Diomedes.
I will be slayer. Manage thou the steeds;
For versed art thou in craft, and keen of wit. 625
Best set each man where best his help avails.
Athena.
Lo, yonder Alexander I discern
Draw nigh us. From some watchman hath he heard
A doubtful rumour of the approach of foes.
Diomedes.
Or cometh he with others, or alone? 630
Athena.
Alone. To Hector's couch, meseems, he fares,
To tell how spies upon the host be here.
Diomedes.
Ought he not then to be the first to die?
Athena.
Thou canst not overpass the doom of fate.
It may not be that by thine hand he die. 635
Haste thou against the man for whom thou bring'st
The slaughter-doom. To Paris will I seem
Kypris his friend, present to aid his toils,
And with false words will answer him I hate.
This have I told you: nought the doomed man knows, 640
Nor aught hath heard, for all he is so near.
[Exeunt Od. and Diom.
