Ὡς ἔφαθ', οἳ δ`' ἄρα πάντες ἀκὴν ἐγένοντο σιωπῇ:
δὴν δ' ἄνεῳ, ἦσαν τετιηότες υἷες Ἀχαιῶν:
ὀψὲ δὲ δὴ μετέειπε βοὴν ἀγαθὸς Διομήδης.
Ἀτρείδη: σοὶ πρῶτα μαχήσομαι ἀφραδέοντι
ἡ θέμις ἐστὶν ἄναξ ἀγορῇ. σὺ δὲ μή τι χολωθῇς:
ἀλκὴν μέν μοι πρῶτον ὀνείδισας ἐν Δαναοῖσι
φὰς, ἐμεν, ἀπτόλεμον καὶ ἀνάλκιδα, ταῦτα δὲ πάντα
ἴ̈σασ' Ἀργείων ἠμὲν νέοι ἠδὲ γέροντες:
σοὶ δὲ διάνδιχα δῶκε Κρόνου παῖς ἀγκυλομήτεω:
σκήπτρῳ μέν τοι δῶκε τετιμῆσθαι περὶ πάντων:
ἀλκὴν δ' οὔ τοι δῶκεν. ὅ τε, κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον:
δαιμόνι': οὕτω που μάλα ἔλπεαι υἷας Ἀχαιῶν
ἀπτολέμους τ' έμεναι καὶ ἀνάλκιδας ὡς αγορεύεις:
εἰ δέ τοι αὐτῷ θυμὸς ἐπέσσυται ὥς τε νέεσθαι:
ἔρχεο: πάρ τοι, ὁδός: νῆες δέ τοι: ἄγχι θαλάσσης
ἑστᾶσ'. αἵ τοι ἕποντο Μυκήνηθεν μάλα πολλαί:
ἀλλ' ἄλλοι, μενέουσι κάρη κομόωντες Ἀχαιοὶ
εἰςόκε περ Τροίην διαπέρσομεν: εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτοὶ.
φευγόντων συν νηυσὶ φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
νῶϊ δ' ἐγὼ Σθένελός τε μαχησόμεθ'. εἰςόκε τέκμωρ
Ἰ̈λίου εὕρωμεν: σὺν γὰρ θεῷ εἰλήλουθμεν.
So spake he, and they all became hushed in silence. Long time were they silent in their grief, the sons of the Achaeans, but at length there spake among them Diomedes, good at the war-cry: "Son of Atreus, with thee first will I contend in thy folly, where it is meet, O king, even in the place of gathering: and be not thou anywise wroth thereat. My valour didst thou revile at the first amid the Danaans, and saidst that I was no man of war but a weakling; and all this know the Achaeans both young and old. But as for thee, the son of crooked-counselling Cronos hath endowed thee in divided wise: with the sceptre hath he granted thee to be honoured above all, but valour he gave thee not, wherein is the greatest might. Strange king, dost thou indeed deem that the sons of the Achaeans are thus unwarlike and weaklings as thou sayest? Nay, if thine own heart is eager to return, get thee gone; before thee lies the way, and thy ships stand beside the sea, all the many ships that followed thee from Mycenae. Howbeit the other long-haired Achaeans will abide here until we have laid waste Troy. Nay, let them also flee in their ships to their dear native land; yet will we twain, Sthenelus and I, fight on, until we win the goal of Ilios; for with the aid of heaven are we come."
