“Consider well, my friends. My counsel is That we return, nor wait the holy morn Here, by the fleet and in the open plain, Far from our city ramparts. While this man Was wroth with Agamemnon, we maintained A strife of far less peril with the Greeks, And I was ever ready to encamp By night beside the galleys, which we hoped To make our prize; but now I fear the might Of swift Pelides. He will not remain Content upon the space between the fleet And town, where Greeks and Trojans wage a war Of changeful fortune, but will strive to take The city, and to carry off our wives. March we then homeward. Let my words prevail⁠— It must be so. The gentle Night now keeps The nimble-footed hero from the war. But if tomorrow, issuing forth in arms, He find us here, there are among us those Who will have cause to know him. Gladly then Will he find refuge who escapes his arm In sacred Troy, and many a Trojan corpse Will feed the dogs and vultures. May mine ear Hear of it never. But if ye will heed