"Hearken, gods and goddesses! Let none of you presume to go against my word. Whosoever of you shall aid either Greek or Trojan, him will I smite with the thunder, or else will cast him far down to the darkness of Tartarus, whose gates are iron and whose threshold bronze, and he shall know that I am chief among gods. And if ye will make trial of my strength, let down a chain of gold from heaven to earth, and take hold thereof, all ye gods and goddesses. Yet shall ye not drag down Zeus, no, though ye strive with all your might. But if I should draw with all my strength, I could lift you up, and earth and sea with you, and bind the chain about a horn of Olympus, and leave you hanging there. So much am I stronger than all besides." Tar'-tar-us. Then all the gods sat silent and amazed. But at last spake Athene: "Surely we know, Father Zeus, that thy strength cannot be resisted. Yet we pity the Greeks, and fear lest they should perish altogether. We will keep aloof from the war, according to thy command, but we will give them counsel." And Zeus smiled upon her, and gave consent. Then he yoked to his chariot his swift horses, and touched them with his whip. Midway between heaven and earth they flew, and came to Ida, the mountain of many springs. There he stayed his course, and sat down amidst the peaks, looking on the city of Troy and the host of the Greeks. The Greeks took their meal in haste, and armed themselves. The men of Troy also made them ready for battle in the city; fewer they were in number than their foes, but not less eager for the fight, for indeed a sore need was upon them, the need to fight for children and wife. Then the gates were opened, and the people went quickly forth. And the two hosts came together, buckler against buckler, and spear against spear, and the shields clashed with a great ringing sound. While the day was increasing, neither this side prevailed nor that; but at noon Father Zeus stretched on high his golden scales, laying in them two weights of death; one for the Greeks, and one for the sons of Troy. By the middle he took the scales, and let them hang, and the scale of the Greeks sank lower. Then did he send his blazing thunderbolt among the people from the heights of Ida, and they saw it and were dismayed. Then could no man hold his ground. Only Nestor remained, against his will, for Paris had slain one of his chariot-horses with an arrow. And while the old man cut away the traces, Hector came through the press. Then would the old man have perished, but Diomed was swift to notice his danger. With a great cry he called Ulysses, and said:-- "Son of Laertes, whither dost thou flee, turning thy back like a coward? See that no man thrust thee in the back with a spear. Tarry, and keep back this fierce man of war from old Nestor." So he spake, but Ulysses heeded not, fleeing fast to the ships.