So watch’d the Trojan host; but thoughts of flight,
Companions of chill fear, from heaven infused,
Possess’d the Grecians; every leader’s heart
Bled, pierced with anguish insupportable. 
As when two adverse winds blowing from Thrace, 5
Boreas and Zephyrus, the fishy Deep
Vex sudden, all around, the sable flood
High curl’d, flings forth the salt weed on the shore
Such tempest rent the mind of every Greek. 
Forth stalk’d Atrides with heart-riving wo 10
Transfixt; he bade his heralds call by name
Each Chief to council, but without the sound
Of proclamation; and that task himself
Among the foremost sedulous perform’d. 
The sad assembly sat; when weeping fast 15
As some deep[1] fountain pours its rapid stream
Down from the summit of a lofty rock,
King Agamemnon in the midst arose,
And, groaning, the Achaians thus address’d. 
Friends, counsellors and leaders of the Greeks! 20
In dire perplexity Saturnian Jove
Involves me, cruel; he assured me erst,
And solemnly, that I should not return
Till I had wasted wall-encircled Troy;
But now (ah fraudulent and foul reverse!) 25
Commands me back inglorious to the shores
Of distant Argos, with diminish’d troops. 
So stands the purpose of almighty Jove,
Who many a citadel hath laid in dust,
And shall hereafter, matchless in his power. 30
Haste therefore.  My advice is, that we all
Fly with our fleet into our native land,
For wide-built Ilium shall not yet be ours. 
He ceased, and all sat silent; long the sons
Of Greece, o’erwhelm’d with sorrow, silent sat, 35
When thus, at last, bold Diomede began. 
Atrides! foremost of the Chiefs I rise
To contravert thy purpose ill-conceived,
And with such freedom as the laws, O King! 
Of consultation and debate allow. 40
Hear patient.  Thou hast been thyself the first
Who e’er reproach’d me in the public ear
As one effeminate and slow to fight;
How truly, let both young and old decide. 
The son of wily Saturn hath to thee 45
Given, and refused; he placed thee high in power,
Gave thee to sway the sceptre o’er us all,
But courage gave thee not, his noblest gift.[2]
Art thou in truth persuaded that the Greeks
Are pusillanimous, as thou hast said? 50
If thy own fears impel thee to depart,
Go thou, the way is open; numerous ships,
Thy followers from Mycenae, line the shore. 
But we, the rest, depart not, ’till the spoil
Of Troy reward us.  Or if all incline 55
To seek again their native home, fly all;
Myself and Sthenelus will persevere
Till Ilium fall, for with the Gods we came. 
He ended; all the admiring sons of Greece