whosoever cometh against thee to rake defence. Of mortal stuff, I ween, art thou as well. If so be I should cast, and smite thee fairly with my sharp spear, quickly then, for all thou art strong and trustest in thy hands,shouldst thou yield glory to me, and thy soul to Hades of the goodly steeds. So spake he, but the valiant son of Menoetius rebuked him, saying: Meriones, wherefore dost thou, that art a man of valour, speak on this wise? Good friend, it is not for words of reviling that the Trojans will give ground from the corpse; ere that shall the earth hold many a one.For in our hands is the issue of war; that of words is in the council. Wherefore it beseemeth not in any wise to multiply words, but to fight. So saying, he led the way, and the other followed, a godlike man. And from them—even as the din ariseth of woodcutters in the glades of a mountain, and afar is the sound thereof heard— shouldst thou yield glory to me, and thy soul to Hades of the goodly steeds.