So saying, he raised Ulysses.  But the Wily One did not forget his craft.  From behind, he struck the hollow of Ajax’s knee, and threw him on his back; and Ulysses fell upon him; and the people marveled.  Then, in his turn, Ulysses tried to lift huge Ajax, but could not; so he thrust his crooked knee into the hollow of the other’s; and they again both fell to the ground, covered with dust.  When they rose for a third bout, Achilles restrained them.  “No longer wear ye one another out, with toil and pain!  Ye both have won and shall receive equal prizes!” And they cleansed themselves, and put on their doublets.

Then the noble son of Peleus offered prizes for the foot-race; the first, a silver krater holding six measures, curiously chased by Sidonian artists—­by far the most beautiful mixing-cup in the whole world.  For the second he offered a stalled ox; and for the third, half a talent of gold.  The wondrous krater Phoenicians had brought by sea, and given it to Thoas, the ruler of Lemnos; and Euneus, son of Jason, inherited it from Jason, who received it from Thoas, his father-in-law; and Euneus gave it to the hero Patroclus, as a ransom for Lycaon, son of Priam; this splendid goblet was offered to the swiftest of foot.

Then three valiant heroes arose:  Ajax, son of Oileus; Ulysses, the wily one; and Antilochus, the best runner of the youths.  Achilles ranged them side by side, and showed them the goal.  All started at full speed; but Ajax soon took the lead; and Ulysses came close behind him, near as the shuttle to the breast of a fair-girdled woman when she is weaving,—­so near that his breath was warm on the back of Ajax.  But as they neared the goal, the wily Ulysses prayed to the fierce-eyed Athene, “O goddess, come and help my feet!” And Athene heard her favorite, and strengthened all his limbs.  But just as they were about to pounce upon the prize, Ajax slipped in the blood of the slaughtered oxen, and fell; his mouth and nostrils were filled with dirt and gore.  So the patient Ulysses took the priceless krater, and Ajax the fatted ox.  But Ajax, holding his prize by the horn, and spitting the filth from his mouth, spake to the Achaians:  “O fie upon it! it was the goddess who betrayed me; she who is ever near to Ulysses, as a mother to her child.”  And the Achaians laughed merrily, to see him in such a sorry plight.

Antilochus, smiling, took the last prize, half a talent of gold; and he too spake winged words to the Argives:  “My friends, ye too will agree with me that the deathless Gods show favor to the older men.  Ajax is a little older than I; but Ulysses is of a former generation.  It were not easy for any one, except Achilles, fleet of foot, to outrun him.”

Achilles was pleased at the honor done to his swiftness.  “Not unrewarded,” he said, “shall the praise be which thou hast bestowed on me:  I give thee another half-talent of gold.”  Antilochus received it gladly.  Then the assembly was dissolved, and the Achaians dispersed, each to his own ship.