“O friends! the chiefs and princes of the Greeks! Saturnian Jove hath in an evil snare Most cruelly entangled me. He gave His promise once that I should overthrow This strong-walled Ilium, and return; but now He meditates a fraud, and sends me back To Argos without glory, and with loss Of many warriors. Thus doth it seem good Doubtless to Jove Almighty, who hath cast The towers of many a city down to earth, And will cast others down⁠—his might excels All other might. But let us now obey, As I shall counsel you, and in our ships Haste to our own dear country; for I see That Troy with its broad streets can ne’er be ours.”

He spake; and all were silent. Silent long Remained the sorrow-stricken sons of Greece, Till Diomed, the brave in battle, spake:⁠—