the seasoned fighter Odysseus deeply torn now…
should he knock him senseless, leave him dead where he dropped
or just stretch him out on the ground with a light jab?
As he mulled things over, that way seemed the best:
a glancing blow, the suitors would not detect him.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 104-108. When the disguised beggar Odysseus fights Irus, another beggar, he is torn between whether he should take him out completely or just simply hurt him. He decides against going all out, which would reveal his identity. Instead he exercises restraint and knocks Irus down with a hook to the neck, so that the suitors will continue to be deceived into believing that he is a simple beggar.