Yet is his verily a green old age; hardly may any of the Greeks strive with him, but only Achilles himself."
This was Achilles well pleased to hear, and said: "Thou shalt not praise me in vain, Antilochus. Take now another half talent to thy half."
And he gave him the gold, and Antilochus took it, and was glad.
Then did Achilles set in the midst a long-shafted spear, and a shield, and a helmet. The arms of Sarpedon they were, which Patroclus had taken from him on the plain of Troy, in the day wherein he also had been slain. And he spake, saying: "Now let two chiefs, such as are the bravest among the men of Greece, come forth and fight for the mastery, having armed themselves as if for the battle. And it shall be that he who shall first pierce the skin of him that standeth against him shall have the victory. To him will I give this sword, with studs of silver, fair work of Thrace, which I took from the great Asteropæus. As for these arms, the two shall divide them. Also to both will I give a great banquet in my tent."
