1. Iliad XXIII, 335–40. Nestor was an old man, respected for his counsel, in the Greek army at Troy. The ‘post’ marks the turning-point at the other end of the stadium from the starting point. Nestor describes how to avoid a spillage in the dangerous manoeuvre of doubling back as fast as possible in a left-hand U-turn round the post.

2. Literally, ‘has conferred on’; in modern terms, ‘every skill implies an ability to understand…’