He spake; and all were silent. Silent long Remained the sorrow-stricken sons of Greece, Till Diomed, the brave in battle, spake:—
“First of the chiefs I speak, to disapprove, Atrides, thy rash purpose: ’tis my right In council; nor, O king, be thou displeased. Thou first among the Greeks hast taunted me With lack of valor, calling me unapt For war and weak of arm. The young and old Have heard the taunt. One of two gifts the son Of wily Saturn hath bestowed on thee: High rank and rule o’er all the rest he gave, But gave thee not the nobler quality Of fortitude. Dost thou then truly deem The Greeks unapt for war and weak of arm, As thou hast said? Thou longest to return: Go, then; the way is open; by the sea The barques that brought thee from Mycenae lie, A numerous fleet. Yet others will remain— Long haired Achaians—till we overthrow The city. Should they also pine for home, Then let them flee, with all their ships; while I With Sthenelus fight on until we make An end of Troy—for with the gods we came.”
He spake. The Greeks applauded; all admired The words of the horse-tamer Diomed. Nestor the knight then rose, and thus he spake:—
“O son of Tydeus, eminently brave Art thou among thy comrades in the field, And great in council. No one here condemns The sentence thou hast given; among the Greeks Is no one who denies what thou hast said; Yet hast thou not said all. Thy years are few— So few, thou mightest be my youngest son; And yet thou speakest wisely to the kings Of Greece, and thy discourse is just and right. Now I, who boast of far more years than thou, Will speak of this that yet remains, and none— Not even Agamemnon—will gainsay What I advise. A wretch without a tie Of kin, a lawless man without a home, Is he who takes delight in civil strifes. But let us now give way to the dark night, And make our banquets ready. Let the guards Lie down within the trenches which we digged Without the wall: be this the young men’s charge. And thou, Atrides, do thou now begin, Who art supreme, and make a feast for all The elder chiefs; it