There the goddess was affectionately received by her mother, Di-oʹne, who begged her to be patient, reminding her that in times past others of the gods had suffered by the hands of men. Mars, she said, was chained in a brazen cell for fifteen months by the giants Oʹtus and Eph-i-alʹtes, and he would perhaps have perished there but that Mercury set him free by stealing into the cell, and slipping the chains out of the rings to which they were fastened. Juno herself, and Pluto, the god of Hades, were wounded by Hercules. "As for this son of Tydeus," said Dione, "who has dared to war upon an immortal, he shall be punished for his crime."
"The fool!
He knew not that, the man who dares to meet
The gods in combat lives not long. No child
Shall prattling call him father when he comes
Returning from the dreadful tasks of war."
Pope, Iliad, Book V.
Dione then wiped the ichor from the hand of Venus, and at her touch the wound healed and the pain ceased.
Meanwhile, on the plain before Troy Diomede still eagerly pursued Æneas, though knowing that the hero was under divine protection. Thrice did he rush on, and thrice did Apollo drive him back, but when he made the fourth attempt,
The archer of the skies, Apollo, thus
With menacing words rebuked him: "Diomed,
Beware; desist, nor think to make thyself
The equal of a god. The deathless race
Of gods is not as those who walk the earth."
Bryant, Iliad, Book V.
Diomede shrank back, fearing the wrath of the Far-darter, and Apollo bore Æneas away, and set him down in his own temple in sacred Perʹga-mus, the citadel of Troy. There Diana and La-toʹna, the mother of Apollo, healed his wound and restored his health and strength. Then Apollo begged Mars to assist the Trojans in the battle, and particularly to drive from the field the impious son of Tydeus, who had dared to attack the immortals with his spear, and would now fight even with Jupiter himself. The god of war consented, and assuming the form of Acʹa-mas, a Thracian leader, he went through the Trojan ranks encouraging the chiefs to fight bravely.
"O sons of Priam, him who claims descent
From Jupiter! how long will ye submit
To see your people slaughtered by the Greeks?
Is it until the battle-storm shall reach
Your city's stately portals?"
Pope, Iliad, Book V.