τόνδὲ ἰδὼν ῥίγησε βοὴν ἀγαθὸς Διομήδης:
ὡς δ' ὅτ' ἀνὴρ ἀπάλαμνος ἰὼν πολέος πεδίοιο
στῄη ἐπ' ὠκυρόῳ ποταμῷ ἅλαδε προρέοντϊ
ἀφρῷ μορμύροντα ἰδὼν ἀνά τ' ἔδραμ' ὀπίσσω:
ὣς τότε Τυδείδης ἀνεχάζετο εἶπὲ τε λαῷ
ὦ φίλοι: οἷον δὴ θαυμάζομεν Ἕκτορα δῖον
αἰχμητήν τ' ἔμεναι καὶ θαρσαλέον πολεμιστήν:
τῷ δ' αἰεὶ πάρα εἷς γε θεῶν: ὃς λοιγὸν ἀμύνει:
καὶ νῦν οἱ πάρα κεῖνος Ἄρης βροτῷ ἀνδρὶ ἐοικώς:
ἀλλὰ πρὸς Τρῶας τετραμμένοι αἰὲν ὀπίσσω
εἴκετε: μὴδὲ θεοῖς μενεαινέμεν ἶφι μαχεσθαι:
At sight of him Diomedes, good at the war-cry shuddered; and even as a man in passing over a great plain halteth in dismay at a swift-streaming river that floweth on to the sea, and seeing it seething with foam starteth backward, even so now did the son of Tydeus give ground, and he spake to the host: "Friends, look you how we were ever wont to marvel at goodly Hector, deeming him a spearman and a dauntless warrior; whereas ever by his side is some god that wardeth from him ruin, even as now Ares is by his side in the likeness of a mortal man. But with faces turned toward the Trojans give ye ground ever backwards, neither rage ye to fight amain with gods."
