Could Smite Ares

When she had thus spoken, queenly Hera sate her down, and wroth waxed the gods throughout the hall of Zeus. And she laughed with her lips, but her forehead above her dark brows relaxed not, and, moved with indignation, she spake among them all: "Fools, that in our witlessness are wroth against Zeus! In sooth we are even yet fain to draw nigh unto him and thwart him of his will by word or by constraint, but he sitteth apart and recketh not, neither giveth heed thereto; for he deemeth that among the immortal gods he is manifestly supreme in might and strength. Wherefore content ye yourselves with whatsoever evil thing he sendeth upon each. Even now I deem that sorrow hath been wrought for Ares, seeing that his son, dearest of men to him, hath perished in battle, even Ascalaphus, whom mighty Ares declareth to be his own."

So spake she, but Ares smote his sturdy thighs with the flat of his hands, and with wailing spake, and said: "Count it not blame for me now, O ye that have dwellings on Olympus, if I go to the ships of the Achaeans and avenge the slaying of my son, even though it be my fate to be smitten with the bolt of Zeus, and to lie low in blood and dust amid the dead."

So spake he and bade Terror and Rout yoke his horses, and himself did on his gleaming armour. Then would yet greater and more grievous wrath and anger have been stirred between Zeus and the immortals, had not Athene, seized with fear for all the gods, sped forth through the doorway, and left the throne whereon she sat, and taken the helm from the head of Ares and the shield from his shoulders; and she took from his strong hand the spear of bronze, and set it down, and with words rebuked furious Ares: "Thou madman, distraught of wit, thou art beside thyself! Verily it is for naught that thou hast ears for hearing, and thine understanding and sense of right are gone from thee. Hearest thou not what the goddess, white-armed Hera, saith, she that is but now come from Olympian Zeus? Wouldest thou thyself fulfill the measure of manifold woes, and so return to Olympus despite thy grief, perforce, and for all the rest sow the seeds of grievous woe? For he will forthwith leave the Trojans, high of heart, and the Achaeans, and will hie him to Olympus to set us all in tumult, and will lay hands upon each in turn, the guilty alike and him in whom is no guilt. Wherefore now I bid thee put away thy wrath for thine own son. For ere now many a one more excellent than he in might and strength of hand hath been slain, or will yet be slain; and a hard thing it is to preserve the lineage and offspring of men."

She spake she, and made furious Ares to sit down upon his throne. But Hera called Apollo forth from out the hall, and Iris, that is the messenger of the immortal gods; and she spake and addressed them with winged words: "Zeus biddeth you twain go to Ida with all the speed ye may; and when ye have come, and looked upon the face of Zeus, then do ye whatsoever he may order and command."


- Homer, The Iliad, Book 15