The reins slipped from Nestor's hands, and fear took his heart. He told Diomedes that Zeus himself was turning victory toward the Trojans: no man's courage can beat the will of Zeus when the god pulls honor away and gives it elsewhere.
Diomedes answered that Nestor spoke the truth, but grief cut his heart because Hector would one day say he had driven the son of Tydeus to the ships. May the earth swallow him first. Nestor told him not to worry over Hector's words; the Trojan women whose husbands he had killed would not believe Hector's boasting.
Nestor turned the team in flight. Hector and the Trojans poured spears after them with a wild cry. Hector shouted that Diomedes had once been honored by the Danaans above all, but now Zeus had made him a woman. He dared him to stand and see if he would carry off the ships or be killed by Hector's spear.
Three times Diomedes thought of turning the horses and fighting; three times Zeus thundered from Ida, giving the Trojans the sign of victory. Hector cried to the Trojans and Lycians and Dardanians to be men, to remember furious courage, and to press on because Zeus had promised him glory.
Hector boasted to his horses, Xanthos, Podargos, Aithon, and shining Lampos, reminding them how Andromache had fed them wheat and mixed wine for them before she served him. Now they must strain to take Nestor's shield and Diomedes' breastplate, so the Achaeans might run to their ships that night.
Hera saw him and shook with anger on her throne. She spoke to Poseidon, asking whether he did not grieve for the dying Danaans. She named the gifts and prayers they had given him at Helike and Aigai, and urged him to join in helping them or at least to check Zeus's will.
Poseidon answered harshly that she was reckless. He would not have all the gods fight Zeus, for Zeus was far stronger. Hera held back, but she did not stop grieving for the Argives as Hector swept over the plain like a storm.
At the ships Agamemnon cried out to the Argives in shame and fear. He reminded them of their boasts on Lemnos, where each man claimed he would face a hundred Trojans, and now one man, Hector, threatened to burn the fleet. He lifted his hands to Zeus and begged not to let the Achaeans die at Troy without a name.
Zeus pitied the tears of the king and sent the truest sign: an eagle, dearest of birds, carrying a fawn in its talons. It dropped the fawn beside Zeus's beautiful altar where the Achaeans sacrificed. When the men saw the bird came from Zeus, they sprang harder against the Trojans and remembered battle.
Diomedes was first to break out, killing Agelaos son of Phradmon as he turned his horses. The spear drove between his shoulders and came through his chest. After him the other Argive captains struck in, and for a time the Trojans were forced back from the trench.