you must not fight the immortal powers head-on, all but one of the deathless gods, that is - if Aphrodite daughter of Zeus slips into battle, she's the one to stab with your sharp bronze spear!

I’ve lifted the mist from off your eyes
that’s blurred them up to now –
so you can tell a god from man on sight.
So now if a god comes up to test your mettle,
you must not fight the immortal powers head-on,
all but one of the deathless gods, that is –
if Aphrodite daughter of Zeus slips into battle,
she’s the one to stab with your sharp bronze spear!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 140-147. Athena tells Diomedes that a mist veils the eyes of mortals which prevents them from distinguishing gods in battle. She lifts the mist from his eyes, so he can tell a god on sight. Then she warns him that he is to fight only one god, Aprodite, and stab her with his bronze spear.

Homer Quotes