Agamemnon leaned on the scepter and told the Danaans that Zeus had trapped him in ruin. Zeus had once promised he would sack strong-walled Ilios and return home, but now commanded him to go back disgraced after losing many men. He called it shameful for future generations that so great an army should fight so long against fewer men and still fail.
He reminded them that nine years had passed, the ships’ timbers were rotting, and wives and little children waited at home. Then he said the word meant to test them: “Come, let us flee with the ships to our dear fatherland. We will not take broad-streeted Troy.”
The word struck the crowd, who had not heard the council. The assembly heaved like a sea under storm-winds, and the men rushed shouting toward the ships. Dust rose under them. They cleared the launching channels and began knocking away the props, crying for home.
Then Hera spoke sharply to Athena. Would the Argives really flee and leave Priam and the Trojans their boast, Helen of Argos, for whose sake so many Achaeans had died? Athena rushed from Olympus, found Odysseus standing still in grief, and ordered him to hold the army back.