overlaps a part with her prow. Then, pacing amidships among his crew, Mnestheus cheers them on: “Now, now, rise to the oars, comrades of Hector, you whom in Troy’s last hour I chose as my followers; now put forth that strength, that courage, which you showed in Gaetulian quicksands, on the Ionian sea, and amid Malea’s racing waves! No longer do I, Mnestheus, seek the first place, no longer do I strive to win; yet oh!

– but let those conquer to whom you, Neptune, have granted it – it would be shame to return last! Win but this, my countrymen, and ward off disgrace!” Straining to the utmost, his men bend forward; with their mighty strokes the brazen poop quivers, and the sea floor flies from under them. Then rapid panting shakes their limbs and parched mouths, and sweat streams down all