Iliad

Then said Diomedes, "Such an one is at hand; he is not far to seek, if you will listen to me and not resent my speaking though I am younger than any of you. I am by lineage son to a noble sire, Tydeus, who lies buried at Thebes . For Portheus had three noble sons, two of whom, Agrios and Melas , abode in Pleuron and rocky Calydon. The third was the horseman Oeneus, my father's father, and he was the most valor [ aretê ] of them all. Oeneus remained in his own country, but my father (as Zeus and the other gods ordained it) migrated to Argos . He married into the family of Adrastos, and his house was one of great abundance, for he had large estates of fertile grain-growing land, with much orchard ground as well, and he had many sheep; moreover he excelled all the Argives in the use of the spear. You must yourselves have heard whether these things are true or no; therefore when I say well despise not my words as though I were a coward or of ignoble birth. I say, then, let us go to the fight as we needs must, wounded though we be. When there, we may keep out of the battle and beyond the range of the spears lest we get fresh wounds in addition to what we have already, but we can spur on others, who have been indulging their spleen and holding aloof from battle hitherto."

IliadBook 14, Line 109Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 14

HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-14-109