Diomedes, in later life,
after some trouble with his wife
(who tried to kill him), settled in Arpi,
a modest little town in Italy.
When Aeneas came to Latium,
he was summoned to battle, but did not come.
He’d all but killed that man in Troy,
but seemed content, now, to enjoy
the fruits of retirement in quietude.
Troy had become an interlude.

Heroes do not amount to much
when the wars are over. In the grasp and clutch
of marital infidelity
they fare no better than you or me,
or any joker around Troy wall.
The martial and the marital
are various virtues. Few have both.
The man who in something like his youth
stuck Aphrodite in the hand
was prey to adultery in his own land.

Some say he died uneventfully
in that little town in Italy.
Some say he turned into a bird.
Whatever the story, no one has heard
for certain how he felt in the end. Did he,
famous for valour and deference, see
in his unmarked death or transformation
belittlement of his warrior station?
I hope not. I suspect that he
was content to be absent from tragedy.