Homer, Iliad

But he tarried and pondered what most reckless deed he might do, whether to take the chariot, where lay the war-gear richly dight, [505] and draw it out by the pole, or lift it on high and so bear it forth, or whether he should rather take the lives of yet more Thracians. The while he was pondering this in heart, even then Athene drew nigh and spake to goodly Diomedes: “Bethink thee now of returning, son of great-souled Tydeus, [510] to the hollow ships, lest thou go thither in full flight, and haply some other god rouse up the Trojans.” So spake she, and he knew the voice of the goddess as she spoke, and swiftly mounted the horses; and Odysseus smote them with his bow, and they sped toward the swift ships of the Achaeans. [515] But no blind watch did Apollo of the silver bow keep when he saw Athene attending the son of Tydeus; in wrath against her he entered the great throng of the Trojans, and aroused a counsellor of the Thracians, Hippocoön, the noble kinsman of Rhesus. And he leapt up out of sleep, [520] and when he saw the place empty where the swift horses had stood, and the men gasping amid gruesome streams of blood, then he uttered a groan, and called by name upon his dear comrade. And from the Trojans arose a clamour and confusion unspeakable as they hasted together; and they gazed upon the terrible deeds, [525] even all that the warriors had wrought and thereafter gone to the hollow ships. But when these were now come to the place where they had slain the spy of Hector, then Odysseus, dear to Zeus, stayed the swift horses, and the son of Tydeus leaping to the ground placed the bloody spoils in the hands of Odysseus, and again mounted; [530] and he touched the horses with the lash, and nothing loath the pair sped on to the hollow ships, for there were they fain to be. And Nestor was first to hear the sound, and he spake, saying: “My frieads, leaders and rulers of the Argives, shall I be wrong, or speak the truth? Nay, my heart bids me speak. [535] The sound of swift-footed horses strikes upon mine ears. I would that Odysseus and the valiant Diomedes may even thus speedily have driven forth from among the Trojans single-hooved horses; but wondrously do I fear at heart lest those bravest of the Argives have suffered some ill through the battle din of the Trojans.”