Homer's Iliad Book 2 (translation by Robert Fagles)

Zeus sends Agamemnon a deceitful dream indicating that this is a good time for the Achaians to attack. Next morning, Agamemnon summons the chiefs to an assembly and tells them about the dream. Nestor approves, and the chiefs call an assembly of the whole army. Agamemnon takes the sceptre and addresses the multitude, telling them that the time has come to give up the struggle (now in its ninth year) and go home. The Achaians are delighted by this and rush for the ships, but Hera sends Athene to intervene. On Athene's orders, Odysseus goes around stopping the flight. To noble men he recalls their duty as leaders, and to common soldiers he asserts the authority of the kings, backed by a blow from the staff. When the army is reassembled, a funny-looking commoner named Thersites rises to address the crowd. He rails against Agamemnon, calling him greedy and implying that he is in the wrong in the quarrel with Achilleus. Odysseus rises and shouts Thersites down, chiefly on the grounds that a common soldier such as he ought not to defy his betters. The crowd delights in seeing Odysseus humiliate Thersites. Odysseus now addresses Agamemnon, noting that the omens for Greek victory have been good and urging him to stay until Troy is taken. Nestor expresses a similar opinion, advising Agamemnon to allow any who wish to leave to go, so that only those eager for the fight will remain. Agamemnon agrees, and sends the Achaians off to eat and then to prepare themselves for war. The chiefs sacrifice an ox and pray to Zeus for success in the fighting, then they feast together. All the Argives assemble for battle, and the poet again asks the aid of the Muses, this time for the task of listing all the contingents. This list of the leaders (the "Catalogue of Ships") falls into two parts. First, the Greek leaders are enumerated. There follows an interlude in which Iris (disguised as Priam) induces the Trojans to muster their forces, and then the list of Trojan and allied leaders continues to the end of the book.